If you missed it, here’s a quick summary: with the words  “Hood Disease” emblazoned next to her head, Wendy Tokuda of the San Francisco Bay area’s CBS affiliate KPIX delivered the following, “Even the Centers for Disease control says that these kids often live in virtual war zones and doctors at Harvard say they actually suffer from a more complex form of PTSD, some call it ‘hood disease.’” The story then began to discuss the set of complex issues that many youth of color in high poverty areas experience daily and some of their consequences on academic engagement.Tokuda’s reporting made it appear as if Harvard scholars coined and were studying “hood disease” which set off a firestorm and multiple questions about research, Harvard, and the sources of the story. A trip to Tokuda’s personal Facebook page reveals that she derived the term “hood disease” from Mark Beasley. Who is Mark Beasley you ask? Beasley is one of Tokuda’s Facebook friends.

The jokes should write themselves here, but this is the sort of propaganda that reinforces dangerous stereotypes about people of color, especially those with economic challenges. Even if you dismiss the ill-fated term,  the report is still framed in a way that makes it seem that the issues that youth in urban high poverty neighborhoods face are actually a disorder that they co-create.

Within the social sciences there is a long history of suggesting that problems among Black and impoverished communities are a function of their own practices and beliefs and divorced from larger social problems. In 1965, the Moynihan Report famously popularized the concept of “tangle of pathology” that argued Black female headed households perpetuated poverty, not lack of access to jobs and economic resources. Later arguments about the “culture of poverty” came to dominate academic and social policy circles resulting in divestments from communities of color and the belief that Black culture was the issue and the role of social structure was minimal, if meaningful at all.

Essentially, Blackness is the disease—or so the narrative goes.

Read more at EBONY

America has entered

From President Obama’s landmark announcement that he supports same sex marriage to Beenie Man posting a video asking for forgiveness of his past homophobic songs, tolerance is in! However, tolerance is not justice. In fact, tolerance basically boils down to finding something unobjectionable. Tolerance is the lowest form of acceptance because it allows one to support in words but not follow up with actions. If we are not careful, our tolerance will only serve to maintain the status quo. If we want to move from tolerance towards justice, it will take more than not objecting to same-sex marriage, it’s going to take a commitment to fight injustice and create safer communities for all. Read More

1) So you watched Pants on the Ground and laughed. Did you notice that General Larry Platt had on a Justice for Troy Davis button, a National Action Network tee shirt, and Red, Black and Green wristbands? Message!

2) So when you heard that Yele had financial issues did it stop you from donating?

3) How come when you heard that Red Cross had bigger issues it didn’t stop you from donating?

4) How come the resolutions that people make for the new year usually end by Martin Luther King Day?

5) Wait, there’s a rapper named Wacka Flocka? So we naming ourselves after Muppets now?

6) If people read Dyson nearly as much as they hated on him, would they hate as much?

7) Why do you think King’s life work was about integration, when it was really about fighting poverty, war, and racism?

8 ) On Jersey Shore, why did the cops know Ronnie by name?

9) Why didn’t you even notice the Supreme Court eeked closer to putting Mumia to death?

10) Why the hell haven’t you offered your assistance to the cradle of our liberation struggle – Haiti?

Update: The event looks to be sold out. There is an overflow room that will accommodate maybe 50 people. If you can’t make it, the event is supposed to be broadcast on WBAI which you can stream from here.

CLICK TO ENLARGE AND READ THE TEXT

1. Why did Ray J cut Chardonnay (aka the only sane one) didn’t he know “shawty got gifts“?

2. Why am I kinda hyped that the Hills is coming back on and it’s looking like old times?

3. I’m excited about the new Mets Stadium Citifield but why does it look like a Giants (baseball) stadium?

4. Who the hell thought it was appropriate to use Sir Mix-A-Lot’s  Baby’s got back for a Bk Kid’s meal commercial?

5. How come every time I’m ready to say, “Yes We Can” someone makes me wonder, can we?

6. Why is Steve Harvey on every talk show and why are people reading his book? (If you’re reading his book, listening to him, and his advice makes sense, you’re dating the wrong men.)

7. Did UConn just roll over and die because they knew if they won a title they’d get it stripped for “irregularities“?

8. Why did having the Final Four in Detroit seem like a great thing until I realized Ford Field was going to be turned into the greatest mass depression ever? (And all you U of M folks who hopped on the MSU bandwagon, shame on you!!!!)

