I would really like to cry on the page right now, but I'll get straight to the point.
NANA CAMILLE YARBROUGH sent me a sickening email today. It warned that this week is GANG INITIATION WEEK in New York City (as reported by the Department of Education to the New York City Police Department). The target/goal: kill 140 women.
I called one of my oldest and dearest friends to ask if she had heard this news. She is a Principal at a middle school in the Bronx. In a nutshell, this is what she reported, sadly: "It's true. The 'gangs' in New York do initiations around this time every year. The assaults vary. They could range from robberies to physical attacks. I personally didn't hear about a call for the killing of women, but I know this is gang initiation week and everyone needs to be extra careful. The rules change every year."
So today, I'm working slowly because I'm heavy-hearted. Every day the hatred of women and the intentional violence against is allowed to breathe. Every day, our community turns its own pain inward.
I'm happy to remind you, though, about the domestic violence prevention summit that's coming up this Saturday (please scroll down for details) because this is evidence that many people are aware and committed to ending violence (in its various forms).
At the same time, I am pissed off and feeling desperate. Erica Ford of LIFE Camp, Inc. repeats this a lot (and I'm paraphrasing): Not one of us has T-H-E solution, but together we can make serious progress.
Still, we have to add more light in our communities and uncover the inherent genius that is stored in each of us. Whatever we think we're doing to enlighten those who seek to hurt us - or KILL us for that matter - is not spreading far enough, and it ain't getting deep enough.
But I know this: the sacrifice of our time, our focus and attention, our poems, our money, our prayers, our wisdom, our two hours of mentoring per week, our forgiveness...our 'something positive' could actually prevent the killing of a woman today. I know there is a light-filled phone call or email or text or even a letter that could penetrate through someboday's darkness today.
How much more pain and death do we have to endure before more of us can enjoy long life?
ars.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Goal: Kill 140 Women This Week in NYC
Saturday, October 17, 2009
"Social Media is the New Pen and Paper!"
The post below is based on my tweets from earlier today:
My thirty minute keynote address at the COOL TWITTER CONFERENCE this Tuesday is supposed to be a powerful set-up for a seven hour day full of workshops and real live human networking about online networks.
If I can do these four things, I'll be good:
1. Get people to RELAX Twitter and about social media networking, in general. At its core, it's not as overwhelming as it seems.
2. To make an inarguable case that "new media" is required learning if you are interested in growing
3. To back up all my yapping with real life experiences, personal success stories with my social media life, and mind-blowing stats.
4. To get (at least) 2 or 3 laughs out of the day so that I can go back and tell Daniel (my Facebook Friend who swears I'm too serious) that "I made a funny!"
----
The conference is THIS TUESDAY (Oct. 20) in Brooklyn at MoCADA. For more info and program details, explore www.brooklyn.cooltwitterconferences.com or call 202.746.9125
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Lift Them Up in Prayer!
Just a thought:
When we ask for guidance from our ancestors, let's ask for guidance from our ancestors who "kneel before God." All of our ancestors ain't elevated yet, ya know? Some of them need us to " LIFT THEM UP" in prayer. Some of them ain't resting in peace just yet. Sleep well on that...and like TONI BLACKMAN says, "Drink your water!" (I think she means that figuratively and literally, LOl!)
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The Color Blue
posted originally via Put On BLAST! listserv (www.putonblast.com)
Spike Lee told Kevin Powell last night that the Michael Jackson Tribute that he's doing (and the one that everyone is talking about) is STILL happening today at Prospect Park in Brooklyn (12 noon - 5:00pm). Disregard any rumor that it's canceled. There may be a little rain, but so what. More details about the tribute are at www.40acres.com. It's going to be a beautiful event!
WEAR BLUE!
As so many of you already know, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast 4 years ago this past week. August 29 is a big anniversary date for that region, for our community, and for the world. As a simple but meaningful show of thoughtfulness, Kevin and I asking people to wear something BLUE in honor of those who died from, as well as those who survived, Hurricane Katrina.
Now, August 29 will forever hold an extra powerful meaning for our community. It is the birthday of our beloved Michael Jackson and it is the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It is the day that God picked for Katherine Jackson to give birth to Michael and it is the day that God picked to trouble the waters in New Orleans. If you think calmly for a moment, you will see the power of the color blue as it relates to this date.
In Yoruba/African culture, blue is the color of Yemoja, an Orisha. Simply defined, an Orisha is a force of nature (or what I like to call "a piece of God Almighty on earth"). Yemoja is "the ultimate symbol and the personification of motherhood...divine, human life." From this energy, we are blessed with many things, including children and the "principle of everlastingness." The ocean, also the color blue, is the "largest environment for life in the world." It is there - to the ocean, to the water (the classic symbol of life and motherhood) that we go to seek healing and cleansing. Yemoja brings us clouds and rainfall because we can't be nurtured without the life-sustaining, refreshing properties of water.
