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Kalamu ya Salaam's information blog

 

 

 

May 2, 2011

 

 

Booker T. Jones

BY BOB BOILEN

I’m pretty sure this is the coolest thing we’ve ever done behind the Tiny Desk. There was a bit of furniture-moving and finagling, but when all the heavy lifting was done, there it was: A Hammond B3 organ and its sturdy wooden Leslie speaker cabinet sat waiting for its star performer, Booker T. Jones.

Jones is synonymous with the Hammond B3. At 17, he recorded the instrument’s anthem, “Green Onions,” with his band Booker T & The MG’s. On this day at NPR, he played the song all alone — and with such joy, you’d swear he just discovered it. I was standing just a few feet from him shooting video, watching his beaming face and his hands as he flipped switches, making that Leslie speaker spin and creating that swirling sound.

I asked what it’s been like to perform that song so many times since its creation at Stax Studios in the summer of 1962. Jones said he’s never grown tired of his signature song, and then told us his story of hearing the organ for the first time at the home of his piano teacher in Alabama.

There’s more to Booker T. Jones, of course, than “Green Onions.” His collaboration with William Bell down at Stax also gave us “Born Under a Bad Sign,” a song he also performed behind the Tiny Desk. And now, all these years later, Jones has a new album, The Road From Memphis, with new friends like Lou Reed, My Morning Jacket‘s Jim James, Sharon Jones and Matt Berninger from The National. Jones closed his Tiny Desk Concert with a song from that record, “Down in Memphis,” and it’s great to hear him not only playing the Hammond, but also singing. After all these years, he remains so soulful, and so good.

Set List
  • “Green Onions”
  • “Born Under A Bad Sign”
  • “Down In Memphis”
Credits

Michael Katzif and Bob Boilen (cameras); edited by Bob Boilen; audio by Kevin Wait; photo by Erin Schwartz

>via: http://www.npr.org/event/music/135840639/booker-t-jones-tiny-desk-concert

 

 

 

The Story of Funk

– One Nation

under a Groove

By Lemak Enamir

In the 1970s, America was one nation under a groove as an irresistible new style of music took hold of the country – funk. The music burst out of the black community at a time of self-discovery, struggle and social change. Funk reflected all of that. It has produced some of the most famous, eccentric and best-loved acts in the world – James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, George Clinton’s Funkadelic and Parliament, Kool & the Gang and Earth, Wind & Fire.

 

During the 1970s this fun, futuristic and freaky music changed the streets of America with its outrageous fashion, space-age vision and streetwise slang. But more than that, funk was a celebration of being black, providing a platform for a new philosophy, belief system and lifestyle that was able to unite young black Americans into taking pride in who they were.

 

Today, like blues and jazz, it is looked on as one of the great American musical cultures, its rhythms and hooks reverberating throughout popular music. Without it hip-hop wouldn’t have happened. Dance music would have no groove. This documentary tells that story, exploring the music and artists who created a positive soundtrack at a negative time for African-Americans.

 

Includes new interviews with George Clinton, Sly & the Family Stone, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & the Gang, War, Cameo, Ray Parker Jnr and trombonist Fred Wesley.

 

>via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_dXS8UMrxE

 

 

 

 

photo by Alex Lear

 

the past predicts the future

            (for narvalee)

 

 

when you get closer to yr relatives

you will be surprised

 

at how black they are,

they feel

 

the fit and familiarity of their emotions in the twilight

how much of your pain they understand

with a knowing smile, and how much of their pain

you never knew, thus you frown

embarassed by your ignorance

and turn to yester-world

altared on the mantle piece:

 

ancestral photographs, amazingly graceful figures

whose dominant features are boldly ironic eyes

which seemingly float effortlessly just above the surface

of the cream colored paper, inscriptions in unfading black ink

on the reverse “me & shane, dec. 1934”

 

a small, soft purple, velvet box enshrining a plain gold ring

a slip of torn paper from another era unthrown-away

seven quickly scribbled numerals, the abacadabra key

to a birth, a midnight move to another town, or even

a pledge cut short by accidental death, “oh, it’s just a number,”

the slow, quiet response to your investigation

 

so you pick up a pencil gilded with the name of a 1947 religious

convention attended and delicately place it down beside

an 87-year-old hand mirror (you resist the impulse

to look at your reflection, afraid that you might see

unfulfilled family aspirations), this mirror is atop

a piece of lace, pressed, folded, ancient matriarchal adornment

 

you will be surprised to learn,

as the years go on, everything

your people say sounds like something

from your life story, something

you wondered about sitting in the car

the other day in the hospital parking lot before the visit,

before the treatment

 

especially if you are intelligent

paid more than $10 an hour

carry credit cards rather than cash

and climb aboard a flying machine more than three times a year

 

you will be surprised that although you live in some other city

there is a spot with your familial name

blind embossed and hand engraved in the heart-home

of people you seldom see, surprised

that much of your life had already been accurately predicted

by an aunt who knew you before you were born, i.e.

