Thursday, July 03, 2008

planet grenada and islam and hip-hop

Over at Goatmilk, Wajahat Ali recently posted an in depth piece entitled: Fear of a Muslim Planet:Hip-Hop’s Hidden History by Naeem Mohaiemen on the historical connections between Islam and hip-hop. It made me want to do put together a sampling of Grenada posts on the same subject.

Pieces range from

a simple list:
an old list of rappers and their religion

to specific peeks at particular Muslim hip-hop artists:
digging below the underground
more on lupe fiasco
one.be.lo - s.o.n.o.g.r.a.m.
de la soul
ali shaheed muhammad
whatever happened to q-tip?
boricua rappers drop anti-imperialist album

to discussions of Islam's presence in pre-hip-hop African-American music:
the last poets
muslim roots of american blues
all that jazz...

to broader more "sociological"discussions of the phenomena of Muslim hip-hop across different musical groups:
verily, there is only one hip-hop umma
al-ahram does a story on muslim hip-hop
more on muslims and hip-hop
hisham aidi

to pieces which focus more on the Muslim community and speak about the music in mostly general terms:
new age jahiliyyah
islam and hip-hop
traditional islam for the hip-hop generation

to more regional-based posts...

on African Muslims doing hip-hop (whether in Europe or the Continent)
in bleak projects, emerging culture
daara j brings rap back to its african roots

or Arab and Arab-American hip-hop:
rap the casbah
(global) southern girl
representin' the west (bank)

or Asian-related hip-hop:
an african american muslim convert as the founder of chinese hip-hop
afro-asian crosscurrents in contemporary hip-hop

Enjoy.

superman in the nursing home

Thinking about Wanted for the last post reminded me of the following poem which gives a whole other spin to the superman myth:


Superman in the Nursing Home
by Rusty Russell


It started with the flying.
I just had to get away.
I thought I was going crazy, hearing things –
voices, sirens, water running behind walls,
and the crying, someone always crying behind closed doors.
It was that super hearing. I had it then.
So some nights I'd fly out of the city
until I couldn't hear them anymore,
way out over the ocean where I could see the earth turning
and the sun rising over the edge of the next day.
Miraculous, made me feel like the only man on earth,
but I wasn't a man. I was a freak.
Then came all those years
of changing clothes in dirty phone booths;
chewing gum on the floor getting stuck in my pants,
cigarette butts, and the smell of winos and urine.
Sometimes the phone would ring while I was in there
and it always gave me the creeps.
Think about it – an anonymous telephone
in the middle of the night on a deserted street
and it's ringing for someone. Anyone.
I never picked it up. I didn't want to hear it –
lives pulled thin over a phone wire,
stories of pockets with holes,
bad breath whistling through bad teeth.
What could I do?
Someone sobbing and sloppy drunk in a bar somewhere
picks up a phone, dials a number at random
and gets Superman
with his pants down in a phone booth.
Believe it or not, this Superman thing started out modestly:
no cape, no tights.
Just lifting automobiles off trapped motorists,
or catching falling babies before they hit the sidewalk.
But it felt so good, the applause,
the way the Earth girls looked at me,
and it all got out of hand.
I should have stopped after the first bank robbery.
There would never be any cash reward in this
for an indestructible guy like me.
Just "Thanks, Superman,"
and the bankers smiling as I flew away.
All the time they were thinking,
"What a fucking tool," and they were right.
Hell, it was all insured.
If I'd quit then and done something with myself –
forgotten this superhero thing and gotten a realtor's license
or just a full time job with benefits,
maybe I wouldn't be waiting for the TV hour
here in the dayroom of the County Home.
I never saved anyone from this. No one could.
But in a way, it's true, what they say,
that every moment lasts forever,
because I still dream about those first nights
when I was young, before it all started,
flying out of Metropolis in my pajamas
with the moon overhead and the silver ocean below,
and the billboards left behind
like a cry for help I can finally ignore.

wanted

While we are on the subject of graphic novels, I also recently read Wanted written by Mark Millar and which has also been adapted into a film staring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie.

I haven't yet seen the movie, but I have the definite impression that a large amount of the original story's significance has been lost in the transition from graphic novel to the film. The graphic novel takes place in a thinly-veiled analogue of the DC comic universe. The premise is that back in 1986 the various super villains came together and formed a unified army to decisively defeat the superheroes. In the present-day, super villains run the world with impunity through a secret society known as the Fraternity. (It is interesting to note that in a very small way, DC Comics moved in this direction when it made Lex Luthor president.) In the film, the secret society is made up of badass assassins who are still basically good but in the graphic novel, the organization is unambiguously evil. The main philosophical difference between the villains in the graphic novel lies in whether they are motivated by ruthless greed or a sadistic nihilism.
Professor Seltzer:
Shouldn't that be every one's aspiration Mister Rictus? The loot without the leg breaking?

Mister Rictus:
Personally I always saw the loot as just an added bonus, Professor Seltzer.

In addition to this basic moral vacuum, the other major element of the graphic novel which is presumably absent in the film is the rich relationship to the DC Comic Book mythos. One of the most interesting moments along these lines is an exchange between Wesley [the protagonist[ and Professor Seltzer [a clear Lex Luthor stand-in]:

Wesley:
I don't understand how come this isn't in the history books? Even if there had been one superhero wouldn't that have been all over the news and stuff?

Professor Seltzer:
Ah, but it wasn't enough just to beat them, Wesley. We had to strip them of their memories and make sure that even their greatest fans didn't remember them.

Such science might seem comical in this new world that we molded for you, but believe me when I saw that reality itself can be rewritten if we desire it, boy.

Seven dimensional imps [Mr. Mxyzptik] and alien super-computers [Brainiac] are among our ranks, you know. There's really nothing we can't do if we always stand united.

Now, your father's old nemesis [only referred to as "The Detective" but obviously Batman] is just a camp pudgy joke who signs autographs for money. The Warrior Princess [Wonder Woman] is a menopausal drunk who thinks she was a tv personality. And as for my own arch-foe [Superman]...

Well according to the newspapers, he needs someone to help him defecate now and spends his long dull days staring into space, trying to remember where it all went wrong. [the panel shows a man in a wheelchair sitting by a window, clearly recalling Christopher Reeve]


In other words, there is the strong suggestion (which is incredibly tragic when you stop to think about it) that Adam West, Christopher Reeve and Lynda Carter really are the defeated remnants of the heroes they portrayed on tv and film. (Along similar lines, the Vixen [a Catwoman stand-in] is definitely modelled on Halle Berry) So maybe the novel is meant to describe our own universe and we actually live in a world run by super villains?

In any case, based on the promotional material I've seen, the movie essentially ignores the comic book aspects of the novel. I wonder to what extent that was a freely-made creative decision and to what extent it was motivated by the likely legal hurdles due to copyright issues.

Basically, I expect that the movie will be an entertaining experience full of sci-fi/action candy but will be missing much of the mythological richness of the graphic novel.

Goatmilk: WANTED - MOVIE REVIEW

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

pride of baghdad



I recently read Brian K. Vaughan's graphic novel Pride of Baghdad (art by Niko Henrichon) and was really impressed. The story is a political allegory with talking animals so it obviously screams to be compared to Animal Farm but it manages to give the Orwell classic a run for its money. The plot focuses on a group of lions (Zill, Safa, Noor and Ali) who escape from the Baghdad Zoo during a US bombing attack but from another perspective the novel is an engaging meditation on the meaning of freedom and autonomy in general, but especially in the context of modern-day Iraq. I definitely recommned.

