African American Suicide Fact Sheet
· Suicide is the third leading cause of death among black youth, after homicides and
accidents.
· While Caucasians are twice as likely as African Americans to complete suicide, the
rate of suicide is growing faster among African American youth than among
Caucasians.
· From 1980 - 1995 the rates of suicide among black children 10 n14 years of age
(233%) and black teenagers 15 - 19 years of age (126%) years had greater
percentage increases than white children (120%) and white teenagers (19%).
· From 1980 - 1995 the suicide rate increased 214% for 15-24 year old African
American males; it increased 93% for African American females. However, since
1995, these rates have decreased 16% (1998) for males, while remaining steady
for females (1998).
· African American females are more likely to attempt suicide but African American
males are more likely to complete suicide.
· Firearms were the predominant method of suicide completion among African
Americans, accounting for 65% of all suicides among 15-24 year olds and 58% of
all suicides among 25-34 year olds.
· In 1998, African American deaths certified as suicide occurred at the rate of 5 per
day.
Myths
· African Americans are too psychologically unsophisticated to experience
depression and suicide.
· Only middle class Caucasians complete suicide.
· Depression is a personal weakness rather than a medical condition.
· There is no cultural difference in the expression of suicidal behaviors.
Things We Can Do to Help
· Help remove the stigma that suicide contradicts gender and cultural role
expectations:
o Religious stigma of suicide as the Aunforgivable sin.
o African American men are macho and do not take their own lives.
· African American women are always strong and resilient and never crack under
pressure.
· Remove barriers to treatment.
· Better access to mental health treatment.
· Remove stigma associated with mental health treatment.
· Increase awareness in cultural differences in the expression of suicidal behaviors:
o African Americans are less likely to use drugs during a suicide crisis.
o Behavioral component of depression in African Americans is more
pronounced.
o Some African Americans express little suicide intent or depressive
symptoms during suicide crisis.
o Differences in classification by medical examiners.
· Develop liaisons with faith community.
· Recognize warning signs and help a friend or family member get professional help.
Warning Signs of a Suicidal Person
A suicidal person may:
· Talk about suicide, death, and/or no reason to live
· Be preoccupied with death and dying
· Withdraw from friends and/or social activities
· Have a recent severe loss (esp. relationship) or threat of significant loss
· Experience drastic changes in behavior
· Lose interest in hobbies, work, school, etc.
· Prepare for death by making out a will (unexpectedly) and final arrangements
· Give away prized possessions
· Have attempted suicide before
· Take unnecessary risks; be reckless, and/or impulsive
· Lose interest in their personal appearance
· Increase their use of alcohol or drugs
· Express a sense of hopelessness
· Be faced with a situation of humiliation or failure
· Have a history of violence or hostility
· Have been unwilling to connect with potential helpers
For More Information
National Organization For People of Color Against Suicide
http://www.nopcas.com/
American Association of Suicidology
4201 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 408
Washington, DC 20008
Phone: (202) 237-2280
Email: info@suicidology.org www.suicidology.org
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Nova Henry and Ava Curry...we speak your names!
Chicago police have arrested a man they believe killed ex-Chicago Bulls player Eddy Curry's 10-month-old daughter, Ava, and her mother Nova Henry, who is also the mother of Curry's son.
The Henry family was notified after midnight that Nova Henry's ex-boyfriend, a Chicago man, was in police custody and authorities intend to charge him with two counts of murder.
Chicago police confirmed that the man had been arrested and that murder charges were pending, but further details were not immediately available. The Tribune is not naming the man because he has not been charged.
Asst. Supt. James Jackson said police arrested the suspect early this morning but wouldn't say exactly when.
"We have somebody in custody at this time. Over the weekend there should be some movement (on the case)," Jackson said.
Nova Henry, 24, and daughter Ava were found shot to death in her South Loop townhouse on Jan. 24. A 3-year-old boy, Henry and Curry's child, also was in the apartment. He was discovered asleep on a chair, his hands and feet stained with blood.
According to court records, DNA tests confirmed Curry is the father of both children.
A day after the killings Chicago police detectives traveled to LaPorte County, Ind., to try to speak with Nova Henry's ex-boyfriend after tracing his cell phone to a hotel there. But sources said the interview wasn't fruitful. The man was charged by LaPorte County police with trespassing after he allegedly refused to leave the Comfort Inn in Michigan City, but he was released on bail.
According to court records, the ex-boyfriend appeared in court as a lawyer for Henry in a paternity suit as recently as September against Curry, who now plays for the New York Knicks.
In April 2007, Henry obtained an order of protection against him that prohibited him from having contact with her and her son after he was alleged to have threatened them, according to court documents.
The man was charged with domestic battery for allegedly trying to push Henry down the stairs and with phone harassment. The charge was eventually dismissed and the order of protection was dropped.
The man has also been arrested in other domestic batteries, according to court records.
A week before she was killed, Henry installed a Brinks home security system in her South Loop townhouse, a home she moved to just after Christmas to escape the ex-boyfriend, who she believed was stalking her.
