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How My Barber Made Me Feel Like a Republican (Huffington Post)

This article was originally posted on Huffington Post where I am now a blogger!! Check out my profile page! I've had the same barber for about the same amount of time that Bush has been president, and like many Republicans, I am loyal despite numerous embarrassing moments and outright failures. I can't pinpoint why I've been so loyal. There's something about the person who's in charge of your hair that engenders a sense of trust, loyalty and guilt at the notion of going to someone else. I followed him when he left one shop to start his own. I've waited hours for his chair while other barbers were available. Once when my barber was out of town I did let another barber cut my hair, but I knew it couldn't last. I felt dirty. My guy has done a decent job, but not incredible. Mostly, he's just there. Like most cab drivers, he's always on his cell phone while operating his delicate machinery, leading me to question whether or not he even hears what I want done. I could say, "I want pink bunny rabbits carved into my temples" and he'd be like, "Uh huh" and leave me with a fade. Years ago, I asked him to trim my afro and even it up, and he took the damn thing off. I was so furious when I left, he later told me he was afraid I would come back and shoot him. Had I done so, I wouldn't be in the situation I'm in right now. I've been growing my hair out for the past year at least with just moderate trimming every few months. Yesterday, I realized i desperately needed to get my hair cut. It had grown beyond the cool-fro stage and was insisting on joining the Rastafarian Movement. I destroyed several picks in an attempt to tame it, but it chewed threw them like a bunker buster through an Iraqi pre-school. I told the barber, "I WANT TO KEEP THE AFRO, just take it down a bit, and make it even." I had worried that half off might even be too much. Thirty minutes later, I barely had any hair. He took off five-sixths of my fro! I left dissatisfied but committed to maintaining my cool. "This could be good," I told myself. "The scalp needs fresh air every few years." Just when I had convinced myself that it was going to be ok, it happened. I went to my office job, and the corporate people started complimenting me. "Hey Baratunde, that's a nice clean haircut." "Wow, it's like we got the old Baratunde back." "What's up, Tobey?" What a horrible setback! Getting stylistic approval from cubicle dwellers is unquestionably a sign of fashion failure. If Dick Cheney says you have a good heart, you are among the living dead. Then there are the people who realize that something tragic has happened and remind me of the incident, "Woah, man, what happened?" I don't want to talk about it. It gets me angry all over again, and I wonder why I went back to the barber in the first place. This must be what it's like to be a Republican. To remain unquestionably loyal in the face of miserable failure. Like the president, my barber pretended to listen, but went ahead and did whatever he had planned to do in the first place. It didn't matter that I told him to "KEEP THE AFRO." It didn't matter that we had been through this before. The difference between me and Republicans, however, is that I'm not going back for more. I'm looking for a new barber and, in the meantime, I'll be wearing a hat.

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Is (insert name here) a Racist?

(cross-posted to Jack & Jill Politics) RaceWire has the story of a white North Carolina mayor, his statement about black youth and the NAACP effort to get him to apologize (hopefully not to Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson). Here's what the man said:
Mayor Pat McCrory, who is white, said he was accurate when he wrote that “too many of our youth, primarily African American, are imitating and/or participating in a gangster type of dress, attitude, behavior and action.”
And the questions posed by the RaceWire folks:
First, do you agree with these comments? Second, are they racist? And if you think so, is it because whites who say things like this are reluctant to critize the "gangster behavior" of some white communities and institutions?
I'll take a crack at this, having no additional background on the situation. Do I agree with the comments? Yes, but there's more. The mayor has a point, but it falls well short of the complete truth. He would have done a better service had he said, "too many of the multi-billion dollar entertainment and marketing efforts of large corporations force a gangster type of dress, attitude, behavior and action upon our youth." I agree that too many of our young folks of color are caught up in these false images. I also agree that too many of our youth of any color are caught up in this. Our art form, hip hop, has become a highly profitable product in the hands of corporations who have skillfully, slyly and selectively sold back to us the most destructive images imaginable. They accentuate the negative and eliminate the positive. They set dysfunctional expectations in the minds of the wider community and ourselves of not just what it means to be black, but what it means to be. The answer is more complicated. Companies are responsible. Parents are responsible. A police force which assumes that a black kid is a criminal is responsible. Second, are they racist? And if you think so, is it because whites who say things like this are reluctant to critize the "gangster behavior" of some white communities and institutions? I'm loving the second part of this question. "Institutional white gangsterism" has a nice ring to it. The mayor could have made his same statement about "too many of our CEOs, primarily white" are engaging in gangster type behavior. After all, when a company gets reporters fired for publishing studies critical of its products, that's mad gangsta. Yet we don't roll into the headquarters of Monsanto on a regular basis Please throw down your responses in the comment section here or at the original RaceWire post, and see what folks are saying over there. Update @ 19:10: The first commenter on the post at RaceWire asks a good question in his response and followup on his own blog:
Black people, is it important whether or not this cat is racist? Or, is it more important to impact the racial-mindset behind his statements (i.e. his perception about Black youths and gangs)?
See the rest here, and again, toss up your responses.