Dorkgasm: CRITICAL ANALYSIS: PRIDE OF BAGHDAD

latin kings gang leader calls for peace

Fox: Latin Kings Gang Leader Calls for Peace by Caron Myers

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

back to basics

I feel like I need a "reboot". I plan to work with Hamza Yusuf's booklet Agenda To Change Our Condition and see how it goes. There are some other texts I might want to add to that as well (Hanafi fiqh, Al-Ghazzali [1]) but this will be a good framework to start.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

quien no tiene de congo (tiene de carabali)


"Quien no tiene de congo (tiene de Carabali)"
La Habana, 2003, Black and White Photograph, 24x30.
Umi Vaughan

shades of race in contemporary cuba

I've mentioned Umi before but after I found this piece and some of his photos online I thought it would be nice to revisit his work. As far as I can tell, he's currently a professor in California doing African-type studies.



Shades of Race in Contemporary Cuba
by Umi Vaughan

As an African American man living in Cuba I am surprised and overwhelmed by the kaleidescope of names Cuban people use to describe race in their country, and I wonder what is to happen if and when American cultural influence fully invades Cuba again." I wrote this line in my field notes during a long stay on the island in 2002 and 2003 conducting anthropological research about popular music and Cuban society. Both Cuba and the U.S. are melting pots, where various racial and national sources feed the continual process of nation building and cultural production. In both places, because of the decimation of indigenous populations and the importance of African slave labor for European masters, the binary of European/African or black/white became key. In the struggle between these groups there was much pain, exchange, and creation. The contributions of other immigrant groups, while of great importance, only impact and destabilize but never displace the black/ white paradigm of race in America or Cuba. In Cuba's politics as well as its race matters I see a kinder, gentler take on the ways of an imperfect world, similar to our U.S. system, yet different. In these times of increased U.S. conservatism and international intervention, all with racial implications--some even predicting a U.S. invasion of Cuba--it is well to consider how people think and talk about race in Cuba with an eye to what it reveals about that nation. This also invites reflection about our own America.

Here in the U.S. African Americans understand color distinctions like blue black, red bone, high yellow, and honey brown, but our main distinction is between black and white. In Cuba these terms--blanco y negro--are joined by others like mulato, jabao, trigueZo, and moro, as well as a plethora of distinctions within and in-between these descriptions. Much more colorful and expressive than the quadroons and octoroons that live in the history of North American racial talk, revealing a mathematical conception of color and ethnicity, the Cuban terms rely on appearance, temperament, and intention (of the speaker) as well as express a clear hierarchy in which white is right and black...ya tú sabes/you know the rest. Nancy Morejón [1] asserts that "the Afro Cuban essence" exists and notes that the term "afrocubano" was coined by Fernando Ortiz [2] as part of a continuum balanced by "hispanocubano," referring to the predominance of African or Spanish elements in various aspects of Cuban culture. Ortiz elaborated the concept of transculturation in which two or more cultures come into contact, elements from each culture are lost, new forms are created, and a cultural product different from the ingredient parts is born. Cuban society and its race codes are interesting because they show great plurality and flexibility, underscoring the permeability of categories while at the same time reflecting origins in the institution of slavery, colonialism, and neocolonialism. Folks who would be considered simply black in the U.S. and subject to a monolithic racism, in Cuba fall into many shades of categorization in a society that has indisputably made great efforts toward equality on many levels. At the same time adelantar la raza, or to improve the race, does not refer to creating more cultural awareness or unified economic action on the part of people of color, but rather finding lighter-skinned partners to make lighter-skinned babies.

As in many other places in the world, there are many comely, dark chocolate to blue-black Africans in Cuba. Negro fino (refined), negro bonito (good looking), and negro serio (serious) are a few positive designations that acknowledge their clear African heritage and honor with respect the contributions of black Cubans like Antonio Maceo, Juan Gualberto Gomez, and Evaristo Estenoz to Cuban history. When negro fosforescente (coal black), negro bembón (big lipped black), negro fula (brother up to no good), negro verde (angry), mono (monkey), or negro palmao (broke black man) are used, negativity is being expressed in terms of undesirable, "ugly" African features, stereotypically black (mis)behavior, and social and economic underdevelopment. It is clear that Africa has permeated Cuban culture, in everything from the exquisite shades of skin, the rhythms of speech, and the nourishment from dance and music, cuisine, and worship; however, at the same time, elements that are too purely African, or that reveal the legacy of slavery (i.e., blacks' weaker economic position or shorter history of formal education) are rejected. It seems that positive evaluations of black are anomalies that disrupt the normal perception of black as bad, antisocial, inferior. Dynamic, talented blacks are sometimes referred to as blancos echados a perder (white folks gone to waste). Blacks, especially women, are said to be best suited for labor rather than love. Negrito is a common derogative diminutive. However, at the same time negro or negra is also a term of endearment regardless of your loved one's color.

There are also categories which fall in between and augment the main ones.

For example, very dark-skinned people with fine facial features (slim noses, pursed lips) and good hair are called moros--after the Moors who are present in Cuba's Spanish heritage. Sometimes in order to flatter someone, utilizing the subtle language of race, you might refer to them as moro when more accurately they should be described as negro. For example, one evening a gentleman approached me to sell several pairs of eyeglasses in very poor condition; in order to butter me up for this hard sell, he immediately began calling me moro. On another occasion I was being summoned by someone and did not realize they were talking to me because they kept calling me, "hey you, mulato!"

Mulato or mulata is a vague term that refers to a mixture between black and white, giving the offspring the best of both worlds, passion and soul, pelo bueno (good hair) and fine features. Fair-skinned mulatos are called mulato claro (light), mulato blanconazo (big white mulato), or adelantao (advanced/evolved) while the darker-skinned can be called mulato oscuro or mulato con trova (with soul, a little more of Africa). In the black/white continuum, the mulato or mulata are not simply median, but are said to be la combinación perfecta, with a mystique of sensuality and beauty that is evoked to represent Cuba itself. Cuba is known by many por sus habanos y sus mulatas (for its cigars and its women). There are ladies in La Habana drinking Mulata brand rum as they speak of this or that tremendo mulato (hunk/tenda). The main character in one of Cuba's most significant works of literature from the nineteenth century, Cirilo Villaverde's Cecilia Valdés, is a beautiful mulata. Mulatas and mulatos are said to be good for sex.

Jabao is another category. A kind of median, like the mulato, however stripped of the idyllic qualities of sensuality and beauty. Jabaos usually have fair skin with kinky hair and clear African facial features (wide noses, thick lips, etc.). Some have reddish or even blond hair and are said to be la candela, extremely mischievous and picaresque. It is said that los jabao no tienen raza (jabaos have no race) and that they do not mix well (genetically) with other races. Los jabaos son malos (jabaos are bad) is another often heard phrase.

In the barrios of Havana you will inevitably find someone who responds immediately to the nickname chino or china. The Chinese who started entering Cuba in 1847 as indentured servants to augment slave labor established long lasting communities and left their genetic legacy. During the slavery era Chinese men reproduced with free black women and mulatas because steps were taken to keep separate the Chinese laborers and the slaves. Anybody with slightly slanted eyes is likely to be called chino, identified with this early mixture or that which took place as the Chinese continued to migrate as business people, ambassadors, and students throughout the 1920s and 30s.

White folks in Cuba would not really be considered white by U.S. racial standards. They are slightly dark, tawny, marked by the influence of the Moors on their Spanish ancestors and by over 500 years of sharing the island of Cuba with descendants of Africa and more recently arrived Chinese. This phenotype is preferred by many when it comes to attractiveness and social acceptability, although it does imply the clumsiness and lack of grace/rhythm attributed to whites in the U.S. And yes, the O.J. Simpson complex does exist, in which success and true influence is marked by access to white partners. Whites are best for love and marriage. Still, the Afro-Cuban essence rules over Cuba. Most people there would agree that, in the words of Cuba's national poet Nicolas Guillén, Cubans are "todos mezclados" (all mixed up).