Yolan Henry, the mother of Nova Henry, said she was glad the man was in police custody.
Henry said in a statement from the family that Noah Curry has been in her custody since Jan. 24 and that she has been concerned about the child's safety because he was in the apartment at the time of the killings. She said the Curry family has had security the entire time after the horrific tragedy, while she has had to depend on family members to protect Noah.
Since the murders, Noah hasn't been able to attend school or follow his daily routine, Henry said.
Henry said her family is thankful to the Chicago Police Department for their "tireless efforts."
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/02/eddy-curry-nova-henry-ava-shot-bulls.html
The Henry family was notified after midnight that Nova Henry's ex-boyfriend, a Chicago man, was in police custody and authorities intend to charge him with two counts of murder.
Chicago police confirmed that the man had been arrested and that murder charges were pending, but further details were not immediately available. The Tribune is not naming the man because he has not been charged.
Asst. Supt. James Jackson said police arrested the suspect early this morning but wouldn't say exactly when.
"We have somebody in custody at this time. Over the weekend there should be some movement (on the case)," Jackson said.
Nova Henry, 24, and daughter Ava were found shot to death in her South Loop townhouse on Jan. 24. A 3-year-old boy, Henry and Curry's child, also was in the apartment. He was discovered asleep on a chair, his hands and feet stained with blood.
According to court records, DNA tests confirmed Curry is the father of both children.
A day after the killings Chicago police detectives traveled to LaPorte County, Ind., to try to speak with Nova Henry's ex-boyfriend after tracing his cell phone to a hotel there. But sources said the interview wasn't fruitful. The man was charged by LaPorte County police with trespassing after he allegedly refused to leave the Comfort Inn in Michigan City, but he was released on bail.
According to court records, the ex-boyfriend appeared in court as a lawyer for Henry in a paternity suit as recently as September against Curry, who now plays for the New York Knicks.
In April 2007, Henry obtained an order of protection against him that prohibited him from having contact with her and her son after he was alleged to have threatened them, according to court documents.
The man was charged with domestic battery for allegedly trying to push Henry down the stairs and with phone harassment. The charge was eventually dismissed and the order of protection was dropped.
The man has also been arrested in other domestic batteries, according to court records.
A week before she was killed, Henry installed a Brinks home security system in her South Loop townhouse, a home she moved to just after Christmas to escape the ex-boyfriend, who she believed was stalking her.
Yolan Henry, the mother of Nova Henry, said she was glad the man was in police custody.
Henry said in a statement from the family that Noah Curry has been in her custody since Jan. 24 and that she has been concerned about the child's safety because he was in the apartment at the time of the killings. She said the Curry family has had security the entire time after the horrific tragedy, while she has had to depend on family members to protect Noah.
Since the murders, Noah hasn't been able to attend school or follow his daily routine, Henry said.
Henry said her family is thankful to the Chicago Police Department for their "tireless efforts."
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/02/eddy-curry-nova-henry-ava-shot-bulls.html
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Domestic Violence
We speak your name! Aasiya Z. Hassan
On February 13, 2009, in Orchard Park, a suburb of Buffalo, 44 year-old Muzzamil Hassan, a prominent Muslim businessman was arrested for having be-headed his wife, 37 year-old Aasoua Z. Hassan. Aasiya’s crime? She dared to obtain an order of protection which forced her violent husband out of their home.
Ladies, October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month do we want to organize an event, vigil, march or something during this month?
On February 13, 2009, in Orchard Park, a suburb of Buffalo, 44 year-old Muzzamil Hassan, a prominent Muslim businessman was arrested for having be-headed his wife, 37 year-old Aasoua Z. Hassan. Aasiya’s crime? She dared to obtain an order of protection which forced her violent husband out of their home.
Ladies, October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month do we want to organize an event, vigil, march or something during this month?
Why is America so violent?
- We’ve being indoctrinated by fear
- Individualism
- Prideful People
- 2nd Amendment
Technology getting the best of us...
- Being tracked by chips in ids and passports
- Blue lights on corners
- Analog going digital
Prison Industrial Complex...
- Youth wrongfully imprisoned
- Judges are accepting bribes for imprisoning innocent people
- Corporation of America has made a business out of prisons ie. Just in Time Beds
Tools for healing...
- Womb wellness
- Getting in touch with your own reflection
- Meditation
- Breathing
- Womb Dancing
- The Art of Storytelling
- Letting go
- Purging
Clinics that cater to the poor and uninsured closing...
University of Chicago Women’s Health, Pediatric and Medicine Satellite Clinics, which primarily serves Medicaid patients is closing in June.
For example: 47th Street Clinic
Where are the clinics that are closing?
Who is the alderman of these communities?
What action can we take?
U of C is private, not public, so what U of C officials should letters of contention go to?
For example: 47th Street Clinic
Where are the clinics that are closing?
Who is the alderman of these communities?
What action can we take?
U of C is private, not public, so what U of C officials should letters of contention go to?
Arab and African American relations
Before we can get to a point of solidarity, there has to be an honest dialogue on the lived experiences of African Americans with Arabs in African American communities, and vice versa.