 

when your mother

and father were courting, staying out later than curfew

and clutching dreams tightly in the naked embrace

of yr conception

 

—kalamu ya salaam

 

 

May 30, 2017

 

 

W.E.B. DuBois on

Robert E. Lee

Yesterday I shared a brief passage from W.E.B. DuBois on Confederate monuments. Below is an short essay from DuBois on Robert E. Lee’s legacy published in 1928.
—Kevin M. Levin

 

Robert E. Lee

Each year on the 19th of January there is renewed effort to canonize Robert E. Lee, the greatest confederate general. His personal comeliness, his aristocratic birth and his military prowess all call for the verdict of greatness and genius. But one thing–one terrible fact–militates against this and that is the inescapable truth that Robert E. Lee led a bloody war to perpetuate slavery. Copperheads like the New York Timesmay magisterially declare: “of course, he never fought for slavery.” Well, for what did he fight? State rights? Nonsense. The South cared only for State Rights as a weapon to defend slavery. If nationalism had been a stronger defense of the slave system than particularism, the South would have been as nationalistic in 1861 as it had been in 1812.

No. People do not go to war for abstract theories of government. They fight for property and privilege and that was what Virginia fought for in the Civil War. And Lee followed Virginia. He followed Virginia not because he particularly loved slavery (although he certainly did not hate it), but because he did not have the moral courage to stand against his family and his clan. Lee hesitated and hung his head in shame because he was asked to lead armies against human progress and Christian decency and did not dare refuse. He surrendered not to Grant, but to Negro Emancipation.

Today we can best perpetuate his memory and his nobler traits not by falsifying his moral debacle, but by explaining it to the young white south. What Lee did in 1861, other Lees are doing in 1928. They lack the moral courage to stand up for justice to the Negro because of the overwhelming public opinion of their social environment. Their fathers in the past have condoned lynching and mob violence, just as today they acquiesce in the disfranchisement of educated and worthy black citizens, provide wretchedly inadequate public schools for Negro children and endorse a public treatment of sickness, poverty and crime which disgraces civilization.

It is the punishment of the South that its Robert Lees and Jefferson Davises will always be tall, handsome and well-born. That their courage will be physical and not moral. That their leadership will be weak compliance with public opinion and never costly and unswerving revolt for justice and right. it is ridiculous to seek to excuse Robert Lee as the most formidable agency this nation ever raised to make 4 million human beings goods instead of men. Either he knew what slavery meant when he helped maim and murder thousands in its defense, or he did not. If he did not he was a fool. If he did, Robert Lee was a traitor and a rebel–not indeed to his country, but to humanity and humanity’s God.

 

>via: http://cwmemory.com/2017/05/30/w-e-b-dubois-on-robert-e-lee/

 

 

 

Friday 18 August 2017

 

 

Five books to shed light

on America’s problem

with white supremacy

As the events in Charlottesville serve
as yet another bleak reminder of how
racial divisions persist in the US,
history professors and community leaders
recommend vital texts

James Baldwin, whose book The Fire Next Time is recommended reading. Photograph: Allstar/Brittany House Pictures

 

 

It took Donald Trump two days to condemn the white supremacists who held the recent alt-right rally in Charlottesville that resulted in the death of civil rights activist Heather Heyer.

The US president’s response? To sympathize that members of this group of white nationalists are “fine people”. But as Seth Myers noted, no one gets accidentally caught up in a white supremacist rally. Even though the march, as captured in photos, looks like a throwback to Ku Klux Klan rallies of the 1920s, hate groups are unfortunately not a thing of the past. Since 2014 their number across the country has risen 17% to a total of 917 groups in the US, according to a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Much is still to be learned about the history of white supremacy in America, and not only by Trump (whom Stephen Colbert called a “racist grandpa” on Wednesday). Five history professors, pundits and human rights organizations have recommended five historical titles that shed light on the history of white supremacy in the country.