Umi Vaughan is an artist and experimental ethnographer who explores dance, creates photographs and performances, and writes about African Diaspora culture. [...] He studies popular music and performance in Cuba in relation to social transformation. He has made many visits to the island and resided there from June 2002 to October 2003, conducting research for his dissertation and forthcoming book ("Timba Brava: Maroon Music in Cuba").

1. Nancy Morejón, "Afro-Cuban Identity: Cuba and the Afro-Cuban Essence: A Metaphor?," in Cuba on the Verge, ed. Terry McCoy (New York: Bulfinch Press, 2003).

2. Fernando Ortiz, Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995).

Friday, June 20, 2008

"do your math..." (part two)

There is within the spiritual universe of Islam a dimension which may be called "Abrahamic Pythagoreanism" or a way of seeing numbers and figures as keys to the structure of the cosmos and as symbols of the archetypal world and also a world which is viewed as the creation of God in the sense of the Abrahamic monotheisms. It is this possibility within the intellectual universe of Islam and not any external influences that enabled Islam to develop a philosophy of mathematics akin to the Pythagorean-Platonic tradition of antiquity [...]
-Seyyid Hossein Nasr, from the Forward of Islamic Patterns by Keith Critchlow

So I recently picked up the book Islamic Patterns. I've owned it for a while, what I'm saying is that I'm making another attempt to get through it. It contains some interesting discussions of the philosophical principles which lay behind much of the geometric artwork in the Islamic world. To be honest, it is taking some effort to get through. What I'm finding is that my own mathematical training makes it hard for me to really see where Critchlow is coming from. There is definitely a gap between the typical academic concept of what a number is or what geometry is about and the Pythagorean notion of the same.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

"do your math..."

Recently I've been thinking in general terms about different kinds of mathematics: partly with the hopes of developing an innovative curriculum for my students next year, partly for my curiosity and edification, partly with hopes of putting together some kind of article or document, and possibly in order to develop a career as not just a mathematician but a numerologist of sorts.

One route (exemplefied by the song "Mathematics") is to extract the mathematical content of our everyday lives with an eye towards social relevance. Another route would be to take a more metaphysical path (through the I Ching, sacred geometry, enneagrams, and similar constructions). We'll see how it goes.

[Mos Def]
Booka-booka-booka-booka-booka-booka
Ha hah
You know the deal
It's just me yo
Beats by Su-Primo for all of my peoples, negroes and latinos
and even the gringos

Yo, check it one for Charlie Hustle, two for Steady Rock
Three for the fourth comin live, future shock
It's five dimensions, six senses
Seven firmaments of heaven to hell, 8 Million Stories to tell
Nine planets faithfully keep in orbit
with the probable tenth, the universe expands length
The body of my text posess extra strength
Power-liftin powerless up, out of this, towerin inferno
My ink so hot it burn through the journal
I'm blacker than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle
Hip-Hop past all your tall social hurdles
like the nationwide projects, prison-industry complex
Broken glass wall better keep your alarm set
Streets too loud to ever hear freedom sing
Say evacuate your sleep, it's dangerous to dream
but you chain cats get they CHA-POW, who dead now
Killin fields need blood to graze the cash cow
It's a number game, but shit don't add up somehow
Like I got, sixteen to thirty-two bars to rock it
but only 15% of profits, ever see my pockets like
sixty-nine billion in the last twenty years
spent on national defense but folks still live in fear like
nearly half of America's largest cities is one-quarter black
That's why they gave Ricky Ross all the crack
Sixteen ounces to a pound, twenty more to a ki
A five minute sentence hearing and you no longer free
40% of Americans own a cell phone
so they can hear, everything that you say when you ain't home
I guess, Michael Jackson was right, "You Are Not Alone"
Rock your hardhat black cause you in the Terrordome
full of hard niggaz, large niggaz, dice tumblers
Young teens and prison greens facin life numbers
Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients
Young bloods can't spell but they could rock you in PlayStation
This new math is whippin motherfuckers ass
You wanna know how to rhyme you better learn how to add
It's mathematics

Chorus: scratched by DJ Premier (repeat 2X)

"The Mighty Mos Def.."
"It's simple mathematics" -> Fat Joe
"Check it out!"
"I revolve around science.."
"What are we talking about here?"

.. "Do your math" -> Erykah Badu (2X) ..
.. "One.. t-t-two.. three, four" -> James Brown ..
.. "What are we talking about here?" ..

[Mos Def]
Yo, it's one universal law but two sides to every story
Three strikes and you be in for life, manditory
Four MC's murdered in the last four years
I ain't tryin to be the fifth one, the millenium is here
Yo it's 6 Million Ways to Die, from the seven deadly thrills
Eight-year olds gettin found with 9 mill's
It's 10 P.M., where your seeds at? What's the deal
He on the hill puffin krill to keep they belly filled
Light in the ass with heavy steel, sights on the pretty shit in life
Young soldiers tryin to earn they next stripe
When the average minimum wage is $5.15
You best believe you gotta find a new ground to get cream
The white unemployment rate, is nearly more than triple for black
so frontliners got they gun in your back
Bubblin crack, jewel theft and robbery to combat poverty
and end up in the global jail economy
Stiffer stipulations attached to each sentence
Budget cutbacks but increased police presence
And even if you get out of prison still livin
join the other five million under state supervision
This is business, no faces just lines and statistics
from your phone, your zip code, to S-S-I digits
The system break man child and women into figures
Two columns for who is, and who ain't niggaz
Numbers is hardly real and they never have feelings
but you push too hard, even numbers got limits
Why did one straw break the camel's back? Here's the secret:
the million other straws underneath it - it's all mathematics

Chorus

{closing scratch} "Mathematics.."

two calls for pan-africanism from the muslim world

Pambazuka News: Obama: US president or world president? by Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem
Afriquenligne: Kadhafi reaffirms necessity of federal government of Africa

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

israel's openly secret nukes

In These Tiems: Israel’s Openly Secret Nukes by Salim Muwakkil

As usual, Salim Muwakkil is on target (so to speak). It just makes me wonder what the Middle East would look like if all nations were looked at symmetrically in terms of their compliance to the various international agreements, treaties and declarations.

See also:
spilling the beans
churches calls for divestment from israel
"i am become death, the destroyer of worlds"
the green party supports divestment

dhikr and my "inner taliban"

So I "went to dhikr" yesterday. I use quotes because in reality dhikr should be part of the basic punctuation of Muslim life so the idea of going to a specific location where dhikr can occur ir arguably rather odd. More specifically, I went to a gathering of the Shadhili tariqat [2] for group dhikr. The people were nice but I had to wrestle a bit with my "inner Taliban" since the people there were into "Sufism" but I wasn't sure if they were ready to say that they were "Muslim" or not. If I continue with them its just going to be something I'm going to have to work on somehow.

Coincidentally, I also discovered the following short film yesterday called Ms. Judgements. The people at dhikr were dressed like "gypsies" so I guess I'd identify most with the person right after:


obama and father's day

This past Sunday, Obama gave a sermon on fatherhood at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago. And can I say how deep it is to see a candidate actually give a sermon as opposed to merely pandering to Evangelicals? I'm also sure that Obama is absolutely relieved to be able to speak for himself in a church instead of having others speak on his behalf (and have the media assume he approves the message). In this sermon, Obama manages to strike a tone somewhere between government-responsibility and community-responsibility which I think works really well. I'm curious about how it will play among the "religious right" and the white "values voters"?

mark gonzalez - audio intefadeh

The clip from Audio Intefadeh seems to suggest Mark Gonzalez but that's not totally clear to me. In any case, he is a brilliant spoken word artist who is definitely in solidarity with the Palestinian cause and is trying to make a difference through his words and actions.

