Thursday, March 31, 2011
Blacks in Prison
Here some statistics that you might find shocking and disgraceful.
The first number is the percentage of Black Americans in the state and the second number is the percentage of Black Americans making up the prison population in that state.
Arkansas 16% Black - 52% in Prison
Georgia 29% Black - 64% in Prison
Louisiana 33% Black - 76% in Prison
Mississippi 36% Black - 75% in Prison
Alabama 26% Black - 65% in Prison
Tennessee 16% Black - 53% in Prison
Kentucky 7% Black - 36% in Prison
South Carolina 30% Black - 70% in Prison
North Carolina 22% Black - 64% in Prison
Virginia 20% Black - 68% in Prison
The above statistics are from Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. at the weekly meeting of Operation Rainbow/PUSH on 25 March 2011.
The first number is the percentage of Black Americans in the state and the second number is the percentage of Black Americans making up the prison population in that state.
Arkansas 16% Black - 52% in Prison
Georgia 29% Black - 64% in Prison
Louisiana 33% Black - 76% in Prison
Mississippi 36% Black - 75% in Prison
Alabama 26% Black - 65% in Prison
Tennessee 16% Black - 53% in Prison
Kentucky 7% Black - 36% in Prison
South Carolina 30% Black - 70% in Prison
North Carolina 22% Black - 64% in Prison
Virginia 20% Black - 68% in Prison
The above statistics are from Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. at the weekly meeting of Operation Rainbow/PUSH on 25 March 2011.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Black Women's History: Celebrating Miracles, Wonders and Struggle
Dr. Maulana Karenga
This is the month for celebrating the miracles and wonders we call Black women, that other half of our community which makes us, as a people, whole, these equal and most worthy partners in life, love and struggle to bring good in the world. This does not mean we don't celebrate Black women any other time or all the time in the varied ways we do. It simply means this is a special month of marking, intentionally set aside to remind us and them of the great and indispensable good they have brought and bring in the world. It is a special time to reinforce the rightful attentiveness we owe them, to reaffirm the great value we find in them, and to express in countless ways the profound respect, love and appreciation we have for them. In a word, it is a time to think deeply about and appreciate the meaning and responsibility, the glory and burden, the joy and stress, and the wonder and work of being African women in the world.
In the larger society, March is called Women's History Month, but we in Us call March, Black History Month II---Women Focus, and call February, Black History Month I---General Focus.We do this first to reaffirm the fact that Black women's history takes place within Black history itself---not as a separate practice and product, but as a cooperative project within the context of a people,African people, as well as in the context of humanity as a whole. Thus, we can and do celebrate with others the history of women as a whole, but we always begin and end with honor and appreciation of our own during this special month of marking and in the principled practice of everyday life. Moreover, the seamless move from February to March from general Black history to focus on Black women's history within it rightfully stresses continuity rather than rupture, andunity in diversity rather than separateness and antagonism.
Such centering of Black women in the midst of their own history and culture as African people gives the celebration both a life-grounded realness and everyday relevance. For it talks of women as concrete cultural beings, living, loving, suffering, rejoicing, working, struggling and achieving in the context of a definite cultural community. It focuses on the lives they live and make for themselves within the families, communities and historical narrative that makes their lives meaningful. Thus, it respects the diversity of their lives, needs and aspirations as African women, while recognizing common ground for cooperative and mutually beneficial exchange with other women of the world.
Moreover, Black History Month II---Woman Focus reminds us and them that our first and continuing focus must be on Black women, African women, in order to give authenticity and accuracy to the celebration. This shows proper respect to the original women who stood up first with the original men, African men, and together spoke the first human truth and began the long struggle and record of humans overcoming the obstacles and oppositions of nature, society, others, and self to establish and constantly expand the realm of human freedom and human flourishing. For not only are African women the beginning of women's history in the world, they are also the mothers of humanity and human civilization itself.
Thirdly, understanding and celebrating Black women in the context of Black history as a whole represents an act of self-determination. It is a choosing of oneself and thus one's culture as an instructive source and an empowering model of what it means to be women in the world. And it is a rightful insistence on the dignity-affirming, depthful engagement with African women's history as a central paradigm of woman, African and human excellence, possibility and achievement. This position avoids the tendency to lose or lessen the importance of African women's history in the history of women of the dominant society who might, even unintentionally, put forth their ancestors and contemporaries as the central source for understanding the history of women.
