What?! Unbelievable!!

While watching the news today, I saw a report of the latest statistics that indicate that 1 out of 2 HIV patients in the U.S. is African American! 1 out of 2!!!

I went online and came upon this New York Times Article. I think I speak for many when I exclaim: What the hell is going on?!

Movie Critics, Why So Serious? My Review of The Dark Knight (Spoilers)

I'm amazed- having read a bunch of reviews waxing poetic and singing the never-ending praises of the late Heath Ledger's spectacular performance of the Joker in Christopher Nolan's latest comic-book movie epic, The Dark Knight- that few have commented on how hysterically funny he is. After all, he is playing a joker.

Seriously, I haven't laughed so hard at such villainy in quite some time. The campiness captured in the Joker portrayals of Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson pale in comparison (and I believe their jokers were meant to be funny). While various movie critics have been describing Ledger's Joker as "creepy," "dark," "demented," "frightening," "sinister" and a host of other adjectives that suggest solemnity, I'm left to exclaim: Hey guys, you forgot wickedly hilarious! In the immortal words of the painted-faced one: Why so serious?

Perhaps we are living in an era when it's in poor taste to laugh at a terrorist who blows up stuff just cause "some people want to watch the world burn." And, yet, there is something downright disingenuous when we pretend that we're not immensely turned on or derive intense pleasure from observing or even admiring such "agents of chaos" who delight in destruction. Yeah, I thought it was the funniest thing when the Joker (donned in a nurse's uniform) walks out of a hospital, looking like a crackhead, before he detonates a series of bombs that implode the building. I also laughed when humanity failed him in their final bid for decency and respect for human life, thus prompting the joker to deadpan about the unreliability of people (and why, inevitably, one must carry out their own evil plans). And considering this is a typical, testosterone-filled summer blockbuster, I've come to expect that our celebrated villain will whack some black guy (criminal or innocent cop) who unwittingly gets in his way (yes, I am the kind of movie goer who notices these things and comments on such racial politics) or that the only important female character in the movie (Rachel Dawes, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) gets disposed of. There are other politics going on as well - national (when the Joker gets the economic better of an Asian businessman), socioeconomic (when the Joker offers himself as a "better class of villain" that Gotham City deserves, in comparison to the working-class, Italian mob), and real-life parallels (allusions to Big Brother's high-tech surveillance that Christian Bale's Batman engages to track down his nemesis, or to a "preemptive strike" scenario, engineered by the Joker, in which the citizens of Gotham City are invited to strike at each other to save their own necks).

Beyond these elements, what I most appreciate are the theoretical musings between our heroic Batman and villainous Joker and its stripped to the bare bones portrayal of archetypal good vs. evil, black vs. white (if we're just going by costumes, this time the good guy wears black), order vs. chaos. I don't remember if it's Joseph Campbell, or Carl Jung who inspired him, who said that clowns come the closest to capturing the divine. If the greatest mystery there is (call it God, the Universe, or what have you) is unknowable, to offer up an image of that which is unknowable is to trap ourselves in illusion.

The clown, or trickster, or Joker (some may even say the Devil) presents us with an illusion up front (a mask or painted face) to remind us that none of this is real. That the only thing that's real comes out of chaos and destruction. That when "it's all part of the plan," we can accept anything, no matter how dark. But once things don't go to plan, we panic and are forced to embrace change and struggle. It's a crazy kind of philosophy but one that makes sense, especially when Batman is confronted about who he really is and whether or not he is the hero that he thinks he is. After all, he too wears a mask, as do so many others in this film (most notably the ghastly "Two-Face" mask of Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart).

I could get really serious here, especially when thinking about how much I wanted to see more of the Joker and knowing Ledger won't be around to reprise this role in yet another sequel, but I prefer to cherish the fun moments where our villain's twisted theories and demented behavior remind us that darkness has a light side, or that light is only appreciated because of the darkness.

The Obama World Tour: Domestic Disputes

Since I decided to skip CNN's "Black in America," after being less than impressed last weekend - Let's be clear, folks: this program is not designed for us; it's for all those on-the-fence non-black Americans who need their reality anchored in familiar stereotypes of the black family so they can better assess the Obamas in a familiar light - I chose instead to pay attention to Obama's "world tour" (or what I like to call "Rockstar: the Making of the Next American President" reality show).


I believe the crowds in Berlin, Germany on Thursday, July 24, numbered in the hundreds of thousands (200,000 to be exact), and it's always a fascinating sight when I can detect the number of African-descended people overseas, who have definitely taken pride in Obama's rise to fame and power (so far). Still, we need not be surprised at Obama's popularity in Europe (one local German likened him to a "JFK and Nelson Mandela rolled into one person"); after all, Europe always rolled out the welcome mat to African Americans when the U.S. was slow to do the same.



The question is: will his popularity on foreign soil benefit him on our soil? Will this only make more Americans suspicious of him? Has any other presidential candidate ever done a world tour during a national campaign? Since the world doesn't vote, why embark on this journey? What new pressures greet Obama, who already feels the need to "act presidential" (or what some are viewing as arrogance since they interpret this tour as his "overstepping" the boundaries and "assuming" a presidential role)?

