A Color Screen

Here is another blog post I did which was adapted from an article I did for [X]Press Magazine, the SFSU school newspaper:

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.

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.

ART EXHIBIT - 1968: Celebrating Filipino Artists Commemorate an Era of Rebellion

I 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 here is one post of an upcoming event in the East Bay:

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.

Reflections on the 2008 Presidential Election and the African American National Question

Du Bois and Mao

The rise of monopoly capitalism and the betrayal of Reconstruction locked the African American nation into a state of national oppression and set the conditions by which the national liberation struggle of African Americans and other oppressed nationalities are inextricably linked to the question of proletarian-socialist revolution. This theory was pioneered by the Comintern, particularly by the great African American communist leader, Harry Haywood. This was further developed by the New Communist Movement.

From this understanding, the recent election of the first Black president of the United States is particularly interesting. Because of the uneven development cemented into place by imperialism, the African American national question in the United States has a dual character with a democratic aspect embodied in the demand for full equality, and a revolutionary socialist aspect embodied in the demand for national self-determination...(Click here to read full blog post)

What Do We Want? A Five Part Series

I got this e-mail from the blogger Brown Man, check it out:

I've heard a constant refrain lately – at work, on TV, on the internet – from some of my black brethren about Barack Obama.

He doesn't need to "lecture black people" about personal responsibility.

He should be mindful of the tone he uses when he speaks to us.

He's just saying what racist white people want to hear.

He sacrifices black people to score points with whites and other non-blacks.

I was offended by his criticism of black people.

What gives him the right to call anybody out about anything?

Since he doesn't have anything good to say about black people he shouldn't say anything at all.

What do we want from this man?

Over the next five days, the blog Brown Man Thinking Hard presents "What Do We Want?" which will explore some of the issues that underlie this intraracial discord within black America.

New Podcast Section

So, in case anyone hasn't noticed yet, I have a new section (at my personal blog The Mustard Seed) in my right-side column. It's my podcast section. All you guys need ta do is just click on the pics to get where you wanna go. I update my music and news podcasts once a week.

Stuff White People Do

Cross-posted from The Blog and the Bullet.

Changeseeker blogs:

...last night, thanks to a comment by Professor Zero, I discovered a new blog called Stuff White People Do. The author is smart, right on the target, introspective and clever.

...

...if you haven't read Macon D. over at Stuff White People Do yet, then let me send you on over there post haste.

Just recognize that you're probably gonna be there for a while.

"Me" and Consciousness

Who am I? To you, I mean. Who am I, to you? I sit here writing, assuming a sort of authority to write, spewing my words into the depths of the internet for anyone to find. I know who I am, but how does that come across in the internet?

I recently received an email attacking my "about me" section on my personal blogger profile. Weird, because it is senseless, I can't really understand it. But in spite of this, I was struck by the email because it seems to be less an attack upon the issues I discuss and more of an attack on me. It is about me.

Subject: Your opinion "about me"

I sort of do not understand the premise of your comments. How are you a citizen of the United States of America yet feel foreign and then state that you are for those who voices are silent. In America opportunity is greater than anything. For those who are supposedly “silent” with opportunity they speak. Cubans are silent because no matter how much they scream and cry and disapprove the have no opportunity to go nowhere. Its sad to hear that So, if someone bombed the united states of America whose side would you be on since you feel foreign? And you really do teach rhetoric. Seems like you would have more regard for the country that gave you the ability to speak as crazy as you’d like without repercussions. Regardless of our problems here the opportunities that are afforded to us give us the voice in and of itself so there is no silence.

Why do I have to explain myself to you? An honest question, not a biting one. On the one hand, I could say, "you don't know me." Thus forcing dialogue to a close. On the other hand, I could say, "here is my life story," and spend hours trying to explain myself in vain.

