BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture

Subject: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 30 May 09 - 04:04 PM

I believe that communication is key to fostering understanding among people of different racial groups. One way to increase understanding among individuals of different races/ethnicities is reading and posting to blogs and websites hosted by people of color which focus on topics of race & culture/s.   

The purpose of this thread is to provide information about this category of blogs and websites. Most blogs in this category are hosted by people of color (Black; Hispanic/Latino; Asian, and individuals from other racial/ethnic populations). It appears that any one can post a comment to most of these blogs. However, some blogs more than others seem to have fewer posters who identify themselves as White than other blogs.

In my next post to this thread, I'll share a hyperlink of a blog about People of Color (PoC) and culture that I just found this month, but which is quickly becoming my favorite PoC blog because of the high quality of its comments and its interesting choices of topics.

Although the focus of this thread is blogs hosted by People of Color, please feel free to add information about any credible, positive blog or website about race & culture that you would like to share with Mudcat members and guests. If you are unable to post a hyperlink, posting the blog/website name and web address will be sufficient, and I or others will create a hyperlink.

Thanks in advance for your participation in this thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Peace
Date: 30 May 09 - 04:08 PM

Hey, gal. I will have to get at this tomorrow, but I'll go dig around the i'net.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 30 May 09 - 04:18 PM

http://www.racialicious.com "Racialicious" is my favorite blog about race & culture. As per the information on the Racialicious home page, "Latoya Peterson is Editor of Racialicious and Carmen Van Kerckhove is founder and Publisher."

Latoya Peterson is African American(Black) and Carmen Van Kerckhove is Anglo-American (White).

The summary statement of the Racialicious Home page notes that "Racialicious is a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture. Check out our daily updates on the latest celebrity gaffes, our no-holds-barred critique of questionable media representations, and of course, the inevitable Keanu Reeves newsflashes."

-snip-

I've not read any blog articles about "celebrity gaffs, and Keanu Reeves newsflashes".
I suppose such articles are found in that blog's archives. If so, I'm not interested. But what has caught my interest are the very well written essays from various bloggers who are African Americans, or are Asian, or Latino, or Native American. I've learned a great deal from reading these essays and reader comments. Most of these bloggers are guest essayist, which serves to introduce Racialicious visitors to those individual blogger's websites.

One of these days I probably will post comments in response to an article that I've read on that blog. But for now, I content with being a lurker.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 30 May 09 - 04:21 PM

Thanks, Bruce.

I look forward to learning about blogs or websites that folks here may have found. These blogs may be about music or dance or other aspects of culture. I suppose that political blogs are also acceptable listings, especially if a particular essay or dairy or thread addresses the issue of race & culture.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 30 May 09 - 04:47 PM

Here's a link to today's featured article on Racialicious:

The Muslim Ummah is One Ummah Without Regard to Race, Origin Or Color *
Rolling Ruminations has hosted a blog carnival** on White Privilege and the Muslim Ummah.. As regular readers know, it gets kind of heavy around here when we start discussing the intersection of race and religion. True to form, the carnival featured a range of opinions." ...

-snip-

* ummah is an Arabic word that means "people"; "the Muslim community"

** in this context "carnival" means a presentation of a variety of brief essays with different points of view

-snip-

Racialicious provides excerpts from several of the guest articles as well as comments from its blog readers. Because a hyperlink to the original blog is provided, Racialicious readers may chose to visit the original blog to read all of the featured essays and any comments that might be posted on that blog.

Most of the articles that I read expressed the opinion that within Muslim communities in the USA there appears to be a preference for White converts to Islam and prejudice against Black or darker skinned Muslims (either African American converts to Islam or Muslims who were born in East Africa or West Africa).

Here are two reader comments about this topic:


1. Abu Sinan wrote:

This is an issue that is often covered in the American Muslim community.

Umar Lee, a well known white convert to Islam and blogger has stated that a white converting to Islam is tantamount to "apostating from the white race".

I am very mixed on that statement, as bin Gregory said, when a white person converts to Islam they dont loose their white skin and the perks that come with that.

But then it gets murky from there. Because I convert to Islam does that mean I must give up my white/European culture? No more Goethe, Heine or Schiller? I cannot drink a non alcoholic beer during October Fest?

