The Bee Hive

The Bee is Still Buzzing!

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Hi all!

I just want to say thanks to those of you who take time to visit the blog and share your thoughts, comments, ideas, and viewpoints with me through your posts and your emails.

Been super busy with this wonderful, wild, wacky thing called life, so I know I'm way behind on news updates and other posts. But if you're a regular visitor and you've been wondering where I am, don't worry, I'll be posting some new stuff very soon!

Thanks again, I truly appreciate your time! There are thousands of blogs out there and the fact that you visit mine really means a lot :-)

Peace and Wonder!

Women's Equality Day: Much To Celebrate, Much Work Still To Do

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:20:00 +0000

Today marks the 89th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. After a long, hard fight, women were finally given the right to vote in this country on August 26, 1920. In 1971 (the year I was born), Bella Abzug, the first Jewish woman elected to Congress, was pivitol in getting a resolution passed through Congress that would designate August 26 national "Women's Equality Day."

21 years after that resolution passed, I voted for the first time in the 1992 presidential election. This was not only a significant rite of passage for me, a young, idealistic college student who believed anything was possible, it was a monumental moment for my mother, who also voted for the first time in her life that year. After falling victim to the devastating ultra-conservative, right wing policies of the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations, she had finally had enough and decided to exercise the little bit of political power she as a poor black woman possessed: her right to vote. So together she and I went downtown to register and together we went to the polls in November to cast our ballots. She voted in every local and federal election from then until her death in 2002, and I, following the example she set, have done the same.

Because of that moment in my life, the 19th Amendment took on a special significance for me. When I reflect on the importance of Women’s Equality day, it is my mother, her life, and her determination to exercise her political power that gives me reason to rejoice at how far women have come. But amidst the many causes for celebration, I hope we do not lose sight of the very stark reality that women have still not achieved full inclusion. There is much to do. In disproportionate numbers, women continue to be the victims of violence and abuse. Fatherhood is still not held to the same level of significance and accountability as motherhood, so women continue to shoulder the burden of being the primary caretakers of children and families. Women are still underrepresented in fields requiring advanced degrees but overrepresented in skilled labor and service industry jobs, and are often the victims of wage discrimination. And women still have less political power than males, which is the greatest cause of feminine oppression since having economic and political power in this country is critical for creating true, lasting change.

When I reflect on the work and passion of women like Ida B. Wells, Bella Abzug, and many, many others who took up the cause of women's rights, I wonder where that passion for feminist equality has gone in this post modern age. What happened? Where is the energy and fire from women of my generation? And young women - where are they in the struggle? It seems that advancement has lulled women into a false sense of accomplishment, just as it did with blacks in the post-civil rights era. Like many African-Americans, women have been fooled into believing that the struggle is over. We believe the lie that consumerism is the answer to personal fulfillment. We've been side-tracked and distracted by the yummy candy and shiny trinkets those with real political power have dangled in front of us in order to deflect us from the real problems and issues that plague our society.

Yes, much has changed for women, and to say otherwise would be a tremendous insult to the folks who made possible the many opportunities now open to women of my generation. But the presence of certain rights and freedoms does not automatically equal the absence of inequality. The dark legacy of oppression created by male privilege and sexism is alive and well, thank you very much. It boggles my mind that there are women who, in this day and age - the 21st century of the new Millenium - are still so blinded and brainwashed by patriarchy that they fear even the mention of the word feminism. These are the women Germaine Greer referred to when she said, "the fear of freedom is strong in us." These are the women who will cuss you out if you even put their name in the same sentence with the word feminist, yet they are the first ones to take advantage of (and benefit from) the opportunities, rights, and freedoms that the rest of us who proudly proclaim ourselves feminists are struggling to maintain.

There is a sad irony in the words "Women's Equality Day." It is an irony that arises from the reality that women are not yet truly equal in American society. And yet there is also much hope in those words; hope for the present and the future of women's equality. Still, I worry that if women and our male allies continue to rest on our laurels, whatever remaining hope we have will diminish completely, and we will see a return to a time when women lacked options and lived like second class citizens; a time when the only expectations for a woman was to have babies, cook, clean, and be the people whose backs were the bridges that men trampled over in homes, churches, schools, and the workplace.

As I think about where we go from here in the struggle for women's equality, and how best to get there, I have no easy answers. But I challenge women and our male allies to look upon Women's Equality Day and everyday as a new and exciting opportunity to continue the work that so many brave women and men began many, many years ago. I challenge us to not stop until we reach a point in time where future generations of young women will have no idea what it once meant to be a woman in a male-dominated society, except through the stories they will read in dusty old history books.

Shame on You Linda Chavez!

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:00:00 +0000

By E.N. Jackson
Frost Illustrated Newspaper, Inc. Vol. 41, Issue 34
Copyright 2009

So it’s official. We now, for the first time in American history, have a woman of color sitting on the highest bench in the land. Judge Sonia Sotomayor held her ground, did what she felt she had to do, and was eventually confirmed and sworn in as the next Supreme Court Justice of the United States. Quite a fete accompli to say the least. But in spite of this incredible victory, I cannot help but think back to the actions of one witness in particular who attempted to completely derail the Sotomayor train on day 4 of the Senate Judicial confirmation hearings.

As I watched that day’s proceedings, my stomach churned and my head nearly exploded when Linda Chavez, right-wing conservative, Chairperson of The Center for Equal Opportunity, and Fox News political analyst, sat before the judicial committee and accused Sonia Sotomayor of – among other things – playing identity politics, being a radical leftist, disrespecting Congress and the Constitution, and generally being completely undeserving on every level of being the next Supreme Court Justice. Chavez seemed hell bound and determined to say and do anything she could to disparage everything about Sotomayor, both personally and professionally, and ended by saying that she "respectfully" urges the committee not to confirm Sotomayor as a Supreme Court justice. Sadly but not surprisingly, Chavez was the most vehement and vocal of the opposing witnesses in conveying her opposition to Sotomayor's nomination. Not even New Haven, CT firefighter Frank Ricci, whose discrimination case Sotomayor presided over, spoke against her in such a viciously personal and denigrating way.

Before I am accused of pulling a "Jeff Sessions" (the racist Senator who once called white lawyers a "disgrace to their race" for defending black litigants in a court case), let me just say that Linda Chavez may think, feel, act, and do whatever she wants. I do not believe that just because she is a woman and a Latina she must defend, like, or support someone with whom she clearly has political, ideological, and philosophical differences. However, that having been said, I also claim my right to call into question Chavez’s motives and actions as she faced the men and women (all white) in whose hands Sonia Sotomayor's fate lies. Why would this woman be so dogged and determined in her attempts to derail the Sotomayor train? Why the intense playa hatin’?

Though she would deny it until she was blue in the face, my belief is that Chavez, like so many minorities who have internalized their oppression, sees other minorities like Sotomayor as a clear and direct threat to everything she has achieved. People like Chavez are individuals who, instead of celebrating the success of someone from their community and seeing that success as their own, instantly react with intense scorn, resentment, and jealousy to that success. Why? Well, most likely because Sotomayor has done something incredible, something most minorities in positions of power try so hard to do but often fail miserably at: she has managed to stay true to herself, her people, her cultural roots, and her principles while at the same time appreciating the richness and diversity of what other races, cultures, and genders have to offer. Put plainly, she has resisted the call to “Tom” her way up the ladder.

Sotomayor’s success lies in stark contrast to the success of the Chavezes of the world who have succeeded primarily because of their willingness to turn themselves inside out trying to maintain the status quo. They obey the rule that says minorities must color within the lines, and not demand too much of the world around them, even when operating in this way is detrimental to themselves and other minorities. Where Linda Chavez is the symbol of what happens when you deny who one you are in order to become someone else's ideal of who you should be, Sonia Sotomayor is the anti-Chavez and stands as evidence that you don’t have to turn against yourself or your community in order to be declared an "American Success Story."

But Chavez's actions on day 4 of the confirmation hearings were really no surprise and are actually in keeping with the attack dog way in which she has been going after Sotomayor for years. When the firefighter case broke, this added yet more fuel to her fire, so to speak, and true to character she went on the attack, claiming "reverse discrimination.” She even wrote an essay entitled "When Whites Are Discriminated Against" in which she criticizes the panel of 2nd circuit court judges (which included Sotomayor) that upheld a lower court ruling which decided in favor of the city of New Haven, CT rather than in favor of the firefighters (source: jewishworldreview.com). While I understand the frustration and anger felt by Mr. Ricci and the other New York firefighters who clearly believe they were dealt an incredible injustice, I am nonetheless astonished by how quickly Chavez and others like her rush to the defense of whites who feel they have been discriminated against. Yet they just as quickly dismiss the claims of women, people of color, and other minority groups who suffer an endless variety of bigotry and discrimination day in and day out. In fact, if women, people of color, the poor, and members of the GLBT community had a dollar for every time they have been passed up for a promotion or otherwise barred access due to their gender, sexuality, or skin tone, they would be exceedingly wealthy. And if these same groups pursued legal action every single time they felt they had been discriminated against, the courts would be DROWNING in cases.

If anything, those firefighters stand as living proof of the truth that ensuring civil rights and equality for minorities ensures civil rights and equality for ALL Americans. When any group in our country is hurt by a policy of discrimination, we are all hurt by it. And it did nothing to advance the cause of civil rights and equality when Linda Chavez put her foot out to trip Sonia Sotomayor as she ran toward her seat on the highest court in the land. Shame on you, Linda Chavez! Shame on you!

Regina Benjamin's Rebellion against Society's Female Body Obsession

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:54:00 +0000

African-American Women: Falling Short of the Breed Standard
By E.N. Jackson
Copyright 2009 E.N. Jackson
Frost Illustrated Newspaper, Inc. Vol. 41, Issue 32

“The Shih Tzu is a sturdy, lively, alert toy dog with long flowing double coat. Befitting his noble Chinese ancestry as a highly valued, prized companion and palace pet, the Shih Tzu is proud of bearing, has a distinctively arrogant carriage with head well up and tail curved over the back. The Shih Tzu must be compact, solid, carrying good weight and substance. Even though a toy dog, the Shih Tzu must be subject to the same requirements of soundness and structure prescribed for all breeds, and any deviation from the ideal described in the standard should be penalized to the extent of the deviation. Structural faults common to all breeds are as undesirable in the Shih Tzu as in any other breed . . .” (source: akc.org).

This is the American Kennel Club’s description of the Shih-Tzu. In the world of show dogs, this description is called the “breed standard.” Go back and read that description again. As you do, take special notice of the phrase “and any deviation from the ideal described in the standard should be penalized to the extent of the deviation. Structural faults common to all breeds are as undesirable in the Shih Tzu as in any other breed.” Now, imagine that you’re a Shih-Tzu, like my adorable little Shih-Tzu, Sunni Boy, and someone somewhere has magically and arbitrarily decided that you somehow fall short of that breed standard. Perhaps your tail does not quite curl over your back, or maybe your coat is short and flat rather than long and flowing, or maybe you’re in a grumpy mood and you’re not as lively and alert as the standard demands. Regardless of what your fault or flaw may be, the fact remains that according to the breed standard, you should be “penalized to the extent of the deviation” because structural faults are “undesirable” in your breed.