I suppose I am questioning the world tour because, as Berlin has demonstrated, I don't think he's going to have much problem with an international audience. It's our own American audience, which still has the power of the vote, that he needs to contend with, and - as I've already said before - what with the New Yorker "satirical" cover and CNN's latest profiling of the "long-suffering" and "pathological" black family - he's got plenty to dismantle and unpack if he wants to win enough votes that will get him into the White House.

While it is commendable that Obama is already crafting a worldview that the rest of us should consider, there are far more "domestic disputes" he needs to settle before leaving his backyard to conquer the world.

Since I'm in That Kind of Mood Today...

This popular video on You Tube made me laugh for all the wrong reasons.

What Constitutes the "Black Agenda," and How Should Obama (and CNN) Respond?

I decided to take some time over the weekend to reflect on what I thought was yet another run-of-the-mill "what's wrong with African Americans?" townhall-type meeting (hosted by CNN and Essence) that Soledad O'Brien hosted this past Saturday evening: "CNN's Black in America: Reclaiming the Dream" (what dream? Do we and MLK have the same dream in mind here?).

Public intellectuals as varied as Cornell West (looking like a hip-hop version of Albert Einstein) and Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux, as well as journalists like the radio DJ Tom Joyner and religious leaders like T.D. Jakes, all waxed poetic on the state of Black America, from our economic and educational woes to lack of leadership to the ever growing HIV/AIDS epidemic among black women (the former Broadway Dreamgirls star, Sheryl Lee Ralph, who is an AIDS activist headlining a Broadway show about the disease, called "Sometimes I Cry," offered some useful soundbites about breaking the silence; everyone else was meh, as far as I'm concerned).

No sooner am I asked to reflect on this media facade than I'm reading a new commentary by Bakari Kitwana (the scholar who coined the label "hip-hop generation"), "Black Agenda Withers With Obama's Rise" (htp Mark Anthony Neal). According to Kitwana:

Last week, the nation observed what may go down in history as the ultimate
Jesse Jackson backlash in response to the civil rights leaders hot mic Obama commentary. Even more outrageous than the contempt that many commentators expressed with Reverend Jackson’s decades old leadership is the seeming lack of concern for a Black agenda by contrast.

This is not to say that Jackson didn’t have it coming. Black frustration with self-appointed leaders has been a hallmark of the fading civil right era. But that’s a distraction from the real issue: so much attention has been focused on condemning Jackson that Black voters missed a huge opportunity to force Senator Barack Obama’s hand at placing their core issues on his change agenda, something he’s pretty much avoided throughout the campaign.

For nearly a year those on the left have lamented team Obama’s unwillingness to make their issues paramount, something they feel they’ve earned given their early and continuing support. Some diehard Obama supporters have even come to accept it won’t happen. These are the passive aggressive voices you hear saying, “he’s got to reach broad appeal before he can address our issues.”

If George Bush had accepted that mantra, we would have avoided the war in Iraq and the aftermath of Katrina Hurricane disaster, and the bail out of mortgage banking industry, to name a few.

When it comes to major party presidential candidates’ willingness to address our
issues, the Black community has been patient long enough. Black Americans
currently suffer one of the most devastating job crises in our history. Economic
development in Black communities beyond gentrification is nearly non-existent.
The prison crisis, healthcare among poor Blacks and educational performance of
too many Black youth is an international embarrassment.

Read in Full.

So, while these issues are legitimate, and it would have been great if CNN/Essence "townhall meeting" actually POLITICIZED an agenda for "Black America" (whoever gets counted in that moniker), I do get concerned when we create public discourse that does nothing to address public policy. We always talk around the issues rather than confront them head on. What would it mean if we actually included in the discourse grassroots activists and policy makers (and not just so-called "leaders" and intellectuals who speak properly) and those who do represent the jobless and the incarcerated and the HIV/AIDS survivor who can articulate what they would like to see addressed in an Obama presidency (or a McCain one for that matter)? Why are we already expressing woe that the Obamas are not addressing a "Black Agenda" when there are too many Americans who think he's "too black" already (need I remind you of last week's New Yorker satire)?

Is it enough to just hope he can be elected and break an important barrier, or can we start strategizing to make sure "our" concerns (because I'm not sure we have yet articulated what this "Black Agenda" must be) can be addressed in the next presidential administration?

Do we want to address our concerns in segregated fashion, where we get reduced to an "interest group" (which can be ignored at any time, until someone wants our special knowledge about race relations in America?), or do we want a seat at high table, where we can actually affect change - no matter how small this might be?

