tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33300392581934542692024-03-13T12:19:16.140-07:00Double ConsciousnessJack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comBlogger290125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-45162799190894345992010-04-06T15:37:00.000-07:002010-04-06T16:07:15.228-07:00It's So Hard To Stay Nice (Part Two)You're different. Everyone's made it clear to you all your life. Strangers, teachers, peers, and for many, even parents. You've suffered. No one understands. But you're still alive, you've made it through even the worst of times.<br /><br />And just when you're starting to feel a little stronger about yourself...just when you're thinking, "hey, I'm going to step out into this world tomorrow and be proud of who I am!" Just when you're feeling it...someone kicks you from behind yet again. <span style="font-style:italic;">But you have to stand back up</span>...yet again. That's what you have to learn from Constance's story.<br /><br />I'm unsurprised but still disgusted to find out what happened recently to Constance McMillen - the lesbian teen whose school cancelled prom so that she wouldn't go.<br /><br />The parents who had been organizing a private prom, the one she was supposedly invited to, <span style="font-style:italic;">tricked her into going to the wrong location</span>. YEP, <a href="http://www.dosomething.org/news/lesbian-teen-tricked-out-prom">they sent her to some "fake prom" along with 7 other kids</a> (2 of which have disabilities). So there you go, that's high school for you.<br /><br />This is the stuff of MEAN GIRLS. This is the stuff of nightmares a-la showing up to school naked. This is the kind of stuff unpopular kids go through. This feels so personal. I may not be lesbian, I may not have gone on a public mission to challenge my school's discriminatory actions, but I was an outcast. But not to this extreme. Many of us have had moments like this, but not in such a massive and public way. Imagine, your whole school turns its back on you. How is that? Not one person informed Constance or the other 7 people that they were being sent to a fake prom. <br /><br />Yet if you read this short article, you'll see that Constance said they all had a blast - all 7 of them. They did so because that's what the outcasts do. The popular thing dies after high school, and then the outcasts move on to do great things. Some popular kids make it too, but from my experience, the ones who really made me suffer didn't go too far. <br /><br />Some people just don't get the pride. The pride that comes with years of experience as a person of DIFFERENCE. But those who are different get it. No matter what marks you as different, and no matter what extreme of different you are, if you're different you get it. There will be a point when you must decide - I will no longer give in. I am not a mat.<br /><br />You have to get up every time, and you have to stand proud. Be DIFFERENT! Be BLACK, be LESBIAN, be WOMAN, Be ASIAN, be LATINO, be WHO EVER YOU ARE. And be it proud! Don't you let others beat you up literally or figuratively. Don't let others beat the YOU out of you. Don't give in.<br /><br />I'm so touched, so incredibly touched, by this infuriating yet uplifting story of DIFFERENCE.<br /><br />STAND BACK UP EVERY TIME!sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08817407388535938946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-63837584150403481982010-03-24T22:38:00.000-07:002010-03-24T23:33:58.421-07:00It's So Hard To Stay NiceI say it over and over to myself all the time - it's so hard to stay nice.<br /><br />If you're a nice person deep down, it slowly gets beaten out of you over time. It's beaten out much faster of those who struggle in more ways than others - those of color, those suffering from poverty, those with any mark of "difference."<br /><br />Take a look at Constance McMillen, who's <a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-41351-Riverside-Lesbian-Relationships-Examiner~y2010m3d24-Court-stands-up-for-rights-no-Itawamba-prom-for--Constance-McMillentwo-alternative-proms-scheduled">high school canceled it's prom just to stop her from wearing a suit and going with her girlfriend</a>. Sure, the parents organized a private prom that will be open to students of any sexual orientation. But last I heard, Constance stated she's not even sure she'll go because she has to see how her peers treat her back on campus after this huge ordeal. All she wanted to do was wear a suit and bring a gal. <br /><br />I can't begin to tell you how many guys I saw cross-dressing and fake-fondling one another in my high school years - from some cross-dressing fashion shows to male beauty pageants. As long as they weren't "serious," no one complained.<br /><br />But for others, the harsh realities of our troubled world kicks in much much younger. Young children, abused in so many ways, around the world. Those who are most disadvantaged, neglected, and ostracized are the most vulnerable. It's the typical, "well, it's terrible what happened to <a href="http://www.10news.com/news/22728257/detail.html">Chelsea King</a>, but what about all the daily, unreported, sexual crimes against young black girls in poor communities? You never see their faces on nation-wide news..."<br /><br />There is so much cause for bitterness. There are so many reasons to become calloused as we get older. Cynical. But we must fight cynicism, as <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dodgerthoughts/2010/01/coco-crushes-cynicism.html">Conan O'Brien so eloquently put it</a> on his final night on the Tonight Show. <br /><br />I realized that I had let myself become somewhat cynical, and upon hearing O'Brien, who specifically directed his message to young people...well, I was touched. Yet I haven't been able to shake it off fully. I still struggle to stay nice. I am still scared of people sometimes, because I fear getting hurt or cut down in some way. For the longest time I was convinced that "everyone's fake." Then I realized, no, people are afraid to open up. Once you open yourself up to someone - you know, cutting the crap - you can't take it back. They've seen you. So people shell up and say "hey, how are you, let's have coffee sometime" without caring much to follow up.<br /><br />So now, as much as I struggle to take in all the ugly stuff during the day - sarcastic remarks by a casual acquaintance, blatant attitude from a stranger, upsetting stories of tragedy and injustice on the news, disrespectful men on the city streets...I try to shake it off because I don't want to become mean. Plus, it would be too easy to become mean. To be open-minded, and to take in more perspectives than your own, that's hard. And it's a task that can never be truly fulfilled.