 

Slavery, Propaganda, and
the American Revolution
by Patricia Bradley

Written in 1998 by a Mississippi-based writer, this book outlines the origins of the propaganda movement during the American Revolution. The Boston Gazette, published from 1719 to 1798, was an important newspaper in the period leading up to America’s split from Great Britain. But the paper misled its readers by misreporting and distorting news accounts about slavery in the face of a strong anti-slavery movement. It excluded anti-slavery essays and refused to publish petitions by slaves. “The American Revolution refused to see slaves as human beings although slavery was the war’s authorizing rhetoric,” said Barbara Lewis, director of the Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. “The history we tell and publicly recite to ourselves and our children, which we religiously venerate, is due a revision. Clearly, Trump does not want that can of worms to be opened.”

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth
of Our Racial Divide
by Carol Anderson

This title illustrates how white supremacy over the past 150 years has halted the progress of civil rights for Americans when it comes to access to basic human needs like healthcare, education and housing.

The award-winning book had its genesis as a Washington Post op-ed after the 2014 riots in Ferguson, Missouri following the death of an unarmed black man, Michael Brown, at the hands of a white police officer. While some media pundits described the unrest as “black rage”, the book’s author, a professor of African American studies at Emory University, traced it to “white rage at work”. “If you’re wondering ‘how did we get here?’ after the events in Charlottesville, this book helps answer that question,” said Amanda Chavez Barnes, deputy director of the US Human Rights Network. “Many people have remained in denial about the role of white supremacy in America,” she said, adding, “Even now they are unwilling or unable to recognize white rage until it appears as the torch-carrying, screaming face of violence and murder that we saw in Charlottesville.”

White Flight: Atlanta and the
Making of Modern Conservatism
by Kevin M. Kruse

The winner of three book awards in 2007, this book takes us back to the 1960s and 1970s, a time when white Americans fled to Atlanta’s suburbs as a form of segregation in reaction to the civil rights movement. This was a time when southern conservatives resisted integration by opening their own private schools known as “segregation academies”. The book tracks white opposition to civil rights and links southern discrimination with suburban sprawl. “The lesson for today, I think, lies in how many whites dismissed civil rights activists as troublemakers who were creating disorder,” said Victoria Wolcott, chair of the history department at Buffalo University. “The activists, not the policies they opposed, were [deemed] responsible for any violence. The author helps us understand how mainstream conservative thought also has its roots in more openly racist policies.”

Reconstruction:
America’s Unfinished
Revolution, 1863-1877
by Eric Foner

Widely recognized as the go-to book for understanding the Reconstruction era, it outlines how America failed to achieve racial equality after the Civil War in 1863. Following the lives of black and white Americans, the book describes a time when freed slaves gained citizenship and society in the south changed along with racial attitudes. “It has only become more topical in recent days with neo-Nazis on the march and the United States focused on its sordid history of white supremacy,” said Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of a political newsletter at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

Foner ends his book with the following two sentences: “Nearly a century elapsed before the nation again attempted to come to terms with the implications of emancipation and the political and social agenda of Reconstruction. In many ways, it has yet to do so.”

Kondik observed: “Nearly 30 years after the book was published, Foner’s words still ring true.”

The Fire Next Time
by James Baldwin

Written during the civil rights movement in 1963, this work is the voice of one black man living in Harlem. It consists of two long essays, one being “My Dungeon Shook — Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation” and “Down at the Cross — Letter from a Region of My Mind,” which were first published in Progressive magazine and the New Yorker. Diaristic in tone, Baldwin’s book outlines the discrimination and problems the black community faced in the early 1960s, including the hypocrisy of churches. “There are a number of outstanding histories of white supremacy in its multiple manifestations, but nothing I’ve read surpasses the searing final section of this book,” said Kevin Boyle, an American history professor at Northwestern University. “Baldwin isn’t writing about specific supremacist movements but about the deeper meaning of white supremacy in the United States, the terrible tangle of hatred, fear, and denial that is as clear in our moment, as it was when Baldwin was writing half a century ago.”

 

via: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/18/books-on-american-white-supremacy-history-racism#img-1

 

 

 

Aug 18, 2017

 

 

Robert E. Lee
rejected the idea of
Confederate
monuments, saying
they ‘keep open
the sores of war’

By Jen Hayden

 

Take them out of public spaces and move them to museums

Donald Trump, our nation’s historically unpopular president, went on a Twitter rant about Confederate monuments and the growing movement to remove them. 

Robert E. Lee, the general featured in many of these statues (most of which were erected after the turn of the century—including a flurry in the 1950s and 1960s), was against the idea of Confederate monuments and said so on multiple occasions:

The first was to Thomas Rosser, a former Confederate general who in 1866 queried Lee about a proposed commemorative monument.