But in life, everything has an opposite. When the dark side of our humanity gets to roam free in the world, dark things happen and life loses many battles. God troubles the waters, the ocean explodes, and we drown in its outrage. While the history books say that Hurricane Katrina was one of the greatest natural disasters that this country has ever experienced, many of us know that the story is deeper than that. The depth of the disaster had more to do with human neglect than nature. And we have Spike Lee's ground-breaking documentary "When The Levees Broke" for much of the insight on this story. Had it not been for the prejudiced abandonment of black people and people who were poor by government agencies that saw them as dispensable, then Hurricane Katrina would not have been as catastrophic.
God also troubles the ground we stand on, our dreams are disrupted, so we seek escape as best we know how. We learned yesterday, from the Los Angeles Coroner's office that Michael Jackson died from a prescription drug overdose. But many of us know that the story is deeper than that. The life and death of Michael Jackson represents a complexity that baffles most. Gone too soon, he (and the good he symbolized), left many of us yearning for a less harsh world. I think it fair to say, however, that his need for escape was unknowable and it appears to have cost him his life.
So on the 4th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (and later Hurricane Rita)...and on what would have been Michael Jackson's 51st birthday, I hope the rain continues, quite frankly. Let it do what it do! The need for cleansing is a deep-rooted need so let's be rained upon.
Today, I will wear the color blue because I believe in the maternal, healing properties of water and the ocean. It will be my superficial way to celebrate the life of Michael Jackson and to honor the memory of those were lost in Katrina's passage. Tomorrow, I will continue to do the work required to make life more bearable.
I hope to see you in the park!
Lovingly,
April R. Silver
Social Entrepreneur, Activist, Writer
www.aprilsilver.com
REMEMBER MICHAEL JACKSON (August 29, 1958)
REMEMBER KATRINA SURVIVORS (August 29, 2005)
Monday, August 10, 2009
Thirteen (VERY RANDOM) Things I Learned While Off Facebook/Twitter for Two Weeks
1. PutOnBLAST!/Facebook/Twitter junkie that I am, even I recognize that fasting from social media, email, and even the telephone is good for the soul er’ once in a while. I survived!
2. TV and news fasts are even more nutritious.
3. My cue to exit: Right before the “can’t we all just get along” beer fest amongst Obama, Gates, and Crowley, the top news story of the day focused on the beer of choice for these men. I promise you that that set back race relations a few years. Harriet had to be turning in her grave.
4. Human interaction and hugs are underrated these days.
5. So is in-depth thinking.
6. “Morning Pages” work! (For my fellow Julia Cameron readers).
7. The power of positive attraction is very real, but I find that it is most amplified within this context: “a clean heart, clean hands, a clear head, and a clear path.” When I get rid of the crud that’s all around me (my own and that of others), I tend to make the healthiest choices. The blessings flow instantly.
8. Conversely, when I focus on fear, guilt, and lack, I make narrow-minded, crippling decisions.
9. “THANK YOU GOD for not answering some of my prayers. If you had listened to me and I ended up with ---, I’d be pitiful and miserable right now. What the hell was I thinking?”
10. Given my path, some may find this hard to believe, but for real…I ain’t mad at Creflo Dollar.
11. My heart still hurts thinking about Michael Jackson. I am writing an open love letter that I will share on or near his birthday.
12. From Kwame Ture: “Corporate media always lies. When they tell the truth, it’s a double lie!”
13. If you are an independent artist, activist, advocate, or otherwise public figure and you believe that ownership is fundamental to independence, then why don’t you have your own website that you control? Why don’t you have a way to stay in communication with your friends, followers, and subscribers beyond Facebook, Twitter, and/or MySpace? What if the next DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack lasts more than a few hours or what if it causes irreparable damage to your communication network? What becomes of your online communities then? If you can’t do it right now, then make it your primary goal for the future: invest in a communication platform that YOU control…lest your online lifeline be cut from beneath you because some hacker has an axe to grind. My primary mean of online interaction is via the email communication system that I created. I invest a lot of time and money into my Put On BLAST! service. There are no short cuts here. It’s not without flaws, of course, but if Facebook, Twitter, and Google go down again (like they did last week), and if the next time is more widespread and radical, then I am well poised to connect with thousands of people regardless, and can do so my own terms and without interruption.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Lani Guinier's Take on the Skip Gates "Mini-Drama"
From TheRoot.com
By The Root Brass | Posted: July 27, 2009 at 11:03 am
A Beer Bromance at the White House? Can Obama's beer fest do anything to improve the relationship between black people and the cops who arrest them? Or does it waste valuable presidential time?
