14. Knee on the Neck, “Obedience,” and my White Hoods experience

Saturday 6/13 mid-day: I’m having a moment.  My boy Keith hit me with this: Jay Pharaoh police video.  Yes, the SNL comic, in a case of completely mistaken identity, being recently thrown to the ground by four white LAPD, guns blazing, and yes, knee to the neck.  … Exhale. …. And, in watching, I also come across […]

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13. Comedy on pause for Trevor Noah & Dave Chappelle

One would be hard-pressed to call it comedy, but two recent releases from these brilliant satirists are not to be missed. From the brilliant Trevor Noah, spot-on analysis of this particular historical moment: Amy Cooper’s white woman weaponization; Black rage; unpacking the outcry at looting … and America’s lop-sided social contract with its Black citizens.

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12. How Can I Help?!?

Black Communities (Covid health & economic impact; police abuse and reform; general organizing …. ) Movement for Black Lives (M4BL): https://m4bl.org Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatter.com Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100): https://www.byp100.org For support to organizers on the ground in Minneapolis, please donate to the Minnesota Freedom Fund. …. and the following groups specifically for NY:

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11. Honoring George Floyd: On Violent Protest and Frederick Douglass’ “Demand”

Accompanying Frederick Douglass’ famous quotation, “Power concedes nothing without a demand”, is this admonition: “Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.” We’ve had plenty

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9. Honoring Malcolm X – on his birthday, May 19th

“Self-determination” was Malcolm’s central theme, an idea as ‘Apple Pie American’ as the goals of George Washington and the ‘Founding Fathers’ – only Malcolm neither owned slaves nor sought exploitation of any peoples, only liberation for all. Though most people know his name, few know much about him or have even listened directly to his

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7. Self-care: “Brothers and Books” – a shout-out and salute

Big props to a few gents – Paul Spivey, Roland Anglin, Kenneth Austin, Dwayne Bentley and Gene A. Johnson, Jr. – for starting a quarterly book club 25 years ago for brothers to come together and read African-American authored or related texts, and discuss issues pressing to our community.  I joined only a few years

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6. Video w/ Vijay Prashad: A Covid Class Analysis

=========== A half hour into this provocative May Day forum of the Center for Political Education addressing local, regional and international workers response to Covid-19, the ever-brilliant and witty Vijay Prashad (I love his work!) offers a refreshing perspective on underlying global trends. His is a class analysis – something markedly absent in our mainstream/corporate

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