Raising Cain...

LAUNCHED TODAY: A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice

I knew The Movement for Black Lives was preparing a new platform for release this summer, and this morning I found news of the launch in an email. It's really awesome. I hope folks will check it out and endorse the platform as an individual or group. You can access the platform, policy briefs, booklet (in English or Spanish!), list of organizations involved, platform endorsement form, and all kinds of images for use on blogs and social media here or using the link in the sidebar.

Twitter Hashtag: #Vision4BlackLives

Good work, everybody!

 

Marco McMillian's Life And Death A Test For Civil Rights In The Mississippi Delta

Very interesting indepth article by Janell Ross (formerly a reporter at the Tennessean) on the death of Marco McMillian:

Before his mysterious death in late February, Marco McMillian had hoped to lead this community, running for mayor with a reform-minded agenda. McMillian, 33, was black, and the first openly gay person to vie for public office in Mississippi.

The nation’s first black president may have put gay rights squarely in the center of righteous and patriotic American struggles for equality during his second inaugural speech in January. And the Supreme Court is currently considering two of the most important gay rights cases in U.S. history. But the way McMillian’s life is understood, and his death investigated, is also a barometer of sorts on the state of American equality.

“There is some complicated, heartbreaking, truly tragic and important stuff going on in Clarksdale,” said Omowale Akintunde, a University of Nebraska professor and Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker. Akintunde came to town in early March to chronicle what he says is a story that America needs to see.

“What it tells us are some ugly truths about remaining bigotry and bias," he said, "even among those who have themselves been terrorized, exploited, excluded and demeaned.”

Read the full article at www.huffingtonpost.com

Related articles

Autopsy Findings Still Pending in Marco McMillian Murder

Was Marco McMillian Killed in Mississippi Because He Was Black or Gay?

Miss. town stunned by killing of gay mayor candidate

Gay, Black Mayoral Candidate Marco McMillian Found Dead

Has the Deep South changed? Clarksdale, Mississippi is burning

Here’s to You, Mrs. Robeson - In These Times

Okay, here's my culture pick of the week, a review of Barbara Ransby's book about Essie Robeson...

Unlike the world-renowned outspoken singer and actor Paul Robeson (1898-1976), known for his leading roles in The Emperor Jones, Othello and Show Boat, few people have heard of Eslanda ‘Essie’ Cardozo Goode Robeson, the writer, anthropologist and activist who was his wife. In a compelling new biography, Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson, historian Barbara Ransby introduces us to her, and, along the way, explores the sexism that allows “Great Men” to be remembered, while women like Essie, who make their fame and glory possible, are forgotten. The result is a social history that reveals Essie as a prolific journalist, author, public speaker, and advocate for women and people of color—and as a woman whose personal life was rife with contradictions and conundrums.

via inthesetimes.com

Related articles

Remembering the Overlooked Life of Eslanda Robeson

Paul Robeson, the Spanish Civil War, and the Oliver Law Film That Never Was

A Look Back - Actor marches outside downtown St. Louis theater to protest segregated seating

Amy Goodman interviews Alice Walker on 30th Anniv. of "The Color Purple": Racism, Violence Against Women Are Global Issues

One of my favorite stories from an awesome storyteller...can't believe it's been 30 years, though...

On the 30th anniversary of the publication of "The Color Purple," we speak with author, poet and activist Alice Walker about her groundbreaking novel and its enduring legacy. Set mainly in rural Georgia in the 1930s, the book tells the story of a young, poor African-American woman named Celie and her struggle for empowerment in a world marked by sexism, racism and patriarchy. The novel earned Walker a Pulitzer Prize in 1983, making her the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer for fiction. Walker explains the origin of the book’s title and explores some of its central characters and their connection to her own family history.

Read the full transcript or watch the interview at www.democracynow.org

Why Do Some Professors Still Think Women Science Students Are Stupid? | Alternet

Interesting study on gender bias to start the day...

When asked to rate an imaginary student based on only a single-page resume, science professors considered the male student more competent, and said they were more likely to hire him for a laboratory position or agree to mentor him.

 

The catch? The two resumes were identical, except on half the resumes the student’s name was John, and on the other half, it was Jennifer.

via www.alternet.org

Keli Goff: Why White Supremacists Have Embraced the War on Contraception

Good article from Keli Goff at Huffington Post:

So when I first began hearing murmurs that there may be more to the political battle over contraception than simply the usual culprits -- sexism, misogyny and political posturing -- I was skeptical. But as more and more people who I don't consider your usual, run-of-the-mill conspiracy nuts began mentioning one theory in particular regarding part of the motivation behind the battle over contraception, and the larger war on women in general, I began to wonder: Could they be on to something?