<br /><br />For what it's worth to any struggling reader out there, I want to reach out to you and say, don't give in. Let someone into your soul. Then others will let you into theirs.sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08817407388535938946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-50110733853976429882009-11-05T10:42:00.000-08:002009-11-05T10:43:07.698-08:00White Evangelicals and their "Toolsets"<a href="http://mymill.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/white-evangelicals-and-their-toolsets/" target="_blank">An excerpt from my other blog</a> about race relations and white evangelicals:<br /><blockquote>The racially important cultural tools in the white evangelical tool kit are “accountable freewill individualism,” “relationism” (attaching central importance to interpersonal relationships), and antistructuralism (inability to perceive or unwillingness to accept social structural influences).<br /><br />…<br /><br /><strong>Absent from their accounts</strong> is the idea that poor relationships might be shaped by social structures, such as laws, the ways institutions operate, or forms of segregation. Again, understanding evangelicals’ cultural tools illuminates why this element is missing. White evangelicals not only interpret race issues by using accountable freewill individualism and relationalism, but they often find structural explanations irrelevant or even wrongheaded…<strong>Evangelicals are thus also antistructural because they believe that invoking social structures shifts guild away from the root source</strong>—the accountable individual. However, evangelicals are selectively aware of social institutions—they see those both impact them in their own social location and tend to undermine accountable freewill individualism. For instance, they are aware of affirmative action because <strong>such programs can impact them in their social location</strong>, and they tend to oppose such programs because they go against evangelical understanding of accountable freewill individualism.</blockquote>Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-17359247143244399942009-08-24T19:19:00.000-07:002009-08-24T19:41:09.603-07:00"Japan Probe" Here to Defend the Most Oppressed People on Earth...Whitey!So while browsing through Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/disgrasian/status/3525839637">I saw a Tweet</a> by the women over at Disgrasian that stated:<br /><blockquote><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">We Don't Care About White People, Apparently </span></span></blockquote><a href="http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=12140">They then linked to a blog post</a> that took "offense" to their position on the McDonalds "Mr. James" ads over in Japan. In <a href="http://www.disgrasian.com/2009/08/in-mcdonalds-new-japanese-ad-campaign.html">their blog post</a> they wrote:<br /><blockquote>Interestingly, there are some foreigners and non-natives in Japan <a href="http://www.debito.org/?p=4136">riled up about this humiliating depiction</a> of themselves, going so far as to compare Mr. James to <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5245089">Stepin Fetchit</a>. Because there aren't enough positive depictions of <a href="http://www.japander.com/japander/">beautiful and sophisticated foreigners</a> selling things to the Japanese, apparently.</blockquote>Sothese riled up white people are actually comparing this ad campaign to Stepin Fetchit, who played every single bad and humiliating stereotype associated with Black people during the 1930s. Disgrasian blogs:<br /><blockquote>I find the outrage leveled at this Mr. James character by certain people to be verging on histrionic. Comparing Mr. James to Stepin Fetchit? Really? Stepin Fetchit was an African-American stereotype popularized in the 20's and 30's. He was known as "the laziest man in the world," and <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5245089">"a befuddled, mumbling, shiftless fool."</a> But one of these fools is not like the other. It's important to remember context here, that Stepin Fetchit was a minstrel character created during the time of Jim Crow laws, segregation, and the systematized oppression of African-Americans that followed slavery. I mean, slavery, okay? Over <span style="font-style: italic;">two hundred years</span> of slavery. It's morally bankrupt to put a fool like Mr. James on par with a fool like Stepin Fetchit; stereotypes like Stepin Fetchit were instruments, ultimately, in reinforcing the second-class status of blacks--and not just socially, mind you, but legally. Stepin Fetchit didn't merely <span style="font-style: italic;">offend</span>. Stepin Fetchit made the abuse of our constitution, the miscarriage of justice, the legalization of inequality, and the back of the bus only that much easier to live with.</blockquote>But, one thing that really undermines <span style="font-style: italic;">Japan Probe</span>'s argument is not just the stupidity of their argument but the <span style="font-weight: bold;">fucking advertisements on their god damned page!</span><br /><br />Such as this one<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jpIT0PuafLg/SpNOBMbWwWI/AAAAAAAAAOs/DrZqfvDI2Aw/s1600-h/Picture+2.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 143px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jpIT0PuafLg/SpNOBMbWwWI/AAAAAAAAAOs/DrZqfvDI2Aw/s400/Picture+2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373724562805932386" border="0" /></a>And if that one doesn't scream fucked up and racist this one sure as hell does!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jpIT0PuafLg/SpNORLMZM7I/AAAAAAAAAO0/gFW4h27Zj84/s1600-h/Picture+3.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 282px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jpIT0PuafLg/SpNORLMZM7I/AAAAAAAAAO0/gFW4h27Zj84/s400/Picture+3.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373724837352649650" border="0" /></a>Hey, Japan Probe, not that I want to give you sound advice or anything, but before you make an argument about...No, wait, never mind, I<span style="font-weight: bold;"> definetly do NOT</span> want to give you dumb mother fuckers sound advice on anything.Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-33336606672711909392009-06-01T14:21:00.000-07:002009-06-01T14:40:00.262-07:00Racial Targeting Within the Thin Blue Line<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/05/31/nyregion/31friendly3_190.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 267px;" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/05/31/nyregion/31friendly3_190.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I recently read <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/nyregion/31friendly.html?ref=todayspaper">an illuminating article</a> in the <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span> about the recent shooting of Black police officer Omar J. Edwards by his "fellow" white cop Andrew P. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Dunton</span>. Now its not exactly getting to the heart of the systemic institutionalized racism that is at the heart of this country (that would be expecting too much, unfortunately, from an elite newspaper) but it did do a good job in going over the incidents of inter-racial police shootings of fellow officers since the shooting death of John A. Holt Jr. (pictured) in 1940 to the present.<br /><br />One thing that is most glaring that (except in one incident presented by the article) all of the shooters were white and all of the victims were Black or Latino. Yet in the color blind ideology that pervades our present day society many folks are quick to point out that while racial motivations might have been a factor in the past they weren't a factor in this one. What is a factor is "training." In fact, one of the interviewees pointed out:<br /><blockquote>“Same deal always,” he says of the deadly encounter between colleagues on Thursday night. “They’ll say it’s about training.”</blockquote>In fact, that is what exactly was said <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/nyregion/01shoot.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion">in a article</a> in that same days paper:<br /><blockquote>“[S]<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">omething</span> is going to have to be done,” added Mr. Glenn, an officer with the 67<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span> Precinct in East <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Flatbush</span>, Brooklyn, choking up. “Maybe more training or something. I don’t know what we are going to do.”</blockquote>I'm not suggesting that more training <span style="font-style: italic;">won't</span> prevent more inter-racial shootings but by focusing solely on reactionary training people are ignoring the causes of the shooting, racial prejudice.<br /><br />Obviously, as Edwards' father-in-law points out, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Dunton</span> didn't walk onto the streets with the mindset of actually wanting to kill a fellow Black officer but what was in his mind, more than likely, are all of the stereotypes of Blacks that are perpetuated by our media, national mythologies, everyday conversations, and our society in general. One succinct quote sums it up well:<br /><blockquote>“If you speak with nine out of 10 officers of color they would tell you that when they hear sirens, in their head they are thinking: ‘I hope these cops know that I’m one of the good guys.’”</blockquote>All of this points back to the systemic racism that makes Blacks and people of color in general more likely the victims of police misconduct, shootings, harassment, and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">target ting</span>. A system in were people or color are <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">ghettoized</span> by political institutions while many whites get to live in suburbs. Unless we address this system (as the police force is a part of that system and is obviously made up of folks who grew up in this system, which is everyone) shootings like these will continue to happen, and it won't just be cops of color who are the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">victims</span>.Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-46469701001959367832009-04-20T06:28:00.000-07:002009-04-20T06:32:15.728-07:00Crazed Euro-Centric Whitey Bullshit I Deal With at Graduate School<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Cross-posted from <a href="http://themustardseed.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/crazed-euro-centric-whitey-bullshit-i-deal-with-at-graduate-school/">The Mustard Seed</a>.</span><br /></div><br /><img style="width: 400px; height: 301px;" class="size-full wp-image-2821" title="Dutch-Pequot" src="http://themustardseed.wordpress.com/files/2009/04/ib-129.jpg" alt="Dutch-Pequot" /><br />Whitey committing genocide against the Native population...No wait...I need to be "objective." I mean, whitey "negotiating land rights" with the Native population...there we go.<br /></div><p style="text-align: center;"></p><br />As those of you who have read my <a href="http://themustardseed.wordpress.com/about-2/" target="_blank">About page</a> will know I am pursuing my Masters in Divinity (same as Masters in Theology but one extra year of "pastoral formation" and such) at the <a href="http://www.gtu.edu/" target="_blank">Graduate Theological Union</a> in Berkeley. Here is an example of some of the great fantastic knowledge I have to put up with.<br /><br />For an online class (in where we meet for discussion once a week) one of the questions was this:<br /><blockquote><div id="intro" class="generalbox box">What are some ways the new context of independence and establishment of the United States shaped American religion?</div></blockquote><div class="generalbox box">And my very mild answer was this (<strong>bold</strong> was added for this blog, just me being slightly snarky)...(<a href="http://themustardseed.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/crazed-euro-centric-whitey-bullshit-i-deal-with-at-graduate-school/">Click here to read the rest</a>)<br /></div>Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-20718982972005206612009-03-29T18:20:00.000-07:002009-03-29T18:23:59.105-07:00SPEAK! CD Radical Women of Color Speak Out<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jpIT0PuafLg/SdAe18PGP2I/AAAAAAAAAOk/puWNeNcizT0/s1600-h/speakcd2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 193px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jpIT0PuafLg/SdAe18PGP2I/AAAAAAAAAOk/puWNeNcizT0/s400/speakcd2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318785071975907170" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Cross-posted from <a href="http://themustardseed.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/speak-radical-women-of-color-media-collective/">The Mustard Seed</a>.</span><br /><br />Found it via <a href="http://blog.cripchick.com/" target="_blank">cripchick's weblog</a>:<br /><blockquote>Compiled and arranged by <a href="http://www.liquidwordsproductions.com/" target="_blank">Liquid Words Productions</a>, the spoken word CD weaves together the stories, poetry, music, and writings of women of color from across the United States. The 20 tracks, ranging from the explosive “Why Do You Speak?” to the reverent “For Those of Us,” grant a unique perspective into the minds of single mothers, arrested queer and trans activists, excited children, borderland dwellers, and exploring dreamers, among many others.</blockquote>Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-43272990103795212982009-03-28T11:06:00.000-07:002009-03-28T11:08:53.667-07:00John Hope Franklin, Black Scholar and Activist, Died at Age 94<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/john_hope_franklin/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about John Hope Franklin."