It's not just me.

Wyclef did a terrible disservice in his comments to the CSU students.

Professor Jared Ball opened his March 16 piece for The Black Commentator like this:

I was loving the new Dave Chappelle's Block Party movie until Wyclef Jean brought me quickly out of my emersion in hip-hop/comedic heaven with that old crippling false optimism offered to the young.  He gave them more of that tired stuff about how you can't "blame the White man," "nothing is holding you back," "work hard… stay in school… go to college…" and you can make it!  All lies, every word and he knows it. 

I would add that Wyclef says something like "the white man isn't responsible for anything."

Out of the mouths of babes:

New York Post March 13, 2006
YOUNGSTER'S BLACK POWER POEM RILES SCHOOL

A 7-year-old prodigy unleashed a firestorm when she recited a poem she wrote comparing Christopher Columbus and Charles Darwin to "pirates" and "vampires" who robbed blacks of their identities and human rights.

Hundreds of parents of Peekskill middle- and high-school students received a recorded phone message last week apologizing for little Autum Ashante's poem, titled "White Nationalism Put U in Bondage."

"Black lands taken from your hands, by vampires with no remorse," the aspiring actress and poet wrote. "They took the gold, the wisdom and all the storytellers. They took the black women, with the black man weak. Made to watch as they changed the paradigm of our village.

"Yeah white nationalism is what put you in bondage. Pirates and vampires like Columbus, Morgan and Darwin."

...


"I don't think there's anything wrong with my poem. I was trying to tell them the straight-up truth," Autum said. "I'm trying to tell them not to fight because they're killing the brothers and sisters."

Autum, who is home-schooled in Mount Vernon and speaks several languages, prefaced her performance at the high school with a Black Panthers' pledge asking black youngsters to not harm one another.


My friend Carla wrote not long ago:

Wyclef Jean is anti-Aristide; check out this article from the Haiti Action Committee:

Wyclef's uncle is Raymond Joseph, the highest-ranking official abroad representing the U.S.-installed government in Haiti. He is the un-elected government's representative in Washington. Wyclef's uncle, who he has often praised, is responsible for fomenting outrageous lies about Aristide and members the Lavalas political party that has contributed to the current climate of witch-hunts, arbitrary arrests and murders in Haiti today. Wyclef's uncle is also the co-publisher of Haiti Observateur, a right-wing rag that has been an apologist for the killers in the Haitian military going back as far as the brutal coup against Aristide in 1991.

¡Sí Se Puede! ¡NO SER HUMANO ES ILEGAL!

I just returned from a wonderful weekend in Boston, where I got to spend time and talk about changing the world with Super Owen, who organized everything, some cool BU law students like Eduardo, some awesome community organizers like Ching-in of the Asian American Resource Workshop, the very righteous Charles, Gloria of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School, and Armando, who came over from NYC.

Thanks, Owen!

In the coming days, I'll write more about my experiences in Boston and also Dave Chappelle's Block Party, an absolutely fabulous movie with the huge, glaring, depressing, and confounding exception of Wyclef and his horrifying advice to the CSU students! Why, why, why, Dave Chappelle, why?

In Logan airport, I watched Lou Dobbs. That was stupid. And de-pressing. People nodding their heads along with him de-pressed me too. I ache when I think of all the people who believe the crazy-making distortions. If the U.S. had really honored the Treaty of Guadalupe or if white people hadn't appeared (without papers) and slaughtered the people on whose land they arrived only to claim themselves the 'real' citizens, then maybe I'd be less livid every time I hear a white person talk smack about so-called "illegals." But I'll write more about this too.

For now, I just want to provide some better news sources:

LA Indymedia
Democracy Now report

It was better before they came.
This land was Mexican once, was Indian always, and is, and will be again.
Gloria Anzaldua

A is for Anarchy

Iowa City Resident Responds to the Vershawn Young Story

The following was written by Gail Halloran of Iowa City.