Womyn's Safety...
If you are single or live in a house of womyn and children:
- Buy some men’s shoes from the thrift store and keep them on your porch or outside the door of your apartment.
- Your voicemail say, "We are unavailable to take your call." Say ‘we’.
- Put a timer on your lights so they go off at different times
- Do not go home the same route
- Establish boundaries for your personal space
- Walk down the street with confidence
- Loving yourself is listening to your intuition that is guiding you against violence
Monday, February 23, 2009
Yes Means Yes...
I've been reading an anthology Yes Means Yes...
And a key question that comes out of it is, "Does the absence of no, mean yes?"
What do you think about this question? What's your views?
Book description: In this groundbreaking new look at rape edited by writer and activist Jaclyn Freidman and Full Frontal Feminism and He’s A Stud, She’s A Slut author Jessica Valenti, the way we view rape in our culture is finally dismantled and replaced with a genuine understanding and respect for female sexual pleasure. Feminist, political, and activist writers alike will present their ideas for a paradigm shift from the “No Means No” model—an approach that while necessary for where we were in 1974, needs an overhaul today. Yes Means Yes will bring to the table a dazzling variety of perspectives and experiences focused on the theory that educating all people to value female sexuality and pleasure leads to viewing women differently, and ending rape. Yes Means Yes aims to have radical and far-reaching effects: from teaching men to treat women as collaborators and not conquests, encouraging men and women that women can enjoy sex instead of being shamed for it, and ultimately, that our children can inherit a world where rape is rare and swiftly punished. With commentary on public sex education, pornography, mass media, Yes Means Yes is a powerful and revolutionary anthology.
Peace,
veronica precious
And a key question that comes out of it is, "Does the absence of no, mean yes?"
What do you think about this question? What's your views?
Book description: In this groundbreaking new look at rape edited by writer and activist Jaclyn Freidman and Full Frontal Feminism and He’s A Stud, She’s A Slut author Jessica Valenti, the way we view rape in our culture is finally dismantled and replaced with a genuine understanding and respect for female sexual pleasure. Feminist, political, and activist writers alike will present their ideas for a paradigm shift from the “No Means No” model—an approach that while necessary for where we were in 1974, needs an overhaul today. Yes Means Yes will bring to the table a dazzling variety of perspectives and experiences focused on the theory that educating all people to value female sexuality and pleasure leads to viewing women differently, and ending rape. Yes Means Yes aims to have radical and far-reaching effects: from teaching men to treat women as collaborators and not conquests, encouraging men and women that women can enjoy sex instead of being shamed for it, and ultimately, that our children can inherit a world where rape is rare and swiftly punished. With commentary on public sex education, pornography, mass media, Yes Means Yes is a powerful and revolutionary anthology.
Peace,
veronica precious
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Post-race debate...Are we there yet?
Ndigo asks us this question...what do you think?
http://www.ndigo.com/coverstory.asp
Post-Race USA—Are we There Yet? By Lenox Magee
With Barack Obama ensconced as the nation’s first black president, plenty of voices in the national conversation are trumpeting America as a post-race society—that race matters much less than it used to, that the boundaries of race have been overcome, that racism is no longer a big problem. Whether you describe it as the drawing of a post-race age or just the browning of white America, we're approaching a profound demographic tipping point.
Post-White America
Culturally, America is already post-white.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton, in a now-famous address to students at Portland State University, remarked:
"Today, largely because of immigration, there is no majority race in Hawaii or Houston or New York City. Within five years, there will be no majority race in our largest state, California. In a little more than 50 years, there will be no majority race in the United States. No other nation in history has gone through demographic change of this magnitude in so short a time ... [These immigrants] are energizing our culture and broadening our vision of the world. They are renewing our most basic values and reminding us all of what it truly means to be American.”
Demographically, we're headed there, too. According to an August 2008 report by the U.S. Census Bureau, those groups currently categorized as racial minorities—blacks and Hispanics, East Asians and South Asians—will account for a majority of the U.S. population by the year 2042.
“The shift in demographics is not going to take away the engagement with the question of race in America,” says Jennifer Baszile, author of The Black Girl Next Door. “I don’t think that’s true. It may shift it, but I don’t think it’s going to change it. Just because Whites are diminishing in number doesn’t mean those questions about race are going to go away.”
Jennifer Baszile
Baszile’s memoir tells the story of a post-racial Obama era: the tale of an upper-middle-class African American family striving to get ahead while sensing that they are somehow too black and not nearly black enough. It’s a story about class as much as about race and about the elusive, sometimes almost spectral limits of segregation. In the late 1970s, Baszile, 39, and her family were one of the few black families in the neighborhood, a scenario that's become familiar in American social history. A young Jennifer had to fight for herself when she was called “nigger” and challenged to fisticuffs by three white boys.