Here's the beautiful thing: the reason I shouldn't have to explain myself is because I'm not writing to prove myself (how could I when my idea of myself is constantly changing?). I am writing to explore my own consciousness as a Latina, but more importantly, to reach out to others with the hope that what I say might affect them in any way. So if my "opinion" about myself seems unpatriotic or something, then that's only because you have a very different idea of what is patriotic than me.

What's the point of blogging here, then? I write because consciousness (and double consciousness) is idealistically about infinite awareness. It is about never cementing oneself in ideas about the world and its people because the dynamics of such are always changing. Consciousness is to me a contradictory state--you acquire it by never accomplishing it.

You are conscious by always realizing that you do not know everything--that your consciousness must always be expanding because there is always something you are not conscious of. I don't know who I am to you, or who you are to me. I just love the fact that we don't have to know each other to rework our respective consciousnesses here on this blog.

On Being an Ally: Admitting When You're Wrong

In honor of The Angry Black Woman and her call for a Carnival of Allies (which by the way I'm late for, the deadline was May 5th, oh well) I would like to briefly write a post on what it means to be an ally and on how being an ally doesn't mean you stop being racist and benefiting from white privilege.

In order to be an ally one has to, first and foremost, look critically at one's self and one's own privilege before one can start pointing out the ills in the greater society and in pointing out the racism of others. It's kinda pointless to go around pointing out the white privilege of others when one doesn't critically examine their own white privilege and how they got to the point where they are at right now.

Of course, this doesn't mean that you become like an Irish hermit and retreat to the hills and critically reflect on your self and fast for five years, you should still study how white privilege affects the broader society, how racism is institutionalized in this country, and one should always be aware and attuned to racism. However, first and foremost, at least in the beginning, one should spend time on being critical of their own privileges, male, heterosexual, white, class, etc.

And even when one does this, this doesn't mean that they are "cured" of racism. Racism in endemic in this society and whites are, in a way, stewed to perfection and marinated in this racism and white privilege and grow up thinking that white privilege doesn't exist and thinking that they got everything off of their own merit. This doesn't go away easy, and in my opinion, it never goes away fully. So one can be an ally and still be racist, hetero-sexist, classist, etc.

Case in point from my life. I recently incorporated a racist title in one of the my posts for The Blog and the Bullet without even knowing it. Why is that? Well, for one, even though I am a self-proclaimed ally and have been called an ally by others I can still be racist due to the fact that as a white heterosexual male I'm still not fully attuned to racism within society and within myself because I benefit fully from a white supremacist society and a heterosexist society and a sexist society. Despite my fight against white supremacy I can still be racist due to my privilege.

On The Blog and the Bullet I had posted a blog post by Phil Yu on a bunch of racist t-shirts being sold in Chicago, in....errrrr...."honor"? of Chicago's newest acquisition for their bench, Kosuke Fukudome. All of my posts on that blog are automatically cross-posted to the larger Alas, a bog, by Amptoons creator Barry.

The title for my blog post was "Horry Cow, That's Racist!" a play off of the slogan on the racist shirts in Chicago and on Phil Yu's catch phrase, That's Racist! Well, if Phil Yu was to blog on my title for that post he would most definetely say, That's Racist! Because despite me trying to do a play on words in that post it ended up being completely and utterly racist and offensive. The reason why it escaped my attention was because of my white privilege. Thinking it was only a play on words but not realizing how racist it truly was. I didn't pay too much attention to that post until Barry, a fellow white ally, e-mailed me to check out the recent comment thread on that post. And I did.

On the tread Tom Autopref rightfully pointed out:

The shirt really is obnoxious.

Hey … I can’t speak for Japanese or other Asian folks, but is the post title here problematic?

To which Katie replied:

Asian person here.

Yeah, I’d *really* rather not see the original slur repeated as the title of this post. Wow.

As well as Kai rightfully pointing out:

I found the original title, as well as the previous post title pointed out at Resist Racism, to be, yes, incredibly racist. Snickering at stereotypical Asian accents? Really? Unfortunately, these titles have forced me re-think my view of this blog, its authors and its commenting community.