I am always amazed at the inability of some people to put themselves in another person's shoes.  Here we have part of the power structure of our community upset because Vershawn Young accused them of racial profiling. Well, that is exactly what Mr. Young is complaining about - being accused (by inference) of something he didn't do.  Why should he like it if the police and city of Iowa City  and the University of Iowa don't like it?

Many of our black citizens come from a culture that is still recovering from the damage inflicted on them by our society.  As a matter of fact, our whole culture is still recovering.  As if 300 years of slavery wasn't enough, the power structures of our society spent another 100 plus years torturing them, and depriving them of educational and economic opportunities, and family structures upon which they could have built themselves into the middle class.  Did you know, for example, that black veterans of WWII were not given GI loans to buy homes or attend colleges like their white counterparts?  Our modern middle class in many ways grew from the homes that were bought and the college educations that were obtained after WWII on the GI Bill. Many of our white fathers and grandfathers were able to purchase homes for the first time and increase their incomes, and pass this stability onto their families.  But black families were not provided this economic help, and the lack of home ownership and decent educations kept them in the ranks of the poor.  This was done to our black citizens on purpose, so how can we now be so surprised when they have created a culture of their own that does not always tie into the socially accepted institutions of our society?  We didn't even let black people vote unobstructed in the 2004 presidential elections, so how can we say the years of discrimination are over?

So, call Mr. Young paranoid or bothersome if you wish, but he has strong grounds upon which to stand when he suspects our society of treating blacks, particularly black males, with less dignity than others.  To some Mr. Young is even more bothersome because he IS middle class, came from a good home, and knows his rights.  If only he had been another poor, disenfranchised black male, no one would have said anything.  I wonder how many white professors have been stopped by the police because they "looked like" a possible criminal suspect, or how many of them have been stopped unnecessarily for "traffic violations"?  If that did happen regularly to whites, we would be up in arms about our rights being violated. So just because it's not happening to you does not mean that it is not happening. It's similar to a dysfunctional family scapegoating the member who is openly angry because of the abuse and who insists on talking openly about the abuse.

I am a contributor to a local group called HARRT, or Hate Acts Rapid Response Team, which is dedicated to standing up for anyone being discriminated against because of their race, religion, gender or sexual preferences.  And, I am a contributor to the Southern Poverty Law Center which, among other things, sends out thousands of teaching kits free to public schools for the purpose of "Teaching Tolerance."  Both of these groups dedicate themselves to the principal that we all have an obligation to stand up for and to stand with those in our culture who are being singled out because they are from a smaller or less powerful group.

The white citizens of Iowa City need to take a deep breath and realize that they would be the people complaining if these events happened to them.  We are always wondering what we can do about problems like discrimination, and I say we can speak out for and stand by those from less powerful minorities who are simply trying to point out to all of us where we can improve our society.  In my experience, putting yourself in another persons shoes often leads to compassion for others, which turns into compassion for all of us.

Gail Halloran

Happy Birthday, Armando!

MARCH 9

I haven't used this blog to send out birthday messages before, but Armando's birthday is very special this year. A former student who was awarded the Gold Medal for Outstanding Undergraduate Honors Thesis at Stanford for his powerful study of how childhood trauma is depicted in the fiction of Ana Maria Matute, Armando is as cool as cool gets. He is thoughtful about everything he does and truly concerned about other people and their struggles.

Armando was the first person in his family to go to college. And he went to Stanford. His parents, who completed elementary school in Mexico, now have two sons in college. Armando served as both a role model and inspiration to his younger brother, who is currently attending an ivy league university. (He has two older siblings who did not go onto college.) In many ways, Armando opened doors for not only himself, but for the rest of his family, and this is something he continues to do in his work today. I can't say enough about that.

The past year, especially since his last birthday, has been a very tough one for Armando. With his characteristic grace and determination, he has tackled some very big and very trying obstacles.

My hope is that this next year is a whole lot easier for you, Armando! Rock on!