Now, thanks to my recent interviews with a prominent white supremacist and one of the nation's foremost experts on them, I don't have to wonder any longer. Let's just say that for some, the battle over birth control happens to align with a much bigger, long-term culture war. Not a culture war over religious freedom, as some would have you believe, but a war over the browning of America.

Read the whole article at www.huffingtonpost.com

Joe Brewer: The War on Women and What to Do About It

I really liked Joe's presentation because it connects some dots between sound bytes in the "war on women" and the larger systemic ground of patriarchy in which it is being waged:

 

Cognitive Policy Works (Joe's website)

How the War on Women Became Mainstream (the article that inspired Joe to make this video)

Do something today to eliminate racial discrimination

"Racism has been a banner to justify the enterprises of expansion, conquest, colonization and domination and has walked hand in hand with intolerance, injustice and violence." -- Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Guatemalan Indigenous Leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

 

The UN has designated March 21 as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The theme for 2012 is "Racism and Conflict," highlighting the fact that racism and discrimination often are at the root of deadly conflict.

I couldn't help but think of Trayvon Martin when I read that the theme was chosen to reflect how racism, prejudice and xenophobia create extreme tension and are used as powerful weapons to create fear or hatred. While the UN's declaration focuses on times of outright conflict in the world, I think we in the United States need to look within our own borders where white privilege (consciously and unconsciously) still maintains business as usual in unjust institutional systems. The racial profiling that led to the death of Trayvon Martin is just one recent example.

On Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell last night, Rep. Corrine Brown of Florida's Third District made a pitch for all of us to use this as a "teachable moment" -- what better day to start than on day dedicated to ending racial discrimination?

To me, the "teachable moment" idea is always a call to stop, take a deep breath, and climb to a higher mountain with a better view of the whole situation. Too often the potential of such powerful moments as Trayvon's death has brought us are destroyed in outrage against an individual perpetrator or the police or any one of a number individuals or agencies that will be targeted for blame. When the guilty party is tried and convicted, we go back to business as usual...until the next tragedy.

This reflects that our society is still in the grips of an outdated worldview that sees us all as separate beings in a world of unconnected parts. In such a belief system, the "bad apple" theory is used to explain racial violence.  Somebody has to be wholly at fault, and too often we're content to blame the victim. A society of living beings is reduced to something more like a car that won't run: all we have to do is find the broken part and take it out and replace it and everything will be fine again.

But nature (and ancient teachings and now science, by the way) tells us something different. Earth is a living system and we humans are all part of it, connected and interdependent, one to another and to all other parts. My human heart-brain tells me that Trayvon was my little brother, and yours, and even Zimmerman's.

What would we have to do to end racial discrimination once and for all? In a larger sense, I think we need a collective shift from the old paradigm of world as machine to world as a whole, dynamic, living system. I think that can begin with new ways of relating to (and engaging with) these teachable moments.

I'm recalling a theme in the Harry Potter series around the aversion most of the wizarding world had to saying "Voledemort" or acknowledging that Voldemort had returned, as if the name itself had some magical power and that saying it would somehow give Voldemort power over the person who said it.

Who or what is it that must not be named in the case of Trayvon Martin? That depends, of course, on who you are, what your life experience has been, and dozens of other factors. Speaking for myself as a member of the dominant group/culture in the United States, I would put white privilege, systemic racism and patriarchy at the top of the list. These are the shadows -- the Voldemorts -- that I have not always been able to see and name.

But see them and name them we must, and then carry on the social healing process that comes when we realize that the natural state of humanity is not "every man for himself" but "we're all in this together".

Some resources for the journey:

Beyond Whiteness -- A Resource for Dismantling White Privilege and Racism (website created by Be Scofield)

Applied Research Center (offers resources including webinars for learning how to get the conversation started)

 

 

"Racism continues to cause suffering for millions of people around the world.... I look to all people to join the United Nations in our drive to eliminate racism. We must, individually and collectively, stamp out racism, stigma and prejudice."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

 

Gretchen Whitmer: Proposed "Right to Bully" GLBT Youth Provision Could Make Tennessee a "Laughingstock"

Judging by the number of returns on a Google search for this "right to bully" bill, I'd say Tennessee's laughingstock is already up over this. The new bill would amend existing anti-bullying law to give bullies a "loophole" if they bullied LGBTQ students on religious grounds. If I can ever find the actual text of the amendment, I'll come back and add a link for it.

