African-American Identity in the Age of Obama - The Takeaway

African-American Identity in the Age of Obama - The Takeaway:

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Left of Black-Michael Eric Dyson

Host Mark Anthony Neal, is joined by Georgetown professor and public intellectual Michael Eric Dyson via Skype® for the season premiere ofLeft of Black.   The two scholars assess President Obama’s agenda, accomplishments, and challenges, as well as Cornel West’s perspective of the Obama administration so far.  Dyson also discusses the importance of presenting critical analysis to the broader public.  The show finishes off with a discussion of Kanye West and Jay-Z’s recent album Watch the Throne.  

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Why African Americans And Latinos Must Get Along

African-Americans and Latinos have too much in common not to get along better.
Both communities face high unemployment rates, high dropout rates, systemic poverty, gang violence, a disproportionate number of prison inmates and continual discrimination.
Some issues that continue to create controversy between the two communities are immigration, job competition, bilingual education and political representation. These are tough issues that we need to address in a respectful and thoughtful manner.
Some African American and Latino leaders have tried to form alliances. But this has proven more difficult than you might think.
Take the big immigrant rights marches over the past decade, for example. The pro-immigrant Latino leadership did not do enough outreach to include a wide representation of African-American leaders and organizations. And few African American leaders and community members participated in this movement. Also, many Latino community members are beginning to resent President Barack Obama since he has not signed into law a comprehensive immigration reform that would benefit nearly 12 million immigrants in the United States.
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Olsson's The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975: The Revolution Will Be Documented

I think the reason I love cinema so much is that, as a medium, it possesses the most potential for uniting the world. While we watch a DVD of a French film at home, sit in a theater being washed over by the images of an Italian B & W classic, or surreptitiously check out the recent download of a Bollywood movie on our iPad, we are undeniably transported to other lands, other eras and, most importantly, other ways of looking at things. But while the promise is there every time we choose a title, few films achieve the grand objective of forever changing our mind and enriching our world permanently.
Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson's documentary The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 is one of those once-in-a-lifetime films which seamlessly reaches the full cinematic goal of changing its viewers' world for good. Face to face, the stylish, understatedly handsome Olsson is quick to point out that with The Black Power Mixtape "I am not trying to tell the story about the Black Power movement. I'm telling the story of how it was perceived in Sweden. So it's an outsider's look, from outsiders' material." As we sit inside a Soho eatery sipping coffee, in the quiet off hours of the afternoon, he continues "Erykah Badu, in the film, says that we have to tell our own stories, but this is my story. This is the Swedish story of this period in US history."
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Stanford law professor argues black women should cross race barrier for marriage partners

Black women are getting to the best universities, strongest corporations and top ranks of government offices.

But not to the altar.
A provocative new book by Stanford law professor Ralph Richard Banks examines why black women are so unlikely to marry -- and proposes a solution that is arousing controversy in the African-American community: Cross the color line.
"Don't marry down. Marry out," says Banks in his campus office, busy with phone calls, emails and preparation for the new semester. The shared experience that once bound blacks together -- segregation -- is gone, he asserts. "So it all coalesces around this ...: whether black women will continue to be held hostage to the failings of black men."
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No Blacks Pictured in 9/11 Commemorative

Time magazine this week published "Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience," a photo-rich commemorative edition dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. No identifiable African Americans are pictured in its 64 pages.
Asked about the omission, Time spokesman Kerri Chyka said by email: "TIME is declining to comment at this time."
The issue is published at a time in its history when the magazine apparently has no African American editors.
"There certainly are African Americans on Time's masthead," spokeswoman Ali Zelenko told Journal-isms by email. However, she did not respond when asked to name them. The masthead lists other staffers in addition to editors.
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African American unemployment at its highest level since 1984

The August jobs report released by the Labor Department on Friday painted a bleak picture about racial inequality in the jobs market. Unemployment for African Americans is now at an astounding 16.7%, its highest level since 1984. This is more than double the unemployment figure for whites, which fell slightly last month to 8%.

With President Obama set to lay out his jobs plan in a highly-anticipated speech on Thursday, what does he need to say to restore faith in the African American public about jobs?
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