When I think of these specialized reports, featuring NONs (that's "Negroes of Note" to those of you not familiar with black speak), I think of the three years I spent working on my university's diversity committee. Complete boredom, talking around in circles, and a lot of posturing as if we were doing something important (meanwhile, we were losing more and more faculty of color, and we struggled to recruit and RETAIN our students of color). When I had mentioned to a former professor of mine (also a black woman) that I was engaged in this kind of service at the university level, she scoffed and told me to not waste my time again. That if I serve on another committee, I had better do so on a committee that mattered. She told me that I should have input on a committee that had real influence and real power, and that it was there that I would be able to have an impact on diversity in the academy. To serve on a committee focused on diversity was to serve in a segregated capacity and to encourage smokescreen actions.

"Don't ghettoize yourself," she told me. "If you must do this kind of service, do it where it counts."

I think of her advice when I think of what it is the Obamas are trying to accomplish, and I think their track record indicates that they're being as subtle as they can so that they can get to the high table.

Now, this might look like they have no interest in serving a "black agenda," but I'd like us to think of what that would really mean if he were to actually become president. Obama has addressed our economy and our overseas wars, and the latest YouTube video highlighted in an enormous way the many black service men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq right now. Are these concerns not part of the "black agenda" as well?

Let's start thinking big, sisters and brothers. I have no reason to assume Obama is going to do a Clarence Thomas on us, should he rise to power.

In the meantime, let's start articulating a "black agenda" but in a way that's not going to continue to ghettoize our concerns. Every major issue that affects every American and others in the world affects us twice as much.

Black Rage: The Problem of Discourse and Fears of Militancy

My two favorite black female historical figures - Ida B. Wells and Harriet Tubman - both carried guns wherever they traveled.

I think about this because, in feminist circles, whenever we discuss social justice (especially for women), someone invariably expresses discomfort at the thought of women arming themselves and promoting self-defense, especially in response to sexual violence.

I'm as anti-war as the next feminist activist, but is there really something contradictory in embracing a Malcolm X-like philosophy of "by any means necessary"?

I also think too of the implications of this week's New Yorker magazine cover, in which it is Michelle Obama (and not Barack) who is armed with a machine gun (and Afro to boot - remember the infamous Foxy Brown pulling out her gun from her hair? heh), suggesting the primal fear so many have of our black female bodies.

Despite the fear that we black women inspire, heaven help us if we articulate our anger and rage. Somebody is ready to lock us up, call us crazy, or dismiss our anger to the realm of irrationality.

So, what would it mean to fully articulate and ponder black rage? What would it mean to take it seriously?

I ask these questions while slowly reading through Paula Giddings' recent biography on Ida B. Wells, who was militant to the nth degree, and also while coming across this week an old copy of Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, which I've reread pretty quickly and cannot get a certain dialogue out of my head.

If you read that novel, you will remember the black militant secret society called Seven Days. The character Guitar Baines tells protagonist Milkman Dead why this society has chosen to secretly assassin any white person to avenge the deaths of any black man, woman, or child who has been unfairly lynched or raped:

Where's the money, the state, the country to finance our justice? ... Do we have
a court? Is there one courthouse in one city in the country where a jury
would convict them? There are places right now where a Negro still can't
testify against a white man. Where the judge, the jury, the court, are
legally bound to ignore anything a Negro has to say. What that means is
that a black man is a victim of a crime only when a white man says he is.
Only then. If there was anything like or near justice... there wouldn't
have to be no Seven Days. But there ain't; so we are. And we do it
without money, without support, without costumes, without newspapers, without
senators, without lobbyists, and without illusions!

In other words, the Seven Days resorts to violence in the absence of justice. Far more telling is the other explanation for their militant activities: Love. Milkman, who is chilled by his friend's secret society confessions, calls Guitar everything from "angry" to "hateful" to "crazy." But Guitar says he's none of these things. That he is really a man who is filled with love:

"Didn't you hear me? What I'm doing ain't about hating white people.
It's about loving us. About loving you. My whole life is love."

Does that make sense? Does resorting to violence and militancy entail a certain kind of love? I really have to give this more thought. After all, I believe in self-defense, but does this then translate to defense of family, defense of community, defense of nation, wherein eventually we all buy into violence as the necessary actions needed to protect what we love? Hmmm...

And, is there another way to articulate rage, which may be more connected to love than to hate?

I would love to explore such themes in a full course, but tenured or not, I don't think I would ever get a course approved with the title: "Black Rage and Militancy: Cultural Expressions." Still, if I were able to teach such a course, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon would be required reading, as would:

James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time
Franz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth
Michelle Cliff's Free Enterprise
Ngugi's Devil on the Cross
CLR James' The Black Jacobins
Huey P. Newton's Revolutionary Suicide
Audre Lorde's Sister Outsider (not really a "militant" book per se, but she's always getting people so stirred up that I've since learned to view this nominal book of hers in the same vein)

And, of course, I would screen these films:
(USA) Ivan Dixon's The Spook Who Sat by the Door
(Cuba) Gloria Rolando's Eyes of the Rainbow (a Santeria-inspired documentary about Black Panther Assata Shakur, who is in exile in Cuba)
(Cuba) Toma Gutierrez Alea's The Last Supper
(Brazil) Carlos Diegues' Quilombo

And, yes, I would add Giddings' biography of Ida B. Wells to this list.

