Post Black

Dorothy Roberts Debunks Race as Biological in "Fatal Invention"

2011-08-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

Dorothy Roberts is author of the new book Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century (New Press, 2011). She is also the Kirkland & Ellis Professor at Northwestern University School of Law and a faculty fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, with appointments in the departments of Sociology and African American Studies. Here she discusses the rise in identifying race as biological among some scientists.

YLW: Why did you write Fatal Invention?

DR: I decided to write it because I have noticed resurgence in the use of the term race as a biological category. And also [I noticed] a growing acceptance among colleagues and speakers that race really is biological and somehow genomic science will soon discover the biological truths about race. The more I looked into it, I saw there were more scientists that said they discovered race in the genes, more products coming out showing that race is a natural division.

YLW: But race is not biological, it’s purely a political creation.

DR: I thought this trend [of race as biological] was supporting a false concept of race. But also, I was alarmed that knowing history; the biological construct of race has been used to obscure the political origin of racial inequality, to make it seem as if the reason people of color are disadvantaged in society is natural, as opposed to political and institutional.

It’s a very frightening development. We would accomplish so much more, if all the money that was going into race based genes were going into cleaning up the toxins in black neighborhoods that cause black people to get cancer and die, cleaning up education or basic health care for everybody.

YLW: Many people have a hard time accepting that race is a political creation and not biological, despite the years of proving otherwise.

DR: There are some people who understand this- using economic theory and research showing you that you cannot divide the human race into species. Scientist have known this and proved it definitively for decades. So it’s alarming when you see scientist promoting race as genetic.

YLW: Can you give me examples of the false notion of race as biology that’s popping up in science that your reference in your book?

DR: There are ancestry groups testing customers that say with a cheek swab they can trace your ancestry. Then you have federal and state authorities that are amassing DNA databases that compel people to give up their DNA if they are arrested. As a result these databases are disproportionately made up of black and Latino profiles. Pharmaceuticals targeted people according to race. The food and drug administration has already targeted a heart therapy for black patients. It was only turned into a race specific drug when the original patent ran out.

DR: There are studies to explain racial divisions in health that are actually caused by social inequalities. Yet you have researchers studying high blood pressure, asthma among blacks, etc. and looking for a genetic cause. However, research shows these [illnesses] are the effects of racial inequality and the stress of racial inequality.

YLW: So race based medicines, like a heart medicine for African Americans, are illogical, because since race isn’t biological, you can’t have a medicine targeting this group?

DR: Correct. Of those who say [race is biological], they usually point to sickle cell anemia, as proof that illnesses are race-based. Even if you look at these genetic diseases that seem to run along with race, it’s actually caused by environment. Sickle cell is an adaptation in areas with high rates of malaria. You find it in some areas of Africa, Asia and Europe. It’s not about race at all.

DR: To me it’s so obvious that race is a political category. Who is considered black, Asian, Indian, all these things changes depending on political circumstances and are determined by political markers. Yet people hold on to this idea that if scientist keep searching and searching they will find the divisions of a human species, and we’ve found it is a false pursuit.

YLW: You argue that the scientific inquiry in looking to genetics to create health remedies has led to an interest in looking to genetics to explain a host of social ills and challenges including race.

DR: Genes can never tell you anything without looking at the environment that they are expressed because of the very cells of our bodies. There is not a gene that causes cancer. That is false. After spending millions and millions of dollars they have not come up with the genes that cause cancer or diabetes or any of these diseases. It’s been a false hope, now they are looking to race as a way to make money off of this failed attempt to make money off of a gene map. Race is a bad way to prescribe drugs. I don’t want some doctor to look at me and say you’re black so you should take this drug. I want it to be based on an examination of me.

YLW: What are the dangers of viewing race biologically?

DR: It’s not just a matter of being wrong. It’s the disastrous consequences, because it sends the message that all the inequalities in who dies earlier and who bears suffering from disease, who gets poorly educated, who fills prison cells- it makes it seem like it’s some biological difference, when it’s the power of advantage and disadvantage. But instead of looking at those implications, they’d rather look at false proof written in our genes.

DR: There is a history of tracing race to a biological pathology. And there is a counter tradition of saying no, we have innate superiority. I don’t think talking about innate superiority or otherwise is the way to go. I think looking at the success in spite of the disadvantages, looking at doing it in spite of the social constraints, makes sense.

DR: I also got resistance from black friends, relatives and colleagues to this idea that race is a political system. I think there are people who realize there is racism in America and the political nature, but they also want to hold on to a biological concept of race. There are conservatives who want to hold on to the fact that there is a biological concept of race to explain inequality. But there are also black people in America who believe this.

YLW: Can you give me an example?

DR: For one, ancestry testing and another in the first race specific drugs targeted to African American patients with heart failure. In both cases these are African Americans who are promoting products to some extent that use the idea that we are biologically different and saying that is important to our identity.

YLW: You’re saying that genetic ancestry testing, say finding the African tribe you descended from is impossible to find genetically?

DR: We cannot, in most cases, trace our ancestry back to Africa. My position is that you’re basing it on an illusion that there is a biological demarcation.

YLW: Ancestry testing is very popular and many people take great pride in being able to identify the African ethnic group they derived from. But you’re saying that genetically, you can’t trace this ancestry. Why not?

DR: The science of it is matching the customers DNA profile and specific genetic base to a genetic base that was collected in Africa. Each company has a different database. It’s proprietary and based on collections that they did themselves and collected, or publicly available ones they collected. You’re talking about matching a customer’s traits to a database that was collected recently, obviously not collecting those people who were around during the slave trade. They didn’t test anyone 300 years ago.

DR: The most they can tell you is that your traits are the closest to a group they sampled recently, but that group might be different. They might not be in the same location. There have been migrations in Africa sense then. You just don’t know if it’s a match to an ancestor. And because different companies have different samples and different ways of matching, you can go to four ancestry companies and get different results. It is not the definitive answer that many people think it is. It involves a lot of guess work. At the end a lot of people who have results say they came from the Mendi tribe, others say Yoruba or Zulu. Then the customer who has all these results has to pick one. Then we’re back to a political affinity. Which one do I like better? Which one do I want to align with?

DR: I say just pick one. Why take the test? Maybe you like the artwork of that group, or maybe you met someone of that group, or maybe you like the politics. Yes we have ancestors from Africa and from other countries as well, but that does not have to be spliced down

DR: Africa has more genetic diversity than any other continent in the world. We are genetically extremely diverse, but we also know that African Americans are products of mixtures of all kinds of ancestries. There is no biological essence to being African American. We’re extremely mixed. But I believe there is a political solidarity that we can have, not based on our biology, but based on our commitment to fight racism and to have a better world that is rid of political injustice.

For more information on Dorothy Roberts go to http://www.dorothy-roberts.com/

Post Black: The One Year Anniversary Interview

2011-01-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

Post Black celebrates its one year anniversary this month. Interview with Ytasha L. Womack conducted by NV Magazine's Christopher Chaney.

CC: Post Black initially graced the shelves of bookstores nationwide on January 1 last year. Reflecting on your interactions with audiences as you toured our nation what have you learned that has intrigued you the most?

YLW: For one, I learned people really enjoy talking about identity. I also realized that people enjoy gaining new insights and finding reasons to have conversations with people who they typically might not run across. Something else that was reaffirmed for me, is that people enjoy seeing themselves in media. They like to see their opinions and thoughts reflected on a larger scale and realizing that they aren’t alone. Their very livelihoods are somehow validated when people see themselves in media.

However, I’m also really fascinated by the cultural diversity among black Americans and the efforts to understand it. For example, I spoke at a Black History event at an agency in New York and the organizers were very careful to label if an African American and Black History event, to be sure to incorporate all aspects of the black experience including that of recent immigrants. They used both African American and Black because everyone, depending on where they come from, might not identify with one or the other, so they use both.

YLW: I think it’s really interesting to see how marketers and diversity managers are wrestling with this as well. English, for example, is not the first language of every black person in the US. That’s not a subject we discuss very often. I’ve had people ask me if I included the Afro Latino experience and I was happy to say that I did approach the subject. I’ve had lots of people thank me for including the immigrant experience. . These kinds of experiences make me be more aware of the language I use when discussing black cultures, so that I can be as inclusive as I can at all times. As a woman raised in a large urban city, in a largely black neighborhood whose families have roots in the South, it would be very easy for me to assume that that’s some common denominator experience for most African American people. But increasingly, that’s not the case, and its good to recognize that and to have the tools to cross those barriers.

CC: What observations if any brought you the most value?

YLW: I really enjoy sharing with teenagers. When talking to teenagers, I can’t assume they know enough background about African American history or current events before I launch into a talk about the book. I can’t assume that they’re familiar with the history of forced limitations or social justice. At the same time, to go back and explain some of these limitations of the past just so they can grasp the realities of change in Post Black can be short sited as well. So, I like to emphasize how they use limitations or stereotypes about their race to hinder their own world view. I think it’s a good take away point that can be used to build in the future and to understand themes in the past.

In many cases, the new black identity is just their world. So having a conversation about how today is unique to the times is a fun challenge. Understanding that President Obama is a big deal or that repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is major carries less weight with them because it’s part of their childhood. I remember being a kid and the Berlin Wall fell, ending the Cold War. Well, I had just learned about the Berlin Wall, two years prior. I remember my mom saying “Do you realize how major this is? I’ve lived with the Berlin Wall my entire life.” For teens, learning about the past is just as exciting as navigating the future.

CC: What were instances that took you by surprise or touched you deeply?

YLW: There was one older woman who came to a book signing in Harlem and she was convinced that President Obama was going to be written out of the history books and forgotten. A couple of people in the audience tried to convince her that that couldn’t happen, pointing to technology today and the fact that there’s so much documentation on him, but she felt that we were wide eyed and naïve to think otherwise. Then she started to cry. The audience was startled. Her feelings were very real. Obviously, she’s seen things in her lifetime that I haven’t . . .things that others fought very hard for me not to experience. And finally, I asked her, do you want me to just say forget it. Give up and do nothing. At the end of the event, she said she really enjoyed the discussion. I think about her comments because its my responsibility to ensure that the events of today that are of value are not forgotten.

CC: There’s one segment of the black community that has a large effect on the other communities you explored, which you really didn’ t profile in Post Black, outside of the Obama Factor – the politicians. Was that intentional? And taking into consideration the intense political climate moving towards 2012 and an interesting mayoral race in your hometown of Chicago with strong African American candidates, none of whom are backed by Pres. Obama whose former Chief of Staff is also running and happens to be a Jewish American, is this a community you would like to examine in a

new book or online?

YLW: I think people are reevaluating what both strategies mean and how or when they apply. I didn’t discuss politicians in Post Black because at the time, there was quite a bit of discussion about the “new black” politician and I didn’t think there was much to add to it. Nor did I think it was that new. I didn’t always agree with how the conversation was framed. I personally thought it was divisive, which is in part why I wrote the Obama Factor chapter.Will I write about it more in the future? We'll see.

CC: On Jan. 12, 2010, an earthquake devastated the Haitian capital and its surrounding areas. As a result, there definitely has been an increase in immigrants from Haiti into the United States. In Post Black you discussed the African Diaspora: New Immigrants in America and the intra-ethnic matters that exist with a mix of interviews that details those who have blended into the larger African American community, ignorant views directed at new citizens and those whose nationality comes first. What opinions, if any, do you have of the new wave of Haitian immigrants who are not only entering black communities in America but white ones as well, through adoption?

YLW: Its another identity that’s part of the black experience in America: that of immigrant children raised by white American parents. I don’t know the size of the adopted Haitian population, but I’m sure it’s a large enough one to impact policy as the children mature. The rise in multicultural families and the role played in identity is a new reality. As for the Haitian American population at large, I think its great to highlight that there are new immigrants constantly coming and that those needs have to be addressed and included as well.

CC: Post Black delivers an empowering, full experience of the African American community. When you read it today does it need any altering or have the topics you discussed followed the same trends?

YLW: They’ve followed the same trends. Transitions continue and the changes that were evident before, are now realities that we live in. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed. President Obama, despite attacks from all sides passed a series of reforms and is positioned strongly in challenges with a more Republican congress. Cultural diversity in African American life is aggressively explored and people who weren’t talking about it before, are now discussing it. Businesses, big and small are reevaluating how to be more effective. The notion of what’s black and what’s not is being challenged. The role of church, the rise of spirituality, the rise of agnostics are just a part of this reevaluation process.

-- Christopher L. Chaney

Author Jam Donaldson's book "Conversate is Not a Word"

2010-11-15T15:05:00.000-08:00

Jam Donaldson is an attorney and author of the book Conversate is Not a Word. She is also creator of the website www.hotghettomess.com and the TV show “We’ve Got to Do Better.” She’s based in Washington D.C.

YLW: What made you want to write Conversate is Not a Word?

JD: I did not plan on doing this book. My goal was not to do a book, but people around me encouraged me to put it together. I never wanted to be an author. I started writing and soon it looked like I had a book.

YLW: Why did friends want you to write a book?

JD: At the time I had my website, www.hotghettomess.com. The TV show was coming out. That was really controversial. People responded to my editorial pieces and blog pieces, and said we need someone in your generation saying these things. And there’s no women talking about this. Some people thought it was controversial or mean spirited, but there was nothing out there. People said no one is crazy enough to say it.

YLW: Some could argue that your criticism of ghettoisms are class based and that you’re critical of people with limited incomes, exposure and education. How do you respond to that?

JD: That's not true. My book is not about the ghetto as a place but as a mentality. I think it’s almost insulting to say [ghettoisms] are just lower class problems. To me that insults the lower class. I know plenty of my peers who are well educated and solidly middle class who are a hot ghetto mess sometimes. Just because you don’t have a high income doesn’t give you the right to act a fool, and just because you have a high income doesn’t mean you’re immune to being a fool. I focus on behavior no matter who is doing it?

YLW: What's so called "ghetto" and issues of class are interwoven. Can they be separated?

JD: Are there some issues that disproportionately impact low income people? Sure. But Washington D.C has the highest number of upper and middle class black people and yet you see the same behaviors. Self esteem and relationship issues cross all boundaries.

YLW: Today it seems as if the behaviors you target in Conversate is Not a Word are discussed more frequently. Do you think it’s more exceptable to “air dirty laundry” today than it was when you started your website?

JD: Yes. I started my site in 2004. It’s six years later and with the explosion of the internet and lots of different voices we can showcase one another’s opinions in a thoughtful kind of way. When you have very limited media covering black people, anything that’s critical is seen as overly one-sided. But as the opportunities for media have expanded recently, it allows us to have more back and forth dialogue. It just promotes more opportunity for understanding now.

YLW: Why did you start the website?

JD: As for the website, it was one black person telling another black person saying we have to do better. There is a thing in our community where we don’t like to be critical of one another publicly. The thought is that we don’t want to give people more ammunition by showing people at their worst. At some point we have to acknowledge that some of our problems we can address. I do it in a tongue and cheek way. People say I’m mean or I use curse words. But I have a “we have to get our own stuff together first” attitude about things. When Bill Cosby came out with his rants, it was almost the same thing. People said we agree with what you’re saying but you can’t say it publicly. When I started it was very traumatic to have these conversations. Now people are very into having these talks in public.

YLW: How have people responded to the book?

JD: I am pleasantly surprised. I got a number of really good reviews. And what is most striking is that it is cross generational. People from 18 and above are saying I’m glad someone is saying this and we’re tired of this. I have some white people who say I don’t know why you just target this to blacks, this is across the board. Because I’m black that’s who I know and who I focus on. But these behaviors are evident all over.

YLW: You speak frequently on how the black woman’s voice for the Gen X and Y group is virtually absent from think tank media. What do you accredit this, too?

JD: I think it’s shocking. It’s like the black church. The church is full of women, but its lead by the men.

Women are the one’s keeping the communities together but when it comes to who’s talking about race or issues, it’s always a male voice. I know lots of black women scholars, writers and inspirational voices. It’s not like they don’t exist. Yet, I think it’s a huge glaring omission in our dialogue not to have more women voices, especially Gen X. It’s almost bizarre.I can’t speak for the nation, but maybe historically we’re just used to seeing men discuss social issues.

For more information on Jam Donaldson go to www.jamdonaldson.com

Color in Comics: Interview with Comic Book Creator John Jennings

2010-09-15T00:35:00.000-07:00

John Jennings is the coauthor and illustrator of the new book Black Comix: African American Independent Comics, Art and Culture.

YLW: How did you become interested in comics?

JJ: My mom introduced them to me. She’s a former English literature major. I actually started reading Norse and Greek mythology first. One day she brought home a Thor comic and from then on I wanted to read more. Then I segued into Spider-Man, Hulk, Marvel Comics. I wanted to read anything - Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost. There was something about the images that attracted me.

YLW: When did you start drawing?

JJ: I started drawing or trying to draw stuff at four or five. I’ve been drawing since I was really young. At ten or 11, I was trying to make comic books.

YLW: Where did you grow up?

JJ: I grew up in Flora, MS. It’s 15 min north of Jackson, a small farming community. We grew soy beans and cotton out there.

YLW: How did growing up in the rural South contribute to your approach to comics?

JJ: It made me practice a lot more. We didn’t have access to much. We didn’t have cable. I used my imagination more. I was so segregated from people. I lived way out in the country. It was so far the school bus wouldn’t come out there. My grandmother had to take me to the bus.

YLW: Growing up, did you realize how few black images existed in comics?

JJ: When I first started drawing comics, it didn’t faze me that there weren’t a lot of black comics. There were only a few: Luke Cage, Black Panther. I really liked those images, but it didn’t occur to me that there weren’t a lot of images until much later. As a professor, I studied media and images. There are so many negative images. Kids have to see themselves as creators of cultural capital, and create with meaning.

YLW: Why do feel that the lack of images of color in comics didn’t have the same impact on you as it did for others?

JJ: That’s an interesting question. I think as a kid you’re kind of oblivious to stuff until you have to deal with it. You stumble across problems and you solve them as you get to them. I didn’t think about it until college or grad school. People become aware of things at different times. If my mom had taken time to explain it to me, maybe I would have thought about it more . The guy who created Brotherman [Dawud Anyabwile] ,his father told him that there weren’t a lot of images and he rebelled and didn’t want to read comics anymore. People deal with information when they get to it.

YLW: Why did you create Black Comix?

JJ: It stems from some of the research that me and Damian (Damian Duffy, co author) have been doing for the last five years on independent black comics. We wanted to look at these types of books done by African American creators and the diversity of things that were offered. Also, if you’re not white and you’re in this country you’re starving for images of yourself. So with this book, kids get to see people who look like them who are creating this work. We also wanted to look at the culture.

YLW: What culture? Comic culture? African American culture?

JJ: The Black Age of Comics. It’s a movement that’s been going on since the late 90s. I don’t know if you collect comics, but there are various “ages” just like in art. Comics have a golden age, for example. However, Turtel Onli who teaches at Kenwood Academy said, 'well what about our age?'. So there’s a Black Age of Comics Convention at Kenwood Academy in Chicago. The next one is in October. There’s the East Coast Black Age of Comics in Philidelphia. There’s the Motor City version. There’s the Onyx Comics which I just came from in Atlanta. There’s this subculture that supports the work.

YLW: How have people responded to Black Comix?

JJ: So far pretty favorably. We were interviewed by GQ magazine. The library scene has been picking it up.

YLW: What are some of the indie classics?

JJ: Brotherman. In fact it’s ready to launch a graphic novel based on it. It was done in the 90s. Totally self produced. Tribe by Larry Stroman [and Todd Johnson], it was an alternative English comic. Tribe is the best selling black book of all time. We have some previously unpublished pages of Tribe in our book.

YLW: What are some of the new comic creators to look out for?

JJ: Millenium Wars by Ashley Woods, she’s out of Chicago. She released her first trade paperback and she produced it. Trimekka Studios out of North Carolina is another. They are a group who work on comics. They did Abraham: The Young Lion, Blackbird, Deadly Artisans. I think they’re about to do a crime comic, too. Jaycen Wise created by Richard Tyler. Wise is a cool character. He’s immortal and has lived for thousands of years so he can be in any kind of adventure. They’ve done him in Ancient Rome. I think they’re doing a western. There are a lot of ideas out there that I think people would be excited about if they knew about them.

YLW: Do you see any similarities in theme or illustration style in black comics?

JJ: One thing we see is that black kids, like most kids are influenced by manga from Japan but they also like to infuse it with graffiti and hip hop. There’s Shana Mills. Her work looks like graffiti meets Japanese manga. I also see these afrocentric vibes where people use the comics as a political standpoint. Instead of basing characters after these Greco Roman images, they pull from other non western imagery. For example, Jiba Molei Anderson has these characters called the Horsemen, but he uses the Orishas as the mythology to fuel the narrative. He lives in Chicago, too.

You can see an aesthetic, however as far as story arcs, they are as varied as we are. You’ll have stuff in there that’s funny, political satire, fantasy. You have fantasy that doesn’t represent blackness. Like Millenium Wars, you probably wouldn’t know that a black woman created the work. Whereas with Brotherman, it’s a political satire. It just depends on what the intention of the artist is. You can’t pin it down. But there are so many modes of what blackness can be. I showed this book to my director and he said, 'wow, they’re so varied'. But they would be. It’s a Post Black kind of thing. What is a post black comic book? Whatever it is you need it to be.

YLW: What do you hope people will take away from Black Comix?

JJ: As a comic creator, I want people to know that you can do anything with comics. American comics are dominated by superheroes in the mainstream. But in the independent, they can tell any story they want. People get comics mixed up. They think it’s a genre, but it’s a medium. I also want people to know they can create a comic whenever they want to. It’s possible for people to do that. I want people to leave with inspiration and empowerment. Especially younger people who feel, 'gee, I didn’t know I could do this'.

For more information go to http://www.blackcomixbook.com/

Award-Winning Playwright Ayanna Maia talks her New Play, the 'N' Word and Hip Hop

2010-08-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

Ayanna Maia is a New York based playwright. She is the 2010 Kennedy Center MFA Workshop recipient and won the 2010 Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award for her play King N---.

YLW: What is King N—about?

AM: It’s a play about a personification of the last 25 years of hip hop culture. The character goes from boyhood to manhood and he’s holding on to a childhood dream to be a rapper. The play starts in 1987. You see the effects of crack, the effects of capitalism and it all gets filtered through his life. Not to give away too much, but he basically takes on that name as his stage name, and that word as an expression of himself. In modern America, people acculturate and take on different things, and he takes on the word.

YLW: Did you wrestle with using the N word as the title?

AM: I did. I said this is going to be a sore thumb. It came from a reference in another play I wrote. I had to ask ‘what does my play want to be named?’ versus ‘what do I want to call it?’ I remember entering contests and my mom was like, ‘please change the title’. One of my professors, Suzan-Lori Parks, helped me workshop the play. I told her my reservation, but she said if this is your character’s journey and what your character wants then you can’t act out of fear. The play is about his duality and the fact that he thinks he’s a king and a n--- at the same time. I said I have to let go.

YLW: When were you introduced to playwriting?

AM: I got into Gallery 37 in Chicago when I was 13 or 14. I wanted to be in the poetry program but it was full. They called me a few weeks later and said, ‘would you like to write a play?’ My first play won awards. I was the youngest winner ever to win in the Young Playwrights Festival.

YLW: How do you enjoy NYU’s Tisch Dramatic Writing Program?

AM: I was getting another masters, and I left to go to NYU because it was a dream to be in their dramatic writing program. I had Suzan-Lori Parks as my professor, Spike Lee as my professor and advisor. Richard Wesley was my professor, too. And I had Donald Boggle as my professor. Do you know him?

YLW: Yes. He wrote the book on black stereotypes in film.

AM: Right. He wrote Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretative History of Blacks in Films. I had the all-star team in terms of research and media. It was just great to be in their company. They have really lived and expressed themselves in the African Diaspora and universally. I had a wonderful time. I didn’t want to graduate. I just graduated in May.

YLW: Tell me about the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award. Did they stage your play?

AM: I got two awards. One was the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award. They also have the MFA workshop, so they pick six playwrights in grad programs. They did a full scale workshop of the play and they had a staged reading. They brought in professional actors, directors. It wasn’t a full scale production. It was a workshop, but it introduces participants to the theater community. One of the women who participated has a theater in Washington D.C and within weeks she said that she wants to put my play up for the next season. If all goes well, it will have a month long run in D.C in May 2011.

YLW: Exciting!

AM: I‘ve had plays staged, but I’ve never had a full length play with a full scale production.

YLW: Do you hang out with a lot of playwrights?

AM: I know different playwrights, but I find that playwrights are really to themselves. I find playwriting to be very lonely.

YLW: How so?

AM: When you’re sitting there writing 120 pages of another world, you just have to go in and write from what you know, your research and what comes to you. For me, it hasn’t been a collective process. It’s such a deep world when you’re writing different personalities. It’s like doing a research project. Even if you write on your own life, you have to step away. It takes a lot of inner work, and inner work hatches alone.

YLW: Your plays have very strong themes involving black life in the U.S. What do you attribute that to?

AM: Being raised on the Southside of Chicago with parents who were very into the African Diaspora and different cultures, but especially the African Diaspora, coming out of the black arts and black power movement, it makes me very excited about carrying on the traditions of the African diaspora. I worked with the Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture. I write diverse characters, but my plays are centered on the Diaspora even if all my characters aren’t from there. I love to write comedy. But when it comes to high drama, l like writing about the African Diaspora.

YLW: You also seem to be heavily influenced by hip hop.

AM: It’s funny, for my character, I wrote his rhymes. I grew up in hip hop culture. I mc’d, I recorded. I deejayed. I grew up as a practitioner; I found that when I write plays, I get to have a better experience with hip hop than I’ve ever had in my whole life.

YLW: What do you mean?

AM: I had a lot of misogynistic experiences in hip hop. I’ve had a lot of experiences where I feel the culture is becoming more ignorant. My dad was a DJ, so I remember when hip hop was on vinyl. It was never separate from us. But as females, the older you got there was more of a line. There were fewer female acts, and you have men presenting females, writing their rhymes and it became more sexualized. I’ve written plays about rappers before, but King N-- is the first that got major exposure.

YLW: Many women who grew up with hip hop as a major influence have an awkward relationship with the culture as they mature?

AM: Honestly, when I was younger. I experienced a lot of positive experiences with it in Chicago. There weren’t a lot of female rappers and the guys wanted it to be balanced. The guys I was around wanted to support you. As it came into the 2000s, it was less about the culture and more about the rap game. It was sexualized. I was in an all-female group. I’ve had that duality, I’ve been at a concert where a guy had the whole audience call me a bitch. It’s funny to me, I don’t write as much as I used to. But I still have so much love for the culture itself and the things that comprise it.

YLW: You don’t write as many rap songs as you used to?

AM: I’ll record a song a year.

YLW: Tell me about your new play, 510 Murders.