“I think that people are being overly optimistic. And I think that a lot of America have answered the question on whether we live in a post-race society,” says the Yale history professor. “They’re saying: ‘Obama is our first black elected president,’ and in the next breath they say, ‘this must mean we live in a post-racial world.’ No! As much the symbolic and substantive significance as Obama is, I don’t think that’s the only measure of success of race relations and racial progress in this country. I think when you look at schools, when you look at colleges, and when you look at the higher echelon of Corporate America, this is not a post-racial society.”
Color & Corporate America
Steven Rogers, Gordon and Llura Gund Family Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and the director of the Larry and Carol Levy Institute for Entrepreneurial Practice, agrees that it’s completely naïve to think racism is far from over, especially in the business world.
“I don’t believe that it’s remotely true that we live in a post-racial society,” Roger says. “I think it’s a naïve world that people are conjuring up that won’t have any real relevance to the real world. Such a statement, in my opinion, implies that there will be this utopian world, and my question is: as a result of Obama’s election, does that mean that this is the best it is ever going to be for Black people? This is the best we’re going to get? I believe it’s a very dangerous notion that everything is colorblind, in the sense we, African Americans, stand to lose the most.”
Rogers believes celebrities continue to promote this “new day,” but he doesn’t think that’s realistic.
“I live in the business world where I serve on the board for several Fortune 500 companies, and I’m constantly complaining and encouraging the CEOs of these predominantly white companies to employ the opportunity with African Americans. The business world I live in is comprised of 48 percent of people that didn’t vote for Obama. When I went to the business meetings the day after Obama won, there wasn’t jubilation or anything; it was dead silence and no discussion.”
Arts & Entertainment
Over the past 30 years, few changes in American culture have been as significant as the rise of hip-hop. Jay-Z, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Russell Simmons have changed life as we know it—and on their own terms. Sean Combs, a hip-hop mogul and arguably one of the most famous African Americans on the planet, grew up during hip-hop’s late-1970s rise, and he belongs to the first generation that could make a stable living working in the industry. In the late 1990s, Combs made a fascinating gesture toward New York’s high society. He announced his arrival into the circles of the rich and powerful not by crashing their parties, but by inviting them into his own spectacularly, over-the-top world. Combs began to stage elaborate annual parties in the Hamptons. These “white parties”—where attendees are required to wear white—quickly became legendary for their opulence as well as for the cultures-colliding quality of Hamptons elites paying their respects to someone so comfortably nouveau riche. Prospective business partners angled to get close to him and praised him as a guru of the lucrative “urban” market. And Russell Simmons, a music, fashion and television mogul, or the rapper 50 Cent, who has parlayed his rags-to-riches story line into extracurricular successes that include a clothing line, book, video game, and film deals; and a startlingly lucrative partnership with the makers of Vitamin Water, are no different.
During popular music’s rise in the 20th century, white artists and producers consistently “mainstreamed” African American innovations. Hip-hop’s ascension has been different. Eminem notwithstanding, hip-hop never suffered through anything like an Elvis Presley moment, in which a white artist made a musical form safe for white America. But hip-hop—the sound of the post- civil-rights, post-soul generation—found a global audience on its own terms.
In theater, writer and director McKinley Johnson, whose play, “Eye of the Storm" is based on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s mentor, Bayard Rustin, says the journey to Post-Race USA may come at a substantial price for performers.
“To do so means everyone must deny their existence . . .and their humanity . . . and their uniqueness and that's what's disturbing about this question,” McKinley says. “As we go into this new millennium, black theatre-performers should not seek to blend but rather to continue developing the voice we have. Thespians of any color have a hard time excelling. Competition is fierce. The best we can hope for and experience is personal gratification and growth.”
Just as Tiger Woods forever changed the country club culture of golf and Will Smith changed stereotypes about the ideal Hollywood leading man, the youth market is following the same pattern. Take, for example, the Cheetah Girls, a multicultural, multi-platinum, multiplatform trio of teenyboppers who recently starred in their third movie, or Dora the Explorer, a bilingual 7-year-old Latina adventurer who is arguably the most successful animated character on children’s television today. There’s no doubt that mainstream America is being redefined.
What about Racial Purists?
Recently, former Klansman Elwin Wilson apologized to the "whole world" for beating black Congressman John Lewis during the Civil Rights era. Some might call it a start to the post-racial movement.
But Charles Wilson, 46, is a part of the National Socialist Movement, one of America’s largest Nazi Organizations, a kind of Ku Klux Klan for the next generation. Their ultimate goal is to create a place where only whites will live together in peace—a place where they can be proud of their European heritage.
“A clean, white place, where you wouldn’t see a lot of cops because you wouldn’t need them,” he says. “Where there wouldn’t be any lip-flappin’, chicken-wing slappin’ rap music … where you’d have meaningful art by white artists … and children would be raised from an early age to respect their culture and society.
“That’s our motivation. That’s our goal,” Wilson tells N’Digo. “We’re trying to make a difference.”
If the Post Race USA is a cultural and demographic inevitability, what will the new mainstream look like and how will urbane Americans fit into it? Stay tuned.