I applaud President Obama’s willingness to step into this debate. Frankly, however, the conversation that needs to happen goes well beyond the one between President Obama, Prof. Gates and Sgt. Crowley. The president is in a position to use this encounter to engage the country—and not just the participants on the now infamous porch scenario—in a thorough vetting of the multiple ways that race still interacts with gender and class and power in our society as whole. Both the police officer and the professor, unfamiliar with each other, were nevertheless playing out longstanding clashes between town and gown. Fighting it out on that porch scene were the expectations of respect that come with privilege and property against the expectations of respect that come with a badge and a gun. Pitting these two powerful narratives against each other was a legacy of racism and social control from a time in our history when blacks did not own property; they were property. At the same time, we have a contemporary criminal justice system that exercises outsized control as the major urban policy instrument for controlling the poor.The conversation might begin with the hope of figuring out what each man should or could have done differently to de-escalate this situation. But the ultimate goal of the conversation should be to explore the encounter as a potent learning moment for the entire country. The mini-drama that occurred on a porch in Cambridge is much bigger than the encounter between Prof. Gates and Sgt. Crowley, in other words. This is a story of America that we ignore at our collective peril.
—Lani Guinier
Monday, July 13, 2009
African Voices, Yvonne Bynoe, The Harlem Book Fair, and Me
I've been asked to speak at two events for this weekend's Harlem Book Fair...both this Saturday, back-to-back.
The first event, with African Voices magazine, is about how to use the Internet to sell your books. I have a popular email marketing service company (www.putonblast.com) and it houses over 30,000 subscribers. We service alot of authors and other independent creative people. That may have something to do with why friend and colleague CAROLYN BUTTS extended the invitation :-).
The second event is with client YVONNE BYNOE, right after the first panel. She is the editor of a book about motherhood (among other books). I am the editor of a book about fatherhood. Together, we will chat about our experiences on delving into this chapter. Her unique experiences as a mother, and my unique experiences as a daddy's girl navigating through stories of fatherhood should make for an insightful exchange.
Both events are free and open to the public! See details below...
DOIN' IT: PROMOTING & SELLING YOUR BOOK ONLINE
Date: Saturday, July 18, 2009
Time: 1:30 noon - 2:45pm
Location: Auditorium at Countee Cullen Library
(located at corner of W. 136th and Malcolm X Blvd., NYC)
African Voices magazine will host a discussion on the resources available for authors to successfully use new technology to promote and sell their book online. Guests will include a panel of publicists, authors, and other professionals who specialize in Internet marketing - everything from blogs, e-newsletters, social media networking, and the use of mobile phones will be covered in this exciting presentation. Learn how to get the word out about your book without having a multi-million dollar marketing budget!
Maitefa Angaza, the managing editor of African Voices and author of "Kwanzaa from Holiday to Every Day," will moderate the panel. There will be a question and answer session and the event is free and open to the public.
Panelists:
Lisa C. Moore, founder and editor of RedBone Press, which publishes work celebrating the culture of black lesbians and gay men and promoting understanding between black gays and lesbians and the black mainstream.
Marcia Pendelton, founder and president of Walk Tall Girl Productions, a New York-based marketing and group sales company that makes the performing arts accessible to racially and culturally diverse audiences.
Jeff Rivera is one of the most sought after Black-American speakers on New Media and Publishing. Jeff is an expert on New Media and is on the cutting edge of the new digital direction of publishing.
April R. Silver (see bio on this blog site)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Author Talk with YVONNE BYNOE
with Special Guest APRIL R. SILVER
Date: Saturday, July 18, 2009
Time: 3:30 - 4:30 pm
Location: Thurgood Marshall Academy
200 W. 135th Street ~ New York, NY 10030-2802
(at Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.)
An AUTHOR TALK with Yvonne Bynoe, editor of anthology "Who's Your Mama? The Unsung Voices of Women and Mothers" (with a Foreword by Rebecca Walker). Special Guest: April R. Silver, editor of the anthology, "Be A Father To Your Child: Real Talk From Black Men on Family, Love and Fatherhood"
DESCRIPTION: "A lot of books about motherhood have been written over the years, but they've been mainly about affluent, married White women. The picture is bigger than that. Author and life coach, Yvonne Bynoe will discuss her anthology Who's Your Mama? The Unsung Voices of Women and Mothers, a collection of essays about motherhood from a racially and economically diverse group of Hip Hop generation women, single, married, partnered gay and straight. Bynoe is the author of Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership and Hip Hop Culture and the Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip Hop Culture. She is also the founder of SophisticatedWomanandMama.com, a company dedicated to empowering working mothers."
As an extra bonus Yvonne and April will discuss how the Hip Hop generation fathers and mothers are changing our country’s narrative about parenting and partnering.