AM: There’s a play that I just finished writing in May that’s based in Chicago about the chronic street violence among young men. I’ve really been exploring a culture that either encourages or is apathetic to using violence. The murder rate in Chicago and the demographic it’s specific to really bothers me. I’ve had two students in my short teaching career who were murdered. I don’t want children to grow up in a culture where violence is acceptable or where gang culture is the norm, even for those who don’t want to participate in it. The other thing I’ve been exploring is African spirituality and I have a couple of other plays with some magical realism.

For more information of Ayanna Maia go to www.ayannamaia.com

Poetic Justice: Interview with Renaissance Writer Robert Bledsoe

2010-08-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

Robert Bledsoe is a poet, playwright and travel writer. His book “Centennial” is currently available on Amazon.

YLW: When were you introduced to poetry? How did you become a poet?

RB: Growing up I was entered into the Academic Olympics. I was pushed into that by one of my teachers. I grew up reading. Sometimes I really wonder where I was and where were the other kids in my class. We were taught the same things, sat in the same seat, the same material was presented to us. The point I'm making is that I was a big reader especially with content that dealt with black America. So this love of literature carried with me throughout school. We read poetry, a lot from the Harlem Renaissance Era in elementary school. Poetry and reading was fun. I'd go to the library, sift through books. Looking back, I'm amazed at how much freedom I had to do this. This carried on through college where I learned more about Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen.. I have degrees in journalism, English writing and poetry.

YLW: People are always surprised to find out that you grew up in Englewood. Does the stigma placed on certain black communities bother you?

RB: Let's put it this way. If I tell people that I'm from the South Side of Chicago, specifically Englewood, people who know those areas, you can see the look in their faces. It's like “huh?” Those are areas that aren't necessarily associated with proper speech, college education, firm handshakes, wearing shirts and ties. It's an area that unfortunately is associated with what people think is black life: drugs, crime, violence, the black malaise. So when people find out that I'm from there, it takes a while for them to process. And it's not necessarily white people but black people who have this incredulous thinking process.

YLW: Why do you think people from the same neighborhoods can take very different paths? Why did you take a different path?

RB: I can't really say that there were people on the street saying "you're going to grow up to be a drug dealer", or "work hard to drop out". No one was saying that. The parents want their kids to go to school. Most of my friends growing up are doing well. I don't know if it was my block or what but most of my friends are upstanding citizens.

But in the neighborhood in general, everyone knew the family that wasn't doing anything. It would seem like it was just one or two houses per block. Everyone else was doing what they were supposed to do. But no one could really do anything about that one house. And somehow that one house really has an effect of damaging an entire community.

It was only when I got older that I realized these super burdens that we have to carry for that one house on the street. I didn't really learn the significance of that one house until later. Because that one house would come to define whole communities and that's not fair. The perception is that all these black communities are blighted and failing but that's not my experience where I grew up.

YLW: You're a poet but you're not a fan of spoken word.

RB: No. I'm more of a traditionalist. I'm a poetry snob.

YLW: Why?

RB: I think the subject matter is limited and there's too much emphasis on performance. Traditional poetry isn't always performed, it's read. [Spoken Word poets] think if you speak in a certain cadence and inflect on a certain word at the end of a sentence and almost sing, that they are saying something. To me poetry is about reaching the heart and reaching the mind and it's something that's pleasing and pleasant. It's not something jarring.

YLW: Do you think you're being a little harsh?

RB: I'm just afraid that many of our youngsters, when they think of poetry, [spoken word] is what they think about. How many of them are really learning about Maya Angelou? I wish I could say it's an education thing, but it's not. Many spoken word people are college degreed, I just don't think it's poetry. They're putting on a show. How about we remove the word poetry and call it spoken word creativity?

YLW: You have an issue with spoken word being called poetry?

RB: I think it has usurped the word poetry. Poetry is about more than 'roses are red, violets are blue'. It's a craft. I don't want to say that spoken word isn't creative, I just think there's too much emphasis on the performance part.

YLW: At the expense of the writing?

RB: Right. You're not focusing on what's being said. When you see spoken word, you're using your eyes more than your ears. I went to a Def Poetry Jam audition and I read a poem I wrote when Gwendolyn Brooks died. Here I am reading what I think is a poem, and everyone else is doing spoken word, and I said I'm so out of place here. But definitely, there was some confusion on my part on how poetry was being defined. People liked it but it wasn't the write venue.

YLW: You're a globe hopper. You're out of the country three or four times a month. Do you think travelers share a kindred spirit?

RB: It's a longing. Why does one travel anyway? If you have what you need at home, why travel? For me, the whole travel experience began with me wanting to know what more out there is there. I know that there has to be some place in the world where I feel free to be me. There's a song about that. Because the constraints that I felt being who I was on the Southside of Chicago or being one of the few blacks at a small school in rural Minnesota, the constraints on me were tight. They were suffocating.

YLW: How so?

RB: Because you couldn't be a black intellectual. That's an anomaly. It's like somehow or another, if you are not a black guy who enjoys hip hop, if you don't play basketball every weekend . . . and don't get me wrong, I like watching basketball, but I was never good at it. Somehow or another, some things were equated with black and some things were not. As a collective, I think that black people have bought into it. Travel for me was great. It's a sense of pride for me that people can see we're not this monolithic community. We don't all like hip hop, not all hip hop anyway. Some of these images are damaging. We actually speak more than just Ebonics.

We can't have our kids continue to aspire to speak bad language. And that's what they identify as being black. Maybe I'm old school, elitist, but I think the stakes are too high for us to uphold that alone as the black experience.

YLW: Why do you travel?

RB: One travels because one is seeking to discover something. One is not getting something. One wanted tea and spices so they set sail. And I set sail to just learn that there was more to life than America, and getting away from the expectations that are laid out for me. It's nice to just lay on the beach or read a book on the beach, but these things aren' t considered black if you enjoy this stuff. I don't know if you read the John Mayer stuff. (Referring to the John Mayer controversy where he mentioned having a hood pass and not dating black women).

YLW: I did.

RB: Why are there elements of our community who feel they need to have a pass and if so, why give it out? And why call it a hood pass? We need a discussion. Do we want to hold on to negative images that go out? We have to have a serious discussion on whether or not we want to move forward. I think President Obama's candidacy put a lot of this front and center. When people think black American,what do we want them to think first?

We can't discount the power of imagery and who has access to media. You can be as individual as you want, but if the collective imagery is of the hood then that individual who doesn't match the image is going to have a problem. When you step out you are combating the images of people who look like you that are thrown across TV sets across the world.

YLW: When you travel you don't deal with it?

RB: Not as much. Here it's just so entrenched. Take Eminem. How is it that Eminem can be blacker than me? Some black people would see him as blacker than me. Why? Because he doesn't speak proper English? He could put on a suit and tie and go mainstream. Do I have that option?

It's deflating and defeating to talk about because you realize how entrenched it is. If our youngsters do well in English, they're marginalized. There's no reason why in 2010 we should still be having these discussions.

Robert Bledsoe can be reached at embryonic@msn.com.

Sci Fi Author Nnedi Okorafor talks Literature and Afrofuturism

2010-08-09T09:18:00.001-07:00

Nnedi Okorafor is a fantasy/science fiction writer and English professor. Her latest book is Who Fears Death about Onye, a woman with a magical destiny in post apocalyptic Africa.

YLW: How did you become a science fiction writer?

NO: When I was a kid I read a lot of books. I read far and wide and not just science fiction. I was attracted to these stories with magical things in them. I started writing my own stories when I was 20. I wrote magical realist stuff. I started off writing fantasy. It was very natural for me. It wasn't like I was trying to write it. However, people tried to turn me away from that because it’s not academic. I started getting things published. Then I realized I wasn't seeing Africa written about in the future so my fantasy writing became part science fiction.

YLW: What's the difference between fantasy and science fiction?

NO: Fantasy involves stories where strange things happen that are due to magic, the mystical, or the unexplained. Science fiction is when the strange things that happened are explained through science, even if those things aren’t possible yet. I tend to mix the two. In my first book Zahrah the Windseeker, you have plant technology and there are technology producing plants. But you also have a girl who has the ability to fly.

YLW: Your book includes a wide range of elements from shamanism to female circumcision.

NO: There's shamanism, there's Juju in it, there's magic, genocide, female circumcision. It deals with issues of African men and women. I based my Juju on actual Ebo traditional beliefs. It pulls on the fantastical.

YLW: Afro futurism is a new term to explain science fiction involving the African Diaspora. Is your work afro futurist? .

NO: People have asked me if I consider it to be afro futurism. By that definition, certainly. But I tend to resist a lot of the labels because labels can be very confining.

YLW: How so?

NO: People who usually don't read science fiction won't read it if it’s labeled. Octavia Butler wrote Kindred, a time travel story. It falls in the line of black literature, but if you put sci fi on it, some people won't read it.

Some reviewers have called Who Fears Death uncharacterizable. Unless people know what something is they freak out or if they can't name it they ignore it. The novel before Zara, my first novel was an adult novel, but when my agent shopped it around it got past the acquisitions editor, but when it got to the money part the reps didn't know what to call it. It's fantasy, but it's too literary. Is the main character African or African American? They couldn't label it properly and because of that it got rejected and I dealt with that for three years. And then I wrote Zahrah the Windseeker.

YLW: I'm sure people compare you to legendary sci-fi writer Octavia Butler. What are your similarities and how do you differ?

NO: I'm a huge Octavia Butler fan. She blew my mind. I was writing these things and I didn't realize that what I was writing could be published until after I read her work. First and foremost, she writes in a sparse format, almost journalistic. There's no mincing of words. I always liked how she could draw you into the story to the point where you forget that you're reading. We both deal with gender and race. We write complex characters.

We differ when it comes to setting. What I write takes place in Africa or a place like Africa. And Octavia's books tend to be in the U.S or she starts in Africa and goes elsewhere. So our settings are a little different. I pull from a lot of Nigerian folklore and Nigerian myth. She pulls from that, too, but not so much.

I feel like every science fiction and fantasy writer, we are all compared to Octavia and that's because she is one of the only black fantasy and science fiction writers, so I guess these reviewers can't compare us to anyone else unless their black.

YLW: How have people responded to your work?

NO: Mostly, really positive. I've had some hate mail from people who feel I'm airing African's dirty laundry.

YLW: Hate mail?

NO: I get emails calling me a witch. In Zahrah the Windseeker, the main character is Dada, which means a baby that's born with locked hair. Before colonialism that was very special. But after colonialism it was considered evil. And this character realizes she has the ability to fly. With my book Who Fears Death, I have opinions about female circumcision and I deal with that in the book. At my first book signing for Who Fears Death, in Michigan, these African academics came to attack me. There's a female circumcision scene in the book, it's pretty brutal. I read it and one of the professors said in a real circumcision there's no lights. Well, this is science fiction. They feel I had no right to speak on this because I hadn't been at an actual circumcision.

YLW: Do you feel some of the criticism has to do with you being a child of Nigerian immigrants born in America and not Africa?

NO: Definitely, my fourth was titled Akata Witch. It's a derogatory term for African Americans, or American born Nigerians. Akata means bush animal. It's not a very nice term. The book deals with some of those issues.

YLW: In Post Black, I write about African immigrants and one American born Nigerian said she felt she had to defend Africans to African Americans and African Americans to Africans.

NO: That's exactly what I had to deal with. It's like you belong but you don't belong. The thing is, it's positioned that we can bridge a lot of those gaps. I understand both sides. But sometimes you don't really want to be on the defense. I can see a non fantasy book in me on this one.

For more information go to www.nnedi.com

Publicist Yolonda Brinkley Talks Film in Cannes

2010-07-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

Yolonda Brinkley is the founder of YRB International Exposure which presented Beyond Borders, a cross cultural panel and networking forum for filmmakers, at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival last May. YRB is a marketing and public relations firm.

YLW: Why did you start the Beyond Borders at Cannes?

YB: I started it because when I attended the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 I felt like an outsider, although it was a great experience. You have to belong to a certain company to get to a lot of the functions. I saw a lot of minorities there and I could only assume they felt the way I felt. I felt there was something I could do to make it participatory so that we're not just festival goers but major players in the world festival market. Everyone thought it was a great idea. When I told them I was spending my own money . . .

YLW: You funded it yourself?

YB: Yeah. I just wanted to see if I could give it some legs. It was at the Majestic Hotel, which was only about $1,900 euro, which is about $2,500 dollars to rent the space, and have equipment. My airfare was $1,100, as was my hotel. Then I made flyers and t-shirts, so I spent about $5,000. I got about $750 in sponsorship. But it was all worth it. I got a call from the Australian press after one of the filmmakers on the panel won. I'm an up and coming entertainment publicist and people are calling me saying I heard you did this event at Cannes. That's priceless.

YLW: Who participated?

YB: The participants were film directors who took part in the Quinzaine Des Realisateurs. It's almost like the independent film leg of the festival. They find up and coming filmmakers and directors. I had two of those directors. One was Michael Rowe, he's an Australian filmmaker who lives in Mexico. Director Philippe Braganca, from Brazil, also participated. Then Michael Rowe won the Camera D'or, the golden camera award for the first time filmmaker in that section. Although there weren't a lot of people, it was a great panel. They are the crème de la crème of the elite filmmakers.

YLW: Do you speak French?

YB: Yes.

YLW: Initially, you wanted to do a panel focusing on people of color. How did that evolve?

YB: It went from a multicultural discussion to a cross cultural discussion, because I couldn't confirm ethnicity, but only nationality. I couldn't get enough blacks, Latinos and Asians from the U.S to participate. It was an interesting transition before my eyes.

YLW: What happened? Why was it difficult to get participation?

YB: It was going to be built around one of the executive producers with Tyler Perry Studios. Then he wasn't able to come out, due to scheduling. I called alI kinds of studios, production companies, organizations, but either schedules conflicted or people simply weren't coming to Cannes. Cannes is an expensive festival in terms of accommodations and travel. People aren't just going just to go. Black filmmakers, even celebrity black filmmakers aren't just going. There were a small number of emerging filmmakers of color from the U. S trying to go. To my knowledge, there wasn't a large number of established filmmakers of color there, either.

YLW: Are you familiar with the Blackhouse Foundation? They've hosted festival events in the past to address these issues.

YB: Blackhouse foundation travels to festivals, but they decided that Cannes was too expensive to attack. They go to Sundance. A lot of people feel it's too expensive. There was no black programming except Afrique 360, and the founder is a friend of mine. My goal wasn't to reinvent the wheel.

YLW: What concerns did the filmmakers on the Beyond Borders panel share?

YB: The discussion was about diversity in thought and efforts. Michael Rowe shared that when he did his film, his investors wanted to have...and this is common in Mexico in general, they wanted blond haired, blue eyed Mexicans whereas he wanted a person who looked Mexican. He had a conflict with the producers because of that. Ultimately he won out. Braganca talked about financing issues and control over your project. Each filmmaker said they would like to see more coproductions between indie filmmakers in different countries.

YLW: African American films have a history of not doing well internationally. What do you attribute that to?

YB: I'm not a filmmaker, but there are so many people at Cannes selling so many things. Often times the urban message does not transcend boundaries. With Tyler Perry or the Madea character, it doesn't transcend cultural barriers. After translation, in other parts of the world, it's not funny. If you have a broad message that's more drama or action, perhaps. But my thought process is, hey you have a film you're trying to sell, go expand the network and discuss the filmmaking opportunities.

YLW: You didn't start your career working in film.

YB: I was in a public relations and corporate communications function, for Jaguar/Landrover. I quit two years ago to pursue my dream, so this is what I'm doing.

YLW: What advice would you give to people who want to go to Cannes?

YB: I say just do it. It's definitely an experience. If we wait for people for people to give us the permission to do it, then we'll never do it. When you go, network with people outside of your traditional circle. We want to expand our multicultural, cross cultural network. Go outside of your traditional network to meet people.

For more information on Beyond Borders contact Yolonda Brinkley at Ybrinkley@hotmail.com

Rare Coin Investments: Interview with entrepreneur Kenneth Smaltz

2010-06-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

Kenneth Smaltz is CEO and President of K. Smaltz, Inc., the first African American owned rare coin company in the United States. Smaltz buys and sales rare coins to private investors and collectors. He's based in Freeport, New York.

YLW: I'm sure you get some puzzled looks when you tell people you're in the rare coin business.

KS: People expect you to sell stocks or real estate. When you say you sell rare coins and precious metals, they say “how do you do that?”

YLW: What's the scope of your business?

KS: It's more synonymous with an individual selling antiques or art. It's not something you get dividends from. It's not a security. It's a collectible. I deal with all U.S coins. Some people collect because of the history of it. They buy coins from the Civil War, WWII, etc. People sometimes collect because they're interested in the investment aspect of the coin. They realize that if it's held on to, they can make money. They say sell me a coin you think in time will appreciate. People buy for beauty, history or the investment.

YLW: What factors determine the value of a coin?

KS: Rarity, meaning how old is the coin. Rarity can determine the value of a coin. The condition of a coin, what it looks like and the degree of preservation are factors, too. Sometimes the time period can give it value, too, like if it's a coin from the Civil War, WWI, or WW2.

YLW: What coins should investors or collectors look for?

KS: The coins you would want to collect and invest in, in the U.S should be pre 1933. Any coin can be collected, but the one's I recommend were made before 1933.

YLW: Why?

KS: After that point they started making larger quantities of them, which means there are a lot around. In 1933, a lot of coins were melted for several reasons . .. to raise money for war preparation, etc. Anytime a coin is taken off the market it causes it to be more rare. If you have ten of something and someone destroys eight of them, it makes those two more rare.

YLW: When people think investments, rare coins don't come to mind? Why not?

KS: I'll just say that it's not something that we as African Americans are familiar with, but it's something that other ethnicities have been aware of for quite some time and have been doing for many, many years. It's a part of their portfolio, stocks, bonds, art, real estate and rare coins. It's just something our ancestors weren't aware of.

YLW: How did you get involved in the rare coin market?

KS: It was 1984, I was hired to work in the shipping department in a company that sold rare coins and precious metals. The company was a few blocks from the New York Stock Exchange. In shipping, I would ship the coins that sales people would sell to clients.

KS: When I first got there, I was only 21 years old. There was a gentleman who worked in the company, a senior vp. He was very hands on. He came down into shipping every day, to see what we were doing down there. He would explain to us on different occasions that he liked to hire within .. .that way you know how it works from top to bottom. He said you have to work hard and show initiative. That's all I needed to hear. I put in a lot of hours.

KS: The shipping department was like a vault that housed coins that could go for $100,000 per coin. It also housed gold and silver bars. You're looking at millions of dollars worth of metals in this area. It had to be picked up by Brinks very early in the morning. Sometimes they would ask people to stay over into the morning and meet Brinks. After a year, they trusted me enough to do it. I was there in the morning, at night. When they needed me, I was there. His name was Luis Vigdor. I still know him. One day he said to me' I think its time for you to move up.' After a year, he sent me up to the retail division. It was like a bank. The retail division was where people would come in and out and buy foreign currency and buy coins off the street. It was one floor up off the vault. I worked there another year. I worked very hard. Then he said, I think it's time we bring you up into sales. That's when I started selling rare coins to private people.

YLW: How does it work?

KS: A good part is cold calling. The company advertised in the Wall Street Journal, NY Times. We would take those calls and try to create a base of customers. That's how I started.

YLW: Why did you start your own business?

KS: I had been doing it off and on since 1984. I was with that company for 7 tears. Then there was a downturn in the rare coin industry and they laid us all off. Then I moved to Atlanta, and the company was referred to me by Luis Victor. He's a good man. I worked for them for two years. I wasn't making as much money as I would have liked. Then I was referred to a rare coin company in Minnesota. But there are rare coin companies all over the world, I just chose to stay in the U.S. I worked there for 3 years, and then I wanted to come back home. I missed New York.

KS: I called the same guy said I want to come back and he suggested a company way out on Long Island. I worked out a deal with them and came back. That's when I said, I've been doing this for some time. I know what to do, I have my own clients, I know how to generate clients, but I still wasn't ready to go on my own. I said I'll start a company, and I'll work a deal out with the company I work for to get a larger percentage of the commissions. We partnered off and got a larger percentage of the pie. If anything were to happen, I'd be covered by the company. After a while, I got tired of sharing the profits with people and said I can do this on my own. If you have your own customers and you know how to generate customers, it's simple you have to take the initial leap.

YLW: You also do custom coin minting. What does that entail?

KS: That started in 2004. I joined the Friars Club in NYC. It's a group of retired executives as well as some people in music and entertainment. Most of my industry consist of elderly people believe it or not. People from 50-70 years of age. If you look at the Friars Club, that's what they consist of. I decided to join. I knew two people who were members. You have to be sponsored, so they got me in. I joined to get clients, but then when I saw they were doing their 100th Anniversary, I said I've never done this before but I wonder if you would like a coin to commemorate your anniversary. A gentleman their pushed the idea through. So I created the coin. . The Friar's Club are known for their roasts so the slogan on the coin was “100 years, 1 million laughs.” It's a club of comedians.

YLW: How long has this industry been around?

KS: It's been around as long as there have been stocks and bonds. People have been collecting coins since before Christ. There are coins from B.C.

YLW: Do you know any black rare coin investors?

KS: I know of one person who is a collector. I've never met any black investors. There are some who have bought in the industry, but I haven't had any as customers. There aren't many of them. Although my industry isn't as big as the stock market, there are several thousand sellers in the U.S. And the number is even bigger in Europe. Out of the hundreds of thousands of dealers out there, I'm sure just one half of one percent of those hundreds of thousands of dealers are African Americans.

YLW: What's the largest purchase you've ever seen?

KS: I've had a customer of mine who is a multi billionaire. I have by myself put together for him probably the largest collection of Walking Liberty Halves ever assembled. He has assembled the largest known collection of Walking Liberty Halves in the U.S. I've been helping him do that since 1997. I can't even tell you how many coins he has. But dollar wise, I can't even put a price tag on it. It's priceless. Think of someone buying from you every month for the past 12 years, purchases, anywhere from $30,000 to $800,000 a month of the same type of coin, several different types and grades. I would bank on it that no one has this type of collection. When he decides to put this on the market, it will be a seminal even.

For more information on Kenneth Smaltz and coin collecting go to www.keeperofthecoins.com

CHICAGO READER FEATURES POST BLACK

2010-05-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

Check out the write up on Post Black in The Chicago Reader!

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ytasha-womack-post-black-african-american-identity/Content?oid=1691773

Rock On: Interview with rockstar Jameel Lawson

2010-04-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

Jameel Lawson is the lead singer of the rock band Nothing Forgotten. Their music is featured in the film Forgotten Souls by Salvador Barcena,

YLW: How did you become a rock musician?

JL: I didn't choose to do it. It chose me. It was therapeutic. I networked and found the right people, people I could combine with musically and spiritually. I found people who weren't afraid to cross boundaries or be pidgeon holed into a certain style. I liked being with people of like consciousness where we could do a hip hop beat and turn around and do metal. I'm always growing.

YLW: Did you grow up listening to rock?

JL: I listened to ZZ Top in the 80s, Pantera, Metalica, Bob Marley, Van Halen. I grew up listening to it. It planted the seed.

YLW: But you started off doing r&b and hip hop.

JL: When I was in Good Vibes with Ben Vereen, I started off rapping and doing r&b. I still have those elements that I use. I still rap and sing but it's more aggressive. At one point I wanted to be the rapper and the r&b singer, but there was something within me that was a little more animated. I wanted to scream a little bit. The primal scream as they say.

YLW: Being African American, did people ever question your musical aspirations in rock? Did you question your ambitions?

JL: When you make a choice to embark on a new journey that most people of color don't go, it's like what am I doing? Then when you listen to the still small voice you say this could be something different. Being one of the few black rockers and one of the few notable ones is pretty flattering. It was a little frightening but anything that you do when you step out on faith, like your book, it just works out. Someone said that's a mark of a genius when you do something that the masses can't do. I thought about that. It's a blessing. It's powerful. There was a little bit of fear but I just rock on.

YLW: The term black rock is used to describe rock artists of African ancestry. What does the term black rock mean to you?

JL: In a nut shell, rock is a music of African ancestry that is now predominantly white. When I think of black rock, I think of the origin. Chuck Berry is the god father of rock and roll. Jimi Hendrix was an innovator. Living Colour pressed forward. I am a front man of a rock band with four individuals who are caucausian. I think of all those predecessors who paved the way. I look at black rock in that sense, but not where the music itself is color oriented. I don't see color in music. I don't know if other people do.

YLW: Is rock music a freer expression of music than rap?

JL: Definately. There are no boundaries at all. Your soul is free to express itself. We're not worried about what's going to get us signed. People are open minded when it comes to a rock song. People listen to the music first. Not to talk down on rap, but there's more freedom because rock is not caught up in what's hot at the time. Music needs to resonate with people. Rock music tends to have people who write music that resonates with the soul instead of with what's the hot sound. In rock and roll and even soul, certain songs don't die. Common, for example, is a hip hop artist who has a lot of songs that still resonate. It depends on the artist, it's not just the style of music. There are a lot of r&b artists and rap artists whose songs resonate.

YLW: What's your day like?

JL: I say a prayer, go to work, write a little. I practice two or three times a week. Spend time with my family. I still have a day job right now.

YLW: How do people respond when you say you sing in a rock band?

JL: Depends on who I say it to. If I'm talking to African American people, it's 'oh, that's tight, I like rock music.' Or sometimes, when I tell caucausion people, it's like “oh, really” or 'I never thought that.' Unless it's a person who really listens to that music then they know about Cody Chestnut,etc. But the one's that don't and aren't open minded are surprised that there are black rockers out there. I rarely come across someone who says “why do you do that?” We have a black president today. Being a black rock musician isn't as shocking.

YLW: Why did you join a band?

JL: I've always wanted my own band. I had an experience when I was doing my R&B rap stuff and the cd started skipping and it was so embarressing. I started rapping after the skip but at that point I had already lost the crowd. This was 2002 and I said I want a live band. There is a huge freedom because there are no boundaries. I think about Alanis Morrisette. She was a pop/r&b singer and now she's a rock artist. I still use those gifts and talents of being an r&b singer, I just do it to different music. It's louder. For people who aren't used to going to shows, I say bring your ear plugs.

YLW: Who do you admire?

JL: Chuck Berry, Living Colour, Cody Chestnut, Lenny Kravitz, Prince, Michael. It's all across the board as far as singers that I admire. James Brown, he was one of the first artists to do that primal scream and he wasn't a rock artist. Little Richard, he screamed. Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley. Jim Morrison, the Doors. Stevie Wonder, he's a genius. I can go on. But it's all a reflection . My drummers favorite band is Kiss. We all have our own influences that make up who we are.

YLW: What's it like to be a lead singer of a rock band. You're the front man. What responsibility comes with that?

JL: A caucasion guy told me once that there's something about a black rocker, where you can stand on that stage and people will look just to see. And they'll come because they know it will be really good or really bad.

YLW: Wow.

