All before my morning coffee…

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Getting up for me usually involves a regiment of reading, eating, washing, and coffee. Before I could get to the last three, I was awakened by two things, but not by coffee.

First the news that the Mets fired Willie Randolph arrived. Now anyone could have seen it coming, but it was when they fired him that really got me. I stayed up past 1 to watch the Mets win and then went to bed. Apparently in the wee hours of the morning, they released Randolph, Peterson (thank God), and Nieto. In many ways, they’ve captured my feelings about it on metsblog here.

And tucked amidst my political, social, and sports rantings, I occasionally delve into the emotional. I must say a thank you for the letter I received today. I contains some of the truest things that have ever had said to me and I’ll use it for its purposes. Thank you for pushing me to be “the northeast wind, pushing, cajoling, and inspiring greatness in myself and others.” (If you didn’t know, that’s what Dumi means).

Now to get to that morning coffee.

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Mirrors of Truth

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Let go of your worries

and be completely clear-hearted,

like the face of a mirror

that contains no images.

If you want a clear mirror,

behold yourself

and see the shameless truth,

which the mirror reflects.

If metal can be polished

to a mirror-like finish,

what polishing might the mirror

of the heart require?

Between the mirror and the heart

is this single difference:

the heart conceals secrets,

while the mirror does not.

-Rumi

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Been around the world and I, I, I…

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So I was traveling this past week and didn’t get a chance to hit you with anything new. But now I’m back in the States and I wanted to quickly to tell you to check out the Addicted to Race podcast that I guest co-hosted with Carmen Van Kerchove. In continuing with the theme of world travel, the podcast features a variety of subjects from media coverage of Mynamar, the MLK monument in DC, to Hip-Hop and accountability. As always, I had a great time cutting it up with Carmen, one of the sharpest cats out there on Race and Pop culture!

And on a side, but related note to my traveling, I’ll be taking some time to reorganize my stuff over the next while, so posts may be slow.

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“Don’t let me die in vain”

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Byron Hurt, director of Hip Hop:Beyond Beats and Rhymes, has just produced an AMAZING short film on reaction to the Sean Bell Verdict. I found out about it from the article that he wrote on TheRoot.com and I encourage you to click this video and then do something!

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Is College for You? Posted at theRoot.com

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Here is an article that I penned for theRoot.com on the question, “Is college for everyone?”

About a year and half ago, I was in a conversation with a 17-year-old about college, and she said to me, “My aunt has a master’s degree, and she delivers pizza for Domino’s. What’s that say about going to college?” I hesitated for a minute and responded, “No offense, but it doesn’t tell me much about college, but it tells me a lot about your aunt.” While I am sure there are some grocery baggers with Ph.D.s and there are engineers-turned-janitors, in the long run, most people who attend college, of some sort, get better access to jobs, housing and other things that are central to getting ahead in America. We know that continued education beyond high school strongly increases income, is related to better health and improves the chances of being employed. Now this doesn’t mean that everyone will experience the same successes, but that’s because college is a gateway to opportunity; it’s not an “ace in the hole,” a guaranteed fix or a magic bullet.

Also, this piece is part of a roundtable with pieces from Melissa Harris-Lacewell and John McWhorter.

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It’s not a game: race, sports, and justice

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A very peculiar thing happened last week, Willie Randolph went from bad manager, to bad guy in the eyes of the media. During the past couple of weeks, the Mets have continued to fall in the National League East, a division they were favored to win. Willie Randolph is cool, sometimes too cool, he sticks behind his players, he doesn’t throw water coolers, he gives you glimpses of his immense frustration with grown men who can’t seem to throw, catch or hit a small ball. But Randolph became the center of a media storm recently when he interviewed with the Bergen Record (yeah, I never heard of it either) and he commented on the way the Mets network SNY portrayed him. He felt that the network was portraying him unfairly and in many ways attempting to vilify him. The article says,

“Is it racial?” Randolph asked. “Huh? It smells a little bit.”

Asked directly if he believes black managers are held to different standards than their white counterparts, Randolph said: “I don’t know how to put my finger on it, but I think there’s something there. Herman Edwards did pretty well here and he won a couple of playoff [games], and they were pretty hard on Herm. Isiah [Thomas] didn’t do a great job, but they beat up Isiah pretty good. … I don’t know if people are used to a certain figurehead. There’s something weird about it.

“I think it’s very important … that I handle myself in a way that the [African-American managers] coming behind me will get the opportunities, too … .”

Those words, set off a firestorm in NY. No longer was the issue was Willie a poor manager, but it was Willie is playing the race card? (I’m glad that Matt Cerone had the courage to “question” the notion of the race card) Like most Black folks who realize their job hangs on a string, Randolph quickly apologized for his statement.Here I excerpt from the NYTimes’ coverage.

“I want to apologize to Met ownership and SNY and my team for the unnecessary distraction that I created, and I caused, the last couple days,” Randolph said. “I shouldn’t have said what I said. It was a mistake; there are no excuses for that.

“The fact of life is we have not been playing well as a team. When that happens you are going to get criticized for that. I take full responsibility for what I said out of frustration. I wanted to publicly apologize.”

He continued on

“I never said anything about anybody being a racist,” Randolph said. “What I said was kind of like what it felt like to me.”

Asked why he issued an apology, Randolph said, “I just felt like it was something I needed to do.” When asked if we was told to apologize, he said, “No.”

Randolph said he tried to contact the Mets’ owners Wednesday, but did not reach them.

This morning I visited Metsblog to see why my team keeps sliding further in the hole but I was quickly greeted with a post on Randolph’s meeting with the Mets front office. Now with a team that is below .500 you expect this meeting to be about “changes” on the field, they suggest the meeting is first about Randolph’s comments to the media.