Updates on the 2 big recent ACH blog stories: the New Nationalisms Symposium and the racial profiling of Dr. Vershawn Young

The past few weeks have been so full and so amazing that I will only be able to provide a brief and inadequate report here. The New Nationalisms Symposium was, far and away, one of the best experiences of my life. I will cherish the memories of Dr. Chizuko Naitô and Hoshino Tomoyuki's visits to my classes and the many, many hours of wonderful conversations they shared with me. Despite the busy days and the lack of sleep, I was on Cloud 9.

The symposium this past Saturday was great, and I owe special thanks to all the people who invested so much love and time to make it possible: Rebecca Kessler, who arranged virtually every aspect of the week, Chiaki Sakai, Zhengyi Qin, Shiori Yamazaki, and Helen Yu, who interpreted throughout the week, Nathan Shockey, who quickly translated Dr. Naitô's essay for us, and Hualing Engle, who helped to bring Su Tong back to UI. Many, many others played important roles in making this fabulous series of events possible: Natasa Durovicova, Lois Gray, Chuanren Ke, Stephen Vlastos, Christopher Merrill, Bob Leutner, Maureen Robertson, and Helen Shen are just a few. I appreciated that many of my colleagues, especially David Tucker, Tammy Ho, and Daniel Gross, supported the symposium, as well as the folks, like Vershawn Young, who treated the visiting writers so well while they were here. I don't know if anyone counted, but I think there were well over a 100 people there. (I'm bad with numbers, so it could be a lot more.) Even my neighbors turned out! And, of course, it wouldn't have been worth a dime had it not been for my wonderful students, who shared their lively presence, energy, and great questions with us all. Big up to you all! And special thanks to my great Chair, Philip Lutgendorf, who encourages me and supports me every step of the way.

My biggest thanks go to Dr. Naitô and Mr. Hoshino, who gave so much time and energy to my students, made such great presentations, and stayed two hours afters after the symposium ended (until 9pm - after five long days and nights of inadequate sleep) to answer students' questions. I am humbled by their love, their intelligence, and their generosity.

In addition to the New Nationalisms blog, the following course blog entries also include student responses to the week:

"Chino" on the Short Fiction Class Blog
Comments on the Untold Horros Class Blog
More Comments on the Untold Horros Class Blog

I also want to provide an update on the racial profiling story involving UI Professor Vershawn Young. An editorial in today's Iowa City Press Citizen calls on the Iowa City PD and community to take all complaints seriously:

If nothing else, this case reminds us that many persons of color have a different experience of life in Iowa City than the majority population. The city prides itself on being more multicultural than your average Iowa town, but many minority or international residents have stories in which they have had to wonder if they are being discriminated against. Young has the social standing and the rhetorical training to make such questions public rather than stew over them privately.

Also in today's Iowa City Press Citizen is a guest column by Young that you can read here.

UI President Skorton and VP & Provost Hogan issued the following statement, also today:

Colleagues:

Recently a matter arose involving alleged racial profiling against a member of our University community.  The University takes such an allegation very seriously, and understands the importance of working closely with local government leaders as well as our campus colleagues to address the concerns it raises.  With this in mind, the Provost and other members of the University administration have been meeting and will continue to meet with members of the community about this incident and about the broader issues surrounding the living and learning environment.  We want to take this opportunity to reiterate the University’s commitment to community, diversity, and respect--three of our core values.  These core values will continue to guide all University actions as we seek to foster a welcoming, productive environment for all members of the community.

David J. Skorton
President

Michael J. Hogan
Executive Vice President and Provost

The Iowa City PD "blame the victim" response relies on character assassination and some, to my mind, pretty racist descriptions. I will address this in a future blog post. You can see the link to the PD report in the comments section of the 2/4/06 blog post below, thanks to Ben.

You can send your two cents on this topic (via email) to the Iowa City Press Citizen at opinion@press-citizen.com.