Uptown Notes

“Can you relate? We living in a police state.” -Dead Prez

Okay, there are way too many things going on the US around the police and communities of color that make me real concerned. Two recent events in particular. The first, is the beating of Nathaniel Jones last week. The tape has been made public and shows the struggle between Jones and Cincinatti officers. Jones’ body has tested positive for narcotics. Many are asking, “is not really was the beating justified?” Rather the question is more about how much force is too much force?

The second issue with the police is the recent Supreme Court decision about the 20 second between knocking and door bashing. Okay, here’s the rationale with drug suspects waiting longer than 20 seconds they can flush their product down the drain. Number 1, if police are going to kick down the door, wouldn’t you imagine that the dealer would have more product than could be flushed in 20 seconds?

Aight, more local stuff later.

Guess who’s bizzackl, nah it ain’t Face or none of those cats, it’s me. So I’ve been running around the country so I’ve mised a lot of local dish, but here is my recap of stuff that mattered for the past week and change and or should matter in the near future.

An agreement between the University and GEO has been reached. Below is the snippet of the official GEO statement:

Sisters and Brothers,

Complete information, and updates, will be available at the GEO website .

But in case you missed it Aubrey Henrietta published an editorial entitled, “The union that cried wolf: GEO’s fairy-tale folly.” The editorial though short, definitely ruffled some feathers. Today’s Daily features a battery of responses. They pretty much cover all the bases, but I was more amused by the editorial by Jon Ochemanek. If I wasn’t lazy and the editorial was well thought out I would respond by complining figures on undergraduate debt and then projected accumulated debt in PhD programs, which most GSIs are and then we can discuss what the compensation is for with GSiing. Now it is one thing for someone to work to pay for school, but working there remain a large number of privleged students whose only job is it cover beer money. Doesn’t Michigan teach critical thinking anymore?

Now onto stuff that actually matters:

This week is Aids in Black and Brown Week at University of Michigan. The event concentrates on HIV and AIDS in the Latino and Black communities. A full list of events in provided below here from the CAAS website.

Check out some of these events, they are designed for our communities and will enlighten us about what we need to do throughout the diaspora to get this deadly virus under control!

There are also a number of events that will likely be of interest to people including the following:

“History of Native Americans at the University of Michigan”

Tuesday, December 2nd

Angel Hall Aud C

7:30-9:00pm

This event features commentaries and information on U of M’s secret societies such as Michigamua, Phoenix, and the Vulcans.

Congressman John Dingell will hold a community forum on Tuesday at 7pm. The event will be held from 7-9pm and will be in the Pendelton Room of the Union. It is sponsored by the Ann Arbor Area Committee for Peace, The College

Democrats, and Anti-War Action.

On a national tip, Vanguard Media the company responsible for Savoy, Heart and Soul, and Honey filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy! This may not concern a lot of people but as far as magazines go these ones were pretty progressive and aimed at the expanding Black community concerned with health and upward mobility (for lack of a better term). The loss, or at best postponement of young good Black media, continues to occur.

And since I’m still stuffed on turkey from Turkey day I figured I’d include a commentary from Black Commentator on “Thanksgiving, ” aka Thankstaking to some. It’s a great long essay.

Aight, that’s all for now!

The Black Slate (the list of candidates that the Black Student Union has decided to endorse) is as follows:

Katherine McGee

Paul Spurgeon

Laban King

Ashley Whitfield

Charles Adside

Breeana Hare

Jessica Perkins

Voting is not open online here.

The website for the upcoming LSA Theme Semester on Brown v. Board of Education: 50 Year Commomeration is up. Check it out here!