And:

I hope you see where I’m coming from. I’m sure it’s all been well-intentioned but I was rather stunned by the lack of consciousness on this front.

To which I replied:

Sorry for not posting this earlier. I never read the comment thread until now nor did I receive Barry’s e-mail (not sure why).

I sincerely apologize for that racist title. Kai made some great points in pointing out that reusing the racist slogan from those shirts in Chicago was, in itself, racist and hurtful and I apologize profusely for that error and for the title post. I essentially was playing off of the title on the shirt and on Phil’s catch phrase but it ended up being racist (not coming off as racist, but simply racist). And again, I apologize.

I’d like to thank Barry for pointing this out in another e-mail (in where he mentioned the previous e-mail that never got to me) and to Tom Autopref for originally pointing it out and for Kai as well.

As a white male I am obviously unaware, no matter how hard I try, of certain aspects of racism within this country, even if I try to be anti-racist there is no such thing as erasing one’s white privielge and raicsm and therefore anti-racist allies can still be racist despite striving to be anti-racist. So I again thank Kai and Tom for pointing this out to me and for Kai in making his very apt commentary on the racism of my title.

Being an ally doesn't mean you stop being racist and stop receiving white privilege and one shouldn't be shocked at being called racist despite their self-proclamation (or through the proclamation of others) that they are an "ally."

"I can't be racist! I'm an ally!" or liberal, or a democrat, or that you have a "friend," etc. Because the fact is, as my lapse in judgment has shown, that one can be racist and consider themselves to be an ally.

As an ally one should also expect, and be thankful for, confrontation from their other allies and from those whom they organize with if they perceive a certain aspect of racism, sexism, classism, hetero-sexism, etc. seeping through. As an ally one needs to be receptive to this and not simply brush it off as being "too sensitive," "not gettin' it," "misinterpreting it," etc., because that would automatically puts you in the camp completely opposite of an ally and you end up using the language of the oppressor to defend yourself instead of using the langauge of an ally and a self-critical person to correct one's self.

If one is an ally than one would truly show it when they do get called out; will you react defensively or will you self analyze critically? That's one of the tests. And when you do self analyze it doesn't mean you get a cookie; one shouldn't get rewards for doing the right thing.

Image From:
Zuky

A Call to Allies

Cross-posted from The Blog and the Bullet.

The Angry Black Woman is hosting the first (and possible only) Carnival of Allies. All posts are due May 5th!

This got me thinking about those white folks who exist in that liminal space where they are against racism but don’t understand how it works and get defensive, hurt, and freaked out when folks point out how they benefit from it without trying...I am wondering how you turn that kind of person into an ally. I’m wondering if maybe I cannot simply because, when they read my words, they are so filled with defensiveness and perhaps guilt, nothing I say can get through. If they can’t listen to me, can they maybe listen to other White people?

...

I call a Carnival. The Carnival of Allies. Where self-identified allies write to other people like themselves about why this or that oppression and prejudice is wrong. Why they are allies. Why the usual excuses are not good enough. I figure allies probably know full well all the many and various arguments people throw up to make prejudice and oppression okay. Things that someone on the other side of the fence may not hear. Address those things and more besides.

And when I say allies, I’m talking about any and every type. PoC can be (and should be) allies to other PoC, or to LGBTQ people if they are straight, or any number of other combinations. If you feel like you’re an ally and have something to say about that, you should submit to this carnival.

Views: Feminism, Appropriation, and Racism

Cross-posted from The Blog and the Bullet.

Some more views across the blogoshpere on the recent controversy surrounding Marcotte and BFP. However, it is not just about one incident but a whole history of appropriating ideas from people of color in order to benefit those white "intellectuals" and "activists. As "Sudy" says, the "demand for writers/bloggers to "stop stealing" far exceeds the events (disasters) of this week or just BFP herself...I'm not talking about one singular instance that set me off into a knee-jerk reactionary post, I'm speaking about a maddening phenomenon of disregarding BODIES of work."

