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!

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

There is a quiet storm brewing in American schools. While the nation is keeping close watch on health care reform [...]

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

This is my reflection on the principle of Ujamaa – Cooperative Economics… The title of the post is a variation [...]

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.

You know how you say “what is there to do today/tonight?” Well I have an answer for you from today [...]

I can enjoy songs about summer… check the video by Dead Prez for Summertime and make sure to cop “Pulse [...]

One of my favorite portions of Assata are the verses interspersed. In honor of our great freedom fighter Assata Shakur [...]

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