And while you are at it, check of the MLK Symposium site, which will be adding more stuff shortly, about the upcoming 2004 Martin Luther King Symposium entitled, “Still Separate? Still Unequal?: Brown v. Board of Education 50 years later…”

Well we know that the conservatives keep attacking admissions, summer programs, and now they have finally made it to outreach programs. This Washington Post article describes Amherst’s process of recruitment of high-performing students of color and its recent decision to open the recruitment to low-income Whites. Don’t they ever stop? Imagine had the people who quest for “civil rights and equal opportunity,” please read as “civil rights advocating conservatives,” had fought for King’s vision of civil rights in the 1960s … wait then who would have been there to fight against King? Hey, just wanted to remind all the conservatives, even Trent Lott now supports Affirmative Action and civil rights. LOL!

Speaking of admissions and the like, the LSA Admissions Advisory Committee has begun meeting. If you are like me, you are wondering what the heck the LSA Admissions Advisory Committee is, like to know, here you go:

CHARGE TO LSA ADMISSIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE

October 2003

The committee should plan to prepare a report for the LSA Executive Committee on these issues by March 1, 2004.

The members of the committee are as follows:

Tania Brown, LSA Junior, Sociology

Stephen Darwall, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the LSA Honors Program

Philip Hanlon, Professor of Mathematics and Associate Dean for Budget and Planning

Sharon Herbert, Professor of Classical Studies and Director of the Kelsey Museum

James Jackson, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies

David Matz, LSA Junior, Political Science

Maria Montoya, Associate Professor of History and Director of Latino Studies in the Program in American Culture

Esrold Nurse, Assistant Dean for Student Academic Affairs

Robert Owen, Professor of Geological Sciences and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education

Rebecca Scott, Professor of History and Law

Thomas Weisskopf, Professor of Economics and Director of the Residential College

Meanwhile….

This Friday at 7:30pm in the Rackham Auditorium Angela Davis will speak. Here talk is entitled, “How Gender Structures the Prison Industrial Complex.” If you an be there, be there. I wonder are the conservakids who wanted Davis’ name removed from the lounges in Markley going to be there talking trash? I would like to hear an exchange between Davis and a semi-informed agitator about her life’s past!

Back to national, I have no rhyme or reason for the way I’m posting today. My Mets are in a heap of trouble, well actually Bill Singer! Singer, the new Mets super scout, made racially derogatory comments, if you can even call them comments, to Kim Ng of the LA Dodgers. This story still highlights how the APIA community is still considered outsiders, regardless of how deeply rooted in America they are.

The Washington Post has an interesting piece on the use of the term “lynching” as a political technique by Zell Miller of Mississippi and conservatives. I hadn’t really thought about its continued use since Clarence Thomas’ infamous “high-tech lynching” statement.

Ught oh, A Phi A, hazing is not a good thing. Good luck out of this one!

Yesterday, a protest in Philly was held to raise awareness about curriculum and African-centered studies. The protest called for a public school student walk-out, which it was unsuccessful in achieving, but obviously the issue got some visibility.

Aight, like Big Boi said, “…food for thought, now eat…”

For some reason, the recent incidents in Hamtramck have not been largely publicized, to my knowledge. On Wednesday, a African-American student was beaten by Arab-American students in a racial conflict that apparently has been brewing since the beginning of the school year. On Friday, the school held a closed meeting to discuss the racial tensions between African-Americans and Arab-American students. Note: I am referring to Arab-American students as a group because the incident has become racialized. The impetus for the latest clash was over Ramadan, which is Islamic, not practiced by all people of Arab descent.

Oh, I forgot Slick Rick is FREE!!!! MC Ricky D is back among the free, well at least those who are not locked in a cage. Like a wise man often tells me, Ellison once wrote, “When I discover who I am, I will finally be free.” One.

The Power Moves meeting has been rescheduled for 11/13 (Thursday) from 7:30-8:30.

WHERE? SOUTH QUAD–AMBATANA MULTICULTURAL LOUNGE

WHY? WHY NOT? COME WITH AN OPEN MIND AND BE READY TO ENGAGE IN INTERACTIVE INTELLECTUAL EXCHANGE WITHIN YOUR AFRICAN AMERICAN CAMPUS COMMUNITY.