The question is: which students would sign up for such a course? And would we be able to engage intellectually with the subject?

And if I never get to teach this course, I do hope you will take the time to read/view these texts on your own.

For me, the issue of rage and violence is nothing to fear, so much as the issue of social injustice, which continues to fuel the rage and violence in existence.

Itemized Musings for Friday

1. Happy Birthday, Nelson Mandela! Today, he takes this special day to speak out against poverty.

2. As eager as I am to see The Dark Knight (and Heath Ledger's defining last movie role), I'm going to wait until next week since I hate following the crowd (sold-out theaters? Really?!), so my review will be forthcoming.

3. Two blog posts are so wonderfully written, powerfully provocative, and immensely important - sorry for the alliteration - ;) - I would like to highlight them here:

Lisa, over at Black Women, Blow the Trumpet!, asks whether or not the "transgender sista" in the Black Christian community is an opportunity for chaos or community; don't miss out on the discussion!

Professor Black Woman offers a similar challenge to "good Christian folk" by critiquing religious discourse on homosexuality.

In light of the current controversy in the American Episcopalian community (of which my mother and other relatives are members) since a gay bishop has been ordained, and with the ongoing debate around same-sex marriage, now is the time to question and challenge ourselves on issues of sexuality, religion, and social justice.

4. Looking over the roster of incoming graduate students at my women's studies program this fall semester, it appears that international students now outnumber U.S. students. Not sure if this is the start of a new trend, but considering that so many students declined our offer because we couldn't provide any financial aid (due to budget cuts) and that a number of international students are able to find the necessary funding to attend school here on their own (or through others' support), this is something I think we need to pay attention to, especially as these outcomes reflect the state of our present economy.

5. Inner-city sexual violence continues, striking the same housing project - the infamous Dunbar Village of the tonton-macoutesque gang-rape violence last year - this time targeting yet another young woman and her son (Report). (htp Gina)

6. Is it just me, or are our presidential candidates taking forever and ever amen! to announce their running mates? Seems like we should have already gotten this memo. Instead, we get lame controversies in the style of satirical magazine covers (come on, already!). Some mean-spirited people are already joking that Obama just can't find somebody white who wants to be second in command to him (*rolls eyes*), but what's McCain's excuse?

7. Now, you all know I love me some David Archuleta, and it's cool to know that many others love him too since the American Idol summer tour began this month. But, lo and behold, I've been hearing various Internet reports that this love is accompanied by pronounced hatred for Syesha Mercado (remember her? Last Woman Standing?), who not only has to experience being overlooked when tour fans scream for David, and AI winner David Cook, and other popular white boy contestants like Jason Castro and Michael Johns, but who also has had tour fans who've screamed in her face how much they hate her. This, combined with other reports that the other black contestant on tour - Chikize - has been rudely asked by tour fans to "go get" whichever idol they most want (usually Archuleta or Cook or Jason Castro) and, therefore, been feeling demoralized as a result, just makes me shake my head at America's less than subtle racism.

So, here is my tribute to Syesha and Chikize, in which I say to all you lame, sucktastic AI fans, who delight in Simon Cowellesque rudeness and whose hypocrisy knows no bounds (yep, these are the same folks who failed to crown my David American Idol and made fun of his dad, his youth, and his soft masculinity, while now giving him the Elvis-Beatles-Michael Jackson treatment): You better be good to Syesha and Chikize!

I'll let Tina Turner do the honors. :)

"Blood Cell Phones"

If you remember from last April, I had made a series of connections between Congo warfare and its rape epidemic and our high-tech information age: whether we are talking about Corporate Rapists or a new media culture of violence. Here is a report from Rabble News: "'Blood Cell Phones' Worsen Crisis in the Congo":

Your shiny new 3G iPhone may be helping fuel the deadliest conflict since World
War II.

Lots of people know about "blood diamonds" such as those highlighted in the 2006 hit movie of the same name starring Leonardo DiCaprio. These are diamonds that help fuel wars in the countries they come from as warring parties fight over control of the diamond mines. Very few people, however, know that their cell phones may be doing the very same thing. That's because almost all electronic equipment, including cell phones, contain an element called tantalum that has properties that make it an important part of things like capacitors in electronic devices. Tantalum capacitors are used in laptop computers, pagers, mobile phones and game consoles like Sony's Playstation.

Tantalum comes from two minerals, columbite or tantalite, which collectively are known as coltan. Eighty per cent of the world's coltan comes from the African country the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it has been blamed for helping fuel
vicious civil wars since 1996.

In its latest Congo mortality report, the International Rescue Committee found that 5.4 million war-related deaths have occurred in the Congo since 1998. In other words, as Amy Goodman from Democracy Now said in her January story, "Congo: The Invisible War," a loss of life greater than September 11 occurring every two days. The vast majority of these have been from preventable, non-violent causes
such as disease and malnutrition – easily treatable conditions.

