In the Spotlight

“Who taught you to hate yourself?”  

As the horrific, graphic details of what transpired in Memphis begin to unfold, Malcolm X’s question is still imperative.  Interestingly, Malcolm posed this question in May, 1962 while addressing the police execution of Ronald Stokes, a disciplined and industrious Korean War veteran, in Los Angeles.  In recent years, all over the country and, indeed, worldwide, we have observed some of the largest demonstrations ever against obscene and deadly policing, yet, in 2022, more people were killed by the police than in any other year in the previous decade.  As the young people say, “Make it make sense.”

Meanwhile, down in Florida, Ron DeSantis continues to foment dangerous and sinister currents with his assault on public education as a means of keeping vital information, analysis, and cultural knowledge, about the authentic history of this country, away from the masses.  So, Carter G. Woodson’s thesis concerning the “miseducation of the Negro”, as well as Paulo Freire’s book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, should be revisited.  In the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “We’ve got some difficult days ahead.”  Therefore, let us heed the clarion call of Ida B. Wells who famously said, “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”  More to come…

How do we celebrate public art and why?

The controversy about the art that memorializes Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King continues to roil.  Here is a very informative, poignant, and thoughtful interview with the sculptor, Hank Willis Thomas.  Here he explains the absolute historical need to include Mrs. King in the artwork; and he examines many themes, including love, intimacy in social justice movements, Dr. King’s concept of the beloved community, the Celtic knot, and the exquisite reaction to the sculpture of Dr. King’s granddaughter.

What is public art?

Here is a perspective from Boston Globe columnist, Renee Graham, who admits that, upon seeing the renderings for “The Embrace,” she didn’t “get” the design.  However, the actual work was arresting, and she describes it as “majestic.”

This is a beautiful article about the way in which the day of the unveiling unfolded.

Culture

Arts

Meanwhile, the Kings’ daughter, Rev. Dr. Bernice King struggles to keep her mother’s extraordinary legacy alive, too. 

Black Panther (T’Challa) gets a new writer, brilliant University of Chicago scholar, Dr. Eve Ewing, who last wrote Ironheart and Monica Rambeau:  Photon.

Theaster Gates is an artistic phenom.  Currently, his work, “Young Lords and Their Traces” is on view at New Museum in New York.  Gates is a strong community activist and a heralded visual artist who conceptualizes his art within a practice that highlights and challenges racial and economic inequities.  Yet, there is so much to this world traveler who, nevertheless, is deeply rooted on the Southside of Chicago.  He holds a multidisciplinary master’s degree in urban planning, religious studies, and ceramics, as well as an expansive worldview. His website notes that he creates work that focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture, and performance. Here he is in conversation with a fellow Chicago activist, Chance The Rapper.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

The women of the Black Panther Party were integral to the success of the BPP and its “Survival Programs.”  Now comes a book of stunning photographs and important interviews with some of the women who helped make it happen:  Comrade Sisters:  The Women of the Black Panther Party.  The inimitable, Ericka Huggins, the Director of the esteemed Oakland Community School founded by the Panthers, wrote the forward to the book. The exquisite beauty of this picture here just reduces us to tears every single time we see it. Power to the People.

The beautiful Barbara Chase-Riboud, who sold her first artwork to a museum at the age of 15 and was the first Black woman to earn an MFA from Yale, is also a prize-winning, best-selling author, who has a new book, I Always Knew:  A Memoir.

Sexual assault survivor, Gabrielle Union, talks about using her craft to help her deal with the effects of trauma.

On the subject of public art, again, six selected designs, out of 176 entries from all over the world, are competing to memorialize the October, 1871 massacre wherein about 10% of the Chinese population in L.A at that time was murdered.

Entertainment

The original Ashley Banks, Tatyana Ali, joins the cast of Bel-Air when the second season of this most-streamed original Peacock series premieres on February 23.  Executive producer, Morgan Cooper, is glad to be back.

Questlove’s documentary about the “charismatic and enigmatic” Sly Stone, one of the most free-spirited, innovative, and influential entertainers of the last century, has been picked up by Onyx.  Remember when Sly received a Grammy lifetime achievement award?

Superstar director Ryan Coogler’s drama series about the beautiful and perspicacious Queen of Sheba is in development with Onyx, too.

“Blackness” is his “superpower,” and this young, highly successful, marketing entrepreneur out of Howard University is on the Forbes 30 under 30 list with high profit clients that include Microsoft, the Los Angeles Kings hockey team, and Nike.  Read how Alaskan, David Bullock, also turned one of his “biggest” personal “weakness[es]” into a superpower.

A review of Nikole Hannah Jones’ The 1619 Project docuseries, which Oprah Winfrey executive produced, and that premiered on Hulu this past Thursday, January 26.

Jessica Williams, formerly of the Daily Show, is in a new series, Shrinking, where she stars as a therapist.