Audio Intefadeh:


As With Most Men:


MySpace: Mark Gonzalez

Monday, June 16, 2008

junot diaz

The Ghetto nerd came to America at age 6 with his impoverished Dominican family, like so many others before them, yearning to taste the “American Dream.” The Ghetto nerd suffered the brutal jabs and blows of the “American reality” as his family faced one epic tragedy after another. The Ghetto nerd immersed himself in literature, inhaling popular culture like air, snorting fantasy and science fiction like cerebral cocaine, and drowning himself in the wondrous, exaggerated worlds of comic books. ... A month before winning the Pulitzer, I sat with Junot Diaz, the Ghetto Nerd himself, for a revealing and candid discussion about the devastating “curse” and emotional scars of a tyrannical dictatorship – in this case that of Dominican Republic’s horrific General Trujillo – on an immigrant, American family; the mainstream “whitewashing” of “brown” experiences; the power of popular culture and comics books to express one’s personal narrative; the arrogance of “Whiteness”; and the emergence of a multicultural voice reflecting an ethnic, “All American” America.

Goatmilk: REVENGE OF THE GHETTO NERD: Exclusive Interview with Pulitzer Winning Author Junot Diaz by Wajahat Ali

the dark knight: the rise of "the real" obama

Goatmilk: THE DARK KNIGHT: The Rise of “The Real” Obama

an open letter to certain white women who are threatening to withhold support from obama in november



This is an open letter to those white women who, despite their proclamations of progressivism, and supposedly because of their commitment to feminism, are threatening to withhold support from Barack Obama in November. You know who you are.

Your Whiteness is Showing by Tim Wise

goatmilk: an interview with noam chomsky by wajahat ali

CHOMSKY SPEAKS: An Interview with Noam Chomsky by Wajahat Ali on Vietnam, Iraq, the War on Terror and the limits of dissent.

goatmilk: rumi and sufism

I've linked to Wajahat Ali's blog before but I haven't checked him out in a while. It turns out I've missed a lot of good stuff. Here is an interview between Wajahat Ali and Islamic scholar Seyyid Hossein Nasr (who is also part of the Perennialist tradition we've discussed before here on Planet Grenada).

RUMI AND SUFISM: Examining Islam’s Spiritual Science in the Modern Age

the writings of yusef lateef

Blatantly stolen from Marc Manley over at The Manrilla Blog:

"From a small, self-published book entitled Something Else, jazz legend Yusef Lateef published an engaging book back in 1973. Yusef, who is known as a master multi-instrumentalist, is also a gifted writer, producing everything from short plays, essays, and poetry [as in this installment]. I have been putting segments of the book up on line. Here's the newest addition for your reading pleasure: http://www.manrilla.net/blog/reflections/

For more of Something Else, just visit the Blog and see the links under "Reads" on the right-hand side.

Enjoy"

Dr. Hip Slick: On Hipness
Ode To Pieter Bruegel
Reflections
Spiritual Aspects of Creating Music
The Constitution of Aesthetics, The Declaration of Genius and The Aesthetic Address
The Garments
The Outgame

Friday, June 13, 2008

the roots: the spark



I actually wanted to include a clip of this song back when I wrote the post: o son of being / the spark but did not find one until now. I've recently been thinking about the relationship between Islam and hip-hop and so The Roots came to mind again (Malik B is Sunni and Black Thought is/has been a Five Percenter). Also, in spite of what I said in my mayda del valle post I went ahead and got The Best of the Roots album a few days ago (along with Game Theory and Rising Down)

see also: an old list of rappers and their religion

Monday, June 09, 2008

political bits

1. I really like this image but was a bit surprised by how the mainstream networks were covering it. They were like "what is this mysterious gesture?". It is just another reminder of how "white" the mainstream press is in its perspective. It also an example of how Obama's candidacy (and hopefully his presidency) has the opportunity of being a sort of national teach-in on race relations; first by offering a peek into the Black church, and now introducing white people to African-American greeting practices.


Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, share a victory "dap" during an election night rally in St. Paul, MN

2. I'm not sure who Obama should pick as his running mate but I've been interested in Senator Jim Webb of Virginia ever since I'd caught part of an interview with him on NPR. He's a Vietnam veteran and an ex-Republican who today is highly critical of George W. Bush and the current Iraq War.

NPR: Senator Jim Webb, Choosing His Battles

3. I never cease to be amazed by the number of third-party candidates who run for president in each election in relative anonymity. Of course you have the Greens and the Libertarians, but there are also at least three different kinds of "socialist" parties (four if you count the Nazi party), you have the Fascist party, the Prohibition Party, the Constitution Party and even the Vampire, Witches and Pagan Party which are all putting up candidates. Some of these candidates seem to be running more as a joke or as a publicity stunt and others are "serious" but are obviously long-shots while many seem to lie somewhere in between.

4. A couple of the third-party presidential candidates are former elected officials who "defected" from the major parties. One is former Republican Congressman, Bob Barr who is running as the Libertarian Party candidate this year. One can only hope that he can serve as a spoiler for McCain in this election.

5. On the scary side, I recently found out that former Democratic member of Congress Rep. Cynthia McKinney is running for president on the Green Party ticket. I say scary because I think McKinney is likely to be a "spoiler". Some of the angry/ disappointed/ disgruntled Clinton supporters have already expressed their willingness to vote for McCain. But now McKinney offers yet another (arguably more attractive) option for liberals who don't want to vote for Obama. Given the tensions which currently exist in the Democratic party between Clinton supporters and Obama supporters, I think that there is a non-trivial mass of people who might be willing to make such a protest vote.

6. Now that I think about it, if Hillary had won her argument to the superdelegates, and they overruled the will of the non-superdelegates who went for Obama, I would have given serious thought to voting for McKinney myself.

7. By the way, times like these are why I wish we had proportional representation in the US so that genuine multi-party system could arise.

Friday, June 06, 2008

rise of the latin africans

hat tip to Tariq Nelson:

The Newsweek article, Rise Of The Latin Africans: A new black-power movement in Central and South America gives a quick overview of how different communities of people of African descent in Latin America are acting to improve their lot in Honduras, Ecuador and especially Colombia:

The epicenter of the new black activism [...] is Colombia. That's due as much to circumstance as design: more than a third of the 3.2 million Colombians uprooted by the country's long-running civil war are of African ancestry, as are many of the ragged street vendors and beggars who approach motorists at busy Bogotá intersections. Foreign and local NGOs are now working hard to publicize their plight. Though a landmark 1993 law enshrined the right of Afro-Colombians to obtain formal title to their ancestral lands, including 5 million hectares along the Pacific coast—a unique experiment in ethnic self-government—implementation has lagged, as unscrupulous agribusinesses and paramilitary warlords have seized communal property with near impunity. But recently, as part of its ongoing effort to win U.S. approval for a free-trade agreement, the government of President Alvaro Uribe has begun to expel these companies and restore 8,000 hectares of stolen land to Afro-Colombian community councils.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

more felipe luciano

We've posted some of Felipe Luciano's poetry before. Here is a second helping.



thoughts on obama's resignation from trinity united church of christ

So Obama finally resigned his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ. The whole situation is weird and sad on all kinds of levels.

One of the weird aspects is that the straw that broke the camel's back on this issue was a recent sermon last Sunday by the Catholic priest, Rev. Dr. Michael Pfleger but obviously Obama isn't even Catholic.



Also weird is the way that Pfleger's comments are being characterized. As "hateful"? As a rant? As "racist"? Admittedly, he was a bit harsh on Hillary but I would say that occasionally that being harsh on politicians in certainly part of the role of being a "prophetic" preacher. Pfleger's sermon also wasn't a "rant". It was definitely a rhetorically effective performance intended to satirize Hillary Clinton. But it certainly wasn't wild and irrational. By implication, Pfleger was simply making the point that some of the actions and reactions of Hillary Clinton and some of her supporters are motivated by a sense of racial entitlement. That's a perfectly reasonable and coherent claim and it is worth being discussed. It is either true or not true. Especially bizarre is the claim that the sermon was racist?!?!