Tantalum ores are found primarily in Australia, Canada, Brazil, and central Africa, with some additional quantities originating in Southeast Asia.

One of the major global coltan buyers is the Australian mining company Sons of Gwalia. Sons turns the coltan to tantalum ore which it sells to companies including Germany's Bayer subsidiary H.C. Starck and the American company Cabot Corp. Those companies refine it for sale to the electronics industry for use in capacitors.

Cabot Corporation is a Boston-based global chemicals and materials company. This is according to the biography of former Cabot CEO, Sam Bodman – now George Bush's Energy Secretary. According to a 2006 Cabot press release, the company entered into a new three-year tantalum ore supply agreement with Sons of Gwalia that year. In 2004, Australia's Sidney Morning Herald reported that Cabot was Sons' largest tantalum concentrate customer.

Read in Full.

On Taking Black People (and Satires Featuring Them) Quite Literally

Whatever their point, The New Yorker's "satirical" cover has already been seized by conservatives as "justifying" their deep-seated fears:

"...this caricature hits the proverbial nail on its proverbial head. No single
illustration could more perfectly convey the legitimate — I repeat, legitimate —
fears and concerns that so many of us have about the prospects of an Obama
Presidency...We can only hope that this shocking New Yorker cover takes on a
life of its own, and is seen by millions of potential Obama supporters. Maybe,
just maybe, where our thousands of words have failed, a picture can succeed."

This quote is from a collection of other quotes in this ABC News Report (link shared in Gina Barreca's Chronicle of Higher Ed article, "Yes, Bad: The New Yorker Cover Uncovered").

Now This is How You Do Satire

Got these pics in an e-mail from a colleague:

Satire or Racism?

This week's New Yorker features on its cover the Obamas, depicted "terrorist" style (htp Gina from What About Our Daughters). So, is this supposed to be a "parody" of right-wing conservative "anxiety," or, more likely, the anxiety of racially repressed liberals using "humor" to express the racism that is being projected onto the other party?

Also, before I get accused of not having any sense of humor when it comes to "racial" jokes, I have to ask: are we, as a nation, truly sophisticated enough to make these kinds of jokes? There are far too many who take black people quite literally. What symbolism and irony are invoked here that would make this imagery acceptable?

I ask these questions because, although it would seem absurd for Fox News to confuse the love fist jab as some kind of "terrorist gang sign," and, therefore, quite appropriate for the New Yorker to poke fun at their stupidity, how many did take this news account seriously? After all, there are Americans who do think the Obamas are just as dangerous (if not more so) than the guy whose name rhymes with theirs.

Heard This Song at My Caribbean-Themed Neighborhood Block Party Today!

Of course, it rocked the house (or should I say "the block"?). :)

Rosa Clemente, Hip-Hop Activist, Accepts VP Bid on Cynthia McKinney's Green Party Ticket

Got this in an email from Mark Anthony Neal, aka New Black Man.

Hip Hop Activist Accepts VP Bid for McKinney's Green Party Bid
by Davey D

Rosa Clemente accepting a bid to run as VP on Cynthia McKinney's Green Party ticket is big news. In fact its great news. First Rosa is no joke. This Bronx born-Puerto Rican-African sista is sharp on the issues and uncompromising on the principals she stands for. She stands tall and fights fiercely for the communities and people she has long represented. She is more than qualified.

The other thing that is equally important is that Rosa gives voice to a variety of issues impacting the community that have been increasingly put on the back burner during this election season.

Many of us have waited eagerly for important issues like the prison industrial complex, media justice, gentrification, a just immigration policy, police brutality (i. e Sean Bell), war crimes and impeachment proceedings being levied on those in high office responsible and the Palestinian perspective in the Middle East to be addressed. With each passing day they seem to be tossed under the bus with the conventional wisdom being middle of the road white voters from small towns need to be appeased. Hence important issues like the aforementioned keep getting sacrificed.

The other day, a prominent TV News commentator made a highly offensive, arrogant remark when addressing the recent shift to the right by Democratic nominee Barack Obama. He was talking about how those who see themselves as progressive and grassroots and played significant roles in the success of the Obama campaign, were feeling disenchanted and had gone so far as to stage a financial protest by withholding campaign donations until Obama reversed himself.

The pundit was asked if this will hurt Obama, he said it would not. Obama can afford to sacrifice those issues because that group of people have nowhere else to go. In other words they (we) can be taken for granted. That is never a good way to go into a campaign. See the way things work is like that. We start off making the sacrifice as our candidate goes for these so called middle of the road white rural voters. The game plan is once he/she gets in office he/she will start addressing our issues.

Unfortunately what usually happens is that as soon as they get into office they have to continue making sacrifices to make sure the party gets people re-elected in Congress and the Senate. We saw this with Bill Clinton. In his attempt to get folks re-elected he led the charge dismantling welfare, building up more prisons and of course shuttling in media consolidation. Wanna know how Fox News and crazed racist right wing talk show hosts came into power? Look at the media policies of Bill Clinton. All this happened when we were all being told to hush up and let him do these things
to help make sure the house and senate are won by Democrats.