It is this spirit of self-determination that animated and informed the origin and development of Africana womanism. For in the evolving discourse on the equal rights and dignity of women as a whole, Black women reasoned that neither White feminists nor feminism spoke to their unique identity, history and culture as African women. On the contrary, and as a matter of agency, they felt compelled to speak their own special cultural and experiential truth and create a unique discourse and discussion around the current and historical context and contours of their own lives and the future they were forging in love, work and struggle within their community and the world.
Finally, to celebrate Black women's history within the context of Black history, the most ancient of all human histories, is to be able to draw on the oldest tradition of womanhood. It is to open space for discussion from the earliest sources on what it means to be both woman and man in the world. In the /Husia,/ the sacred text of ancient Egypt, we read the sacred teaching that all humans, women and men, are possessors of divinity and dignity in equal measure. In the /Odu Ifa/ we read the sacred teaching that all humans---men and women, are divinely chosen to bring good in the world. And they are chosen not over and against each other but /chosen/ with each other to bring, increase and sustain good in the world in love and struggle. Indeed, in our sacred texts and within the sacred narrative we know and honor as Black history, we have discovered the indispensability of the voice, visions and equal partnership of women in the success and meaningfulness of anything of weight or worth we as men aspire or attempt to do.
Moving thru history we not only have sacred texts that represent the highest form of spiritual and ethical understanding of women and men as humans as a whole, but we also have countless numbers of women whose lives are rich and indispensable lessons in how to walk as African women, and as dignity and divinity possessing persons in the world. And in their strength and dignity, dedication, discipline and accomplishments, they are models of excellence, achievement and possibility, not only for us as a people and women in general, but also humanity as a whole.And thus, a central way to celebrate the history of Black women is to live lives worthy of the best of what it means to be African, woman and human in the world.
Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach; Executive Director, African American Cultural Center (Us); Creator of Kwanzaa; and author of /Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture /and /Introduction to Black Studies, /4^th Edition/,/www.MaulanaKarenga.org.
This is the month for celebrating the miracles and wonders we call Black women, that other half of our community which makes us, as a people, whole, these equal and most worthy partners in life, love and struggle to bring good in the world. This does not mean we don't celebrate Black women any other time or all the time in the varied ways we do. It simply means this is a special month of marking, intentionally set aside to remind us and them of the great and indispensable good they have brought and bring in the world. It is a special time to reinforce the rightful attentiveness we owe them, to reaffirm the great value we find in them, and to express in countless ways the profound respect, love and appreciation we have for them. In a word, it is a time to think deeply about and appreciate the meaning and responsibility, the glory and burden, the joy and stress, and the wonder and work of being African women in the world.
In the larger society, March is called Women's History Month, but we in Us call March, Black History Month II---Women Focus, and call February, Black History Month I---General Focus.We do this first to reaffirm the fact that Black women's history takes place within Black history itself---not as a separate practice and product, but as a cooperative project within the context of a people,African people, as well as in the context of humanity as a whole. Thus, we can and do celebrate with others the history of women as a whole, but we always begin and end with honor and appreciation of our own during this special month of marking and in the principled practice of everyday life. Moreover, the seamless move from February to March from general Black history to focus on Black women's history within it rightfully stresses continuity rather than rupture, andunity in diversity rather than separateness and antagonism.
Such centering of Black women in the midst of their own history and culture as African people gives the celebration both a life-grounded realness and everyday relevance. For it talks of women as concrete cultural beings, living, loving, suffering, rejoicing, working, struggling and achieving in the context of a definite cultural community. It focuses on the lives they live and make for themselves within the families, communities and historical narrative that makes their lives meaningful. Thus, it respects the diversity of their lives, needs and aspirations as African women, while recognizing common ground for cooperative and mutually beneficial exchange with other women of the world.
Moreover, Black History Month II---Woman Focus reminds us and them that our first and continuing focus must be on Black women, African women, in order to give authenticity and accuracy to the celebration. This shows proper respect to the original women who stood up first with the original men, African men, and together spoke the first human truth and began the long struggle and record of humans overcoming the obstacles and oppositions of nature, society, others, and self to establish and constantly expand the realm of human freedom and human flourishing. For not only are African women the beginning of women's history in the world, they are also the mothers of humanity and human civilization itself.
Thirdly, understanding and celebrating Black women in the context of Black history as a whole represents an act of self-determination. It is a choosing of oneself and thus one's culture as an instructive source and an empowering model of what it means to be women in the world. And it is a rightful insistence on the dignity-affirming, depthful engagement with African women's history as a central paradigm of woman, African and human excellence, possibility and achievement. This position avoids the tendency to lose or lessen the importance of African women's history in the history of women of the dominant society who might, even unintentionally, put forth their ancestors and contemporaries as the central source for understanding the history of women.