JL: Sometimes I feel my back is against the wall. It's like they're looking at me hard. I'm the only one on the bill who's the African American front man of a band. So I want to be better than everyone else. It's always a battle of the bands. You want the bands to do a good job, but I don't want to suck. No show is too small to put on a performance that is worthwhile to see again.

YLW: How did Nothing Forgotten meet?

JL: It's not like we knew one another in high school. We assembled over the Internet. We were on myspace, Craigslist. Two individuals got together and started jamming together. I saw an ad looking for a singer and I just joined. We've grown to know one another's quirks. We don't allow that creativeness to be stifled. We don't' say 'oh we can't rap because we're a rock band.' We even have a rock version of a jazz song. We don't set any boundaries. But that comes with trust and to trust the music and what's best for the particular song.

YLW: Why is it important to know about the role of African Americans in rock?

JL: It's important because I can draw upon those inspirations to continue to write great music. Some people feel we created rock and roll and abandoned it. I think it's important because it shows it's not new or alien. It's out there. It's us going back to our roots. A lot of people would disagree with that. Any form of music can have soul in it. It's all about the artist themselves.

Nothing Forgotten's music is available on Itunes.

What is Afro-Futurism?: An Interview with artist/educator D. Denenge Akpem

2010-03-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

D. Denenge Akpem is a performance artist, designer and educator. In addition to Black Arts Movement, she is teaching a new course entitled "Afro-Futurism: Pathways to Black Liberation" at Columbia College Chicago. (Photo: D. Denenge Akpem "Super Space Riff: An Ode to Mae Jemison and Octavia Butler in VIII Stanzas" Still from performance/installation)

YLW: I think it's really interesting that you're teaching Afro-Futurism. The first time I was introduced to the concept I was in college. It wasn't called Afro-Futurism, but you had people linking liberation and art with with outer space/inner space and analyzing pop culture references in WuTang or Erykah Badu songs with Egyptology and Ayn Rand novels and Star Wars after class and in workshops. It was very intense. To know that someone is teaching it formally as an art form or way of thinking is amazing to me. What is Afro-Futurism?

DA: There are many different definitions out there, and we consider as many definitions as possible in this class. The full title of the course is "Afro-Futurism: Pathways to Black Liberation." Afro-Futurism as a topic has to do primarily with blacks in the Diaspora but also the whole of African consciousness. Afro-Futurism considers what "Blackness" and "liberation" could look like in the future, real or imagined. It is rooted in history and African cosmologies, using pieces of the past, both technological and analog, to build the future. The basic premise of this course is that the creative ability to manifest action and transformation has been essential to the survival of Blacks in the Diaspora. There are many different ways people approach the topic.

YLW: Like what?

DA: Some are very technological about the approach. Others are a lot more holistic. Mark Rockeymoore, for example, talks about the afro itself as a metaphor for Afro-Futurism, as if its very form is futuristic, reaching for new dimensions and uncontained. Alondra Nelson is one of the key theorists on the subject, and we've been looking at DJ Spooky and his Rebirth of a Nation remix, Sun Ra's music and philosophy, Octavia Butler's science fiction. We've been focused on the last century and beyond.

The approach I take is to ask: how is the envisioning of the future an act of artistic revolutionary action? We’re looking at artists who consider blackness as it might exist in the future, but also looking at artists themselves--beyond the art works--and how the actual creation of the work, the methodology is an act of or path to liberation for the artist, by the artist on behalf of the artist, communities, black people, the universe.

YLW: Can you give examples of artists who reference Afro-Futurism?

DA: We are looking at a wide range of writers and artists in music, film, visual and performing arts as well as theorists. Everyone from Labelle to Fatimah Tuggar...Pamela Z...Kodwo Eshun, so many writers and practitioners. I try to make note of the distinctions in terms of whether artists are working in ways or creating works that might be considered "Afro-Futurist" and whether the artists themselves would classify their work or themes as "Afro-Futurist." We had a similar conversation in our discussion of what is an alien, what is a human. We considered internal and external perceptions of the self and the other.

Lil Wayne talks about being an E.T. You have Outkast, ATLiens, the godfathers Afrika Bambaataa and Lee "Scratch" Perry. Sun Ra is the foundation. Parliament/Funkadelic and looking at George Clinton and the Detroit techno sound... Hattie Gossett's The Immigrant Suite: Hey, Xenophobe: Who You Callin' a Foreigner? beautifully addresses concepts of foreigner, immigrant, and contemporary xenophobia. The artistic creation of the cyborg and creating identity through these forms is an act of resistance to limitation. Afro-Futurists are saying we’re going to believe in the power of a positive future for blackness. So blackness is not limited by stereotypes of blackness. I saw a lot of parallels with the intentions of your book Post Black.

YLW: How is Futurism different from Afro-Futurism?

DA: Futurism when it developed in the early 1900s was about disavowing anything of the past. I feel that it’s a bit of a contradiction in terms to talk about "Afro-Futurism: Pathways to Black Liberation" if you're into Futurism and are defining "blackness" by the past. But that's what makes it an excellent topic for Black World Studies--that's the departmental division that this course falls under--because Afro-Futurism is absolutely rooted in the past, in race, in the use of Futurist thought and process to transcend and manipulate the facts of race in a "trickster" way, the art of dissembling and coding, and that has been part of the African Diaspora since the first abduction. It references the past in futuristic ways.

YLW: Can you give me an example?

DA: For example, key theorists and artists have discussed the concept that black people are aliens in the African Diaspora, literally. Abducted from their land, plucked up, tortured. How do you deal with that? So it’s an investigation of the alien, of hybridity. We look at the Three-Fifths Compromise, and we consider what has defined and does define "human" and what has defined human as far as black people are concerned.

The film District 9 came out last year. It’s science fiction but it’s a direct reflection of South African apartheid and draws from that history for the film's narrative, the visuals, and the concepts that are being addressed even as it provides little concrete information in the actual film or the website for the viewing public on the actual history that it references such as District 6. Perhaps the filmmaker's goal is to get people to research it further after having seen the film but the absence of some crucial links in the actual film itself might pose a problem that might take it from being progressive to another case of appropriation. I'm still thinking a lot about that film.

The question is: how do you make work that speaks to a new future? I’ve been researching Rev. A.W Nix who was a preacher who recorded gospel sermons in the 1900s. The titles themselves were interesting. "Death Might Be Your Christmas Gift.” He’s trying to push the believer to wake up. There is this "wake up people, snap out of it" conversation.

YLW: This “wake up” concept is one that we see in a lot of science fiction movies. The Matrix or Avatar come to mind, but so does Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, too.

DA: Rev. Nix has one sermon where he references Jesus or believers meeting Jesus on a spaceship. There’s this history. It’s a fine line to straddle and people have been ostracized. Ray Charles straddled it and was ostracized until society caught up with him. Sister Rosetta Tharpe went through similar experiences with the Blues and around gender. You always run the risk of being called a cult--or occult--if you talk about aliens or other ways of understanding. The view that I take on it is that the black experience especially in the Diaspora contains within it many spiritual and scientific belief systems. It references indigenous African cosmologies that have a lot to do with other worlds and ways of knowing.

YLW: It seems as if a lot of Afro-Futurism's logic is based around the science or mythology of ancient Egypt.

DA: Sure. Sun Ra, Earth Wind and Fire, many artists were looking to Egypt. Sun Ra believed he was from Saturn, not from Earth, and that he had been picked by these other worldly beings to speak to the black folks and to minister. He was reluctant about it. He didn’t want to be the messenger even as he loved to teach and had studied to become a teacher in addition to his work as a musician in college.

Gil Scott Heron's song "Whitey on the Moon" asks why, if we can go to the moon, we can't take care of the problems and poor living conditions we have down here on Earth. "A rat done bit my sister Nell but whitey's on the moon." So I consider the subject not only from a sci-fi point of view but also look at cultural, political and social references. But there's also this concept of using technology as a basis for creative process. Wendy Walters writes about how even Motown used the auto industry as a model for their music production system.

In the end, it all provides a way to look beyond the here and now. I really credit the Humanities, History and Social Sciences Department at Columbia College for working with me on this and for seeing the connections and supporting this area of study.

YLW: How have people responded?

DA: The response has been very positive from current students in the course, from faculty with whom I get into wonderful debates about the course topics, to students who have just heard about the genre itself and are curious. "What's Afro-Futurism?" My question is: what is the history and who are the new media makers? It’s my job to guide the critical thinking process. It’s like what Amiri Baraka said, we don’t need any more of the status quo.

We've got five senses but that's just the beginning. It’s a practice that can change your life. But then again, I grew up reading Dr. Seuss. His work is not about the afro, but this books stretch the imagination into new worlds, new possibilities, very anti-xenophobia. How can the practice of creating liberate? I believe it was Maya Angelou who said if you can envision a new world, you can create it. I'm sure that's been said in other ways before, but my hope is that Afro-Futurism will help people envision a future with the goal of creative transformation for self and planet.

YLW: One issue that continues to pop up in my discussions is this notion of what exactly is blackness and does it exist. Because the notion of blackness as its usually discussed comes from a very American black liberation theory view point.

DA: I’m really interested in the idea of race, in notions of beauty and expression in culture. Obviously, the subtitle of the course is "Pathways to Black Liberation" so I am addressing Afro-Futurist works and practitioners specifically under that lens but it is not only about Black liberation. It's about liberation for all no matter what race, and liberation as it relates first and foremost to the work of the artist. No matter what the artist's intention may be, the act of being an artist, of answering that call--I take it very, very seriously. So my question is how to assist in the development of artists who are not afraid to answer that call, who are looking beyond the "norm" and who are able to enter that creative realm and come out changed but intact on the other side.

The creators have to begin to conceptualize things ahead of the society. What is race? What is post race? I feel like there’s a use for race. I feel very positively about race. I don’t hear that view a lot and this is the first time I've ever actually said that or felt that. As someone who was born and raised in Nigeria, my mother's family were Dutch immigrants to Chile and then California. She moved to Nigeria at age 25 as a nurse. My dad is a Tiv pastor whose work is rooted in service. I grew up internationally with this different perspective on race. It's not that there weren't issues but they were different in some crucial ways from the conceptions of race in this country.

Race in the U.S is immediately negative, but I feel positively about it. I don't see my duality as a struggle; it is other people that seem to have the struggle with it. But the same can be said for being black. One may love being black but when one is confronted with racism, someone else's problem become yours in the sense that it's in your sphere now and you must address it even if it's to ignore it. But the study of race is a big topic and one that I am still chewing on, still discovering... I feel that part of my study of Afro-Futurism is a way of taking back my power to define myself in a futuristic trajectory. But how is this translating into the general populace? The last story I read about race or bi-race was so negative and offensive but it was fairly recent. I think also that in terms of race we are talking about perspectives by different generations in this country. I’m interested to see how the Afro-Futurist discourse relates to all of that.

YLW: How did you get into Afro-Futurism in art?

DA: Well, first, I was raised on the books of Dr. Seuss. And I specifically mention the books rather than film or animation--which I don't watch, by the way--because they shaped the foundation of my philosophy about life and art. Andrea Harrison was my professor at Smith College. She was writing plays about Einstein, producing innovative plays, climbing mountains, literally. She was my role model. She shaped my views on being a black woman and how one operates as an artist. You have to locate your thoughts and ideas within your physical body and be responsible for them. A collector I know in Chicago once said something that stays with me, that he tends to go toward the art that disturbs him or that he can't get out of his mind, that he wrestles with. In a sense, he’s saying he’s going towards the fear. That affected me profoundly, and I always find a way to share that with my students. And that’s one of the things I’m thinking about with this course. We know it’s new territory. There’s a lot of experimentation which is a big part of Afro-Futurism.

YLW: What do you say to those who argue that Afro-Futurism is just some far-out ideas by a group of oddball artists and thinkers?

DA: We need to respect the oddballs and those who are operating outside of what we call the norm. Baraka said that in his "Revolutionary Theatre" manifesto. Not that everyone has to be this freak or think George Clinton is God. It’s just about learning a methodology to go beyond the norm. I used to teach ritual performance, and the fact is that the path of the artist is one in which you’re signing up to go through a transformation. You want to teach people how to go through that process and get to the other side. Folks can get lost in that process. That's how you lose someone like a Jimi Hendrix. They’re going through that alchemic process on behalf themselves but also on behalf of us. Being an artist is a continual going through that cauldron and coming through the other side. You have to learn that process. If you don’t, you can get trapped, and you may not make it literally. I’m interested in the health of my students. I want them to thrive and tap into their greatest potential. We’re on a voyage.

YLW: You mentioned that you taught ritual performance art. Does shamanism have links to Afro-Futurism?

DA: We read text from Malidoma Patrice Somé who is Dagara from Burkina Faso. He's a shaman initiated in the ways of Dagara and also has multiple degrees from Western universities. His book Of Water and the Spirit details his initiation experience initiation. Later, he wanted to do an experiment, so he brought a videotape of Star Trek to the Dagara elders. They understood the story immediately but saw Star Trek as an example of the day to day lives of people somewhere else in the world. They saw Spock as kontomblé, one of the mystical beings part of Dagara cosmological landscape, except that he was too tall. Light speed and teleportation were completely familiar to them but they wondered why are these people wasting so much energy? We can do these things much more discretely. His point is that the West sees Africa as being so backwards but the "archaic" ways that are part of the elders' present are what the West sees as futuristic.

YLW: Afro-Futurism is a foray to explore identity as well.

DA: I want to define myself. I like categories but only as far as I can shape-shift between them. It always comes back to analog. At the end of the day you still have to connect that wire to that wire. You can get as hi-tech as you want, but it’s about the basic things. In 2002 all of my personal relationships were web based. All of my family was scattered across the planet. I was thinking about these rituals we have and how can you connect through a ritual that cares for the community, like cleansing etc. when the community is not there. This was pre-facebook. If you leave human babies alone they die or do not develop.

Biologically, we still need touch, stimulation, breathing. We haven’t evolved biologically. We’re not cyborgs yet. I worked on an interactive media piece called "Virtual Exorcism" which asked the question: in the absence of community, is there a way to sustain those rituals online? Granted you can’t do a Sunday dinner online, but perhaps the web will catch up in terms of the taste and smell options that are being developed, we’ll get close. Though even if you could have Sunday dinner online and even eat it like how food appears on the Jetsons, would it be "Sunday dinner" in the truest sense of the meaning of that ritual? Could it be? There are still some things that define us on a very intrinsic and cellular level. Will we evolve to the point where we’re not human and what exactly does it mean to be human? Will we ever be post human?

I want to live in Marina City--which looks just like something out of the Jetsons--and have a flying car. I thought we would have been there by now. Marina City is the perfect Jetsons-esque setting for flying cars. I want to travel outer space and not just be in a suit, go to Mars, go to the moon. That's one of my goals. This is 2010; we’re supposed to be much further along. The information age is great, but I want the trappings of futurism. I am interested in artists who are working in fashion with new technologies to produce garments that are futuristic in their interaction with the wearer.

YLW: We're all raised with the Jetsons and Star Wars. I'm sure there's something futuristic that we've seen in films only that we all want to do. Then again, that's the basis for innovation. What about green living and futurism?

DA: My view of Afro-Futurism also includes this idea of holistic living and how we are responsible. You can’t eat fast food if you’re trying to go through the process of being initiated in Dagara. You have to be rooted in the earth, and that kind of holistic approach is part of many indigenous cultures. I believe that futurism should be rooted in an awareness of our planet and a sense of care for it, a sense of recreating ourselves as a community on the planet. There has to be something responsible and honorable and not just about commodity. There’s nothing wrong with getting paid, but if you’re talking about blackness and liberation that’s when you have to get into something a little broader than the quest for the benjamins.

For more information, visit http://www.denenge.net./

Voted Most Creative: Interview with Author Deanna Burrell

2010-03-01T18:41:00.000-08:00

Deanna Burrell is author of the self published work Voted Most Creative. She's currently writing a fiction book.

YLW: Why did you write Voted Most Creative?

DB: I wrote my book because I just felt like there was something missing in my life. I wasn't using enough of my creative side. I wanted to get into being more creative and exploring more and looking at my life. I'm in my 30s and my career has taken such a big focus in my life. I make time with family, I have a social life, but sometimes I don't spend enough time with myself.

YLW: You have a corporate day job, why did you want to explore your creative side?

DB: I found that I really do miss being creative. I used to do theater, I used to write and read all the time.

YLW: Why did you stop?

DB: I didn't stop completely, but I don't do it as much as I used to. You get into a pattern with your life, you pick a career. It's corporate America, and there's only so much creativity that you can have there. Just working every day took away my time and my energy.

YLW: There was a book called the Quarter Life Crisis that I write about a lot. In the book, they suggest that women feel unusual pressures in their 20s and 30s to be successful today. It's pressure coupled with self doubt that is compared to a midlife crisis. Did you experience a Quarterlife Crisis?

DB: Definitely. It's like a quarterlife trimester, not a life crisis. When you get to a certain point and you look back you ask 'Am I doing the things I thought I'd be doing? Am I happy? Could I be doing more? Should I switch gears? My friends and I have been working in our careers for 10 years. When you're in your mid 30s you're doing self evaluation. You say, I've got another 40 years to work, do I want to do this for another 40 years? Or is it time to do something else.

YLW: It reminds me of the movie 30 Years To Life. One character in the movie ditched his plush corporate job to become a model.

DB: There's a guy I know, he got a degree in engineering and did that for awhile, and decided to be a model. It happens.

YLW: Do you feel pressure to be a “superwoman?” Joan Morgan writes about black women and the superwoman complex in the U.S.

DB: Definitely. A lot of African American women do. My mother went to college. I'm second generation to go, a lot of African American women are first generation college grads. You're supposed to get good grades, go to school, get a job. You're supposed to have a family, raise a family, then you have all these responsibilities with the family you grew up with.

Sometimes it can be overwhelming, and you have to say I've done all I can do. But everyone has to find there own path.

YLW: How have people responded to your new creative endeavors?

DB: One reoccurring reaction was people saying 'I didn't know you liked to write.' People would say I knew you were creative, but I didn't know you liked to write. Then other reactions were very encouraging, especially people who've known me for a long time. They say I'm glad you're doing this .

YLW: Why is creative expression important in life?

DB: Expression is life. If you have an idea and it just sits dormant in your mind, you never share it, never develop it, or it never grows then there's no point in having the idea. Expression is a form of growth.

It goes back to our African ancestors, the need to express is a need to be in a community. That's how the community connected and felt strength. The talking drums, the dancing, that's part of community. It's definitely something that's been passed down, as it progresses the communication will take different forms and different shapes, but the needs is passed down.

YLW: You're an advocate of carving out time for creative expression.
DB: The thing about expression is that it can take so many different shapes. It doesn't have to be a book. It can be how you dress, your hairstyles. It can be as simple as how you do your fingernails. I know some people feel spiteful like they don't have opportunities and time to express themselves. Maybe you don't do it this years, but you do it next time. You can express yourself in a scrapbook, a collage, singing in a choir at church. People express themselves in so many different ways.
YLW: Opportunities to be a working artist have increased over the years.

DB: I think our generation are afforded many more choices. With my parents generation, you had to get a job. It was really frowned upon if you wanted to be an artist. But in our generation if you want to be a dancer or a singer, there are so many more avenues to pursue that. It's easier to pursue those non corporate jobs. I think its easier for our generation. The playing field is wider.

YLW: Tell me about your book?

My book isn't mainstream, it's a collection of poems and essays. It talks about a wide range of topics. I like the nontraditional. I don't like the cookie cutter.

It's in three categories, life, love and the pursuit of happiness. There's an essay in there about the day I went to the Chicago Marathon and all the lessons that I learned. I personally wouldn't be in one, because I don't feel the human body is built for that but I can cheer someone else on. There's an essay on how to embrace adversity, how that's really an opportunity for growth. There's a section on love. They're not love poems, but I talk about different facets of being in a loving relationship. With the Pursuit of Happiness, I have fun essays on swinging on the swings or putting Christmas lights on a tree.

YLW: How do you suggest that others embark on the creative life?

DB: I write about it in my foreward. Is something missing from your life? It's never too late to make a change. Start small and big changes will gradually occur. That's the thought I love to leave people with. It's never too late to make a change. You don't have to quit your job or move 5 states away. You can start small and keep building and building.

When you're doing something you know you should be doing, it just feels right. When I'm creating, when I'm writing, it just feels right. I know that this is something I should be doing. I feel I've found the thing that I'm good at.

http://www.votedmostcreative.com/

Hoodoo and Soul: Interview with author Stephanie Rose Bird

2010-02-15T05:37:00.000-08:00

Stephanie Rose Bird is author of The Big Book of Soul: The Ultimate Guide to the African American Spirit. Her body of work includes studies of African Traditional Religions (ATRs), African Derived Religions (ADRs) and earth based spirituality. She's a professional member of the American Folklore Society, the Herb Research Foundation, and the American Botanical Council.

YLW: Tell me about "Big Book of Soul." What practices do you discuss?

SRB: I talk about drumming, dancing, ecstatic dancing, singing, whistling. There are beauty rituals. I talk about African Traditional Beauty Standards. I talk about recipes for making henna. I have some Egyptian bath and foot soaps. I talk about soul food, ways to use it and the vital chemicals and nutrients that it includes. There's a lot of mythology and folklore in there.

YLW: I read about one practice that attracts lovers?

SRB: The nation sack is a type of mojo bag that women would carry in their bra and it would have oils, herbs and roots inside. So it's something good to have for Valentines Day. I talk about how to make one in the big book of soul.

YLW: Your book explores the spiritual concepts of soul and discusses African Derived practices like Hoodoo that people can incorporate in their lives today. Usually, when people talk about soul and black culture, they're referring to music.

SRB: Soul is in music. It's inexplicable. It's difficult to define. Instead I focus on earth based cultures that support soulfulness. I talk about soul nurturing practices in the African Diaspora and also of ancient cultures. I just feel it is a force that is readily available to tap into. Even in the Christian Church when people get happy and get into gospel music, they're tapping into these elements of soul.

YLW: How did you come to study earth based religions, African Traditional Religions, and African Derived Religions?

SRB: It began with me living really close to the earth . I've been involved in earth based religions since I was 13. I grew up in New Jersey on the lake front. The forest and trees were more of my friends than anything else. I connected with nature at an early age. I have one grandmother who was a spiritualist minister and herbal healer, my grandmother was psychic, and I have an uncle who is a babalewo. My grandmother was into tea leaf reading, numerology. Of course, I have a lot of family who were into traditional Christianity, too.

YLW: Why are you an advocate or these expressions of spirituality?

SRB: I hope to see African belief systems and ways of healing get equal footing with Native American, Ayurvedic, and other earth based expressions. I've written five books and four of them are centered around African earth based spirituality.

YLW: Why aren't African inspired forms of expression as well known as other forms of earth based expressions?

SRB: It's really complex. I still think that the general society looks at African religions as being dark and mysterious and dangerous. Also, I think in African American society, when you think spirituality, the first thing that comes to mind is Christianity and after that Islam. People don't think about earth based spirituality. I think the practices are dying out.

YLW: In your book you talk about Hoodoo and various practices. Did you grow up in a family that discussed and practiced Hoodoo?

SRB: Hoodoo was never really spoken about or named in my family. My family settled in New Jersey. The slave ancestry was in Virginia. But it was the practices themselves that I retained visually. It wasn't transmitted to me orally. My mother did talk about wars with neighbors or throwing dust between neighbors. My mother would throw pennies for good luck, she would burn incense to cleanse the home. She would do things that she retained from her mother. Not only did I retain her practices, but I studied them to see what they meant. I traced a lot of these practices back to Egypt. I talk a lot about Egypt and Africa in my work. Everything in our society tends to be thought of in a generalized way. I look at Continental Africa and see how it came down through the ages.

YLW: What are some common Hoodoo practices that are popular today?

SRB: Painting the bottoms of trees white. They do it in the rural South. It's associated with the spirit world. The color white is the essence of our being and it's very other worldly. There's a reverence for metal. Horseshoes, for example. We had horseshoes in our home. The metal smiths are revered in West African culture because they have transformative practices. We carry dimes with us and lucky pennies. I think some of the things that I talk about might confuse younger people. Even things I grew up with like having a lucky penny, I don't know if many kids today do. I think they're losing their way. These are practices that people don't think about anymore. Not many people have horseshoes in their home.

YLW: There does seem to be a renewed interest in earth based spirituality. For example, many people are doing celebrations to acknowledge the Winter Solstice in addition to Christmas, which is a preChristian practice.

SRB: I know what you mean. I go to a unitarian, universalist church and we talked about yule and prayed in the four directions. I was dumbfounded but it was very neat. When I first went to the temple I saw a pagan song in the hymn book. I really like this church. I told the minister that I'm pagan and he said 'welcome, we're glad to have you here.'

YLW: You identify yourself as pagan?

SRB: Pagan, meaning the older, preChristian ways. It doesn't have a negative connotation to me. Some people in my circle call themselves heathens. I'm preChristian, preIslamic in my systems and beliefs.

YLW: So you wouldn't say that you practice an African Traditional Religion?

SRB: I practice African Derived Religions.

YLW: What's the difference?

SRB: African Derived Religions include Santeria or Hoodoo. They're not African Traditional Religions, but were inspired by them and evolved in the New World. An example of an African Traditional Religion would be Yoruba. I take a lot of consideration of ATRs in my writing. They have influenced the African Derived Religions. However, I am not initiated. There are things that bother me with the initiation process in ATRs. For one, I'm an animal lover and I have a problem with sacrifice. I talk about substitutes for blood in my work, like using pomegranate juice for your rituals.

YLW: So how would you identity your spiritual practice?

SRB: I am Pagan, I practice Hoodoo and I'm a Green Witch. I'm not Wiccan. Green Witches practice magikal herbalism.

YLW: Are you spelling magical with a K?

SRB: Yes, the other spelling refers to slight of hand tricks. That's not what I do.

YLW: How did you become a Green Witch?

SRB: I did a lot of reading and I had friends when I was 13. Today, I'm called a solitary, I'm practicing alone. I do yahoo groups and meet up with different practitioners, though.

YLW: How were you introduced to it?

SRB: I think you're born a witch. I had it in me. So when my friends came out of the broom closet so to speak and said they were witches, I said alright.

YLW: You combine a variety of practices.

SRB: I am an eclectic. I collect practices. I figure why not. Tradition has it's place and I respect it. But I am not traditionalist at all. I'm in an interracial and intercultural marriage with interracial, intercultural children. I go to a unitarian church. Some witches would raise their eyebrows that I would even go into something that's called a church.

SRB: You know, as I was talking to you, I found some cobwebs. My mother used cobwebs and put them on my cousin's head and healed his concussion. He didn't have to go to a doctor or anything. That's one of the things I talk about. In the book, I talk about how over time, we had to doctor ourselves. A lot of these healing ways we had to do because white doctors didn't want to deal with us. Black women were the chief medical people on plantations, they ministered to the enslaved and the owners. They were midwives. I try to learn as much as I can about what they did as possible.

