Not going to make a big deal out of this, but it’s still worth saying (and I shared this already last week on Instagram). What you’re seeing in that cover shot is the cultural and stylistic impact of Janelle Monae, who was rocking this hairstyle back in 2007.  Just shows you how long it takes for certain ideas about style to make their way across our culture.

Here’s Janelle from Summer 2008:

What I was sayin’.

As much as people want to make a big deal about it, marriage equality isn’t a big deal.  In many ways, it’s a non-issue.  Except that conservatives want to make it so.  Those of you who follow my tweets will have heard this before.  However, I think it’s important to restate my position.

Why is it that religious and social conservatives are always worried about who and how other people are fucking?

I’m not trying to reduce gay or lesbian relationships to the sexual.  But, at it’s heart, this seems to be what those on the right are policing.  And it doesn’t much matter how much they talk about try to preserve “the family”.

I’ve said this on Twitter: If your marriage is threatened by gays and lesbians getting married, then you have a shitty marriage.  Period.

Someone else pointed out: Guess what? Gays and lesbians pay taxes, too.  Why shouldn’t they enjoy all the rights and benefits of full citizenship?

Consenting adults–particularly when their actions don’t put anyone else in danger–should be allowed to do whatever they want to.

Here’s our president speaking on marriage equality.  BTW, bravo, Mr. President.

(l tor: Farai Chideya, Renee Cox, Malcolm Gillian, Tamar-Kali)

You’ll probably recall that we mentioned a festival that we’re launching in October. Things are coming along nicely.  In fact, the official kickoff event is a week away.  There are two goals of this event:

1. Give you all a taste of what you can expect in October
2. Kickstart the fundraising drive

So, I’ll be on hand to talk more in-depth about the concept behind the Festival, share the vision and talk about its near-term and long-term goals.

I’m also thrilled to be able to give you a taste of the type of discussion that you’ll hear and experience in October.  Really, I have to give credit to Farai Chideya, who came up with the panel topic and graciously took time out of her schedule to prep and lead this discussion.

Also thrilled that this is an official Soul of Brooklyn event, so thanks to MoCADA and the Soul of Brooklyn team for their support.  Come through if you can!

Tuesday, July 12
7PM
MoCADA
80 Hanson Place
Brooklyn, NY 11217

SUGGESTED  $10 DONATION

MAP

CREATING A REVOLUTIONARY AESTHETIC

What is more powerful than an aesthetic moment where art or music meet politics? Think of Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of the national anthem, one which echoed the distortion and confusion around American identity; or the raised Black Power fist (from the Olympics to Elizabeth Catlett’s sculpture); or the gender/race analysis within the visual art or music of some of our forward-thinking artists.

Words are tricksters. “Revolutionary” here is meant more in the sense of a turn of history’s wheel, and a new understanding of our circumstances, than as an overthrow. Life — art, politics, fashion — is often cyclical, and we go through both radical and conservative phases as a society. Aesthetics are an engine that turn that wheel, and combine the visual, the political, and the social. We speak to three thought-leaders about what the next revolutionary aesthetic will be; who is creating it; and how blackness shapes and relates to it.

THE PANELISTS

Renee Cox
One of the most controversial African-American artists working today, Renee Cox has used her own body, both nude and clothed, to celebrate black womanhood and criticize a society she often views as racist and sexist.
From the very beginning, her work showed a deep concern for social issues and employed disturbing religious imagery. In It Shall Be Named (1994), a black man’s distorted body made up of eleven separate photographs hangs from a cross, as much resembling a lynched man as the crucified Christ.

The photograph that created the most controversy when it was shown in a black photography exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City in 2001 was Yo Mama’s Last Supper. It was a remake of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper with a nude Cox sitting in for Jesus Christ, surrounded by all black disciples, except for Judas who was white. Many Roman Catholics were outraged at the photograph and New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani called for the forming of a commission to set “decency standards” to keep such works from being shown in any New York museum that received public funds.

Renee Cox continues to push the envelop in her work, questioning society and the roles it gives to blacks and women with her elaborate scenarios and imaginative visuals that offend some and exhilarate others.