9. Why is the best thing about Harlem Heights that it’s 30 minutes?

10. Were they serious with that series finale for ER?

hattip to Drew Citron

1) How is it that a Village bakery can sell “Drunken Negro Heads” and “Obama Face” cookies and not get shut down?

2) Shouldn’t Mikey B chill out for the week since when he shows up, folks show out? Shout out the Hyatt 7, hold your heads!!!! Thanks for giving voice to the voiceless!!! And I think I heard Staten Island Chuck say, “This is for Gaza” before he bit him.

3) I wonder what they would have come with in Legos if they’d done uptown?

4) I excited for Cam’Ron to come back, but why does his video look so budget?

5) I’m glad to see Poster Boy may be like Kaiser Soze, but wonder what would have happened if he was Black or Latino?

1) Now that Kanye and Weezy have demonstrated that auto-tune can be used to make someone whose singing is unbearable sound likable, do you think Kim from Real Housewives can actually have a real album?

2) Barry, is this the change I am supposed to believe in? Or maybe this one?

3) Why am I so excited for my birthday?

4) Are you serious, it was 10 guys who held Mumbai in terror? Imagine what could happen in the Bloods and Crips got together?

5) Why was Aaron Douglas that dope?

Then I realized things were even worse when a friend over at StopDogWhistleRacism emailed me this clip about the defense of it!

Take a look at the video and watch folks attempt to weasel their way out of responsibility and even suggest that identifying it as racist, racial or stereotypical is “our” fault. This my friends, is the world that we live in today, when even overtly racial events get blamed on those who identify the hatred behind them.
Embedded video from CNN Video

And for the sister who is interviewed and part of the group. I know you think they’re drinking the wrong “water” but have you considered that you may be the sipping the wrong stuff too?

1. “The Pta”,”Hockey Moms 4 Palin” and “small town” are those the parts I’m supposed to connect to?
2. Did Palin really spend the first 5 minutes explaining that she has a family … how does that mesh with the GOPs insistence on leaving her family out of it?
3. Ugh, could someone check on her baby, cause the kid didn’t look well?
4. Am I supposed to think being mayor matters?
5. Can you claim that you aren’t a part of the power structure when you’re on the ticket of the Grand Old Party?
6. Are we supposed to think that “Drill, baby, Drill!” is a real energy plan?
7. Am I to believe Palin will put Air Force One on Ebay?
8. What the hell was that powerpoint slide show in the background?
9. How many times did she say “man” when she could have said person, president, or something gender neutral?
10. And now that she talked about Obama and McCain ad naseum, can you tell me what she stands for!?!

1. Did the awe of the Olympics make you completely forget about China’s human rights violations?
2. Wasn’t it interesting that US media kept concentrating on the general medal count, but ignored the gold medal count?
3. So you just finished with the Olympics then tuned into the DNC, what’s next?
4. Is it okay that I love Michelle more than Barack?
5. Are people still serious about potentially voting for McCain?
6. Why didn’t you even consider voting for Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente?
7. Am I the only one who thinks Barack Obama is a good speaker as a politician but would not hold my attention for a keynote?
8. 
   Is it okay for me to be proud of Barack’s nomination but completely dissatisfied with blind allegiance?
9. Did you think I was just gonna “join in and start a love train?”
10. If a change really did come, what would you be willing to sacrifice?

1) What am I more disappointed in, the one million “a millie” freestyles or that Wayne sold a millie in a week?

2)Why is the Nas and Green Lantern tape so banging? And why does it make me nervous for the album?

3) Did anyone peep Nas taking on the Hegelian Master-Slave dialectic? Or have I read too much theory of late?

4)Why can’t I get enough of public access rap shows?

5) Why am I waiting so hard for Immortal Technique’s album?

6)What would have happened if Obama’s folks let them sit where they should have been seated?

7) When did everyone in NYC decide to root against the Lakers (and yeah I’m still a Lakers fan)?

8) Does Lil Wayne know menstration is not a venereal disease? Freudian freestyle anyone?

9) Why within 20 minutes of being on the beach in the Dominican Republic did multiple “Morenos” call me nigga?

10) What if all my people truly knew “Black is Beautiful”?

11) What happens when love is not enough?

12) Why do people think wanting my due is being a capitalist, when it’s clearly just my Marxian understanding of the value of my labor?

13) Why were more people outraged about Tim Russert’s death than the R. Kelly decision?

14)Why are you “so anti it don’t even matter“?

15) Why am I so ignorant for putting the little White kid’s picture so big?