And, unless one has a long beard, wears a kuffiyah (skullcap) and changes their name, a white Muslim isnt even easily identifiable anyways. Again, as bin Gregory says, more often than not the white guy with a long beard will be seen as weird, or here in Northern Virigina, just someone who has driven in from the rural areas outside of the Metro DC area.

There is also the issue of white privledge in the Muslim community itself. I have been put out as the "token white guy" so many times it makes me sick. They dont want to put forward the guy with the beard, the lady with hijab or the PoC convert because of all of the stereotypes that go with that. They want to put out the white convert because it says "hey, we're normal, we even get regular Americans (as Archy Bunker would say) to convert".

However dont let this tokenism, proof of white privledge and stereotype fool you, but to the public the white convert ( or any American convert) is a nice image, but heaven forbid if you come knocking on their door to want to marry their daughter.

Heaven forbid, if as a white guy, you marry one of "their" country's women, because all bets are off.

This is a VERY complicated issue and diverts in many different directions on many different issues.

I also think, in this case, there is a big difference in the amount of privledge being white gets you depending on whether or not you are male or female.

White females will often have "born" Muslims fighting over them for marriage, whereas white Muslim men might find it MUCH harder to find a "born" Muslim mate. Even then it is complicated because some born Muslim women from certain groups are known to target white men for marriage. But in all of these cases the targeting or refusal are all often based on racial stereotypes of the white man or white female.

Ie, white men are easy to control. Umar Less, again, has talked about how many North African women, and Arab women in general, look for white converts because they can make them "hen pecked". Of course gaining immigration status is an issue for both white men and women.

White women are often seen as gulible, easy (a factor that can work for or against the woman) and less demanding than "born Muslim" women.

You cold do 30,000 words on this subject and still not cover everything.

Posted 29 May 2009 at 10:34 am ¶

**

10. Sobia wrote:

@Abu Sinan:

Agreed. There is an immense amount of racism within the global Muslim community not all of which can be blamed on post-colonial realities. There appears to be a blend of racism and religious bigotry.

I've heard comments such as "Pakistanis don't know Islam" or "those Black Muslims aren't really Muslim."

Skin colour/ethnicity/nationality gets tied in with piety.

Posted 30 May 2009 at 1:32 pm ¶

http://www.racialicious.com/2009/05/29/link-love-the-white-privilege-the-ummah-carnival/#comments

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 May 09 - 05:04 PM

I like what I've seen of Native Unity, esp. the posting called "The Elders Step Up" for May 26, 2009 my twin grandsons' birthday. This was a neat quote from there:


Yes, there were white people there. More importantly, color didn't matter. There were people of every color and nearly every spirituality, belief system, and politics in the world coming together in a sincere effort to learn from each other and work to help humanity survive these troubling times

There are more Native American/First Nation/NDN blogs listed HERE.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 30 May 09 - 05:17 PM

Here;s another blog that I just became acquainted with:

http://www.angryasianman.com/angry.html "Angry Asian Man"

There don't appear to be readers comments with this blog, but I've found that reading these articles has help me become more acquainted with contemporary Asian cultures.

Here's a statement about the Angry Asian Man blog:

"Three things about this site
04.25.02

I'm not as angry as you think. Yes, racism angers me. But I'm not here sitting in front of the computer, hating whitey and plotting revolution. This is just a subject that has always interested me — pointing out racism and noting any and all appearances of Asians in mass media and popular culture (the good and the bad). It's something I care about. So I've created a little space on the web for it all... I suppose the angry part sometimes scares people, but rest assured, I'm a pretty civil, reasonable guy. Just don't cross me.

Everything is racist, but not everything is racist. Yes, I've been calling anything and everything racist. I'm only joking... some of the time. I think some people tend to take issue with my definition of 'racist.' Yeah yeah, I know. But for me, racism and ignorance all run together in the same club —it happens all the time, and I'll be happy to point it out for you. It sometimes just helps to deal with it using a little humor. But I'm not organizing crusades and media campaigns against every little offensive thing I mention on this site.