The sad part of all this is the extent to which liberation theology is being demonized by the media and is being excluded from the political discourse. More generally, it is sad that the media and the political process can have as much influence as they on a person's religious declarations.

Monday, June 02, 2008

ken wilber

So I'm in the middle of reading The Essential Ken Wilber: An Introductory Reader. Wilber's an interesting guy. He's a perennialist in the sense that he attempts to bring together a number of different religious, mystical and psychological systems into a single integrated structure. He seems most familiar with Buddhism and Hinduism and doesn't really do much to actively incorporate Islam into his work. But the brother over at Inspirations and Creative Thoughts has a couple of interesting posts which emphasize some of those connections anyway.

Inspirations and Creative Thoughts: Integral mysticism in the postmodern world | Integral Spirituality and also I AMness | Integral vision of Ken Wilber and Sufism

See also:
Integral Naked on YouTube

Planet Grenada:
more on perennialism
perennialism and traditionalism

"well, i'm not gonna take the white house in 2008 on just my sparkling wit and funding from hostile governments."

I've mentioned the television show Angel and the fictional evil secret-society The Circle of the Black Thorn in a previous post. (see circle of the black thorn.) The only bit I wanted to talk about was how the last season started to get much more explicitly political. For example, from the season's very first episode there is a scene where the main characers are going through the files of Wolfram & Hart, an evil demon-owned LA legal firm:
ANGEL
This is unbelievable.
FRED
I think I've lost my appetite, which is kind of a first.
LORNE
(reading a file)
Hmm, well, this is interesting. Apparently old Joe Kennedy tried to get out of his deal with the firm.
ANGEL
That explains a lot.
LORNE
Yeah, but George, Senior - he read the fine print. There's no one these guys don't have a piece of.

Then towards the end of the season they introduced a Hillary Clinton stand-in, the character of Helen Brucker, a female Senator who is planning to win the presidency in 2008 with the help of Wolfram & Hart:
SENATOR
It's nice to see you again so soon, Angel.
ANGEL (upon finding out that Senator Brucker was a member of the Circle of the Black Thorn)
Senator. I had no idea you were so well...connected.
SENATOR
Well, I'm not gonna take the White House in 2008 on just my sparkling wit and funding from hostile governments.
(chuckles)

Angel being a supernatural drama, the Senator actually isn't really human, but instead is some kind of demonic hellspawn who has managed to occupy a human body. Another interesting bit about this (which really wasn't on my mind when thse episodes first aired in 2004) is the fact that, in the series finale, Senator Brucker is killed with an axe to the head by Charles Gunn, the main Black character of the show. This all aired well before Obama declared his intentions to run for President to run so it is unlikely that Gunn is meant to be an Obama stand-in.

This has all been on my mind because "Power Play", the episode which introduced the Senator's character aired this past Friday morning, and the series finale "Not Fade Away" just aired this Monday morning.

Transcripts:
Power Play
Not Fade Away

Sunday, June 01, 2008

television, the drug of the nation

I've been listening to this song lately in my car and I thought I'd share. The song is "Television, the drug of the nation" by the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy which lead vocals by Michael Franti. The song goes back at least to the early 90's but the lyrics are still pretty timely.

T.V. is the stomping ground
for political candidates
where bears in the woods
are chased by grecian formula'd bald eagles
...
where image takes precedence over wisdom
where sound bite politics are served
to the fastfood culture
where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words
that come out of it
race baiting is the way to get elected
Willie Horton or will he not get elected on...

Televison, the drug of the nation


Tuesday, May 27, 2008

thoughts on mccain's disavowal of the pastors

Thoughts on McCain's recent disavowal of John Hagee and Rod Parsley, the pastors whose endorsement he sought:

1. To begin with, it was pretty cynical of him to seek the endorsements in the first place. He was basically trying to shore up his relationship to the evangelical base of the Republican party, especially in swing states. (Parsley is in Ohio).

2. Even with a bad vetting job, I don't believe the McCain camp would have been totally ignorant of Hagee and Parsley's bigoted comments about Muslims and Catholics. (Which as I've said before are more "mainstream" than the media seems to be acknowledging. In fact, the extent of religious bigotry in the evangelical community should be a story, even apart from the campaign).

3. It is conceivable to me that the McCain camp perhaps missed Hagee's comment that Katrina was sent as a punishment for a planned New Orleans gay pride event but they definitely had to know that Hagee and Parsley would have strong statements against homosexual behavior.

4. Finally, I think McCain's decision to ultimately disavow the pastors was calculated and cynical as well. McCain was fine with bigotry against Muslims, Catholics and homosexuals. But once it is discovered that Hagee made an odd comment involving Hitler (suggesting that Hitler was God's instrument to ultimately herd the Jews to Israel) it was time to pull out for fear of alienating Jews. The "funny" thing is that as a Christian Zionist, Hagee is actually a staunch supporter of the state of Israel and has even won a number of humanitarian awards from a number of Jewish organizations.

5. In the long run, I wonder if this whole episode has alienated McCain even more from the evangelical base? One can only hope.


Slate: The Devil's in the Details: Why John Hagee's views on the Holocaust aren't the only reason for McCain to reject him
AP: Pastor says parting with McCain best for both

Grenada's past;
more on mccain's racially problematic politics
mccain, racism and religious bigotry
mccain - romney ?
mccain's spiritual advisor hates muslims and islam
should john mccain reject and denounce minister john hagee?
john mccain: "i hated the gooks. i will hate them as long as i live."

Saturday, May 24, 2008

how to write a political poem aka "somewhere in flordia votes are still being counted"

The following poem has been heavily anthologized. (I actually own at least 3 different poetry/spoken word CDs and a DVD where it appears). It was on my mind recently because I had been listening to some of the above-mentioned CDs in my car this week. And I decided to do an entry about it because it started to resonate with some other things going on these days.

For example, it is nearly 8 years after the 2000 U.S. Presidential election and people are still talking about counting votes in Florida. Also, I'm in the middle of reading Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren't Fair (And What We Can Do About it) by William Poundstone and I was a bit surprised by Darth Vaderish description of Nader's intentions in 2000 (that he consciously took on the spoiler role as a way to punish the Clinton-Gore administration for not paying any attention to him during their 8 years in office). Finally, I also think that Taylor Mali's cynicism about political poetry definitely applies to much of the political rhetoric coming from the presidential candidates these days... but more on that later...





How to Write a Political Poem
By Taylor Mali

However it begins, it's gotta be loud
and then it's gotta get a little bit louder.
Because this is how you write a political poem
and how you deliver it with power.

Mix current events with platitudes of empowerment.
Wrap up in rhyme or rhyme it up in rap until it sounds true.

Glare until it sinks in.

Because somewhere in Florida, votes are still being counted.
I said somewhere in Florida, votes are still being counted!

See, that's the Hook, and you gotta' have a Hook.
More than the look, it's the hook that is the most important part.
The hook has to hit and the hook's gotta fit.
Hook's gotta hit hard in the heart.

Because somewhere in Florida, votes are still being counted.

And Dick Cheney is peeing all over himself in spasmodic delight.
Make fun of politicians, it's easy, especially with Republicans
like Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell, and . . . Al Gore.
Oooooh, see what I did? I called Al Gore a Republican.
That must mean that my political sensibilities are much more finely tuned than yours.
Create fatuous juxtapositions of personalities and political philosophies
as if communism were the opposite of democracy,
as if we needed Darth Vader, not Ralph Nader.

Peep this: When I say "Call,"
you all say, "Response."

Call! Response! Call! Response! Call!