></a><blockquote><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/john_hope_franklin/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about John Hope Franklin.">John Hope Franklin</a>, a prolific scholar of African-American history who profoundly influenced thinking about slavery and Reconstruction while helping to further the civil rights struggle, died Wednesday in Durham, N.C. He was 94.<br /><br />...<br /><br />In an article in The Atlantic Monthly in 2007, he wrote, “If the American idea was to fight every war from the beginning of colonization to the middle of the 20th century with Jim Crow armed forces, in the belief that this would promote the American idea of justice and equality, then the American idea was an unmitigated disaster and a denial of the very principles that this country claimed as its rightful heritage.” (Read the rest of the obituary <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/26franklin.html?_r=1">here</a>)<br /></blockquote>Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-68877076111871831132009-03-10T03:32:00.001-07:002009-03-10T03:36:43.902-07:00When White Kids Have Spontaneous Fun, Working Class People of Color Left to Clean Up Their Shit<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/03/08/ba-feathers_0499873065.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 450px; height: 306px;" src="http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/03/08/ba-feathers_0499873065.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/03/08/ba-feather09_ph2_0499874976.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 451px; height: 309px;" src="http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/03/08/ba-feather09_ph2_0499874976.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">[Hat tip: <a href="http://50megatonpapertiger.wordpress.com/">xMabaitx</a> and <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/09/BA4D169H59.DTL">SF Chronicle</a>]</span>Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-40379092283668645422009-02-27T17:15:00.000-08:002009-02-27T17:16:03.188-08:00Black is SO hot right now<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_43csWFmGK2U/SaiP7LvQL_I/AAAAAAAACLw/yv2dTuBNPTU/s1600-h/8e7ab4e08df0c4d4_Picture_4.xlarger.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 287px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_43csWFmGK2U/SaiP7LvQL_I/AAAAAAAACLw/yv2dTuBNPTU/s400/8e7ab4e08df0c4d4_Picture_4.xlarger.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307650407782166514" border="0" /></a><br />If ever there was a company that didn't need to hire a Black model it's Sanrio. I know I'm stuck on this, but I am SUPER excited about this Hello Kitty Kouture (MAC). And then I was looking at the ads, and I was even more juiced that the new image of Hello Kitty is Black. And not just a black cat, a Black woman! (and she lightweight looks like me, vanity at its finest). I don't know how this is a step forward for Black people, and I'm sure it had more to do with MAC Cosmetics than Sanrio, but this makes me proud to rock the Kitty.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-6399093538921635832009-02-23T22:18:00.000-08:002010-03-31T17:43:43.694-07:00Skin Color: HispanicI logged into Myspace right now and was notified of an "AMBER Alert" in my area (end of post). I clicked on it only to find the worst possible description ever: the young four year old girl and her kidnapper have the skin color "Hispanic."<br /><br />Okay, this is just off. A "Hispanic" skin tone does not exist. Anyone can be Hispanic, and you might not even know it. <br /><br /><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/FranklinChangDiaz-NASA.jpg" height=230> <img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/CUN2008_Oscar_party_Christina_Milian.jpg/220px-CUN2008_Oscar_party_Christina_Milian.jpg" height=230> <img src="http://hispaniconline.com/HispanicMag/2008_08/Images/Film01.jpg" height=230><br /><br />Asian Latino and former astronaut <a href="http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/chang.html">Franklin Chang Diaz</a>, Afro Latina singer/actress <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Milian">Cristina Milan</a> (Flores), and white Latino <a href="http://hispaniconline.com/HispanicMag/2008_08/LatinForum-Film.html">James Roday </a>(Rodriguez) from the USA series <a href="http://www.usanetwork.com/series/psych/">Psych</a>, are but a few examples.<br /><br />Well, since Latinos/Hispanics have every possible skin tone under the sun, maybe they should start replacing the skin tone description of "Hispanic" with "<a href="http://www.georgelopez.com/bio/bioinfo.html">George Lopez</a>." Just as offensive, but it would get more to the point, I would say.<br /><br />In all seriousness though, I hope this girl is found: <br /><br /><blockquote>ATTENTION: There is an AMBER Alert in your area.<br />Please CLICK HERE to find out more information.<br /><br />Missing From: Thousand Palms, CA<br />Missing Date: 2/23/2009 12:00 AM<br /><br />Contact: Riverside County Sheriff's Department<br />760-836-3218<br /><br />Circumstances: On February 23, 2009, at 0930 hours, Monica Ruby Morales was abducted from Thousand Palms, Riverside County, California.<br /><br /><br />Missing Child<br />Name: Monica Ruby Morales<br />Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Brown<br />Skin Color: Hispanic Age: 4YO<br />Gender: Female<br />Description: Short hair, wearing a yellow shirt with white print on the front, blue pants, yellow sandals<br /><br />Suspect<br />Name: Unknown Unknown<br />Hair Color: Brown<br />Skin Color: Hispanic Age: 30YO<br />Height: 5FT5 Weight: 150LBS<br />Gender: Female<br />Description: Wearing a white shirt and jeans<br /><br />Vehicle Information<br />Model: Van<br />Color: Green<br />Vehicle: Full sized</blockquote>sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08817407388535938946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-41988791356062137192009-02-17T21:32:00.000-08:002009-02-17T21:34:27.729-08:00White Like Me<object width="512" height="296"><param name="movie" value="http://www.hulu.com/embed/pHudtlffrTOOdU5Iz87YEg"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.hulu.com/embed/pHudtlffrTOOdU5Iz87YEg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" width="512" height="296"></embed></object>Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-11574577723766587522009-02-09T10:08:00.001-08:002009-02-09T10:08:43.786-08:00"You can't stop me mutha fucka cause I'm on a boat!"<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://widgets.nbc.com/o/4727a250e66f9723/499070d593003f50/4741e3c5156499a7/761f0c7/-cpid/b1b8f543577775ea" id="W4727a250e66f9723499070d593003f50" width="384" height="283"><param name="movie" value="http://widgets.nbc.com/o/4727a250e66f9723/499070d593003f50/4741e3c5156499a7/761f0c7/-cpid/b1b8f543577775ea" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="all" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /></object>Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-45193065527618994322009-02-03T22:52:00.000-08:002009-02-04T16:44:08.175-08:00Creative Expression, a Catalyst for Social Change: In Honor of Oscar Grant<b>Photo by Nina Sparks</b><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fUZPNZzU7OA/SYn_reOJ3eI/AAAAAAAAADs/wsfQRbUK5U0/s1600-h/NinaSparks.