These are my opinions — nothing more, nothing less. Don't write in complaining about my lack of objectivity. This is just a place for me to express some of the things I observe and encounter, living my life as a regular Asian American guy in the United States. I'm not trying incite riot, and definitely not trying to win anyone over. This website is not intended to be any kind of reputable source for academic research, news reporting or political influence. It's just me, a regular Asian American guy, writing about a few things that I find particularly noteworthy or interesting. More than anything, a place to express myself and work it all out. You'll notice a large part of this site deals with Asians in pop culture and entertainment. Just stuff I dig, I guess. And if that connects with people and brings you to the site, so be it. If you disagree with the content on this site and my opinions offend you, well, that's racist! No, just kidding. Go elsewhere, I guess."

http://www.angryasianman.com/about.html

-snip-


To get a sense of the eclectic nature of this blog, here are the titles of its featured articles for 5/29/2009:

30 under 30: alexander wang
[about Alexander Wang; age 25; Fashion Designer]

**
slant 9: bold asian american images
[Houston, Texas Asian American film festival]

**
the world's tallest basketball player
[Sun Mingming; 7-foot-9 Chinese basketball player]

**

families of euna lee and laura ling going public
[statements from the families of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the American journalists who have been detained by the North Korean government since March 17, will stand trial next week, on June 4th.]

**

the new spelling bee champion
[Once again, South Asian dominance. Last night, 13-year-old Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas outlasted ten other finalists with her mad spelling skillz to become the new national spelling bee champion: Aspiring neurosurgeon from Kansas is top speller.

The winning word: "Laodicean"]

**
in theaters: up, drag me to hell
[information about two newly released films that include Asian Americans actors/actresses or animated characters".

Re; the animated film Up "What makes this film particularly special is that one of the story's heroes is a young wilderness scout named Russell... who just happens to be Asian American.

Oh, they don't say Russell is Asian, and it's not really integral to the story. But I guess that's what makes it so cool -- he's just a funny character in a Pixar story. And he's even voiced by an Asian American kid, Jordan Nagai, who was chosen from about 500 kids who auditioned for the role." ]

**
sammy lee gets a star

"Dr. Sammy Lee is something of a legend. He was the first Asian American athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States, and the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in Olympic platform diving.

Lee won a gold medal in diving at the 1948 London Olympic Games and again in 1952 at Helsinki. He also coached the American diving team, and in 1976 he coached Olympian Greg Louganis to a silver medal. Basically, he's awesome.

Now 88 years old, Dr. Lee recently became the eleventh recipient of a star on the Anaheim/OC Walk of Stars"

**

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 30 May 09 - 05:20 PM

katlaughing, thanks for sharing information about http://nativeunity.blogspot.com/


I'm not familiar with that website. I'll be sure to visit it.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 30 May 09 - 07:34 PM

Here's another blog that I find to be very interesting:
http://theunapologeticmexican.org/elmachete/ "The Unapologetic Mexican"

**

Here's a summary about this blog:
"THE UNAPOLOGETIC MEXICAN" is the name of a blog that began on May 1 of 2006. This is the second incarnation of that blog, the first can be found here. In the first act, El Grito, are many stories and essays and good dialogues with a fantastic readership cultivated over two years, and much of the foundation—in terms of literature, conversation, opinion-threshing, familial wandering and historical exploration—upon which this second house was built...

This is a place that does not subscribe to the racist and anti-indigenous spin produced by USA media outlets and government agents who want to obscure the hand of the USA in both the world's history as well as related to Mexico's current conditions. This is a place where we take care to outline the interconnected roles and systems that wed colonizer and colonized; conqueror and oppressed; dominant and not-dominant, empire and those in the shadow of the empire; elites and peasants, and our own participation in the entire carnival.

Yes, I am often furious with the actions of the USA's military machine or apathetic or cruel political actions. But I am not "against the USA" as a rule or anything so bland and blunt and boring and static. I am for those times that this country has been prescient and enlightened enough to model itself after the highest of ideals, so many of which are found in our oldest and dearest legal documents. I am against cruelty and hypocrisy and vampiric government policy and abuse of the People and abuse of authority and abuse in general. These things certainly do not belong, only, to the USA! But this is where I have lived my entire life.