“My conviction is,” Lee wrote, “that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the Country, would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment; & of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour.”

 
 

He reiterated these feelings in another letter three years later:

The second came in 1869, when Lee declined an invitation from the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association to help mark the positions of the troops in that 1863 battle with granite memorials.

He responded that his “engagements will not permit me to be present.” But even if he were able to attend, he added, he thought it “wiser … not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.”

In fact, the great-great grandchildren of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson have all issued statements approving the removal of these statues from public grounds:

“Eventually, someone is going to have to make a decision, and if that’s the local lawmaker, so be it. But we have to be able to have that conversation without all of the hatred and the violence. And if they choose to take those statues down, fine,” Robert E. Lee V, 54, of Washington DC, told CNN.
 
“Maybe it’s appropriate to have them in museums or to put them in some sort of historical context in that regard,” he added.

Bertram Hayes-Davis, great-great grandson of Jefferson Davis:

“In a public place, if it is offensive and people are taking issue with it, let’s move it. Let’s put it somewhere where historically it fits with the area around it so you can have people come to see it, who want to understand that history and that individual.”

In a public letter published at Slate, William Jackson Christian and Warren Edmund Christian, two great-great grandsons of Stonewall Jackson were crystal clear in their desire to see the monuments removed from public spaces:

We are native Richmonders and also the great-great-grandsons of Stonewall Jackson. As two of the closest living relatives to Stonewall, we are writing today to ask for the removal of his statue, as well as the removal of all Confederate statues from Monument Avenue. They are overt symbols of racism and white supremacy, and the time is long overdue for them to depart from public display. Overnight, Baltimore has seen fit to take this action. Richmond should, too.

They went on to say the family preferred to celebrate the actions of Stonewall Jackson’s sister:

While we are not ashamed of our great-great-grandfather, we are ashamed to benefit from white supremacy while our black family and friends suffer. We are ashamed of the monument.

In fact, instead of lauding Jackson’s violence, we choose to celebrate Stonewall’s sister—our great-great-grandaunt—Laura Jackson Arnold. As an adult Laura became a staunch Unionist and abolitionist. Though she and Stonewall were incredibly close through childhood, she never spoke to Stonewall after his decision to support the Confederacy. We choose to stand on the right side of history with Laura Jackson Arnold.

 

>via: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/18/1691217/-Robert-E-Lee-rejected-the-idea-of-Confederate-monuments-saying-they-keep-open-the-sores-of-war

 

August 16, 2017

 

 

Meet the

College Student Who

Pulled Down a

Confederate Statue

in Durham & Defied

White Supremacy

Takiyah Thompson had the courage to do
what elected officials did not.

By Amy Goodman / Democracy Now!

 

Activist Takiyah Thompson
Photo Credit: Screenshot / Twitter

A crowd of activists toppled a Confederate statue in Durham, North Carolina, on Monday, just two days after the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. As the crowd shouted “We are the revolution,” a college student named Takiyah Thompson climbed up a ladder, looped a rope around the top of the Confederate Soldiers Monument in front of the old Durham County Courthouse and then pulled the statue to the ground. She was arrested the following day on two charges of felony inciting a riot and three misdemeanor charges, including defacing a statue. Thompson was released last night on a $10,000 unsecured bond. We speak with Thompson about her actions before her scheduled court hearing this morning.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We begin today’s show in Durham, North Carolina, where a crowd of activists toppled a Confederate statue in Durham on Monday, just two days after the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The crowd of activists shouted “We are the revolution,” as a college student named Takiyah Thompson climbed up a ladder, looped [a rope] around the top of the Confederate Soldiers Monument in front of the old Durham County Courthouse and then pulled the statue to the ground as the crowd erupted in cheers.

PROTESTERS: We are the revolution! No cops, no KKK, no fascist U.S.A.! No cops, no KKK, no fascist U.S.A.!

AMY GOODMAN: On Tuesday, Takiyah Thompson was arrested on two charges of felony inciting a riot and three misdemeanor charges—injury to personal property, injury to real property and defacing a statue. She spoke in Durham just before she was arrested.

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: I think what we did was the best way, and not just the best way, but the only way, because the state and the Klan and white supremacists have been collaborating. Right? So what we did, not only was it right, it was just. I did the right thing. Everyone who was there, the people did the right thing. And the people will continue to keep making the right choices until every Confederate statue is gone, until white supremacy is gone. That statute is where it belongs, right? It needs to be in the garbage, incinerated, like every statue—every Confederate statue and every vestige of white supremacy has to go.