Tamar-Kali
Brooklyn native and resident hardcore-soul queen, Tamar-kali, wields her pen and guitar with equal ferocity. Her hard-rocking brand of outsider art leaps from every track on her 2005 solo EP, Geechee Goddess Hardcore Warrior Soul, enchanting you with its melody, while delivering a swift kick to the gut with its incisive emotional core. Her first full-length release, 2010’s Black Bottom, packed an even harder punch as audiences were invited to gaze deeper into the recesses of this urban warrior’s mind. Her tales of revolution and love may seem contradictory, but the two worlds are inextricably linked by this artist who grasps for the truth in both ideals.

The uninitiated may have discovered Tamar-kali when she appeared in James Spooner’s award-winning Afro-Punk documentary, with clips of her incendiary performances putting the world on notice to her unsung talent.

Others saw her dynamic energy support artists like Fishbone and OutKast on the group’s acclaimed sophomore album, ATLiens. A whole new audience will feel her full force when she joins emcees Jean Grae and Invincible on the appropriately named hip-hop-meets-rock Born In Flames Tour this fall.

Malcolm Gillian
SVP Branded Entertainment, Relevent

Malcolm is currently at Relevent, a New York-based full service experiential marketing, special events, production and promotions company that builds brands with consumers through experiential lifestyle, entertainment and relationship marketing programs. It’s client roster includes Victoria’s Secret PINK, Heineken, Audi, Microsoft, Diesel, Diageo and W Hotels, among others.

Prior to Relevent, he was vice president of Momentum Worldwide’s Music, Entertainment & Branded Content group, where he worked with a wide range of clients such as Anheuser-Busch, Kraft, American Express, Verizon Wireless, Microsoft, Marriott, Smucker’s and the U.S. Army to develop music and entertainment based initiatives.

Malcolm received his JD and MBA from the University of Maryland in 2000. Prior to graduate school, Malcolm played professional indoor soccer for two years.

Farai Chideya (moderator)
Farai Chideya has combined media, technology, and diversity during her 20-year career as an award-winning author and journalist. Via the Pop and Politics brand, Chideya is currently producing multimedia political specials via broadcast radio, web-video and social media with partners including WNYC and American Public Media. The team behind “Pop and Politics with Farai Chideya” is road-tripping through America to interview people about economic anxiety and national identity crises concerning religion, immigration, and race. This project is a new twist on a continuing passion to combine online and traditional media. Chideya originally launched PopandPolitics.com as a blog in 1995.

Chideya is currently a “Leader in Residence” at the Colin Powell School for Policy Studies, where she is focusing on media training the next generation of public policy leaders. She speaks frequently to business, college, civic, and youth audiences, and also provides media training services to other journalists and business and civic leaders. She was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated from Harvard University Magna Cume Laude in 1990.

*JUST ADDED*

J. Holtham, Co-Artistic Director
The New Black Fest

J.’s plays include: DUNROAMIN, JANUARY 2ND, CREATIVE WRITING, LOVERS TO BED, 11TH HOUR, RACE MUSIC, HOUSEHOLD NAME, SPLENDID, and DAYLIGHT SAVINGS (WHAT HAPPENS NOW). His work has been seen and developed at the Ensemble Studio Theatre (POSTERITY, Thicker Than Water 2001), BE Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Magic Theatre (SF), Clubbed Thumb, the Vital Theatre, New Dramatists, Broken Watch Theater Company, the 24Seven Lab and others. His play, MANIFESTO, was commissioned by Time Warner and Second Stage Theatre. Several of Jason’s plays are published by Playscripts, Inc. He is a member of E.S.T. and an alumnus of Youngblood. Jason holds an M.F.A. from The Actors Studio Drama School/New School. He was the Program Director of the EST/Sloan Project, Literary Director of Youngblood, Readings and Workshops Coordinator for New York Stage and Film and TCG Next Generations Fellow at New Dramatists. He has worked as a teaching artist for TDF, Vital Theatre, and MCC. Jason blogs about theater, diversity, culture and other issues under the name 99 Seats. He is a proud product of the New York and New Jersey public education systems.