High on Rebellion:

Anyone who reads BFP regularly knows that she has done a lot of writing on immigration and particularly the racism and sexism faced by immigrant women in the US during the current climate of hysteria.

And now, she is understandably upset that Amanda Marcotte from Pandagon has published an article that happens to make all the same points BFP has made time and again and her blog - and yet, at no point has BFP been linked.

Sylvia dissects Marcotte's post on Alternet bit by bit, pointing out each phrase that Marcotte appropriated from women of color and men of color:

THAT’S the sinister nature of appropriation. And in this instance, by not linking to anyone that inspired her viewpoint — forget BFP, even — Amanda tapped into this narrative that has been tapped into by countless folks online and offline. And each leaking into this scheme hurts and makes the victims of invisibility less than charitable once someone white sees us and says, “Hey, what’s wrong? Please write us a book report with cross checks and proper cites, perfect spelling and grammar, and completely objective — that means don’t interpose your oversensitivity into it — yes, please write us a great screed telling us everything very clearly about what’s wrong. One ‘t’ uncrossed, and you lose your argument. And please, make sure you note everyone involved; if you fail to do so, that’s intellectually dishonest and we’ll refuse to engage with you!”

She also wrote:

I can’t keep doing this to my stomach and my health, my consciousness and my emotions, my work and life. And since the woman I did it for has asked for it to stop, I will honor that.

"Sudy" at A Womyn's Ecdysis:

BFP was certainly part of my thought process, but this demand for writers/bloggers to "stop stealing" far exceeds the events (disasters) of this week or just BFP herself. This post vomited on the years of hearing echos in the blogosphere with no visible credit or citation to others' contributions. My links are specific, but my point is wider. I'm not talking about one singular instance that set me off into a knee-jerk reactionary post, I'm speaking about a maddening phenomenon of disregarding BODIES of work . And I'm tired of something that is so deeply problematic being casually normalized by writers and readers of feminism.

Fetch Me My Axe:

Look. It's not that difficult a concept. A woman who's under the radar, relative to you, posts important news stories that are, in turn, under the radar. Both her under-the-radarness and the stories' have to do with, surprise, marginalization in ways that go beyond simple sexism: y'know, racism AND sexism, for instance. She works hard at building community and getting the word out about important stories. You, on the other hand, are primarily concerned with self-aggrandizement.

For a year or two or more, you steadfastly ignore her, on the whole. Certainly you don't bother to link to the stories she's covering; that would be too much like giving someone else credit. No. You wait. Maybe you're even at the same conference as this other woman, not so long ago, wherein she speaks on these same issues. And then, you post the stories and the POV the woman has been eloquently -trying- to get you to listen to for all this time...without a hint that you know who this person is. Kudos rain in. For you. Applause, applause, there's nothing like applause.

Beautiful, Also, Are the Souls of my Black Sisters:

But, as so often happens in the blogosphere, the voices of WOC are suppressed, silenced and downright ignored. Appropriation is the rule of the day, the law of the land, where WOC are concerned. We have been resisting oppression in this world for centuries, for generations, and no one wants to hear our voices. Very few want to give us credit for calling attention to the myriad injustices that exist in this world. As so often happens, when WOC give voice to the many isms that affect women the world over, we are simply derided, castigated, tagged-tarred-and-feathered as “angry”, “bitter”, “mean”, “bossy”, or the worse of all epithets—”hard to get along with”.

Team Rainbow:

In the months that Team Rainbow has been online, I have never once felt the need to get involved in any inter-blogular conflict. However, "X"'s co-opting of BFP's once powerful message is a matter that goes beyond interpersonal/interblog politics. It is a powerful symbol of a larger problem, which is the silencing of WOC writers, activists, and leaders by the more privileged sectors of the feminist movement. I can't hold a candle to BFP's brilliance, her breadth and depth and relevance of knowledge regarding WOC issues. So today I will write about my own people, my own heritage, and where we went wrong.

