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“[The site] features a statement condemning Dobson that reads in part: “James Dobson doesn’t speak for me when he uses religion as a wedge to divide; he doesn’t speak for me when he speaks as the final arbiter on the meaning of the Bible.”
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“As a black man, John Bess says it has been important for him to know much about the white world, yet he says whites have not been so curious about his.”
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WTF? “Many white rockers—Pink Floyd and David Bowie, most prominently—have taken to the cosmos for inspiration, but space has played a particularly vital role in the articulation of African-American musical identity.”
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:Keli Goff: Yes, as you mentioned, my research found that 35 percent of young black voters ages 18-24 are registered Independents.”
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“Victims — all of them Latino immigrants — estimate that Parada took from them more than $1 million over the course of three years, which if true would make this one of the larger mortgage fraud cases San Francisco police have investigated”
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
wendi muse wrote:
i thought the USA today piece was great. and i agree with the founder of radio 1…the view of immigrants and their descendants of black americans is also important. i hate how people besides american blacks and american whites are completely ignored in these types of studies. as a black american, i have faced racism from multiple groups, not just whites, and i have also found within my own community, that many people are racist toward other ethnic or racial groups beyond whites. why not explore that?!?!?
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 10:07 am ¶
RainaWeather wrote:
I almost like Lil Wayne now that I’ve read that. I totally understand the afronaut thing. When I was younger I thought my mother and I were the only Black people who were obsessed with outer space. Part of the reason I like space is I feel that’s the only place where I can truly be free. As long as I’m on Earth I have to worry about racism, sexism, homophobia, religion, somebody making fun of my shoes, whatever. But in far out in space, out of Earth’s view, there are no rules, expectations, societal norms, etc. I can just exist, chill out, learn secrets of the universe and travel through Black, White and Worm holes.
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 5:29 pm ¶
Amanda wrote:
Wendi, that’s a great point about racism that DOESN’T come from just whites…I often hear a black friend of mine complain about “the Patels,” just talking about Indian-American students we work with. It’s easy for me to call a fellow white person on their racism, but I do find it a difficult position to be in when my black friends or latino friends start badmouthing the other group. I don’t keep quiet when they do it, I just feel less comfortable with the conversation. I think that I feel that way partially due to the phenomenon you are talking about. When we speak of everything on “White VS. Black” terms, we are missing a lot of the other, very present, dynamics of racism in this country. Sometimes I feel so schooled in how to deal with my own racism, I just feel without words when it comes from another direction.
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 6:15 pm ¶
deb wrote:
Yeah, RainaWeather. After reading the article I sorta see Lil Wayne in a different light too.
Funny, I’m totally into the cosmos/universe these days. When I was young you couldn’t pay me to watch Nova. Now, I get email alerts from them. I can’t get enough of the Science Channel. And I visit Seti.com every Sunday and Sciencefriday.com on well, Fridays. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson makes me swoon. Maybe it’s because terrestrial affairs can be so mundane that I like learning about the universe.
I would love to go someplace where there is no light pollution and just simply observe a starry night. But, I may have to settle for another trip to the Hayden Planetarium.
Anyway, I might have to give that new Lil Wayne CD a listen.
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 8:17 pm ¶
RainaWeather wrote:
“Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson makes me swoon.”
Me too.
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 9:05 pm ¶
sejw wrote:
@ Raina:
I wholeheartedly agree. I had been trying to put my finger on the feeling that I had for him, and realized that it was just pure adoration.
If anyone’s read any Nikki Giovanni lately, there’s also her recent collection, “Quilting the Black Eyed Pea,” in which one of her poems is an ode to space travel. Her theory is that the best people to go to Mars would be those who can hold onto their humanity when their surroundings are telling them the complete opposite: African Americans (since we’ve been there, and done that).
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 10:30 pm ¶
jvansteppes wrote:
Heaven forbid the American media recognize that Black people come in different shapes, sizes and ideological affiliations. Whenever I hear people talk about ‘the black perspective’ [usually it's the same people who refer to 'the gay agenda'] I cringe and ask, ”WHICH black perspective?!”
Posted 29 Jun 2008 at 3:04 am ¶
Mike wrote:
Mark Dery: “African Americans are, in a very real sense, the descendants of alien abductees.”
Aint that the truth.
I copped the lil Wayne album you would be surprised how deep it is.
Posted 29 Jun 2008 at 8:15 pm ¶
ripley wrote:
That slate article is just weird. There has been a concept of Afrofuturism for almost a decade at this point, and the author doesn’t reference it and instead tries to create a new term? what’s he on about?
Kodwo Eshun, Mark Dery, Nalo Hopkinson, Alondra Nelson.. heck, even Wikipedia’s got some of this stuff down.
some good discussion of that at this blog:
http://wayneandwax.com/?p=389
comments on there worth reading
Posted 29 Jun 2008 at 11:05 pm ¶
Antonio wrote:
I want to hand out that USA Today article to 99% of the people I’ve known in my entire life.
Posted 30 Jun 2008 at 8:16 am ¶