Hot Blog!Black, White and Political All Over by Tiana Reid
Yoga, snowboarding, Apple products, the Sunday New York Times, Mos Def, sushi, vintage clothing, and coffee. All stuff that I, daughter of a white mother and a black Jamaican father, like. Incidentally, it’s all stuff that white people like, according to Christian Lander, McGill grad, in his flippant blog “Stuff White People Like.”
My first glance at the blog made me feel uneasy, as it does for many, because we tend to get huffy when stereotypes are kicked around, even in a comedic manner. Lander is addressing the meaning that society attaches to the things on the list. They are deemed white. My uneasiness quickly turned to queasiness; do my love for raw fish and my MacBook make me white? Or less black? The blog hit home because, being biracial, I have struggled with internal conflicts of race, culture, and self-identity since I was old enough to be aware. When I was 12, I started to snowboard and for a couple of years, I never mentioned to my black (and white) friends where I was each and every Saturday, thinking that they would disapprove, discredit me and label me whitewashed.
After a few deep yoga breaths, I calmed down and realized that the list is not hateful and was meant to be, and is, humorous. The bright satirical critique includes “knowing what’s best for poor people,” “being the only white person around,” “having gay friends,” “unpaid internships” and “Asian girls.” After hundreds of years of minorities being turned into a punch line, Lander is flipping the script and playing on stereotypes of the upper-middle class––white or not––with their consumerist narcissism coupled with a search for authenticity.
While some people, like Lander, are openly discussing issues concerning race and identity, others—particularly, upper-middle class liberals—have begun to sweep race issues under the rug. The term post-racial emerged in the mainstream media as a reaction to the enthusiasm surrounding Barack Obama’s campaign in the Democratic Party presidential primaries in 2008. The idea that we are living in a post-race society, where race has little or no significance, is a fallacy as many whites still claim to have moral, economic, political and social ascendancy. The tragedy that was Hurricane Katrina proves that race and class seem to matter not only in terms of social race relations but also in governmental reaction (or non-reaction). Other issues, such as the Jena Six assault and the controversy surrounding affirmative action, substantiate that our society is not beyond race.
As the United States inaugurated its 44th president, a mood of change continues to swoop over the entire world, somewhat owing to the color of Obama’s skin and the barriers that have been crossed as a result. The Atlantic magazine’s cover story for its January/February 2009 issue was entitled: “The End of White America” featuring a heroic close-up of half of Obama’s face. The author, Hua Hsu, postulates the end of “white America” and a demographic shift that will bring those who are today racial minorities, to be a majority of the population by 2042. More interestingly, Hsu affirms that “whiteness is no longer a precondition for entry into the highest levels of public office.” This bold statement is misleading.
Case in point is Jesse Jackson, who was twice a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1980s, and was deemed “too black” by American society and thus has had limited mainstream political success. With Obama as president, the public is looking beyond skin color and toward personal character, which is a positive step. Yet it can be argued that Obama’s skin color was easier to look past than Jackson’s in-your-face “black and proud” character.
In terms of Obama’s campaign, whether constructed deliberately or constructed by society and the media, race was used as an instrument rather than a liability in the political sphere, in which Obama transcended the negative stereotypes that blackness so often tends to encompass.
Western society may be taking race less seriously. Nevertheless, the New York Times article, “Poll Finds Obama Isn’t Closing Divide on Race” reveals that 60 percent of blacks find race relations to be generally poor, compared to 34 percent of whites. It seems clear that the notion of post-raciality is mostly a white concoction.
Race matters, even if it matters in different ways than it did decades ago. Social and political discussion, balanced dialogue, and most importantly, racial awareness, not ignorance disguised as post-raciality, will give rise to racial progress.
Blindness-blindness should never be equated with racial equality or racial harmony.
http://www.ndigo.com/coverstory.asp
Post-Race USA—Are we There Yet? By Lenox Magee
With Barack Obama ensconced as the nation’s first black president, plenty of voices in the national conversation are trumpeting America as a post-race society—that race matters much less than it used to, that the boundaries of race have been overcome, that racism is no longer a big problem. Whether you describe it as the drawing of a post-race age or just the browning of white America, we're approaching a profound demographic tipping point.
Post-White America
Culturally, America is already post-white.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton, in a now-famous address to students at Portland State University, remarked:
"Today, largely because of immigration, there is no majority race in Hawaii or Houston or New York City. Within five years, there will be no majority race in our largest state, California. In a little more than 50 years, there will be no majority race in the United States. No other nation in history has gone through demographic change of this magnitude in so short a time ... [These immigrants] are energizing our culture and broadening our vision of the world. They are renewing our most basic values and reminding us all of what it truly means to be American.”
Demographically, we're headed there, too. According to an August 2008 report by the U.S. Census Bureau, those groups currently categorized as racial minorities—blacks and Hispanics, East Asians and South Asians—will account for a majority of the U.S. population by the year 2042.
“The shift in demographics is not going to take away the engagement with the question of race in America,” says Jennifer Baszile, author of The Black Girl Next Door. “I don’t think that’s true. It may shift it, but I don’t think it’s going to change it. Just because Whites are diminishing in number doesn’t mean those questions about race are going to go away.”