This is my big project for this year.  It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while and, even now, it’s only slightly past half-baked.  See, the goal of this festival is to bring together much of what I’m interested in: art, culture and society, all filtered through a progressive black perspective.

It’s funny.  When I started this blog, the idea was to help tear down the walls that limited our community’s imagination. Because I am passionate about music, that’s where I thought I could do the most good.  However, in my travels, I discovered that it’s all one big creative community.  More importantly, the issues us music folks are dealing with—representation, access, etc.—are the same ones that facing our friends in literature, theater, film, and visual arts.

So, this event is an attempt to move the conversation forward, to change the frame of reference.  Rather than looking backwards and airing old, tired grievances, I want us to see all of the great things that are coming out of the black creative mind and use it as a jumping off point to understand where we are now, and what some possible futures will be.  More importantly, I want people to leave with not only inspiration, but also with some concrete ideas as to how they can help create the kind of future that benefits us all, one that’s inclusive, progressive, and based on across-the-board justice.

But shaping that kind of future will not be easy.  Therefore, it’s imperative that we look to the arts for inspiration, and for reminders of truth, honesty and fearless exploration. And back to something I said during the BoldasLIVE series in 2007: It’s okay to have a conversation about black cultural excellence. Expect plenty of examples of that at the Festival.

So here’s what I can tell you right now: The day will be made up of two parts.

• The daytime portion will be spent on conversation and discussion. It’ll be mix of panels, one-on-one conversations and solo presentations.
• At night, yes, there will be music. We’re putting together a great show of sounds from the new black imagination, so stay tuned for lineup announcements.

Just save the date: Saturday, October 15.  Brooklyn. More info coming soon. Really.

I want to thank the folks who’ve been acting as sounding boards behind the scenes. My informal brain trust, if you will.  I will definitely be giving them proper shouts very soon.

In the meantime, you can stay connected to the Festival via the following links:

• Facebook: http://facebook.com/nbifestival
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/nbifestival
• Web site: Coming soon!

Of course, I feel like Obama finally put a nail in the coffin of the whole birther BS. But, I know our friends on the Far Right will be checking to see if dude had that doc photoshopped.  Anyway, I’m glad the media is (kinda sorta) moving on.  Here were some good pieces in the wake of Trump’s trouncing.  OK, admittedly, I’m summarizing four progressive/liberal positions on this issue, but it’s basically where I fall.  Good writing and thinking in all of them.  Here goes:

• First, Elon James White, articulated further what Baratunde Thurston laid out in his video response in his piece “Let’s Call Trump’s Language What It Is”. Best lines: “Not calling out racism doesn’t make the act less racist. It makes an entire race of people less American.”
• Princeton’s Melissa Harry-Perry is always good for providing historical context.  She did that so well (yet again) in “For Birthers, Obama’s Not Black Enough”.
• Duke’s Mark Anthony Neal republished the piece by Fordham’s Mark Naison: “Some Thought on Ivy League Admission—And Affirmative Action (for Donald Trump)” which looks at the reality of getting into any of the Ivies.
• The New Yorker’s David Remnick–who knows a thing or two about Obama–also calls Trump for what he is: A race-baiter.  Check out “Trump, Birtherism and Race-Baiting.”
• And to the joy of many of us, The Atlantic’s Joshua Green points out that “Trump’s Birther Antics Are Driving Away His Liberal Audience.” Been past time to put a stake in that show, I say.

@baratunde

Barack’s birth certificate reveal–in which he finally shut down the birthers–was in some respects surreal.  Partly because you were watching the President of the United States take time away from really pressing matters like the economy, jobs, and two (sorry, three!) wars to deal with something that experts had been saying was a non-issue since 2008.  It was also surreal thanks to a press conference that Donald Trump held about 40 minutes later, crowing about how he’d “made” the president produce a birth certificate.  As if he’d gotten to the bottom of some deep mystery that no one else could solve.  The fact that Trump is so comfortable pandering to the racist element in our country says a lot about him.

