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Dangerous Curves: Latina Bodies in the Media
I have occasional conversations with associates about the unusual political and cultural space occupied by Latinos, and the challenges young Latinas in particular face. Often sexualized and objectified by mainstream white culture as exotic succubi, Latinas further occupy a racialized place of privilege that Black women are not permitted.
Continue reading...Who You Claim
18. July 2010
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An old friend and comrade, Hitaji Aziz, once told me men of color have some of the biggest struggles to confront. Stereotyped and feared, men of color at once must wrestle with their own insecurities, self-perceptions and the necessity to feel human in a world that often denies men of color the right to feel much of anything beyond objectification and playing that part.
Continue reading...Disgrace
8. June 2010
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The plot of Disgrace is driven by the personal metamorphosis of David Lurie, an arrogant, libidinous professor, brilliantly played by John Malkovich. A poetry lecturer at Cape Town University, David's descent into disgrace is provoked by an affair he is having with a mixed-race student thirty years his junior.
Continue reading...Meditations on Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth
3. June 2010
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Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth, a searing indictment of global racism, colonialism and imperialism, is among the foundational writings of postcolonial theory. Originally written in 1961, Wretched stands out among Fanon's writings
Continue reading...Want to Start A Revolution? Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle
9. May 2010
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The position of women as organizers seems under continuous scrutiny. For women of color, the clashes they face are compounded by questions of loyalty as well as privilege and struggling within communities that have been subjected to historic miseducation and troubles.
Continue reading...The Culture of Punishment: Prison, Society and Spectacle
2. December 2009
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It is impossible to come in contact with commercial media and not be exposed to the specter of criminal justice as entertainment. Turn on the news and you can see car chases. Turn on afternoon fare and it is syndicated reality shows featuring people being chased down by police.
Continue reading...From Toussaint to Tupac: The Black International since the Age of Revolution
27. November 2009
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Black Panther Party leader Huey Newton perhaps explained Black revolutionary nationalism best when he drew lines against what he called reactionary nationalism. Revolutionary nationalism is a force that sees capital and the ruling order in a fundamentally different way;
Continue reading...Working From Within: Chicana and Chicano Activist Educators in Whitestream Schools
27. November 2009
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A peculiar tension has always existed between activist educators working in public and higher education. Maybe it is the contradiction of cultivating consciousness of youth while being on the payroll of institutions (and certainly the state) that seldom believe in such politically minded pursuits.
Continue reading...Sacco and Vanzetti
12. August 2009
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As I watched Sacco and Vanzetti, an 80-minute-long documentary by Peter Miller, it drew me to the point of grabbing my pen, and paper and rewinding the film over and over again so not to miss an important fact, interview, or scene about one of the most famous political trials in U.S. history.
Continue reading...Revealing Whiteness: The Unconscious Habits of Racial Privilege
12. August 2009
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Ignoring race and subscribing to the colorblind mentality haven't proven to alter race relations in the United States. Shannon Sullivan argues in her Revealing Whiteness: The Unconscious Habits of Racial Privilege, however, that the conscious awareness of white privilege and the notion of colorblindness is not enough to fight the problem.
Continue reading...The Jena 6
6. July 2009
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"The DA's pen has replaced the lynching noose" -Mumia Abu Jamal Barely noticed In the midst of the hullabaloo and media hype over the death of Michael Jackson, a notorious case of racial injustice against six working-class African-American youths came to a quiet conclusion in the LaSalle Parish courthouse on June 25, 2009, in the parish (county) seat of Jena, state of Louisiana.
Continue reading...Become A Friend
18. July 2010
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