Uptown Notes

Yesterday, protests at Ground Zero continued to gain international attention. What’s at issue is a figment of the American public’s imagination: the ground zero mosque. Herds of “well-intentioned” Americans flooded lower manhattan to chant down the construction of what they are calling a ground zero mosque, but what really is an Islamic community center. This case is a powerful lesson in framing, which I was first introduced to by the George Lakoff but you and I experience constantly. If we want to make sure The Community Center at Park 51 is built, we’ve got to re-frame the conversation, or else the Islamophobes have won!

“Justice for Oscar Grant!” As I sit in front of these keys I know that I could have written this [...]

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.

For a few years now, Michael Steele has been trying to meet me on Beat Street by being more “Hip-Hop” [...]

Detroit is a microcosm of Black America. I believe if you cannot love Detroit, you cannot fully love Black people. The Detroit Metropolitan area represents the best and the worst that Black folks in this country have to offer. Detroit is under intense scrutiny as of late and the flashing lights of attention may have served to take the life of seven year old Aiyana Jones as a TV crew filmed a home-raid by the Detroit SWAT. With all the fascination with Detroit around the nation we get the problems of the city beamed into our homes via satellite, but it makes me wonder, is there more there than what we normally see?

Not too long ago, I had a chance to discuss the question of a Black Agenda and President Obama with [...]

Recently, I penned a piece discussing the need for Black folks to join in with the fight against Arizona’s racist immigration [...]

On next Monday the 17th at 7:30 pm there will be a panel on Black Male Privilege at the Brecht [...]

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?

Originally published at The Atlanta Post The internet is a funny thing and Twitter is a funny place. I find [...]