Read Further.

The Mighty Sparrow on Barack Obama: Calypso and American Politics

I had wondered what all the fuss was about on CNN when they talked about all the Obama allusions in Caribbean music. I guess American reporters are unaware of the long standing tradition of calypso as the site of political discourse, including the original political calypsonian, the Mighty Sparrow.

Here's the YouTube video!

Blog Update

Hello, everyone! I'm pretty much rested up after a week's vacation and have been missing my blog (interesting how this becomes addictive). So, I just wanted to provide a few updates.

1. Although my summer online course ended last week, grades were due today, so I'm now officially done, and it's great to say that I'm getting better with online teaching (my second time!). I do hope to eventually teach an online course beyond my university (preferably one that can actually cross international borders). Granted, it may have seemed that I had done nothing but complain about my course, but now that I've read through my student evaluations, I realize that my voice is a critical one and that diversity really does count. Some choice quotes that have made up for some earlier ignorance expressed last month:

*My exposure to feminist ideas and to examining women in the past has been limited to those issues and ideas that affect white women, not exploring the experience's or perceptions of non-Caucasian women...I think more than anything this course has raised my awareness of how women are portrayed, and increased my natural inclination to question ideas and images, to wonder at the history that supports the presentation of certain images and ideas of women.

*This class has definitely made me more aware of not only all sides of a story, especially one that is featured in a magazine, on the news, etc. , but also I learned to always remember the history of people and countries because it has a significant impact on the present day.

*I have taken a few Women's Studies classes and I felt this class did the best at viewing women around the world...I learned to expand my horizons and check out media that has different points of view so that I can construct my opinions and my own history compared to others' histories.

*Through this class, I learned how close-minded I am about the way people of different races are viewed and how the media influences my views...I think that this class was very eye-opening because since I have grown up in the culture, I never really acknowledged or questioned the way the media shapes my perceptions.

**When I decided to take up Women's Studies as my minor in college I thought that it would be great, I would learn a lot about my gender and sex and perhaps even contribute to the feminist community. I was sourly disappointed, however, when after taking class after class I found the same things repeated over and over again and after I finished at my University, instead of feeling inspired I was just angered because I seemed like all I really learned was that women have always been unequal, still continue to be unequal and rather than progressing as one of my professors put it, we're rather digging ourselves further into a ditch and the future does not look to promising for us. I decided to give it another try (after I learned that I needed another course to finish up my degree) and take up this class because I thought it might teach me what my previous school had not and I have been really pleased with each week's lessons...I think the most important thing i've pulled away from this course is realizing the importance of the differences between cultures, whether they be African, Muslim, Asian or American, but also understanding that these differences should not separate us but rather help us to understand one another and become more accepting of different parts of the world and the women that make up those areas.**

There is still hope! :)

2. While away, I've been catching up on other blogs, and this post by Professor Black Woman, concerning the recent death of Jamaican immigrant Esmin Green in a Brooklyn psychiatric emergency unit, is a must read on the subject of black women's mental health.

3. Did I really just hear Jesse Jackson whisper (with his mic on) that he wants to "cut off the nuts" of Barack Obama? What?! And, am I going to have to witness the ridiculous reporting of the likes of CNN and FOX News who continue to delight in what they perceive to be "in-fighting" within the black community, this time concerning our political leadership? Jackson is smarter than that, as Gina over at What About Our Daughters has already said, and we can debate whether or not we agree with him that Obama appears to be "talking down" to black folks (what class divides is he alluding to here?), but, seriously, where did this inappropriate comment come from? Sounds like yet another distraction from discussing more pressing issues, to be honest, so I won't speculate any further.

4. Rebecca Walker recently explained the rift between her mother and herself on NPR. It makes for an interesting Listen.

5. Considering my penchant for cartoons and avatars, I might be tempted to check out Google's new Lively, a tool for creating cartoons and avatars that you can use in chat rooms and, yes, on your own blogs! Here's an article from The New York Times about it.

6. Speaking of new technology, I once had the pleasure of meeting a lively Latina performance artist, Praba Pilar, who pushes the boundaries in critiquing and engaging our 21st-century technology. I got this email from her about her new show exploring nanotechnology, and I thought I would share it here.

Mon Ami,
Don't miss out!
Fresh from performances at the Sonoma County Museum and UC Davis,The Church
of Nano Bio Info Cogno offers its next installment in aninstallation and
performance at the Bay Area Now5 exhibition at Centerfor the Arts at Yerba
Buena. Please come to the opening Saturday July 19th, from8pm to midnight.