Wakanda Forever Podcast:  The long awaited second episode of the official Wakanda Forever podcast, hosted by Ta Nehisi Coates, is online.  The topics treated in this episode include:  the original screenplay that was created before Chadwick Boseman’s unexpected death, the centrality of Shuri in the movie, Namor’s character, the idea of making movies, and how the Black Panther film was 22 years in the making. Guests include director, Ryan Coogler, and co-writer Joe Robert Cole, as well as Nate Moore, a production and development executive, and Marvel studio president and producer, Kevin Feige.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

King of Kings:  Chasing Edward Jones.  If you grew up in Chicago, you have, no doubt, heard tidbits of information about “The Jones Boys,” three brothers who dominated the policy (numbers) game in Chicago’s Black neighborhoods and created an empire while making millions upon millions of dollars.  Harriet Marin Jones, who never met her grandfather, Edward Jones, and wasn’t told much about him (or his brothers, Mack and George), as she grew up overseas, has put together enough interviews, newspaper clippings, and film footage for a compelling documentary on her grandfather. The once illegal “numbers running” policy game has since been co-opted to form the Illinois State lottery.  The Jones Brothers financed the dreams of a number of Black professionals, entrepreneurs, and entertainers. If you think Alphonso “Scarface” Capone and the Untouchables were fascinating, take a look at the Joneses.  Ms. Marin Jones is looking for a distributor.  

Also, check out the popular podcast drama, Bronzeville, with Larenz Tate and Lawrence Fishburne. It explores Chicago’s history with policy kings in the 1940s.  (Bronzeville is the name of one of the many famous Black communities on Chicago’s Southside.)

Editor’s Note:  Remember, in addition to the links provided, all podcasts referenced should be found wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Books and Literature

Some may have seen the movie, The Green Book, which won the Oscar for best picture in 2019, starring Mahershala Ali.  And most people already know that, in the Jim Crow South, Black motorists traveling interstate were treated to great hostility in many places on the road.  So a Black postal worker, Victor Hugo Green, published a directory (The Negro Motorist Green Book) of locations where Blacks could eat, lodge, shop, refuel, and conduct other business.  Now a book, Driving the Green Book, written by award-winning financial broadcaster, writer, and podcaster, Alvin Hall, is set to debut at the end of this month. (He also created a podcast about the green book.)  In this new publication, Hall spoke to elders whom The Green Book actually served.    

Science

Is free will an illusion?

Sports

Since the Super Bowl is near, maybe now is a good time to continue the discussion about Black coaches:

The first Black professional football coach, Frederick Douglass “Fritz” Pollard, (1894-1986), hailed from a family chock full of superstars.  Every one of his seven siblings distinguished themselves in various professions and ways. (Pollard’s son, Fritz, Jr. won a bronze medal in track at the Berlin 1936 Olympics with Jesse Owens, and was a veteran of WWII.)  Pollard, a WWI veteran and track star who attended Brown University, hailed from Chicago.  His alma mater, Lane Tech High School, on the Northside of Chicago, recently renamed the football field after him, and there is also a drive to name a local park after the impressive Pollard family.  (By the way, Pollard was once the head coach at Lincoln University, an HBCU.)

Also:

Black coaches and the Rooney Rule

How Black coaches perform in the NFL

Remember this report about Black NFL coaches?

The Black men who have coached in the NFL

The North Carolina Panthers did not hire Steve Wilks

In the Sports Spotlight

The day after Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 for refusing to yield her seat on a bus to a White person, Georgia Tech football dominated the news.  Torch bearing White Georgia Tech fans had mobbed up and rioted outside the state capital in Georgia to protest their governor’s stance against the football team competing in the Sugar Bowl.  (Among other things, the mob tossed furniture around inside the state capitol and uprooted parking meters.)  The governor’s objection was predicated upon the fact that the opposing team, the University of Pittsburgh, had…gulp…one Black player, Bobby Grier.

“The South stands at Armageddon,” began Georgia Governor, Marvin Griffin’s, ridiculous public statement in resistance to Tech’s participation.  He wanted to comply with a “gentleman’s” agreement that forbade southern universities from playing teams that had Black players on their rosters.  He was also incensed because Pittsburgh had audaciously insisted that Tulane, the New Orleans university hosting the Sugar Bowl, admit an integrated crowd to the stands!  Can you guess what happened in the game?

Politics

Military veteran and best-selling author, Wes Moore, invoked the ancestors as he was sworn in as just the third elected Black governor in United States history.  He will serve the state of Maryland.

The new First Lady of Maryland is Dawn Flythe Moore. The couple has been married for 16 years.

Crime and Republican “leaders:” What does it mean?

The Illinois Rifle Association files lawsuit to challenge the new Illinois ban on assault weapons 

Self-hatred?

After calls intensified for the firing of Houston assistant prosecutor, Waymond Wesley, in light of his unconscionable and reprehensible comments about dark-skinned Black women, he has now resigned.

Parenting 

Raising a sensitive boy?

Raising Black girls in a culture with biased and manufactured beauty ideals

Children’s Corner

The importance of childhood affection.

Mental Wellness

The art of being a doula and Black maternal healthcare

Humor 

Eddie Murphy in “You People”

 Find Peace

Steps toward finding peace of mind

Healing and Sanctuary

Healing and Freedom in Costa Rica

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