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Let's Talk About the Monster's We're Creating

Cross-posted to Jack & Jill Politics Another day, another tragic story from this war on Iraq and this war on our own American child soldiers. From CNN, "All Iraqi men viewed as insurgents"
A corporal testifying in a court-martial said Marines in his unit began routinely beating Iraqis after officers ordered them to "crank up the violence level." Cpl. Saul H. Lopezromo testified Saturday at the murder trial of Cpl. Trent D. Thomas. "We were told to crank up the violence level," said Lopezromo, testifying for the defense. When a juror asked for further explanation, Lopezromo said: "We beat people, sir."
Trent Thomas is black, BTW. It gets worse. When this unit was hunting for an insurgent, here's what went down:
Unable to find him, the Marines and corpsman dragged another man from his house, fatally shot him, and then planted an AK-47 assault rifle near the body to make it appear he had been killed in a shootout, according to court testimony. <snip> Lopezromo, who was not part of the squad on its late-night mission, said he saw nothing wrong with what Thomas did. "I don't see it as an execution, sir," he told the judge. "I see it as killing the enemy." He said Marines consider all Iraqi men part of the insurgency.
This is a frighteningly familiar and popular refrain issued by every oppressive power that ever was. All Palestinian boys are terrorists, right? All African-American boys are gang members, right? Let's continue with the carnage:
Lopezromo said a procedure called "dead-checking" was routine. If Marines entered a house where a man was wounded, instead of checking to see whether he needed medical aid, they shot him to make sure he was dead, he testified. "If somebody is worth shooting once, they're worth shooting twice," he said.
Our soldiers, many of whom are barely of legal drinking age, are not monsters by nature, but war does this to people, and we always either forget or don't care. The trauma inflected by and on these young people doesn't end when they leave Iraq, and it doesn't stop with their own families. Our neighborhoods and streets will soon be flooded with highly trained killers who say things like "if somebody is worth shooting once, they're worth shooting twice." We're building the foundation of domestic terrorism every day. It's time to end this thing.

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The end of the oldest Black-owned store on Harlem's 125th Street?

photo by Orhan* via Flickr From metafilter this morning:
Harlem's commercial and cultural backbone, 125th Street, has been gentrifying fast; many of its Black-owned businesses have been forced out by high rents and replaced by branches of white-owned national chain stores. The street's best-known cultural centers remain (notably the Apollo Theater and the Studio Museum in Harlem), but now, its oldest surviving Black-owned store, The Record Shack, is facing eviction. Owner Shikulu Shange, along with other Harlem residents, will lead a town meeting next week to discuss strategies for keeping Black economic development alive in Harlem and in NYC (as of the 2000 U.S. Census, NYC's five boroughs were home to more than 98,000 of about 129,000 Black-owned businesses in all of New York State).
In almost every city I visit, the story is the same, "development" brings in better roads and schools but doesn't benefit the original inhabitants because they can no longer afford to live (or operate businesses) there. It's true in DC (U street??), Chicago (Humboldt Park), San Francisco (Mission) and even Des Moines, IA? The most famous act of gentrification, of course, was the move of America's "first black president" into Harlem in 2001. His homecoming seems to have gone a bit rough, according to an article in the UK Independent a year ago (why do the Brits cover us so well?)
Bill Clinton's decision to site his office in the largely black Manhattan neighbourhood of Harlem, as a gesture of solidarity with African-Americans, appears to have backfired. Dozens of angry blacks demonstrated last week outside the building that houses the former president's staff, claiming that his move had led to the gentrification of the area and increased the price of homes beyond their reach.
If you're in NYC, check out the meeting and report back. For the rest of you across the nation, how have your hoods dealt with gentrification? Is a balance possible? (cross-posted to Jack & Jill Politics)

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Incarcerex (video)

Cross-posted under "Jack Turner" at Jack and Jill Politics

Very little introduction needed. Short, funny and brilliant. Spread like fire, please.

Now that you've had that dose, let's talk about how the War on Drugs has been a War on Colored Folks for some time now. I eagerly await your revolutionary plans in the comments section.