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fUZPNZzU7OA/SYn_reOJ3eI/AAAAAAAAADs/wsfQRbUK5U0/s320/NinaSparks.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299047558889987554" /></a><br /><br /><i>Editor's Note: My goal is to gather the creative works dedicated to Oscar Grant from artists, musicians, writers, photographers and others. Any form of creative expression will be accepted. It could be a video of a dance work, audio, song, comic strip, photography, art project, links to website pieces, etc. Selected portfolio work will be featured in several Bay Area publications including Race, Poverty & the Environment, Street Spirit, Media-alliance.org, and InColor.net(print and online). If you have any questions or would like to contribute to this project please contact christinejoy@urbanhabitat.org. All submissions should be sent to artwork@urbanhabitat.org by March 21, 2009.</i><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">People are angry.</span> Early morning on New Year’s Day, 22-year-old Oscar Grant III was shot and killed in Oakland, California by a Bay Area Rapid Transit agency police officer. Grant was unarmed. The young black man’s arms shackled behind his back. His face—pressed down against the cement. Onlookers video-phoned the horrific spectacle as his life was taken from him. <br /><br />Thousands have been appalled by the Oscar Grant shooting and have taken a new stand to fight injustice. Many have chosen to creatively express their stance through art. Songs have been written and dedicated to Oscar Grant. Poems, paintings and posters have been created. Graffiti artists have painted murals.<br /><br /><b>Illustration by <a href="http://pitzeleh8.deviantart.com/art/Oscar-Grant-109060838" title="Pitzeleh8">Pitzeleh8</a></b><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fUZPNZzU7OA/SYoAnw0wfdI/AAAAAAAAAD8/8OBFiHAraXw/s1600-h/Oscar_Grant_by_pitzeleh8.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 294px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fUZPNZzU7OA/SYoAnw0wfdI/AAAAAAAAAD8/8OBFiHAraXw/s320/Oscar_Grant_by_pitzeleh8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299048594675891666" /></a><br /><br />These visionaries protest against the injustice of police brutality, discrimination, prejudice, racism, and white privilege.<br /><br />Throughout history, from gospel singing in the Civil Rights Movement to today's t-shirts and posters donning portraits of Che Guevara and President Barack Obama, art plays a very important role in social movements. Art has been used for framing, to attract resources, to communicate information about themselves, to foster useful emotion, and as a symbol (for communication a coherent identity, marking membership, and cementing commitment to the movement), explains Jacqueline Adams in her article “Art in Social Movements: Shantytown Women’s Protest in Pinochet’s Chile.” <br /><br />The struggle continues. Don’t stop creating.<br /><br /><b>Oscar Grant's Glimpse of the New Year <br />By Rashida Mack </b><br /><i>"I am an African American 22 yr old man, <br />Trembling, <br />I am told to hit the ground, <br />pushed down, <br />I am lying on a [Oakland] platform,<br />As commanded, <br />Face down, <br />I hear a shot, <br />Then feel pain <br />I am shot, <br />Fading black. <br /><br />Your Happy New Year to me, <br />Now called a mistake? <br />Glock 9mm, <br />Taser gun, <br />Glock 9mm, <br />On my stomach, <br />Face down, <br />Unarmed, <br />Taser or Glock, <br />Whichever, <br />Neither."</i><br /><a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/oscar-grant-s-glimpse-of-the-new-year/" title="Read more...">Read more...</a><br /><br /><b>Dear Tatiana (Letter to Oscar Grant's Daughter)<br />By Ruckus, produced by Kid Konnect </b><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UzrHB150qIM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UzrHB150qIM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><b>Artist Unknown. Photo by Frederic Larson, San Francisco Chronicle</b><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fUZPNZzU7OA/SYoBEiXiiOI/AAAAAAAAAEE/eC5maY2Aga0/s1600-h/Oscar+Grant.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 265px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fUZPNZzU7OA/SYoBEiXiiOI/AAAAAAAAAEE/eC5maY2Aga0/s320/Oscar+Grant.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299049089011452130" /></a><br /><br /><b>ONE (Ode to Oscar Grant)<br>By Shiko </b><br /><i>"...the one man in uniform holds out his one gun and shoots <br />the son <br />the father and <br />the friend <br />then <br />....SILENCE.... <br />Black silence <br />born from years of white oppression <br />effective white brain wash that taught a black man to be a <br />.......NIGGER...... <br />taught him that he is worth nothing <br />taught him that even after emancipation he was still three fifths of a man <br />effective brain wash that caused the black men to be submissive <br />leaving thoughts of change to his "white washed" brethren <br />but now I hear protest <br />black voices raised in unison <br />.....HOPE....." </i><br /><a href="http://www.gspoetry.com/one-ode-to-oscar-grant-anger-poems-305154.html" title="Read More...">Read More...</a><br /><br /><b>Novel dedicates "Mad World" to Oscar Grant<br>By SOHH Soul Rebel</b><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JFPyHBgrxAs&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JFPyHBgrxAs&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><b>Jack Foley: FOR OSCAR GRANT III</b><br /><i>"Out of the cradle endlessly rocking <br />Five score years ago,<br />Out of the mocking bird’s throat, the musical shuttle, <br />A great American signed the Emancipation Proclamation <br />Out of the ninth-month midnight, <br />But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free" </i><br /><a href="http://alyoung.org/index.php/2009/01/11/jack-foley-for-oscar-grant-iii/" title="Read More...">Read More...</a><br /><p><br /><b>Poster Illustration by <a href="http://dignidadrebelde.com/image/view/853" title="Melanie Cervantes and Jesus Barraza">Melanie Cervantes and Jesus Barraza</a></b><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fUZPNZzU7OA/SYoBgO0gVyI/AAAAAAAAAEM/7BpN7GHOCTU/s1600-h/287d1cd6d177ef704c02683c76f655.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 246px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fUZPNZzU7OA/SYoBgO0gVyI/AAAAAAAAAEM/7BpN7GHOCTU/s320/287d1cd6d177ef704c02683c76f655.