AMY GOODMAN: Takiyah Thompson, speaking in Durham, North Carolina. Shortly after she spoke, she was arrested, given a $10,000 unsecured bond. She was released last night, heads to court this morning. But just before she does, she joins us here on Democracy Now! Takiyah Thompson is a student at North Carolina Central University and a member of Workers World Party, Durham branch.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Takiyah. I know you’re under enormous pressure as you head to court for—after being arrested for climbing a ladder, looping a rope around the top of the Confederate Soldiers Monument and pulling down the statue. Talk about why you engaged in this, and exactly what you did.

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: OK. I participated in a march and a rally. And I decided to climb to the top of the Confederate soldiers statue and put the rope around its neck and throw the rope down to the crowd. And the crowd could decide if they wanted to pull it down or not. And I did this because the statue is a symbol of nationalism, and it’s a symbol of white nationalism. And the type of white nationalism I’m talking about is the type of white nationalism that is sending me death threats on Facebook. I’m talking about the type of white nationalist that, you know, has killed a woman in a protest. We’re talking about the type of white nationalism that would drive a car at high speeds into a crowd of women and children. And I think vestiges of that, and I think anything that emboldens those people and anything that gives those people pride, needs to be crushed in the same way that they want to crush black people and the other groups that they target.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Takiyah, could you talk about how the events in Charlottesville influenced you or affected you, especially, obviously, the stunning symbols of those marches with torches on Friday night through the campus of the University of Virginia?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: Well, when I look at Charlottesville, I look at Durham, North Carolina. I look at Richmond, Virginia. I look at Atlanta. I look at Georgia. I look at Stone Mountain. I look at the entirety of America and American history. And I know that Charlottesville is Durham, North Carolina. Charlottesville is America. The sentiment that was expressed in Charlottesville is part and parcel of what built this country. And I know that Charlottesville can erupt anywhere.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what happened when you were arrested, Takiyah? Where did they take you? You now had to post—cover $10,000 bond?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: Right. Being arrested was in and out. I think the powers that be knew that if I wasn’t released in a timely manner, that, politically, that would not be a good move for them. So, I was in and out very quickly. As soon as I got there, people inside were recognizing me, so I know that they knew that, with the climate and the situation in the city, that they had to release me.

AMY GOODMAN: You’re charged with felony inciting a riot, three misdemeanor charges—injury to personal property, injury to real property and defacing a statue. Your answer to those charges?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: The sheriff, Andrews, and the establishment want to make a political prisoner of me, and they want to make an example of me. And they want to scare people, and they want to scare black people, and they want to scare people of color, and they want to scare people who are reclaiming their agency. And they can’t, as we have seen. I haven’t been keeping up with the headlines, but listening to the headlines from today, you can’t keep your foot on people’s neck forever. And people are going to rise up, as we’re seeing throughout this country. We’re seeing the rise of white nationalism, and we’re seeing the rise of actual resistance. And I’m not talking about writing your senator. I’m not talking about casting a ballot in a voting booth. I’m talking about voting with your actions. And people are doing that right now.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I want to turn to President Trump speaking Tuesday at a press conference at Trump Tower in New York City.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Are we going to take down statues to George—how about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him?

REPORTER: I do love Thomas Jefferson.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: OK, good. Are we going to take down the statue? Because he was a major slave owner. Now, are we going to take down his statue?

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Takiyah, what are you—what’s your response to the president equating the actions that have been occurring now with the—with taking the statues of George Washington or Thomas Jefferson down?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: I think he knows what he’s doing. I don’t know how to—I’m not sure how to express how I feel about that, but I feel as though the people will decide. And we live in a representative democracy. And our representatives are supposed to enforce our will. And when our representatives fail to enforce our will, then the people are left with no choice but to do it themselves. So, in this instance, I can’t really speak to whether or not people want statues of whoever removed, but if the people do, then the people will do it, and the people will find a way.

AMY GOODMAN: Takiyah, you’re certainly not alone in wanting statues taken down. Just today in the headlines, members of the Congressional Black Caucus have revived calls to remove all the Confederate monuments from the halls of Congress. People were protesting in places like Memphis, Tennessee, a large crowd linking arms, surrounding a monument of the former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. In fact, Robert E. Lee, the Confederate soldier, the monument to him in Charlottesville is what’s at the core of the controversy here, that they’re taking it down, said he did not believe in Confederate monuments. But Democratic Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina, your governor, initially tweeted racism is “unacceptable but there is a better way to remove these monuments.” On Tuesday, he unequivocally said the statues must come down. And this is what he said.