XicanoPwr writes:

I have read many blogs, but there is something about Brownfemipower. I have never met Brownfemipower personally, nor have I talked to her personally. But her words were powerful to inspire me to think in new ways, especially when it came to women issue. She has not only opened my eyes, but has challenged me.

...

En lucha mi amiga!

Rebbecca of Burning Words:

It’s a bit of an understatement that [X] doesn’t exactly have the best record on race issues. The sort of feminist issues that you’ll see covered at Brownfemipower’s essentially never see the light of day at Pandagon, and she’s been called out more than a few times over the years for dismissing and silencing women of colour when they’ve called her out about offensive comments that she’s made.

The SmackDog Chronicles:

And what does it say for AlterNet, which has never seen fit to allow more radical activists of color to impugne their pages, but frequently allows established A-list liberal feminist bloggers like Amanda Marcotte (and antiporn “leftists” like Bob Jensen and Gail Dines, too, BTW) to claim to represent the entire “progressive” diaspora unopposed and unburdened by actual debate and discussion???

Think Girl:

White feminists (and I am one myself), leave behind your notions of what feminism entails. We need to stop centering feminist work on such things as pop culture analysis, white women’s body images, and abortion. I’m not saying we should never talk about such things, but that feminism must work in step with so many many more movements: anti-racism, anti-classism, environmental issues, immigrant rights, anti-U.S. imperialism, LGBTQI rights, disability rights, anti-prison industrial complex, and so much more than I could quickly list here. Just as importantly, when we link with these movements, we must be careful to give credit when credit is due. We must expand our views to build coalitions, not for any less noble reason, such as to diversify our work. Please, join in this transformation; it is long overdue.

I end with Jessica Hoffmann saying:

you are bigger and more beautiful and insightful and important and revelatory and warm and liberating and transcending than i can even begin to express in words.

wish i could give you a hug and cook a hot, colorful dinner for you.

i'm cooking for some local make/shift folks tomorrow night, and you'd better know there will be many a toast in your honor.

xo

[Many o' Hat Tips: High on Rebellion, ¡Para Justicia y Libertad!]

Announcement: Erase Racism Carnival

The Erase Racism Carnival will not be up today. I am shooting for the 30th or the 31st to keep it within the month of March. The reason being is that I got a dismal list of posts e-mailed to me from folks who don't exactly know what anti-racism work is about. So because of this I will be scouring the net for posts from the last month from people who I know will have some good stuff to say and then ask for their permission to link their post in this months Erase Racism Carnival. Sorry for the delay but this was a step that was needed to be taken.

Erase Racism Carnival Coming Up

It's been almost a year since I hosted the Erase Racism Carnival, and this month I'm hosting it again. I've already gotten a few posts submitted to me but they're not exactly what the Double Consciousness team is looking for. We want posts that mainly cover:

• White privilege
• Explaining what it is, how it manifests itself, breaking it down, history of white privilege.
  
• Combating white privilege
• Racism in 21st century America
• Institutionalized racism
• Government, families, law, etc.
• White supremacy
  
• And generally posts on racism itself. Not just posts (some of which I have received) on how racism is bad and how we all need to just get along.

You can e-mail me your posts at jack [dot] m [dot] stephens [at] gmail [dot] com.

Image From:
Brother Peace Maker

Erase Racism Carnival Oct. 2007 Edition

This months Erase Racism Carnival is up at Kill Bigotry:

The 20 posts have been divided into 4 categories: 1) Our Criminal (in)justice System; 2) Quotes that Made you Run to your Computer; 3) A Trip around the Color Wheel; and 4) A History of Violence. Finally, although tedious, I thoroughly enjoyed the process of being informed and enlightened by so many of you. — MODI

Erase Racism Carnival Call for Posts

If you have a post that you would like to submit to this months Erase Racism Carnival being held at Kill Bigotry! you have until Oct. 17th to submit it.