It is this spirit of self-determination that animated and informed the origin and development of Africana womanism. For in the evolving discourse on the equal rights and dignity of women as a whole, Black women reasoned that neither White feminists nor feminism spoke to their unique identity, history and culture as African women. On the contrary, and as a matter of agency, they felt compelled to speak their own special cultural and experiential truth and create a unique discourse and discussion around the current and historical context and contours of their own lives and the future they were forging in love, work and struggle within their community and the world.
Finally, to celebrate Black women's history within the context of Black history, the most ancient of all human histories, is to be able to draw on the oldest tradition of womanhood. It is to open space for discussion from the earliest sources on what it means to be both woman and man in the world. In the /Husia,/ the sacred text of ancient Egypt, we read the sacred teaching that all humans, women and men, are possessors of divinity and dignity in equal measure. In the /Odu Ifa/ we read the sacred teaching that all humans---men and women, are divinely chosen to bring good in the world. And they are chosen not over and against each other but /chosen/ with each other to bring, increase and sustain good in the world in love and struggle. Indeed, in our sacred texts and within the sacred narrative we know and honor as Black history, we have discovered the indispensability of the voice, visions and equal partnership of women in the success and meaningfulness of anything of weight or worth we as men aspire or attempt to do.
Moving thru history we not only have sacred texts that represent the highest form of spiritual and ethical understanding of women and men as humans as a whole, but we also have countless numbers of women whose lives are rich and indispensable lessons in how to walk as African women, and as dignity and divinity possessing persons in the world. And in their strength and dignity, dedication, discipline and accomplishments, they are models of excellence, achievement and possibility, not only for us as a people and women in general, but also humanity as a whole.And thus, a central way to celebrate the history of Black women is to live lives worthy of the best of what it means to be African, woman and human in the world.
Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach; Executive Director, African American Cultural Center (Us); Creator of Kwanzaa; and author of /Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture /and /Introduction to Black Studies, /4^th Edition/,/www.MaulanaKarenga.org.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Imprisonment of a Race
March 25, 2011
10:30 am–6:15 pm Doors open at 9:00am
McCosh Hall, Room 10 (seating available on first-come, first serve basis)
This event is Full and closed.
Please join us via the live Webcast:
http://www.princeton.edu/webmedia
Read the rest here
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Black Woman: A Double Edge Sword
Yesterday was the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. On 21 March 1960 police opened fire on demonstrators marching peacefully against apartheid “pass laws” in Sharpeville, South Africa. The “pass laws” were designed to segregate South Africa’s population by restricting the movement of non-white citizens. Six years later, in 1966, in recognition of this event and acts of discrimination the world over, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Significant strides have taken place since 1960 to reduce racial discrimination; apartheid has fallen, racist laws and practices have been abolished in many countries and the International Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination is nearing universal ratification. But despite these advancements individuals and communities continue to suffer from racism.
In the United States African American women endure “double discrimination.” They are both black and women. This makes them particularly susceptible to poverty, poor health and low education.
Read the rest here
Significant strides have taken place since 1960 to reduce racial discrimination; apartheid has fallen, racist laws and practices have been abolished in many countries and the International Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination is nearing universal ratification. But despite these advancements individuals and communities continue to suffer from racism.
In the United States African American women endure “double discrimination.” They are both black and women. This makes them particularly susceptible to poverty, poor health and low education.
Read the rest here
Sunday, March 6, 2011
A Bad Year for White Whine: College Scholarships and the Cult of Caucasian Victimhood
Texas State University student Colby Bohnannon would like you to know, it’s hard out there for a white guy.
When looking for money for college, the Iraq War veteran claims he had a hard time finding any, at least of the scholarship variety. And this, he wants you to believe, is due to the lack of such awards for white men, as opposed to the presumably substantial funds set aside for students of color. So, frustrated in his quest for white male scholarships, he’s created one, under the aegis of his new organization, the “Former Majority Association for Equality.” Get it? As in, we white folks used to be the majority, but since we’re not anymore (at least in Texas), now we’re the ones being shut out of opportunity, and in need of some affirmative action.
FMAE’s scholarships, which will amount to about $500 each, will be awarded only to white men with 3.0 grade-point-averages. Why white women are excluded from his beneficence, and why he is applying a rather bizarre blood quantum test to the awards (offering them to anyone with at least one-quarter white ancestry), remain mysteries. Especially since it would take some incredibly brain-dead math to suggest either that white men alone had ever been a majority anywhere, since displaced by the dreaded “other,” or that those with at least one white grandparent are not still a majority today, even in Texas, where large numbers of Hispanics are quite recently connected to Anglos.
Read more here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)