If that same method of applying a breed standard to dogs also applied to women, then the breed standard for the “American Woman” would probably go something like this: The quintessential American Woman is the ideal beauty. She is pale, tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and so lacking in hips, thighs, buttocks, and breasts that she often appears “boyishly slim,” which we all know is a cute euphemism for skinny as a beanpole.

Women of color are all too aware of the breed standard for the American Woman and the multitude of ways in which we supposedly come up short when measured against it. From J-Lo to Beyonce, we have seen the effects of the dominant culture’s discomfort and disgust with the curvalicious bodies of black and Latina women. And now Dr. Regina Benjamin, President Obama’s pick for Surgeon General, is the latest woman of color to come up against the American Woman breed standard and supposedly fall short. People who do not approve of Benjamin’s apple plump cheeks, shapely hips, and sensuously round belly, want her to know that she falls short, just like the AKC breed standard police want dog owners to know when their dogs fail to measure up. Benjamin’s critics include women like Lillie Shockney, administrative director of the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Center, who stated, "When a teenager listens to this person I want them to listen and respond in a positive way, not say ho-hum and then drive to a fast food place." And women like Marcia Angell, former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine who is now a senior lecturer at Harvard University Medical School, who said, "Having a surgeon general who is noticeably overweight raises questions in people's minds. Currently there is extensive public concern about the national epidemic of obesity.”

Wait a minute, here. Noticeably overweight? Obese? Questions in people’s minds? Who are they talking about? And what questions does the size of Regina Benjamin’s body raise in people’s minds? Because this is not a woman I look at and think, “Dang! That girl needs to lose a few hundred pounds!” I do not look at her and then suddenly have visions of Big Macs dancing around in my head. I do not shake my head in concern about the nation’s obesity epidemic and worry that Benjamin will only contribute to it. In fact, my reaction is just the opposite, because what goes through my mind when I see Dr. Benjamin is, “Finally! A woman who looks like me!” So exactly who are these people who see Benjamin’s body as a threat? Could they be people – and let’s face it, mostly women – who have internalized the sexually oppressive breed standard of the American Woman and are killing themselves trying to achieve it? Could they be women who are appalled by, and yet envy, the idea of a “fat ‘n sassy” black woman being the point guard for America’s health and well-being? And how does Benjamin’s proud defiance and total rejection of the breed standard make her unqualified to fulfill her role as Surgeon General?

After the announcement of her nomination, Benjamin stated, "My hope, if confirmed as surgeon general, is to be America's doctor, America's family physician, [and] as we work toward a solution to this health care crisis, I promise to communicate directly with the American people to help guide them through whatever changes may come with health care reform." Hmmm. Sounds like she plans to do the job she was hired to do. Good enough for me! Luckily I am not the only rational human being who sees through the insanity of the baseless and ridiculous attacks against Benjamin. Others do as well, including Jenny Backus, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, who said, "Dr. Benjamin is a highly qualified physician who has dedicated her life to providing care to her patients. She is a role model for all of us, and will be an outstanding surgeon general."

Dr. Regina Benjamin is an intelligent, competent, professional, and yes, beautiful African-American woman. She is a past recipient of the highly coveted MacArthur grant, holds advanced degrees in medicine and business administration, is a family practice doctor who runs her own medical practice, the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic that treats predominately poor and rural patients in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, and was the first black woman to be elected to the American Medical Association board of trustees, not to mention the first black woman to be president of a state medical society, the Alabama Medical Association. But to hear her discussed in the media by those who have chosen to focus on her waistline rather than her vast accomplishments and qualifications, you would think that she is an obese, slovenly hack who has no business holding a position of power that will allow her to make reasoned and informed decisions about America's health and well-being based on science and medical expertise.

American society suffers from a crippling illness, and that illness is an unhealthy, bizarre, and destructive obsession with women’s bodies and women's sexuality, especially the bodies and sexuality of black and Latina women. Benjamin’s critics are right about one thing: there is definitely a weight problem in our country. However, it is not Regina Benjamin's weight that is the problem, but the dead weight of the dominant culture’s ignorance, bias, and prejudice against the unique beauty of women of color and their bodies. Come on people, get over it already.

The Dark Side of Our "Post-racial" Society

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:30:00 +0000

The Disorderly Conduct of the Henry Louis Gates Case
By E.N. Jackson
Copyright 2009 E.N. Jackson
Frost Illustrated Newspaper, Inc. Vol. 41, Issue 31

The historic election of America's first black president has brought to life the nightmare I feared it would: an intense backlash against anyone who dares to reject the notion that we are living in a "post-racial" society.

For those of us, both black and white, who continue to speak out against bigotry and injustice in our country, this is a very dangerous time; a time in which people are expected to sit down, shut up, and pretend that the racial bias, sexism, classism, and homophobia they see and experience each and every day has suddenly disappeared. Why? Because America has elected a black president.

But just ask noted Harvard professor and African-American historian and scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates if we are living in a "post-racial" society and I'm sure his answer would be an unequivocal “No!” When Dr. Gates wrote, produced, and hosted the ground-breaking documentary "The Two Nations of Black America" exploring issues of racial and class bias, I wonder if he could have ever predicated that he would one day find himself smack dab in the middle of a controversy that calls into question some of the very issues he raised in the film.

On July 16, Gates was questioned under suspicion of breaking and entering. The location he was supposedly breaking into was his own home. How did this happen? A neighbor called 911 and reported seeing two black males attempting to break into a home several doors down from hers. She told Cambridge police that she saw "two black males with backpacks on the porch," with one "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry." (source: Associated Press). How any reasonable minded person can, as Huffington Post columnist Brandon Terry put it, "confuse a nearly sixty year old bespectacled professor with a blue blazer who cannot walk without the aid of a cane with a crafty black burglar practicing his illicit deeds at 12:30 PM in the afternoon" escapes my powers of logic. Nonetheless, the neighbor in question felt completely justified in notifying the police about the black man attempting to burglarize a home; and as it turns out, the home being “burgled” belonged to Gates who had just returned from an overseas trip and was having trouble getting his jammed front door unlocked.

Ultimately, none of us will know the full extent of what happened on Dr. Gates's porch that afternoon, but in a nutshell, it seems that when the police arrived at Gates's home he explained the situation and expected that to be the end of it. However, the officer questioning Gates demanded to see ID. Gates protested and initially refused to show ID, but eventually did show his Harvard ID. Unfortunately, the incident still did not end there. In fact, the incident did not end until tempers had flared, words had been exchanged, and Gates had been arrested for what the Cambridge police called "disorderly conduct,” or, as columnist Brandon Terry calls it, for "failure of a black man to show proper deference to a white police officer." In Terry's mind, and indeed the minds of many trying to break this unthinkable incident down into mentally digestible pieces, the situation is clear. Terry stated: "Gates's refusal to be humiliated in his own home and [his] insistence on calling the incident what it was – racial profiling – was more than anything, a direct challenge to the fragile hierarchy of superiority and propriety that Officer Crowley attempted to enforce." It is important to note that charges have since been dropped; however, the damage done to Dr. Gates's psyche and reputation will not so easily go away.

Almost as disturbing as the incident itself are the reactions around the net to the incident. Post after post exposes the racial animosity so many Americans still feel in our supposedly post-racial society toward Gates and minorities in general. In her article "Race Today: Comments on the Arrest of Henry Louis Gates," Huffington Post blogger Martha St. Jean gave a few examples of the passionate resistance many Americans have been exhibiting to the characterization of the Gates incident as racial profiling. St. Jean quotes one poster as saying on Boston.com: "Enough of throwing down the race card ... we have a Black President now, so that tired old ship has sailed. The guy got indignant like any self-important Harvard professor does, pulled the old "Do you know who I am?" routine, and got arrested as a result." (source: Huffington Post.com).

Another poster stated on Gates’s website, The Root.com: "Black america like white america has to use common sense and tell the professor very clealry he was in the wrong for shouting at the officer, making a quick judgement of race being used against him and act like an adult professional should act like. Talking calmly and intelligently and willing to cooperate to the questions of the concerned officer doing his job would have avoided this altogather. He should then appollogize for his wrongfull treatment to the officer and thank him for responding to a 911 call that might have been his last. If this professor is not willing to man up to this and black america refuses to tell him he was wrong. Blacks will continue to be at bay, only due to their own arrogance. P.S. my daughter is married to a kind intelligent black man and he aggrees with this concerned point. It's not always about color. Treat others with respect and you will almost always get it back.." (Source: Huffington Post.com).

While the tone of these two posts differ, the intent and the purpose are, in my opinion, the same: blacks need to get off their hot-headed, arrogant high horses, stop playing the "race card," play by the rules like everyone else, show "proper" deference and respect (even when being challenged about your identity and your right to be in your own home), and forget about all this racism stuff. This assumes that Dr. Gates responded inappropriately when the truth is none of us were there. It also assumes that a person of another ethnicity in the same situation would have responded differently and correctly. It further assumes that minorities whose rights have been clearly violated have no cause to feel, much less show, something as human as anger and indignation, and this is perhaps the most damaging assumption in this case because it strips minorities of their full humanity and perpetuates the mentality which states that if you are a minority then no matter what is happening to you, you must not forget your proper place.

It is a frightening reality that what mattered most to those Cambridge police officers who arrested Dr. Gates was not his academic pedigree, his Harvard professorship, his McArthur Fellowship, his upper middle class status, his position as Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, his documentaries, his books, his awards and accolades, nor that he was once named one of the top 25 most influential Americans by Time magazine. None of this came into play as he dared to show outrage at being accused of breaking into his own home. Sadly, many minorities cannot help but see the Gates incident as more proof that even in this supposedly post-racial society, no person of color, regardless of education level or economic status, is safe from being caught in the cross-hairs of racial bias, just as no woman or GLBT person is safe from the cross-hairs of sexism, classism, and homophobia.

The idealist in me fervently and sincerely hopes to live long enough to see the day that America does become a fully post-racial society. In fact, I hope to look back at this time and be able to say that I was active in the mass movement of raised consciousness that will usher in a new era of unity, peace, and understanding among ethnicities, cultures, and genders. But the realist in me cannot deny, ignore, or in any way diminish a very simple fact: the longer we continue to categorize human beings by their skin color, gender, economic status, or sexual identity - and then use those constructed categories to determine how people will be treated and who will receive rights, freedoms, and resources (and to what extend they will receive them) - the longer we will delay the coming of this post-racial society in which so many of us yearn to live.

Linda Chu: Another Female First (NOT!) Gone Unnoticed

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:29:00 +0000

BEE BUZZ! A buzz in your ear about cool people/places/things/ideas and other hidden treasures!

Lost amidst the drama of the Sotomayor hearings was another significant first for women of color: the election of Dr. Judy Chu, the first Chinese-American woman to be elected to Congress.

Congresswoman Chu, a California Democrat serving the 32nd district, won a special election run-off after former Congresswoman Hilda Solice vacated her seat to serve as U.S. Labor Secretary in the Obama administration.