Friday, July 3, 2009
The BET Apology: A Good Thing, But Short-Sighted
This morning, allhiphop.com reported that BET has denounced the Lil Wayne and Drake performance at the award show earlier this week. Here is an excerpt from allhiphop.com:
BET has expressed remorse over a performance by Lil Wayne, Drake and Young Money Records that involved underage girls during songs "Best I Ever Had" and "Every Girl."
The songs, which have overt sexual references, were performed during the Sunday BET Awards '09 show as a bevy of young girls danced on stage. The group of girls consisted of Lil Wayne’s daughters and her friends.
In an exclusive statement, BET has responded to the criticism and the public outcry over the segment.
“BET Networks deeply regrets the performance by Young Money at the BET AWARDS ’09 (featuring Lil Wayne, Drake, Gudda Gudda and Mack Maine),” a BET representative told AllHipHop.com exclusively. “Elements of the performance were unplanned and should not have happened.”
In the aftermath of the show, many have expressed outrage over the outing by Young Money, which was set amid a show dedicated to the late Michael Jackson.
Activist and filmmaker Byron Hurt lambasted the network earlier in the week in an open letter to Debra Lee, the President and Chief Executive Officer of BET Holdings, Inc.
“In a culture where one out of four girls and women are either raped or sexually assaulted - and where manipulative men routinely traffic vulnerable women into the sex industry - it is not okay that BET allowed this to happen,” Hurt said. “BET owes its entire audience - particularly girls and women around the world - an apology for its failure to intervene.”
A representative said generally the company has found such opinions useful.
“We value and appreciate the feedback from our viewers and have edited Young Money’s performance for all BET Awards ’09 encore presentations.”
An edited version of the show will re-air on Monday July 6. The BET Awards saw a 61-percent increase in viewers this year fueled by the sudden death of Michael Jackson. Ten percent of all turned on television sets watched the show Sunday, a remarkably high number.
It is a good thing that BET Networks apologized for the performance. It’s also very important to highlight the fact that they “value and appreciate the feedback from…viewers.” I am happy to read that BET is listening. That is the basis of any meaningful, productive exchange.
Since BET’s antennas are now up, this is a great opportunity to remind the network about the context of the public outcry that exploded around the Internet this week. The uproar was not merely about a single performance.
Judging from the massive, far-reaching response to my essay alone, one can see that the uproar was targeted at BET’s history of programming. Millions have argued - this week and throughout the years - that, as a general rule, BET programming does not powerfully dig at some of the dreadful realities that exist in the Black community. Some of those realities can be seen in the lives affected by these stats: Seventy percent of all Black children in this country are born to parents who are not married; sixty percent of all Black children are growing up without their fathers; one out of sixteen black males will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime; the same is true from one out of thirty black women. There is a mountain of other verifiable data that could be inserted here.
To be clear: There is no expectation from viewers that BET is able to fix problems that it didn’t create. We understand that the original seeds of materialism or sexism, for example, were not planted by BET. Yet because we live in a country where Black people are unhealthier, less educated, disproportionately incarcerated, and more likely to be brutalized by the police than most any other racial group - because of these facts, then so many of us expect BET to be more forward-thinking and progressive with its programming. Millions of people believe that when BET pushes an abundance of programming that focuses on sex, fame, glory, and money and that same programming grid is lacking in news, history programs, financial literacy shows, social justice investigations, or similar kinds of shows, then BET is helping to unravel the fabric of our community. A saturation of shows that celebrate the most surface aspects of who we are is like having unprotected sex: it might feel good in the moment, but it’s not good in the long run.
BET, if you are listening sincerely then take note that millions of outraged people (which include your loyal viewers, former viewers, and secretly, even some of your employees) have never really been offended by any one single performance, but more offended by what the network refuses to do. The outcry is for the network to epitomize the kind of programming that includes a more balanced look at African Americans. At the very least, the outcry is for BET to invest in more than just videos, reality TV shows, and awards. People are still critical of the network for cancelling Teen Summit and BET News.
What’s glaring here is the fact that there is more to Black people than what meets the eye. We are a complex collective. A network that recognizes the diversity of Black people would be a welcome shift to millions. While we can expect ignorant racists to put Black people in a box, we don’t want to fight that battle with a network run by Black people. If a country like the United States, with its history of hatred toward Black people, can elect an African American to the White House, then surely BET can expand its mission beyond its narrow view.
And it saddens millions of us that when the world wants to turn on television to learn about the history of African Americans or about how our humanity has changed the course of history, then viewers must tune into other networks. It’s the other networks, like PBS and HBO (with all their shortcomings), who find the foresight and the financing to tell our stories. It’s the other networks that consistently provide specials on Black luminaries ranging from Josephine Baker to Jack Johnson; from Roberto Clemente to Sweet Honey in the Rock; from Ida B. Wells to Marcus Garvey.
