Uptown Notes

The term racial profiling has been part of my vocabulary and reality for nearly 15 years now, but it shouldn’t [...]

Unless you have been in hiding, you have noticed the Census 2010 is in full swing now. From rapping commercials [...]

I recently penned a piece for the new website The Atlanta Post about the passing of Malcolm X and the [...]

And one of them is not the use of the word Negro which has BEEN appearing, including on the 2000 [...]

This is my reflection on Nia Purpose ”To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order [...]

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.

Last weekend, at the Malcolm X Grassroots Unity Brunch one of the topics covered was violence against LGBTQ people of color. I think it was Kenyon Farrow who mentioned the suicides of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover and Jaheem Herrera who are both Black boys who recently committed suicide because of peer bullying and hatred. Jewel Woods, of the Renaissance Male Project, writes a clear indictment of the ways that our schools allow torture and why boys of color are particularly at risk. What can we do to prevent torture in our schools and ensure a safe and whole development for all our children.

Today CCNY will feature a lecture by Kwame Appiah on “Race and Genomics” as well as host a stop on the “Live from Death Row” tour. Great chance to think about race theoretically and practically.

On Feb 25th, City College of New York will host an important panel on No Child Left Behind and Urban Schools. R. L’Heureux Lewis will moderate with panelists Christopher Edmin, Winthrop Holder, and Marcus Winters. 5-7pm in Shepard Hall Rm 250.

This past week, renowned Psychologist Richard Nisbett published an opinion piece in the New York Times entitled, “Education Is All in the Mind.” While I’ve come to respect Nisbett for his research and advocacy against polemics such as The Bell Curve, his recent piece misses the mark. The central issue is that Nisbett privileges psychological factors over other factors and leaves the reader to think what it takes to repair schools essentially are “mind games.”