YLW: Why weren't many of these practices passed down? Today, where they are present, they're often labeled as superstitions.

SRB: By law. Some of it became illegal in the Caribbean and parts of the south. It was illegal to do dances. That's how the shuffle was created. We were creative and found ways around it. The only time you talk about a kind of spirit is when people talk about the holy spirit or the holy ghost. The whole idea of being mounted and ridden by spirit is evident when people get happy in church. I wasn't as exposed to Baptist and Pentecostal growing up, but even in the Methodist church, people would get happy. The practices started off being really oppressed. That's how it got tucked under the skirts of saints and Christianity.

YLW: How would you suggest that someone start incorporating these practices in their life?

SRB: Buy my book. The first one Stick Stones, Blood and Bones is a book of practices. It has hands on recipes and talks about how to raise a Hoodoo child. The Big Book of Soul is good for understanding why you might want to practice. My writing keeps developing and it's going in a very linear matter.

YLW: Do you ever get negative responses from other spiritual practitioners who aren't familiar with African inspired practices?

SRB: I've never received negative responses. I'm not open with everyone. There's some people who wouldn't understand and it's not worth my energy. For some, I'm Stephanie Bird, generic person, not a Pagan, not a Green Witch. I don't go around wearing a badge describing who I am in that way.

YLW: What is your response to people who say that this is all superstition?

SRB: I would say that you are wrong. I don't know what superstition is supposed to mean. There is wisdom in folklore and tales that we can use in our lives.

For more information go to http://www.stephanierosebird.com/

Critic's World: Interview with Film Critic and Classical Radio Host Sergio Mims

2010-02-08T10:28:00.000-08:00

Sergio Mims is a film critic and curator of the International Black Harvest Festival of Film and Video. He also moderated an intriguing discussion among filmmakers in the March issue of Ebony Magazine and hosts a classical musical show on WHPK FM in Chicago. PHOTO (l-r, Classical singer Micha Brunagosman and critic Sergio Mims)

YLW: How does one become a film critic?

SM: It's very simply a knowledge of movies and knowing how to talk about films in an intelligent way. When you have a knowledge of films you can compare films of a similar theme and genre. If you want to be a film critic, just start reviewing movies.

YLW: Why aren't there more African American film critics?

SM: I have wondered that and I have been asked that but I can only speculate. This could be controversial, but I'll say it anyway. Going back to the concept of Post Black, I think there may be a stigma attached to being a critic.

YLW: Really? How so?

SM: It's not cool. It's nerdy. There are still people who are resistant to the notion that you can be whatever you want to be. In other words, I think that being a critic is viewed as something that black people don't do. Nikki Giovanni says in this poem that “ my universe is five blocks.” Some people have a five block mentality. They feel you can only go so far.

YLW: So you're saying that there aren't more critics of color because it's not viewed as “cool?”

SM: Have you ever been around film critics? They're the nerdiest bunch you ever want to see. We think we're cool and sophisticated,but it's like being a computer geek. It's a nerdy endeavor.

YLW: You had an opportunity to moderate an intriguing panel with several black filmmakers including Lee Daniels, Antoine Fuqua, Bill Duke, Gina Prince Bythewood and Will Packer for Ebony Magazine. Were you surprised by any of their comments?

SM: The audience will be surprised to see these filmmakers and their understanding of the business, how it works and the realities. Anyone who's interested in filmmaking should read this article. People have a very pollyanna view of film. When you hear about the struggles Antoine Fuqua had making Brooklyn's Finest or Gina Prince Bythewood and The Secret Life of Bees. They were very eloquent and honest about it. It wasn't surprising to me, though..

YLW: Why would this be surprising to the audience?

SM: I don't think people have an understanding of what the film business is about. And too many filmmakers go into filmmaking not because they love films but because they like notoriety. If you love movies, you know it's a battle to get a film made. It's not about people making a fuss over you after the film is made. It comes down to 'I have a story I want to tell.' It's not about making a fuss or making money, or getting reviews but about telling a story to an audience.

YLW: Why is there a belief that filmmaking is purely about hype and celebrity?

SM: Every week now we read about box office numbers. This is a fairly recent thing. Before, nobody talked about box office receipts. That was something between the studio and the bean counters. If it did well, fine, if it didn't, no one knew. Everyone knows that Avatar is the biggest film ever made. Everyone sees the red carpet premieres. There always was a push of the glamorous side, but with all the media and websites, it's even more sold than ever. The glamor side is pushed more than any other. What isn't shown is the reality of the business.

YLW: I've interviewed other filmmakers and we've discussed how black films are expected to combat negative images of the past and make some form of social commentary. What are your thoughts on this?

SM: It's still a core belief. It's a wrong belief. Can you think of a black film or tv show that every black person praised? Everyone's going to find fault with something. No one movie or tv show can address all the ills and stereotypes that have appeared in the past 100 years and it would be foolish for any filmmaker to try to do that. All you can do is make your movie and hope people will like it. You can say there are some films that are better than others, or somethings that will represent blacks better than others. But no film can solve everything.

All we need are more black films to deal with black life and culture. That's what Black Harvest Festival of Film and Video does. Black life is very diverse. There is no definitive example of black life. No film can do that. In order to accomplish that, we need many, many more films. And even then there won't be enough. So stop jumping on one movie and feel this film will solve everything we're going through.

YLW: So what's next in film?

SM: In terms of film, you never know what's going to happen next. Who would have predicted Tyler Perry ten years ago? Who would have predicted that Spike's career would be on a serious downturn? Who would have thought Lee Daniels would be the filmmaker everyone is talking about? In terms of black film, what I have noticed, and this is really recent, in the last two or three years, I've seen more and more black filmmakers following their own voice.

SM: For a long time, people were trying to rip off what's hot. When gangsta rap was hot, you saw a bunch of knock offs or I saw a bunch of Tyler Perry rip offs. Following your own voice is the key. That's how you get A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy or Medicine for Melancholy or a Kenyan film shot in South Africa, called Pumzi. Not all, but it looks like filmmakers are saying why copy somebody else? What's important to me? What do I want to say?

YLW: What do you accredit this new diversity to?

SM: I think we're dealing with a whole new generation of filmmakers coming up and people just got tired of what they were watching. They said I don't want to see the same movie over again. This goes back to your whole Post Black concept, more filmmakers are of that ilk, saying I want to look beyond what we were doing or stuck doing, or break out of the box we were a forced in and stuck in. I want to break out. You have the Book of Eli by the Hughes Bros. Now, the fact that there was not one new thing in that film that was not taken from another film is one issue, but I'm happy that they did a sci fi. Why aren't more black filmmakers doing sci fi? A lot of African filmmakers are starting to do sci fi.

YLW: What's on the horizon in the film fest circuit?

SM: I'm very anxious. I'm putting together Black Harvest now. People are really finally doing interesting films. I see more of a range. I look at Night Catches Us, a period love story between two ex panthers. with Anthony Mackie and Carrie Washington at Sundance. That's interesting. A couple of years ago that would have been unheard of. I see a lot of movies out there that don't fit the mode. Films like Family, the black lesbian drama, and Black Dynamite. I think that's why we had the highest grossing fest last year, because there's so much diversity. A filmmaker has to challenge themselves. Spike tried a war movie, we see how that turned about, but he gets A for effort. Filmmakers try to explore some avenue of their talent. If you're an artist, you're supposed to take risk.The artists that I do know, they don't concern themselves with that, they do what they do. If people don't like it, that's their problem. There is no mode of what an artists should be, they don't care.

YLW: What are your thoughts on the Post Black concept?

SM: As far as Post Black, it's been happening for a long time. There have always been people who didn't fit the mode. I look at Ralph Bunch or Leontine Price or Paul Robeson, and these are just people we know. There have always been people who have been post black, who said do not put me in this box, I refuse to be put in this box. I think of Dean Dixon, one of the first internationally known symphony composers. I hate the idea of a definition of blackness. There is no definition of blackness.

YLW: You host a classical music show. How did you become a classical music lover?

SM: I just gravitated to it. My father listened to all kinds of music. When people say 'I listened to all kinds of music,' well they don't mean it. My father did and I fell in love with classical.

YLW: Was it rough growing up as a teen being a classical music fan?

SM: It ain't been easy. There's a mindset that if you're black this is what you're supposed to be and if you deviate from that from a fraction of an inch, they don't understand you. When I was in high school nobody was interested in what I was interested in. I was into foreign films and classical music. I took a lot of heat. Then when you get my age, people think you're a genius, some Einstein. I interviewed this classical singer Micha Brunagosman. We were there with friends and for two hours, most of it was the two of us talking about classical music. It was totally inside baseball. And at one point, one guy at the table said I have no idea what you're talking about. I've seen every orchestra in the world and if I wasn't in this, I would try to be a conductor. My classical music collection is astounding.

YLW: You are a person who created your own path.

SM: You can call me any name in the book. Twenty years ago, I would have cared. When you get older you don't give a rats ass anymore. You don't care what people think about you. Younger people are always thinking about what other people think about you. It's refreshing to not care. I look at the black gossip websites and I don't know who these people are. And I say, thank God, I'm not at at age where I have to know every new song and new person, which I never really did anyway.

You can read Sergio Mims' work on http://www.shadowandact.com/ and http://www.ebonyjet.com/

"You'll Be A Man" doc: Interview with Producer Shawn Wallace

2010-02-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Shawn Wallace is a musician and producer of the upcoming documentary You'll Be A Man. The documentary explores masculinity and identity. The title is taken from the last line of Rudyard Kipling's poem “If.”

YLW: How did you develop the concept for You Will Be A Man?

SW: It's really the brainchild of Robert Goodwin (producer.) He said his deceased grandfather came to him in a dream and told him to tell it like it is. Originally, we wanted to talk about how men feel about themselves on the 20th anniversary of our pledge line. We're both in Alpha Phi Alpha.

Then a friend suggested we do it on black men in general. We interviewed men from all walks of life, teenagers, grandfathers. We talked to Dr. Lee Butler, from the Chicago Theological Seminary. A lot of the focus of his work helped us to find our view. We interviewed both men and women. We asked both what do men do and what is a man. Most immediately identified what a man does, but most had problems saying what a man is. It was very illuminating.

YLW: What did they say men do?

SW: Most say a man is a provider, nurtures his family, takes care of his family, his community. He works. That sort of thing. Usual traditional roles. He's a father, brother, husband, son.

YLW: Why couldn't they explain what a man is?

SW: Most people found it difficult to answer that question. The more we dug into it, the more I realized that it's a question of identity. I think it's the question of our generation. Identity. Who are we? Our issues are much more psycho spiritual and I don't know if we have the language to talk about it yet.

The questions that we are faced with in this day and age are slightly different from previous generations. Other generations dealt more with survival. So there was more of a focus on function. I don't know if by answering those questions in terms of duty that we've found the sense of fulfillment we expected. We're asking who are we. What does it mean to be a human being, a man, a black man?

YLW: I agree. I think many people are rethinking the terms they use to describe themselves because definitions are changing.

SW: One woman who was with her husband said a man is a soldier of God. We found that to be interesting. Both sets of people, men and women, they could zero in on what a man does, but what is he is a question that needs to be asked more often so we can begin to be that answer. It brings up issues of self determination.

YLW: Why is male identity a big issue today?

SW: The conditions in our community have changed. We have more female headed households. I think we ask the identity question because it may be the way we affect the changes we want to see in our lives. Just doing certain things has not brought us the fulfillment that we thought it would. Knowing your true purpose on earth is key. I remember so many in our generation were taught to go to college to get a good job.

SW: So there was less of an emphasis on going to college and studying something you love or are interested in. It was study this because you will make money. So you identified yourself based on what you do, your educational marker. But I saw my contemporaries question why are we doing what we're doing. A lot of my friends got degrees in one field and completely went back to school and said I don't want to do this. Others felt trapped. There's more to life than having nice things and buying nice stuff. We're challenged to have a good job, but a good job alone is not just fulfilling. The ideas that you can't love what you do and make money from it is something that people are starting to challenge and I think as a result starting to question our identity.

I've seen some interesting attitudes. I've seen an attitude in our community in which women feel they are stronger, smarter and better than men.

YLW: Really? What do you mean?

SW: There is this idea that the condition of being a woman fundamentally means that you are emotionally stronger and better than a man just because you are a woman. I had a conversation with a security guard, a woman, and she said well, we're stronger than men anyway. I've heard it from teenage girls that I've taught. I just try to observe it. I think it's born out of the conditions in which our community exists. Black women have had to lead our communities.

YLW: Do you think that's a burgeoning attitude among women in general?

SW: Yes. I don't think it's just a black paradigm, I've just observed it on our community.

It may be a reflection for a need for mens and womens long house. This is where the men go, this is where the woman go. Men initiate men into manhood, women initiate women. It doesn't mean that interdependence isn't present, but femininity and masculinity are defined in that subgroup as a whole.

YLW: What else did you discover?

SW: One of the things we talk about in the film are rights of passage and we compare fraternities and street gangs. Both are fulfilling a need of rights of passage for men to demarcate certain steps toward manhood. We found similarities in terms of what the group gave them, various intangibles like a sense of family and belonging. It was really illuminating. Not that that study hasn't been done before, but there's probably more of a need for it now. And that's not a black phenomenon, either.

YLW: Is the definition of manhood changing?

SW: It's definitely changing because we've had to deal with certain dark secrets including homosexuality, bisexuality, and our sexual identity as men. Masculinity is evident in men regardless of their sexual orientation. Men have testosterone in their body. A gay man is still a man. A gay man is a man first who just has a certain sexual orientation, so that doesn't take away from his masculinity. While some gay men may have an air of what they think femininity is, or acting the way they think a woman acts, even that isn't how a woman acts. I don't know a lot of women who act like gay men. I think some of the ways we act as men and women aren't just how we're groomed, but just hormone differences so we react to things differently.

I've had the same debate with women in certain situations, I don't care if a woman is gay straight, whatever, she's a woman. She's going to react in the way that a woman reacts.

YLW: How has the definition of manhood changed?

SW: Rob and I were talking earlier and we were saying that the role men played early on, their primary role was to bring home money. It's changed drastically and for the better. We're moving more toward a balance for both men and women. The feminine and masculine sides of ourselves are moving towards the center and we're being an individual. Everyone can express their masculine and feminine sides in a balanced way. Men are being asked to parent and nurture in ways they weren't asked of them 30 or 40 years ago. Some things that we associate with masculinity and femininity are expressed in both sexes. We're moving towards a balance of masculine and femininity within individuals in terms of roles.

YLW: In Post Black, I talk about how I don't know the difference between a male and female activity. When you're taught at a young age that you can do anything, those traditional roles don't hold any weight.

SW: I have that, too. What do women do that I can't do? I can't come up with anything other than they're not me.

YLW: What are your hopes with the documentary?

SW: We hope that it will be a primer for young men to help shape their identity. It's more about identity than a where are black men and this is what they're dealing with piece. Hopefully, it's interesting enough to the audience so that they like it.

We've been working on it for three years. We're done with photography and now we're in the editing process.

BLACK ROCK AND AFRO PUNK: An Interview with Rock Music Critic Rob Fields

2010-01-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

Rob Fields is music ambassador and creator of BoldasLove.us, a website devoted to the new wave of underground black rock artists.

YLW: Why do you believe there is a new wave of black rock bands?

RF: I just think that what we are beginning to see is that people, particularly black folks are reaching beyond the narrow bounds of black life that we had been relegated to in greater numbers than before. You always had people in the fringe, people who were into rock or punk. But one of the beautiful things about technology is that it has allowed people of like minded interests to find one another. There are a lot of people out here who are into punk or rock and aren't into the paradigm of commercial hip hop or the r & b lover kind of thing. There is so much more to life than that.

YLW: The flourishing black rock scene is a cultural statement?

RF: It's a really exciting time. Black rock isn't about black kids picking up guitars, but rather an invitation to be brave and to question what we do, how we express ourselves and what we think of as traditionally black. Those are important things to look at if we are going to be citizens of the world. We have to be open to ideas, new people, and embrace diverse influences. It puts us in touch with our humanity. That is what black rock offers.

YLW: Is the rise of black rock also a way of challenging hip hop as the primary expression of black youth culture?

RF: Black folks aren't all thinking about the hip hop paradigm in terms of the way it presents masculinity or the way it presents black authenticity. There are a whole lot of black identities out there. We've always known that. We've never been this monolith. We have more ideas about what black is and you are broadening that definition with the Post Black concept at a time when we need. it. The world has gone global and we're still trying to rep our hood and our block. That's not even the game anymore.

YLW: The nerd culture is also cool today. There are even black nerd t-shirts. What are your thoughts on this?

RF: It's cool to be a nerd now. When I was growing up it wasn't . You had to be hard and street. As a nerdy kid, I didn't walk down the street and have girls throw themselves at me. I didn't know that.

YLW: How did you become a rock fan?

RF: I wrote about it in my piece My Life in Black Rock. I've never been so much into punk rock. When I was in junior high school, I got tired of the repetition on black radio and I started listening to top 40 which coincided with me going to prep school. When I got to college I was introduced to jazz and world music. Later, I was trying to get into the music industry and someone suggested that I should follow the Black Rock Coalition, which led to my first PR (public relations) gig. It lead me to black artists who were embracing diverse influences in their life. They sang about their humanity in a way I hadn't heard on commercial radio. I met the Family Stand, I met Living Color. I found a community of people who were into a diverse sound of black music and I felt, well how come more black people aren't into it.

YLW: Stylistically, what kind of rock do you like?

RF: I tend toward traditional song structure. Anyone doing very punky kind of stuff, angst and screaming into the mike, I don't really get it. I wasn't an agnsty kind of teen.

YLW: Why did you create BoldAsLove.com

RF: I started it 3 years ago. I felt a cultural shift happening. With black rock, black people were exploring the musical spectrum. (Black rock) was moving off the fringes. It's in the mainstream. You have Passing Strange on Broadway, Farai Chideya did a novel called Kiss the Sky about a black woman who has a rock band. Artists like Janelle Monet and others aren't fitting neatly into what's black. It's happening in London, too. President Obama is the example of what you're talking about with Post Black. We can't be Post Black until people stop being racist, but Obama is a sense of this larger world. It 's happening in music, in art. It's all this post blackness. I interviewed an African American artist recently and she said her favorite artist was Led Zepplin. Back in the day you would never say that.

YLW: There was a resurgence of black rock artists like Living Color and Fishbone in the late 80s. Then it faded away. What happened?

RF: There was such a big push for Living Color. They came out in 88'. That was 22 years ago which is a head blower in itself. After they hit, there was a lot of excitement, but there was also a lot of excitement about the black film movement with film like “Do the Right Thing.” A lot of black rock bands got signed. There was a lot of hope, but most were never able to recreate Living Color's success.

By the early 90s, you had the advent of gangster rap and hip hop went global, so everyone wanted to be down with this hip hop thing. Also, in the 90s, dancehall reggae got big. You had Shabba Ranks and Patra. However, the diversity of the music was around hip hop. Rock was met with this dismissivness. At the same time you had Arrested Development, PM Dawn, a lot of different sounds. But when hip hop went global in the 90s no one could think of anything in the black music departments but hip hop and R&B. There was no real room in the music industry for black rock bands.

YLW: What to you credit the current resurgence too?

RF: In the early parts of the 21st century, technology enabled people to meet audiences.

Back in the day, it was a big deal to have a fax machine. It was a different world. You needed a corporation to get radio airplay because there was no way to get heard. Black radio was not hospitable to anything that did not fall into a certain mode. Costs of recording started to come down. But then you did not have the Internet or the technology for things we take for granted today. Back then you couldn't, get a link to download an album or put your music on a Myspace page. In the 90s you had to go home to check your AOL account. Without the corporate support at that point, it was hard to get music out.

RF: Then you get this cultural shift, coming to the end of the Bush years, where people were just disillusioned with traditional power structures. There was also a large group of people who were looking for music that offered more substance. If I see another video with an expensive car and lots of jewelry. . . I also think the thing that hit the nail on the head was the Don Imus blow up. Black women said enough is enough with this hip hop thing. That was spring of 07. It's not that they wanted to get rid of hip hop, they just wanted more from it. There have always been creative and insightful and thoughtful people working in hip hop. We just need to support them now because the radio waves and video are full of lowest common denominator stuff.

YLW: There are a lot of black rock bands headed by women. What do you attribute this too?

RF: Hip hop started ignoring women. That's one thing about black rock, there are a lot of women out there leading bands. You have a healthy scene and community where you have both male and female representation. Hip hop would be a lot better if there were answer records. There used to be this back and forth. But now, women in hop hop are relegated to the underground. They're not on radio.

RF: I'm doing a survey and I asked people what genres of music are they listening to. Hip hop and R&B have taken the largest dip. More black people are listening to classical, world music, jazz, also afro punk.

YLW: How prolific is the scene?

RF: You can't throw a rock in Brooklyn and not hit a black rock band. There is this absence of coverage of black rock bands, though. Unless you're really big on cultivated this white following, you don't get coverage.

YLW: Which black rock bands do you like?

RF: I have a really wide list. I'm excited about the new Living Color album that came out in September. It's amazing. Kyp Malone's album Rain Machine is great. There is a band out of South Africa called BLK JKS. They are 4 men out of Durbin. They have a record that's beautiful and emotional. It's rock seen through an African prism, so you have the African rhythms, but it's a rock album. Res's new album Black Girls Rock is very good. Melvin Gibbs, the bass player for Elevated Entity mined the connection between Brooklyn and Brazil.

Tamar-Kali, will release her album called Black Bottom. She just has this powerful voice that is incredible. There's another band called Game Rebellion. They are a hip hop punk rock quartet. They are a great bridge between the hip hop world and the rock world. They write songs that deal with the complications of life. The Smyrk is real talented. The lead singer Doron Flake is what John Legend would sound like if he had the balls to do a rock record. There are a couple of other bands Shelly Nicole's Blakbush, California King. The Bots are these two kids who are 14 and 16. They have this rock, punk, ska sound.

For more information on Rob Fields go to http://www.boldaslove.us/.

Filmmaking: An Interview with "Online" Director Keith Purvis

2010-01-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

Keith Purvis is director of the critically acclaimed short film Online. The film will tour festivals this summer.

YLW: How did you get into film?

KP: I was always into film and didn't know it. My father used to watch foreign films. He had an 8 millimeter camera. My brother was into deep horror movies from Italy, etc. I never thought 'oh I'll make movies.' It wasn't until college when I was in design and I was in the Black Student Union and we crashed this alumni event with director George Tillman who suggested that I take a class. So I took a film tech one class. They were showing us films I'd already seen with my dad. I had a rudimentary film education and just didn't know it.

YLW: Black images in media and film have historically been rooted in stereotypes. There's an expectation that films by black filmmakers will be used to address or resolve issues of identity and help level the playing field. What are your thoughts on this matter?

KP: A lot of black filmmakers make movies based on other black movies that aren't necessarily outgrowths of black culture. So you see a stereotype of a stereotype. Black people are drivers of culture. When I make a film I don't think black, white, whatever. I base the film around the characters. I know I have my own experiences and I want to put them in the film. But I painstakingly don't want to make something that is overly clichéd.

YLW: How do you wrestle with identity as a filmmaker?

KP: When you talk about black people, film and identity, I just try to be true to my own experience. If I say, I'm going to make Love Jones, that's bad. I don't think it's a good idea to piggy back off of black movies that have already been made. Some movies aren't authentic to what we go through. Some people make films based off of blaxsploitation movies but most blaxpliotation movies weren't written by black people. So when you imitate Superfly you're not imitating the black identity, you're imitating a character. When do you get to the authenticity when you keep making a copy of a copy of a copy?

YLW: How do you avoid creating works that are stereotypes or cliché?

KP: It's all about story. If you want to address an issue you should write an article. If you don't want to tell a visual story, you shouldn't make a movie. If you're authentic and you're not being cliché, then whatever you identify with will come out in the film.

YLW: Some would argue that a solid message is more important than the entertainment value and aesthetics of the film. How do you balance a sense of responsibility and still create good work?

KP: Orson Wells didn't do Citizen Kane because he wanted to attack an issue. Telling a story is first, everything else is secondary. If you want to be militant or deal with interracial relationships you want to tell a story first. In Malcolm X, Spike Lee addressed issues by telling a story first. But some of his later films don't work as well because he's trying to deal with issues instead of story. I don't think we're going to advance if we want to make movies that advance the race.

YLW: Really? Why?

KP: That's why Tyler Perry is so successful. For his audience the story is fun for them to watch. But while it's fun, they also get a message. If I don't make it an interesting story for them, everything else is going to fail.

What was the griot's reason for being? It wasn't just to impart knowledge. He was also telling stories because the people had nothing to do. Even Jesus spoke in parables. Why? Because if he just dropped science, nobody would listen to that. So he told a story and through that people got an interesting message. So story first, issue second.

I think a lot of young black filmmakers are programmed to say I'm going to make a movie about an issue as opposed to I'm going to make a story. We used to call them PSAs.

There are so many other things that black people deal with. We are part of the larger world. I deal with a lot in a day. You can't tell me the only thing you do in a day is deal with being angry because you're black. You didn't wake up upset about slavery. Even if you did a movie about slavery, the slaves aren't thinking about slavery as a political concept, but rather the day to day, or escaping the day to day, or focusing on when this day is going to end.

YLW: Tell me about Online

KP: The project I did came from a 'what if' scenario. I wanted to shoot a short. I wrote 5 and I wanted to figure out the cheapest and easiest to do and that one was it. It was a 'what if' based on a lot of people on Facebook. It's a how far can this go kind of thing. I wanted to do something really visually interesting. That's how the story developed. And I wondered how can I make this visually interesting. Also, I have an affinity for silent film. So I thought it would be a nice challenge to make a silent film, a throw back to Charlie Chaplin.

YLW: Online is a witty story and it's told very creatively.

KP: Yes, and once again, that was my point . . . to make a story. But I didn't sit down and say I'm going to make a black relationship movie. I said this is an interesting story I want to tell, one based on my experiences and what I've been through. But first and foremost I wanted to tell a visually interesting story.

For more information on Keith Purvis go to www.the-junc-tion.com

The Creative Life: An Interview with Event Designer Erika Jones of A Social Life

2010-01-12T08:06:00.000-08:00

Erika Jones is an event designer and owner of A Social Life. She also doubles as Erocka J, soulful background singer on the national underground scene.

YLW: You have an unparalleled confidence about you. What do you attribute that to?

EJ: I reflect a lot. I don't live with regrets. I often ask myself if you could do it again, would you do it again? It helps me find my center for myself. Also, my parents are older so when I came into the picture, I had older brothers and sisters, which caused me to have an older personality. It just helped shape certain things for me.

YLW: I thought you came up with a really cool design element for the Post Black Launch Party. What was your vision?