And so, BET, while an apology is good, it’s simply not deep enough. It’s as surface as most of the programs the network stands behind. If there was a monitoring of this week’s backlash and the only result was a statement that denounced a single performance, then it seems that BET still doesn’t get it.
But perhaps millions of us expect too much. A Viacom-owned company, BET is a business and its business is entertainment. It operates to make a profit, not to heal a nation. It did not have to issue an apology, but when that all it did, it reminded millions that the uproar should be directed to those who advertise with the network.
BET Network Apologizes
From AllHipHop.com
By Houston Williams
Friday, July 3, 2009
BET has expressed remorse over a performance by Lil Wayne, Drake and Young Money Records that involved underage girls during songs "Best I Ever Had" and "Every Girl."
The songs, which have overt sexual references, were performed during the Sunday BET Awards '09 show as a bevy of young girls danced on stage. The group of girls consisted of Lil Wayne’s daughters and her friends.
In an exclusive statement, BET has responded to the criticism and the public outcry over the segment.
“BET Networks deeply regrets the performance by Young Money at the BET AWARDS ’09 (featuring Lil Wayne, Drake, Gudda Gudda and Mack Maine),” a BET representative told AllHipHop.com exclusively. “Elements of the performance were unplanned and should not have happened.”
In the aftermath of the show, many have expressed outrage over the outing by Young Money, which was set amid a show dedicated to the late Michael Jackson.
Activist and filmmaker Byron Hurt lambasted the network earlier in the week in an open letter to Debra Lee, the President and Chief Executive Officer of BET Holdings, Inc.
“In a culture where one out of four girls and women are either raped or sexually assaulted - and where manipulative men routinely traffic vulnerable women into the sex industry - it is not okay that BET allowed this to happen,” Hurt said. “BET owes its entire audience - particularly girls and women around the world - an apology for its failure to intervene.”
A representative said generally the company has found such opinions useful.
“We value and appreciate the feedback from our viewers and have edited Young Money’s performance for all BET Awards ’09 encore presentations.”
Drake has apologized and taken responsibility for the performance, admitting it was in poor taste...
An edited version of the show will re-air on Monday July 6. The BET Awards saw a 61-percent increase in viewers this year fueled by the sudden death of Michael Jackson. Ten percent of all turned on television sets watched the show Sunday, a remarkably high number.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Beneath Low: BET, Lil Wayne Set the Stage for Child Pornography
Last night, live at the BET Awards in Los Angeles, a room full of head-bobbing, consenting adults bounced to Drake and Lil Wayne’s back-to-back performances of the hit songs “Best I Ever Had” and “Every Girl.” I watched, underwhelmed. I wanted more “Michael” in what was supposed to be this award-show-turned-Michael-Jackson-tribute. I watched, ever puzzled by the Lil Wayne phenomena that has captivated the music industry. I watched, wondering when the set was going to end.
Then the little girls came onstage…literally the little girls. “Are those children?” I asked out loud, in disbelief. Then the camera panned the audience. Everyone was still head-bobbing as the little Black girls huddled around these superstars.
“Are those little girls on stage…for this song?!?!” I, still in disbelief, lost breath and forced myself to exhale. “Why are these little girls featured on this performance? Is somebody going to stop this?” Again, the show was live, though for a nano-second, I was hoping that a hunched-over stage manager would bust through from back stage to scoop up the children, rescuing them from harm’s way…from being associated from this song. But instead, what those girls witnessed from the stage was hundreds and hundreds of adults (mostly Black people) staring back at them, co-signing the performance. These girls, who all appeared to be pre-teens, were having their 15 minutes of glam on one of the biggest nights in televised Black entertainment history, with two of pop culture’s biggest stars at the moment, with millions of people watching. They must have been bubbling with girlish excitement, shimmering like princesses all night. Pure irony: one of them wore a red ballerina tutu for the special occasion. And we applauded them.
But did no one care that Lil Wayne’s song Every Girl is about grown men and their sexual escapades with women? Did the meaning and intent of the song matter to anyone, this song whose hook and other lyrics required a re-write in order to get air play? “I wish I could love every girl in the world.” That’s the radio-friendly version of “I wish I could f--k every girl in the world.” But Lil Wayne’s BET performance was the clean edit of the song. Perhaps he (and the show producers) thought that there was nothing wrong in featuring the children in the clean version. Perhaps we were supposed to see the whole bit as cute and innocent. Absolutely not. There’s no other way to cut it: in presenting little girls in a performance of a song that is about sex, group sex, and more sex, BET and Lil Wayne set the stage for child pornography. It doesn’t matter what version of the song was played, much like a man who batters women is still an abusive man, even if uses flowery phrases while battering.