Semi-Missing

I've been pretty busy with school, my student org I'm involved with, and my union work. While I haven't been blogging on here all that much I have been blogging (almost daily) on my blog The Ghost of Tom Joad on my issues with UPS management and my union work. I do plan on blogging about a recent article in my school newspaper (where I used to take pics at) and on the O'Reilly "I can't believe Blacks have manners" incident.

Sept. 2007 Erase Racism Carnival

This months Erase Racism Carnival was just posted up at ReadingWritingLiving, check it out:

This carnival’s topic is Erase Racism, and you can see the many other carnivals that have been posted so far. I’ve been collecting submissions since August, and there is a great collection of thought-provoking stuff. So settle down, get comfortable, click away, read and think.

Afro-Spear

There's this great community of bloggers out there called Afro-Spear that is a group of bloggers of African decent. Now apparently Double Consciousness is apart of Afro-Spear (or allied with) too despite the editors being white/Latino and Pilipino and one of the contributors being Pinay. But the other contributor is Black/Irish, so, hey, if Afro-Spear wants us appart of their community than I'm all for it. If not, cool with me. I just hope that the moderator who added us to Afro-Spear knows the ethnic make-up of the bloggers on Double Consciousness.

Image From:
Invisible Woman...Black Cinema At Large

The Ghost of Tom Joad

I have a new blog out about my experiences as a Teamster shop steward and worker at UPS. Just started off my first post with lyrics from the song which gives my blog it's namesake, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen:

Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I'll be there
Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin' hand
Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."

Knowing Our History

Professor Black Woman recently posted a blog stating:

Miss Profe recently suggested we post books that help us all develop a more historical sense of oppression across cultures and stand in solidarity with one another

So, here is my list of books that I think would help in our fight against racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression in our everyday lives.

For books on race please check our Book section in the right hand column on our web page. For other books and journal articles:

Economics and Class Studies

Ambedkar, B. R. Annihilation of Caste. Bhim Patrika Publications, 1936.

Black, William K. The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L Industry. University of Texas Press, 2005.

Chalcraft, John T. The Striking Cabbies of Cairo and Other Stories: Crafts and Guilds in Egypt, 1863-1914. State University of New York Press, 2004.

Chalermsripinyorat, Rungrawee. “Politics of Representation: A Case Study of Thailand’s Assembly of the Poor.” Critical Asian Studies 36, no. 4 (2004): 541-566.

Darlington, Ralph. “There is no Alternative: Exploring the Options in the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike.” Capital & Class no. 87 (Autumn 2005):71-95.

Ghose, Sagarika. “The Dalit in India.” Social Research 70, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 83-109.

Grey, Mary. “Dalit Women and the Struggle for Justice in a World of Global Capitalism.” Feminist Theology: The Journal of Britain & Ireland School of Feminist Theology 14, no. 1 (Sept. 2005): 127-149.

Gutman, Huck. “Capitalism as a World Economy.” Monthly Review 55, no. 4 (Sept. 2003): 1-13.

Lukács, Georg. History and Class Consciousness. MIT Press, 1972.

Meera, Nanda. “A ‘Broken People’ Defend Science: Reconstructing the Deweyan Buddha of India’s Dalits.” Social Epistemology 15, no. 4 (Oct. 2001): 335-365.

Perelman, Michael. The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secrete History of Primitive Accumulation. Duke University Press, 2000.

Reiman, Jeffery. The Rich Get Rich The Poor Get Prison, Eighth Edition. Allyn & Bacon, 2006.

Rourke, Thomas R. “Michael Novak and Yves R. Simon on the Common Good and Capitalism.”
Review of Politics 58, no. 2 (Spring 1996): 229-258.