I do not outline outrage or what I see as fault in the system for any reason beyond that I want to know the world I live in can be sane and make sense and be kind and beautiful, in addition to all the terrible and horrific things we know it can be. I know the planet can be kind and fair and good. I want to believe we as humans can be, as well. There is a battle raging, the issue seems undecided. We strike a place, walk in a direction, speak with intent, stand on and for a side. This blog is a tiny thing, but it is one of those things.
I do want to make it clear that I am not here to pretend to be a voice for those who now live in Mexico or for those who come here (to the USA) directly from Mexico. Theirs is a different culture and framework and experience. So I can't speak for them, but I will stand with them, and at every turn. Because I consider them raza.

Words are dangerous, especially so many. We hear different things, see different things. You attempt to define too long and you rule out any sense of breath and sway and shift, all those things that everything is made of. Yet some words are too broad. The word "liberal" or the word "left" or the word "progressive." I'm afraid I don't know what they mean in too many cases.

Right here, I want to write the words anti-racist, anti-white-supremacy, anti-misogyny, anti-homophobia, anti-imperialist, pro-earth, pro-woman, pro-child, pro-indigenous rights, pro-migrant rights. Today I believe in fighting for and speaking up for such values even when they do not benefit electoral situations, possibilities, or parties.
What I write about here is simpler. And aside from my thoughts, and even then, it is about my life. What life is like in this society for someone who identifies as I do, what my life has been like here, what it has meant to me, how it has affected me, and how that inspires me to act now. I try to be honest about it, keeping in mind that we change all the time, and at times, even a day old post can be about as right as an outright lie.

Thanks for reading and for all you contribute to the joint. It ain't no little thing.
http://theunapologeticmexican.org/elmachete/¿quien/

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 30 May 09 - 07:39 PM

I'd like to share an excerpt from an essay that was posted by the editor of The Unapologetic Mexican" blog, but first let me give some background to this excerpt-the blog editor, a Latino {man} named Nezua, shared his concerns about a person who twitters who uses a tag name that is prefaced by the group name "Latino" but never writes about issues related to Latinos.

Nezua wrote:

"I felt it would be best to go to the person's site to make sure I was not missing something. What did I find? Almost every face on their roster of bloggers was light-skinned, and many light haired. Latin@s after all, are not beholden to any demographic. I'm making another point, not the colorist one it might seem. My point is that if you can pass—if you lack accent and marked darkness and other traits that the the US dominant culture devalues as less "white" than others—you are nonetheless beholden to support your people. That's my thought. And to tell you the truth, I feel there is a focus is on you and a weight on you to do so. Because you have somewhat of a choice, depending on your situation. And that is a choice that has been stolen from the others by the maintenance and reification of a corrupt system of benefit and entitlement…which favors you arbitrarily. And when that's the case, yes, it would be easy to turn and simply be All Things Latino when it comes to superficial flavor; to throw in a word here and there of Español but to skirt far away from anything icky or sticky or brown or "controversial."

Doing so marks you, to me, as someone riding the backs of raza in not too different a way than the dominant culture does. Which marks you, to me, as something worse, even.

I try to understand it, but do not. To an activist type, what makes you "Latino" if you sever yourself from the land and people of Latin America? What makes you "Latino" if you stand discrete and distinct from not only the atrocities your own country wreaks upon your ancestral homeland, but the struggle to change them? What makes you "Latino" if all the books you read and suggest to others steer away from the politics that ensnare and exploit others who are "Latino"? What even makes you a "Latino" at all if you claim no solidarity with those who suffer from anti-Latino hate even in your own nation?

This remains Nezua's blog. It is not Gospel. You are free to form your own opinion. You are even free to leave it in the comments below. This is simply the decision at which I have arrived. And I don't care if you come from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guatemala, México or Arizona. Perhaps it is up for debate before that moment you identify as "Latino/a" but once you do, and once you put yourself out there and in any way reap benefit from today's cultural gold rush—this new economy of both catering to and exploiting raza—you owe the rest of those people to which you are connecting yourself. You owe some kind of foot en la lucha, some hand, some voice. Something.

Don't you think so?"...

http://theunapologeticmexican.org/elmachete/2009/05/11/return-to-the-root/
Nezua. May 11, 2009 11:25 AM

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 30 May 09 - 08:01 PM

http://afrospear.wordpress.com/ "AfroSpear" is another blog that I like to read. In addition to short essays and reader comments, that blog also features drawings, photos, and videos.