In the song, Lil Wayne mentions superstar Miley Cyrus, but Cyrus gets a pass on this lyrical sex escapade because, as he acknowledges, she is a minor. Huh? Why, then, is he comfortable with featuring four minors, these four little Black girls, in the show? How deep exactly is this inability of some men to respect women, and how deep is Lil Wayne’s disregard for the safety of little girls?
I’m told that one of the girls is Lil Wayne’s daughter. That doesn’t matter. In fact that makes it worse. Last night we were reminded that there are few safe spaces for our little girls to be children; that some of us are willing to trade their innocence for a good head nod. BET and Lil Wayne are beneath low because, in effect, they have given premium assurance to these and other little girls that their best value, their shining moment, their gifts to display to the world, all lie within a context that says they are f**kable.
- - - - - - - -
The programming at BET has been heavily criticized by artists, concerned citizens, college students, parent groups, social justice organizations, media reform activists, and many others for over a decade now. Their programming seems hell bent on broadcasting the worst pathologies in the Black community. Some have joined the anti-BET movement by simply tuning out. Others have been more pro-active. National letter-writing campaigns and other activities designed to shame and/or pressure the network into improving its programming have been in play for some time now. Boycotts have been called as well. Two years ago, for example, the network found itself in the line of fire as it planned to air the very controversial series “Hot Ghetto Mess.” Advertisers, such as State Farm Insurance and Home Depot, responded to pressure and requested that their ads be disassociated with the series (though, their ads could be placed in other programming slots). None of this has made a difference. In fact, it seems to have emboldened the network, for it is now expanding. In the fall, BET is due to launch another channel.
As a social entrepreneur and activist, my entire life/work has been dedicated to standing up for what’s right, especially within the culture of hip hop. When identifying what cancerous elements exist within the Black community, many fellow activists agree with Chuck D (of Public Enemy), and even Aaron McGruder (of The Boondocks), when they targeted BET as one of those elements. That said, I didn’t think that we would ever have to take the network to task for what amounts to child pornography.
But millions of Black people are not offended by the network and welcome anything BET has to offer, no matter how much it continues to unravel the fabric of our community. Imagine, if you will, BET as a human being and the viewers as the community. You would have to imagine BET as a drug dealer, with his swag on…perhaps outside standing atop a truck, the community crowded beneath him. Imagine him throwing nicely wrapped gifts into the crowed, or giving away turkeys at Thanksgiving. Or maybe it’s Mother’s Day and he buys dinner and teddy bears to all the single moms and grandmothers around the way. Despite his best efforts and despite the approval of his fans, he is still a drug dealer, pimping death to the masses.
Proverbs is full of sacred text that teaches us that there will always be fools amongst us. Some of them will be highly paid, protected, and given world-wide platforms to show off what they do best. And these fools (be they performers, corporate executives, or others), will have fans and loyal supporters, and a place to call home, like a BET.
But as long as there will be fools amongst us, there will also be wise ones - a small group of people concerned about the long term health and well being of the community. This small group will often go unheard and they will be outmatched. They will struggle over which problem to address first: the child pornographer, the batterer, the pimp, the prostitute, the thief, the slumlord, or the system that enables it all. They will get tired and their defense will pale in comparison to the almost crushing offense. And they will be betrayed from within. Historically and universally, this is what happens in the struggle for what is right. But eventually, with continued pressure, something will shift. A radical new thinking will emerge, and the fools will lose their stronghold.
The sure expectation of victory, however, can not be understated. It is a concrete ingredient in the struggle against the death that is being paraded in our community…as necessary as letter writing campaigns, economic boycotts, symbolic and actual protests, and other pressure-oriented activities. It is indeed possible to bring more life into our community.
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NOTES ON HOW TO RE-POST OR RE-PRINT THIS ARTICLE. YOU MUST...
1. List the copyright info as: © 2009 by April R. Silver or Copyright 2009, by April R. Silver
2. Include this entire blurb directly under the article: "April R. Silver is a social entrepreneur, activist, and writer/editor. She is also founder of the communications agency AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc. Her first book is the critically acclaimed anthology "BE A FATHER TO YOUR CHILD: REAL TALK FROM BLACK MEN ON FAMILY, LOVE, AND FATHERHOOD." Contact Info: silver@aprilsilver.com or www.aprilsilver.com"
"To Black Women" (An Excerpt)
"To Black Women"
An excerpt from "Invisible Women? A Black Woman’s Response to Don Imus Most Recent Sexist-Racist Remarks" By April R. Silver (April 9, 2007). Revised June 2009
When she reached adulthood, an enslaved African from long ago - Isabella Baumfree - changed her name. We know her now as Sojourner Truth. When Harriet Tubman fully grasped an understanding of the world in which she lived, she began to map out her own survival and that of her family larger community.