GOV. ROY COOPER: Unlike an African-American father, I’ll never have to explain to my daughters why there exists a monument for those who wished to keep her and her ancestors in chains. Some people cling to the belief that the Civil War was fought over states’ rights. But history is not on their side. We can’t continue to glorify a war against the United States of America, fought in the defense of slavery. These monuments should come down.

AMY GOODMAN: So, your governor is saying these monuments should come down. You just took one down. He says, though, there’s a better way. Your response, Takiyah?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: I’m going to let the governor breathe for now. I’m glad he made that statement. And—

AMY GOODMAN: Did he make that statement after you took the monument down?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: I’m sorry, could you—what was that?

AMY GOODMAN: Did he make that statement after you took that monument down?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: Yes, yeah, yeah. My problem with his initial statement was that he’s like, you know, “There’s no place for racism,” and then he goes on to say, “But there’s a better way.” And if there was a better way, we wouldn’t have been waiting almost a hundred years to do that. And like I’ve been trying to reiterate over and over again is that there is no “but” when we’re talking about racism, right? There is no “but” when we’re talking about people’s right to life and people’s right to not be psychologically attacked with these dehumanizing images. So, there’s only a right side and a wrong side. But I’m glad he did release that statement, and I’ll let him breathe.

AMY GOODMAN: Takiyah, I know you have to go right now to court, but I want to ask you: The effect that Bree Newsome and her act two years ago in South Carolina, when she shimmied up the flagpole of the Confederate flag on the grounds of the South Carolina state Capitol and took down the Confederate flag, what kind of effect that had on you in your actions this week?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: Well, earlier this week, I spoke to some news, and they asked me like what was I thinking when I was going up the steps. And my response was that as I was going up the steps, I was thinking about the history of like black nationalist organizing and black nationalist struggle and black struggle, and I was thinking about my ancestors, and included in that is Bree Newsome. I could not have—you know, she created a model of possibility for me. And I was thinking about her. I was thinking about people who believe in people’s power and the power that they have within themselves. I was thinking about people like Kwame Ture. I was thinking about people like Ella Baker, organizers, grassroots people, who give power to the people and let them decide.

AMY GOODMAN: And finally, Takiyah, Heather Heyer is being buried today. There is a memorial for her, a major memorial, in Charlottesville. She was on the streets, killed by the white supremacist who plowed his crowd [sic] into the antifascist protesters—plowed his car. What are your thoughts about Heather today, a white ally in this struggle?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: My thoughts about Heather’s murder is that it’s a tragic death, especially to be killed so violently and so brutally. My condolences to her family. May she rest in power. And I won’t stop fighting, and the people won’t stop fighting, against people who did this, right? And we’re not fighting against hatred, right? We’re fighting against an ideology. We’re fighting against a system, right? When you create a pseudoscience to prove your superior—superiority to the world, we’re talking about more than just hate, right? We’re talking about something a lot bigger than that. Of course this ideology is rooted in hate, but we’re talking about systems, systems of government—right?—systems of disenfranchisement. And that’s what we’re fighting against. And we won’t stop until we have equality and we have justice.

AMY GOODMAN: Takiyah Thompson, I want to thank you for being with us. Takiyah now heads to court. She’s a student at North Carolina Central University. She climbed up a ladder this week, after the Charlottesville attack, looped a rope around the top of the Confederate Soldiers Monument in front of the old Durham County Courthouse, pulled the statue to the ground.

This is Democracy Now! When we come back, Bree Newsome joins us from Charlotte, North Carolina. Stay with us.

 

 

+++++++++++
Amy Goodman is the host of Democracy Now!, a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,200 stations in North America. She is the co-author of The Silenced Majority, a New York Times best-seller.

 

>via: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/takiyah-thompson-took-down-confederate-statue

____________________

August 17, 2017

 

JULIA WALL /THE NEWS & OBSERVER V IA AP | Reuters


TAKIYAH

THOMPSON:

“BREE NEWSOME

CREATED A MODEL

OF POSSIBILITY

FOR ME”

 

By The Race Card

 

In the midst of the near-race riot over the weekend in
Charlottesville, VA, sparked by white supremacists
rallying in protest of the removal of a statue honoring
Confederate general Robert E. Lee, renewed calls to
bring down Confederate monuments have erupted
across the country. 
But for North Carolina student Takiyah Thompson,
waiting for the state to do the right thing was a losing
bet, and so the 22-year-old activist took matters into
her own hands by leading a crowd in toppling a statue
in Durham just two days after the Charlottesville rally.
“I think what we did was the best way, and not just the
best way, but the only way, because the state and the
Klan and white supremacists have been collaborating.
Right?” Thompson told Democracy Now in an interview
after being released on bond following her arrest. She
now faces two charges of felony inciting a riot and three
misdemeanor charges, including defacing a statue.