As you’ll see, Baratunde Thurston, who works at The Onion and is one of the co-founders of political blog Jack and Jill Politics, offers this powerful and sobering response to not only Trump, but the entire, racist Birther movement.  And, yes, the question that hangs over all of this: Will black people ever fully be considered American?  Apparently, no time soon. Bravo, brotha.

Check out his full post here.

@kevin_powell @theperfectru

The internet has been ablaze in the wake of Ashley Judd’s comments about hip hop in her book,  All That is Bitter and Sweet. She wrote:

As far as I’m concerned, most rap and hip hop music — with its rape culture and insanely abusive lyrics and depictions of girls and women as ‘ho’s’ — is the contemporary soundtrack of misogyny.

But how  far off is she really? If we’re honest, we know there’s “some” truth in what she said.

Let’s get some things out of the way early. We know that this statement doesn’t apply to all hip hop.  There are thoughtful, creative artists whose music is not based on denigrating women. Mos Def, Talib Kweli, J-Live, The Roots, Toki Wright, Shad, Pigeon John, P.O.S., and Blitz The Ambassador, are some that come immediately to mind.  And there are plenty of women who represent hip hop, as both MCs and spoken word artists.  Think Invincible, Jean Grae, Jessica Care Moore, Toni Blackman, Bless Roxwell, to name a few here.

So, what I think Ashley is guilty of is over-generalization.  But the fact is that too much of hip hop does, in fact, denigrate women, be it through lyrics or videos. Recent examples such as Kanye’s Monster video or most of the work of recently celebrated teenagers Odd Future fall in this bucket.  And Girl Talk samples what I think are some of the most vile examples of hip hop for his mashup albums.

What you end up with is work that creates an environment that devalues women. And it’s true: Rappers talk about women in the third person, as sexual objects or body parts, or women are seen gyrating half-naked in videos as a symbol of some dude’s material success.  Call women bitches and hoes enough times over dope enough beats and an attitude gets normalized.

Hip hop is a global pop cultural phenomenon.  It not only defines how a generation sees itself, but it also has become the shorthand for what’s cool around the world.

But on it’s way to becoming that billion-dollar industry, hip hop failed to grow up.  Global retailer Walmart went through similar growing pains.  As economist Umair Haque notes in his book, The New Capitalist Manifesto, as soon as the company made it to the top of the Fortune 500, society’s expectations rose as well, as evidenced by the attacks on it by labor and environmental activists.  So, is it so shocking that many of us have a higher expectation for hip hop, since it, too, stands atop the cultural mountain?  Further, is it at all shocking that Ashley Judd—someone who’s not part of the hip hop community—perceives hip hop the way she does?  Once you’re able to dictate terms of a discussion, peoples’ expectations about you change, for better or worse.

There is no power—or freedom—without responsibility.

For too many rappers “keeping it real” went wrong a long time ago. Even though the world is listening, too many engage in the fiction that they’re just talking to their boys on the block.  Now, it’s one thing to say something to friends: There’s context; people understand where you’re coming from; and there are probably shared values and ways of looking at the world.  But when you take some of these songs and blast them around the world, the context disappears.  We’re left with only the words.

There are those who will defend hip hop by saying that it’s only reflective of American culture, one that clearly doesn’t value women. I mean, if it did, there wouldn’t be a gender pay gap.  And, yes, we live in culture whose values are way out of whack: Cut the tax bills of billion dollar corporations to zero, while at the same time cutting social safety nets and education spending for the most vulnerable.  All in the name of some recently found idea of “fiscal responsibility”. Is this the culture the black community wants to reflect?  Just because parts of American culture are morally bankrupt, doesn’t mean hip hop—and by extension black culture—also has to be.

Some tried to point out the misogyny in rock and country music.   Remember when you were a kid and you got in trouble with your friends? Remember when you tried to make the case that, “They were doing it, too” line?  That didn’t stop your parents from tearin’ up that behind, did it?  No, because you were expected to know better.  Another way to think about it: The they-were-doing-it-too argument is like low-level Nazi soldiers after the Holocaust saying, “I was only following orders.” That’s a shameful cop out.