Both women, and others like them, were keenly aware of their unique skills, talents, and missions in life. They granted themselves permission to think, organize, speak, and lead. The weight of racism and sexism was ever present for them, but it did not immobile them. When they weren’t invited to help solve or speak about the problems of the day, they crashed the party. They did not wait for any common man or any leader to encourage them to stand up for their right to be free and live well. Tubman, for example, was one of the first social entrepreneurs in our ancestral line. She owned 27 acres of land in upstate New York. She acquired it and other properties so that she could establish safe havens for her family and her community. Truth and Tubman are sacred models of woman leadership, a legacy of power that is our ancestral inheritance.
Though from over a hundred years ago, the examples are relevant today. But we need not dig so far in time to be encouraged and ignited. Fast forward to the 20th and 21st centuries. We have modern models of leadership that range from Camille Yarbrough and Sonia Sanchez to Fannie Lou Hamer and Shirley Chisholm, to countless others. And there are millions of unrecognized Black women who have made a hard decision to combat hate, whenever it emerges.
Ignorance can be combated in various ways. If you are a writer, write on our behalf. Let some of your stories be about helping us heal from this often loveless world. If you are a performer, then dance with us, sing about us…more. If you are an organizer, then embed fairness amongst men and women in everything that you do. And if you are without a means to support yourself at any given time, or without a loving partner to ease the burdens of the day, keep pushing anyway. Never mind about finding fault, “find another way,” as my mother says. In every single aspect of our lives, we must be self-permitted to tell the truth about our lives and stories that shape them. Somebody, quite naturally, is going to be offended in the process. Invariably, someone is going to tell us how wrong we are for focusing on our lives and our stories. But we get to tell the truth regardless of who is offended or is made uncomfortable.
And I strongly believe that we should partner with Black men and anyone else who stands in support of our truth-telling. The battle for the respect of Black women, however, is ours to lead.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
"The Myth of the Happy Slave" and 6 Other Comments on The Senate's Apology for Slavery
Earlier this morning, the weekly media panel on WBAI's "Wake Up Call" (which featured regulars Stacy Patton and April R. Silver and this week, guests Chole and Hilary Crossley) was asked to dissect and comment on an article about The Senate's apology for slavery. The Washington Post article can be found on this site (scroll down to see the "Senate Apologies for Slavery" entry for June 23). This was a good find by Esther Armah, host and moderator of the media panel. The article triggered a lot for me. My initial thoughts:
1. The article used the word "slave." Que my regular song and dance routine: "Stop calling Black people "slaves!" Enslaved Africans is more precise. To call someone a "slave" directs attention away from and subtly absolves oppressors and thieves.
2. A 21st century government apology for the enslavement of Africans during the 16th and 17th century is a wonderful, polite, and richly grand example of what it means to be ignorant of (a) the traumatizing, generational affects of this once legal institution, and (b) how to heal those wounds.
3. When this so called "peculiar institution" was legal in this country, there emerged a perspective that enslaved Africans were actually happy with the overall treatment they received from those that enslaved them. These "slaves," it was promoted, were grateful for the food, the shelter, the health care, the time off at sundown, and the fact that Ol' Master was, for the most part, a fair and principled, God-fearing man. Why, he only issued beatings to niggas that tried to escape from the plantation. But to those niggas that minded their business, did what they were told, and didn't cause no trouble...well then, slavery time was good living!
4. It's the happy niggas that will accept an apology without restitution. Who does that? There are laws of nature that don't support this lack of reciprocity.
5. What are the determining factors - political and philosophical - that guide a government's stance when said government decides to offer one race or class of "harmed" people an apology, while offering another race or class an apology and economic reparations?
This question is raised when I contemplate the following: In 1988, President Ronald Regan issued a formal apology to Japanese Americans who were held in concentration camps during World War II. That same year, congress passed legislation that awarded formal payments of $20,000 to each of the survivors of those camps (estimated at 60,000 people). That year, the Canadian government also issued formal apologies to Japanese Canadian survivors. They were each paid a sum of $21,000 Canadian dollars. The Japanese Reparations Movement lasted from 1945 (the year the last government ordered interment camp was closed) to 1988...forty-three years (one lifetime). Fast forward to 2009. There are no reparations for the indigenous people of this country nor the children of ex-slaves - both representing races and classes of "harmed" people.
6. In this morning's discussion on WBAI, Stacey Patton inserted an excellent point that people often forget: Reparations is bigger than mere financial repayment. There must be some accountability, for example, for the land that was stolen from African Americans during the times surrounding slavery, including the Jim Crow era. Her point reminded me of this excellent film by MARCO WILLIAMS, Banished: American Ethnic Cleansing. This documentary makes the case for reparations in a way that only a film can.
