September/October 2016: African American Mentions, News, and Articles of Interest

  Jean Genet knew how to speak his heart without pity or condescension. Now, we have learned how not to mistake solidarity feelings for feelings of pity among the representatives of the ruling culture. Genet, he already knew how to distinguish them. In his Yale speech, on the Mayday Speech day, he even goes so far as to advocate the…

Black Power, Black Manhood, and Black Womanhood: Voices from the Past and Present

‘Wathint’ Abafazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo’ (you strike the women, you strike the rock)   I think this is my time now and I’m goin’ to take it. Anybody’d be crazy not to take it.… I just don’t care about anything else right now but takin’ what my mother and my grandmother oughtta have had and they…

July/August 2016: African American Mentions, News, and Articles of Interest

Malcolm X was invited back to London by the African Society to address a large audience in the Old Theatre at the London School of Economics. In both addresses, Malcolm X moved the political discourse from civil rights to human rights and stated clearly and unequivocally that the Black liberation struggle had to be internationalized rather than ghettoized….

I was a Child Thief…Until being Arrested Scared me Straight

My Life, the short Version My home life wasn’t good growing up.  I didn’t have any father figures or mentors and my mom was never mentally healthy enough to teach me things about life and what I should do or don’t do in the world.  We moved around a lot because we was always getting…

June 2016: African American Mentions, News, and Highlights

In Native Son, Wright writes: “Goddammit, look! We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things and we ain’t. They do things and we can’t. It’s just like living in jail.” Vince Staples reminds us that the inner city still imprisons many. We should never forget that for some…

Journal Article: Democracy Came From Africa

Democracy (rule of the people) originates from Africa: is a statement of fact that many western scholars and general public predicated on racist and exploitative foundations seek to refute daily. It is conveniently forgotten that Solon the fore-father of Athenian democracy visited Egypt to learn about the tenets of the system there which he subsequently…

A Change of Perspective on Women: Malcolm X

One thing that I became aware of in my traveling recently through Africa and the Middle East in every country you go to, usually the degree of progress can never be separated from the woman. If you’re in a country that is progressive, then woman is progressive. If you’re in a country that reflects the…

Journal Article: Unarmed, But Still Dangerous????

Update on September 20, 2016: #Charles Kinsey, behavioral therapist was shot in the leg on July 18th with his hands up on the ground while yelling to the cops that he was unarmed and trying to calm down his client who ran into the street with a toy truck. They found in favor of the cops…

Destroying Stereotypes of the African American Mother

Roy and Burton (2007) indicated that some Black single mothers in their sample desired traditional, mainstream gender roles for their ideal families, despite the reality that their male partners were not meeting mainstream standards for masculinity. These studies provide only limited and indirect instruction about mothers’ goals and expectations for their sons and daughters. In…

Journal Article: Felon Disenfranchisement Laws and the Feedback Loop of Political Exclusion: the Case of Florida

I love journal articles!!  I am a fanatic when to comes to providing sources and believe that you can learn a lot from academics and professors.  If it were up to me, I would be reading different peer-reviewed and scholarly journals for life.  I will list from time to time certain articles that are of…

White Fragility: Crucial Conversations about Race

White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. – Robin DiAngelo Whiteness itself refers to the…