Jennifer Baszile
Baszile’s memoir tells the story of a post-racial Obama era: the tale of an upper-middle-class African American family striving to get ahead while sensing that they are somehow too black and not nearly black enough. It’s a story about class as much as about race and about the elusive, sometimes almost spectral limits of segregation. In the late 1970s, Baszile, 39, and her family were one of the few black families in the neighborhood, a scenario that's become familiar in American social history. A young Jennifer had to fight for herself when she was called “nigger” and challenged to fisticuffs by three white boys.
“I think that people are being overly optimistic. And I think that a lot of America have answered the question on whether we live in a post-race society,” says the Yale history professor. “They’re saying: ‘Obama is our first black elected president,’ and in the next breath they say, ‘this must mean we live in a post-racial world.’ No! As much the symbolic and substantive significance as Obama is, I don’t think that’s the only measure of success of race relations and racial progress in this country. I think when you look at schools, when you look at colleges, and when you look at the higher echelon of Corporate America, this is not a post-racial society.”
Color & Corporate America
Steven Rogers, Gordon and Llura Gund Family Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and the director of the Larry and Carol Levy Institute for Entrepreneurial Practice, agrees that it’s completely naïve to think racism is far from over, especially in the business world.
“I don’t believe that it’s remotely true that we live in a post-racial society,” Roger says. “I think it’s a naïve world that people are conjuring up that won’t have any real relevance to the real world. Such a statement, in my opinion, implies that there will be this utopian world, and my question is: as a result of Obama’s election, does that mean that this is the best it is ever going to be for Black people? This is the best we’re going to get? I believe it’s a very dangerous notion that everything is colorblind, in the sense we, African Americans, stand to lose the most.”
Rogers believes celebrities continue to promote this “new day,” but he doesn’t think that’s realistic.
“I live in the business world where I serve on the board for several Fortune 500 companies, and I’m constantly complaining and encouraging the CEOs of these predominantly white companies to employ the opportunity with African Americans. The business world I live in is comprised of 48 percent of people that didn’t vote for Obama. When I went to the business meetings the day after Obama won, there wasn’t jubilation or anything; it was dead silence and no discussion.”
Arts & Entertainment
Over the past 30 years, few changes in American culture have been as significant as the rise of hip-hop. Jay-Z, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Russell Simmons have changed life as we know it—and on their own terms. Sean Combs, a hip-hop mogul and arguably one of the most famous African Americans on the planet, grew up during hip-hop’s late-1970s rise, and he belongs to the first generation that could make a stable living working in the industry. In the late 1990s, Combs made a fascinating gesture toward New York’s high society. He announced his arrival into the circles of the rich and powerful not by crashing their parties, but by inviting them into his own spectacularly, over-the-top world. Combs began to stage elaborate annual parties in the Hamptons. These “white parties”—where attendees are required to wear white—quickly became legendary for their opulence as well as for the cultures-colliding quality of Hamptons elites paying their respects to someone so comfortably nouveau riche. Prospective business partners angled to get close to him and praised him as a guru of the lucrative “urban” market. And Russell Simmons, a music, fashion and television mogul, or the rapper 50 Cent, who has parlayed his rags-to-riches story line into extracurricular successes that include a clothing line, book, video game, and film deals; and a startlingly lucrative partnership with the makers of Vitamin Water, are no different.
During popular music’s rise in the 20th century, white artists and producers consistently “mainstreamed” African American innovations. Hip-hop’s ascension has been different. Eminem notwithstanding, hip-hop never suffered through anything like an Elvis Presley moment, in which a white artist made a musical form safe for white America. But hip-hop—the sound of the post- civil-rights, post-soul generation—found a global audience on its own terms.
In theater, writer and director McKinley Johnson, whose play, “Eye of the Storm" is based on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s mentor, Bayard Rustin, says the journey to Post-Race USA may come at a substantial price for performers.
“To do so means everyone must deny their existence . . .and their humanity . . . and their uniqueness and that's what's disturbing about this question,” McKinley says. “As we go into this new millennium, black theatre-performers should not seek to blend but rather to continue developing the voice we have. Thespians of any color have a hard time excelling. Competition is fierce. The best we can hope for and experience is personal gratification and growth.”
Just as Tiger Woods forever changed the country club culture of golf and Will Smith changed stereotypes about the ideal Hollywood leading man, the youth market is following the same pattern. Take, for example, the Cheetah Girls, a multicultural, multi-platinum, multiplatform trio of teenyboppers who recently starred in their third movie, or Dora the Explorer, a bilingual 7-year-old Latina adventurer who is arguably the most successful animated character on children’s television today. There’s no doubt that mainstream America is being redefined.
What about Racial Purists?
Recently, former Klansman Elwin Wilson apologized to the "whole world" for beating black Congressman John Lewis during the Civil Rights era. Some might call it a start to the post-racial movement.
But Charles Wilson, 46, is a part of the National Socialist Movement, one of America’s largest Nazi Organizations, a kind of Ku Klux Klan for the next generation. Their ultimate goal is to create a place where only whites will live together in peace—a place where they can be proud of their European heritage.
