Living the dream
January 23, 2008
Now that Martin Luther King Day is firmly behind us, the best way to honor King is by leading a life of service the other 364 days out of the year. This line is oft repeated but it is ironically made on King Day in most instances. To be sure, Americans are notorious for neatly arranging our compassion in departments reserved for special days and if we are lucky, we might even get the day off. Just think of the emotions and fund raisers that are reserved for Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, and the tsunamis that hit
Until the Lions have their historians
September 18, 2007
I used to have a quote that I used in my signature that said, “Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.” Fortunately, the people of
The tribunal was formed to hear testimony by experts and survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. After 30 hours of testimony, the preliminary findings are unfortunately not surprising.
Jill Soffiyah Elijah, the Deputy Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School and Chief Judge for the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, announced the Tribunal’s preliminary findings “It is our view that the U.S. government has committed crimes against humanity particularly in relation to its failure to maintain functional levees that should have protected the City of New Orleans from flooding; … it was the reckless disregard and, in some instances, negligence of the U.S. government, the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans that created the devastation we continue to see today.”
The Movement that wasn’t, Pt. 1
September 6, 2007
What’s up fam,
I just want to say thank you to all my people that wished me a happy birthday (Aug 31st). I was in
Something that has been on my heart for a couple weeks is the lack of meaningful communication between people. The two groups I have in mind are based on W.E.B. DuBois model of the “Talented Tenth.” In short, the “Talented Tenth” represents the most gifted and talented among us and it is their responsibility to provide the necessary leadership to improve the condition of the masses.
Michigan Policy Summit Sept. 8th: Be there!
August 27, 2007
If you live in
Free the Jena 6!!!
August 21, 2007
I typically don’t listen to talk radio outside of NPR, but thankfully I came across the Michael Baisden show today and he was focusing on the
Black bloggers have been on top of this from Jack and Jill, Too Sense, Afrospear, and many others. Nevertheless, if you don’t know about the
In a small still mostly segregated section of rural Louisiana, an all-white jury heard a series of white witnesses called by a white prosecutor testify in a courtroom overseen by a white judge in a trial about a fight at the local high school where a white student who had been making racial taunts was hit by Black students.
No movement sans art
August 12, 2007
In the vast history of war and mass movements, artists have always set the cadence. Just think back to the drummer boys of the Revolutionary War or the song Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday during the Civil Rights Movement;
“Strange trees bear strange fruit.
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
black bodies swinging in the southern breeze.
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.”
-Strange Fruit, Billie Holiday
Save our girls
August 6, 2007
My fear of blogging
July 18, 2007
What’s up fam,
I just wanted to take a step back to really observe blogging as part of the broader national progressive movement. The universal nature of blogs naturally encourages writers to pen stories that are national in scope so as to capture the broadest swath of readers. The problem as I see it is that too many bloggers follow three troubling paths,
1) Writing relentlessly on the latest breaking story (often national in scope) and expressing the progressive interpretation.
2) Fear of writing original commentary for fear of being too exposed.
3) General lack of writing about local stories, fearing a lack of interest and/or possibly burning bridges.
Do you see these things happening on progressive blogs at-large? What do you look for when reading blogs? What do you see in The SuperSpade? I think that the national movement we all think or talk about is being impeded when we all write about the same thing. Our real power is finding the common values amongst our very unique stories and instigating change at the local level that organically builds into a national movement. Your thoughts?
Stay up fam,
Brandon Q.
Seeking new model for Black and Progressive Orgs.
July 9, 2007
AgentX’s creative comment regarding new possible names for the CBC got me thinking about the sad paradigm of current Black and/or progressive organizations whose work is mostly or wholly supported by corporate donations. This model is crippling our communities because the leaders of these organizations can’t really say nor do what needs to be done for fear of disrupting the money stream. On the other hand, the masses accuse these same organizations for not doing anything to help the people that are really hurting. This cycle breeds distrust and non-results. I believe the work we really need to do can happen until we do two things, 1) actively want less and 2) build up our own socially conscious businesses/institutions that are supported by the community. Talk to me,
Stay up fam,
Brandon Q.
Actively wanting less
June 18, 2007
After reading Garlin’s fantastic post on the Black Middle Class, I was inspired to think of ways that we can maintain an engaged and active middle class. This idea is not original, but I think the answer comes from actively wanting less.
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