Islam is at the heart of an emerging global anti-hegemonic culture that combines diasporic and local cultural elements, and blends Arab, Islamic, black and Hispanic factors to generate "a revolutionary black, Asian and Hispanic globalization, with its own dynamic counter-modernity constructed in order to fight global imperialism. (say what!)
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
solar eclipse today
end of empire
"Our power, then, has the grave liability of rendering our theories about the world immune from failure. But by becoming deaf to easily discerned warning signs, we may ignore long-term costs that result from our actions and dismiss reverses that should lead to a re-examination of our goals and means." - Henry Hyde
Imperial Overreach is Accelerating the Global Decline of America by Martin Jacques.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
reverse missionaries
I'm tempted to call this "beautifully ironic" except irony isn't quite the right word. After all, the Ethiopian Orthodox and Coptic (Egyptian) Churches are among the oldest forms of Christianity in the world. While the Protestant Churches which are dominant in the United States are all no older than 500 years (Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church in 1517). Christianity has a long and ancient history in Africa and so it isn't really ironic that they would send missionaries to the post-Christian West. It's just slightly funny.
Monday, March 27, 2006
"then they came for the..."
Wikipedia: First they came...
Sunday, March 26, 2006
muslim enclaves in the west
Saturday, March 25, 2006
santana and iraq
LIMA, Peru - Carlos Santana, speaking to Peruvian journalists ahead of a Tuesday concert, said young people's opposition to the war in Iraq is reaching the dimensions of the anti-Vietnam war sentiment in the 1970s.
"There is more value in placing a flower in a rifle barrel than making war," he said. "As Jimi Hendrix used to say, musical notes have more importance than bullets."
In 1971, Santana was prevented from performing in Peru by the military dictatorship, which deemed his music an "alienating" force. Santana returned to perform in 1995
(full story)
Planet Grenada: carlos santana
Thursday, March 23, 2006
what if she was condoleezza jenkins?
But then that raises the obvious question: what happens to a working class African-American woman who ISN'T semi-married to the President when they get called "coon" for real? Is this about race, or class, or just power?
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The original link expired but I found a replacement here.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
better late than never...
mexico and immigration
StarTelegram.Com: Mexican ads push guest-worker plan
Trentonian: ‘We are workers, not terrorists’
Black Electorate: Mexico And The Migration Phenomenon
Immigration Daily: Two Sides Of The Same Coin: The Connection Between Legal And Illegal Immigration by James R. Edwards, Jr.
latinos and baseball
Now that I think about it, I wonder if anyone has done research on Afro-Latino identity and baseball players, especially around the time baseball was segregated. I remember reading that at times, African-American baseball players would try to "pass" as Latino and pretend to speak Spanish on the field in order to be able to play against white teams. And in the same vein the New York Cubans (an old team from the Negro Leagues) had no Cubans on the team. Anyway, if anyone could point me to good sources, I'd be interested.
Color Lines: Fields of Broken Dreams: Latinos and Baseball by Marcos Bretón
Early players hit home run for racial equality by Russell Contreras
Minnie Miñoso (Saturnino Orestes Armas Miñoso Arrieta) was a Black Cuban baseball player who played for the Chicago White Sox (and in Mexico, and in the Negro leagues). My dad knew him from a long time ago and somewhere in my house I think there is an autographed photo of him.
ESPN: Rise of the Latinos: Arriba Baseball brings together a number of different profiles and articles on Latinos in baseball.
Latino Legends in Sports Online Magazine and specifically: Latinos in the Major Leagues: The breakdown 2000
Major League Baseball Players by National Origin
Latino Baseball (Your Complete Guide to Latino Baseball)
Wikipedia: Roberto Clemente
Official Roberto Clemente Site
Other Grenada "sports" posts:
accepting the slurs
new york cubans
what's my name, fool?
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
farrakhan in cuba
Havana, Mar 20 (Prensa Latina) US religious leader Louis Farrakhan began a Cuba visit Monday, with plans to meet with US youth studying medicine on the Island.Prensa Latina
Upon his arrival in this capital, Farrakhan, also a fighter against racism and poverty, was welcomed by Cuban Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcon.
During his stay in the country, he will meet with Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and other political and social leaders.
As his first official activity, the religious leader will visit the Latin American School of Medicine where about 20,000 students from different countries are studying, including several US low-income youths unable to afford the universities in their country.
Farrakhan also plans to meet with relatives of the five anti-terrorist Cuban prisoners in the US, and members of the Henry Reeve Contingent, made up of Cuban doctors assisting other peoples in natural disaster situations.
The US leader will also tour an art instructors´ school, and meet Cuban athletes.
Monday, March 20, 2006
anarchism, hollywood-style
"a soul, three fingers and at least one good eye"
But now, even more mainstream folks who speak out of turn are turning up on the radar:
the American Civil Liberties Union released a series of once secret FBI files that show the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force conducted a secret investigation into the activities of the Thomas Merton Center beginning as early as November 2002, and continuing up until at least last March.
Alternet: Punished for Pacifism
pat robertson is evil: reason #704
MediaMatters for America: Robertson again calls for Chavez's assassination: "Not now, but one day"
past reasons:
pat robertson is evil: reason #865
pat robertson is evil: reason #873
chavez's alleged anti-semitism
what has hip-hop really done for racism?
Especially as someone who grew up on Public Enemy and KRS-ONE I still want to hold onto some of my optimism when it comes to thinking about the power of music to politically enlighten urban youth.
I can't help but think of Common's "I used to love H.E.R. (Hip-hop in its Essence and Reality)"
She didn't have a body but she started gettin thick quick
Did a couple of videos and became afrocentric
Out goes the weave, in goes the braids beads medallions
She was on that tip about, stoppin the violence
About my people she was teachin me
By not preachin to me but speakin to me
in a method that was leisurely, so easily I approached
She dug my rap, that's how we got close
But I also have to admit that Ibn Shabazz has a point. If it is true that “The sole purpose of racism is to support and ensure that the White majority and its ethnic subgroups continue to dominate and use Blacks as a means to produce wealth and power” then the music industry in general, and hip-hop in particular are more part of the problem than the solution, especially if you think about how economic power is exercised behind the scenes.
More sober thoughts on hip-hop's limitations from Planet Grenada:
yo! pbs raps
the revolution won't have a video