Melissa Harris on msnbc about the REAL Harlem Shake
What is Satire?
MLK's vehement condemnations of US militarism are more relevant than ever
His vital April 4, 1967 speech is a direct repudiation of the sophistry now used to defend US violence and aggression
As if these statistics weren’t startling enough, the US has just blocked proposals to expand prisoner rights at the U.N. meeting in Buenos Aires.
It opposed a proposal that would have allowed a prisoner facing disciplinary charges to be represented by a lawyer, even at his or her own expense. It pushed, unsuccessfully, for removal of a reference to health care being provided to prisoners free of charge – presumably because many U.S. prisons and jails charge prisoners for medical care. (The Brazilian delegation objected to the deletion, and the language remained in the Draft Report.)
The U.S. delegation was particularly hostile to any meaningful limits on solitary confinement, such as a maximum duration or the exclusion of vulnerable populations like children and persons with mental illness.
(via messiahwhite)
Django Unchained Action Figures Protested by Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network
AmazonLooks like Spike Lee isn’t the only one voicing his dislike for Django Unchained.
Although not specifically targeting the film itself, the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network called for a national boycott of the movie’s action figures, which includes a 10-doll assortment of characters that was going for $299 on Amazon today.
“Selling this doll is highly offensive to our ancestors and the African American community,” Rev. K.W. Tulloss, NAC’s president in Los Angeles, told the New York Daily News.
Jamie Foxx checks out Kerry Washington on Django Unchained red carpet!
“The movie is for adults, but these are action figures that appeal to children. We don’t want other individuals to utilize them for their entertainment, to make a mockery of slavery.”
Quentin Tarantino defended his work during a press conference for the film’s premiere in Germany today. ”The truth, or the reality, was a thousand times worse than what I showed.”
Tulloss admitted he hadn’t seen the film, but heard it was “very good.” Fellow activist Najee Ali from Project Islamic Hope spoke alongside Tulloss in Los Angeles Tuesday and said he’s seen award-nominated movie twice already.
“I actually enjoyed the movie, but we cannot support this type of commercialization,” Ali said. “I don’t seen any dolls representing Hitler that came from Tarantino’s (Holocaust movieInglourious Basterds)…I don’t see them making dolls of Holocaust survivors who are bald and starving in concentration camps.”
Doll manufacturer National Entertainment Collectibles Association and the Weinstein Company were not immediately available for comment.
—Via ENews
Is ‘Django’ only successful because its director is White?
While some may feel Django Unchained’s biggest attribute is its White director, the bloody Pre-Civil War era “spaghetti Western” film is way more than “a movie about a Black slave killing White people.” And who better to make it?
Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison at James Baldwin’s funeral, December 1987
(Source: sonofbaldwin, via dailydiggings)
habari gani? your reply… kujichagulia, #selfdetermination
“If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.”
-Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro
6,000 children died yesterday from a lack of clean water…
Or, if that doesn’t ring a bell, think about it like this: within the next 1 hour, 250 people will die from drinking muddy/contaminated water.
GOP State Senator Slams Kwanzaa, Says Blacks Don’t Care
Before diving into this article, I’d like to say I find highly disrespectful and utterly racist when I hear constant attacks and criticism on holidays, events, networks or anything solely on the basis because it was popularized by Black people or created with the intent to celebrate African American culture. I highly doubt that the GOP Senator is slamming the Holiday, Kwanzaa because he is against its strong principles of “unity” but, instead because he is against the unity of Black people. It was a holiday which was created to empower and celebrate Black people and African American culture and roots.
Any effort of Black unity in this country whether it is through the establishment of Black History or (BET) Black Entertainment Television is under much scrutiny, arguing that it is segregation. Many white people, (Yes, I said it “many”, meaning “some” not all) are and still afraid and fearful of Blackness, especially seeing Black people come together any form of unity. There is power in number and they fear a”Black” power (because it leads to change).
Now onto the article….
Introduction by Ashley Arkhurst
CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield And Roland Martin Tear Into State Senator With Anti-Kwanzaa Crusade
Josh Feldman | 9:47 pm, January 2nd, 2013; As Written in Media Ite
Wisconsin state senator Glenn Grothman raised many eyebrows on Monday when he released a statement railing against Kwanzaa, declaring that “no black people today care” about it, only “white left-wingers.” Grothman attempted to explain himself on CNN tonight, with guest host Ashleigh Banfield and Roland Martin both asking him with increasing incredulity what his problem is exactly with Kwanzaa, and what makes its origins so much more bothersome to him than other holidays with less-than-pleasant origins.
Grothman’s main contention was that the Kwanzaa holiday was created by a racist who hated the idea that Christ died for everyone’s sins. He explained to Banfield that “not enough TV types” understand the “violent, racist past” of Kwanzaa founder Maulana Karenga. Banfield pointed out that when people celebrate a holiday, they generally don’t give much thought to the person who founded it.
Banfield revealed on the air that Grothman refused CNN’s offer to put him on with Roland Martin because he didn’t want to face anyone who was pro-Kwanzaa. Grothman told Banfield she was misrepresenting the facts, and that was when Banfield revealed Martin waiting in the wings, itching to jump into the conversation. Martin immediately asked Grothman what his particular beef is with Kwanzaa, considering that all holidays were created by humans at some point.
Martin pointed out that Easter has pagan origins, and told Grothman that he shouldn’t insult a holiday celebrated by people all around the world just because he dislikes the man who created it. Banfield attempted to catch Grothman off-guard with a quote from George W. Bush praising Kwanzaa. Not only did Grothman recognize the quote, he said it was one of his many reasons why Bush “was an irritating president for some of us.”
Martin burst out laughing while Banfield told Grothman he was sounding “borderline ridiculous.” She exasperatedly said she has never seen anyone “raise a pitchfork or a fist to celebrate Kwanzaa,” asking him what’s the harm in the holiday. Martin likened Grothman to people who opposed the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Banfield and Martin threw Columbus Day and Valentine’s Day at Grothman as holidays with violent associations.
Roland Martin, Ashleigh Banfield Confront State Senator Grothman For Attack On Kwanzaa (by Roland Martin)
Minister Louis Farrakhan Discusses “Django Unchained”