Amazing Grace, how sweet the—

Stop in the middle of a song that everyone knows and loves.
This will give your poem a sense of urgency.
Because there is always a sense of urgency in a political poem.
There is no time to waste!
Corruption doesn't have a curfew,
greed doesn't care what color you are
and the New York City Police Department
is filled with police officers!
People who wear guns on their hips
and carry metal badges pinned over their hearts.
Injustice isn't injustice it's just in us as we are just in ice.
That's the only alienation of this alien nation
in which you either fight for freedom
or else you are free and dumb!

And even as I say this somewhere in Florida, votes are still being counted.

And it makes me wanna beat box!

Because I have seen the disintegration of gentrification
and can speak with great articulation
about cosmic constellations, and atomic radiation.
I've seen D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation
but preferred 101 Dalmatians.
Like a cross examination, I will give you the explanation
of why SlamNation is the ultimate manifestation
of poetic masturbation and egotistical ejaculation.

And maybe they are still counting votes somewhere in Florida,
but by the time you get to the end of the poem it won't matter anymore.

Because all you have to do to end a political poem is close your eyes,
lower your voice, and say:

the same line three times,
the same line three times,
the same line three times.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

obama and different religious communities

On religion factor, it's Obama for president by Douglas Todd

Let's cut to the almost-inevitable chase: How will Barack Obama do against John McCain in this fall's rumble for the U.S. presidency? With signs showing Hilary Clinton will have to drop out of the race, we're going to be left to determine whether the 46-year-old black Democrat or 71-year-old white Republican will climb into the powerful office. And that requires looking at the religion factor.

In American politics, which hugely affects Canada and the globe, religious loyalties deeply shape voters' preferences. But November will see a volatile election as things are changing dramatically on the U.S. religious front. The main reason is the country's large white evangelical bloc, worth more than one out of every four votes, won't be the all-important factor it was in bringing George W. Bush to power in 2000 and 2004.

If you harbour any doubts about how big a role religion plays in American politics, look at the blanket media coverage early this month of Obama's relationship to his boisterous former Chicago preacher, Jeremiah Wright.

For his part, McCain also has links with radical Christian leaders, even though they've not received the same level of attention. Still, McCain's opponents repeatedly question how the Arizona senator could embrace preacher John Hagee, who has denounced Catholicism as the "Great Whore" and believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment on "sinful" New Orleans. The latest polls show, overall, Obama holding onto about 47 per cent of Americans' support, compared to McCain's 43 per cent. Given that, let's break down how religious groups in the U.S. might lean come the fall ballot.

JEWS
American Jews generally lean to Democrats over Republicans. A Gallup poll showed Jews would vote for Obama over McCain by a margin of 61 per cent to 32 per cent. The trouble for Obama is Jews count for only one out of every 58 American voters.

MUSLIMS
The Muslim vote also goes strongly to Obama. Muslim leaders are actively questioning McCain's ties with Muslim-bashing Protestant preachers. However, Muslims make up only one out of every 166 Americans.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN PROTESTANTS
These black Chrisians account for a significant seven per cent of Americans. They're a slam dunk for Obama. Polls show nine out of 10 will vote for their Harvard-educated Christian brother, a member of the United Church of Christ denomination.

THE NON-RELIGIOUS
Most Americans who say they're non-religious (16 per cent) strongly favour Obama over McCain.

WHITE EVANGELICALS
Eight years of Bush in the White House have changed the political shape of American evangelicalism. Many evangelicals are no longer making opposition to abortion and gay marriage their prime issues. Some Christian leaders are calling for evangelicals to stop being "useful fools" who blindly follow the Republican party no matter what. George Barna, a respected evangelical pollster, says white evangelical support for the Republican party is down to 29 per cent, a calamitous decline.

McCain, an Episcopalian who attends his wife's Baptist church, also has to deal with not being the first choice of the Religious Right, which had wanted Mike Huckabee. Aware of his lack of credibility among these hawks, McCain had argued the U.S. military needs to stay in Iraq for a century (a position he softened Thursday, May 15, 2008) and he's been singing the praises of some hard-line televangelists.

Meanwhile, even though Obama is pro-choice on abortion and homosexual rights and says the U.S. must get out of Iraq, many born-again Christians like him anyway, for talking passionately about the redemptive power Christ has had in his life. An informal poll by the leading evangelical youth magazine, Relevant, found evangelicals in their 20s would overwhelmingly vote for the black senator.

ROMAN CATHOLICS
Catholics are key because they make up the swing vote in U.S. elections. Comprising 24 per cent of Americans, Catholics have for the past nine elections consistently backed the winning horse for president. Though public polls have not yet directly compared how McCain and Obama would do among Catholics, McCain will likely be in trouble among them for embracing the combative Protestant Hagee, who took until May 13 to apologize for branding Catholicism a "cult."

There is little doubt events beyond religion will stir up voters before the November election, particularly if a conflict arises with Iran. But barring an earth-shattering political event, I'd place my bets, given religion-rooted trends, on Obama for president.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

rap the casbah


"Born Here" - DAM


“Min Irhabi?” (“Who’s a Terrorist?”) - DAM



In These Times: Rap the Casbah by Michelle Chen
For more than a generation, hip-hop has drawn kids from neighborhoods around the world into the musical intersection of street culture and political consciousness. Now that common ground is making a mark in one of the globe’s most conflict-ridden areas: the Arab world.

(global) southern girl
verily, there is only one hip-hop umma
representin' the west (bank)
hisham aidi
daara j brings rap back to its african roots
al-ahram does a story on muslim hip-hop
more on muslims and hip-hop
afro-asian crosscurrents in contemporary hip-hop

even more assorted bits

1. Is it just me or are the more black "talking heads" on the television news shows? And what is even better is the fact that they aren't just race experts but they are talking about the economy, the war, etc.

2. What is more elitist than being willing and able to whip out 6 million dollars of your own money in an attempt to acquire more political power even when the popular will seems to be against you?

3. I was fortunate enough to see MSNBC's Chris Matthews give a verbal smackdown to Kevin James on live television. It is sad to think that the people in the media responsible for informing the public could be so misinformed themselves. I think that part of the issue is that much of the news is just political propaganda read by "pretty faces" (see "i'm as mad as hell, and i'm not going to take it anymore") and so research is less important.

4. In a similar vein, I was surprised to see some clips recently where Fox's O'Reilly reveals how mean-spirited he can be. The following exchange with Geraldo Rivera makes O'Reilly look like the last juror to switch sides in 12 Angry Men:


and then in the following O'Reilly just shows himself to be short-tempered and crazy:


5. John Hagee really isn't all that unique. Anti-Catholic and anti-Islamic ideas are more prevalent among Evangelicals than is generally acknowledged by the media. I mean, I grew up going to church which taught from the pulpit that Catholics weren't really Christian. I think such sentiments are widespread. I'm not saying that we are anywhere close, but I wonder what kind of pressures, what kind of change in the political and economic situation, how much of a loss of social order and restraint would be necessary for the US to sink to the kind of sectarian violence which has appeared in Pakistan or Iraq (or Northern Ireland for that matter)?

Saturday, May 17, 2008

walterio carbonell (1920-2008)

From The Passing of a Black Giant in Cuba: A Tribute to Walterio Carbonell by Carlos Moore:
Widely regarded as the father of a Black Consciousness movement in Cuba, the Cuban ethnologist and historian, Walterio Carbonell, died on Sunday, April 13, 2008, at the age of 88. For Cuba, whose Black population now comprises 62 percent of the total, it is a great loss. Carbonell was regarded as one of the most profound Cuban intellectuals for the latter half of the 20th century. His work, On the Origin of National Culture, published in Havana in 1961 but immediately banned by the Castro regime, made him an instant icon to Black Cuban racial dissidents. The book was published in France only a few weeks ago.