Where: Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena 701 Mission Street at
3rd, San Francisco

When: Opening Reception - Saturday July 19, 8pm to midnight
Live Performance - Sunday August 10, 2pm

What: Reverend Praba Pilar of the Church of Nano Bio Info Cogno
travels the world offering fantastical prophesies, outrageoussermons,
incantations, neo rituals and a divinely inspired techno-communionwith emerging
technology. Inverting paranoid cries for precautionaryprinciples, the Church’s
liturgy consecrates thesetechnologies--Nanotechnology, Biotechnology,
Information Technology andCognitive Neuroscience--forward into the neoteric
millennium. The Nano Bio Info Cogno convergence of the latter daywill parse us
to a rapturous paradigm shift. The sick shall be healed throughthe rub of a
mouse, the blind shall be given sight through the miracles ofvirtual reality
goggles, the hungry shall be fed through eBay auctions, and thespace time
continuum shall be forever altered in a post-bio uploadedconsciousness universe,
freeing us from the meat-ware of the human body.

That's all for now. Until next time!

Blog Hiatus

Happy 4th of July, everyone! I'm taking a week's vacation, so will be away from my blog until then. :)

The Joys of Inhabiting Pixar's Universe: My Review of Wall-E (Spoilers)

Art. Brilliance. Imagination. Magic. Entertainment. Trash. Erudite film and art history. All these fine qualities can be found in Pixar's latest masterpiece that is Wall-E (an acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class). I'm so glad I didn't read any reviews of this animation before I went to see it today (and I'm also glad I didn't bother to eat any movie snacks while watching this film, for its self-awareness as commodity culture, even as it criticizes the very thing it represents, would have made me feel terribly guilty). As such, this movie was full of many surprises (some of which I will spoil for you, so please skip this review if you don't want any spoilers).

A good movie can pull you effortlessly into its alternate universe, and Pixar has been nothing short of magical in this regard. The artistry of the animation is so top notch, the visuals take your breath away. And, their meticulous attention to great detail, as they construct this alternate universe, allows you to suspend your disbelief (i.e. the child's bedroom in Toy Story, the darkened yet mysterious closet land of Monster, Inc., the vast expanse of a backyard in A Bug's Life, the incredulity of balancing mundane suburbia and superhero adventures in The Incredibles, the underwater world of Finding Nemo, the great roadways of Cars, and - as a good friend, who refused to accompany me to the movies because of the concept of "rats in the kitchen," reminded me - a five-star Parisian restaurant where a rat lets loose on his culinary art in Ratatouille).

The new Pixar universe in Wall-E is set 700 years after the 22nd century (consider it a 2800: Space Odyssey of sorts). Our first view is of a discolored Earth - where's the great blueness of our planet? What is this dull-appearing brownish ball suspended against the blackness of the galaxy? As the camera pans through a corporate-satellite-cluttered atmosphere (courtesy of a global corporation called BnL - "Buy N Large", get it?), we descend upon an abandoned city of skyscrapers. Upon closer inspection, these high rises are nothing but compressed garbage towering against a toxic skyline. There is no life, with the exception of a cockroach who befriends the only other intelligent being on the planet - a junk compressor (our titular hero).

It appears that all of humanity has become extinct, leaving behind traces of its existence through the detritus of our postmodern era. Wall-E takes refuge with his cockroach buddy from the occasional dust storms in a rusty metal hulk, and there we notice Wall-E's impressive collection of obscure material objects: an old Rubik's cube (remember that one?), a VHS tape (yeah, I know!) of the movie musical, Hello, Dolly!, junk food like Twinkies (heh), and video games like "Pong" and "Pac Man."

Sigh. No wonder I adore Pixar films! It's so obvious the filmmakers are of my generation. Rubik's cube and Pac Man. That's all I have to say. Not to mention the visual references to Star Wars (and I don't mean Episode One!) and Aliens.

It's also obvious that our Wall-E, an old-school robot (powered by solar energy) has outlasted his usefulness, but while the waste that has accumulated on the earth is more than he can compress, he has managed to turn this craft into art. It's what his solitude allows, and here is where the glimpse of genius enters into the picture.

Of course, a movie cannot just center on an aging robot's solitude, and so enters another character: an upgraded robot that descends from a massive space ship - a white egg-shaped 2.0 kind of machine. It's fast-moving, it flies, it can blow up stuff just by stretching forth its arm, and it's gendered female.

As the two robots learn to communicate with each other, they do so in a rather Chaplinesque silent film mode, until they call each other by their names. We learn that the upgrade robot is called EVE (we also later learn that EVE is an acronym for Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator - and not the biblical character, although she might as well be: there is, of course, an old joke about female superiority in which it is believed Woman was created second after Man since she is the masterpiece to the rough draft that Adam represents, and we definitely see it in the differences between these two man-made machines).

While Wall-E does everything he can to impress his EVE, with whom he has fallen hopelessly in love, he has nothing to offer her but the many things that surround them on this lifeless planet. Until he offers her a tiny little plant, growing out of a boot, and suddenly EVE is transfixed, as her interior opens to receive this plant, and she seems to stop functioning. Poor Wall-E does not know what to do, but we will later discover that EVE has completed her mission on earth (to find and capture any signs of vegetation on the planet and bring it back). While the space ship returns for this machine, Wall-E sneaks on board, so determined is he to not be separated from his beloved. And, it is here that the story drastically changes, as we are taken on a 2001: Space Odyssey journey across the universe (the various allusions to this Kubrick movie were absolutely hilarious, especially with the HAL-like presence on the mega star ship, and the animation here is superb).