“The sheriff, Andrews, and the establishment
want to make a political prisoner of me, and
they want to make an example of me,” she said.
“And they want to scare people, and they want
to scare black people, and they want to scare
people of color, and they want to scare people
who are reclaiming their agency.”

Thompson’s courage in the face of such scare tactics have been an inspiration for many, including Solange Knowles who called Thompson her “hero” on Twitter:

But Thompson has heroes of her own, including Bree Newsome, who climbed up a state capitol flagpole in South Carolina to take down a Confederate flag two years ago. “I was thinking about the history of like black nationalist organizing and black nationalist struggle and black struggle, and I was thinking about my ancestors, and included in that is Bree Newsome,” she said. “I could not have—you know, she created a model of possibility for me. And I was thinking about her. I was thinking about people who believe in people’s power and the power that they have within themselves. I was thinking about people like Kwame Ture. I was thinking about people like Ella Baker, organizers, grassroots people, who give power to the people and let them decide.”

Here’s to both freedom fighters inspiring a new
generation of resistance!

*You can donate money to help with Thompson’s bail and legal fees here, and contact the prosecutor and push for the charges against Thompson to be dropped: (919) 808-3010.

 

>via: http://afropunk.com/2017/08/takiyah-thompson-bree-newsome-created-model-possibility/

 

 

Call for Submissions | July 2, 2017—February 2, 2018

We’re pleased to announce our plans to expand the fatal feminist into an annual print and digital publication. Ideally, we’d like to be able to pay our writers and artists, so please donate. This is where you can contribute. If we don’t achieve adequate funding, the publication will still see production, but only some of the staff and contributors will see paychecks.

Submit here!

We are seeking submissions in the following categories for the first issue:

Exegesis

Qur’anic exegesis is the primary feature of the publication. the fatal feminist adopts a Qur’an-first interpretative approach. All exegeses submitted must be founded on Qur’anic verses, and hadith contribute a secondary, supportive role for perspectives that are already established by the Qur’an. We’re looking for unique, analytical, and detailed arguments founded on the Qur’anic principles of justice, equality, virtue, and mercy. Each issue addressed in an exegesis must be supported most substantially with Qur’anic verses and discussions of word usage and grammar. 1,500-3,000 words. Multiple submissions are welcome.

Fiction: Magical Realism, Science Fiction, Fantasy

We’re seeking fiction that features recognizably non-European worlds and characters, preferably by authors of non-European descent. The works submitted should center characters whose identities, stories, and worlds are sculpted after and influenced by diaspora and/or are indigenous to the Americas and Australia, Africa, and Asia. Authors of mixed heritage are also welcome to submit. We’re especially interested in stories that feature characters of underrepresented sexes, races, sexualities, and abilities. 2,000-10,000 words. Flash fiction (1,000 words and under) is welcome. Please limit submissions to 2 stories per author.

Nonfiction

the fatal feminist is focused in two categories of nonfiction: journalism and the personal essay. Perspectives conveyed in journalism must be substantiated with a deep authorial understanding of the culture, religion, and beliefs explored. Again, we’re interested in unique perspectives that contribute underrepresented experiences to the discourse, and are looking for authors of underrepresented sexes, races, sexualities, and abilities. Submissions in both categories limited to 2,000-7,000 words. Please limit submissions to 2 per author.

Music & Poetry

If you have original music, please submit its written representation. Please limit sheet music to 10 pages per submission. Multiple musical submissions are welcome to up to 10 pages in total. Poetry is limited to 5 submissions per author. These categories are merged to provide poets the opportunity to submit work as lyricists, so please feel free to submit music and poetry complimentarily if it applies; otherwise, poetry can be submitted as usual.

Screenplays

We’re interested in providing space for independent screenwriters to introduce their work, particularly if it is underrepresented in mainstream film production. Please see the guidelines for fiction, as they apply for screenplays, with the exception that screenplays can be submitted in any genre. We will accept multiple submissions per author totaling up to 10,000 words.

Art & Photography

5 submissions per author, unless the pieces are part of a series.