Chu is a widely welcomed and trusted face in California politics, not something many politicians of either gender can claim. Her passion for public service was ignited during her days as a college student and political activist in the 70s. While studying at UC Santa Barbara, Chu learned about the backstory of the Chinese in America; in other words, she began to uncover an historical truth that was not presented in any of the history books she read in school. Uncovering this "hidden" truth was was an eye-opening experience for Chu, as it is for most minorities, and left her feeling angry and outraged. But Chu was able to parlay that anger into determination. She was driven to make a difference for her people and for all peoples whose American histories are ones marred by struggle, injustice, and systematic oppression. "It was like a light bulb went off in my head" she stated (source: LA Times).

Since those early days, she has served in a variety of public and political capacities and has built a reputation in her predominantly Latino district of being a strong champion and advocate of minorities and the poor. She is a woman many in California political circles describe as "unabashedly liberal." One of the "unabashedly liberal" acts Chu is most famous for is her response to anti-Asian backlash during the late 1980s when California experienced a new wave of Asian immigration. Monterey Park City Council had tried in 1986 to pass a resolution endorsing English as the nation's official language. Chu's response was to set about organizing a grassroots effort called the Coalition for Harmony. One of the organizations first projects was "Harmony Days," a festival celebrating the city's unique variety of cultures and ethnicities. Under Chu's direction, the Coalition led a petition drive that was so successful the city council was forced to rescind its racially charged and divisive English only resolution.

In a recent interview with NPR's "Tell Me More" host Michelle Martin, Chu seemed filled with nervous excitement and anticipation, but ready to face any and all challenges. She told Martin, "I'm overwhelmingly honored and humbled to be in this position." Chu also weighed in on the burning hot health care issue and in her "unabashedly liberal" style made no bones about the fact the she is a proponent of a single-payer system, but stated she would work with the president and her House colleagues to make sure a bill passes that will do three main things: 1) ensure a truly universal health care system; 2) provide for a public option so that all Americans have accessibility; and 3) make it impossible for insurance companies to treat human beings like expendable commodities by outlawing the practice of denying and dropping patients who are not "cost effective."

Chu sounds like a dream come true; then again so did many other progressive politicians who have gone by the wayside or caved under conservative pressure. But keep your eye on this lady, folks, 'cause something tells me this is a woman who will not be so easily blown by every breeze.

Send OUT the Clowns!

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:35:00 +0000

Stopping Hate in Mainstream Media: What You Can Do
Folks, I want to make you aware of an opportunity to take a stand against hatred and racial bias in the media. The social justice organization Color of Change.Org is currently running two campaigns that are of paramount importance in showing opposition to racial backlash, hatred, and bias.

One campaign is a petition to call upon CNN head John Klein to fire Lou Dobbs for his repeated displays of anti-immigrant/anti-Mexican propaganda and for his equally racially divisive and inflammatory pot-stirring insistence that President Obama is not an American citizen. Freedom of speech is one thing, hate speech is another. Intentionally inciting hatred and fanning the flames of racial division is a dangerous, destructive practice that does nothing to bring about the kind of productive, candid, honest dialogue about race this country desperately needs right now. Dobbs's actions are completely unacceptable from someone who claims to be a journalist working for a mainstream news organization like CNN that boasts it is "America's most trusted name in news."
Dobbs has been stoking the flames of racial fear and paranoia for far too long, and he, along with CNN, must finally be held accountable for it. If Dobbs wishes to continue along those lines then let him continue at Fox News where that kind of behavior is expected and where barely veiled and often blatant racism, sexism, homophobia, and hatred is the order of the day.

The second campaign is a petition calling upon advertisers of the Glenn Beck show to cease sponsorship of his program. As you may know Beck (along with Dobbs and many, many other right wing commentators and politicians) has been intensifying efforts to project his own racism onto people of color. We saw it most recently with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and now we are seeing it in Beck's latest outrageous attacks against Barack Obama in which he is claiming that Obama is a "racist who hates white people." Again, this is not free speech, it is hate speech If Beck chooses to continue spewing hatred that is his choice; however, we as consumers and American citizens have the right to counter his actions by hitting him where it really hurts: his wallet.

The battle to maintain one’s dignity and sanity in the face of so much bigotry and bias is often overwhelming, and the temptation to throw up our hands in defeat becomes just as overwhelming. However, there really is much we can do, and simply taking a moment to go to a website to sign a petition and let your voice be heard is one of the easiest and simplest ways to make a difference. I hope you'll take a few moments to sign both petitions and take this important stand against hate in the media. Please inform your friends, families, and anyone else who respects peace and justice.

Dobbs petition: http://www.colorofchange.org/dobbs/?id=1876-937345

Beck petition: http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/?id=1876-937345

Black Masculinity Reconstructed

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:42:00 +0000

Visions of a Radical Black Masculinity

By E.N. Jackson

Frost Illustrated Newspaper, Inc. Vol. 41, Issue 30

It seems that every time I declare myself officially done trying to understand men, one comes along to completely explode that declaration. Before you know it I’m right back on the rollercoaster, asking myself: which one of us is from another planet? Is it him? Is it me? And if so, which planets are we talking about here? Venus and Mars? Or is that some whole other cultural paradigm that doesn’t even apply to Black male/female relationships?

There is yet another question that I (like so many women) have asked, usually after enduring one more frustrating encounter with a man, and that question is: “Lord, why can’t men be more like women?” But is that really what women want? Do we really want to swallow a man up and turn him into an extension of ourselves just so that we can accept or understand him better, just as men have been doing to women for centuries? The answer for this particular woman is no. Turning a man into a mini-me of myself is a very unsatisfying solution indeed. I am convinced there is a better way.

Recently I watched the ground-breaking 1964 film Nothing But a Man starring Ivan Dixon and one of my personal sheroes, the incredible Ms. Abbey Lincoln. I was deeply moved and at the same time challenged by Lincoln’s portrayal of her character, Josie. With strength, dignity, and grace, Josie had the amazing ability to completely accept Dixon’s character, Duff, for exactly who and what he was. She valued the fact that he was a man with a worldview formed and shaped by his experiences as a male. At the same time, she did her best to partner with him in his efforts to maintain his sense of manhood in a time and place where everyone and everything sought to destroy it. I believe quite strongly that there is great value in men and women looking equally to one another for knowledge about how to move through the world, but like Josie I also value the inherent differences between men and women and see the act of embracing those differences as critical to living a whole, balanced life.

I have always felt that there is something deeply lacking in focusing only on the commonalities between groups. In my view, it is just as wrong to deny people their own personal cultural experience as it is to denigrate them for it. We see the effects of this kind of denial of difference mentality every time someone says, “Oh, I don’t see color. We’re all the same under the skin, right?” Wrong. Yes, ultimately we are all human beings. But no, we are not exactly the same. There are differences between races and cultures, men and women, and those differences are nothing to fear or feel threatened by. Opening ourselves up to diverse people, places, and ideas can enrich and enlighten us. Difference in and of itself should not frustrate us so badly that it causes us to want to completely reject one another; nor should it cause us to feel as if we have to turn each other into mere extensions of ourselves in order to accept one another. Surely there are better options and happier mediums.

So what is a better solution to achieving male-female understanding, mutual respect, and compassion other than turning men into women or women into men? I believe we can look to feminism for an answer. Feminist liberation gave women the opportunity to take a psychological step outside of the Western patriarchal male system. From that vantage point, they could see that the myth of masculine superiority was just as damaging to men operating within that system as it was to women. Historically, a man’s masculinity, particularly in the west, has been based on his ability to gain power, value, and worth through dominance, violence, control, and objectification of those around him, including other males. Furthermore, the male system has placed undue emphasis on consumerism, material excess, capitalistic greed, and fulfillment of the self from the outside in rather than the inside out. As a result, many men have become spiritually and emotionally detached, causing them to be more invested in material possessions than in their personal and professional relationships with others and with the world around them. Western patriarchal masculinity simply does not work. It is a crippling force that not only damages others but keeps many men emotionally and psychologically isolated from women, children, and even other males.

Perhaps what men need, therefore, is a new system that would allow them the same opportunity to step outside of the patriarchal male system in order to see inside of it. Just as women formulated a new definition of femininity and womanhood through feminism and the Women’s Movement, perhaps what men need, especially men of color, is a kind of liberation of their own; one in which they define for themselves what manhood and masculinity means to them rather than continuing to drink the purple Kool-aid of what American society and the dominant culture claims manhood and masculinity means.

So what does a radically reconstructed masculinity look like for men of color? As a woman, I would never presume to speak personally for a man’s experience of manhood. However, I can offer examples of what Black masculinity can and should look like. Listen with your heart to the following passage by Bell Hooks from her book Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, as she describes her maternal grandfather: “Daddy Gus gave me the love my heart longed for. Calm, tender, gentle, creative, a man of silence and peace, he offered me a vision of Black masculinity that ran counter to the patriarchal norm. He was the first radical Black man in my life. He laid the foundation; always engaging me in dialogue, supporting my longing for knowledge, and always encouraging me to speak my mind. I honor the lessons he taught me of Black male and female partnership grounded in mutuality.”

Deconstructed, that passage paints a picture of a man very secure in his masculinity and not afraid to love, nurture, and support those around him. Do adjectives like calm, gentle, creative, tender, silent, peaceful, and radical describe you? Are verbs like engaging, supporting, and encouraging ones that describe your actions? Or do words like cold, angry, emotionally distant, uncommunicative, dismissive, and sexist more accurately apply to you? Do you give priority to others and to your relationships? Or do you, your work, and your personal priorities always come first, placing everyone and everything else somewhere on the periphery of your life?

The statistics are grim but they are not new. We have heard them before. We know that according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, African-Americans have the lowest rates of marriage and marital stability than any other ethnic group and the highest rate of female-headed single-parent households. We also know that Black folks are more likely to be divorced or separated than our white and Hispanic counterparts. But male-female love relationships are not the only ones in trouble in the Black community. Also at stake are male-female work relationships as well as familial relationships among daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, and so on. In Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture, and Religion, Eric Michael Dyson states it best: “Perhaps if we begin to deconstruct and demythologize patriarchal conceptions of gender and masculine identity, we might help our communities move toward understanding and embracing the widest possible view of black identity.”

I am not without compassion when it comes to men’s struggles. I am deeply concerned that so many men, far too many, suffer under the incredible strain of maintaining the illusion of being “hard” 24 hours a day. We have all seen the destructive effects of men either not expressing their true emotions or expressing them through anger, intimidation and violence. Is it a wonder why so many men, especially Black males, suffer the highest incidences of stress-related illnesses and die earlier then females? Ultimately, however, there is no excuse valid enough to justify the daily wrongs, both large and small, that men perpetrate in the name of maintaining their masculine identity. Yes, Black manhood has taken a severe beating in this country. But Black men do still have the ability to make choices and take control of many elements of their lives, including deciding who will define them as men, they themselves or someone outside of their personal cultural experience.

When all is said and done, my preference as a woman is to work with men, not against them; to function with them, not without them. Like Josie in Nothing But a Man, I want to support and encourage the manhood of Black men; I do not, however, want to be controlled or dominated by it or have my own choices limited by it. So I wonder, what does it mean to be a Black man in the New Millennium? How can we as Black men and women continue to forge bonds of mutual respect, communication, and understanding with one another? And finally, are Black men ready to liberate themselves through a radically reconstructed definition of masculinity?

Reflections of Foster Park

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:29:00 +0000

A Public Park That Welcomes Any and All!