Thing is, every one of us always has a choice.  Hip hop has to grow up, and take responsibility.  It starts with the artists, but we as audiences have a responsibility, too.  If you’ve got grown men who want to act like teenage boys in their albums, then maybe we should stop supporting them.  We are under no obligation to continue circling the wagons around the artists or parts of an artform that don’t reflect where we want our culture and community to go.

Men, particularly, need to start speaking up when we see negative culture being produced and spread.  It’s often the few who are willing to speak out that give others the courage to do so.  Unless we take a compassionate, principled and firm stand, hip hop will never shake the image, held by many such as Ashley Judd, that it is a breeding ground for misogyny.

Women, hip hop, and our community all deserve better.

Additional articles:

• Ru Johnson: Bad Rap: Ashley Judd calls hip hop the soundtrack to misogyny. Is she right?
• Kevin Powell: In Defense of Ashley Judd

This new PBS series airs Tuesdays beginning April 19.  From the description:

Black in Latin America is the third of a trilogy that began in 1999 with the broadcast of Professor Gates’s first series for public television, Wonders of the African World, an exploration of the relationship between Africa and the New World, a story he continued in 2004 with America Beyond the Color Line, a report on the lives of modern-day African Americans. Black In Latin America, premiering nationally Tuesdays April 19, 26 and May 3, 10, 2011 at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings), examines how Africa and Europe came together to create the rich cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Check out the preview:

Watch the full episode. See more Black in Latin America.

Additional link:

• Black in Latin America official site

@janellemonae

Great to see Janelle Monae among the group of USA Network’s 2011 Character Approved Honorees.  Not familiar with the awards?  Check this out:

USA Network’s Character Approved Awards honor the real characters who are changing the face of American Culture. Character Approved honorees are innovators in their field who influence our opinions, our style, and our view of the world. They surprise us and inspire us with fresh ideas. They are celebrated by their peers and they have an authentic style that’s all their own.

Sounds like Janelle, right? The other honorees include architect Walter Hood (below), artist Vik Muniz; designer Emily Pilloton; fashion designer Prabal Gurung; filmmaker Davis Guggenheim; restauranteur Grant Achatz; philanthropist Blake Mycoskie; Foursquare founders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai; actor Lily Rabe; and writer Nicole Krauss.

The Character Approved Awards air Tuesday, March 8 at 11pm EST on USA Network.

There’s a clear link between progressive culture and progressive politics.  No surprise there, right?  I don’t think you can purport to be about moving music and artistic culture forward and, at the same time, be oblivious or indifferent to what’s happening in the world of politics.

While it’s been increasingly evident since the 2008 elections that politics has become nastier and more no-holds-barred than ever, seeing this clip from Rachel Maddow’s show on Thursday really chilled me.  I guess I still held onto the belief that while things have sunk to new lows, there was still a some tiny modicum of fairness somewhere on the Right.  Even if they’ve put forward no-nothing candidates like Sharron Angle in Nevada, Christine “I’m not a witch” O’Donnell in Delaware, or reckless grizzly mom Sarah Palin.  But, no, they’re trying to ensure that corporate interests can have free reign by permanently hobbling the Democratic party.  And the Right has the Supreme Court and billionaires like the Koch brothers, to name a few of the forces helping their cause.

Rachel’s piece came on the heels of my reading about how the extreme right wing of the GOP has been planning to take the country back to permanent conservative rule.  That means no safety nets, no unions, etc.  Now, I can’t say I’ve followed all the links in this article, nor have I done all the research to verify that what’s here is true.  What I am saying is this: We all need to be aware of the forces that are arrayed against progressive culture as a whole.

The clip is 14 minutes long, but really worth watching.  After all, I’m not sure how there will be any progressive culture movement if progressive politics gets crushed.  Bake sales versus billionaires, indeed.

It’s not a game out there, people: Be informed.

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