EJ: With Post Black I thought, let's focus on the book and let's have the book be the basis for the design. The thought process was about promoting the book through edgy moments within the book. I played on the controversy through the design element. I was using the book excerpts as fuel for the design. Sometimes in event design simple is more classy. You don't have to have gold chandeliers hanging or tumblers unless that's what the client wants.

Sometimes people want something really nice, really different. So we had visual recreations of the book with a quote. People think they're picking up the book, but it's really a design element that highlights a passage. People just want to feel good and by creating that feel good atmosphere you get what you want, too.

YLW: You have a knack for creating unique simple elements that elevate affairs. What are some of your other favorites?

EJ: I'm very proud of this last event I did at for the movie premier of Online at The Wit. It was a simple event but effective. Because the movie was fashion forward we took two of the outfits from the event and brought that to life in the vignette.

I had another art event where the artist did his rendition of pin up models and instead of having someone be a bartender, I had a model sit on top of a bar and pour the wine. So we had a model in 1950s style as a wine bearer.

YLW: How did you get into event design?

EJ: My mom was a caterer and she would do event design as well. Growing up we would always watch certain shows. I grew up watching Martha Stewart who did design as well as catering. I loved the aspect of making a place look plush or pretty. I knew I could plan a party well, but I also loved the ambiance. I knew that I could be crafty and creative and do things on a budget. It's kind of innate. I can visually see how it can go and putting those aspects together and finding the people who make it happen.

YLW: Did you study event design formally?

EJ: No, I didn't. I was into tablescapes and branched off from there. I have a lot of designers as friends. I just had an eye for it. It was something I was taught as a child – how to do design on a budget. I learned it from watching different shows. Basically, I taught myself.

YLW: How did you become a background singer?

EJ: I always knew I had a voice. I remember the very first time I sang something I was in catholic school, I remember growing up singing and thinking I could do something with this. In college, I hooked up with some other people who were singers. My brother is a guitarist in Chicago so we would be paired together and we would perform together.

In college, I started meeting different musicians . My brother was in a band and I said I can sing background for you. I started singing with them. From there, I would do background for different artists. Then I sang background for Esthero, a Canadian artists who was really known underground. She took a seven year hiatus and she needed a background singer to sing the low parts. A woman I frequently sang background with referred me, and the lady said Erika Jones will be the only person who will give you what you need. I auditioned over the phone and it moved from there. You know how people fall back on a degree? Well, I have a degree, so I fall back on singing.

EJ: Who do you sing back up for?

A lot of underground artist like Discopoet Khari B., Bumpus. I'm just for hire. I sing in studio, too. I'm a background singer for hire.

YLW: What's your vocal range?

EJ: I'm a contralto, mezzo soprano.

YLW: You run an event planning company and you sing backup? How do you juggle both responsibilities?

EJ: I turn into a whole different person. When I am party planning, I'm Erika Jones, I can still come to you as corporate as you need to be. When I'm singing background, I'm Erocka J. She's the chick who wears all the stuff she wants to where, as funky as she wants to be. I'm an artist. I'm able to find balance in that as long as I remember I'm an artist and that everyone will see the artist in me. There's people who know me as a singer, but don't know me from a Social Life. There's people who know me as A Social Life, but don't know me as a singer.

YLW: That's funny, because I shared with a friend of mine that you were planning my event, and he said, wait you mean Erika the singer? He was very surprised.

EJ: Happens all the time.

YLW: Many women today feel incredible pressure to “do it all.” Do it all doesn't just refer to balancing work and home, but also having so many options and talents and not knowing what to do. Did you ever feel you were at a crisis point?

EJ: I was in that state right before I went on tour. I had graduated from Columbia College in Chicago with an Arts Management Degree with a concentration in music business. In 2002, the music industry was changing and I didn't know what I wanted to do. I had started a company before and I was producing events. It was going slower than your average start up.

Then I got into the mundane of getting a job that had nothing to do with what I wanted to do. I always knew in the back of my mind that this was not going to be for the long run. I was just trying to stay afloat. I don't think I was singing at that time. It was a noncreative time in my life. That lasted for a year and a half. I would dabble in some creative things but it wasn't enough. I kept saying I need to get on somebody's tour singing background. It's amazing how what you say will come into fruition. Then next thing you know I was at the brink of crying at my job.

EJ: I wanted to quit but I couldn't quit. Then I got a phone call from Astero, saying she needed a background singer. I said this could change the rest of my life. I could say to hell with it, don't do anymore party planning and just sing background. You can always do whatever you want to do after you do this particular thing. After that tour ended, I looked into reality with a whole different eye. The tour ended, you don't know if another tour will happen, so I dissolved my old company, started a new company. I got back into the workforce, but I had a different mindset. This job was to fund what I wanted to do.

I tell a lot of women sometimes when you look at where you are right now, that doesn't mean that's where you're going to be next week, next month. For people who are in their job and hate it, when you hate it the most, that's the time to get creative. Write down the things you like to do and figure out how you're going to make it happen. People need to realize that sometimes when you lose your job it's a blessing in disguise.
YLW: Are you bombarded with questions about your locks?

EJ: People ask how long is it or how many years have I had it. They don't ask too much. They may say they like it. It's amazing in the hood some people try to compliment you by not complimenting you at the same time. They say, your hair looks like Medusa. They're not trying to cap on it, they just don't know how to say it. I still get compliments on my bad hair days. I don't get too much flack. I've gotten some of my best jobs since I got locks. I remember my mom telling me don't lock your hair because you'll need to get a job and I' m like what are you talking about? It's been a plus and has become a part of me. I have a piercing in my lip, too.

YLW: You do? I've never seen it, which is odd because I see you frequently.

EJ: I forget that it's there. I've gotten my best jobs with my piercing. I got my piercing and hair locked in the same year. It's interesting that I was able to get my best jobs with both. I've worked with clients from across the U.S, with doctors and corporate managers and I had this piercing in my lip. But it's all about how you perceive yourself. I didn't come across like I'm a teenager with a piercing. I thought about changing it and getting a black ball instead of a silver. But I said don't fix something that's working.

YLW: So no one says anything?

EJ: I get compliments. They say it looks really nice on you. You think when you get a piercing you can only work in retail. I basically carry myself like I'm a grown women. If anything they'll see you're an artist. It all depends on how you perceive yourself.

YLW: Amazing. Where is it?

EJ: It's right under my nose, like a mole. I put it in a place where you wouldn't see it. I've had my locks for 11 years and this piercing for 11. I knew it was OK when my mother and father saw it separately but together. I got off the plane and my dad gave me a hug and said 'wow, did it hurt?' My mom said I would give you a whippin if it wasn't so cute. So I knew that I was OK.

For more info on Erika Jones contact ejones@asocialife.com

POST BLACK BOOK LAUNCH IN CHICAGO SETS "NEW BAR" FOR BOOK EVENTS

2010-01-12T07:09:00.000-08:00

The Post Black Book Launch in Chicago was wildly successful. Nearly 200 people trekked through Thursday's freezing temperatures and snowstorm to attend the Post Black Book Launch at Plush in Chicago last Thursday. Despite an 11th hour venue change (the scheduled venue refused to open and notified organizers a little over an hour before the affair began), the team of supporters and organizers launched a massive viral campaign, turning to blackberries, tweets, Facebook and emails to drive attendees to the new venue. The event began promptly at 6pm at Plush in Chicago's West Loop.

Susan Betz, editor for Chicago Review Press which published Post Black: How A New Generation is Redefining African American Identity by Ytasha L. Womack said had never seen a book event stir such excitement. The enthusiastic supporters, the viral rerouting, the tasteful decor, the high volume of book sales and the size of the crowd were all a testament to the innovation in Post Black The event which embodied the Post Black theme featured futuristic art videos, theme pillows and teaser books all styled by Erika Jones of A Social Life. According to Betz, the Post Black Book Launch set a "new bar" for book events.

The event was attended by an ecletic mix of young professionals including writers, artists, entrepreneurs, educators, ministers, and other business leaders.

"I was amazed by the turnout and the number of young African American professionals that turned out to the event. In light of the weather and circumstances, I was amazed to see that so many people wanted to share in the experience. As as people looked at the quotes and art on the screens to quotes in the book it just made everyone so excited," said Vikki Ewing, a banker who was also featured in the book.

Womack was equally touched by the crowds sentiment and credited the books success to the audience. "Whenever I talk about Post Black I always use the word 'we.' While I wrote this book myself, this book is a reflection of your life's work, passion and drive."

The Post Black Book Launch was sponsored by Blackbook.com.

POST BLACK AUTHOR YTASHA L. WOMACK DISCUSSES HER NEW BOOK

2010-01-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

Featured interview with Post Black author, Ytasha L. Womack. Interviewer: Chris Chaney of NV Magazine. Chaney is featured in Post Black as well.

CC: Post Black has been a term that has bounced around really since Obama has taken office. What does it mean to you?

YLW: Post Black embraces the diversity within the African American community and includes those communities and lifestyles that don't fit neatly into the “African American Identity Box.” This box includes a range of assumptions, beliefs and ways of life that all African Americans are assumed to ascribe to. So I start the book off really knocking all the assumptions as to what the book is about before I go deep into the subject matter.

In the book itself, I take a look at communities in the Gen X and Y world including professionals, artists, entrepreneurs, spiritualist, as well as identity issues involving young women, immigrants, biculturalism, the President, The Talented 10th concept and more.

CC: Why did you decide to write this book now? What about the America we now live in or the generation that we are a part of made this the time?

YLW: There have been incredible innovations in the past decade or so. Social constructs have changed and managing or embracing this diversity is forcing many people to reevaluate their beliefs. For some people this is a very fluid process and for others it is extremely difficult. It's actually a global occurrence. But there wasn't much of a context for the discussion within our community and I hoped that this book would provide one. I include conversations with family, friends and people of all walks of life. I include anecdotes. I also include some personal experiences because it's not fair to talk about African American identity and not talk about myself.

CC: You cover a lot of topics in your book that are all integral to this generation’s identity. What portion of the book do you see as the most significant? What interview responses to what topics were the most surprising?

YLW: I thought it was very profound that everyone I interviewed either consciously or subconsciously made life decisions based around the notion of African American or black identity. In many cases the careers and schools they chose, the interests they pursued, the decision to be an entrepreneur, their commitments to service, etc were all extensions of defining themselves culturally. All decisions were seen as either a reflection of, responsibility to, or some way of advancing African American culture. Even spiritual pursuits. That's major. So whether someone was a salsa musician or an African immigrant opening a restaurant, a minister, or a homeowner in a gentrified area, each felt this need to make decisions out of a larger sense of cultural awareness.

I was surprised when an African immigrant shared that she felt she was at a crossroads of sorts having to defend native born African Americans to other African immigrants and vice versa. She also said that for African Americans to know their history wasn't enough. We needed to take a DNA test to learn our African lineage. I found myself thinking about that. For the blog, I interviewed an immigrant who was raised in Europe and talked at length about how he was influenced greatly by African American culture and the civil rights struggle before he came to the U.S. I interviewed a woman who was told “you're from slave” when she was in Europe and introduced herself as African American. In some countries to identify yourself as African American causes confusion. No one knows what you're talking about. I interviewed black gay men who couldn't relate to gay identified culture. But I was also surprised to learn that many people who had religious practices and weren't traditional Christians initially felt very alone in their journey. This surprised me because the number of people who share these beliefs are significant.

CC: You covered some subjects that are taboo in everyday conversations, specifically religion and sexuality. Why do you think it was necessary to write about how African Americans see themselves in this area?

YLW: Probably some of the greatest change has taken place within the frameworks of how people view themselves both spiritually and sexually. They are both core subjects for this generation. To ignore them would be to ignore some of the leading changes within the African American social paradigm.

CC: With regards to religion you go into detail about your personal beliefs and you highlight those who have broken from religions traditional to African Americans to embrace Buddhism, Yoruba, etc. What effect did you want to have on the reader?

YLW: I'm hoping that the reader sees the diversity in the African American religious experience. There's a growing interest within America at large in both spirituality, Eastern religions, indigenous spiritual beliefs as well as both New Age and New Thought. African Americans are a central part of that experience. In many cases we provided a number of pioneers in those areas and the beliefs have been in the making for several generations in this country.

CC: There is a quote in your book where you are writing about misogyny in Hip Hop and this one young female college student you interviewed defends scantily clad women in a video by saying “Wearing no clothes is a part of our culture. People in Africa don’t wear clothes.” Did that really happen? And do you know where that young lady is now so she can be further educated?

YLW: That's a true story. I don't know where she is. But hopefully the conversation gave her something to think about. The video in question was Nelly's Tip Drill, which caused a protest amongst college women. The young lady couldn't explain why she liked music and videos with misogynistic themes. Many young women can't. But she got flustered trying to explain it all and defended it by saying it was a part of her heritage to do so.

It was appalling to say the least. But the odd thing was she was trying to understand misogyny or sexuality in the context of African American identity. It was an attempt to make some connection between her decisions to listen to sexualized, misogynistic music and her ancestry. Her connections were totally off, inaccurate, and ignorant. But even that decision was an attempt to link her life to some greater sense of African American identity. It goes to show how powerful and misguided notions of black identity can be. She couldn't just say I like the women in these videos or I like dressing that way and I feel guilty. She had to explain her guilt away by saying it was part of her distant lineage. Britney Spears can wear revealing outfits but I can't imagine anyone defending her right to do so as a part of her European ancestry.

CC: You spend time in your book discussing the new black populace and how they identify themselves with African Americans. What you reveal is a definite cultural gap. What do you think it will take to close that gap between Africans, Caribbeans and African Americans?

YLW: I don't think the gap is that wide. However, increased social interaction is the key. Frequenting cultural events and meeting people of other cultures so that other cultural groups aren't viewed as “other” is a necessary step. This is happening in many arenas. In some cases it has happened for years, but in places where it is not [happening], some initiative has to be taken. I also think it's important that there's a recognition that being black in America embodies a variety of cultural backgrounds. There should be more dialog and education on that issue. That recognition alone will forge more inclusiveness within groups and organizations who may not realize their limited definition of “black in America” is repelling various segments of the black community.

CC: When you take on the lofty goal of writing a book about a culture it definitely puts you in a position of being criticized. Immediately, people ask who are you to write this, especially African Americans. So how about you answer that now. What qualifies you to write this book?

YLW: I quote Robert Kennedy. If not me, who? If not now, when? Well, that applies to any burning idea someone has. And this limited concept of African American identity has disturbed me for some time. The issue of identity kept popping up in my work and life experiences. And I've devoted a great deal of time to trying to be me in the midst of many assumptions as to who I should be and how I should operate. I've written for numerous publications targeting African Americans. I've interviewed a span of black people on a range of interests and issues. And personally, I've been involved in a wide spectrum of black life from the arts to business to media. My perspective is a valid one.

One thing that became very clear as I explored these issues is that the notion of blackness wasn't created by black people alone. It's a definition we were boxed into and have been struggling to redefine ever since. Much of this effort to redefine took place in the midst of harsh and extreme resistance. However, with respect to identity, everyone has an invested view into whatever descriptions they use to identify themselves, whether that be racially, ethnically, sex, etc. In changing times, all of these labels come into question. What does it mean to be a man in 2010 is as complex a question as what does it mean to be African American, or Asian American, or bisexual or blonde.

CC: If there could be one ideal African American identity what components would it have and is there anyone who represents it past or present?

YLW: There is no ideal black identity . . . and that's a good thing. At the same time, I do think it's very important that people know the richness and diversity of culture, history and the role it plays on the world stage and in their own lives. I also think people should have a strong sense of responsibility to both educate and empower people around issues of culture and history. Moreover, cultivating a sense of purpose that includes a respect for humanity and a dedication to social good is important. But I would advise that to anyone.

Joan Morgan: A conversation on hip hop journalism, sexism and the term African American

2009-12-28T06:06:00.000-08:00

Joan Morgan is one of hip hop journalism's prized pioneers and celebrated culture critics. Her work explores culture and sexism. She wrote the black feminist reader "When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost." Her latest essay “Black Like Barack” is featured in the book “The Speech: Race and Barack Obama's “A More Perfect Union.” A woman of Jamaican heritage, she was raised in New York.

YLW: Your book "When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost" continues to be a popular feminist reader. Are you surprised that nearly a decade after the release it's still relevant?

JM: I would hope that it wouldn't be as relevant and that we would have moved away from some of the issues that the book grappled with. It's probably more relevant on a mass scale then it was when it was initially published. I'm still surprised when I get a 22-year old who says I love your book. In some ways it has actually gotten worse.

YLW: What's gotten worse? Are you referring to hip hop?

JM: When I wrote "Chickenheads" there was a much greater range of women in the music and a greater presence of the female voice. You don't have that now. That lack of representation is a problem. There has been a narrowing of the type of hip hop and no real improvement in the level of sexism and misogyny in the music. If you were conflicted before you are more discouraged now. I talk to women now who don't even feel they have a place in the culture. At the time, I felt that it was as much mine as anyone else's.

YLW: You are a pioneer in hip hop journalism. What are your thoughts on the evolution of the field?

JM: When I started writing there was no hip hop journalism. I remember when someone came up to me and Kevin Powell and said I want to be like you, I want to be a hip hop journalist. We were writers. We weren't aspiring to be hip hop journalist. I think the evolution is a good thing but no one was trying to establish that as a genre. We were pioneers. We grew into the title and learned how to work with it. I think there's a great body of work from 79' to the late 90s of important works by a group of important writers who documented the culture. That said, I don't see a lot of hip hop journalism these days. It's much more about celebrity culture.

YLW: How do you define hip hop journalism?

JM: Hip hop journalism is committed to writing about hip hop culture but unafraid to criticize the culture, the artist, and to defend it. Hip hop was not glamorous when I started. There was no glory. If you wrote about hip hop, you were in a grimy club at 1 am in the morning. There was no car service. But when it became this multi-million dollar machine all that changed.

Writers weren't afraid to do criticism. Now music writing is a part of celebrity culture. Everyone wants to be down. They don't want to harm a relationship with the artist, label, advertisers. It limits the form of writing. In the past, writers were committed to being honest and to being critical.

I think hip hop journalism was really born in a certain time period and out of a real desire to fight for a place and a context for the music. And it was written by people who were from that culture. So when those stories were calculated and were told, it was written by people who were a part of the culture.

YLW: Are you happy with hip hop's growth into this multi-million dollar enterprise?

JM: Yes and no. I'm a late 70s baby. I'm a child of hip hop. I never had the expectation that it would live forever. I still remember being completely shocked when I heard a rap song on the radio. I saw it make the journey from the hood to where it is now. I never operated with the 'oh this could last forever' mentality. In many ways we were just kids who didn't realize the enormous potential it had to capture the world's imagination. In that respect it has far exceeded my expectations.

On the other level, I'm disappointed in the level of creativity. I just don't like it. To be fair, I think the production is better. You could argue that linguistically the skill level has far surpassed “ a hip hop a hippee, etc” and you have an artist like Jay-Z who keeps evolving. But I just don't think the music is that good.

YLW: What are your thoughts on writing these days? Do you follow any emerging music writers?

JM: I remember Kevin Powell's answer to that kid who asked how do you become a hip hop journalist and he said read . . . read Toni Morrison. James Baldwin. That' s one of the disadvantages of the blogosphere and print media. Anyone and their mother can call themselves a writer now because they have a blog. Every single piece we wrote back then was like going to school because your editors were kicking your ass. I read stories today and it feels like I'm reading a bio. The publicist could have written it. It's the machine behind it. Before as a hip hop journalist I could say I have to be alone with this person for 3 days. You can't do that anymore.

YLW: How do women reconcile with some of the sexism in popular culture?

JM: I think women are equally conflicted with it. We still live in a society where you can have instant celebrity by sleeping with Tiger Woods and selling your story to the media. You can be a video vixen and your story can get a million dollar book advance, where a hip hop journalist isn't going to see that kind of money.

YLW: You don't use the term African American. You prefer black. Why?

JM: I look in the mirror and see that I'm a black woman and see our commonalities but I do have a cultural experience that is different from all of my friends who are African American. I don't allow people to introduce me as an African American writer because people make assumptions. They make assumptions about my culture that aren't bad, they're just false. I'm from a group of very proud Jamaicans and that should be honored.

When I think post black, I hope there's an understanding that everyone who is black in America doesn't share the same background and experience. Our diversity should be embraced. When people use African American they mean the specific experience of being black and being a descendant of southern slaves, which is a really important part of the black experience in America, but it's not the only narrative.

YLW: Don't people take issue with you not calling yourself African American?

JM: All the time. I just applied to grad school to do my dissertation on it. I used to not care. I didn't think it was a big enough deal. Then I did my first book signing and my entire Jamaican family was in Barnes and Noble. My husband at the time, his family is from Jamaica and Tobago, so our child is completely of Caribbean and American decent. and from that he's a descendant of Jamaican and Chinese ancestry. At the reading, I was introduced as an African American writer and to my family that was a complete erasure of them.

YLW: In POST BLACK, I tell a story about trying to explain the nuances between using the term African American and black to an English journalist. He was completely confused.

JM: Black is a diverse experience. Even if you say African American means I have roots in Africa, well, by that definition Charlise Theron is African American. I say I'm black and bi cultural. When I'm in Jamaica, I'm considered to be Jamaican. Unless I speak in patois most don't know I'm from Jamaica. You have to have a definition of black that's more expansive.

We need commonalities that are greater than racism. I don't define myself by what a racist white person sees. So if the definition of African American comes in that I have to erase everything that I was before I came to this country, in the case of most immigrants they just won't embrace that. They just won't sign on. They don't see themselves as African American because we don't focus on our commonalities as black people. But it's not just typical of African Americans, it's an American thing. I've never been to Africa. Hope to go. But you're asking me to skip the whole country that I came from, when Africa embodies all these ethnic experiences, too. We have a lot of work to do. We have to create a narrative that is a little more flexible.

I think there's a responsibility on the part of immigrants as well. If you're moving to America you should learn about the culture here. I majored in African American studies because that was information I wasn't going to know if I wasn't in a classroom. I needed to know the culture of the people I was living with. I also take umbrage with immigrants who feel they don't need to know it. But for real diversity and tolerance you have to embrace one another. My child has a Chinese grandmother who speaks fluent patois. I can't get people to get pass the fact that Jamaica is a multi-ethnic country, too.

YLW: You wrote an essay “Black Like Barack” which ran in the book "The Speech: Race and Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union." The essay explored attitudes by those who questioned the President's blackness during the campaign. You essentially said that if Barack's not black, neither are you. I've had the 'you're not really black' conversation recently. It's a strange discussion.

JM: I always love the 'you're not really black' conversation. Who holds the definitive definition on that?

Comic Justice - Interview with Marvel Comics Illustrator Shawn Martinbrough

2009-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

Shawn Martinbrough is a comic illustrator for Marvel Comics and former DC Comics illustrator. He's worked on the Batman series and X-Men. His latest project is the 1930s Harlemite and African American superhero Luke Cage. The four part mini series, which is published by Marvel Comics, is written by Mike Benson (Entourage) and Adam Glass (Cold Case). Shawn’s art book How to Draw Noir Comics: The Art and and Technique of Visual Story Telling, which is published by Random House, is used by budding illustrators across the world. A New York City native, Shawn is also featured in Marvelous Color, a show on Marvel's African American superheroes and features original art by artists of color at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute in New York , 8 W. 58th St. (btn 9th and 10th). http://www.marvelouscolor.com/

YLW: Many comic book fans today don't know about the African American illustrators or writers in the industry. Do you ever think about how mind blowing this is for some people?

SM: It's never lost on me that I'm a black guy illustrating major characters for major companies. Working in the comic book industry is probably the most level playing field you'll experience as an artist. To the editor looking to hire freelance artists, it's all about A). Can you meet your deadlines? and B). Are you good?

YLW: Marvelous Color is a really exciting show. How did it come about?

SW: The curators, Edgardo and Shirley Miranda-Rodriguez wanted to create a show that featured classic African American superheroes such as Luke Cage, Storm, Black Panther and more contemporary heroes like Blade and War Machine (who will be prominently featured in the highly anticipated Iron man 2 in 2010). More importantly, they wanted the exhibit to feature the artists of color who have illustrated these characters. Many of the artists, myself included, created original artwork for the show.

YLW: Tell me about your experience with DC and Marvel Comics?

SM: I got my degree in illustration in 93' from the School of Visual Arts in New York City but I landed my first work for Marvel Comics in 92'. The biggest thing I did for DC Comics was drawing Batman: Detective Comics. I got that job in 99'.

DC editorial wanted to go in a new direction with Batman. Gotham had suffered this massive earthquake, which destroyed the entire city. The plan for the 2000 relaunch was to jump ahead in time with Gotham City starting fresh. They hired myself and other artists to redesign sections of Gotham City. Creating new neighborhoods in Gotham City was an amazing experience. The writer to whom I was paired with was bestselling author Greg Rucka. Working on Detective Comics was fun but the pressure of drawing 22 pages a month can get tight.

Eventually, I moved to Marvel and did one of their limited series for the X Men. Then I was offered work at DC in their licensing division where I illustrated several projects featuring basketball great Lebron James as a super spy. Over the years I bounced back and forth between Marvel and DC and then I was offered an opportunity to create an art instruction book based upon my high contrast art style. How to Draw Noir Comics: The Art and Technique of Visual Storytelling was published by Watson Guptill/Random House in 2007.

YLW: Graphic novels are really popular now. Why do so many become films?

SM: Comic books are seen by Hollywood as very lucrative intellectual properties because you can franchise and more importantly merchandize. As with a novel, it's an adaptation and there's less risk compared to creating a film based on a completely new concept.

Back in the early 90s, when I was growing up in New York there was one main comic convention, the New York Comic Con. Marvel and DC would have booths there. They'd look at portfolios of aspiring artists and promote upcoming projects. It was well attended but it was mostly for comic book fans. Going into the late 90s, the San Diego Comic Con began to grow in popularity and became more prominent. Now, San Diego has been completely taken over by Hollywood. Variety will cover it. Entertainment Tonight will do a feature. That convention is so popular now it's ridiculous.

YLW: Who is the comic book audience?

SM: I think that the majority of comic book buyers are in their thirties and older. These tend to be people who collected comics as kids. Today, comics appeal to some of the youth but they have so many distractions for entertainment now. Also, many video games have completely ripped off comic books conceptually. As a kid consumer you have to ask yourself, will you buy a $28 worth of comic books (which will amount to about 5 books) or a $30 video game that will give you 60 hours of play?

YLW: How has the approach to writing comic books changed over the years?

SM: The writing has become more sophisticated. However, Marvel and DC are recruiting writers from outside the comic book industry for many new projects. They’re approaching Hollywood screenwriters and bestselling novelists to take a stab at writing new books. These are also people with notoriety that the companies hope can help sell their books beyond the comic book base.

YLW: Are there many African Americans in comics?

SM: There are a number of African Americans working in comics but it's such a faceless industry that you don't know who's black and who's not. A lot of people don't know I'm black. I’m been surprised myself to learn that an artist or writer whose work I admire is a person of color.