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299049564800571170" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">First posted on February 3, 2009 on http://www.in-color.net</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-25984530802261892242009-01-30T15:26:00.000-08:002009-01-31T00:04:23.189-08:00The Art of Balancing Your "Scary" Muslim TiesRemember when Obama's campaign was working hard to dodge the negative Muslim/Arab tag during the elections? Such as how one time, <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11168.html">two Muslim women were barred from a campaign event</a> so that they wouldn't appear in pictures with him, and that other time when a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/MpE6ljPjSAk&hl=en&fs=1">disheveled old woman rambled on about how she was scared of him being an Arab</a> at a McCain rally.<br /><br />Well, it's funny now that this comes up:<br /><object width="400" height="275"><param name="movie" value="http://www.hulu.com/embed/t9IhsKu_2lYNyY0RcoGhiw"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.hulu.com/embed/t9IhsKu_2lYNyY0RcoGhiw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" width="400" height="275"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Excerpt from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart</span>. "In his first post-inaugural interview, Barack Obama says to an Arab network what he couldn't say on American television."<br /><br />My favorite part: "Wha...wait? Why haven't we met <span style="font-style:italic;">them</span>? Don't you think they would have enjoyed sharing in the campaign process? ...That would be like if the first thing John McCain did after winning the presidency was go on the AARP network and let them know that he too sometimes forgets where he is."sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08817407388535938946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-62582196596742146122009-01-19T22:53:00.001-08:002009-01-19T22:55:18.766-08:00The Inauguration of Barack ObamaLive on Hulu:<br /><object width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://www.hulu.com/live/embed/kqDzjGqsvKQZKY1CUG_aDSkM_bxqboC5"></param><embed src="http://www.hulu.com/live/embed/kqDzjGqsvKQZKY1CUG_aDSkM_bxqboC5" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400"></embed></object>sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08817407388535938946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-91450389177874305062009-01-16T13:19:00.001-08:002009-01-16T13:36:32.941-08:00Update: BART Police Officer Pleads 'Not Guilty' To Murder ChargesThe police officer who killed Oscar Grant has been charged with murder. From <a href="http://www.ktvu.com/news/18475843/detail.html">KTVU.com:</a><blockquote>Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff made the rare decision to file a murder charge against a police officer for an on-duty incident.<br /><br />"At this point, what I feel the evidence indicates, is an unlawful killing done by an intentional act and from the evidence we have there's nothing that would mitigate that to something lower than a murder," Orloff said at a news conference. He said he would not speculate on whether the charge would end up being first-degree murder or second-degree murder.</blockquote><br />The officer has plead "not guilty" to the charges, as reported by <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/15/BAGS15B5K8.DTL&feed=rss.news">SF Gate:</a><blockquote>The former BART police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man early New Year's Day pleaded not guilty Thursday to a murder charge during a brief but tense court hearing, at which his attorney said he planned to seek a bail reduction that could allow his client to be released from jail before trial.<br /><br />Johannes Mehserle, 27, entered his plea in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland as about two dozen supporters looked on, including his parents, Todd and Agatha Mehserle. The couple were escorted to court by police officers a day after their Napa neighborhood was evacuated when two suspicious boxes were left on the porch of their home. The boxes turned out to be harmless.</blockquote><br />I've seen a few of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bart+shooting&search_type=">videos of the shooting on YouTube</a> and they make it quite clear why the ex-officer is being charged with murder.<br /><br />We'll see what happens...sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08817407388535938946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-46356051449085158882009-01-12T01:46:00.001-08:002009-01-12T01:53:56.974-08:00Late Night Thoughts: Tracy Morgan's 'Post-Racial America'Here are my two-cents on the recent remarks by not-so-talented Tracy Morgan:<br /><br />1) Cate Blanchett is Australian. Are you drunk again, mister? Just kidding.<br /><br />2) There is no such thing as a "post-racial America," nor could there be a face of such an America if it were post-racial.<br /><br />If you're wondering what on Earth I'm talking about, this all has to do with the <a href="http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1602486/20090111/story.jhtml">Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday</a>. The one where Tracy Morgan accepts the award for the people of 30 Rock (because Barack Obama won the presidency) and <span style="font-style:italic;">oh so humbly </span>assumes the poster-boy role of a new era: post-racial America.<br /><br />Here's what he said:<blockquote>"Welcome to post-racial America! I am the face of post-racial America. Deal with it, Cate Blanchett! We'd like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press ... especially me, 'cause a black man can't get no love at the Emmys. I love you, Europe! That's what's up!" </blockquote>So apparently Tracy Morgan now represents all the ethnicities and minorities that once divided America...does that even make any sense? Sounds like gibberish to me.<br /><br />Look, you can try to argue your case for what a post-racial America means, but I cannot accept it. I mean <span style="font-style:italic;">come on</span>, how can you be the face of something post-racial? What would that even look like?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2008/michael-jackson-neverland.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2008/michael-jackson-neverland.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />...I know, oldest joke in the book.sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08817407388535938946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-82165476881839248812009-01-07T16:46:00.000-08:002009-02-04T12:38:29.831-08:00Do I look like I sell drugs?<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ui6RvflfJsA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ui6RvflfJsA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />Originally published in <a href="http://www.in-color.net">InColor</a> Magazine <br /><br /><b>“Do I look like I sell drugs?”