We live in a society where the smallest mention of the role of race, can set off a firestorm. The idea that we live in a perfectly equal society should be laughable. A few years ago Gary Sheffield resurfaced the issue race and baseball, only to be met with heavy resistance. Willie knew that if he was going to actually keep his job, he would have to squelch a legitimate dialogue. While some folks argue the race card is the way that people weaken race relations, in reality, we all too seldom acknowledge the vulnerability that people of color face to discrimination. Saying something happened to you because of your race is sometimes more of a hazard to your well being than the original race-related offense. The culture of fear that Americans live in regarding racism has lead folks to truncate or all together eliminate dialogue about the consequences and meaning of race and racism (yes, they are different).

I’ll close with a recent anecdote from a close friend who is a successful African-American male. A week or so ago, my friend walked into a late night convenience store to get a snack. As he thumbed the snacks, he reached into his suit pocket and pulled out his wallet, as he realized they didn’t have his snacks, he put his wallet back into his pocket. As he began to walk out of the store an entering White customer in cut offs and a tee shirt said to him, “You gonna pay for that?” To which he looked back in bewilderment. My friend, with constitution said, “Excuse me, who are you?” To which the man responded, “A friend of the owner. Are you gonna pay for that or just take it?” At that moment my friend had a crossroads. He could either reach into his suit’s pocket and retrieve his wallet to demonstrate he had not taken any snacks or could ignore the man accusing him of theft.

Before completing the story, my friend asked me, “What would you have done?” I thought and offered a measured response, “I don’t think there is a ‘winning answer.’ It’s like the tipping dilemma. You go to a restaurant, a waiter or waitress treats you poorly because they think Black people don’t tip well. You in turn can either tip well for poor service and try challenge the stereotype or tip poorly given the service.” As we sat on the phone discussing options, I was reminded that no matter how much education (we both have PhDs), income (we have successfully broken into the middle class), or accolades we gather, we remain vulnerable to racism and sometimes paralyzed by it. No degree, clothing, or social analysis can fully protect us from the pollution of racism. People argue that racial bigotry is wrong, but have we reached the point where calling out the bigotry is even worse in public opinion than the bigotry?

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Awaiting the “Gender” speech… keep waiting.

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Jewel Woods offers a really good commentary on the difficulty of a national gender dialogue.

Many commentators within the black community argued that it was “inevitable” that Senator Obama would have to give a speech on “race”. Not only in light of the comments by Rev. Wright, but also because of pressure within the black community by opinion-framers like Tavis Smiley to have him address issues like Katrina, unemployment, education, incarceration, and other issues that have disproportionately impacted Black America in the past, and continue to impact Black America in the present.

However, was it ever “inevitable” that Senator Clinton would have to give a speech on gender? And is it inevitable now that Senator Clinton will respond to the comments of her surrogates or the demands within the women’s/feminist movement that insist she talk about issues of gender the way that constituents within the black community have consistently called for Senator Obama to address issues of race?

Woods, who recently authored Don’t Blame Rio, is the founder and Executive Director of the Renaissance Male Project is an emergent voice on masculinty, gender, and race. Catch his star as it rises.

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For your visual stimulation

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Carmen over at Racialicious compiled two great guerilla visual art campaigns by Michelle Schwartz and ResistRacism. The Canadian Club Whisky adds that have been running have been redefined by some savvy badasses. Follow the link and keep clicking. I love subversive art!

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A Movie Premiere in Harlem…

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So yesterday was an important day in recent Harlem history… I think. The new Indiana Jones movie had a premiere at the Magic Johnson’s in Harlem. One of my colleagues was walking down 126th yesterday and folks were huddled up outside he asked one of the men standing, “What’s going on here?”
The man responded, “It’s the Indiana Jones Premiere.”
To which my colleague responded, “Wow!”
To which the man responded, “What you you thought we were just local, we’re [Harlem] international.”

I’m not even sure what to say about this, so much… to say, here are some pics.

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Happy Birthday Brother Malcolm

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May 19th marks the birth of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz b.k.a. Malcolm X. Since I first read the Alex Haley autobiography at 15, I’ve felt compelled towards, challenged by, and connected to Malcolm X. I know that each of us has adapted Malcolm in our own ways, I think Robin Kelly captured it when he said,

“Malcolm X has been called many things: Pan-Africanist, father of Black Power, religious fanatic, closet conservative, incipient socialist, and a menace to society. The meaning of his public life — his politics and ideology — is contested in part because his entire body of work consists of a few dozen speeches and a collaborative autobiography whose veracity is challenged. Malcolm has become a sort of tabula rasa, or blank slate, on which people of different positions can write their own interpretations of his politics and legacy. Chuck D of the rap group Public Enemy and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas can both declare Malcolm X their hero.”

On this day, the date of his birth, I imagine our ancestor would love more than simple memorial. Instead, he would demand reflection upon what his teachings meant for not only the individual but our collectivity. I’ll begin: Beneath the video is on Malcolm’s calls for unity in the African Diaspora. For many years, I have personally struggled with loving “the roots” of the tree. Having encountered great resistance to being African-American and desiring to be considered “African” by my continental brothers and sisters, I became embittered with our Continental brothers and sisters. However, in interrogating my prejudices and perceptions, I found that my prejudgements were largely based on limited sight and an incomplete view of the ways in which colonial history continues to permeate the thinking of Africans throughout the Diaspora. Over the past year and continuing this year, I will continue to draw greater connection with the continental Africans of present, not just conceptions of our ancestors from the Continent. Thank you Brother Malcolm for taking the time to share your words, works, and worship. Rest in Peace.

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