YLW: What makes a comic "good"?

SM: Since I'm an artist first I have to respond to the art. No matter how well a comic book is written, I can't read it if it has bad art.

YLW: What's the comic making process?

SM: I'm given a script. I draw it out and send the boards to the company. The inker goes over my work. Digitally they send it to a letterer and a colorist. An editor overseas the entire process from start to finish. Finally the completed book is sent to the printer. Typically I draw and ink my own work so I save them a step.

YLW: What's your work day like?

SM: I work from home in my studio. I go to bed around 3 am and wake up at 9am. Sometimes I get stir crazy when I have a tight deadline but I enjoy drawing and telling stories visually so it’s worth it.

For more information view www.shawnmartinbrough.com, www.myspace.com/noircomics

The Show "Fat Bitch" and why it's not called "Hot Grits Will Burn Your Tongue": Interview with "Precious" star Erica Watson

2009-12-15T09:01:00.000-08:00

Erica Watson is the star of the touring one woman show Fat Bitch a comedic exploration of plus sized women, sexuality and identity. A stand up comic, Watson also stars in the critically acclaimed film Precious. Fat Bitch ended the Chicago run and will run in New York City early next year.

YLW: You starred in Precious. How did that film handle the plus size issue?

EW: Precious dealt with so much. As far as the plus size issue, a lot of it was unsaid. A lot of the film showed how a person who looks like that is invisible to the world. It shows how as a plus sized girl no one paid attention to her. There's a Precious everywhere. If Rihanna looked like Precious, would we care about Chris Brown hitting her? Do you care about the fat girl and what happens to her? Do we care more about women who are beautiful? When I looked at how the audience reacted, people said damn she's fat, or damn she's ugly.

YLW: I thought she was cute.

EW: I think she's cute, too. I get it too when I'm auditioning. People think Beyonce is so thick. So to see someone like me or Precious who's a straight up 24 on screen takes a while to adjust.

YLW: Isn't a size 12 considered plus size today?

EW: I have friends who are plus size models and they are 10s and 12s. But every woman feels the pressure. Magazine covers have a white woman who's a size zero. The same magazine that effects me effects everyone else. It effects Gabby (Sidebe, star of Precious). It effects us all. Even in the smaller size stores, they change the tags so that a woman who is an eight will think she's a four. I'm so tired of every woman being subjected to that type of stuff. You should be you and feel comfortable in your body no matter what size it is. I'm not one of those comedians who has an issue with skinny girls. Just love you.

YLW: Why did you create "Fat Bitch?"

EW: I've always enjoyed comedic performers like Whoopi Goldberg, John Leguizamo and Sandra Berhard. I loved that they didn't just do stand up. They talked about their lives and allowed their one person shows to be an extension of their stand up. I wanted to talk about pressing issues that were important to me without being in the framework of a set up and a punch line. There was a festival in NYC last year that spotlighted African American comedians who don't fit the stereotype of the Def Jam era. I said let me present my one woman show, and I kept developing it.

YLW:When you do stand up, audiences expect you to perform a Def Jam style comedy routine?

EW: When I perform for black audiences they want to hear certain types of comedy. There's nothing wrong with that. They want to talk about things they feel we all relate to. But it puts undue pressure on comics who can't be themselves because they're trying to fit a mode of what's considered funny to black people. As comedians we're really diverse. When people hear black comic they think urban and I'm not an urban comedian.

YLW: Urban is used to describe black audiences for fashion, music, entertainment. What is an urban comedian?

EW: Urban for me is th new word for the N-word. It's a politically correct way of saying you're the N-word. If you take these other words used to describe us like ghetto, hood - that's the comedy they expect. But we're not all urban. But a lot of times people use that term urban as ghetto black. I don't classify myself that way.

YLW: What do you want audiences to get from “Fat Bitch?”

EW: I want people to get from it that no matter who you are, regardless of your class, your size, we all have things about us that people use to stereotype you and put you in a box. For me, the mammy stereotype or the fat and sassy black woman stereotype is used to form an opinion of who I am.

YLW: How does someone perceive you in a mammy context in 2009?

EW: It has more to do with media and entertainment. When we're cast we're always nurturing someone else's need. Fat girls don't have boyfriends. We're here to sing and help everyone else with their problems. In real life if you ask people what they think about a plus size woman, larger weight is associated with lower class. If she's plus size, she' not wealthy. She's supposed to be a bus driver, a meter maid, a lunchroom lady. Those are the stereotypical things you think about with plus sized women. I have a masters degree. I'm smart. I'm fashionable. I'm sexy. I'm all those things. I'm not loud and abrasive. It's not like I can't wait to get to the club and drop it like it's hot and do a split and bring attention to myself.

YLW: (Laughing) Did you just say drop it like it's hot and do a split at the club? Is that what people expect?

EW: Yes. When you're treated that way, you can become a bitch, it makes you want to lash out. If I'm a fat bitch it's because society has made me that way.

YLW: Why do you think these stereotypes are placed on plus sized black women?

EW: I think they make them of all of us. There are other ways in which we are all stereotyped. When President Obama was running for office, middle America was like 'oh my God, this middle class black family, they love each other.' But if you live on the South Side of Chicago, you see that all the time. There's ways that all of us are stereotyped. Even black women on prime time TV aren't allowed to be really beautiful and strong. But if you're a young black woman who's educated and beautiful, we don't see you. Then people assume you don't exist.

YLW: How are people responding to Fat Bitch?

EW: Most people love it or at least that's what they tell me. Even if people don't agree with some of the things I say on stage, they can respect my ability to be honest and fearless in approaching the subject. There has never really been a project to talk about plus size women and our bodies and how it reflects on black women of all sizes.

YLW: How do stereotypes of plus sized black women reflect on black women of all sizes?

EW: A lot of the issues I bring up in the show, most skinny girls don't know about. They don't know about the parties where men come to meet full figured women. Most skinny girls don't know that's going on. Or the pretty face syndrome. People don't know what to do with you if you're fat and cute. Most skinny girls have no problem if your boyfriend has a big girl as a friend, but what if she's fat and cute? It poses other problems. Some of the stuff I talk about in my show women reach out to me about.

YLW: What do they say?

EW: They say I'm a skinny girl and I never thought my guy would like full figured women. Then I look in his porn collection and he has big girls all in his videos. Men like woman of all sizes. There haven't been many shows about black women and sexuality. A lot of men are uncomfortable, too. Even in my show where I talk about how promiscuous I was in college and my partners. Or how I had all this sex and never had a orgasm before.

That kind of thing isn't discussed. The same guy that might say to you that you're not thick enough, will come to me and tell me the exact opposite and how I should look like you. We're dealing with the same crap and we're all connected. As women, we're subjected to all these images. Cable TV tells us one thing, magazines tell us another, network TV tells us something else. But where do we as women create our own identities and say I don't care I”m just gonna be me.

YLW: True. The messages are conflicting and people need to create a space where they can appreciate themselves.

EW: Talk about post black identity, take the Hottentot Venus. Her body was on display because of her small waist and large behind. Then you have black women who are still objectified that way today. Once you go from thick to plus size, it's a different story. It's one thing dealing with the texture of your hair, and the color of your skin, then add the size of your waist . . . I see these panels where they talk about black women and self esteem, but there are never full figured women on these panels and most of the women are beige. We don't include plus sized women in the mix. How are you talking about self esteem when everyone on the panel looks the same?

YLW: I hadn't thought about that. Why don't we see plus sized women on panels about self esteem?

EW: When people talk about self esteem it's aspirational. It's about aspire to be better. But now since fat people are the new N-word in society – you can't turn on CNN without them talking abut the war on fat or the war on obesity. It's not a war on the health industry, but a war on fat people So considering that if you have a panel on self esteem do you want a fat woman on the panel? So, I get it.

YLW: Health and nutrition is a big issue. How do you advocate for better diet and respect for plus size women?

EW: I do want Americans to be healthy. I want black women to be healthy in every way: physical, sexual, and mental health. I think if someone's HIV positive today, no one would support discrimination against them. Even if you feel someone plus size should lose weight or be healthy, that doesn't mean don't hire me for a job. If you don't like it fine, but don't treat me badly because of my size.

EW: I just feel like black women have so many things to deal with as a whole. Talk about post black racial identity. What do you do if a women my size is supposed to be like mammy, but I'm not her complexion? I don't' have her issues. If I look more like the tragic mulatto but I'm mammy size who am I?

YLW: Does anyone ever fit a stereotype?

EW: None of us do. We're multifaceted. We're educated, we're evolved, artistic. You can go to the Art Institute and have a good time. But you might want to grab a drink with your friends at the Dating Game on Stony Island. But black people who do a lot of things and are in the mix of things, they don't know where to put us. I'm in NYC. There is no black middle class. In NYC either you're rich or you're poor and everyone in between is trying to get to one or the other. I go to the Guggenheim, but I still want to get some fried fish and put hot sauce on it. It's like who are these people? Is it called code switching when you go from different experiences.

YLW: Code switching?

EW: When black people have to switch from one identity to another. If you're a middle class black person you have three different faces, being in the corporate world is different from middle class black world. When I was in Chicago at my show, the majority of the black press would not write about me. They assumed it was something hood or ghetto. But the white press, when they read Fat Bitch, they assume I was a feminist because many feminist have taken on the word bitch as a word of empowerment about themselves, in that I'm talking about size, or being a fat activist. I'm not a fat activist. I'm a size activist.

YLW: What's a size activist?

EW: I believe that all people of all sizes should be accepted.

YLW: You said some black press wouldn't write about you? Why not?

EW: One writer told me her editor told her they couldn't talk about me because it was trash. It's that black bourgeois existence that really isn't that evolved. They're not exposed to as much culture as they would argue that they are. If my show was a gospel stage play at the Regal called Hot Grits Will Burn Your Tongue, every Negro would buy a $35 ticket to my show. If you do something different, you would think forward thinking black people would come out but they don't. Now I had a lot of people come out. They saw my flyer and said what's this? It's like open your mind, there's more out here than the stereotypical stuff. I don't know what it is where we think we're so high folluting. But really they haven't changed their mentality from that of a slave.

YLW: They're looking for others to validate you first?

EW: Yes. A lot of times we say black people are trend setters. In some ways we are, in other ways we are followers. We set trends within this realm of existence within a context that someone else gave to us. True trend setters step outside of the mode. That's what I want to do with my show. I want it to be profound. I don't take myself too seriously. I'm honest with myself, and open about mistakes I made. If I can help other women express themselves and encourage other women then I feel good.

I think what you're doing is so interesting. I think that is a question we have to ask? Who are we? what is our identity in this country now and abroad? No one is really talking about this new generation of African Americans. It's hard to put us in a box.

For more information on Erica Watson view www.ericawatson.com.

Black Gay Lifestyle and DLisms: Interview with Relationship Expert Art Simms

2009-12-09T05:49:00.000-08:00

Art "Chat Daddy" Sims is a Chicago based columnist/relationship expert and host of the Real Deal Relationship Chats and Facebook Fridays. His discussions and advice are centered around sexuality and community empowerment.

YLW: When people think African American, they don't usually include gay identity. Why or why not?

AS: Black gays are only identified screaming and carrying on. They are never identified as a black gay professionals openly.

YLW: Why not?

AS: Fears of community, fears of church. Fears of family. These things have been instilled in us for so long it's not even funny. That's why so many of these people can't satisfy their sexual desires.

YLW: Talk to me about the diversity in the black and gay community.

AS: Well, here's the deal. I think the diversity has become much more accepted. What people think of as gay is the most flamboyant, outlandish thing I've ever seen. Black gay men need to network more. We have no children. We have lots of disposable income. We're probably the biggest consumer of health products, the biggest consumers of buying homes, automobiles, art. I'm sure our dollar is incredible. You can go to any black gay club on a Friday night and the line is wrapped around the block.

YLW: Is there such a thing as an African American gay lifestyle? Or an ideal lifestyle?

AS: Yes it is. A nice place to live, nice car to drive. You vacation, you travel. Dog, child. You're a couple. I have two friends they've been together for 20 years. They vacation together, they. But I only have a handful

YLW: Being in a couple is the ideal?

AS: Right.

YLW: What else is part of the African American gay lifestyle?

AS: Eating right. Taking care of themselves. I took a straight cousin of mine to a holiday party hosted by a gay guy. He said oh my God everybody in here looks like a Christmas ball on a tree. If I had not chose the lifestyle I chose I'd be in prison, jail or have a bunch of babies. I came from the era of when gangs were getting started. The only reason I stayed out of it was because the head guy was my friend.

YLW: Are you saying that if you hadn't embraced your gay identity you would have lead a life of crime?

AS: No, I wouldn't have lead a life of crime. However, my gay lifestyle exposed me to better things in life - culturally, spiritually. It took me away from the neighborhood I was used to. I was able to go to other lifestyles. I've met some of the most interesting people on earth. Presidents of companies, artists. None of my friends who I grew up with in elementary school have ever gotten off the block. They lived and died on the block.

YLW: What are the most pressing issues in the black GLBT community?

AS: Definitely this economy, with people losing their jobs left and right. HIV and AIDS will always be high on the list. It's something that needs to be addressed. Probably relationships. If African Americans had developed relationships like our white counterparts, we might be better off economically.

YLW: What are your thoughts on the “down low” conversation?

AS: The down low conversation to me is deep in many ways. First of all, no one ever addressed what it was. All women knew was that it was going on. No one ever said, well what issues caused these men to sleep with other men? Is it the prison thing? Is it the curiosity thing? Is it they were always attracted to men? Women try all kinds of things and don't get labeled. Two women can be together and it turns men on. The moment men decide they want to try it and test it out they get labeled.

YLW: Is the “down low” exaggerated?

AS: It's been a part of life forever. It just took E Lynn and JL to come out and talk about it.

YLW: When you think Post Black what comes to mind?

AS: It's so many things that are Post Black. The divide is between those who think things are going to change and those who don't

YLW: Why do you say that?

AS: A lot of these people who have been in power and control they're not trying to help anyone else. They're still trying to get more. They can't get enough. How will there be other chances for others if we don't regenerate?

To learn more about Art Sims go to www.Chicagogayhistory.org.

Women in Entertainment and the Power of No: An Interview with WEEN Chairman Valeisha Butterfield

2009-11-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

Valeisha Butterfield is Chair of WEEN, Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network. She is dedicated to empowering communities. A former Executive Director of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network she was recently appointed as the Deputy Director, Public Affairs at the Department of Commerce – International Trade Administration.

YLW: Tell us about your work with President Obama's Administration.

VB: It's great work. It's been five weeks. I work for the International Trade Administration . I was appointed by the Obama administration 5 weeks ago. It's an honor to make a difference. We create jobs in my department. With the economy in the state that it's in, it's great to create jobs and help families sustain themselves. Even in my work with Russell Simmons in financial literacy I was creating opportunity . To come from a financial literacy background for minorities and now be part of a national or federal department responsible for trading jobs is exciting.

YLW: For people who are unfamiliar with hip hop culture, the concept that it can be leveraged to facilitate social change sounds strange. How did you create that bridge between entertainment and social change when you ran the Hip Hop Action Network?

VB: Numbers don't lie. When you look at the bottom line, and benchmark setting, you can leverage and market a brand, but your program is only as good as its audience. You can have a great financial literacy program and have all the programming. But if you don't have an audience or participants it's a failure. For me, I recognized early on that not only am I a fan of hip hop culture, but I also saw the value it had.

There are few other mediums that can compete with the influence that entertainment has on young people. As teachers, we can get in front of these kids and talk til' we're blue in the face. But when they hear someone and they already support their music, to hear that message coming from them changes the way they feel about it - it effects them and how they receive the information. [Hip hop artists] have a platform and an audience. Why not leverage it and create a vehicle for artists to give back, but also enable kids to get information that helps impact their lives each day.

YLW: What is WEEN?

VB: WEEN is an organization I founded with three of my friends two years ago. It started as a meeting in my apartment with all of the top ranking execs in entertainment. It was humbling for me at the time to see the great response. You get so caught up in your everyday work, you don't know the respect you have from your peers. But what started as an invitation to 20 women wound up being for 120.

We started the organization as a way for women who wanted to pursue a career in entertainment. We have 40,000 members. The goal was to help create more balance, by mentoring, educating them, and giving them the life skills required to be successful.
It's not just limited African American women, it's for all women of all races and ages. We wanted to be as broad as we could and as inclusive as we could, for women who wanted a helping hand.

YLW: What advice do you share with young women breaking into the industry?

VB: One thing that I always tell young ladies that I mentor - and I believe this is the key to success although I figured it out late in life. One of the things that I did wrong in the beginning, in interviews and meetings, whenever I was trying to pitch myself, I would go in selling how great I was, how educated, how smart, how right I was for the job. I would never get the job and I couldn't figure it out. Then one day a light bulb went off.

The key to success in an interview or business deal is instead of selling yourself and how great you are, show that person how you can add value to their business and their program. Do your research, study and understand your target. Find out how you can help increase their value and their bottom line. In business, people want to know how can you help them.

YLW: One of the great challenges that many high achieving women reference is this quest for balance. What is your take on that?

VB: Spiritual balance and personal balance is important for anyone who wants to be successful. That's something I'm still working on. Having a healthy balance between your career your personal life, and spiritual life. If you focus too heavily in one area, all three ultimately end up failing or not meeting your needs as a person. I've been guilty of focusing on one versus. another. But it's important to have that balance.

YLW: In this age, whether a woman can “do it all” is no longer a question. It's been proven. But how does a woman with multiple talents in a land of multiple opportunities choose?

VB: The founders of WEEN and I have have this debate all the time. It's a healthy debate as a woman who is talented at multiple things. How do you choose and balance and do it all? I have a different philosophy. If you do 5 things well, I say choose 1 and do it exceptionally well. I've always been much stronger, in choosing one thing having a sharp focus on it and honing it and becoming known for that.

Once you get that running, then you move and expand to the next thing. I'm very focused in what I try to do. But my colleague is a singer, a host, and an attorney. And she does 8 things exceptionally well, and she does it simultaneously and really well. It's what works for you. My advice has always been, choose one and become the best at it,

YLW: Why do you say choose one?

VB: For the average person, who is smart and has goals, it's difficult, almost impossible to be exceptional at all things at once. Whenever I wanted to get many things off the ground at one time, I become very average.

YLW: How have African American women unfolded in the past few years?

VB: For the past 10 years black women have really come into our own. Statistics show that African American women are growing leaps and bounds academically and even the media is starting to reflect that. To have an African American woman as First Lady, to have so many great and positive women in the public eye, I think it's an example of how far we've come. I think that as black women we remain as the backbone of the family structure, but we've expanded our options. We've become great professionals. . We have the confidence and exude the confidence of leadership that's always been within us.

YLW: In Post Black, I write about the vilification of the video girl. She's always a target. How do you feel about that?

VB: At the end of the day it's all about options and the notion of the video girl being judged for her decisions in life are unfair. At the end of the day, whether you're an actress, a singer, you have some type of role in front of the character. Do I agree with some of the things that are done. Of course not. Young girls are watching. When you have the world or segment of the world are watching. When you have an audience, why not take leadership in how people feel about themselves.

YLW: What advice do you have for women in business?

VB: As a woman, you have to have the ability to say no. I think by nature, most women feel the need to be nurtures. We want to get things done and be supportive and helpful and always find the answer and be available. But as a woman in business you have to say no without being apologetic. When you know your schedule is too tight and you don't have time to take a meeting, you don't have to squeeze it in. If a deal is on the table and a lot of money is at stake, but you're not comfortable with it, it's ok to say no. We want to say yes, but it's important to know the business in saying no.

YLW: Why do you think saying “no” is so difficult for women?

VB: It's just a part of our nature. We want to succeed and do good. We want to be liked and accepted by our male counterparts and we feel like it's a turnoff , not just personal, but professionally to say no. But any professional can respect a decision. That's something that I've had to overcome, and something my colleagues have had to overcome. In the end, it always works for the best, even it if it's not comfortable at first.

YLW: How did you gain the power of “no?”

VB: It goes back to strategy and knowing what your long term goals are. Every decision that you make should all roll up to that bigger strategy that you have for your life. Know that there is a bigger picture for your life that you have created, that God has created. It makes you less focused on acceptance when you know where you're headed in life. You focus less on being accepted and more on what your plans are in life.

YLW: When you hear Post Black, what comes to mind?

VB: There was a time when as black people the first adjective we'd use describing ourselves would be so say that we're black and any other identifier was second. That was a description that was used more often in the past than today. As black people we are finding out who we are and our individuality is shining. I am absolutely 100 percent proud to be a black woman. But if you ask us to define ourselves, I'll say I'm spiritual, I like to shop, etc. Because we've expanded so much as people. We have defined ourselves. Yes we are African American and proud, but we are so many things that we are proud of too. Individuality in the African American community is a part of who we are, but not losing our racial identity, is important, too.

YLW: Some people fear that you can't embrace individuality without dismissing the struggles of the past. But the two aren't mutually exclusive.

VB: We cannot forget our struggle as a people. Although we've had great examples of success, we still have along way to go, so it would be a huge mistake for us to forget that our ancestors sacrificed for us to be who we are. We also have to educate our kids. I didn't grow up during the Civil Rights Movement, but my parents made sure I knew about the struggle, so that I could know as a black woman who I am and where I came.

We must not forget. We must learn from the past and we should have a sense of pride. We didn't get here easy. It wasn't a cake walk. A lot of people made sacrifices, a lot of people lost their lives. But we can't let that hold us back either. We have to keep pushing forward, and keep evolving, in order to be who God wants us to be.

For more information on WEEN go to http://www.weenonline.org/

Atlanta Housewives, Her Crown & Glory, and Service: An Interview with Celebrity Stylist Dwight Eubanks

2009-11-24T07:19:00.000-08:00

Celebrity stylist and fashion leader Dwight Eubanks may be known for his colorful commentary on the hit reality show The Real Housewives of Atlanta, but he also devotes time to community issues, recently hosting Her Crown & Glory in Chicago, a fundraiser for African American women who have alopecia or hair loss due to chemotherapy. Eubanks styled women whose hair came out after chemo treatments. "I'd style them and their hair was coming out in clumps," he said. But he reassured them. "We're going to get through this." Eubanks owns the wildly popular The Purple Door in Atlanta and is an internationally recognized stylist.

YLW: You were a host for Her Crown & Glory, the Krystal Foundations' fundraiser for African American women who have alopecia.

DE: The event was fabulous. It would be a travesty if they don't continue this and keep it up. Neiman Marcus was a sponsor, Carson Soft Sheen was a sponsor. Most important were the survivors. It just made my heart happy and sad to see them courageously share their true experience. I hope they take this event across the country.

YLW: Why did you get involved?

DE: I have a personal relationship with this experience. I've had clients that are no longer with me. I saw what they went through. This is a story to tell. We're a special kind of people and this is a need that has to be addressed. For these people to come forward and share their stories is amazing. We have designers who make wonderful wigs. But on the other hand, if you want to go bald its okay. It's nothing to be ashamed of. We still have female baldness which we don't talk about. The more we educate, the more we can help.

YLW: You do a lot of service work in the community. Why?

DE: Success is me helping somebody else. Helping The Jerusalem House, or The Evolution Project which is a part of AIDS Atlanta, where teens ages 13-18 who are HIV positive and homeless get assistance. Evelyn Lowery (Women of SCLC) and I put it together. Or my work with the Cancer Center. It's about giving back and helping somebody. That's why we're here.

YLW: You're also a fashion expert. What role has fashion and hair played in African American culture?

DE: We have so many options today. Years ago we didn't have the same technology. You can be whoever you want to be. You can take a man and make him a woman. That's the power of technology. And it still amazes me. There are no limits.

YLW: Why do you think image plays such a big role in African American identity?

DE: It's not just about us, it's about everybody. This is a looks society. It's all about image. You want to wear it natural, wear it straight or do nothing. Either way its fine.

YLW: Have perceptions on sexual orientation in our community changed over the years?

DE: It's a different day and a different time. We have evolved and we are still evolving. As Americans we always want to put a label on it. In the European markets they don't. If you want to be with the same sex go right ahead. We are going to leave this world one day, we might as well live as if it's our last . The bottom line is nobody really cares. They just want you to be honest. Be honest to your God and to yourself.

YLW: Is "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" a groundbreaking show? Four black well-to-do women and their drama could be considered a television first.

DE: No, it's not groundbreaking for nobody. We don't take it as a groundbreaking show just like Real Housewives in Orange County isn't groundbreaking. These are 5 women and this is who they are. They didn't win a pageant. People went knocking and they said yes. They don't represent nobody. This is who they are.

YLW: Whenever there are shows or films with an African American cast, this issue of image and responsibility comes up.

DE: We have options, you can look at it or not look at it. You have choices . It's the number one show, so everyone's watching. It's almost like being addicted to crack. The more reruns they show, the more people watch. My mom can't stop watching. I think she has a problem.

YLW: Why is the show so popular?

DE: People can relate to it. When I was in Chicago, I was with people I didn't think watched the show, but they had me down to a T, and these were some Jewish white women, They love the show and they love me. I met some wonderful people who watch the show. Straight guys, red neck guys. They run up to me. This one guy ran up on me in the airport and I almost pulled out my knife. I'm still shocked. You never know whose watching.

YLW: You have a show in the works as well.

DE: Once they figure out what they want to do with me they'll let me know. And trust me, they're working on it.

YLW: In the age of reality shows, how do you become a successful reality star?

DE: This is really who I am. The way I dress on the show is how I dress everyday. Either you love me or you hate me. I go on. I speak what's on my mind. I am not an actor, I am not an aspiring actor. I am Dwight Eubanks, I'm true to myself and true to my God.

For more information on Dwight Eubanks, go to www.purpledoorsalon.com

Natural Hair: An Interview with author Chris-Tea Donaldson

2009-11-19T16:46:00.000-08:00

Chris-Tea Donaldson is a corporate attorney and author of Thank God I'm Natural: The Ultimate Guide to Caring for and Maintaining Natural Hair. She ditched her straightened hair for the beauty of natural hair styling. Now she's prepping to launch a natural haircare line of her own.

YLW: With Chris Rock's doc Good Hair on screens it seems that everyone is talking about hair.

CD: Hair is the thing to talk about. It's tied to self esteem. It's a remarkable time especially with Chris Rock's movie to have these conversations, to talk about some of the damaging processes - not talking about relaxers and weave as a judgment, but rather talking about an unhealthy obsession with them. Sometimes it's fun to switch up your look, but when it's about hiding self consciousness about your own hair, that's a different issue. I did a TV show last night with a guy on WGN, he decided to devote a half hour on his show to talk about this issue. It's interesting that the men are taking such an issue. Maybe they're trying to tell us something.

YLW: I've had men tell me that they don't care about a woman's hair. They want it to look nice of course, but whether it's straight, curly, natural or weave . . . they could care less.