Here's a statement from AfroSpear's Home page:

"he origins of "AfroSpear" started from a discussion a group of us had in regards to developing a community of African/Black progressive minded bloggers (click here). From further discussions it developed into an idea to create a diasporic-wide think tank type blog comprising of 6 bloggers: 3 women and 3 men... The vision was that it would focus on discussing issues, exchanging ideas and creating strategies, with the objective of developing concrete and viable solutions to tackle the concerns relating to those of African descent worldwide.   

The 6 we initially started with had developed a relationship by exchanging ideas and having discussions and respectful debates on each others blogs. We didn't always agree, but what we had in common was our love for our community and a commitment to the progress of those of African descent, both near and far. We came from 4 different countries on 3 continents. We brought a variety of experiences, perspectives, ideas, beliefs and values in an effort to foster understanding, wisdom, knowledge and strength.   

So we are currently and forever will be a work in progress. Standing still is not an option! When one stands still, you actually start moving backwards, you get left behind as others move forward. We don't claim to have all the answers but we are searching. We want to be a part of, connected to and add our collective voice to the variety of other Afrocentric/Black individuals, cells, conglomerations and collectives out in the AfroSphere. To the best and the brightest for the progress of our people."

http://afrospear.wordpress.com/about/

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 30 May 09 - 08:15 PM

Here's an excerpt from a blog essay that was posted on AfroSpear:

Black People Can Go To Hell
April 22, 2009 by brotherpeacemaker

I just suffered a dialog with someone of limited intellect about the impact of racial discrimination on the black community. There was a comment in my inbox about an article I wrote two years ago describing my theory of how America's institutionalized slavery back in its infancy laid the foundation for the relationship between the black community and the racially generic dominant community that is predominantly white. I should have known the exchange wouldn't be a good when I read the first sentence.

"You all need to suck it up and deal with the present, black people have not been enslaved in this country for a very long time…"

For the record we all agree that America's institutionalized slavery is a thing of the past. The culture that considered black people little more than white people's property is done. However, its sister culture, the culture that protects white privilege and superiority at the expense of the black community is alive and well.

When the institutionalized enslavement of black people came to its long overdue end, the dominant community didn't turn to the black community and welcomed black people with open arms as equals. The dominant community continued to subject the black people to a perpetual condition of disenfranchisement. It started with denying black people humanity and it has continued with denying black people educational and employment opportunities.

The alienation of black people's inalienable constitutional rights led to a condition of disparity that has persisted ever since black people were introduced to America as a lower life form to be bought and sold by the highest bidder. The enslavement of black people wasn't the issue when people were putting signs in windows saying only white people were entitled to goods or services. The enslavement of black people wasn't the issue when people were saying that separate facilities for black people were fair. The enslavement of black people wasn't the issue when black people were fighting for civil rights. And yet, some people insist on trying to undermine any conversation about racial disparity that persist today with arguments that slavery ended years ago so black people need to just suck it up and deal with it.

I saw a report the other day that said that unemployment has reached a thirty year high of more than 8.5 percent. But while the white community has to suffer with a rate of about 7.9 percent, the black community has to deal with an unemployment rate of 13.4 percent. There was another report that said on a per capita basis, for each dollar of wealth owned by the white community, the black community has ten cents. The black community controls less than two percent of the wealth of the white community. And some people find this disparity tolerable because slavery ended so many years ago...


-snip-

The complete essay is posted here:
http://afrospear.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/black-people-can-go-to-hell/

Here's a reader's comment about that essay:

-Bob Ray
"Someone foreign to my African American nationality once asked me, how it felt to be black. I didn't see that coming and felt it necessary to exact that answer. Well at first I had to realize that I was of darken skin and African ancestor, however I couldn't denied my American Cherokee Grandmother nor some Germanic blood that unexplainably got in there. First off, man inhumanity to mankind is evident in history and I'm proud to fight and strive to erect some symbolism of freedom from an oppressive people in and oppressive land. As a human being I want! And as a Black man I feel always prepared to fight. Because there are those who disallow me and what they sarcasticly identified as Blacks, the no, not equal attitude and treatment. Yeah this is dreadful feeling and blasphemy if you are one with Christ, but it's the predicament we are in. This struggle isn't over and basically pits evil against nature and what's right. Education is the key to getting a fair opportunity to fight, and with the bible as a guide, fortitude is necessary to weather that impending storm that inexplicitly will come your way called racism."