So, what we discover is this: humans didn't exactly die out; they just simply found a way to sustain themselves in a galaxy far far away, but within a space ship that has taken our mass consumer culture to the limits. In 700 years, we have transformed into obese, leisure-seeking, non-thinking infantile creatures who are completely reliant on robots that do everything for us. And it would take the heart and soul (and, of course, the labor) of our machines to restore us back to our humanity and to our earth.

I could go on and on, but the love story of Wall-E and his EVE is an ecological fable about the dangers of our over consumptive lifestyles, which threaten our planet and our health. By the time humans learn to think for themselves and take matters into their own hands, the analogy between this struggle between man and machine is much like our infants taking their first baby steps (literally depicted!). And the significance of Wall-E connecting with EVE is a beautiful marriage between our earlier technology combining with the new. Wall-E is our historian - he compresses our junk, but he also preserves it, much like EVE (our evaluator of our vegetation) forges this technology with nature.

When our humans find their way back to earth, they join forces with their machines and replenish the planet. And Wall-E and EVE, artificial intelligence, have found the heart and the soul to appreciate both nature and art. During the closing credits, the artistic references of human civilization - from our earliest cave paintings to Egyptian hieroglyphics to Matisse and Gauguin - are in full view, and so we know that both humans and machines have found a symbiotic relationship that can persevere and sustain life on earth. This film is not anti-consumption. It is anti-waste. As Audre Lorde would say (and it's so obvious this is Wall-E's message): "Everything can be used except what is wasteful."

Globalizing Pride

See what happens when one gets caught up in one's own stuff and forgets to think globally? I almost forgot to post on the first ever Pride march to take place in Bangalore and New Delhi, India over the weekend (htp Professor Black Woman on this issue). So, here's a mosaic in honor of those who gathered and demanded their right to be, their right to love, their right to visibility.

Clarification on the Subjects of Colorism and Rape

Since my last post has received a number of responses, I feel compelled to clarify certain points. After re-reading my post, I sound like I'm making excuses for colorism or downplaying light skin privilege.

While I still maintain that light-skin privilege does not protect from the ravages of white supremacy, I apologize for not acknowledging that the privileges we as lighter-skinned blacks hold are real and do give us power over darker-skinned blacks.

The source of my excuse-making, however, could not be well articulated while I wrote in anger yesterday. What I wanted to express was the way that all women, regardless of our hue and race, are targets of rape. And I had heard in the comment thread over at Black Women Vote! a statement that seemed to dismiss light-skinned black women when it came to sexual violence. The implication of the comment I read seemed to say: "Look at you, high-yellow heifer! You thought you were all that! You thought the black man held you to a higher status, but you're as much of a rape target as I am!"

And I, for one, want to know how, in a painful discussion that centered on a black woman suffering from an extended period of gang rape, could such a sentiment be elicited during so serious a conversation? How deep are the wounds that have been inflicted on us that we can step out of sisterhood and get that little jibe in, even as we lament the rape epidemic that threatens black women the world over (regardless of her color) ?

Yes, colorism is a serious issue, and lighter-skinned black women do experience color privileges - not just in the heterosexual arena, but also educationally, economically, and socially. However, as black women, none of us benefit from gender privilege, and that was the issue at hand. Rape affects all of us, and I merely wanted to state emphatically that we must move beyond our colorism if we, as women, can come together and fight sexual violence that targets all of us. Because if we don't, believe me when I say that anyone of us could have been that black woman, who decided to go to sleep rather than call 911 to help a sister in her time of trouble.

We were all appalled at that woman's behavior. But, if we associated her disgusting inaction with colorism - say, maybe that neighbor was thinking, "That high-yellow _____ thinks she's all that anyway!" (or the flip side: "That's what that dark-skinned _____ gets for hanging with those trifling Negroes!") - would we be as surprised at her behavior? Would it be hard to imagine how a black woman could fail to respond to her sister?

That's what was upsetting to me, and writing yesterday, I failed to register the main concern I had - the way that our commonalities over gender oppression got deflected onto our color differences.

We can keep talking about colorism and light-skin privilege, and make distinctions between "real" black women and "white women's children" (or those who "look like white women's children") without discussing how such language erases the legacy of rape that defined ALL BLACK WOMEN'S CHILDREN (who came out in various hues, and you know how those hues came about) .

How ironic that a discussion about a black female rape victim eventually derailed into one of colorism - the end result of the legacy of rape.

If we can remember this legacy, we would be less shocked that the cycle of violence continues on black women's bodies, and that the very color of our bodies bear the brunt of this history. That we're still reliving this history in the here and now is a stark reminder of what we, as women, have in common and what we must continue to fight against.