There is also a pretty good exhibition on North Campus in the Media Union Gallery.

The exhibit is entitled:

Creativity and Resistance: Maroon Cultures in the Americas

The exhibit will be there until the 25th of November. The exhibit is sponsored by

Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Inc & Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

There is a lot perculating in Ann Arbor these days. First, let me hit the union tip.

“They say cut-back, we say fight back!”

Borders workers officially went on strike on Saturday and are garnering support by informing folks via their webpage/blog. And with all union action, you know the bourg… I mean the owners of Borders must speak out. The webpage features an exchange between Irfan Nooruddin which is very good. Want more details? Go to the weblink. By the way, when did the term living wage go out of style, or have the controllers of the means of production always thought it was mythical?

The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) is also in the middle of a pending battle with the U and healthcare. The issue involves the levying of premiums onto GSIs, and others under the contract, which fundamentally violates labor law in the US. Labor law in the US sucks, so the mandate to negotiate in certain areas is highly regarded, or in this case disregarded. Rackham Student Government (RSG) has been in the middle, well not in the middle anymore if you read their statement, of this controversy between administration and graduate students. Now it as Cedric DeLeon stated so well, the administration is trying to “divide and conquer.” Please read the correspondence below:

Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 07:58:00 -0500

From: Rackham Student Government

To: Rackham Student Government Announcement List

Paul

————————————————————————

——

Paul N. Courant

Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1340

734-764-9292

THIS JUST IN…. here is a response to Courant’s message from Aaron Boros:

Hello DeAunderia and RSG,

I want to point out that Provost Courant’s projected figures for the future

are extremely unlikely. Using the same figures the Provost is available here among

other places, you see that in 2004, the actual contributions for GSIs,

GSRAs, and GSSAs will be:

Aron Boros

GEO Secretary

MPP/JD Candidate 2006

Ah, gotta love drawing lines in the sand. So who is gonna ask Courant when the premiums will be levyed on other groups of grad students?

Speaking of lines in the sand, there are a couple of great events happening tonight.

HEADS, SIS2SIS, and SAPAC, and other orgs are sponsoring a film entitled, “NO!” by Aishah Shahidah Simmons. The film explores the silence around domestic violence in the Black community. Ms. Simmons will be in attendance to discuss the film afterwards.

Tuesday November 11th, 2003

7-9pm, East Hall Auditorium, Room 1324

Aché! Drums and Women in the African Diaspora

Tue, Nov 11, 4-6 pm

Michigan League, Vandenberg Room, 2nd Floor, 911 N. University Ave.

A public symposium featuring famed members of Les Rosettes, an all-female

drumming troupe from Dakar, Senegal. Panelists include Detroit-based

drummers Kahemba Kitwana and Jahra McKinney-Hakamma, U-M Chair of Music

Education Carol Richardson, U-M Professor Kelly Askew, moderated by

Elizabeth James, Program Associate, U-M Center for AfroAmerican and African

Studies and translated by Mame-Khady Diouf, U-M student.

DouDou N’Diaye Rose and Les Rosette will be performing Tuesday, November

11, 8pm, Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor. For tickets, please call 734-764-2538

or visit the UMS webpage at www.ums.org.

Also, tonight there will be a Power Moves meeting, unfortunately, I can’t find the time and place, but I’ll put it up when I find it!

I recently recieved this email from a friend who is the president of the Black Graduate Student Association at Northwestern University about hate crimes that have been occuring. Here is an article about the demonstrations.