[same hyperlink as above]

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: CarolC
Date: 30 May 09 - 08:17 PM

A few I have run across in my web surfing...


In The Middle - Raed Jarrar's Blog


Salam Pax - The Bagdad Blogger


Pulse - founded by Ann El Khoury and Muhammad Idrees


Kabobfest - mostly people of color, with perhaps a couple of token people of no color ;-)


The Angry Arab


Sabbah's Blog


Umakahlil

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 31 May 09 - 06:08 AM

I found that Native Unity blog yesterday too, but did not post link.

I started looking for Inuit blog this morning.

Perhaps not as attuned to current culture of people and more academic than pop culture, I found and have been reading this.social and cultural anthropolgy in the news which covers indigenious people minorities globally.

A scroll down right side menu to Categories and then Minorities and you can find articles re specific groups.

Started with Aborigine and The Dreaming. Fascinating stuff an not couched in academic terms as I feared it would be.

There is stuff about gobalisation, migration, music.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 31 May 09 - 08:07 AM

CarolC, we cross posted but I'm just now reading your post. Thanks for adding those blogs to the list.


VirginiaTam, thanks also for the resource that you added to this thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Alice
Date: 31 May 09 - 11:51 AM

This is a news blog based in Missoula, MT, for Native American news and you can see a list of related blogs on the right side of the home page.

http://buffalopost.net/

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 31 May 09 - 12:50 PM

Hello, Alice!

Thanks for sharing that resource.

**

Correction:

Carmen Van Kerckhove, the founder and Publisher of http://www.racialicious.com/
is Asian.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 09 - 01:16 PM

It's not a blog, but at "Beyond Intractability.org" there is a GREAT interview (transcript yet to come I believe) with Sr. Roberto Chene. He's a seasoned professional (sounds grassroots but don't let that fool you), who does diversity and community-building work. His interview is rich with great perspectives on working with folks, in those fields.

Other interviews there touch on matters of color and culture. I have not yet heard them all, but so far his has been the best IMO. There was another one (I forget whose) that dealt specifically with negotiating change with color, class, and cultural issues predominantly in the mix. There is a good description of each interview, and in many cases transcripts, to find whatever one may like to study more deeply.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 31 May 09 - 02:52 PM

Susan, thanks for sharing information about that website.

Is this the one you mean?

http://www.beyondintractability.org/

If so, would you please where the interviews on race and culture are found on that website?

Thanks,

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 09 - 03:41 PM

Yes, that's it. Links to what I referenced are right on that page in the blue-headed box labeled "Knowledge Base Contents."

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 31 May 09 - 03:42 PM

Okay. Thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 09 - 03:50 PM

This is from BI I referenced, that looks to culture:

Onaje Mu'id - MSW and CASAC (Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor) with the Practitioners Research and Scholarship Institute (PRASI)
Topics: post-colonial, reconciliation, trauma healing

I've reviewed so many of those interviews (while driving or aquajogging, with no notepad), that only a few of the individual interviews really stand out for me at this point. It's best for people to look there and see what is of interest to them, and think about the context of each interview.

From the above interview, tho, here's a snip from the transcript:

.... so how do you get them to use conflict resolution philosophy and skills to reduce contradiction in conflict so they can create harmonious and cooperative relationships? So I'm tying in historical trauma, how that has damaged ??? people and how that has also destroyed their culture, changed their culture, morphed their culture -- instead of it being like a mother and caretaker, their culture in fact creates high rates of homicide, high rates of suicide, that creates a ??? type of mentality, so it's transforming the culture so that people can transform themselves. But it starts with people transforming themselves, so that they can transform the culture, so it's a dynamic between the two. So if there is an answer it's in cultural restoration. ....

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 31 May 09 - 04:02 PM

Susan, my preference is to use this thread as a resource listing and not a place to debate issues.