See also AfroCubaWeb: Walterio Carbonell passed on to the ancestors Sunday, 4/13/08

Thursday, May 15, 2008

juan crow in georgia

The Black Commentator: Juan Crow in Georgia by Roberto Lovato
Latinos’ subordinate status in Georgia and in the Deep South bears more than a passing resemblance to that of African-Americans who were living under Jim Crow. Call it Juan Crow: the matrix of laws, social customs, economic institutions and symbolic systems enabling the physical and psychic isolation needed to control and exploit undocumented immigrants. Listening to the effects of Juan Crow on immigrants and citizens like Mancha (”I can’t sleep sometimes because of nightmares,” she says. “My arms still twitch. I see ICE agents and men in uniform, and it still scares me”) reminds me of the trauma I heard among the men, women and children controlled and exploited by state violence in wartime El Salvador. Juan Crow has roots in the US South, but it stirs traumas bred in the hemispheric South.

why is america in iraq? aka what if noam chomsky were a latino stand-up comedian?

I normally have trouble swallowing Carlos Mencia's unapologetically jingoistic brand of comedy so I was really surprised by the following excerpt from one of his shows:

rev. 'icarus', the obama campaign, & the left

The Black Commentator: Rev. ‘Icarus’, the Obama Campaign, & the Left by Bill Fletcher, Jr. gives some insight into what Rev. Wright's real crime was and why certain folks got so mad.

Monday, May 12, 2008

more assorted bits

1. I think it is not just surprising but sad that out of all the members of Public Enemy, Flavor Flav seems to be the most successful and the one who is still in the public eye in a big way... from the Surreal Life, to Strange Love, to 3 seasons of Flavor of Love and a Comedy Central Roast, to a new sitcom. Why can't Chuck D get that much exposure? I would love to see Chuck D replace Colmes on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes, for instance. The situation isn't all bad. Chuck D is actually still doing alot of positive projects, he's just not as visible as before.

2. I realized that the Rumi poetry event I went to the other day had the highest concentration of white people of almost any event I've been to since moving to Miami.

3. I don't think I'm going to come up with anything deep or new on this issue, but I'll just say that the doctrine of Quranic abbrogation has often stuck me as odd. It is bizzare to think that there are verses in the Quran which are meant to be read, studied and recited for the past 1400 years, from the time they were revealed to now, and from now until Judgement Day, but they are only legally valid for a period of 20 years or so. Maybe more on this later.

4. I recently picked up the book Jesus for President: politics for ordinary radicals by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. It is a pretty good read so far. The authors seem to be advocating a kind of hippie liberation theology. The book takes many of its visual cues from the 'zines while the text highlights many of the ways in which the Jewish and Christian writings take a critical stance towards conventional secular ideals of kingdom and empire.

5. I just went to a Borders and discovered a new Boondocks book which I hadn't known about before: All the Rage: The Boondocks Past and Present (nice).

See also:
second things second
"armageddon has been in effect... go get a late pass!" (part one)
what has hip-hop really done for racism?
Sunni Forum: Hanafi Doctrine of Naskh (Abrogation)
www.jesusforpresident.org

Sunday, May 11, 2008

chicago mayor richard daley on obama - ayers

There are a lot of reasons that Americans are angry about Washington politics. And one more example is the way Senator Obama's opponents are playing guilt-by-association, tarring him because he happens to know Bill Ayers.

I also know Bill Ayers. He worked with me in shaping our now nationally-renowned school reform program. He is a nationally-recognized distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois/Chicago and a valued member of the Chicago community.

I don't condone what he did 40 years ago but I remember that period well. It was a difficult time, but those days are long over. I believe we have too many challenges in Chicago and our country to keep re-fighting 40 year old battles.

assorted bits

I feel like quickly sharing a couple of quick items which have been on my mind rather than doing extended blogging on any one of them.

1. I don't think any reasonable person believes for a second that Obama believes that the U.S. government invented HIV/AIDS in a laboratory so why would it even matter if his ex-pastor believes it?

2. Similarly, Obama clearly doesn't believe that bombing government buildings is an acceptable way to change government policy and the Weatherman were from over 40 years ago so why is Ayers an issue today?

3. Maybe its just me, but on my planet Hillary Clinton's comment that "Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again" is orders of magnitude more offensive than the "bitter" comment and may even be the biggest gaffe made by a candidate in the election so far.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3455/1860/1600/pitchblack.jpg

4. I recently bought the Pitch Black trilogy on DVD (see islamo-futurism?) Other than the Dune books, it is the only non-trivial portrayal of Muslims in the future of which I'm aware. Also Vin Diesel is kind of badass. InshaAllah, I'll start watching the first one this Sunday afternoon.

5. Finally, check out Third Resurrection. I updated it yesterday. Recently I've only been able to add entries in spurts. It was gratifying to see that Blackamerican Muslim bloggers are talking about issues related to "Third Resurrection" (in the loose sense of the blog). But I do kind of wish that members would add posts on their own (hint, hint) Still, I'm glad that the bloggers out there are dealing with serious , meaningful topics.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

the philosophy of ahmed abdul-malik

From The Manrilla Blog:

The following is an article about the Sudanese bassist and composer, Ahmed Abdul-Malik, that was originally published in Down Beat Magazine, July 4th, 1963. The article was written by Bill Coss. Beyond an excellent insight into the workings of a master musician, Abdul-Malik ties the thread between knowing the Creator and knowing one’s world. Given Modernity’s fractured vision on the relation of things, Abdul-Malik’s words are erudite and moving. He was also a stellar musician of world-class calibre. Hat tip to Doug Benson for the resource. May Allah have mercy on his soul.

In some degree, all music is about something. But what it is about, its contents, differs widely and generally determines its essential worth.

For composer Ahmed Abdul-Malik the content encompasses all the sciences. particularly the sociological, ethnic, and theological. The easiest thing to say would be that Abdul-Malik is different from most jazz musicians, and both his brief biography and the development of his thought immediately show that difference, while at the same time serving as a primer for youngsters who might aspire to be what Abdul-Malik considers the complete musician.

All his conscious development has come from religious convictions. “People think I am too far out with religion,’ he said. “But it is so necessary to know the Creator, to know the rules of being - what it means - to know the commandments, to know you are commanded to use your intellect and will… That allows you to advance in all subjects. How else can you know about life? And music is life. (read whole article at The Manrilla blog)

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

memin pinguin: the structural violence of an image



Here is an interesting short film which connects the Memin Penguin controversy to the larger context of the history of people of African descent in Mexico.

the mexican stamp controversy
understanding pickaninnies and improving the race
memin pinguin pulled
duh! there are black mexicans
ending poem

no le pegue a la negra (rebelion)

At first I was going to argue that Joe Arroyo's Salsa classic, No le pegue a la negra, was too understated in terms of criticizing racism (along the lines of Ismael Rivera's Negro Bembon). But then as I started to get this blog entry together I changed my mind and decided that it has more of an "edge" to it, but it still isn't at the level of I Shot the Sheriff.
Quiero cantarle mi hermano un pedazito de la historia negra, de la historia nuestra caballero y dice asi: En los anos 1600 Cuando el tirano mando Las calles de Cartagena Aquella historia vivio Cuando aqui Llegaban esos negreros Africanos en cadenas Besaban mi tierra Esclavitud perpetua (coro) Esclavitud perpetua Esclavitud perpetua Que lo diga Salome Ucatele Eh. Chango, Chango, Chango, Chango. Un matrinomio africano Esclavos de un espanol El les daba muy mal trato Y a su negra le pego Y fue alli Se revelo el Negro guapo Tomo venganza por su amor Y aun se escucha en la verja No le pegue a mi negra (coro) No le pegue a la negra No le pegue a la negra etc.
see also: negro bembon mami el negro esta rabioso (el africano)

how jesus became christian

I recently finished reading How Jesus Became Christian by Barrie Wilson, Ph.D. The book wasn't half-bad but to be honest, I really wasn't impressed. The book was a bit repetitive. And even though I agreed with many of its claims, I didn't find the book very compelling and wished that Wilson gave a stronger argument. For a more detailed and thorough study of some of this material I would recommend Robert H. Eisenman's James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls or the writings of Geza Vermes

The central point of How Jesus Became Christian is the "radical" idea that Jesus (as) was Jewish. He was circumcised. He kept kosher. He observed the Sabbath and celebrated Passover. Basically, he was a Jewish rabbi who kept the Torah and taught his followers to do likewise. He had no intention of founding a new religion but was merely promoting a new understanding of the Torah among Jews.