Attention Northwestern Community:

Tonight, the Coalition of Colors, along with other cultural organizations,

and concerned NU students, decided that we must unite as a community and

take immediate action in response to the hate crimes on our campus. Our

first action will unite the minority students on campus — students of

color, cultural and religious backgrounds, or anyone who feels they have

faced discrimination or marginalization— by wearing black from head to

toe. In addition, through a vow of silence for the entire day, we will

show what the NU campus would be like if there were no minorities

here. We strongly encourage and request that you participate in this

peaceful demonstration against the recent threats against our various

cultural, religious and NU communities. We also suggest that you wear tape

across your mouth to emphasize your silence as well as wear a label

indicating your specific identity/minority. Our second action will be on

Wednesday that will unite the entire NU community in a similar method.

Everyone will be invited to wear black during the day and in the evening,

we will trade in our black attire and replace it with NU gear, symbolizing

the solidarity of the NU community. We will rally at the rock on Wednesday

night and voice our concerns. This is only the beginning of a long

struggle and we ask that you show your support through participation.

Thank You,

Alianza Executive Board

Remember all of our struggles are connected by necessity, not by choice!

And speaking of our struggle. I thought that Halloween had passed for the first time in a number of year without huge Blackface issues. It seems blackface is one of the most common Halloween costumes …honestly. A Louisiana judge managed to piss on my overt racism free parade when his story of dressing up in black face, an afro, and an orange prison jumpsuit made the news.

Okay, onto the national political scene! Wesley Clark… yeah he scares me, but he is engaging the hip-hop generation like no one else ……… Get yourself to a computer with quicktime or video viewer and look at this!!! Thanks CH for this link!!!!!

From hip-hop to Rock and politics. Last night, the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Detroit opened up. The article here does clown Kwame Kilpatrick for having a 5XL leather jacket! And what is with Kwame and the word dynamic?

Okay, back to hip hop, I mean rap. Now 50 cent may not be the anti-Christ, but I’m still skeptical. 50 has agreed to meet with Farrakhan to discuss his beef with Ja Rule. The interview hasn’t been scheduled.

Aight, that’s all I’m gonna write on my blog for right now!!!!!

So there are a couple things that made me scratch my head today:

“Speaking Hispanic?” a judge in September in Nebraska ordered a father to speak English and not “that hispanic langauge to his child. The case has recently received national attention because of this Washington Post article. Ah, ignorance is so pervasive!

Another head scracther would have to Al Sharpton’s decision to host SNL in December! Well that is one way to get visibility, but will it really garner political support or make Sharpton more of a joke to America’s mainstream? Who is managing his campaign … oops never mind I know that’s a soar spot!

Lastly, Africana has posted a CBC report card. Look at the scores. Is that Michigan’s own John Conyer’s tied for last place?

Here is an interesting article on the American Indian community and the California recall election. Never even heard about the casino issues before I read this piece!

On a separate note, I realized today that the comments are not working on the page. I’ll try to get to the bottom of that.

I’m back…

If you didn’t hear, a company in Livonia has been manufacturing Razanne, a Muslim alternative to Barbie. No jokes! I definitely prefer this to Mattel’s attempt at Flavas, the “hip-hop” Barbie crew (Mattel is rumored to have flattened their chests and made their butts bigger!). But I’m too grown to be concerned with toys ;)

Onto more pressing issues, this past week was full of issues in the Sharpton campaign, mainly his bout with Jesse Jackson Jr which resulted in an “outing” of Howard Dean’s earlier support for economic, not race based, affirmative action policies. Despite all this, still seems that Dean’s super-human front-runner armor remains unblemished. Oh, also Danny Glover officially endorsed Kucinich… okay.

Reason #213 50 cent is the anti-christ: He refused to meet with Louis Farrakhan to squash the beef between him and Ja Rule. Boo you 50, don’t you care about anyone but your self and your supersize ego?

On the local tip, a great U of M graduate student Sharon Smith, and Associate Producer, has worked on a documentary entitled Anomaly on multi-racial and multi-ethnic folks. The webpage has just launched at www.anomalythefilm.com. Check the site and see what’s good!

And here is a little information from the MSA:

*****Go Vote Tuesday!*****

Make sure your voice gets heard!

That’s it for right now.