For that reason, I won't yield to temptation and address that transcript excerpt you posted. However, in another thread, I might very much be interested in discussing what appears to me to be a "blaming the victims" statement that a particular culture creates "high rates of homicide, high rates of suicide" and "creates a ??? type of mentality".

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 09 - 06:42 PM

Azizi, you don't need to argue it with me-- I only gave you the name to go with a prior post, and documentation you apparently took out of context via the very short sample I offered. Listen to the man who does it for a living-- it's his interview-- and take his professional experience in context.... or don't. You can always contact him to express your thoughts.

You asked. I participated. The rest is your choice.

I hope you did not assume that every person of color posting blogs or giving interviews necessarily ascribes to your views?

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 31 May 09 - 07:33 PM

Susan, perhaps we'll talk more about this some other time, but my short answer is "No, i don't assume that every person of color posting blogs or giving interviews necessarily ascribes to my views". Furthermore, I don't have set views about everything I read.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 09 - 11:34 PM

The ??? marks in the site's transcripts usually indicate inaudible words the transcriber chose not to guess at. HEARING the interviews is necessary.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: akenaton
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 11:11 AM

Aye Susie, I believe you might be a free thinker right enough ....:0)

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 11:39 AM

Here's a link to Repeating Islands, a website for "News and commentary on Caribbean culture, literature, and the arts".

http://repeatingislands.com/2009/05/29/conference-on-the-black-music-diaspora-in-the-caribbean/

That website also has a blog.

Here's an example of a news article posted to that website:

Conference on the Black Music Diaspora in the Caribbean
ivetteromero | May 29, 2009

"The Center for Black Music Research (CBMR), Columbia College, Chicago, in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras and the Institute of Caribbean Studies, presents the conference "Black Music Diaspora: Focus on the Caribbean" on June 19-20. The conference will take place at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras...

The conference brings together a distinguished group of presenters, consisting of Caribbeanist scholars from the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and the United States, whose professional backgrounds and interests span several disciplines, including musicology, ethnomusicology, anthropology, sociology, folklore, religious studies, cultural studies, literary studies, and history. Speakers will include Raquel Z. Rivera, Brenda Berrian, Kenneth Bilby, and Ángel Quintero Rivera. The conference and discussions will be pan-Caribbean in scope.

[To be announced with other special events are Music and Dialog@COPI (Corporación Piñones se integra) and Four Hundred Years of Music in Santurce: A Conversation with its Musicians.]

The registration fee is $75.00 for regular registration and $50.00 for students and retirees. The fee includes admission to all sessions and special events."

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 11:43 AM

To help give a sense of the wide variety of topics that are presented on http://repeatingislands.com/2009/05/29/conference-on-the-black-music-diaspora-in-the-caribbean/, here's a listing of that site's most recent posts (as of June 1, 2009):

RECENT POSTS

Art: Caribbean, Crossroads of the World

Ras Mosera and "Caribbean Crossroads Curaçao"

Trumpeter Etienne Charles releases Folklore

Haitian Protesters against Dominican Environmentalists

In Memoriam: Lady Guymine (1932-2009)

The Chicago Tribune reviews Lilian Pizzichini's The Blue Hour

In memoriam: Ivan Van Sertima (1935-2009)

Boggy Peak to become Mount Obama on August 4th

Walcott vs Padel: Wole Soyinka's 2-cents' worth

Ernerst Hemingway's Legacy in Cuba

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 11:53 AM

Not all blogs that are "about people of color & culture" are launched and hosted by People of Color.

Yesterday I came across this jazz blog that provides information about various musicians, including some who are PoC:

http://www.jazzmusicblog.net/ Jazz Music Blog

Here's that Blog's "About Us" statement:

"ABOUT JAZZ MUSIC BLOG
Our research department goes to great lengths to discover bloggers who possess creative, informative and entertaining qualities and to then present these bloggers to you, with their respective links, on the 1800blogger platform. We encourage our readers to click on these links to learn more about the blogger and their writings."