As I took my daily power walk around Foster Park this morning, a rush of memories of all the moments, hours, and days I've spent there came flowing back to me. If it possible to love a public park as though it were a person, then I am madly in-love with Foster Park.

Foster Park is one of Fort Wayne's oldest and prettiest parks. It was donated to the city in 1912 by brothers David and Colonel Foster. It encompasses over 218 acres of land and runs along four miles of riverbank. People come from miles around to experience Foster's large pavillions, immense golf course, playgrounds, bridal glens, breathtakingly beautiful gardens and floral displays, and even the dog park called "Pawster Park."

As a child, Foster Park was a magical place, a place of beauty and fun and joy. It was a place where, at least for a while, I could escape the harsh realities of life in the projects when those realities became too much to bear. Getting there was often the greatest part of the adventure. We had no car as I was growing up, so our two primary modes of transportation were city buses and our feet. Sometimes we'd catch a ride with neighbors who had managed to scrape together a few dollars to put into their gas tanks, but more often than not we would walk. Though it was nearly two miles away, we would make the trek from Millbrook apartments to Foster Park on a blazing hot summer morning and sometimes not return until the the big red-orange fireball setting in the west told us it was time to go.

One of my most memorable Foster Park moments came during a summer when my mother and her best friend, Emma, had gone on a health kick and decided they would walk around Foster Park everyday for two weeks straight. As they set off to the park one evening, arms pumping, heads held high, and me skipping along behind them, they asked each other if they had gone to the bathroom before they left home. Neither of them had and both of them insisted they'd be fine. But by the time we made it to the park and had walked halfway around the path, my Aunt Emma looked as if she were about to burst. "Shoot!" she whispered to my mother. "Girl, I gotta pee!" "Me too!" my mama giggled. Even thogh there are bathrooms in the park, we were no where, and I mean no where, near one. So, with golfers golfing, joggers jogging, bikers biking, and walkers walking, my mother and Aunt Emma found a tree (to this day I chuckle every time I pass that tree), yanked down their sweats, and took turns taking a tinkle as I stood guard, laughing hysterically the entire time.

Almost as beautiful as the park itself is the beauty I see in the mix of humanity that passes through its grounds. On any given day, you'll find folks of all stripes, young, old, black, white, Latino/a, Asian, male, female, and literally everything in between. As a young black girl growing up dirt poor in a conservative, predominantly white city like Fort Wayne, I learned both early and quick where my presence was welcomed and accepted and where it was not. Though some things have changed for the better in terms of the city's embrace of diversity and multiculturalism, Foster Park was and will always be one of the places I can truly claim as my own.
Recently, during another round of the House debate over health care reform, Republican congressman Steve King referred to himself proudly, boldly, and with no intended irony as a "Private sector person." Every time I hear politicians shamelessly touting the virtues of the free market system while railing against publicly funded institutions - public schools, public libraries, public hospitals, and even public parks like my beloved Foster Park - I shake my head in anger and frustration. What Representative King and so many others seem to lack is a very crucial understanding that public funding equals, at least in theory, access for all. I don't know if the Foster brothers intended for their land to be used by such an eclectic ethnic and socio-economic mix of people, but that's certainly what has evolved, and I, for one, am glad.

Ending Recruitment in Schools: What You Can Do!

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:29:00 +0000

The Fort Wayne Peace Action Campaign to Stop Military Recruitment in Schools
As America continues to be embroiled in not one but two wars in the Middle East, the demand for young recruits is on the rise. The military has historically looked to high schools, colleges, and universities as recruitment sites. With the war in Afghanastan heating up, the military feels an even greater urgency to increase its number of new recruits. The FWPA (Fort Wayne Peace Action) wants to put an end to the practice of military recruitment in our schools, particularly our high schools where young people are most impressionable, and there is much we can do to help.

From the FWPA SMRIS Campaign
Campaign Activities of SMRIS
OBJECTIVES:

To convince school districts to prominently notify all students and parents about their right to opt out of being on lists released to recruiters. Presently, few parents and students are aware of this right because the information is buried in hard to find places.

To convince school districts to automatically require that the choice to opt out or opt in be recorded at the time of school registration. It should be treated like other essential information that is required in order for students to attend school, a policy that has been adopted in other parts of the country.

To convince school districts to stop allowing the unauthorized release of personal student information via military aptitude testing in secondary schools. The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test is given voluntarily by 2/3rds of all high schools. If they choose to give it, school districts can adopt a policy that will protect students from unauthorized releases of information to the military.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Volunteer to help with the following Campaign tasks and activities (complete a volunteer form to volunteer for specific tasks and to receive campaign notices):

Contact school districts and request details on how they notify students and parents of the right to opt out of recruiting lists released by schools. Obtain copies of all notices and forms used and share them with the Campaign. Find out from school counseling offices if and when the ASVAB is going to be given.

Write to school superintendents and board members and ask for implementation of the model policies on opt-out and ASVAB testing in this packet.

Appear at school board meetings and ask that these issues be put on the school board’s agenda. (Let us know if you plan to do this so we can alert others who might join you).

Volunteer to be a coordinator for these activities in a specific school district.

Volunteer for the high school leafleting program sponsored by the Fort Wayne Coalition for Peace & Justice. Students and non-students distribute fliers in the morning at schools around Fort Wayne and Allen County. Non-students leaflet outside school entrances. Students can leaflet inside schools or join non-students outside.

Write letters to the editor challenging military recruitment in the schools

A POSSIBLE LEGAL CHALLENGE TO ASVAB TESTING
We are looking for attorneys, parents and students who could help with a legal challenge to the military’s practice of using ASVAB testing in high schools to obtain information on students without parental permission. If you would like to help with this, please get in touch with us at fwpa@comcast.net

For further info contact:
Fort Wayne Peace Action fwpa@comcast.net
260-609-8803
PO Box 13048
Fort Wayne, IN 46866

Homophobia and Our Youth

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:27:00 +0000

Homophobia is Killing Our Kids
By E.N. Jackson
Copyright 2009 E.N. Jackson
Frost Illustrated Newspaper, Inc. Vol. 41, Issue 29

Last week I watched in horror as ministers, church officials, and parishioners of a black Connecticut church, Manifested Glory Ministries, invoked the name of Jesus to release the “gay demons” supposedly possessing the soul of a 16-year-old boy. What I was watching was not a horror movie but a YouTube video clip that had been sent to me by a friend. The clip opens with the young man lying on the floor as a woman stands over him shouting, “Get on up out of here you homosexual demon! I command you by the blood of Jesus! You are a spirit that is not of God!” She continues to demand that the gay demon leave the boy’s body as parishioners surround her and fill the room with shouts of “Amen!” and “Yes, Lord!” Next she puts her foot in the boy’s back and stomach, seeming to kick him, or rather the demon, to further emphasize her command.

At that point, a man leans over the boy and begins symbolically pulling the demon out of the boy’s back. He then begins repeatedly lifting the boy off the floor by his head and neck. The woman takes charge again, ordering the men in the room to stand the boy up because, according to her, “Something needs to come out of his belly.” Suddenly, the man who had mimicked pulling the demon out of the boy begins pushing the palm of his hand into the young man’s forehead as the men holding him stumble back and forth. As the man puts his hands on the boy’s head, he shouts, “You have no power here! I bind you in the name of Jesus! You’re going to lose your grip today demon!” Throughout the entire ordeal, the young man remains silent. No matter how much exorcists attempt to coax him into speech, telling him to open his mouth and fight, it is the boy’s body, not his words, that speak for him. He writhes helplessly on the floor, stumbles blindly as he is dragged around the room, and even vomits at one point. All of this says far more than his words could ever say.

While those outside of fundamentalist religious traditions are shocked when they see or hear about such things, scenes like this are not uncommon to those of us who were raised inside of that tradition. We grew up seeing well-meaning men and women of God performing rituals like this on people who church officials and parishioners believed were possessed by demons and evil spirits. So I am not surprised to know that this practice still goes on. I am, however, deeply saddened and outraged to know that the bigotry and ignorance that acts like this expose still hold such powerful sway over those who should know better.

Perhaps most frightening is that these are good people who thought they were doing the right thing and were utterly sincere in their belief that this bizarre ceremony could actually turn a young gay man into a straight one. These well-meaning church folk truly believed they were ridding this boy of a demonic entity that caused him to have an attraction to people of his own gender. But what they were really doing was using religious dogma and their own particular brand of biblical interpretation to justify a noxious act of anti-gay bigotry and cruelty. I can only imagine what was going through that young man’s mind as people he loved and trusted told him through their words and actions that he was sick, bad, and even worse: possessed by demons.

The incident at Manifested Glory Ministries is only one of hundreds of similarly destructive incidents that happen every single day in churches, homes, and schools all across the country. GLBT youth are in crisis; not because they are homosexual but because far too many people foster a mindset of homophobia and fear. Even the perception of being gay is enough to cause young people to be terrorized and harassed. Last year, 15-year-old Lawrence King, a black gay teen, was shot in the head and killed by a 14-year-old classmate who had reportedly quarreled with King about King’s being gay. In February of this year, three middle school students in Illinois all killed themselves in response to prolonged anti-gay harassment and bullying. Just this past April, only days before his 12th birthday, a young black boy, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, hanged himself because he could no longer endure the taunts, bullying, and anti-gay slurs hurled at him on a daily basis by his peers. And just 10 days after Walker-Hoover’s death, another young boy of color, Jaheem Herrera, also hanged himself because of an unrelenting barrage of threats, bullying, and anti-gay slurs.

In many of these cases, it was not even clear whether or not the young victims involved actually identified as gay. All that mattered was that their peers assumed they were gay and, therefore, felt perfectly justified in making these children the target of their learned homophobic hatred. In fact a 2008 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report (Bullying Among Children and Youth on Perceptions and Differences in Sexual Orientation, 2008) found that for every GLBT youth who is bullied, four straight students who are perceived to be gay or lesbian are bullied. The report further states that the stigma and hostilities youth experience from anti-LGBT bullying puts them at risk for self-destructive behaviors, such as skipping school, using tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, and engaging in risky sexual activity. These same risks exist for heterosexual youth perceived to be lesbian or gay, as for GLBT youth who keep their sexual orientation hidden.

This is disturbing for two primary reasons: one, because our children are learning that is it ok to practice bigotry, hatred, and intolerance against those who are perceived as different from them; and two, because we as adults are condoning their actions by fostering and perpetuating unsafe climates and environments in which this kind of behavior is excused, ignored, and in some cases even encouraged. Statistics bear out the truth that we are dealing with a very real crisis here. According to a 2007 National School Climate Survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT youth (86.2%) reported being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation, nearly half (44.1%) reported being physically harassed, and about a quarter (22.1%) reported being physically assaulted. In most cases, the harassment went unreported. The GLSEN report goes on to say that nearly two-thirds of the LGBT students surveyed (60.8%) who experienced harassment or assault never reported the incident to the school. Why? Because they did not believe that anything would be done to address the situation. Of those who did report their incidents, nearly a third (31.1%) said that school officials did nothing in response.

We in the black community have a long tradition of treating others with generosity, kindness, love, and compassion. Surely we can find better ways to deal with issues of sexuality than attempting to “exorcise” someone of his or her identity. Homophobia is killing our youth, and the high level of religious conservatism, ignorance, and misunderstanding surrounding gender and sexual identity issues in communities of color puts our youth at even greater risk for death. In many cases, the deaths of GLBT teens have been literal, but more often than not GLBT youth suffer an emotional, psychological, and spiritual death.