Some facts:

  • There are 2.24 MILLION people in U.S. prisons. America leads in absolute numbers and per capita among ALL nations in the world. For a country that touts freedom so much, we sure do lock up a lot of people. Hopefully some enlightened country like Cuba will liberate us and spread some of that freedom here
  • From drugpolicy.org: Although African Americans comprise only 12.2 percent of the population and 13 percent of drug users, they make up 38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those convicted of drug offenses causing critics to call the war on drugs the "New Jim Crow."
  • From an interview at Truthdig: "You go back to 1925 and the black rate of incarceration is about twice that of whites. By 1990 it’s eight times the rate of whites. So what’s happening here is this extraordinary acceleration in the incarceration of black people and the single most important factor is the drug war. "

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Live Video from Campus Progress Conference

I'm doing what I can to share my presence at the Campus Progress National Student Conference here in Washington DC. There will be some amazing speakers and panels, and for as long as my battery hangs in there, I'll keep the stream on. Check here for the conference agenda today.

Here's the live channel. Click the little gear shift logo in the lower right for more control options

Things I plan to attend and will try hard to broadcast, especially the 2:45 poverty panel

10:35 - 11:45 a.m.
Hard Truths about National Security
A Conversation with Seymour Hersh

12:05 - 1:00 p.m.
Luncheon Plenary

John Podesta, President & CEO, Center for American Progress
Congressman Keith Ellison, United States Representative from Minnesota

1:15 - 2:30 p.m.
Whose Responsibility?
Holding the business community accountable on the environment, labor, and human rights

Aaron Chatterji, Assistant Professor, Duke University and Fellow, Center for American Progress
Bennett Freeman, Senior Vice President for Social Research and Policy, Calvert Group
Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate
Lenore Palladino, Former Director, United Students Against Sweatshops
Moderator: Jonathan Jacoby, Associate Director for International Economic Policy, Center for American Progress

2:45 - 4:00 p.m.
Fighting Poverty in Post-Katrina America
What Hurricane Katrina and the government's disgraceful response have taught us about the racial and class divide of our "two Americas"

Martin Eakes, CEO, Center for Responsible Lending and Self-Help
M-1, Hip-Hop Recording Artist, Dead Prez
Michael Parker, Leadership Development Coordinator, YouthBuild USA
Dorothy Stoneman, Founder and President, YouthBuild USA
Moderator: Cassandra Q. Butts, Senior Vice President for Domestic Policy, Center for American Progress

4:15 - 5:30 p.m.
Starting an Online Revolution
How to implement a catchy online issues campaign, publicize events, and deliver your message using the latest internet tools

Elizabeth Brookbank, Consultant, M+R Strategic Services
Ezra Callahan, Senior Product Manager, Facebook.com
Ginny Hunt, Organizer, Generation Dean
Tom Matzzie, Washington Director, MoveOn.org
Moderator: Jamia Wilson, Communications Specialist, Young People For

5:40 - 6:55 p.m.
Voices of the War
Our generation speaks out

Rajai Hakki, U.S. Marine & Student, American University
Abdul Henderson, Peace Activist & Decorated Veteran of Iraq War
Eli Paintedcrow, Veteran of Iraq War
Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran & Co-Founder and Chairman, VoteVets.org
Moderator: Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

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Weekly DIg Column #13 - Campaign 2008: Of Fetuses and Fearmongering

Another column is out in this week's Weekly Dig in Boston and online. An excerpt:
the former New York mayor won't let us forget that he is the former New York mayor. His campaign is: "The terrorists want to kill you." That's his plan for America. Here is a guy who, unlike the president, did not completely drop the ball on 9.11, and now considers himself a hero. Whoop-de-friggin'-doo. Hey, I didn't crap my pants on 9.11. Does that qualify me to be president?
and other such fun statements

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Bloomberg is my dawg

Phew, sounds like he's not leaving NYC. I spend too much time there to mess around with another mayor. This guy has got the right eye for green issues and common sense services. I'm sure there's something wrong with him, but I like the limited amount I've seen. Thanks to the NY Times City Room liveblog of the mayor's news conference (by my boy Sewell Chan!) for this quote and great coverage. I felt like i was in the room.

Cool quotes:

“I said that my intention is to be mayor for the next 925 days and probably about 10 hours — whatever’s left, 11 hours? And that is my intention. I’ve got the greatest job in the world and I’m going to keep doing it.”

“We’re a country that pays people to die early. We spend 50 percent more than Western Europe does on health and live four years less.”

The best line of the news conference? At one point, when the mayor was pressed to specify any circumstance in which he might run for president, Mr. Bloomberg replied, “If everyone in the world was dead and I was the only one alive? Sure.”

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