</b> I never thought to ask someone that question. I’ve never smoked or injected a narcotic. I don’t know how many different drugs exist. I can list maybe four. It took me a while to figure out what the hell NUMP, E-40 and The Federation meant when they were rappin’ “Who got purple? I got grapes.”...wait, what? I’ve never witnessed a drug deal or lived in a neighborhood infested with addicts. I doubt someone would assume that of me either. Maybe it’s because I don’t fit the “characteristics” of a dealer…that dark skinned, somewhat thuggish individual from the hood, sporting a fitted style with an abundant excess of gold, who wears baggy pants that sag from the buttock. <br /><br />And even if someone were to experience all of the above, why should that make he or she any more suspect? You really never know who’s hustlin’ and who’s not. It’s time to get that imagery out your head. Anyone can be a dope boy.<br /><br />For all the plenty of young colored folks that get dirty looks and don’t deserve it, DJ Al Azif does a smashing job of knocking a social construct while remixing Adam Tensta’s latest single “Dopeboy,” a Sweden-born Hip hop artist influenced by electro/house styles.<br /><br />Al Alzif broke out his digitalcam and filmed a bunch of ordinary citizens rocking out to “Dopeboy” each holding a piece of paper that reads the song’s hook, "Do I look like I sell drugs?" The home video features various individuals—from artists, the homeless, to Paris Hilton blondes, nurses and small business owners—poking fun at that very question. And while the straight lyrics, beat, and rhyme intoxicate, it’s just damn entertaining. You’ll laugh at the sight of the bald, ripped white farmer on the tractor and smile at the little kid flinging the crinkled inquiry over his head. <br /><br />Ridiculous isn’t it? And yet, it ironically caused me to think critically about the world around me—about the bias we have, the assumptions we make and the institutions that continue to perpetuate racial stereotypes and profiling. <br /><br />All over the world, those that are the most disproportionately impacted by drug control are not the major drug traffickers or ‘kingpins.’ Instead, the victims are the peasant farmers, small time dealers, low-level drug offenders, and its users. According to the Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme, the majority are poor, ethnic minorities who come from marginalized communities. <br /><br />The stereotype of drug dealers is that they are people of color. In the United States research by Human Rights Watch has shown that African-American men are sent to prison on drug charges at 13.4 times the rate of white men. Furthermore, 63 percent of all drug offenders admitted to state prisons were African-American and only 35 percent of whites are locked up, according to the Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy. African American’s make-up 13 percent of our U.S. population compared to the 80 percent that is white (Whites are the majority of drug users/dealers). <br /><br />Major props to Al Azif for shooting a creative home video that doesn’t discriminate. Whether you intended to or not, you moved me. So once again I must reiterate, this is for all people, especially colored people, who get dirty looks and don't deserve it. Bob and groove to this.<br /><br />To find more info and music by Adam Tensta and the funky DJ skills of Al Azif hit up: <br><br /><a href="http://www.alazif.se/" title="http://www.alazif.se/">http://www.alazif.se/</a><br><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/adamtensta" title="http://www.myspace.com/adamtensta">http://www.myspace.com/adamtensta</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-55809543117219787772009-01-07T04:44:00.000-08:002009-01-07T04:45:52.400-08:00Oscar Grant, young father and peacemaker, executed by Bart police<a href="http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2009/01/07/oscar-grant-young-father-and-peacemaker-executed-by-bart-police/" target="_blank"><em>Originally posted on Alas, a blog. Slightly modified.</em></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/oscar-grant-young-father-and-peacemaker-executed-by-bart-police/"><img title="Oscar Grants mother and her brother." src="http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/01/04/mn-bart05_ph_0499620483.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="324" /></a><br /></div><br />This is absolutly apauling (if you want you can see the video for yourself, I don't want to though, but you can find it pretty easily). I will be at the protest today at the Fruitvale Bart station at 3 pm if any other Bay Area folks who read my blog want to come along.<br /><blockquote>By now everyone has seen the horrific videos of an Oakland BART police officer shooting an unarmed Black man, Oscar Grant, while he lay face down on the ground and was fully cooperating. The man who was killed execution style was the father of a 4-year-old girl and was considered a peacemaker. In fact moments before he was shot he was pleading with his friends who were all cuffed up to calm down and be cooperative with police. Grant was seen begging the police officers, who had pulled tasers out and pointed them at the heads of his friends, not to shoot...(<a href="http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/oscar-grant-young-father-and-peacemaker-executed-by-bart-police/" target="_blank">Read More</a>)</blockquote>Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-18226832219670244782008-12-26T19:59:00.001-08:002008-12-26T20:02:47.211-08:00A Color Screen<a href="http://in-color.net/index.php/site/entry/a_color_screen/">Here is another blog pos</a>t I did which was adapted from an article I did for [X]Press Magazine, the SFSU school newspaper:<br /><br /><blockquote>Out of 177 magazines, 143 of the glamorous Photo-shopped portraits featured white men, women, teens and children. From Cosmo to Vogue, Shape and Swindle, from Maxim to Newsweek and ESPN, colored folk adorned the cover of ethno-centric magazines, but not in the general, mainstream public interest publications. It eats at me daily realizing that minorities continue to be under represented in the media, drowned out by a sea of white faces.<br /><br />Why is there such an under representation when in 2006 the nation’s minority population hit over 100 million? It increased more than 1.7 million the year before, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s one-third of the U.S. population today, larger than the total population of all but 11 countries, and more than there were people in the United States in 1910.