Fort Wayne HRC Lead Coordinator Linda Bentz states, “Language controls thought and thought controls action. If we want to change the world, we begin by changing the way we speak.” As an African-American I cannot help but wonder: how many more young black men and women have to be called out of their names, bullied, harassed, and exorcised of their “gay demons” before we open our eyes and see the damage we are doing? Can we learn to love and accept them just as they are and teach them how to love and accept themselves in return? I say yes, we can.

First African-American President Addresses NAACP Centennial

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:41:00 +0000

Following is a transcript of the speech President Obama gave at the NAACP Centennial Celebration on July 16, 2009

It is an honor to be here, in the city where the NAACP was formed, to mark its centennial. What we celebrate tonight is not simply the journey the NAACP has traveled, but the journey that we, as Americans, have traveled over the past one hundred years.

It is a journey that takes us back to a time before most of us were born, long before the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, and Brown v. Board of Education; back to an America just a generation past slavery. It was a time when Jim Crow was a way of life; when lynchings were all too common; and when race riots were shaking cities across a segregated land.

It was in this America where an Atlanta scholar named W.E.B. Du Bois, a man of towering intellect and a fierce passion for justice, sparked what became known as the Niagara movement; where reformers united, not by color but cause; and where an association was born that would, as its charter says, promote equality and eradicate prejudice among citizens of the United States.

From the beginning, Du Bois understood how change would come - just as King and all the civil rights giants did later. They understood that unjust laws needed to be overturned; that legislation needed to be passed; and that Presidents needed to be pressured into action. They knew that the stain of slavery and the sin of segregation had to be lifted in the courtroom and in the legislature.

But they also knew that here, in America, change would have to come from the people. It would come from people protesting lynching, rallying against violence, and walking instead of taking the bus. It would come from men and women - of every age and faith, race and region - taking Greyhounds on Freedom Rides; taking seats at Greensboro lunch counters; and registering voters in rural Mississippi, knowing they would be harassed, knowing they would be beaten, knowing that they might never return.

Because of what they did, we are a more perfect union. Because Jim Crow laws were overturned, black CEOs today run Fortune 500 companies. Because civil rights laws were passed, black mayors, governors, and Members of Congress serve in places where they might once have been unable to vote. And because ordinary people made the civil rights movement their own, I made a trip to Springfield a couple years ago - where Lincoln once lived, and race riots once raged - and began the journey that has led me here tonight as the 44th President of the United States of America.

And yet, even as we celebrate the remarkable achievements of the past one hundred years; even as we inherit extraordinary progress that cannot be denied; even as we marvel at the courage and determination of so many plain folks - we know that too many barriers still remain.

We know that even as our economic crisis batters Americans of all races, African Americans are out of work more than just about anyone else - a gap that's widening here in New York City, as detailed in a report this week by Comptroller Bill Thompson.

We know that even as spiraling health care costs crush families of all races, African Americans are more likely to suffer from a host of diseases but less likely to own health insurance than just about anyone else.

We know that even as we imprison more people of all races than any nation in the world, an African-American child is roughly five times as likely as a white child to see the inside of a jail.

And we know that even as the scourge of HIV/AIDS devastates nations abroad, particularly in Africa, it is devastating the African-American community here at home with disproportionate force.

These are some of the barriers of our time. They're very different from the barriers faced by earlier generations. They're very different from the ones faced when fire hoses and dogs were being turned on young marchers; when Charles Hamilton Houston and a group of young Howard lawyers were dismantling segregation.

But what is required to overcome today's barriers is the same as was needed then. The same commitment. The same sense of urgency. The same sense of sacrifice. The same willingness to do our part for ourselves and one another that has always defined America at its best.

The question, then, is where do we direct our efforts? What steps do we take to overcome these barriers? How do we move forward in the next one hundred years?

The first thing we need to do is make real the words of your charter and eradicate prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination among citizens of the United States. I understand there may be a temptation among some to think that discrimination is no longer a problem in 2009. And I believe that overall, there's probably never been less discrimination in America than there is today.

But make no mistake: the pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African-American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion for simply kneeling down to pray. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.

On the 45th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, discrimination must not stand. Not on account of color or gender; how you worship or who you love. Prejudice has no place in the United States of America.

But we also know that prejudice and discrimination are not even the steepest barriers to opportunity today. The most difficult barriers include structural inequalities that our nation's legacy of discrimination has left behind; inequalities still plaguing too many communities and too often the object of national neglect.

These are barriers we are beginning to tear down by rewarding work with an expanded tax credit; making housing more affordable; and giving ex-offenders a second chance. These are barriers that we are targeting through our White House Office on Urban Affairs, and through Promise Neighborhoods that build on Geoffrey Canada's success with the Harlem Children's Zone; and that foster a comprehensive approach to ending poverty by putting all children on a pathway to college, and giving them the schooling and support to get there.

But our task of reducing these structural inequalities has been made more difficult by the state, and structure, of the broader economy; an economy fueled by a cycle of boom and bust; an economy built not on a rock, but sand. That is why my administration is working so hard not only to create and save jobs in the short-term, not only to extend unemployment insurance and help for people who have lost their health care, not only to stem this immediate economic crisis, but to lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity that will put opportunity within reach not just for African Americans, but for all Americans.

One pillar of this new foundation is health insurance reform that cuts costs, makes quality health coverage affordable for all, and closes health care disparities in the process. Another pillar is energy reform that makes clean energy profitable, freeing America from the grip of foreign oil, putting people to work upgrading low-income homes, and creating jobs that cannot be outsourced. And another pillar is financial reform with consumer protections to crack down on mortgage fraud and stop predatory lenders from targeting our poor communities.

All these things will make America stronger and more competitive. They will drive innovation, create jobs, and provide families more security. Still, even if we do it all, the African-American community will fall behind in the United States and the United States will fall behind in the world unless we do a far better job than we have been doing of educating our sons and daughters. In the 21st century - when so many jobs will require a bachelor's degree or more, when countries that out-educate us today will outcompete us tomorrow - a world-class education is a prerequisite for success.

You know what I'm talking about. There's a reason the story of the civil rights movement was written in our schools. There's a reason Thurgood Marshall took up the cause of Linda Brown. There's a reason the Little Rock Nine defied a governor and a mob. It's because there is no stronger weapon against inequality and no better path to opportunity than an education that can unlock a child's God-given potential.

Yet, more than a half century after Brown v. Board of Education, the dream of a world-class education is still being deferred all across this country. African-American students are lagging behind white classmates in reading and math - an achievement gap that is growing in states that once led the way on civil rights. Over half of all African-American students are dropping out of school in some places. There are overcrowded classrooms, crumbling schools, and corridors of shame in America filled with poor children - black, brown, and white alike.

The state of our schools is not an African-American problem; it's an American problem. And if Al Sharpton, Mike Bloomberg, and Newt Gingrich can agree that we need to solve it, then all of us can agree on that. All of us can agree that we need to offer every child in this country the best education the world has to offer from the cradle through a career.

That is our responsibility as the United States of America. And we, all of us in government, are working to do our part by not only offering more resources, but demanding more reform.

When it comes to higher education, we are making college and advanced training more affordable, and strengthening community colleges that are a gateway to so many with an initiative that will prepare students not only to earn a degree but find a job when they graduate; an initiative that will help us meet the goal I have set of leading the world in college degrees by 2020.

We are creating a Race to the Top Fund that will reward states and public school districts that adopt 21st century standards and assessments. And we are creating incentives for states to promote excellent teachers and replace bad ones - because the job of a teacher is too important for us to accept anything but the best.

We should also explore innovative approaches being pursued here in New York City; innovations like Bard High School Early College and Medgar Evers College Preparatory School that are challenging students to complete high school and earn a free associate's degree or college credit in just four years.

And we should raise the bar when it comes to early learning programs. Today, some early learning programs are excellent. Some are mediocre. And some are wasting what studies show are - by far - a child's most formative years.

That's why I have issued a challenge to America's governors: if you match the success of states like Pennsylvania and develop an effective model for early learning; if you focus reform on standards and results in early learning programs; if you demonstrate how you will prepare the lowest income children to meet the highest standards of success - you can compete for an Early Learning Challenge Grant that will help prepare all our children to enter kindergarten ready to learn.

So, these are some of the laws we are passing. These are some of the policies we are enacting. These are some of the ways we are doing our part in government to overcome the inequities, injustices, and barriers that exist in our country.

But all these innovative programs and expanded opportunities will not, in and of themselves, make a difference if each of us, as parents and as community leaders, fail to do our part by encouraging excellence in our children. Government programs alone won't get our children to the Promised Land. We need a new mindset, a new set of attitudes - because one of the most durable and destructive legacies of discrimination is the way that we have internalized a sense of limitation; how so many in our community have come to expect so little of ourselves.

We have to say to our children, Yes, if you're African American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that someone in a wealthy suburb does not. But that's not a reason to get bad grades, that's not a reason to cut class, that's not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands - and don't you forget that.

To parents, we can't tell our kids to do well in school and fail to support them when they get home. For our kids to excel, we must accept our own responsibilities. That means putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour. It means attending those parent-teacher conferences, reading to our kids, and helping them with their homework.

And it means we need to be there for our neighbor's son or daughter, and return to the day when we parents let each other know if we saw a child acting up. That's the meaning of community. That's how we can reclaim the strength, the determination, the hopefulness that helped us come as far as we already have.

It also means pushing our kids to set their sights higher. They might think they've got a pretty good jump shot or a pretty good flow, but our kids can't all aspire to be the next LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court Justice. I want them aspiring to be President of the United States.

So, yes, government must be a force for opportunity. Yes, government must be a force for equality. But ultimately, if we are to be true to our past, then we also have to seize our own destiny, each and every day.

That is what the NAACP is all about. The NAACP was not founded in search of a handout. The NAACP was not founded in search of favors. The NAACP was founded on a firm notion of justice; to cash the promissory note of America that says all our children, all God's children, deserve a fair chance in the race of life.

It is a simple dream, and yet one that has been denied - one still being denied - to so many Americans. It's a painful thing, seeing that dream denied. I remember visiting a Chicago school in a rough neighborhood as a community organizer, and thinking how remarkable it was that all of these children seemed so full of hope, despite being born into poverty, despite being delivered into addiction, despite all the obstacles they were already facing.

And I remember the principal of the school telling me that soon all of that would begin to change; that soon, the laughter in their eyes would begin to fade; that soon, something would shut off inside, as it sunk in that their hopes would not come to pass - not because they weren't smart enough, not because they weren't talented enough, but because, by accident of birth, they didn't have a fair chance in life.

So, I know what can happen to a child who doesn't have that chance. But I also know what can happen to a child who does. I was raised by a single mother. I don't come from a lot of wealth. I got into my share of trouble as a kid. My life could easily have taken a turn for the worse. But that mother of mine gave me love; she pushed me, and cared about my education; she took no lip and taught me right from wrong. Because of her, I had a chance to make the most of my abilities. I had the chance to make the most of my opportunities. I had the chance to make the most of life.