CD: Men are concerned about body. That's what Chris Rock said when they look at King, its all about ass. On the other hand, men might not know subconsciously what kind of emphasis they put on hair. Women do it for other women, not for the boys.

YLW: Why do you say that?

CD: When it comes to natural hair, one of the biggest myths is that it's unprofessional. I work for a company that is largely white and male and I've been fine. I often found that when it comes to natural hair, that the ones who make the most critical remarks are black women.

YLW: I wear my hair really big sometimes and when I do get criticism the issue isn't the hair style, it's the fact that I have the confidence to wear it and still look good. Almost as if to say how dare you wear your hair in a way that's supposed to be unattractive and still look cute.

CD: Exactly. It's more from a place of feeling uncomfortable. Like you're wearing big hair, what does that say about me? Why does she feel she can wear her hair like that? Or what does it say about me to be around someone who wears their hair like that.

It wasn't until we came to America that we started straightening our hair. These are practices we adopted to be a part of mainstream society. There are ads in my book from the early 20ith century for hair straightening serum. They'll say “achieve happiness marriage with straight hair.” Today, you'll see an ad for weave and the same sense of happiness is implied.

YLW: But hair is not purely an African American womens issue. Hair is an obsession with women in general. Weaves, coloring, straightening are popular in America among all cultures.

CD: Across cultures, long full hair is considered to a big asset. Jessica Simpson has a popular weave line.

YLW: Then why is their such a focus on what black women do with their hair?

CD: Black hair is more politicized.

YLW: What do you mean?

CD: If you wear your hair in your natural state you're being rebellious, militant. If you're a white person wearing a different style, it doesn't have the same political weight .Meaning the afro of the 70s was seen as a rejection of white beauty standards or seen as militancy, protest, rebellion. No other time in history will you see those labels for women who changed their hair.

YLW: What role does hair play in identity?

CD: I think hair plays a major role in identity. By the time you're 30 you get used to your hair. At a very young age in our community, by age 3, you know if you have what people consider good hair or bad hair. It's not always expressed verbally. But you know if you are the girl with the long silky hair that people fall over and if you're not. It creates a deep impression on black women throughout their lives, or at least the early part of their lives. The same goes for skin color. By the age of 3, you know what people consider attractive. That's why when they do the doll experiments black kids are still picking the white doll. They know from a very young age what people view as beautiful.

YLW: Why did you write this book?

CD: I think so many people have misconceptions about our hair in its natural state. They think you have to have hair like Mariah Carey or Alicia Keys to wear it natural. You can have kinky hair and wear it natural. It's not going to jeopardize your ability to navigate in the workplace and you won't be rejected by men because of it.

YLW: Then why do many women believe that approval in their work life and relationships depend in part on their hair being long and straight?

CD: Because you turn on movies and the videos and that's what you see. The woman with the natural is not the leading lady. The media is pushing the image down our throats. There are men who want weave. But I think men are naturally drawn to big hair. They love women with the confidence to wear it in it's natural state. You can wear hear down to your ass, but if you don't have confidence, it doesn't do anything for you. We're our harshest critics. My boss is worth millions of dollars and he doesn't care how I wear my hair. It's all about being comfortable. When we accept who we are for what we are, it goes a very long way.

For more info on Chris-Tea Donaldson go to www.ThankGodI'mNatural.com

Community Organizing- A Career Choice: An Interview with Oxford Grad Quinn K. Rallins

2009-11-09T12:46:00.000-08:00

Quinn Kareem Rallins is a community organizer with the Brockton Interfaith Community. A Rhode Scholar Finalist and recent grad of Morehouse and Oxford University, he's focused on empowering community residents. He also studies movements of the past including the fights for Civil Rights and Womens Rights to better understand the challenges of today.

YLW: When you tell people that you're a community organizer how do they respond?

QKR: The major response I get is that people don't understand. They wonder what exactly is it that you do? Who exactly do you work with? There are different forms of organizing. Issue based organizing. Faith based organizing. The organization I'm with works is a faith based organization. It's more complex than people understand.

YLW: Are there other African Americans organizing with you?

QKR: I'm the only one.

YLW: But you've met others?

QKR: Yes, I've met others. There are a lot of organizations. But there aren't a lot of people of color.

YLW: What do you attribute that to?

QKR: Once you graduate you take out a $100,000 in loans, there's a need to pay that back. I have a lot of friends who have to help out their family. I'm not in any debt, so I have a certain level of flexibility in terms of how I pursue dreams, and I'm not financially constrained. Plus, [being a community organizer] is not financially lucrative.

YLW: I wonder, too if people know to view it as a career option. Do you feel that President Obama has inspired more people to look at community organizing as a profession?

QKR: It's more organizing going on than people realize. People have been organizing for decades. The Civil Rights Movement is just one example. However, Barack Obama illuminated it as a profession and showed that working for the people can be a part of your career.

YLW: Do you think people in Gen X and Y are committed to service?

QKR: I think for the younger people it's ingrained or possibly artificially ingrained. In Chicago, we had 40 hours of community service we had to do in high school. In college you do it to boost your resume. People do it, but I don't know if it's ingrained. It's being done,but I don't know how you can gage sincerity.

YLW: Tell me about the work you're doing now?

QKR: I'm organizing in Brockton, Ma. We organize around a range of things - health care, housing . One of the priorities is working on health care and foreclosures. Brockton has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the state of Massachusetts. Forty four out of every 1,000 homes are in some state of foreclosure. I'm working in a community which is highly minority. A lot of Cape Verdians, Latinos, African Americans, West Africans. It's a small city with big city problems.

YLW: What role do you play?

QKR: I take the stories that people have, the pain that they have. The stories that people have illustrate the problem within the community. A problem might be lack of diversity within administration, say the the city council, the teachers, etc. Within the problem, we focus on a specific issue. So if it's a problem of diversity then we work on a specific issue, getting more people of color.

With foreclosures, the specific issue is to get more of the bailout money or TARP money to go to homeowners who are unemployed. Right now most of the money goes to banks to do modifications or have incentives for them to assist homeowners. We're trying to get a portion of the money to go directly to homeowners to help pay their mortgage while they're unemployed, and when they're employed they can get it back.

YLW: What's the difference between community organizing and activism?

QKR: Activist make demands. We need water, we need affordable housing. But organizing doesn't just make demands on the government. It's about making people the part of the solution. Government doesn't have all the solutions. So we don't come into meetings making demands, we have come in with proposals.

YLW: Many people probably use activist and organizer interchangeably. I know I have. But there's a difference in strategy. What's the organizer process?

QKR: We listen to the stories, we listen to their pain which tells us the problem. After we go to the overall problem, then we find out which issues we want to tackle. You can't tackle everything. Something that's feasible. Then we go from the issue to research. So if it's finding teachers of colors, then you find out where has this been implemented? How did it work? Then you go to action. Meeting with public officials to get their commitment.

YLW: What have you learned?

QKR: I've learned it's a big difference between the world as it is and the world as it should be. It takes a large degree of honesty and a hunger for power to move from how the world is to where it should be. A lot of times we want to recognize how things work, the realities of how it works. But to improve the world, you have to be very real about how it is. I found that organizing puts the power back into people's hands. But power almost has a negative connotation.

YLW: How so?

QKR: People have misused power for so long. Power is good. If you're going to change the situation , you have to see power as something that's good. But we need a good balance of power - the legislative, judicial, and executive branch. In our government, people don't see themselves as the 4rth level of power. People need to see public officials as their employees. They're working off of your tax dollars. They can't make decisions without your say so. You have the power to elect or reelect them.

YLW: Any other insights?

QKR: Just recognizing the power of people. Just recently, it was illustrated in the 08 election. It was witnessed in the Civil Rights movement. But it's something powerful that can happen when the masses get on the same page.

YLW: It seems as if people are having more conversations about service. More volunteerism, fundraisers, etc.

QKR: There's been an emphasis on public service for the past few years, the need to work on the ground and give back. Some people have a top down approach, but increasingly people are trying to have a bottom up approach where they work in the communities to get things changed. It's been going on for a long time, but it was a certain level of illumination towards it.

YLW: How did you get involved in community organizing?

QKR: I went to Morehouse. I was in college when Hurricane Katrina hit. I was working with Katrina on the Ground. I along with some colleagues from Morehouse were working with organizers in New Orleans to help rebuild the community. We did things including rebuilding houses to working with residents. It was a different approach to solving problems. Organizing is different from advocacy. In advocacy, the people don't even have to be there. But its an entirely different thing to get people to talk for themselves. It's different from social service.

YLW: How so?

QKR: In college I worked with soup kitchens and helped where needed. But at the end of the day you have to stop grabbing the weed at the top. Do you want to get at the root of the problem? Then you have to dig in and get it at the root. Why do these things exists? Why did the foreclosures take place. At the same time while we're focused on the short term crisis of getting people in their homes, we have to go back and make sure this doesn't happen again.

YLW: How did your education at Morehouse and Oxford shape your views on working in communities?

QKR: Morehouse is an institution that is constantly focused on developing the whole person. The president [of the college] said I want you to be so concerned about the plight of others that you can't sleep at night. HBCUs have traditionally been schools that created concerned people in the community. I spent as much time in the community as I did in the classroom in undergrad. Spending time in public schools, summers in Malaysia. Doing a campaign against capital punishment. I found a school that really embraced community work and leadership.

Oxford helped me to really analyze policies. This goes to getting back to the root of the problem. Whey do these health care problems exist? When was reform tried before? When did it fail? Right now the Senate is about to debate health care. How can it pass? If if fails, why? If it is to succeed what things have to be implemented for it to pass in the future?

Farming in the hood, growing up with white parents, and black identity in the Dominican Republic: An Interview with Social Activist Beth Gunzel

2009-11-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

Beth Gunzel is a Chicago based community advocate, working with microfinancing, urban agriculture and workforce development. She is Program Manager for Employment Training at Growing Homes a nonprofit/social enterprise that produce organic vegetables in the inner city. Raised by white adoptive parents, Gunzel wrestled with identity issues that were only complicated when she lead a microfinancing program in the Dominican Republic. As for her DR experience - “Here I am in a black country with black people and they don't know what black is.”

YLW: You've dedicated your life to social service and food justice. Are your fellow GenX'rs and Yers boggled by your decision to ditch a corporate job?

BG: You have this upward mobility about being dedicating to an activity because it brings me power and privilege vs. I do what I do because it unleashes my innate potential of me as a human being. I see people struggling with that. I struggle with this. But I have to really center myself. As a little girl I knew this work was what I was going to do.

YLW: Do you take issue with upward mobility for the sake of money and status?

BG: I think that what people are doing on an individual basis addresses those wrongs of the past.

YLW: You mean exclusion, or African Americans being excluded historically?

BG: Yes. But, it's a paradox. We're trying to move from exclusion in a number of areas, but I wonder are we doing it in a way that's challenging the larger issues that created that exclusion to begin with. Because that situation exists for others. So if blacks move to heights never imagined, believe me there will be another group that comes in and fills that void. My concern is are we engaging in the humanistic values.

YLW: How did you get involved in organic urban farming?

BG: I moved to the Dominican Republic after I got my degree in Urban Planning and Policy - to head a micro-financing program. I was working with farmers, urban entrepreneurs, people selling food or doing hair. The grant that paid my salary was the Global Food Crisis Program. I began understanding these issues of food production, who's benefiting from what, and how food gets to our tables. I was thinking a lot about food security issues.

YLW: What's a food security issue?

BG: The movement is still trying to come up with a concrete definition. But food security is rooted in local reliance. Communities, not just low income, but even the city could be considered food insecure in that most of the food is imported. If there was some big catastrophe where would we get our food from? So our movement deals with that, in addition to getting healthy food to communities.

YLW: How did you wind up in Chicago?

BG: I came back to Chicago at the worse possible time, in 08 when they announced the recession. I thought about getting another masters in crop sciences. Then I saw an ad for Growing Homes. I was a little intimidated. Urban farming is different from helping farmers grow cash crops in the DR. But the job was focused more on the planning and upkeep of the farm, and it's a transitional program.

YLW: How does Growing Homes work?

BG: We welcome up to 25 individuals a growing season to work with us. They're trained in basic horticulture and soils, and they are involved in supporting the operations of this business. It's a way of getting people who face employment challenges to build resumes and to organize some things in their lives. In addition to the work, we do job readiness training, job management, food issues, and teach nutrition. Interns also work in sales, so they learn marketing, community outreach - getting people to know about organic produce. It's a pretty dynamic program.

YLW: How do you sell your produce?

BG: We sell our produce in Lincoln Park at Green City Market, through a CFA program (community supported agriculture), so when a person who wants our produce can buy a share before the growing season, and then they're provided with a box of produce every week. We also sell at our Englewood farmers market. We also have a farm stand at our Englewood office.

YLW: I'm a total city girl, so I have to ask, how do you grow food in the hood?

BG: We have three sites. One site in the Back of the Yards, 50th and Laflin, which is an outdoor plots. We have Marseilles , IL, a 10 acre, rural farm, 6 acres . In the Wood St./Englewood site, we do growing in hoop houses, so we grow in an unheated structure. The inside structure is in the shape of a hoop but it's covered in plastic. It works like a greenhouse, it captures the sun's energy and increases the temperature. So we can grow longer. We can grow plants that wouldn't be thriving outdoors right now. We can also grow earlier. We can do our first sales of produce in March, using the hoop house.

YLW: What do you grow?

BG: We grow pretty much everything. It depends on the season. We have carrots beets, leafy greens, arugula, kale, herbs of all king, basil cilantro, eggplant, tomato, watermelon, turnips, asparagus, strawberries, beans of all kinds.

YLW: Wow. How long does the program last?

BG: It's a six month program. It starts in April of every year. We graduated people in October.

YLW: How do the participants like the program? Are any of them thinking about doing food advocacy work or starting urban farms?

BG: You have people who say 'it's everything I needed, I feel more confident, my job search skills have improved,' and a couple of those people have been hired on with us. We also had people who said 'I don't want to learn how to farm, but I need a work history, I want to build my resume.' So although, they don't want to work in food advocacy, they got what they needed. We have other people who are thinking about getting into health, nutrition or culinary school.

YLW: What kind of food issues do low income communities like Englewood face?

BG: In Englewood the issue you have is that you don't have fresh healthy produce readily accessible to people. Also, people are in survival mode. How to get beets or kale may not be at the top of the list. They might just be trying to get calories.

YLW: Is there a high awareness of the need for organic food in the community?

BG: You'd be surprised at how much people do know. Englewood is a predominantly African American and the program participants are African American. People tell me they've been green all along, but green wasn't feasible anymore. People that I talk to have a lot of connection to the land. I don't know if it's a South side thing. But many of the participants either grew up on a farm, or they're parents grew up on a farm, or they have members who are still farming.

But for Americans, it's a difference between what we know we should be doing vs. what we do. So they might do beets and carrots one day. But it's about incorporating it in your daily life.
People need to know how to prepare things and feel economical. But they also need the confidence to change their identity, because it causes a lot of anxiety.

YLW: You were raised by adoptive white parents and you're biracial. Did that present any identity challenges for you?

BG: There's this feeling that biracial children in the 70s were put up for adoption not because your mom couldn't take care of you, but because this relationship was not accepted . You can't prove it, but a lot of adopted biracial kids my age feel that way and are starting to talk about it. Biracial kids can be given up for adoption for race alone.

YLW: I never knew that.

BG: There's the issue of being adopted and there's the issue of being black. Within my family there wasn't any type of contempt for people of color, but they couldn't protect me from what was outside of our home. My parents have never said anything about someone talking to them about adopting a biracial kid. I grew up in a cooperative neighborhood for people of different colors and sexual orientations, so I was very privileged. When I was 12, my mom didn't quite know how do deal with my hair, though.

My brothers had a lot of problems. They are white, and they had to defend me and be around people who talked about people of color. I liked heavy metal. I listened to that. I still do. And I was really proud of the groups I liked. I saved my money and would buy the Metallica T shirt. But in public, I would turn it inside out.

YLW: Why?

BG: Whites would think 'what is a black girl doing with a Metallica T-shirt?', but my friends of color, not just black but Mexican, Pakistani, would look at me and say 'that's white.' I wasn't listening to Bobby Brown or New Kids on the Block. I grew up not having any particular identity. But as I grew up, it helped me talk to all people. At lunch, I didn't go to the black table or the white table, I ate outside, and they would come to me. I dealt with it by learning to speak Spanish.

YLW: How did that lead you to learn Spanish?

BG: I'm looking at this from an adult perspective. I wonder if it was me trying to escape from these rigid expectations.

YLW: Rigid expectations as they related to you as an African American person?

BG: Right. I think I felt that this language was mine and mine alone. I grew up in among a large Mexican population. Some of it was I did well in it, and I wasn't a good student. It's not that I wasn't smart, I just didn't apply myself. Learning this language was really a passport, not just to traveling but to having other human interactions. You learn about different things. I was really interested in Afro Latino countries. That's what brought me to the Dominican. It's a country of blacks who have the same background as we do, but they speak Spanish. You can speak another language and be black. There are a lot of black people in Latin America, Panama, Nicaragua, Columbia . . .

YLW: I regretted that I didn't master French.

BG: Me, too. In the D.R, they have over 1 million Haitian immigrants who speak French and creole. I learned some creole.

YLW: Did living in the Dominican Republic impact your views on black identity?

BG: The question 'what does black mean?' is an American thing. Black doesn't exist there. I was wheat colored. And they told me that. Black is Haitian, or African. There's a strict color hierarchy. That was weird for me. My parents never told me I was light. I didn't know what that meant until I started hanging out with black people. My parents never said I was biracial. They said I was black. They didn't bring it up until they saw me reading all this black literature, like Malcolm X. She said why are you reading about Malcolm X, I said I want to learn about my history. And she said, don't forget that you're half white, which she never said before.
Anyway, I go to DR and I wanted to go to a place where there are other black people, and when I get there, they're like, who are you calling black?

YLW: Was it confusing living in a black country that had a different concept of black identity?

BG: It produces a lot of anxiety because we've fought a lot for that identity, and when it doesn't exist in other places, you're like, wow. Then, and I'm not trying to make light of it, but it looks silly. It's a framework that's useless in terms of separating people and resources based on these things. I got to the point in the DR, where I figured they're lucky that they don't have to deal with all this, 'you're black and what does that mean.' What does it really mean to be black? We identify ourselves on a foreign concept. We came as Africans, or people of different ethnicities, we came as free people, as explorers.

YLW: But asserting black identity at home was very important for you. Did it feel weird being in the DR and they had no idea what you were talking about?

BG: At first it was difficult, in defending black people at home, then when I get to the DR, they're like 'who are you calling black? Then I realized, it wasn't necessary in their culture to have that definition of black. Then I said wow, this is a really huge social construct tied to the economic structure.

YLW: Why do you say that?

BG: My Haitian friends called themselves black, they identified with African Americans, but my DR friends did not. And they both look the same. In Haiti, they had the chattel slavery system, where there was a strict distinction between black and ruling class. But in DR they didn't have that. There wasn't a need for a strict concept of black and white in their country. The DR was a defunct country, the Spanish who moved there married African people. So I have a concept of black, I 'm moving to a black country that doesn't have a construct of black. Who am I?

YLW: But there is a concept of black in the Dominican Republic, they just don't apply it to themselves.

BG: When Dominicans come to the US they get schooled in it real fast. They're no longer looked at as Dominican unless they're really light. They get grouped in with blacks. But in the DR the term black is a oppressive political word against Haitians.

YLW: Do you think the concept of black identity should be abandoned?

BG: What I've found is it's a human need to have one – any identity. That goes across all time periods. People are intimately involved in shaping their identity. Although I'm critical, I'm sensitive to the need to know that. I still think it's a fascinating thing, the identities we come up with.

For more information on Growing Homes view. www.growinghomesinc.org.

All that Jazz and Muslims in America: An Interview with Award Winning Photographer Laylah Barrayn

2009-10-26T01:21:00.000-07:00

Laylah Barrayn is an award winning photographer, educator and curator. I first met Laylah when I interviewed her for Upscale Magazine where she discussed her critically acclaimed Dakar Series. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Barrayn's work has been showcased in galleries across the country including the Latin Collector Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art in DC, and Danny Simmons' Corridor Gallery among others.

She was selected as one of the young photographers in “the Shootout' honoring civil rights photographer Jack T. Franklin at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Her photography was also included in the photo anthology BLACK: A Celebration of Culture. A self taught photographer, she has studied at New York University and Universitie Cheikh Anta Diop in Senegal, West Africa.

YLW: Your latest exhibit Kindred Cool was featured at the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts (MoCADA) in Brooklyn. It's a jazz tribute and I read that you were inspired by Romare Bearden, Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray.

LB: I came up with the idea to document the jazz community. Not the musicians, but rather the fans or people who are documenting it in a different way . . .the jazz community in their entirety. I identified these people and I had them pick people who they bonded with through jazz or their jazz friends. I had them choose their location and integrated their words into the photograph. It was just very cooperative and inclusive. I used some professors, but I also used some old school jazz dudes who were at the club. So people saw people they knew on the walls of the museum. It helped them to see themselves in another light. Like, hey, I'm in a museum now or my friends are on the wall. That's what I'm always trying to do. I want them to feel the continuum that we're all on.

YLW: What new trends do you see among African American photographers?

LB: I've noticed that a lot of my friends who aren't documentarian photographers or traditional portrait photographers don't use the race theme in their work. They're conceptional. They're discussing politics, some of their own personal ideas about sexuality or self image. But when you see the work it doesn't remind you of something that's racialized. That's not the first concept that they want to include in their work.

YLW: Why not?

LB: They're trying to be just really out there and take their most abstract ideas and put them into photographs - not even traditional photographs, but different processes. They're being really inventive and novel. I see people being very individualized and conceptual.

YLW: How would you define your work?

LB: I would define my work as community oriented. Communal. Very integrated. Very inclusive. I would define my work as very jazz. As a photographer, I'm really composing. My subjects determine what my final outcome is going to be. It's encouraging to me. It's a way for me to let them express themselves.

YLW: Why does identity play such a major role in your work?

LB: I'm a teacher so I'm big on people defining themselves. I just like to use my camera to help people do that. I've done that for myself, for some of my earlier portraits when I used to travel globally. I really wanted to have my subjects define themselves in these portraits. I'm about empowering people to take that power back to believe that they can define themselves and be this independent person and not succumb to negativity.

YLW: How do you choose your subjects?

LB: I just capture people. When I'm on the street and I see someone and their energy is good, I want to capture them. I capture energy. I also like to capture people with different styles.

YLW: How do you define your spiritual practice?

LB: I would be the more orthodox Muslim, I've been with Warith Deen Mohammed (American Muslim Mission) for a long time. They really have this African American cultural Islamic thing going on. It's very American. It fuses American culture with Islamic practices and beliefs. If you go around the world with Islam, some of the culture is going to change because of the culture that you're in. A Senegalese Muslim is going to practice differently from a Muslim from Thailand. An American Muslim is going to remember when Marvin Gaye died but for a Muslim somewhere else, it might not be as significant.

YLW: You're an artist, a Muslim, and a self described eccentric. Do you interact with people who have difficulty accepting that?

LB: It's is so hard for so many people to understand someone like me. For example. I cover my hair. Sometimes I'm eccentric and it bothers people. I don't know why. Even during my first year of college, there was a woman, I guess she was Christian, and when I would walk in the room she would do the church clap. And she would yell, 'oh, thank you Jesus.' I thought she was crazy. She did not like people who did not think that Jesus Christ was the Lord and savior of everybody. She was from D.C, and there's really no excuse because that's a diverse city. Most African Americans are Christians. In D.C, you have people from the middle East, from Ethiopia. You see these people, so there should be some type of sense of comfort. You shouldn't be that bothered because you see someone different from me. Even the woman I 'm in this organization with who is a minister, she can't process me. She doesn't like me at all.

YLW: One of the reasons I wrote Post Black is because many people have a limited view of the diversity in African American culture.

LB: True. You can be gay and lesbian can be black. Being in a rock band is black. You can be black and not be a traditional Christian. At the same time, I get these flashbacks from college where I'm coming from Brooklyn and I'm going to this school. It's just weird. I went to Syracuse, a lot of people who came from Brooklyn were enjoying this multiracial environment for the first time, it's like the one's who came from Brooklyn, they don't come home anymore.

YLW: You can stretch beyond your boundaries and still have a respect for where you came from. How would you encourage those who are uncomfortable with the diversity in the black community to embrace it?

LB: I would just have people calm down. If people realize that everything is a continuum and that we are so much more alike that we don't have to be at odds. People don't need to be afraid. If we start defining ourselves more and take pride of who we say we are, we wouldn't be so afraid of other people.

Black Chefs, Immigrant Dreams and Fine Dining- An Interview with Celebrity Chef Marcus Samuelsson

2009-10-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

Marcus Samuelsson is one of the most sought after chefs in the nation with both award winning cookbooks and highly praised restaurants spotting the country. Samuelsson says he was surprised at how little America knew about African food, and it was one of the reasons he released the premiere cookbook Soul of A New Cuisine. His latest cookbook The New American Table explores ethnic food in the U.S and was released this month.

Born in Ethiopia, he was raised by adoptive parents in Sweden, where he acquired a passion for cooking from his maternal grandmother. Samuelsson studied at the Culinary Institute in Gothemburg where he grew up. He apprenticed in Austria and Switzerland before coming to the U.S at age 21 to apprentice at Aquavit Restaurant in New York City. At age 24 he became Aquivit's executive chef and was the youngest ever to receive a 3 Star Review from the New York Times.

Samuelsson's culinary achievements are endless. He was named best chef by the James Beard Foundation. He's launched several upscale restaurants including the Japanese influenced Riingo in NYC and the Affinia Hotel's C House in Chicago. Plus, he has his own line of Marcus cookware. However, Samuelsson hopes to encourage more people of color to pursue the culinary arts.

“Black people were cooking and serving forever before it was called fine dining and the restaurant business,” he told NV Magazine. “There are a lot of us, fine chefs, fine wine makers. It's a very tough effort to get recognized. You recognize me, but I represent a lot of people who are people of color who work in this field who are colleagues of mine.”

YLW: When you think Post Black, what comes to mind?

MS: Post Black. Barack, Michelle, black punk, the none obvious, the creative people. People who are doing it on many different levels in platforms who are not obvious. I can tell you of so many blacks who are in underrepresented fields, making major moves, doing it. The engineer, the computer whiz. Or you, being a black female film director is very post black.

YLW: Is it difficult to balance your identities as an African, a Swede and an American?

MS: As an African immigrant I think about it a lot. If you come to my house, I make Ethiopian food with American ingredients. I can make a Swedish dish for breakfast. But that's what makes me American. In any other country, take Sweden for example, I have to be Swedish to live there. Here the fact that it's a very open country, it's a simple country to be accepted in. That's why I love being here.

YLW: Why did you come to the U.S?