Sharma, Arvind. “Dr. B. R. Ambedkar on the Aryan Invasion and the Emergence of the Caste
System in India.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 73, no. 3 (Sept. 2005): 843-870.

Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. Knopf, 2004.

Jondhale, Surendra and Johannes Beltz, eds. Reconstructing the World: B. R. Ambedkar and Buddhism in India. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Weil, Robert. “Conditions of the Working Classes in China.” Monthly Review 58, no. 2 (June
2006): 25-48.

Woods, Ellen Meiksins. The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View. Verso, 2002.

Marxian/Marxist Thought

Foster, John B. Marx's Ecology: Materialism and Nature. Monthly Review Press, 2000.

Hinkelammert, Franz J. The Ideological Weapons of Death: A Theological Critique of Capitalism. Orbis Books, 1986.

Llorente, Renzo. “Analytical Marxism and the Division of Labor.” Science & Society 70, no. 2
(2006): 232-251.

Mandel, Ernest. An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory. Pathfinder Press, 1974.

Marx, Karl. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy Volume I. Translated by Ben Fowkes.
London: Pelican Books, 1976. Reprint, Penguin Classics, 1990.

Tucker, Robert C. The Marx-Engels Reader. W. W. Norton & Company, 1978.

Wayne, Mike. "Fetishism and Ideology: A Reply to Dimoulis and Milious." Historical Materialism 13, no. 3 (2005: 193-218.

Wood, Elisabeth Jean. Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Politics and International Relations

Achcar, Gilbert. “U.S. Imperial Strategy in the Middle East.” Monthly Review 55, no. 9 (Feb.
2004): 23-36.

Achar, Gilbert. Eastern Cauldron: Islam, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq in the Marxist Mirror. Monthly Review Press, 2003.

Davis, Michael. “Human Rights and the War in Iraq.” Journal of Human Rights 4, no. 1 (January- March 2005): 37-44.

Dean, John W. Worse the Watergate: The Secrete Presidency of George W. Bush. Little, Brown and Company, 2004.

Dorrien, Gary. “Consolidating the Empire: Neoconservatism and the Politics of American
Dominion.” Political Theology 6, no. 4 (Oct. 2005): 409-428.

FitzGerald, Francis. Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam. Back Bay Books, 2002.

Friedman, Thomas L. From Beirut to Jerusalem. Anchor, 1990.

Karp, Walter. The Politics of War: Two Wars Which Forever Altered The Political Life of the American Republic, 1890-1920. Moyer Bell, 2003.

Kinzer, Stephen. All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. Wiley, 2003.

Mann, Michael. Incoherent Empire. Verso, 2003.

Mann, Michael. The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing. Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Mayer, Jane. “The Hidden Power: The Legal Mind Behind the White House’s War on Terror.” New Yorker 82, no. 20 (July 3, 2006).

Power, Samantha. A Problem From Hell: America in the Age of Genocide. Basic Books, 2002.

Roseman, Nils. “Privatized War and Corporate Impunity.” Peace Review 17, no. 2 & 3 (April-Sept. 2005): 273-287.

Silverstein, Ken. “The Minister of Civil War: Bayan Jabr, Paul Bremer, and the Rise of the Iraqi
Death Squads.” Harper’s Magazine 313, no. 1875 (August, 2006): 67-73.

Sluka, Jeffery A. Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terror. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.

Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1999.

Queer Studies (I need to work on reading more on this)

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. Vintage, 1990.

Valocchi, Stephen and Robert J. Corber, eds. Queer Studies: An Interdisciplinary Reader. Blackwell Publishing Limited, 2003.

Wilchins, Riki. Queer Theory, Gender Theory: An Instant Primer. Alyson Books, 2004.

Race (Not covered in Book section)

Aguilar Jr., Filomeno. “Tracing Origins: Ilustrado Nationalism and the Racial Science of Migration Waves.” Journal of Asian Studies 64, no. 3 (Aug. 2005): 605-637.