The same story holds for Michelle. The same story holds for so many of you. And I want all the other Barack Obamas out there, and all the other Michelle Obamas out there, to have that same chance - the chance that my mother gave me; that my education gave me; that the United States of America gave me. That is how our union will be perfected and our economy rebuilt. That is how America will move forward in the next one hundred years.

And we will move forward. This I know - for I know how far we have come. Last week, in Ghana, Michelle and I took Malia and Sasha to Cape Coast Castle, where captives were once imprisoned before being auctioned; where, across an ocean, so much of the African-American experience began. There, reflecting on the dungeon beneath the castle church, I was reminded of all the pain and all the hardships, all the injustices and all the indignities on the voyage from slavery to freedom.

But I was also reminded of something else. I was reminded that no matter how bitter the rod or how stony the road, we have persevered. We have not faltered, nor have we grown weary. As Americans, we have demanded, strived for, and shaped a better destiny.

That is what we are called to do once more. It will not be easy. It will take time. Doubts may rise and hopes recede.

But if John Lewis could brave Billy clubs to cross a bridge, then I know young people today can do their part to lift up our communities.

If Emmet Till's uncle Mose Wright could summon the courage to testify against the men who killed his nephew, I know we can be better fathers and brothers, mothers and sisters in our own families.

If three civil rights workers in Mississippi - black and white, Christian and Jew, city-born and country-bred - could lay down their lives in freedom's cause, I know we can come together to face down the challenges of our own time. We can fix our schools, heal our sick, and rescue our youth from violence and despair.

One hundred years from now, on the 200th anniversary of the NAACP, let it be said that this generation did its part; that we too ran the race; that full of the faith that our dark past has taught us, full of the hope that the present has brought us, we faced, in our own lives and all across this nation, the rising sun of a new day begun. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.

Source: Politico.com

Three Strikes and You're Out: A Look Back at Failed Prison Reform

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:32:00 +0000

Three strikes you're out:
Reflections on Prop 184 and Hero Presidents

By E.N. Jackson
Copyright 2009
Frost Illustrated Inc. Vol. 41, Issue 28

There is a popular running joke that Bill Clinton, not Barack Obama, was the first black president. But, was he really the grand champion of blacks and other minority groups he has been portrayed as? While it is true that, on average, African Americans generally faired better economically under Clinton than they did under other modern presidents to hold the office within the past 20 years, namely Reagan and both Bushes, it is also true that Clinton earned the dubious distinction of being the first president to have the highest African American incarceration rate of any other president. This is due in part to his signing of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994 which expanded the federal death penalty to more than 60 crimes, three not even involving murder, and his signing of the Anti- Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in1996, which restricted case review in federal courts by requiring tighter filing deadlines and limiting opportunities for evidentiary hearings. So much for due process! So before we start declaring Bill Clinton the “first black president,” let us not forget that blacks, other minorities, and the poor were among the groups hardest hit by Clinton’s “tough on crime” stance.

In terms of sheer impact, perhaps one of the most devastating criminal justice fiascos to occur during the Clinton administration was a little something called the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” rule. On Clinton’s watch, Californians voted Prop 184, more commonly referred to as the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” rule, into law in 1994. The Three Strikes law imposes longer state prison sentences upon repeat offenders. A “third strike” offense is any offense committed by a person who has two or more previous serious or violent felony convictions. So under Prop 184, the imposed sentence for any new felony conviction, even nonviolent or minor offenses, is life imprisonment with the minimum term being 25 years to life. According to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, a non-partisan fiscal oversight body, African Americans make up the largest group of second and third strikers (37 percent), followed by Hispanics (33 percent), and whites (26 percent). Counting just thirdstrike offenses, African Americans make up the largest group there as well, at a staggering 45 percent.

Over the years, questions have been raised about the constitutionality of Prop 184; for instance, whether or not it violates the 8th Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Numerous challenges to the law have been brought before the courts, including the Three Strikes Reform Act of 2008, but with very little success. Furthermore, a recent CLAO report stated:“The decisions permitting the application of the Three Strikes law to non-serious, non-violent offenses has allowed many offenders to be sentenced to prison for extended periods, costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars.” More than $500 million to be exact. In addition to the draw-dropping price tag, Prop 184 has also fallen short in terms of efficacy. The Economist recently reported that studies show the law has not had the intended and expected impact of deterring repeat offenders from committing crimes. So what Californians thought they would get with Prop 184 is a reduction in both the crime rate and the recidivism rate. What they were not prepared or equipped to also deal with was the sudden increase in the prison population, the drastic shift in the racial make-up of inmates (to glaringly and predominately black and Latino), the increased spending that spawned an out of control state budget, and charges of civil liberties violations under the Constitution.

Measures like Prop 184 have in hindsight only served to widen, not narrow, what Marian Wright Edelman calls the “Cradle to Prison Pipeline.” According to 2007 statistics from the Children’s Defense Fund, black boys born in 2001 have a one in three chance of going to prison; black juveniles are four times more likely than their white peers to be incarcerated and five times more likely than whites to be incarcerated for drug offenses; 580,00 black males are serving sentences in state and federal prisons; and although they represent only 39 percent of the total U.S. juvenile population, minority youth represent 60 percent of convicted juveniles.

Prop 184 puts the emphasis on the wrong end of the pipeline, so to speak, because it is clear that preventive measures are the most cost-effective way to solve the prison crisis in this country, not shoveling more money and resources into the prison-industrial complex. For example, the average cost of a mentoring program per year per child is $1,000; the cost of a year’s worth of employment training is $2,500; the yearly cost per child of a high quality after school care program is $2,700; affordable housing for a low income family is $6,800; the annual per child cost of Head Start is $7,000; and the yearly per child cost of a full day early childhood program is $13,000. Compare the cost of these measures to the average annual per prisoner cost of $23,000 and the choice of where and how our tax dollars should be spent becomes obvious.

Ever since Lincoln, we have lived through the administrations of several presidents who have claimed to be champions of women, minorities and the poor. But far too often their words and their deeds turned out to be diametrically opposed. I know that when a group of people have been starved for justice as long as people of color and the poor have been, it is easy to mistake crumbs for a full course meal. But before we continue putting “hero” presidents like Lincoln, Kennedy, Carter, Clinton and even Obama on pedestals, we need to make sure that we are thinking critically about the policies these leaders support or directly put into effect. We need to take the time to examine the impact on society as a whole those policies will have, not only now but in the future..

Here Comes the Judge!

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:56:00 +0000

"Unless you have a complete meltdown, you're gonna get confirmed."
-Senator Lindsey Graham-

Well, rest assured Senator Graham, this is one Nuyorican Chica who will NOT be having a meltdown, certainly not in front of you, and definitely not anytime soon. Why? Because Judge Sonia Sotomayor is no Governor Sarah Palin, who, over the course of the past year, has managed to set the Women's Movement back at least 30 years by treating the position of power the people of Alaska have entrusted her with as if it were a steaming hot potato that she doesn't know how to handle, or a shiny new toy that was fun at first but, well, kind of boring now. Unlike Palin, Sotomayor is less concerned with coming off as the Caribou Barbie of the Republican party and more interested in ensuring that Constitutional law, civil rights, and justice are applied fairly and equitably to all Americans. She has demonstrated that she is a woman who knows what to do with the opportunities that countless numbers of women before her made possible. So don't worry, Senator Graham, a major meltdown is not in this woman's future.

The Sotomayor narrative is a familiar one by now, and one that the right wing knows they cannot continue to disparage, because it is the very epitome of the American struggle turned American dream played out in exactly the way this society envisions the American dream to be: overcoming the death of a father who died when she was just 9 years old, a mother struggling to raise and provide for her children alone, and a Princeton education that came through hard work and sacrifice rather than old money and nepotisim. From there going on to become a dedicated prosecutor and victim's right advocate and then receiving judicial appointments by Bush I and by Clinton. So no, they can't touch the Sotomayor narrative.

Instead what they will continue to disparage is the Sotomayor record. They will not cease their attempts to paint her as a racist who practices reverse discrimination, a bizarre chacracterization of her based primarily on the fact that she dared rule against a group of white fightfighters who felt they had been illegally passed over for promotion. What her detractors will conveniently ignore is the stark reality that in order to be a racist and practice whole-sale systematic discrimination that will impact large numbers of lives, one must possess and a maintain a position of power and a place of dominance, both of which is typically the result of one's class, race, and gender. Sotomayor was one judge among several, most of whom were conservative, who ruled in that case. So unless there is a sudden wave of Puerto Rican women taking over positions of power, authority, and control in all of America's major institutions, then one can hardly call her actions or her rulings discriminatory and racist. Besides, in a quote included in an Associated Press bio, Sotaomayor made her stance on judicial interpretation of the Constitution clear: "I don't believe we should bend the Constitution under any circumstance. It says what it says. We should do honor to it."

And so tomorrow Judge Sonia Sotomayor will face a second day of what I'm sure will be grueling questioning from the right and perhaps even the middle and the left. And though I personally have my hesitations about Sotomayor because she is not, in my view, quite the progressive I would like her to be, I will nevertheless watch every second of her confirmation hearings and root her on as she catches, Super-shero style, every bullet that comes her way.

Ani DiFranco: Don't Call Her a Pretty Girl!

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 02:37:00 +0000

BEE BUZZ! A Buzz in your ear about cool people/places/things/ideas and other hidden treasures!

I am not a pretty girl
that's not what I do
I ain't no damsel in distress
and I don't need to be rescued. . .

And I am not an "angry" girl
but it seems like I got everyone fooled
cause every time I say something they find hard to hear
they chalk it up to my anger, never to their own fear
and imagine you're a girl
just trying to finally come clean
knowing full well they prefer you were dirty
and smiling. . .

These lines are from the song "Not a Pretty Girl" by self-described "Righteous Babe" Ani DiFranco. Because she is as full of humor and wit as she is musical genius, Ani refers to herself as a righteous babe in a half-joking, almost self-deprecating kind of way. But to her fans, that is exactly what Ani is: a righteous babe who gives voice to the joys, sorrows, frustrations, and pains of women who, like her, want to be so much more than "pretty girls." She is an artist in the truest sense of the word whose life and lyrics bear witness to her passion for truth, justice, peace, and equality.

I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard Ani's buzz-saw-through-cotton-candy vocals set to a jarringly eclectic musical mix of rock, folk, funk, soul, and rap. It was 2002, and three girlfriends and I had decided to take a road trip to Indiana University to see the poetic prophetess and literary Goddess Maya Angelou. Tasha, who was driving, reached into the console, pulled out a CD, and popped it into the player. I sat in the back in stunned disbelief. "Who the hell is this?" I demanded, to which Tasha hollered back, "Ani DiFranco!"

As I listened I thought this woman had somehow climbed into my head, stolen all my thoughts, ideas, and life experiences, turned them into lyrics, and set them to music. She was bold, brazen, and completely fearless. She got all up in your face and commanded you to hear her, yet the pain in her voice and the intensely personal nature of her lyrics betrayed a tenderness and vulnerability that made you want to wrap your arms around her and go, "I know girl, I know!" Hearing and seeing so much of myself reflected in Ani's words and music was an experience that I can only describe as both terrifying and exhilarating. She was me, she was my friends, my sister, my mother, my grandmother, my aunts, and nearly every woman in my life who had rejected patriarchy and feminine inferiority and paid for it with bits and pieces of their hearts and souls. A dear price indeed for refusing to remain "dirty and smiling."

Over the course of her 18 year career, Ani has proven again and again that she is more than a pretty girl. After becoming founder, CEO, and fierce mother bear of Righteous Babe records, Ani stuck up her middle finger to the male-terrorized (sorry fellas, it's the truth!) world of the mainstream recording industry and started churning out album after album on her own label. As a self-described "Tour Hag," Ani worked hard to build a following by playing every dump and dive that would let her step foot in the door before finally working her way up to auditoriums and stadiums.

Her latest release, Red Letter Year, is testimony to the fact that 18 years of being a lone woman ranger in a male-dominated industry has only made her stronger, wiser, and even more committed to peace, justice, and equality than ever before. Yet it also shows that Ani has not lost her trademark humor, wit, humility, and tenderness, nor her ability to knock you right out of your complacency with her music and lyrics. An amazing work of art from an amazing woman.

Check her out at http://www.righteousbabe.com/

If you want to hear some Ani music and don't know where to start, I recommend beginning with So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter. This double CD set of performances recorded live from a variety of venues all across the U.S., Canada, and France is an absolute Ani must-have and a kind of primer for getting into the art, mind, heart, and soul of Ani DiFranco. Enjoy it and let me know your thoughts on it.

Hip-Hop and Me: A Stormy Love Affair

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:54:00 +0000

Hip-Hop and Me: A Stormy Love Affair
By. E.N. Jackson
Copyright 2009 E.N. Jackson
Frost Illustrated Inc., Vol. 41, Issue 27

When I first met Hip-Hop, it was love at first sight. Hip-Hop was the musical embodiment of the strong Black male presence my life had always lacked. The head-spinning rhymes of early MCs like Curtis Blow, Afrika Bambaataa, and Melle Mel, and later KRS-One, Erik B. and Rahim, and Public Enemy, made a poor, Black girl growing up in the projects feel safe and secure, protected and proud, powerful and strong. While many of my friends found these artists to be too “preachy” and self-important for their tastes, I felt they were freedom fighters attempting to liberate the hearts, souls, and minds, of my generation of Black youth and anyone else brave enough to hear their message. Regardless of what my friends thought, I loved these artists with a passion and remained steadfast in my devotion to them.

However, as time wore on, things began to change. The specter of capitalistic greed began to rear its ugly head and Hip-Hop started to see that there was money to be made on the ferocious back of a newer and even angrier form of rap rising out of the West Coast, “Gansta rap.” Suddenly rap music with a message that also let you get your jam on began to lose its power in favor of rap that reflected the harsh realities of life in the hoods of Compton and Watts. At that moment, the mirror that Hip-Hop had always held up to me began to morph. What I started to see reflected there was no longer the image of myself as the strong, proud, beautiful, intelligent young Black woman I knew myself to be, but something ugly and worthless, completely lacking in dignity and self-respect and having no value other than being the object of and target for a man’s lust, anger, and feelings of inadequacy. This was an image of myself that I simply could not and would not accept, no matter how “cool” the music that disguised it was and no matter how legitimate and timely the Gansta rap ideology was. Although the hyper-masculinity we see in rap today was always present to some extent, the misogyny and feminine degradation we see was not. So when I began to hear myself and other women referred to in this music as b******* and h**, it felt like Hip-Hop had raised its big Black fist to me and punched me right in my face. I thought rappers had lost their minds; something somewhere had gone seriously wrong to make them turn on me in this way.

At first I reacted in the same way that any abused woman reacts after the first punch: with shock and stunned surprise. Then I went into denial, saying things like, “Well, they’re not talking about me so it doesn’t really matter.” I began to engage in victim-blaming, declaring that the women these rappers (they do not deserve to be called MCs) were rapping about must be acting like b****** and h** and therefore must deserve to be called out as such. But I could not keep up this pretense and self-betrayal for long. I soon saw my defense of rap for what it was: a ridiculous cop out and excuse for disgustingly bad male supremacist behavior. The undeniable truth of the matter was that whether or not a rapper was hurling those ugly invectives at me personally, the fact remained that he was aiming them at somebody who was a woman, a member of a group I belonged to; a group whose entire character was being impugned because of a powerless, insecure, man-child’s need to feel powerful and secure in his manhood. When I took the blinders off and saw this truth, I became outraged; outraged on behalf of women and outraged on behalf of my love of Hip-Hop.

When women slowly but surely began to break through the glass ceiling of the rap game, female MCs like Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, and Sister Souljah came along and yelled, “Hold up! Wait a minute!” These women spoke with the fierce voice of a warrior Goddess, and I thought that my rightful place as the woman in Hip-Hop’s life had been restored. I fell in-love with Hip-Hop all over again and gave it the proverbial “One Mo’ Chance.” But it was not long before the voices of my warrior Goddesses, strong, sexy, and powerful as they were, started to be drowned out and nearly silenced by the porn kitty purrings of female rappers like Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown, who, instead of taking the message of the Black warrior Goddess to a whole new level, played right into the basest, most testosterone driven instincts of rap.

Though they are no longer major players in the world of rap, the inescapable irony of these women’s participation in the dark side of Hip-Hop, the side ruled by images of violence, self-preservation, and sexism, left its legacy on rap music by providing men with a justification for their misogyny. When women are willing to turn sadistic male fantasies into raps, contort themselves to fit some impossible male standard of beauty, and portray themselves as low class call girls in rap videos, they make it all too easy for men to say, “See? That’s what we want and that’s what they want too!” We as women let men off the hook when we continue to allow them to tell us that our value and worth is based on their fantasized versions of what they think a woman should be rather than the reality of a what a woman is. We only help to perpetuate the myth of male dominance and feminine submissiveness when we allow men to tell us that what is beautiful and sexy about us comes from the outside in, rather than the inside out; that we are putty to be molded and shaped into a man’s concept of femininity rather than our own conception of femininity.

And so once again I began to turn away from Hip-Hop and more toward another passionate love of mine – rock and alternative music – as an outlet for my anger, pain, and frustration and my need for a strong male presence. This was not always an easy relationship either, because in many ways the “Big Hair Bands” of the 80s and later the garage bands of the 90’s and early 2000s were just as hyper-masculine and almost as misogynistic as the rappers I had left, so at times it was like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. But the music and the message of bands like Living Colour, Rage Against The Machine, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam spoke to me in the way that Hip-Hop once had. Plus I did not have to endure the degradation of being called a b**** or a h* by the very men I looked to for mutual understanding and respect.

Eventually I found my way back to Hip-Hop thanks to MCs like The Roots, Common, and Mos Def and female MCs like Lauren Hill and MIA. However, like a woman who has been jilted by a man she loves but cannot seem to let go of, I have become wary and suspicious of Hip-Hop, yet reluctant to give up on it completely. I remain guarded and selective about the kind of Hip-Hop I allow into my life. One source of solace throughout the years has been the knowledge that I am not alone in my pain over the ways in which rap music has hurt and betrayed me. I know that I am not the only woman who has “issues” in her relationship with Hip-Hop. In fact, any self-respecting woman of color with an ounce of raised consciousness feels at the very least conflicted in her love for rap music. I take further comfort in the fact that men of consciousness like Michael Eric Dyson, Cornell West, and Toure, also feel, and even struggle with, this pain. They and others have spoken with brutal honesty about their support of Hip-Hop as a powerful force of resistance to racism and oppression but their anger and disgust with the prevalence of sexism and misogyny within rap music.

My relationship with Hip-Hop remains rocky and tumultuous at best. But I have always believed that the primary role of any art form is to function as social and political critique, and I believe that rap still has the ability to both entertain and at the same time fulfill that role. It still has the ability to challenge the constructs and mindsets of those within and outside of the Black cultural experience. In fact, there are rap and Hip-Hop artists out there today proving that “intellectual” rap or “message” rap may be down but is definitely not out. In fact, this genre of Hip-Hop has been staging a major comeback. And so, as with any relationship worth holding on to, I will continue to give Hip-Hop “One Mo’ Chance.”

Venus Williams: The Epitome of Class

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Venus Williams continues to cement her spot on my list of Real Women. As the calmer, quieter, mentally tougher, and more reflective of the two sisters, Venus is the one who consistently displays grace, poise, dignity, and strength, even when losing a match.

She demonstrated those qualities again today before, during, and after her loss to Serena. Rather than have a mental and emotional meltdown as Serena did after last year's Wimbledon finals when she lost to her big sister, Venus simply sat down, went inside of herself for a few moments, and, after her name was called, strolled to the podium with the clear but understated confidence she is known for.

Of her lost today she said, "She [Serena] had an answer for everything. She played the best tennis today, so congratulations." Later she joked, "Well, I don't think the loss has really set in yet because I'm still smiling."

And that's part of what makes her a class act. Her ability to take whatever shots come her way, either in tennis or in life, and keep right on smiling. I love me some Serena too, don't get me wrong. But as far as I'm concerned, today the true congratulations go to Venus.

The Right Wing Meltdown Continues

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:49:00 +0000

What in the world has been happening to the far right wing of the conservative party over the past couple of weeks? And what’s up with choosing good old American holidays to air their dirty laundry? First Mark Sanford disappears on Father’s Day weekend to go on a hiking trip through the Appalachian trails that turned out to be more like a sex romp through Argentina. He tells no one where he’s going, leaves his state without a governor, and then, once discovered, turns the media into his own personal confessional. For days afterward, the rest of us had to endure every single news channel being turned into the Mark Sanford Reality Show as he gave us sordid detail after sordid detail of his star-crossed love affair, whether we wanted to hear about it or not.

Now Sarah Palin chooses 4th of July weekend to inform the American public (or at least folks who somehow for some reason still find her relevant) of her decision to not only forego running for a second term as Governor of Alaska but to step down halfway through her first. The reasons she gives? Well, something about not wanting to waste anymore of the Alaskan people’s money and resources because she would never do that to a state she loves so much (but doesn’t love enough to continue leading). . . or . . . something like that. "I know when to pass the ball for victory," she has declared. Yeah, ok Sarah.

So what is the deal with this behavior? Is it erratic? Scattered? Bizarre? To use one of Palin’s favorite quips, “You betcha!” If the words and deeds of the far right wing of the conservative party were not such a destructive force in this country I would almost (almost!) feel sorry for them. Do left-leaning politicians get caught in affairs and make weird political moves out of the blue and for seemingly no good reason? Absolutely. But they also tend not to publicly castigate, denigrate, rail against, throw the Holy Bible at, and attempt to legislate the private sexual and personal choices of others. And therein lies the hypocrisy.

So go ahead and have your hot Argentinian love affair, Mark Sanford, but don’t you dare tell the rest of us that we’re Godless sinners if we find ourselves in the same situation. And please, PLEASE don’t try to pretty up your dirt and turn it into some kind of Danielle Steele Lifetime channel movie of the week, because no matter how you spin it, you’re a straight up “Playa.” And you, Sarah Palin, go ahead and make excuses for your daughters as they engage in unprotected sex and get pregnant by boys who turn out to be total losers. But don’t you dare point the finger at other young women who make the same mistake. If a young black single mother in the ghetto is a “baby mama” then guess what: so is your daughter.

The Bee Hive Booklist

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:17:00 +0000

Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one mind to another mind.
-James Russell Lowell-

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a [person's] mind can get both provocation and privacy. -Edward P. Morgan-

Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled "This could change your life." -Helen Exley-

Some of my favorite "dangerous" books. . .

Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by Bell Hooks

Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer

Revisioning Writer's Talk: Gender and Culture in Acts of Composing by Mary Ann Cain

Bicycles: Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni

This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color Edited by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore

Becoming American: The African-American Journey by Howard Dodson

Hey, Girlfriend!: 75 Monologues for Girls by Kimberly McCormick

The Spirituality Revolution by David Tracey

Greenwood Guides to Science and Religion: Science and Non-belief by Taner Edis

The Idealist.Org Handbook to Building a Better World: How to Turn Your Good Intentions into Actions that Make a Difference by Idealist.org and Stephanie Land

Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis

Women, Culture, and Politics by Angela Davis

If They Come in the Morning by Angela Davis

Dear Sisters: Dispatches from the Women's Liberation Movement by Rosalyn Baxandall and Linda Gordon, Editors

Open Mic: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture, and Religion by Michael Eric Dyson

The Fire This Time: Young Activists and the New Feminism by Vivien Labaton and Lundy Martin

The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and The Crisis in African-American Culture by Bakari Kitwana

Defending the Left: An Individual's Guide to Fighting for Social Justice, Individual Rights, and the Environment by David E. Driver

Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation by Natalie Hopkinson and Natalie Y. Moore

The Trouble Between Us: An Uneasy History of White and Black Women in the Feminist Movement by Winifred Breines

Sin Boldly: A Joyful Alternative to a Purpose Driven Life by Mark Ellingsen

Black Feminist Thought:Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins

Women's Reality: An Emerging Female System in the White Male Society by Anne Wilson Schaef

The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships, and Our World by David Gruder

The New Feminized Majority: How Democrats Can Change America with Women's Values by Catherine Adam and Charles Derber

God According to God: A Physicist Proves We've Been Wrong about God All Along by Gerald L. Schroeder (author of The Science of God)

Democracy: A Groundwork Guide by James Laxer

Flat-Footed Truths: Telling Black women's Lives by Patricia Bell-Scott

Separate But Equal in 2009

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Separate But Equal in 2009:
Lifting the Ban on Gays in the Military
By E.N. Jackson
Copyright 2009 E.N. Jackson
Frost Illustrated Inc., V41, Issue 26

Imagine the daily hell of having to live an inauthentic life. Imagine that in this false life, you’re forced to hide who and what you are and have to pretend to be something you’re not, all while having to do your job bigger and better than anyone else around you because you’re a minority. As an African-American woman, this kind of life is not at all difficult for me to imagine, and this is exactly the kind of life that Lt. Dan Choi, an Asian-American man, endured as he served his country valiantly from the moment he enlisted in the United States Army 10 years ago until the day he was informed that he would be discharged for violating Public Law 103-160, more commonly known as “Don’t’ Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Choi, the first soldier to be discharged under the Obama administration because of DADT, is the latest victim of a policy that supports a system of bigotry and discrimination which civil rights leaders fought so hard to end: the policy of “Separate But Equal.” DADT is the 21st century’s “Separate But Equal” clause because essentially what Choi and other GLBT service members have been told is that they can be as gay as they want to be – just as long as they keep it in the closet. Similarly, up until Brown v. The Board of Education, African-Americans were told that we could be educated in the public schools – as long as we agreed to send our children to schools that were in deplorable condition.

In 1993, President Clinton had the opportunity to correct this injustice and stand by his campaign promise to allow all citizens, regardless of sexual orientation, to serve openly in the military. But instead of signing an Executive Order lifting the ban on gays in the military, President Clinton caved in to right wing pressure and signed the DADT “compromise” into law. He, like so many progressive politicians of our time, let himself become a casualty of the Culture Wars. Recently President Obama also had the opportunity to rid our country of this repugnant policy once and for all, yet he, too, seems to be capitulating on his promise to repeal DADT by remaining largely silent on the issue and allowing White House spokespeople like Robert Gibbs to speak for him on this and other GLBT issues. According to Gibbs and other Obama aides, DADT is a pressing concern which the president intends, at some point, to address; in the meantime, however, the issue gets pushed further and further to the political backburner while exemplary service members continue to be targeted.

Sadly, what seems to be overshadowed in this whole debate is a very basic and simple truth: the repeal of DADT is not only a GLBT issue, it is a Civil Rights issue. We as Americans living under a Constitution that declares all people to be created equal can no longer allow sexual identity to be the last bastion of bigotry and discrimination in public policy-making. The personal views of private individuals can no longer be allowed to dictate public policy for us all. Lt. Dan Choi is a decorated soldier, a West Point graduate, and a master Arabic linguist who just happens to also be gay. He is a man who tried to live and speak his truth, and for his efforts he was punished. Is this really the kind of service member we want to be “firing” right now? Is this freedom? Is this justice? How is this an example of American Democracy? I for one am left with more questions than answers when I attempt to wrap my brain around the clear injustice being committed against this man and other GLBT service members, as well as the harm that is being done to our military in losing high caliber soldiers. It is time to end the practice of separate but equal once and for all in every American public and private institution. As ultra-conservative Senator Barry Goldwater once said, “You don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.” Perhaps someone should have explained that to Bill Clinton in 1993, and perhaps someone should explain it to President Obama now.

Black Music Month June 09

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:41:00 +0000

"If a song's about something I've experienced or that could've happened to me it's good. But if it's alien to me, I couldn't lend anything to it. Because that's what soul is all about." - Aretha Franklin

"I'm not saying I'm gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world." - Tupac

As I watched tonight's BET Music Awards, I marveled at the amazing depth and diversity of talent and artistry in the field of Black music. From post-modern Hip-Hop artists like Soulja Boy Tell 'Em to legends of soul like the O'Jays, Black music is a dynamic force with the power to impact the lives of millions of people, not to mention the power to be a multi-billion dollar industry that puts a whole lot of money into the hands and pockets of wealthy music moguls.

June 2009 marks the "unofficial" 30th Anniversary of Black Music Month. Some folks are aware that June is Black Music Month, though not many people are aware that in 1979 President Jimmy Carter was all set to sign a proclamation declaring June BMM - and didn't. Though Carter "decreed" June BMM and there was much hoopla made over the occassion, including a party on the White House lawn, BMM did not become official until 1998 with the passing of Fattah's House Concurrent Resolution 27. Such a cold and soulless name for a bill supposedly recognizing what is undeniably one of America's richest cultural achievements: the heritage and legacy of Black music.

Check out Pamela Reed's brilliant piece on the backdrop story to "Resolution 27" and President Obama's seeming refusal to acknowledge or recognize Black Music Month or the accomplishments of Black artists in the field of American music. http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2009/06/black-music-month-turns-30-002016.php.

His willingness to let June slip by with just the barest nod to BMM is, in my view, yet more evidence of Obama's desperate attempts to play act as if he's "colorblind." While I understand and whole-heartedly support his efforts to unify this incredibly divisive nation, I am baffled by his moves to distance himself from acknowledging the individual accomplishments of all the peoples who fall under America's umbrella, particularly people of color. Definitely puts a damper on what should be a joyful and proud celebration.

CS3: The Total Package!

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:32:00 +0000

BEE BUZZ! A Buzz in your ear about cool people/places/things/ideas and other hidden treasures!

Calhoun Street Soups, Salads, and Spirits: The total package

I have one word for you: Mac 'n Cheese. Followed by three more words: Oh my God. You have to understand, I am a Macaroni and cheese connoiseur. I look for a good mac 'n cheese the way a wine lover looks for a good French bubbly, and I do believe I've hit the mac 'n cheese jackpot. My friend Paul turned me on to this spot when he suggested it for lunch one day last week. Thank you Paul!

So what makes CS3 the total package? Well, the building itself is enough to draw you in. The architectural elements and retro decor, both inside and out, make CS3 feel more like a corner bistro in New York than a little pub in Fort Wayne. But add to that the great food (everything is delicious!), great service, great atmosphere, and great prices (definitely fits a sistuh's budget!), PLUS live music every Thursday, and you've got a spot that cannot be missed.

If you haven't checked this place out yet, don't sit around waiting for an invitation. Go! Now!

Scott Smiley: Urban Bard for a Post-modern Time

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:55:00 +0000

BEE BUZZ! A buzz in your ear about cool people/places/things/ideas and other hidden treasures!

I "discovered" this cat's poetry (or should I say his poetry discovered me) at the June TRIAAC Coffee House. Poetry was this month's CH focus, and Scott was one of the featured poets along with the Wizard of Word-smithing and Master of Mind-blowing, Curtis Crisler.

This man's poetry rocked me so hard. It's raw, edgy, and masculine, yet at the same time emotionally honest, and laced with human vulnerability. His writing is clever, sharp, and tinged with just enough wry wit to keep it fresh. As he talked about his life and his writing process, I was particularly impressed with his ability to speak not only with truth and honesty but with critical self-reflection. Sorry fellas, but I don't know many men who are willing to open themselves up like that and put themselves out there, not in an exhibitionist "look at me" sort of way, but in a "let's be real here" sort of way. Menfolk could learn a little something from this dude, so take a cue.

I had no idea this brother existed before now. Is he a hidden treasure or am I just late to the party as usual? lol!

Remembering Stonewall

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:10:00 +0000

40 years ago yesterday, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay hotspot in New York's Greenwich Village. But if the po-po thought "the gays" were going to silently endure the violence and abuse that ensued, they soon found out otherwise. Because as the police attempted to bully, threaten, and beat their way through the crowd, the club's patrons began to fight back. Their resistance sparked three days of rioting and ignited a battle for GLBT rights that grew into the movement we know today. If you want to know more about this highly under-reported and unacknowledged time in Civil Rights history, I encourage you to see the documentary Remembering Stonewall and read the book Stonewall: The Riot that Sparked the Revolution by David Carter. I intend too as well.

Michael. . .

noreply@blogger.com (The Bee) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:49:00 +0000

Every arrival foretells a leave-taking; every birth a death. yet each death and departure comes to us as a surprise, a sorrow never anticipated. Life is a long series of farewells; only the circumstances should surprise us.
-Jessamyn West-

We are always saying a farewell. . . we maintain our right to be surprised by the circumstances, but we can grow into the beauty of graceful farewells.
-Anne Wilson Schaef-

Was he a child molester or a man who just loved kids with a child-like simplicity? Was he a "freak" with an ever increasing list of oddities and eccentricities or was he a unique and deeply misunderstood soul? Was he an artist and musical genius or a shrewd and manipulative business man? I do not claim to know the answers to these questions and now may never know. What I do know, however, is that Michael Jackson is just as much a part of my cultural experience as a young black girl growing up in the 70s and 80s and coming of age in the 90s as are my own relatives and friends. His music, his voice, and his songs were the backdrop and soundtrack to much of my teen and young adult years. For me it is not a matter of wanting to forget him or not wanting to forget him. It is that I cannot and will not forget him.

And so with saddness, shock, surprise and maybe even a little bit of irony, I wish Michael a graceful farewell.