MS: I wanted to be here because of the diversity. There are more people of color, more ethnicity . . . blacks, Asians, Jews. I wanted to be in a diverse environment. Also, the journey that black people in America have and the Civil Rights Movement inspires me.
I'm a product of the Civil Rights Movement, although I wasn't born here, I know I'm a product of that. I always knew I had the skills and the talents but it's hard to do if you don't have the platform of people who came before you. The journey of black people in this country provided that platform. There's no way that I could do what I do without it.

YLW: Did you have to adjust to African American culture?

MS: African American culture is one of the most powerful cultures in the world. I knew about it when I was 7. I knew about it through Stevie (Wonder), Michael (Jackson), through the Civil Rights Movement. People all over the world are studying what we're doing through Barack, movies, the military. As a Black Swede I knew about Black America through the music. I don't know if African Americans get enough credit for the incredible culture that it spreads across the world. Now we don't know so much about other cultures. I didn't have to do much adjusting, though. It was easier for me because I knew so much about it. Of course there are holiday differences, but we're all one.

YLW: I recently saw a very emotional interview with an accomplished African American chef who read about you when he was an inmate, and it opened his eyes to the possibility that a black chef could cook more than soul food.

MS: I know who you're talking about. In fact, I know him very well. I think it's important that we are diverse that I'm out there and that there are other black chefs out there. As a creative black person, for people of color all over the world it's important to inspire others. We've been in cooking all our lives, now it's time for us to be in fine dining.

YLW: Why aren't there more African American chefs and restaurant owners in fine dining?

MS: Black people cooked a lot in this country. We've been in the service industry. So when people were able to send their kids to college, they sent them to white collar jobs. Cooking wasn't at the top of the list.

YLW: True.

MS: Fine dining wasn't at the top of the list. It's up to us to inspire people. There are African Americans with their own wineries. We have Derrick Oliver, one of the best beer makers. I know a black person who wants to open a sushi restaurant. There are African American innovators in the food industry. We have to have our own awards, just as we have in other fields. We're not there yet. That's why it's important for me to have my line of cookware.

YLW: Tell me about your new cookbook The New American Table?

MS: The New American Table talks about the diversity of American food. We as a diverse nation have done something that other countries have not. I wanted to talk about our journey as Americans and immigrants and people of color. Every family has stories and cookbooks. I wanted to show the diversity of American food: Chinese American, Jamaican American, American Southern. American food will always move forward because this is a diverse nation.

YLW: I never thought about the diversity of our food. Does it make American food unique?

MS: All countries have great food, but the fact that you can have Vietnamese, Thai, Southern on any block of any corner that makes us an incredible nation.

The New American Table is currently available on www.amazon.com. It launches in stores on Oct. 25th.

The Raw Food Life, Culture and Diet, An interview with organic food expert Nwenna Kai

2009-10-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

Organic lifestyle expert and author Nwenna Kai hopes to support people who are making the healthy lifestyle switch. She wrote the book The Goddess of Raw Foods and currently does consultations and caters her all raw food recipes. She also created www.the-guide-to-raw-foods.com. “My specialization is in raw foods and lifestyle movement. But I find that my target audience are people who are looking to include more raw foods in their diet,” said Kai. “Within the raw food community, most are extremist. They either don't drive or drive hybrid cards, they wear clothes made of hemp, they live a hippie lifestyle. I don't target that audience. I simply wanted to reach an audience that wants to eat healthier.”

YLW: How do you cultivate a raw food market?

NK: I am more interested in creating a market of people who want to have more raw food in their diet. I do have a very large African American following. I do some coaching with people. A lot of my clients are women who are in their 50s and 60s. They're fierce. They know they need to do something but don't know what to do.

YLW: How did you get involved with the raw food movement?

NK: One, I have a personal story with raw food. I've been vegetarian since I was 14, vegan since I was 18. I started eating raw food when I was 24, 25. I was very ill. I was tired all the time, acne, depression, a thyroid problem. I thought I was so healthy, and didn't understand why I was having problems. I started drinking liquids and eating vegetables for the next few days. I didn't know about raw food diet as a lifestyle. It was Feb. of 2000 in Chicago. I was with artists who were smoking. It was a very lonely experience. But within a few days, I had more energy, my acne cleared up, my vertigo went away, my depression went away. I took myself off of thyroid medication a few months later.

YLW: Did you immediately bond with other people who eat raw food?

NK: I found Karen's Raw Cafe, a raw food restaurant in Chicago. Karen Calabrese became a mentor to me. I moved out to LA in 2003, I was producing TV. It was hard for me to work 12 hours a day and eat the way I was eating. So I started catering. I had the restaurant for 4 years. Closed it down in 07 and now I do raw food consultations.

YLW: What is a raw food diet?

NK: It's a diet made up of organic fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, spouted grains and superfoods. Superfoods include hemp protein, which is a good way to include protein in a vegan diet, acai (pronounced asiya) which is a Brazilian berry, spirulina - a blue green algae full of protein, bee pollen, and cacao, what you make chocolate with.

YLW: Do you have to sell your clients on the benefits of raw food?

NK: I never have to sell people on it. They just don't get the 'how to.' People feel that the raw food diet is so limiting. The challenge I have is showing them the abundance in it. Also to eat intuitively. They want me to tell them just what to eat. You can sprout things, learn how to grow your own food. People think it's carrot sticks and celery. I can make a cheesecake, an apple pie, a blueberry cobbler all using very natural, and organic ingredients.

YLW: So you make raw food soul meals?

NK: Being African American I've learned how to tailor my food. I make a macaroni and cheese out of coconut meat. I have greens with kale and spices, it's just not cooked. I make a raw yam. I learned how veganize it.

YLW: Many people find that when they want to change their diet there's this resistance among friends and family. It's viewed almost as if you're abandoning your culture if you shift your diet.

NK: I can tell you stories upon stories. I've been vegetarian since I was 14. But my African American family still doesn't understand why I do what I do. My grandma asks do I eat fish. My uncle thinks I'm a snob. My aunt says you eat white people's food. There's a whole cultural tie to food. It's like you do as the tribe does.

You heard the story of the woman who cuts the ends of the turkey, and her mother does, and her mother did it, but no one knows why? Our culture is ridden with diabetes, heart disease. We still don't understand the connection between eating and lifestyle. The connection between diet and health, we're just not getting it. The fact that I don't eat chicken wings and pork and people have this view that I'm eating white people's food and it's ridiculous because it's killing us.

YLW: What causes this resistance?

NK: A big factor is that tie to the family. I had that fear. When I first started, I wouldn't tell anyone what I was doing. I would tell them I wasn't hungry. They knew I was vegan, but raw food only is very different. It's that social factor. Who am I going to eat with? Food is such a social part of our culture. Food in general contains memory. There's all of these other attachments to it,

YLW: What do you mean when you say that food has memory?

NK: I loved oatmeal as a child. I haven't given it up. Now I make a raw version of it. Oatmeal makes me feel comfortable. My mother used to always make oatmeal in the morning. Taking certain foods away is like taking those memories away. People think losing weight is just losing weight. But French fries make you feel a certain way that kale or avocado doesn't. We have a lot of work to do with that attachment.

The same person you're dating, you two probably eat alike. A lot of people have resistance because they realize they have to start changing their lifestyle. One woman I know has five kids, she had a very standard American diet. So there's a problem with her eating her food, and them eating something else.

YLW: You see a connection between the resistance to healthier eating, culture and identity?

NK: I was doing a lecture in a high school and mentioned sprouts, and the kids said, 'black people don't eat sprouts.' As humans, we tend to eat the same thing all the time. We tend to eat the same foods over and over. And with us, its like you eat what your family eats. Your aunt had diabetes, your mom has thyroid problems, but you keep eating the same food. We won't deter from our tradition to save our lives.

Our culture is crippled with disease and it's tied to the food. You can't get certain kinds of fruits and vegetables in ghetto supermarkets. Nina Simone has a song where she talks about that. You have that in L.A. In Chicago there are certain neighborhoods where you can't get guava, or pomegranate, or a mango. There are certain places where you can't get asparagus. So if someone wanted to eat healthier, imagine how hard it would be? How many people are going to go outside of their neighborhoods to go shopping two or three times a week?

YLW: Those areas are referred to as food deserts because there's no fresh or organic food in the neighborhood.

NK: There are a great deal of farmers markets in communities. In California we have it. But you can live in a high rise in New York and grow your own food. All you need is a window, sunshine and some water. You don't even need a patch of soil.
YLW: More people are changing their diets, though.

NK: It's more of a conversation now because of the health care issue and because people need serious help. People are in desperate situations. You have no idea how many emails I get a day. It's gotten so bad. It's weird now for me to see a kid who's not overweight. Thats' crazy.
I thought of being a black woman as being bigger and more voluptuous. Everyone in my family was big. So I felt I wasn't voluminous enough or wasn't big enough and as a result, wasn't black enough. Their parents would say oh, black women we're just bigger naturally, which is a lie. Black women are not naturally bigger women. It gets really, really heavy because this obesity issue and diabetes, and this health care thing. Health is going to be the million dollar question. It's like people are fighting for their health. Your health is your prosperity.

YLW: There's a health divide?

NK: Absolutely. People are going to have to go back to the basics. Eat better, grow your own foods. Real simple stuff. It's not hard.

Documentarian Jacqueline N'Namdi discusses Black Artists in Paris, Her New Doc and the N Word Overseas

2009-10-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

Filmmaker, marketing professional, and educator, N'Namdi, a trilinguist, has lived, studied and worked in seven countries in South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Along with her husband, Jacqueline, a Chicago and New York City resident, manages G.R. N'Namdi Gallery, the leading fine art gallery in the United States specializing in African American fine art. She and her husband Jumaane N'Namdi spent last summer filming their latest project “In Search of the Light: The Legacy of African American Artists Abroad. They launched the website to www. Artlegacyabroad.com, a catalog of African American artists. Here, she talks about traveling as an African American woman, and her latest project.

YLW: How has traveling abroad shaped your identity?

JN: Internationalism is a big part of who I am as an African American woman. Not touristic travel, but work and study. The more I see, the bigger it gets and I can understand myself, the country, and myself as an African American. It's priceless. I like meeting someone from China and saying, oh I used to live in Hong Kong, They immediately take me on as family. I would love for that to be reciprocated, for people to take interest in my culture. If someone told me they knew about Meta Vax Warrick Fuller, (African American artist) I would be excited.

YLW: What languages do you speak?

I speak French and Spanish. And I have studied Italian. Every country I go to I can say things in their language.

YLW: How has your experience abroad changed your concepts of African American identity?

JN: When I go abroad I'm able to see and experience how the rest of the world sees us. I have gained a tremendous respect for entertainment, music, film, all of those things that we produce. It's really important, because that's the only access they have to the African American experience. We have to depict ourselves in a full range.

YLW: Why do you say that?

JN: I've never been called the N word in the U.S. But I was called that overseas. I was in Macao which is an Island off the coast of Hong Kong. This guy says, I love your hair and he asked 'are you half a nigger?' I asked him where did you learn this word? And he said 'Die Hard 3: With a Vengeance.' I wasn't upset because I knew he didn't understand what he was saying and I told him that was a derogatory word. He was so embarrassed.

YLW: Have you had many experiences like that?

JN: I was in Venezuela with my girlfriends at the beach. We're in our swimsuits looking very cute. These guys are yelling 'niggers.' We got scared. Then we realized it was a truck full of young guys, waving out the truck flirting. They were happy to see us. And we said this is crazy, they don't even know what they're saying.

This summer, my husband and I were shooting the documentary. We had traveled to five different countries. We were checking into this hotel and this nice little lady asked Jumaane about his name. She asked where are you from, he said Detroit. America. She said no what country? He responded, America. But she was confused. Then she said, oh I see, you're from slave. Ytasha, I wasn't ready for that.

YLW: Wow.

JN: When I say America, they're thinking I don't look like whatever they think is the American girl next door. They want you to say a country. If you say you're African American they want you to say a country in Africa. So when she said, oh you're from slave. She wasn't trying to offend us. But that was her understanding, African Americans are descendants of slaves. It was awkward. We're enjoying ourselves, and she's like oh, you're from slave. That was a part of our experience, but there's more to us.

YLW: Are you constantly explaining your African American identity abroad?

JN: It's interesting, my white friends don't get haggled about where they're really from. They don't have to explain that their great great so and such was from Ireland. I've been places where people thought I was Algerian or Moroccan. I had an Algerian man who got mad at me when I said I was American, he didn't understand how that was possible.

Many people have never met an African American. They've met Africans, because there are a lot of Africans in Europe. A lot of them are afraid of us. They see things on TV or they reduce us to oh, you're from slave. It gives me more drive.

YLW: What experiences have you had with Africans and African Americans abroad?

That's interesting. When I was in Africa, I did a story on the perception of the African on the African Americans and vice versa. I was at the University Chiekh Anta Diop in Dakar, we met with the English club. I was very interested to see how they perceived us. One thing that astounded me was their knowledge of us. They had all seen Roots. Many of them had read books like Native Son, books by James Baldwin. They listened to rap. We went to the Goree Island where they exported many slaves. The African guide said 'This was the Door of No Return. But this is not true anymore,' he said,' because you are here and you have come.' I thought it was interesting how proactive they were about learning about us. On the other hand, African Americans knew very little about Africa. We didn't know how many countries there were.

YLW: How do you feel about the way African Americans perceive themselves?

I think we don't know enough about ourselves. My prime example is the fine arts. Even those who are highly educated. They could have went to the finest universities in the country, ask them about the African American fine artists, and they don't know about them. I feel as African Americans we're still learning about ourselves. Just like the people overseas are listening to the music and watching movies to define our identity. Well, the kids are doing that, too. That's why its important that people in the industry are mindful of that.

YLW: Why did you decide to produce “In Search of Light?”

JN: It's very fascinating. I think it's important to building the self esteem of African Americans, but its important as Americans that they know this. There's a lot of discourse on African American performing artist, or literary artists. If I ask most people to name an African American performing artists from a previous generation, they can do that. If ask about a visual artist, they can't name one. If they can name one, then I say, ok name two. All these artists were with Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, and others at the same table overseas, but when they came back no one knew them. Visual artists were under more pressure.

YLW: How so?

JN: Baker was entertaining people. But for the visual artists, it just wasn't seen as being as important. Even during the Civil Rights Movement, people were questioning their commitment or their blackness or their dedication to the cause because they were visual artists. They were ahead of their times. Oftentimes they were overseas alone. They were forging their own path. In some cases they were starving. They had a scholarship to go over there, but didn't have the funds to return. But they supported themselves with their art.

YLW: Do you just focus on artists who went to France?

JN: We explore African American artists who traveled overseas. Many went to Europe, but others went to Africa, Central America, Asia and South America. I asked artists why they kept coming back to Europe. And a lot of them talk about the quality of the light. They're talking about the sunlight quality, but for me, I feel they're talking about the knowledge, the experience the exposure.

YLW: Why did so many African American artists study or work abroad?

JN: For one, they had opportunity. They didn't have opportunity here. It was difficult to be an artists and be African American. There was this perception that there were so many other things that were important for us to be doing, so people felt like why are you studying art? There was so much exclusion. If they stayed in the U.S. They wouldn't have been able to develop their work.

YLW: Which artist among those who studied abroad intrigued you the most?

As I've done this research, I found so many artists, I even had to categorize them. Pre WWI, which includes enslavement, then post WWI, post WWII, then modern which is after 1970. I divided it based on wars, but what a lot of people didn't realize was that a lot of artists were veterans. That was the first way they were able to go overseas. Coming back as a veteran sometimes they were able to receive funding like the GI bill which allowed them to study overseas. Others wanted to go overseas but couldn't.

YLW: Which PreWWI artist impressed you?

JN: For one, you had African American artists who were exhibiting in Europe during the period of enslavement. Jules Leon, he was of biracial heritage, and he went overseas, he was born in France and he was exhibiting in the salons. He won the Paris Exhibition of 1833 for his lithographs. His father was a wealthy immigrant of Dutch/French descent. Their were a lot of people from New Orleans of rich heritage, their wealthy fathers would finance their trips. In fact, their were abolitionists groups who were offering scholarships during slavery.

YLW: Did any other artists resonate with you?

JN: Meta Vax Warrick Fuller. She graduated with honors from the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art, she won first prize for sculpture in the late 1800s. She got her teachers certificate and went to Paris. She went to the American Girls Club, where acclaimed American artists hung out, but was denied access because of her race. She was later a protege of Auguste Rodin. (Henry O.) Tanner was one of her mentors, he told her “Don't worry about this.” He became a Godfather to a lot of these artists. A lot of African Americans would go to Paris and seek him out.

YLW: What can artists today learn from those struggles?

Just being able to have entry into the fine art schools is something our generation should definitely not take for granted. Sometimes, its still difficult to find galleries. But that's why its important to do what we do. After school they have to be able to exhibit.

YLW: One of the reasons I wrote Post Black, was because there seems to be this definition of black life, and anything that didn't fit in that box is seen as an exception, not a part of the collective experience.

JN: Our gallery presents abstract art. It's non representational. We were at Art Chicago. A very well know art critic, was in our booth and he was looking for his friend. I asked, 'Did your friend come down.' He says 'Well, I don't think he would be in here because he doesn't like black art.' I wanted to kick him out the booth. I was just like, wow. There's no color in this work. Nothing on this wall has anything to do with color, well it has to do with color tones, but not race. How do you look at Ed Clark's work and say 'I don't like black art?' He doesn't paint people. He doesn't even paint landscapes.

I also have a problem with this term primitive when we talk about African art. I would get into arguments with everyone when I worked at the Guggenheim Museum in Italy because I had a problem with them calling it primitive just because they were self trained and didn't go to art school. I'm a linguist. I'm trilingual now. I respect the power of words. Even the psychology of words. When I hear primitive, I get offended, because the root word is primate. It's offensive. That word only refers to work that comes from Africa. In Russia, you don't call art buy untrained artists primitive, you call it folk art. I will always speak against that word.

YLW: Are people jealous of your international lifestyle?

JN: If I do perceive it that way, I change my thinking. And tell them how I did it. This wasn't a situation that was handed to me, I spent a lot of time researching and applying for things. If they feel that way, I shift it to them. My flight to Paris this summer cost $50, because I use points. Last year I want to Paris for free, to Brazil for free, because I'm anal about earning points. It becomes an opportunity. My best friend, I met in Venezuela overseas.

It's just a lifestyle actually. It's not about wealth, I was a student and I was traveling everywhere. I made money, I had access. I was willing to work. I've always been a hard worker. I would babysitting for this couple in France and they gave me an apartment on, the 16th, which is like the Beverly Hills in Paris. I was working, when all my friends went to the bar. I was babysitting and rushing these kids back and forth from school. In exchange, she gave me a little apartment, next to hers. In Venezuela, I lived with a family that didn't know English. My friend's a school teacher and every year she finds a study abroad program.

YLW: You don't want to be limited?

JC: Who's defining you? One day I'm in Italy looking at the Sistine Chapel . A man did this while painting on his back. Then I see the statue of David, and it's like Michaelangelo did both of those? Or Barbara Chase Riboud, she wrote about Sally Hemmings. She's written all these books. You don't even have to talk about her as a sculptor. Then you look at the fact that she's a major American artist with works all over the world. We interviewed her in Paris and Rome. She does all these different things. That's one thing I hope we get as African Americans. We're innovators. Hip hop came out of taking funding from music departments. They input these technology courses, then you have these deejays popping up. I hope we see that in ourselves.

I was reading this article about this kid in who made windmills in Malawi, Africa. He couldn't afford school, went to the library, studied windmills and starting making one out of scraps that changed his community. His name is William Kamkwamba and he wrote The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. The elders said he was part of the cheetah generation. The cheetah generation was driven. They want to excel they want to be self made if they have, too. I think those of us who grew up in the 80s are like that. We can't get too comfortable. Yes we have access, yes there's an African American president, but we still have to be that cheetah who's still hungry, because their are still those who don't have those opportunities. We're the first generation who really has that power to tell our own stories. Our parents earned that power. It's so important that we tell these stories because people don't just know.

For more information on Jacqueline “In Search of Light” go to www.artlegacyabroad.com

Jennings "Not a Lame Male Pig" (We know that already)

2009-10-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

In a recap with hip hop professor John Jennings, he shared that Peggy Mcintosh was a pioneer in the study of "whiteness." "You have to add her to the list of scholars," he said referring to the list of professors currently studying the subject.

Mcintosh is a feminist and anti-racist activist. She's also director of the S.E.E.D project, on Inclusive Curriculum. Her work "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondence through Work in Women's Studies" was pivotal in framing the discussion on privilege.

Post Black as Post Modern - A Talk with Graphic Novelist/Prof. John Jennings.

2009-09-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

INTERVIEW WITH JOHN JENNINGS
“People are bombarded with so many images, we really need a way to teach people how to process this information,” said John Jennings,. professor of art and design at the University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana. Jennings coauthored the graphic novel The Hole Consumer Culture: Vol. 1 (Front 40 Press/University of Chicago) with Damian Duffy and Black Comics: African American Independent Comic Art and Culture (Mark Batty Publishers). He also contributed some really cool artwork to Post Black. I visited John's Hip Hop design class recently because they're using my book Beats Rhymes and Life: What We Love and Hate About Hip Hop as a text. When a teacher kicks of a class with a Tribe Called Quest song, you know you're in the place to be.

YLW: When you think about Post Black what is the first thing that comes to mind?

JJ: I think of Post Modernism. The Post Industrial age. Modernism, was about being in the present. Being able to measure the things that you're seeing with your own eyes, with your senses. Man is the measure of all things.

Post Modernism brings in the question of which man, what if it's a woman? It brings in all these other perspectives. I think Post Black includes this measure of self reflectiveness. Blackness is not something we created. It's something we were given. Now it's post slavery, post reconstruction, post civil rights and we're looking at how we fit into the larger context of things.

YLW: Is “blackness” something that can be defined?

JJ: Black Americans are really diverse. I think that because blackness has always been put in a box, we tend to think we know what it is. Because we've been stereotyped so much, we feel that blackness is something that's stagnant or solid, but it's constantly morphing.

YLW: How has the concept of blackness changed in the past decade?

JJ: The idea of blackness has shifted a lot because the world is a lot more connected and there are a lot more affluent black people. This generation of black people is looking at blackness in a different way. Or maybe we're not. But I think because we're so connected now the perspectives vary.

YLW: Can you think of a Post Black moment?

JJ: That's a hard question. The obvious one would be Obama being president. He's like the ultimate black man now. He's always the black president first, though. That's the curse of being other in a society where you're opposite of the norm. I'm looking through the lens I'm being judged by. Can you think of one?

YLW: I had a conversation with a group about black identity and out of six of us, only two were black. Each person had these really intriguing perspective that didn't differ much from if it had been a group of African Americans. But it dawned on me that what we call black identity with respect to image has as much to do with others and their perceptions and identity as it does with our own.

JJ: Maybe we can't see it because we're in it. It's really hard to see the forest through the trees. It's like people who created hip hop. They didn't know they were creating this global phenomenon. The fact that we're questioning what blackness is is a Post Black moment. It's a meta-moment.

YLW: What's a “meta-moment?"

JJ: A moment about a moment. Meta pictures are pictures that make fun of pictures. It goes black to this self reflectiveness, because we were given this identity. If you think about it, blackness is Post Modern, because it forces you to be viewed and to be conscious of being viewed. W.E.B Dubois was writing about that in the 30s. Forever blackness was the opposite of whiteness, but now we can redefine what that is because we don't live in that age anymore.

YLW: Tell me about your comic book work.

JJ: My work is about disruption of stereotypes, looking at things we've always experienced as black people, making fun of them, inverting them, and using that to deconstruct stereotype whenever I can because stereotypes aren't meant to change. The root word for stereotype is stereos which is Greek but it means hardened, not changed. But because stereotypes are proliferated so much, you have to keep fighting them because they keep popping up.

YLW: Is hip hop “Post Black?”

JJ: The nature of subcultures is that they get sampled and remixed by corporations. With hip hop being a culture you can't put it in a box. Being black you can't put it in a box. Hip hop is was created by black and brown people but that doesn't mean those are the only people who can express it and be a part of the culture.

YLW: Are you saying that being black can be commodified in the way that hip hop has?

JJ: Definitely. We were commodities. We didn't exist as people in America legally until after the Emancipation Proclamation. Being black is a construct. We didn't make it up. We're stuck with the framework of blackness in being the opposite of whiteness. That's why its good to have these conversations, because its about what does being black mean to us. It's so easy to commodify our culture, because everything about us was commodified anyway. We were property at one point. We were given this framework and we really don't know anything else. It gets comfortable, because then you don't have to think of who you are as a person.

YLW: But you do see being black as a political identity?

JJ: I say black than African American. African American is my type of blackness. But when I say I'm black, it's political identity. I can say I'm African American, but my political stance is a black stance so to speak.

YLW: Is there a black aesthetic in the way that there's a hip hop aesthetic?

JJ: You get people creating culture out of thin air. You're forced to be creative. Maybe that's the black aesthetic. We spend a lot of time on race, but we should spend more time on class as well. If you've always had, you're less apt to have to be creative.

America needs to sit on a couch and talk it out. This is a strange country we live in. My blackness would get called up a lot growing up in Mississippi, being a light skin kid. I was everything but black, white, Mexican, Indian. The scrapes I would get into. My authenticity was always called into question.

YLW: Why was your authenticity called into question?

JJ: Because black is about visuality. Because race is about the visual. Because we're black, it's like we're supposed to be the exact opposite of white, which is totally crazy, but that's how we're forced to look at ourselves. When you see someone similar to that, you automatically assume other. On the other hand, I've had white students at U of I ask me what ethnicity I was. When I told them I was black I could tell they were thinking about it, trying to figure out what that meant.
Inherently people know that what you look like isn't who you are. But because of this society, that's how we judge ourselves by. Then we develop these belief systems based on how people say we look.
I commend you for trying to attack something so complex. Anything dealing with black people in America isn't easy. Everyone tries to forget how we got here, who we are. Maybe your next book should be post whiteness.

YLW: I've read that people are studying “whiteness” now.

JJ: There are people out there who are studying whiteness. David Roediger, Tim Wise, Robert Jenson study it. They have some interesting work. If you look at that, you'll see some of our problems, too.

What is Post Black?

2009-09-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

Post Black: How a New Generation is Defining African American Identity (Lawrence Hill Books) is a book I embarked on when I recognized that the diversity of experiences in the black community were either going unnoticed or unacknowledged.

The book hits stores January 2010.

My Post Black Definition Post Black :

Post Black: An exploration of African American identity in a world of diminishing racial barriers that examines the range of diversity within the black experience in the Post Civil Rights Era and its societal impact.

As for the Blog . . .
I aim to strike up the dialogue about black identity in the new millennium.Look forward to interviews with intriguing people, with interesting thoughts who have some verbal pennies to pitch on the matter.
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Ytasha