Uptown Notes

Recently, a firestorm surrounding Shirley Sherrod erupted. A spliced video of her speech ended in her force resignation from the USDA and condemnation by the NAACP. Following the debacle, there were multiple editorials and comments about the failures of the NAACP. While I completely agree the NAACP and USDA failed to respond appropriately to Sherrod, I don’t think the picture that has been painted of the NAACP is accurate or contemporary. Beneath I offer some reasons why and what it means for movement building.

Yesterday the NYTimes ran an interesting Op-Ed piece on Charter Schools by Charles Murray entitled, “Why Charter Schools Fail the Test.” I read through it quickly and thought it to be arguing two main things: standardized tests were weak measures and that school choice was a democratic right. Sounds agreeable, right? But why was this written by Charles Murray author of the thinly veiled racist polemic The Bell Curve?

On Tuesday, the New York Times published a story entitled “As Population Shifts in Harlem, Blacks Lose Their Majority.” The [...]

I just watched Precious, Lee Daniel’s film based on the novel Push by Sapphire, and the only way I can find to describe it is extraordinary in the superlative and literal sense. Extraordinary, in the superlative sense, for its craftsmanship in visually and textually telling a narrative of the composite character Precious. It is extra-ordinary (beyond ordinary), in the literal sense, in that it concentrates on a particular set of lives ravished by sexual abuse, physical abuse, and poverty. This is not the tale of all in poverty, but it is a tale that exists.

On Sunday night, Kanye West once again burst into the limelight with his interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at [...]

A look at what happens when race and gender are uncorked in a chicago eatery

Finally a skit on Gates that made me laugh. Hat tip to ZM

Why I didn’t jump up and talk about swimming pools or Skip Gates … and maybe why you may not as well.

Cornel West and Carl Dix tangle at CCNY on Tuesday night.

The recent death of Chris Jones, attributed to a gang in suburbia has sparked more hysteria about the violence, gangs, and most importantly race without mentioning race.