Submission guidelines:

Please submit all work through Submittable. Do not email our staff attachments: we will not open them. You do not need to submit a cover letter; however, in its place, please include a short biography to be used in the event that your submission is accepted. If you are contributing multiple submissions, please submit each separately. For the first issue, we’d rather you not send in simultaneous submissions. However, we plan to accommodate for them in subsequent issues.

Dedications

You may include a (very brief) dedication with your submission.

Languages:

Our ultimate goal is to decentralize the English as the global form of communication through which ideas interact. Future issues will include articles written in non-European languages. This is an international effort.

 

>via: https://thefatalfeminist.com/submissions/?utm_content=59020215&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

 

 

 

The Lindenwood Review is the literary journal of
Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri,
produced by the university’s MFA in Writing
program. We accept submissions of fiction, poetry,
and personal essays from July 1 through November
1 via Submittable (no fee). We also offer a free
contest in a specific genre each year. For issue 8,
we are offering a Chapter One Contest.

Submissions are welcome from both new and
established writers. We look for fiction with
believable characters and a vivid story; poetry
with original, interesting use of language;
well-crafted, honest essays; and mostly, work
that moves us as readers and inspires us as writers.

Restrictions:
  • Current students and faculty of Lindenwood University are not eligible to submit their work. (Alumni may submit.)
  • The Board of Lindenwood University restricts some language and explicit content from university publications. When necessary, the editor will work with contributors on minor revisions to meet university requirements. 
  • Do not submit work that has been previously published elsewhere, whether online or in print.
  • Submissions will not be considered for publication if they are sent via email or mail, if they are received before or after the submission period, or if they do not follow the posted guidelines. 

Guidelines for Fiction, Poetry, and Personal Essays:

  • Work may be submitted via Submittable from July 1 through November 1 (no fee).
  • Writers may submit in multiple genres. 
  • A maximum of one short story, one personal essay, and five poems may be submitted each year. 
  • Maximum submission length for each genre is 20 pages.
  • Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but we ask to be notified immediately via Submittable if a piece is accepted elsewhere.
  • Double-space fiction and essay; single-space poetry. Use a standard font size and style.
  • Include your name and email address at the top of each submission document. List your name exactly as you would like it to appear in the book if accepted for publication.
  • Include a brief third-person bio with each submission. List your name exactly as you would like it to appear in the book if accepted for publication.
  • Work that is not accepted for publication will be noted as Declined on Submittable. No rejection emails will be sent, so please check Submittable for submission status. Acceptance notifications will be sent via email. All decisions will be made by February 1.
  • Writers accepted for publication receive two contributor copies of The Lindenwood Review.
Guidelines for the Issue 8 Chapter One Contest:
  • No entry fee. Winner receives $50, publication in issue 8 of The Lindenwood Review, and three contributor copies. Honorable mentions receive publication in issue 8 of The Lindenwood Review and three contributor copies. 
  • First chapters of unpublished novels may be submitted via Submittable from July 1 through November 1. Submitted chapters must be the author’s original work and cannot be previously published in print or online.
  • Any genre may be submitted, but please note that we are looking for literary techniques such as effective use of language and fully developed characters within all genres.
  • Maximum submission length is 25 pages. Double-space and use a standard font size and style.
  • Only one novel chapter may be submitted per writer. (Those who submit a novel chapter to our contest may also submit a story, essay, or poems to issue 8 through a separate Submittable entry.)
  • Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but we ask that you withdraw your submission immediately from Submittable if the chapter is accepted for publication elsewhere or if the full novel is accepted for publication and will appear in print or online before May 2018.
  • In your Submittable entry, list your name exactly as you would like it to appear in The Lindenwood Review if accepted for publication. Include a brief third-person bio, your email, and your mailing address.
  • All decisions will be made by February 1, 2018. Check Submittable for submission status.
  • Issue 8 will be published in spring 2018.

Restrictions:

  • Current students and faculty of Lindenwood University are not eligible to submit their work. (Alumni may submit.)
  • The Board of Lindenwood University restricts some language and explicit content in university publications. When necessary, the editor will work with contributors on minor revisions to meet university requirements.
  • Do not submit work that has been previously published elsewhere, whether online or in print.
  • Submissions will not be considered for publication if they are sent via email or mail, if they are received before or after the submission period, or if they do not follow the posted guidelines. 

Visit our website at www.lindenwood.edu/lindenwoodReview. Contact us with any questions at TheLindenwoodReview@lindenwood.edu.

 

>via: https://thelindenwoodreview.submittable.com/submit?utm_content=59009095&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter