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November 25, 2002
Political Animal
The Black Panther Coloring Book 
"This coloring book, which was purported to be from the Black Panthers, had actually been rejected by them when it was brought to them by a man later revealed to have intelligence connections. Not to be troubled by the fact that the Panthers found the coloring book revolting, the FBI added even more offensive illustrations, and mass mailed it across America. It so infuriated the white population that they stopped listening to the legitimate grievances of the black people." They mass mailed it across the U.S.! What Really Happened
November 24, 2002
Political Animal
World War of Words "With the global hood shrinking and more news outlets probing into the private lives of hip-hop artists, opportunities for rappers to dig up personal information about foes have fueled their fiery battles. 'It was once good for rap to show lyrical skills, but it's beyond that now,' says AZ, the rapper who stamped Nas's critically acclaimed 1994 debut, Illmatic, with a verse since considered classic. 'It's harmful. With all the intensity and blatant disrespect, somebody's going to get their head taken off. And that's gonna set us six years back.'" Village Voice
November 19, 2002
Political Animal
Interracial Intimacy "Patterson's third claim is that widespread intermarriage is necessary to the integration of blacks into American society. He agrees with the writer Calvin Hernton that intermarriage is 'the crucial test in determining when a people have completely won their way into the mainstream of any given society.' In Ordeals of Integration he therefore urges blacks, particularly women, to renounce their objections to interracial intimacy. Higher rates of intermarriage 'will complete the process of total integration as [blacks] become to other Americans not only full members of the political and moral community, but also people whom "we" marry,' he counsels. 'When that happens, the goal of integration will have been fully achieved.'" The Atlantic
Political Animal
On Covers of Many Magazines, a Full Racial Palette Is Still Rare "And race itself has become more complicated and less definable, said Mr. Wynter. He suggests that many of the Latin superstars like Jennifer Lopez are often seen not as minorities by young white teenagers, but as a different kind of white person. Very few of the breakout artists featured on covers are dark skinned." New York Times
Political Animal
After Conviction of Boy, Prosecutor Switches Sides "This time, however, Mr. Shiner is on the other side of the courtroom. He is a defense lawyer now, representing the girl, and making the broader point that children should not be tried as adults.
This is the same lawyer who once characterized Nathaniel Brazill, now 17 and serving 28 years in prison for killing his teacher in nearby Lake Worth, as a killer whose 'demeanor sends chills up my spine.'" Here's a quote from the article that is even more disturbing given the election results this year, "'Most people, if you talk to my colleagues, would have no idea what I'm even telling you,' Mr. Shiner said. 'They thought I was probably a hard-core Republican, which is nothing further from the truth. I had a role to fill and I took my role seriously.'" Something to think about it. New York Times
Fnord
Accused Snipers May Be Followers "The organization also is suspected of having ties to Richard C. Reid, the British man accused of trying to use explosives in his shoes to blow up a Paris-to-Miami jetliner Dec. 22. Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was on the way to meet Sheik Gilani in Pakistan when he was kidnapped and later killed. Mr. Pearl was investigating accusations that Reid was one of Sheik Gilani's followers. Sheik Gilani was not charged in the Pearl death." Why do they even need Roy Innis' help? Washington Times
Political Animal
A Journey Through The Tangled Case Of The Central Park Jogger "Adams's testimony was a major departure from the line the prosecution had spun. Answering Joseph's questions, the FBI expert said that while there was no DNA match with the blood samples from any of the defendants or possible suspects in the wilding, or the sample from the jogger's boyfriend, some firm conclusions could be made. True, there was no match, Adams said, but all 14 of the DNA samples could be excluded as belonging to the person or persons who penetrated the victim in Central Park that night. Answering Joseph's questions matter-of-factly, the FBI expert explained that in DNA testing, it is easier to exclude than to match. He said the weak pattern obtained from the cervix and the stronger pattern found on the sock, though not as complete as needed for a match, were nonetheless clear and strong enough to determine that they definitely did not belong to any of the 14 people whose blood was tested." Worst of all, nothing's going to happen to anyone for this. Village Voice
November 17, 2002
Site Seeing
Black-White Harmony: Are You Kidding Me? "'Part of the purpose of the site is to have people think about what is this and why it exists and not who is behind it,' Mr. Peretti said." This is a write up of the site, "Black People Love Us" that was cited here earlier. New York Times
November 15, 2002
Review
David and Golgotha "Embarrassed by their lives of privilege, the whites on Curb can only hope that their impeccable politics will save them from censure. When Larry makes a gauche joke about affirmative action to Richard Lewis' black dermatologist, Lewis tries to placate his outraged doctor pal by explaining that Larry couldn't possibly have meant any harm because he's a liberal -- as if that explained everything. (He's a liberal with a leaky id. 'I say stupid things to black people,' he admits.) Later in the same episode ('Affirmative Action,' from the first season), while facing an impromptu tribunal on racial sensitivity at the dermatologist's home, Larry desperately tries to win over the doctor's angry friends by joking that not only is he in favor of affirmative action, he thinks white people 'should be sleeping on the streets eating crumbs' for at least 200 years." Wanda Sykes always tears him a new one when she's on the show. LA Weekly
November 10, 2002
Poetry
A New Platform for the New Poets "'Mr. Simmons has made a career of transforming urban oral traditions into mainstream entertainment. 'I don't pretend to discover ideas,' he said. 'By the time I get hold of something, it's already hot. I bring it to HBO, or Hollywood, or records, and it may be the first time that people have heard it outside of the core, but these people are already cultural heroes in their community. What feels good to me is pretty commercial by the time I like it, and I believe poetry's time has come.'" New York Times
Fnord
Metal Detectors Making Students Late, if Not Safer "'To get into Kennedy in time for her 8:20 a.m. class, Hanna Reyes leaves her Washington Heights home by 6:30 a.m. 'I don't want to take any chances, I really don't,' she said. 'It's frustrating to us. You kind of dread going to school.'" The village Voice did an article a full year earlier on this same subject but went into more detail describing the tranformation of some NYC public schools to prison-like facilities. New York Times
Fnord
No Child Unrecruited "Educators point out that the armed services have exceeded their recruitment goals for the past two years in a row, even without access to every school. The new law, they say, undercuts the authority of some local school districts, including San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, that have barred recruiters from schools on the grounds that the military discriminates against gays and lesbians. Officials in both cities now say they will grant recruiters access to their schools and to student information -- but they also plan to inform students of their right to withhold their records." If you check the Selective Service System's website, you will see a high percentage of young men already comply. In fact, Delaware is almost at 100% compliance. Don't the armed forces have access to this information? Why do the armed forces need to collect women's names? Could this be considered the beginnings of a military build up? Mother Jones
November 8, 2002
Report on Life
Love bug craze hits Uganda "While the bridegrooms are finding it easy to buy second-hand coats and neckties for the ceremony, the brides appear to have difficulty raising money to purchase sparkling-white wedding gowns.
They have therefore resorted to pulling down the spotless white mosquito nets in their bedrooms." I will keep my sarcastic comment to myself. BBC
Report on Life
The Problem With Whites "'In my view this country is divided into masters and slaves,' he told me during a telephone interview. 'The majority of all people in this country are slaves. Most have no say-so over their lives at all. The problem is that a lot of the slaves think they're masters. ... The poor white is the house slave of this country. Not the middle-class black. The poor white.'" Detroit Metro Times
November 4, 2002
Music
Investigating Murder of a D.J., Police Use Detectives Specializing in the World of Hip-Hop " When not investigating a specific crime, the detectives serve both as police liaisons to the worlds of rap and hip-hop, meeting with artists and promoters, as well as investigating violence, money laundering and other crimes in the music industry, and talk to detectives who do similar work in places like California and Florida, several investigators from the unit said." New York Times
Music
Blue-Eyed Rhythm and Blues: Does Race Matter? "Mr. Hugo is right: Thicke and Mr. Timberlake are very much the same but also very different. There is no mistaking one for the other, but they are both coming from the same place and attempting a rare crossover for this moment in music. They are both white men in their 20's who have made very good debut albums of modern R & B, with initial singles that sound like new Michael Jackson productions. As surprising as it is, considering the long tradition of white artists riding black musical styles to the top of the charts, there are extremely few white men successfully singing R & B today. But as the distance between hip-hop and R &B narrows and an 80's nostalgia creeps into popular culture, the field is changing." New York Times
Music
Denzel Washington Crosses Over Again "Mr. Washington crossed over society's racial divide long ago, on his way to becoming a first-name-only Hollywood star. That racial divide provides the backdrop for the first picture he has directed, "Antwone Fisher" (opening Dec. 20), a harrowing tale of a black orphan that examines the meaning of hope measured against much longer odds than Mr. Washington ever faced growing up the son of a Pentecostal minister near the northernmost reaches of the Bronx." New York Times
Music
In Rap Industry, Rivalries as Marketing Tool "But as his fame has grown, so has his fear for his life. A jealous former neighbor, an overzealous fan, anyone is a possible threat, he said. 'It's sad, because that feeling is mainly towards my black people,' he said. 'When my white fans come around, I don't feel uneasy, like they want to harm me. But when I'm around a whole group of black people, a defense comes on,' he said. 'That's the tragedy of this.'" New York Times
Music
School Teaching in Chinese Is a Lure for Black Children "Now, before the start of every school year, more and more black parents arrive at the office of the principal, Ling-Ling Chou, seeking admission for their children to the prekindergarten class -- which is based on interviews with prospective students and their parents. They are undeterred by the fact that their children will be among the few non-Asians in the school, or that Mandarin is famously difficult to master. Chinese instruction runs from 3 to 5:30 p.m. daily. All subjects, however, are taught in both languages." New York Times
November 2, 2002
Books
The Languages of the Classroom "Most people remember the Ebonics affair as one of the more ludicrous episodes of PC revisionism. In December 1996, the Oakland School Board issued a new curricular policy, officially recognizing 'West and Niger-Congo African Language Systems [Ebonics], and each language as the predominantly primary language of African-American students.' Teachers were asked to 'immediately devise and implement the best possible academic program for imparting instruction to African-American students in their primary language.' The response was instantaneous. Op-eds around the country ridiculed the proposal as a crazed specimen of identity politics. Jesse Jackson and Maya Angelou deplored it, and the Clinton administration promised to withhold federal funding. Ebonics jokes were heard on talk shows, and images of teachers lecturing in jive clogged fax machines. Commentators treated it as sensitivity gone wild, liberal guilt in the elementary school, a pathetic or cynical effort to explain away the poor performance of African-American students." The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom. Edited by Lisa Delpit and Joanne Kilgour Dowdy Partisan Review
Books
Islam in the Mix: Lessons of the Five Percent "What I want to do now is introduce some significant Five Percent beliefs which are articulated by rappers, to convey a sense of the heterogeneity of Five Percent hip-hop, and then return to the question of possible Middle Eastern affiliations. I should say that my account of the Five Percenters teachings is based primarily on an investigation of written sources, some of them primary, and includes items I have located on the Five Percent homepage (http://metalab.unc.edu/nge/) and on various internet bulletin boards and discussion groups." University of Arkansas