tales of the out and gone

Amiri Baraka is definitely a figure I would like to "wrestle" with more on Planet Grenada. He has contributed much to the world of letters as a major member of the Black Arts Movement. And as an individual he has gone through an interesting series of personal transformations from changing his name, becoming a Black Muslim, a cultural nationalist, a "Third World" Marxist, etc.

NPR: Interview with Amiri Baraka on the occasion of his latest novel, 'Tales of the Out and Gone'.

Planet Grenada:
amiri baraka
kuumba

"with liberty, and justice..."

since when was blindness a good thing?

I know that justice and liberty are distinct, but the previous image of Bush as a vampire reminded me of the powerful Langston Hughes poem:

Justice

That Justice is a blind goddess
Is a thing to which we black are wise:
Her bandage hides two festering sores
That once perhaps were eyes.

Many summers ago I was sitting on the porch of the house I was living in at the time, having a conversation with some folks about religion. One of the people there was an African-American Bahai and somehow the conversation turned to the question of why Islam seemed appealing to so many Black Americans. His answer, especially coming from a Bahai, really surprised me. He basically said that a history of oppression gave Black people a unique capacity to recognize the truth when we see it. I would question the narrow racialism implied by both examples, but would still suggest that even if it doesn't provide one with special race-based wisdom or insight, a collective history of oppression will at the very least give a person a low tolerance for bs.

death of liberty

robinson opened door for black hispanics

ESPN: Robinson opened door for black Hispanics by Enrique Rojas on how when Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1947 he benefited Latinos/Afro-Latinos as well.

see also Grenada: latinos and baseball

we want to talk right down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand

YouTube: Mos Def Reads Malcolm X's Message to the Grassroots as a part of Voices of a People's History of the United States. If you go to "when in the course of human events..." you can find a link to an old Grenada post on the same speech (which points to a page with Malcolm X's actual audio) under the title for the fourth of july.

just another angry black muslim woman?

Say hello to: Just Another Angry Black Muslim Woman? a blog I recently "found" (although it is over a year old). I'm not sure what to make of the question mark. I really like the blog entires I've seen so far but then again, I don't think I've disliked any of the Black Muslim female blogs I've bumped into... and there aren't that many to begin with so another will still add something distinctive to the blogosphere. Anyway... enjoy.

a philosophical view of easter

Today I picked my copy of The Cornel West Reader and reread one of the pieces called "A Philosophical View of Easter". In it, West engages in a rather sophisticated explanation of what he means when he says resurrection claims of Christianity are "true". He lays the foundations by giving a thoughtful critique of Hume and what he calls sentential reductionism ("the view that sentences have their evidence for or against their truth or falsity isolated from and independent of other sentences."). And then he questions the empirical foundations of modern science by pointing out that even things like electrons, magnetism and black holes cannot be perceived directly and are mere theoretical constructs which we only have indirect access to.

By the same token, for West, the truth or falsehood of Christianity isn't a matter of whether the tomb was empty the Sunday after the Crucifixion, but is also something indirect. As West puts it:

I am suggesting that the primary test for the "truth value" of particular Christian descriptions and their resurrection claim is their capacity to facilitate the existential appropriate of Jesus Christ. This means that any "true" Christian description makes the Reality of Jesus Christ available, that it promotes and encourages the putting of oneself on the line, going to the edge of life's abyss and finding out whether the Reality of Jesus Christ... can sustain and support, define and develop oneself in one's perennial struggle of becoming a fuller and more faithful self in Christ.

I think this alternative notion of truth is definitely interesting but it seems a bit of a cop out. I sympathize because I think I went through something similar in terms of my own path but in general, if you have to go through a great deal of mental gymnastics in order to justify a certain religious label to yourself, then maybe it is time to think about shopping for a different religious tradition? Just a thought.

the hare club for men

This week's episode of South Park was called Fantastic Easter Special which, while satirizing the Da Vinci Code, attempted to explain the connection between rabbits, eggs and the origins of the Christian Church. Are you ready for the secret?

Grenada and the Da Vinci Code:
holy blood, holy grail
jesus in india
juan cole on the da vinci code

Similarities between the Jesus story and several Pagan religions:
the world's sixteen crucified saviors

Wikipedia: EasterBunny

radical equations

From the book, Radical Equations:

In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become a part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed. This means that we are going to have to learn to think in radical terms. I use the term radical in its original meaning - getting down to and understanding the root cause. It means facing a system that does not lend itself to your needs and devising means by which you change that system. That is easier said than done. But one of the things that has to be faced is, in the process of wanting to change that system, how much have we got to do to find out who we are, where we have come from and where we are going... I am saying as you must say, too, that in order to see where we are going, we not only must remember where we have been, but we must understand where we have been.

-Ella Baker

wetback mountain

Although I normally don't like Carlos Mencia's material much, this sketch cracked me up when I saw it on tv a few days ago. (It also features Mario Lopez formerly of Saved by the Bell) It brings up a real question: in some contexts (especially corporate America) is it safer to identify strongly as Latino (or Black or Muslim) or identify as gay or bisexual? I've been in some "progressive" places where I've even sensed that some otherwise mainstream individuals choose to use a very broad definition of "bisexual" (i.e. everyone is a little bisexual) just to be able to claim some sort of non-mainstream (queer) identity. So while there seems to be some postive social cache to being queer in some situations, in these same environments (especially in the current political climate) folks can still feel pretty safe making slurs against Muslims... and in other ways, the voices of difference end up getting silenced as well. The lesson is that there are different kinds and sizes of "closets" for different folks.

shssh! don't tell americans how we treat enemy combatants

The future of freedom foundation: Shssh! Don’t Tell Americans How We Treat “Enemy Combatants” by Jacob G. Hornberger deals with Jose Padilla's approaching trial and the governments efforts to downplay what it did to Padilla while he was in custody as an "enemy combatant".

Planet Grenada and Jose Padilla

black immigrants: the invisible model minority

Inside Bay Area: Black immigrants, the invisible model minority expands on a topic we've touched on recently in: universities enrolling more black immigrants

reclaiming jewish traditions in mexico

New American Media: Reclaiming Jewish Traditions in Mexico

For more on Jews in Latin America, see also:
adio kerida
chavez and anti-semitism

guantanamo, dred scott and the amistad

Common Dreams: Guantánamo, Dred Scott and the Amistad by Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith

the segregated blogosphere

Colorlines: The Segregated Blogosphere by Celina De Leon

eleggua group

Afro-Venezuelan Musicians Connect the Diaspora by Khalil Abdullah talks about the music of Eleggua Group and how it is making bridges across the African diaspora.

bridging the black/immigrant divide

Black Electorate: Bridging the Black/Immigrant Divide by Alan Jenkins

santeria leader fights euless ban on animal sacrifices

Black Electorate: Santeria leader Fights Euless Ban On Animal Sacrifice by Michael Grabell deals with an old problem; how do members of a religious minority practice their faith in the face of resistance from a more "conventional" environment? In this case the minority faith is Santeria. I've heard of this issue of animal sacrifice coming up before in Florida where there is obviously a large Cuban-American population. (see Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah) But this article gives the first example I know of similar tensions occuring in Texas.

see also:
"you can't keep me out of my own house"

growing muslim community brings new traditions to the neightborhood

Black Electorate: Brooklyn’s ‘Kosher,’ And Now ‘Halal,’ Too - Growing Muslim Community Brings New Traditions To The Neighborhood by Melissa Castro