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-48079086005333428792008-12-26T19:48:00.000-08:002008-12-26T19:58:39.214-08:00ART EXHIBIT - 1968: Celebrating Filipino Artists Commemorate an Era of RebellionI am blogging at a new blog called inCOLOR which is about fashion, design, entertainment, music, and the arts from the perspective of people of color. I will be cross-posting some of the stuff I do for it on <a href="http://in-color.net/index.php/site/entry/art_exhibit_-_1968_celebrating_filipino_artists_commemorate_an_era_of_rebel/">here is one post of an upcoming event in the East Bay</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>In 1968, the world was aflame with movements for national and social liberation. Wars raged from Angola to Vietnam, Bolivia to Guinea Bissau as the peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America fought to free themselves from colonial rule, neocolonial dictatorships, and imperial conquest. Politicized by the imperialist repression of both their countries abroad and their neighborhoods at home, Third World peoples living within the borders of the U.S. transformed their anger into militant national movements and organizations like the Red Guard, Young Lords, and Brown Beret, as the Black Panthers had done a few years earlier.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-61391523688411158482008-12-05T17:39:00.000-08:002008-12-05T17:41:57.742-08:00Gentrification and Community Organizing<span style="font-style: italic;">Cross-posted from <a href="http://themustardseed.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/gentrification-and-community-organizing/">The Mustard Seed</a>.</span><br /><br />Jack <a href="http://www.angrybrownbutch.com/2008/12/01/this-friday-in-brooklyn-premiere-of-a-new-film-on-gentrification-and-community-organizing/" target="_self">blogs</a>:<div class="snap_preview"> <blockquote><p>This Friday I’m heading to Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn for the <a href="http://furee.org/film/premiere/" target="_blank">premiere screening of <em>Some Place Like Home: The Fight Against Gentrification in Downtown Brooklyn</em></a>, a documentary by <a href="http://www.furee.org/" target="_blank">Families United for Racial and Economic Equality</a>. FUREE, a community organization lead by and comprised primarily of low-income women of color, has been rallying the community in a fight against the rampant development that’s going down in Downtown Brooklyn and the surrounding area. While developers, big business, and politicians alike claim they are only trying to improve the community, the development is being conducted with little care or concern for the residents and small business owners who are already there. <em>Some Place Like Home</em> documents the struggle of FUREE, the neighborhoods’ residents, and small businesses against the forces that are trying to push and bulldoze them out. Check out the trailer below.</p></blockquote> </div>Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-62384689990507831832008-12-02T19:51:00.001-08:002008-12-02T19:57:49.902-08:00Demands of Somali Pirates--More Reasonable Than You ThinkSo yeah, about those scary black pirates who've stormed our poor calm capitalist waters. Yeah, um, they're trying to tell you that your toxic waste is all up in their business down in Somalia.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images//2008/10/10/2008101061938785734_9.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 565px; height: 270px;" src="http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images//2008/10/10/2008101061938785734_9.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Oh silly American media, you forgot that part! <a href="http://news.google.com/news?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS268&um=1&tab=wn&nolr=1&q=Somali+pirates&btnG=Search+News">You only told me about the scary black men stealing booty</a>.<br /><br />How is it I have to go to "terrorist" news source, <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.html">Al Jazeera</a>, to find out that these "pirates" have much more depth to their attacks than what is immediately visible?<br /><br /><blockquote>Somali pirates have accused European firms of dumping toxic waste off the Somali coast and are demanding an $8m ransom for the return of a Ukranian ship they captured, saying the money will go towards cleaning up the waste.<br /><br />The ransom demand is a means of "reacting to the toxic waste that has been continually dumped on the shores of our country for nearly 20 years", Januna Ali Jama, a spokesman for the pirates, based in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, said.<br /><br />"The Somali coastline has been destroyed, and we believe this money is nothing compared to the devastation that we have seen on the seas."<br /><br />The pirates are holding the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and military hardware, off Somalia's northern coast.<br /><br />According to the International Maritime Bureau, 61 attacks by pirates have been reported since the start of the year.<br /><br />While money is the primary objective of the hijackings, claims of the continued environmental destruction off Somalia's coast have been largely ignored by the regions's maritime authorities.</blockquote><br />Now for the juicy part...<br /><blockquote>"Somalia has been used as a dumping ground for hazardous waste starting in the early 1990s, and continuing through the civil war there," he said.<br /><br />"European companies found it to be very cheap to get rid of the waste, costing as little as $2.50 a tonne, where waste disposal costs in Europe are something like $1000 a tonne.<br /><br />"And the waste is many different kinds. There is uranium radioactive waste. There is lead, and heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. There is also industrial waste, and there are hospital wastes, chemical wastes – you name it."<br /><br />Nuttall also said that since the containers came ashore, hundreds of residents have fallen ill, suffering from mouth and abdominal bleeding, skin infections and other ailments.</blockquote><br />You know, I get tired of that nonsensical public mentality that is only capable of understanding criminal-like activities as undeniably evil. Can't it be the case that people are forced into criminal activities when they are being consistently beaten down? Can't some people steal a ship to get some leverage in their demands for basic human rights like clean water for their peoples? <br /><br />When the world has turned its back on you and shat all over your water, it makes sense that your only option is to fight back by any means necessary.sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08817407388535938946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3330039258193454269.post-7545111068933259822008-11-27T19:46:00.000-08:002008-11-27T19:47:04.969-08:00Mumia Abul-Jamal on Thanksgiving<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/La_rKOjwvlY&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/La_rKOjwvlY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Jack Stephenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05349703689965815558noreply@blogger.com