-snip-

To give you a sense of the writing on that blog, here's an excerpt from an article about Rashaan Roland Kirk:

Captain Kirk
BY ADMIN | MAY 28, 2009
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP

"Theodore "Rashaan" Roland Kirk, that is. For some strange reason, I have a connection in my mind between Roland Kirk, Pharaoh Sanders, and Sun Ra. I always think of the other two when thinking of the one. I can kinda guess the connection between the latter two. Sanders' Karma, with its remarkable epic 'The Creator has a Master Plan,' reminds me of the cosmic mythology that Sun Ra wove around himself. But why Roland Kirk?

Well, both T.R. Kirk and Sun "Herman Poole Blount" Ra had health problems. But surely that ain't it. Anyway, Rashaan Roland Kirk is a good story. He lost his sight by the age of two, and learned to push his soul into music at the Ohio State School for the Blind. That the latter offered music training is a sobering note for us conservatives who are always complaining about public spending. One Roland Kirk is worth a few months of life for General Motors, in my book.

Kirk stretched the envelope quite a bit. He became famous for playing up to three horns at the same time, and for a circular breathing technique that allowed him to continue notes beyond the brief time that mother nature allots. But none of that is really to the point. I have only digested a couple (well, three actually) of Rashaan Roland Kirk's works: Kirk's Works, and the two in one combination Rip, Rig, and Panic and Please Don't You Cry Dear Edith. They are both very good, but Rip, Rig, Please. … is a masterpiece on the highest shelf.

Listening to this recording, one can only wonder if there was anything this man couldn't do besides see, or anything he didn't know. The range of instruments over which he has command is awesome, and the depth of texture and sound on each instrument is the kind of thing that can make a merely brilliant player throw his horn off the second street bridge."..

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: bubblyrat
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 12:07 PM

I am all in favour of these kind of discussions,as long as someone,somewhere can assure me that,if I were to take myself,my family,and ten thousand friends off to another country,say Libya,or Morrocco,or Afghanistan or Iran or Iraq or Egypt or Jamaica,or India or Pakistan or Kenya or Ethiopia or 101 other nations, start building churches and cathedrals and telling everyone that they were wrong,and that Jesus was the only person worth worshipping, whilst simultaneously asking for welfare payments,a house,and all the benefits attendant upon being a citizen of that country ,but no, I wouldn't join their armed forces to defend them if they were attacked------well, I fear that this would probably meet with a polite refusal,if not downright HOSTILITY !!Welcome to the real world !!

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 12:49 PM

If the above poster (01 Jun 09 - 12:07 PM) is a citizen of the UK, the US, or any one of several European countries, then their country has already done what they describe in the above post, often committing genocide in the process, only instead of getting welfare from them, their country has simply taken their resources and forced their people to work for very little pay. And instead of refusing to serve in their armed forces, their country has used its armed forces to subjugate the armed forces and the people of those other countries.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 01:45 PM

I hope that political discussions can be held on other threads and not this one.

I hope that hope isn't futile.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 03:41 PM

Sorry.

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 04:06 PM

No problemo, CarolC,

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 12:14 PM

http://www.colorlines.com/ is an online magazine about race and culture.

Here's an excerpt from Colorline's About Us page:

About ColorLines

"ColorLines has been the national newsmagazine on race and politics since 1998. We tell stories from communities of color while focusing on structural solutions that advance racial justice. For daily content on race and politics, visit our blog, RaceWire.org.

Here's what you get with ColorLines:
1. More stories, more investigations, more often. Our team of multiracial journalists covers stories about race around the country. Our writers look at police brutality, the myth of a colorblind America, and Obama's web strategy—just to name a few topics. We also write about the impact of public policy in communities of color and consider steps we can take to move forward.

2. ColorLines journalists write about race. Our team of writers and photographers produce stories that consider racism as a structural problem with big picture solutions. No matter what the story is—whether it's poverty or sex—our writers talk about race. We consider the impact of laws on communities of color and we also cover how artists of color are changing the culture."...

http://www.colorlines.com/about.php

Subject: RE: BS: Blogs About People of Color & Culture
From: Alice
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 12:56 PM

Here's one I just learned of from a CNN news story:

http://www.thegrio.com/


from Welcome to the Grio:
"What makes the Grio different from any other existing site is that we have the reach of a major news entity, and the focus on the sensitivities and interests of Black America. We have an unrivaled amount of video coverage as well as articles and blogs from some of the leading figures and fresh voices in our community."