7. I believe in reparations and the fighter in me won't let injustices and crimes go unchecked. Still I ask: What would a repaired relationship look like between the descendants of those who benefited from slavery and those that who did not? What if the United States government issued, to every African American, for example, a hefty check, a sizable piece of land, free tuition, free rent or waived mortgage's for a year, free health care for the family for a year, a decent paying job and/or or job training...all wrapped up in a pretty bow with an apology from President Obama, and what if the government did that today...what would I do?
Be critical.
The fact is, there not an altruistic fiber in the fabric that makes up the American government. Not one. It is an institution that may best be characterized as a sheep in wolf's clothing. If it were a "he" he'd be a clean-cut Goliath holding olive branches with honey dripping from his lips. If "he" packaged all these things in one gift, I'd not let down my slingshot.
As with a physically and psychologically abusive husband who attempts to bait his abused wife with shiny trinkets, the relationship can not be repaired with things. Maybe it would take a few centuries for me to be convinced that the monster has morphed into someone I can trust.
"Senate Backs Apology for Slavery"
"Senate Backs Apology for Slavery. Resolution Specifies That It Cannot Be Used in Reparations Cases"
By Krissah Thompson, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, June 19, 2009
The Senate unanimously passed a resolution yesterday apologizing for slavery, making way for a joint congressional resolution and the latest attempt by the federal government to take responsibility for 2 1/2 centuries of slavery.
"You wonder why we didn't do it 100 years ago," Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), lead sponsor of the resolution, said after the unanimous-consent vote. "It is important to have a collective response to a collective injustice."
The Senate's apology follows a similar apology passed last year by the House. One key difference is that the Senate version explicitly deals with the long-simmering issue of whether slavery descendants are entitled to reparations, saying that the resolution cannot be used in support of claims for restitution. The House is expected to revisit the issue next week to conform its resolution to the Senate version.
Harkin, who called the Senate's vote an "important and significant milestone," said he wanted the resolution passed yesterday to closely coincide with Juneteenth, a holiday first celebrated by former slaves to mark their emancipation.
This recent willingness to deal with the nation's difficult racial history has come about in part because of President Obama's election, said Rep. Stephen I. Cohen (D-Tenn.), who began pushing for an apology more than a decade ago when he was a state senator and pronounced himself "pleased" with the Senate vote.
Still, Cohen said, "there are going to be African Americans who think that [the apology] is not reparations, and it's not action, and there are going to be Caucasians who say, 'Get over it.' . . . I look at it as something that makes people think."
Even among proponents of a congressional apology, reaction to yesterday's vote was mixed. Carol M. Swain, a professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University who had pushed for the Bush administration to issue an apology, called the Democratic-controlled Senate's resolution "meaningless" since the party and federal government are led by a black president and black voters are closely aligned with the Democratic party.
"The Republican Party needed to do it," Swain said. "It would have shed that racist scab on the party."
Republicans, however, were supportive of the resolution. "It doesn't fix everything, but it does go a long way toward acknowledgment and moving us on to the next steps to building a more perfect union, doing the things that Martin Luther King would talk about, like building a colorblind society," said Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.).
As with all congressional apologies -- but especially this one -- concerns about liability for restitution were part of the political calculations, in this case because of the long-running debate about whether the descendants of slaves should be compensated.
Charles Ogletree, the Harvard law professor who has championed restitution, was consulted on the Senate's resolution and supports it, but he said it is not a substitute for reparations. "That battle will be prolonged," he said.
Randall Robinson, author of "The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks," said he sees the Senate's apology as a "confession" that should lead to a next step of reparations. "Much is owed, and it is very quantifiable," he said. "It is owed as one would owe for any labor that one has not paid for, and until steps are taken in that direction we haven't accomplished anything."
Cohen said he and Harkin worked closely with the NAACP and other civil rights groups on language that would not endorse or preclude any future claims to reparations. "It will not harm reparations but won't give any standing to it," Cohen said.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Me and President Barack Obama? Part 2
The National Father's Day rally was as much of a success as it could be considering the torrential rain, thunder, and lightening that punctuated the day. For a rally that was scheduled from 10 am to 2 pm at the Lincoln Memorial and with rain that started at 8:30 that morning, the rally didn't have a chance for a good turn out. The rain, mostly the lighting bolts, I'm sure, kept everyone away, including President Barack Obama. He did send a video message, though.
The celebration of fathers is taking center stage these days and The President has committed to making that a steady happening, all while encouraging more fathers to step up to the plate. He has also committed to doing a series of town halls on the topic of fatherhood throughout the country, so stay tuned to this blog, my Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter for updates.