Blum, Edward J. “‘There Won’t Be Any Rich People In Heaven’: The Black Christ, White
Hypocrisy, and The Gospel According To W. E. B. Du Bois.” The Journal of African American
History 90, no. 4 (2005): 368-386.

Blum, Edward J. W. E. B. Du Bois: American Prophet. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.

Charles, Camille Zubrinsky. “The Dynamics of Racial Residential Segregation.” Annual Review of Sociology 29, no. 1 (2003): 167-207.

Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Routledge, 2000.

Gichaara, Jonathan. “Issues in African Liberation Theology.” Black Theology: An International
Journal 3, no. 1 (Jan. 2005): 75-85.

Jalata, Asafa. “Revisiting the Black Struggles: Lessons for the 21 Century.” Journal of Black Studies 33, no. 1 (Sept. 2002): 86-116.

Kawai, Yuko. “Stereotyping Asian Americans: The Dialectic of the Model Minority and the Yellow Peril.” Howard Journal of Communications 16, no. 2 (April/June 2005): 109-130.

Li, David. “On Ascriptive and Acquisitional Americanness: The Accidental Asian and The Illogic of Assimilation.” Contemporary Literature 45, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 106-134.

Min Zhou and Yang Sao Xiong "The Multifaceted American Experiences of the Children of Asian Immigrants: Leassons for Segmented Assimilation." Ethnic and Racial Studies 28, no. 6 (Nov. 2005): 1119-1152.

Neville, Helen A., et. al. “Color-Blind Racial Ideology and Psychological False Consciousness
Among African Americans.” Journal of Black Psychology 31, no. 1 (2005): 27-45.

West, Cornel. The Cornel West Reader. Basic Civitas Books, 2000.

Wing, Bob. “Harry Chang: A Seminal Theorist of Racial Justice.” Monthly Review 58, no. 8 (Jan. 2006): 23-31.

History and Religion

Bastone, David, et. al, eds. Liberation Theology, Postmodernity and the Americas. Routledge, 1997.

Brown, Robert McAfee. Liberation Theology: An Introductory Guide. Westminster John Knox Press, 1993.

Burleigh, Michael. Earthly Powers: The Clash of Religion and Politics in Europe, from the French Revolution to the Great War. Harper Collins, 2006.

Campbell Tracy. Deliver the Vote: A History of Election Fraud, An American Tradition, 1742-2004. Carroll & Graf, 2005.

Cone, James H. A Black Theology of Liberation. Orbis Books, 1990.

Van Cott, Donna Lee. From Movements to Parties in Latin America: The Evolution of Ethnic Politics. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Feldman, Allen. Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland. University of Chicago Press, 1991.

Fiorenza, Elisabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. Herder & Herder, 1994.

Grandin, Greg. The Blood of Guatemala: A History of Race and Nation. Duke University Press, 2000.

Gutierrez, Gustavo. A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation. Orbis Books, 1988.

MacFarquhar, Roderick and Michael Schoenhals. Mao's Last Revolution. Belknap Press, 2006.

Marsden, George. Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism. Oxford University Press, 1982.

Morris, Benny. The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Nadeau, Kathleen. Liberation Theology in the Philippines: Faith in a Revolution. Praeger Publishers, 2001.

Saxton, Alexander. Religion and the Human Prospect. Monthly Review Press, 2006.

Yaqub, Salim. Containing Arab Nationalism: The Eisenhower Doctrine and the Middle East. The University of North Carolina Press, 2006.

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present. Harper Perennial, 2003.

Check Out the Newest Erase Racism Carnival

The Angry Black Woman hosted this months Erase Racism Carnival today:

This is a very media-heavy edition, mainly because media issues are very interesting to me. The summer movie season is starting to heat up and this season’s television shows are coming to an end, allowing us to examine them completely. There’s plenty to talk about in the realm of literature, too. So, get comfortable, grab a drink, and settle in. There’s a lot of great stuff to read.