“A clean, white place, where you wouldn’t see a lot of cops because you wouldn’t need them,” he says. “Where there wouldn’t be any lip-flappin’, chicken-wing slappin’ rap music … where you’d have meaningful art by white artists … and children would be raised from an early age to respect their culture and society.
“That’s our motivation. That’s our goal,” Wilson tells N’Digo. “We’re trying to make a difference.”
If the Post Race USA is a cultural and demographic inevitability, what will the new mainstream look like and how will urbane Americans fit into it? Stay tuned.
Hot Blog!Black, White and Political All Over by Tiana Reid
Yoga, snowboarding, Apple products, the Sunday New York Times, Mos Def, sushi, vintage clothing, and coffee. All stuff that I, daughter of a white mother and a black Jamaican father, like. Incidentally, it’s all stuff that white people like, according to Christian Lander, McGill grad, in his flippant blog “Stuff White People Like.”
My first glance at the blog made me feel uneasy, as it does for many, because we tend to get huffy when stereotypes are kicked around, even in a comedic manner. Lander is addressing the meaning that society attaches to the things on the list. They are deemed white. My uneasiness quickly turned to queasiness; do my love for raw fish and my MacBook make me white? Or less black? The blog hit home because, being biracial, I have struggled with internal conflicts of race, culture, and self-identity since I was old enough to be aware. When I was 12, I started to snowboard and for a couple of years, I never mentioned to my black (and white) friends where I was each and every Saturday, thinking that they would disapprove, discredit me and label me whitewashed.
After a few deep yoga breaths, I calmed down and realized that the list is not hateful and was meant to be, and is, humorous. The bright satirical critique includes “knowing what’s best for poor people,” “being the only white person around,” “having gay friends,” “unpaid internships” and “Asian girls.” After hundreds of years of minorities being turned into a punch line, Lander is flipping the script and playing on stereotypes of the upper-middle class––white or not––with their consumerist narcissism coupled with a search for authenticity.
While some people, like Lander, are openly discussing issues concerning race and identity, others—particularly, upper-middle class liberals—have begun to sweep race issues under the rug. The term post-racial emerged in the mainstream media as a reaction to the enthusiasm surrounding Barack Obama’s campaign in the Democratic Party presidential primaries in 2008. The idea that we are living in a post-race society, where race has little or no significance, is a fallacy as many whites still claim to have moral, economic, political and social ascendancy. The tragedy that was Hurricane Katrina proves that race and class seem to matter not only in terms of social race relations but also in governmental reaction (or non-reaction). Other issues, such as the Jena Six assault and the controversy surrounding affirmative action, substantiate that our society is not beyond race.
As the United States inaugurated its 44th president, a mood of change continues to swoop over the entire world, somewhat owing to the color of Obama’s skin and the barriers that have been crossed as a result. The Atlantic magazine’s cover story for its January/February 2009 issue was entitled: “The End of White America” featuring a heroic close-up of half of Obama’s face. The author, Hua Hsu, postulates the end of “white America” and a demographic shift that will bring those who are today racial minorities, to be a majority of the population by 2042. More interestingly, Hsu affirms that “whiteness is no longer a precondition for entry into the highest levels of public office.” This bold statement is misleading.
Case in point is Jesse Jackson, who was twice a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1980s, and was deemed “too black” by American society and thus has had limited mainstream political success. With Obama as president, the public is looking beyond skin color and toward personal character, which is a positive step. Yet it can be argued that Obama’s skin color was easier to look past than Jackson’s in-your-face “black and proud” character.
In terms of Obama’s campaign, whether constructed deliberately or constructed by society and the media, race was used as an instrument rather than a liability in the political sphere, in which Obama transcended the negative stereotypes that blackness so often tends to encompass.
Western society may be taking race less seriously. Nevertheless, the New York Times article, “Poll Finds Obama Isn’t Closing Divide on Race” reveals that 60 percent of blacks find race relations to be generally poor, compared to 34 percent of whites. It seems clear that the notion of post-raciality is mostly a white concoction.
Race matters, even if it matters in different ways than it did decades ago. Social and political discussion, balanced dialogue, and most importantly, racial awareness, not ignorance disguised as post-raciality, will give rise to racial progress.
Blindness-blindness should never be equated with racial equality or racial harmony.
Booklist...
What ya reading?
Post your suggested readings with a synopsis.
Grandmothers Counsel the World by Carol Schaefer
In some Native American societies, tribal leaders consulted a council of grandmothers before making any major decisions that would affect the whole community. What if we consulted our wise women elders about the problems facing our global community today? This book presents the insights and guidance of thirteen indigenous grandmothers from five continents, many of whom are living legends among their own peoples. The Grandmothers offer wisdom on such timely issues as nurturing our families; cultivating physical and mental health; and confronting violence, war, and poverty. Also included are the reflections of Western women elders, including Alice Walker, Gloria Steinem, Helena Norberg-Hodge, and Carol Moseley Brown.
Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing by Caroline Myss, PhD
Encoded within your body, teaches Dr. Myss, is an energy system linking you directly to the world's great spiritual traditions. Through it you have direct access to the divine energy that seamlessly connects all life. On Anatomy of the Spirit, Dr. Myss offers a stunning picture of the human body's hidden energetic structures, while revealing its precise spiritual code and relationship to the sacred energy of creation. Our most revered wisdom traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Hinduism, hold in common essential teachings about seven specific levels of spiritual development, the stages of power in life.
Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought Edited by Beveryly Guy-Sheftall
A path-breaking collection, gathering articles from the 1830s to today. Almost 600 pages of the likes of Sadie Alexander, Frances Beale, Angela Davis, Frances Harper, bell hooks, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Sojourner Truth, Alice Walker, Ida Wells-Barnett, and several dozen more.
The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors by Dr. Frances Cress Wesling
During the course of the struggle of African people against European racism, brutality and domination, many innovative thinkers have risen from our ranks. The greatest and most courageous scholars have devoted their lives to the pursuit of an explanation for the virtually inherent animosity most white people appear to have toward people of color. Unlike her predecessors, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, a brilliant, Washington, D.C. psychiatrist has rejected conventional notions about the origin and perpetuation of racism. Dr. Welsing's theories, lectures and scientific papers have provoked controversy for over twenty years. Now the compilation of her work in The Isis Papers is destined to change the course of history.
When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone
An early contemporary proponent of the worship of the prehistoric Mother Goddess, Stone analyzes the creation story in Genesis from a non-Christian perspective. To her, the tale is an allegorical story about the Hebrew deity Yehwah supplanting the Mother Goddess, represented by the tree of life and the serpent, and Hebrew religion supplanting the worship of the Goddess. Stone claims that the forbidden knowledge concerns sex, sexuality, and reproduction, specifically the knowledge that men have a role in reproduction, and that the story describes the process by which traditional matriarchal societies were thrust aside by patriarchal societies. To Stone, "The Adam and Eve myth. . . had actually been designed to be used in the continuous Levite battle to suppress the female religion." [page 198]
A Course in Miracle
Introduction to A Course In Miracles...This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary.Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught.It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way: Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.
Post your suggested readings with a synopsis.
Grandmothers Counsel the World by Carol Schaefer
In some Native American societies, tribal leaders consulted a council of grandmothers before making any major decisions that would affect the whole community. What if we consulted our wise women elders about the problems facing our global community today? This book presents the insights and guidance of thirteen indigenous grandmothers from five continents, many of whom are living legends among their own peoples. The Grandmothers offer wisdom on such timely issues as nurturing our families; cultivating physical and mental health; and confronting violence, war, and poverty. Also included are the reflections of Western women elders, including Alice Walker, Gloria Steinem, Helena Norberg-Hodge, and Carol Moseley Brown.
Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing by Caroline Myss, PhD
Encoded within your body, teaches Dr. Myss, is an energy system linking you directly to the world's great spiritual traditions. Through it you have direct access to the divine energy that seamlessly connects all life. On Anatomy of the Spirit, Dr. Myss offers a stunning picture of the human body's hidden energetic structures, while revealing its precise spiritual code and relationship to the sacred energy of creation. Our most revered wisdom traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Hinduism, hold in common essential teachings about seven specific levels of spiritual development, the stages of power in life.
Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought Edited by Beveryly Guy-Sheftall
A path-breaking collection, gathering articles from the 1830s to today. Almost 600 pages of the likes of Sadie Alexander, Frances Beale, Angela Davis, Frances Harper, bell hooks, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Sojourner Truth, Alice Walker, Ida Wells-Barnett, and several dozen more.
The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors by Dr. Frances Cress Wesling
During the course of the struggle of African people against European racism, brutality and domination, many innovative thinkers have risen from our ranks. The greatest and most courageous scholars have devoted their lives to the pursuit of an explanation for the virtually inherent animosity most white people appear to have toward people of color. Unlike her predecessors, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, a brilliant, Washington, D.C. psychiatrist has rejected conventional notions about the origin and perpetuation of racism. Dr. Welsing's theories, lectures and scientific papers have provoked controversy for over twenty years. Now the compilation of her work in The Isis Papers is destined to change the course of history.
When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone
An early contemporary proponent of the worship of the prehistoric Mother Goddess, Stone analyzes the creation story in Genesis from a non-Christian perspective. To her, the tale is an allegorical story about the Hebrew deity Yehwah supplanting the Mother Goddess, represented by the tree of life and the serpent, and Hebrew religion supplanting the worship of the Goddess. Stone claims that the forbidden knowledge concerns sex, sexuality, and reproduction, specifically the knowledge that men have a role in reproduction, and that the story describes the process by which traditional matriarchal societies were thrust aside by patriarchal societies. To Stone, "The Adam and Eve myth. . . had actually been designed to be used in the continuous Levite battle to suppress the female religion." [page 198]
A Course in Miracle
Introduction to A Course In Miracles...This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary.Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught.It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way: Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.
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