If we accept the above, then that suggests that the Jewish Christian groups like the Ebionites, Nazarenes, 0r the Jerusalem Church led by James, the brother of Jesus are more faithful representatives of Jesus' teaching than the Pauline Christians which eventually became dominant. Another way to frame this is to say that, in certain respects, the more faithful followers of Jesus had more in common with modern-day Muslims than modern-day Christians.

Wilson then goes on to argue that Paul's version of Christianity was better able grow and survive because of its similarities it shared with the mystery religions which were then popular in the Hellenized ancient world.

If you've never heard any of this before, you might find this book illuminating. But if you have heard this before, I'd definitely recommend some of the more in-depth books out there instead.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

buddhist sufi

The Buddhist Sufi

Last night my soul ask a question of existence.
Why are you upside down with flames in your belly?
Happy, unhappy, indigo-orange like the sky?

Why are you an off-balance wobbling millstone,
like the Buddhist Sufi Ibrahim Balkhi?
who was king, beggar, buddha, and dervish?

Existence answers, All this was made
by the one who hides inside you.

You are like a beautiful new bride,
quick to anger, stubborn,
hot, naked, but still veiled.
~Rumi




When I went to the Rumi event this past Friday, I actually met an Afro-Latino "Buddhist Sufi" (or to be more precise, he described himself as a bee who takes from more than one flower). He reminded me of the Zensunnis from the Dune novels. In fact, just last week I was thinking about them and asking myself how tennable that particular form of syncretism would be.

Dune Quotes
guess who's coming to dharma
religion in science fiction

drugs, inner cities and the us government

I think that some folks have a hard time believing in conspiracy theories because they tend to imagine them only in their most cartoonish versions. As if one morning they had a CIA staff meeting and some guy writes up on a dry-erase board:
Agenda
Brainstorm: How to keep the Black man down
Idea #1 Introduce drugs into the inner-city
Idea #2 Invent AIDS
Idea #3 Kill Biggie
Idea #4 Kill Tupac (for real this time)
Idea #5 Put Jar-Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace

The real conspiracies tend to be a bit more complex than that. Ronald Reagan wanted to fight Communism in Latin America, especially Nicaragua, so he gives support to the Contras. In 1982 the Boland amendment is passed by the US Congress which makes it illegal to give military aid to the Contras. So if you are a staunch anti-Communist and still want to give funds to the Contras, then that leaves illegal means of support. A quick and effective way to do that (especially if you have the power to tell the drug enforcement bodies to look the other way) is to sell drugs. And if you are a staunch anti-Communist then the benefits of overthrowing the Sandinistas will outweigh the negative blowback (which will mostly blow back onto Blacks anyway). And so it goes...



Salon: How John Kerry exposed the Contra-cocaine scandal

hiv/aids and the us government

So let me be clear... Do I believe that the U.S. government invented HIV/AIDS in a laboratory in order to commit genocide against Black people? Nope. I haven't seen the evidence to support it. But I also don't think the theory is so implausible that anyone advocating it should considered a pariah in terms of the political conversation in the US. Here are a couple of items to consider:

1. The Tuskegee Experiment (aka Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male). For a period of 40 years, a group of 600 Black sharecroppers were systematically lied to by the government as a part of an unethical study . 201 were lucky enough to be in the control group. The other 399 had syphilis, but received no medical treatment for the disease. Instead, the subjects were told they had something called "bad blood" and that for participating in the study they could get free medical care, occasional meals, and money for a burial if they died during the course of the study.

As far as I know, the subjects weren't directly infected with syphilis, but in the course of the study 40 spouses became infected and 19 children were born with congenital syphilis. I'd read about the Tuskegee experiment many years ago, but after reviewing the event (in the wake of the whole Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy) I was struck by the length of the study and the extent to which the doctors (people who presumably had to take the Hippocratic oath) chose to actively deceive the sharecroppers throughout to keep it going. I was also surprised to learn that even during the last few years of the study when some of the ethical criticisms were becoming more vocal, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) wanted to keep the experiment going until the bitter end (i.e. the death of all of the subjects.)

So the fact that government-funded doctors would be willing to engage in such a sustained exercise in unethical, immoral and dishonest behavior certainly lends a certain amount of credibility to the HIV/AIDS conspiracy theory.

2. But what would the motivation be? Hat-tip to Sondjata at Garvey's Ghost for pointing me to this.

In Henry Kissinger's report "Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for US Security & Overseas Interests," written for The White House National Security Council in December 10, 1974, Kissinger writes:
"Depopulation should be the highest priority of US foreign policy towards the Third World. Reduction of the rate of population in these states is a matter of vital US national security. The US economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less-developed countries. That fact gives the US enhanced interests in the political, economic and social stability of the supplying countries. Wherever a lessening of population can increase the prospects for such stability, population policy becomes relevant to resources, supplies and the economic interest of the United States."

In fact, even if we reject the claim that HIV is man-made, if Kissinger's words are taken to heart we could ask what role this "highest priority of US foreign policy towards the Third World" plays in shaping the US response to HIV in Africa. More generally we could also start to examine US actions in other global hot spots and view them in the light of Kissinger's concern.

3. Another little known fact is that a small segment of the human population possess genetic attributes which provide a certain amount of resistance to HIV. Some individuals seem to have the ability to be exposed to the virus over and over again without getting infected.

The interesting bit is that the most powerful forms of genetic resistance are almost exclusively found in European populations.
An estimated 1 percent of people descended from Northern Europeans are virtually immune to AIDS infection, with Swedes the most likely to be protected. One theory suggests that the mutation developed in Scandinavia and moved southward with Viking raiders.

In other words, people of European descent will tend to have some genetic resistance to HIV while those of African descent will tend to have none. (A feature one would expect if HIV were designed to kill Black folks).

4. Chris Rock on AIDS




5, 6, ... So I'm going to stop here but I'll just quickly throw out that the US government still conducts biological weapons research and has been known to carry out an experiment or two on citizens without our consent. Furthermore, there have also been a number of recent ethical lapses in how drug companies conduct drug tests in Africa (a la The Constant Gardner) which definitely calls into question the extent to which it is possible for the medical establishment to show disregard for Black lives, especially when profits are at stake.

That's it for now... make up your own mind...draw your own conclusions...

NPR: Remembering the Tuskegee Experiment
Dallasnews.com: Obama pastor Jeremiah Wright's incendiary quotes illuminate chasm between races
Wired: Genetic HIV Resistance Deciphered
Garvey's Ghost: Did the Government Create HIV?
PLoS Biology: The Geographic Spread of the CCR5 Δ32 HIV-Resistance Allele
The Straight Dope: Is AIDS a man made disease?
The Nation: 'The Constant Gardener': What the Movie Missed

Saturday, May 03, 2008

children running through

I used to be shy
You made me sing.

I used to refuse things at the table.
Now I shout for more wine.

In somber dignity, I used to sit
on my mat and pray.

Now children run through
and make faces at me.

-Rumi






This weekend has been rather poetic so far. Today I went to a youth poetry workshop (I work with kids as a part of my job). And yesterday I went to the local Unity Church which had a modest Middle Eastern meal followed by a peformance of Rumi's poetry accompanied by drum, flute and harp. Let's see what tomorrow will be like.