Here are some other links, including one for taking action via change.org...

Back in November, Michigan Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D) made national headlines for delivering an impassioned speech condemning legislation that required schools to adopt anti-bullying policies that exempted students who bullied based on “sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction.” As a result of Whitmer’s very public opposition, the Michigan legislature eventually stripped the so-called “license to bully” provision from the final bill and now the state leader is hoping to duplicate that success in Tennessee, where lawmakers are considering a very similar clause.

via www.alternet.org

 

 

Tennessee Anti-bullying Law: Stop All Bullying (petition at change.org)

Christian activist questions scope of anti-bullying law (Chattanooga Times-Freepress, 1/4/2012)

Proposed bill in Tennessee would essentially legalize anti-LGBTQ bullying (feministing.com, 1/5/12)

Tennessee Anti-bullying Law Could Allow Students to Speak Out Against Gays for Religious Reasons (Huffington Post, 1/4/12)

 

A Perfect Storm of Prejudices | Who's Afraid of Social Democracy?

Recently I discovered a great blog -- Who's Afraid of Social Democracy -- by psychoanalyst Elisabeth Young-Bruehl. Today she posted an article on the subject of prejudice, and I thought I'd say a few words, toss in some quotes and post a link to it here at Raising Cain.

On her blog, Young-Bruehl writes about current affairs and reflects on contemporary political issues and questions. Prior to her psychoanalytic training, Young-Bruehl was a doctoral student of the political philosopher, Hannah Arendt, and eventually wrote her biography. Young-Bruehl has also written many papers and books on gender issues, as well as a book very relevant to her blog post today, The Anatomy of Prejudices.

Since I formalized my anti-racist journey by becoming an activist in organizational anti-racism transformation, I've spent much time integrating what I'd previously discovered about human relating and relationships from my psychoanalytic training and practice. The intersection of the individual psyche and the collective mind of society has become an edge of tremendous interest and discovery for me personally and professionally.

That edge is not an either-or space: we need to know a lot about how people come to be who they are AND how the collective mind and societal systems come to be as they are if we want to get beyond racism. The individual and society co-create each other psychologically just as, in a parallel process, a baby and her mother co-create each other. If we would like to change ourselves and the systems in which we live, I believe we'll have to become aware of these complex dynamics.

I have a sense that Young-Bruehl's last two blog posts have opened doors and moved my thinking about all of this forward.

Speaking about a changing view of the nature of prejudice after World War II, Young-Bruehl says:

That decade of psychoanalytic work was extremely important because it opened up for exploration the whole domain of unconscious motivation. But, to my mind, it was also very flawed and replete with misleading generalizations. For example, in Adorno’s and Allport’s books, there is no prejudice against women because all prejudice is against minority groups and women are not a minority group. (By the same crazy logic, there would be no prejudice against blacks in South Africa because the blacks are not a minority group there…) During the Civil Rights movement of the late 1950s, the ethnocentrism synthesis began to unravel under pressure from people whose victim experience it misconstrued or overlooked. People of color pointed out that racism is not just like anti-Semitism. Look, they said, did the white people who invented tests to show the inferior intelligence of people of color also try to show the inferior intelligence of the Jews who supposedly masterminded the international Jewish banking conspiracy?

She follows the evolution of this notion further into the feminist "gender-race-class" discussions of the 1970's, but notes:

Meanwhile, prejudices continued to flourish in ever-changing appearances. Nonetheless, many hoped to be able to interpret America as a nation marching in the direction of being “post-racial,” and many hoped a “post-feminist” era was dawning because women have made considerable social progress. These hopes, it seems to me, reflect the still-prevalent confusion about prejudices and how they operate. Even if the acts and appearances that are typical of a prejudice do abate or ameliorate, the needs or unconscious purposes served by the prejudices remain –and can rise up again or reassert or take new directions as circumstances change. There’s not much lynching going on now, but huge numbers of black men are hung up in jail, and that is not very “post-racial.”

With that, I'll leave you to your own investigation of Young-Bruehl's ideas. I get uneasy sometimes excerpting from pieces that seem so coherent as Young-Bruehl's impress me, so I hope you'll read her entire article.

She references her previous post as well, and you can access that one here.