Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Monday, October 30, 2017
Controlling Black Athletes
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
Bob McNair, other NFL owners demonstrate their true intent: Controlling black athletes
By Kevin B. Blackistone
Control of black athletic talent in this country was then, before and now — as Houston Texans owner Bob McNair reminded not once but twice over the past few days — of paramount concern to ownership and management. There was, for example, the concerted effort of white lawmakers to wrest the heavyweight championship of the world over a century ago from boxer Jack Johnson, the first black man to hold it, to restore the fallacy of white superiority. There was reduction of college athletic scholarships from four-year contracts to single-year agreements at the start of the 1970s, which just so happened to coincide with teams ramping up through integration, reducing the power of new stars, primarily of color, from managing their destinies. There was the NBA under commissioner David Stern in 2005 managing to impose a dress code on the predominantly black league to rebut an increasingly urban image that Stern was worried might have made it less marketable to advertisers and white fans.
And there is the NFL’s response to free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick and those players who have dared use the national anthem as a stage to protest grievances against police lethality vs. black men or the dog-whistle (if not foghorn) firebrand of this country’s latest president.
What the upper echelon of the NFL began reacting to earlier this year, with its conspiratorial defrocking of Kaepernick, wasn’t about the anthem, per se. It wasn’t about the massive flags it so often unfurls before games. It wasn’t about the military it recognizes at almost every game with a presentation of the colors or an expensive flyover of armed forces weaponry.
It was about, as McNair allowed his subconscious to let slip, corralling the players and returning them to their place.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/nfl-bob-mcnair-demonstrate-their-true-intent-controlling-black-athletes/2017/10/29/437685d4-bcd2-11e7-959c-fe2b598d8c00_story.html?utm_term=.d247ebd2aeb9
Bob McNair, other NFL owners demonstrate their true intent: Controlling black athletes
By Kevin B. Blackistone
Control of black athletic talent in this country was then, before and now — as Houston Texans owner Bob McNair reminded not once but twice over the past few days — of paramount concern to ownership and management. There was, for example, the concerted effort of white lawmakers to wrest the heavyweight championship of the world over a century ago from boxer Jack Johnson, the first black man to hold it, to restore the fallacy of white superiority. There was reduction of college athletic scholarships from four-year contracts to single-year agreements at the start of the 1970s, which just so happened to coincide with teams ramping up through integration, reducing the power of new stars, primarily of color, from managing their destinies. There was the NBA under commissioner David Stern in 2005 managing to impose a dress code on the predominantly black league to rebut an increasingly urban image that Stern was worried might have made it less marketable to advertisers and white fans.
And there is the NFL’s response to free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick and those players who have dared use the national anthem as a stage to protest grievances against police lethality vs. black men or the dog-whistle (if not foghorn) firebrand of this country’s latest president.
What the upper echelon of the NFL began reacting to earlier this year, with its conspiratorial defrocking of Kaepernick, wasn’t about the anthem, per se. It wasn’t about the massive flags it so often unfurls before games. It wasn’t about the military it recognizes at almost every game with a presentation of the colors or an expensive flyover of armed forces weaponry.
It was about, as McNair allowed his subconscious to let slip, corralling the players and returning them to their place.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/nfl-bob-mcnair-demonstrate-their-true-intent-controlling-black-athletes/2017/10/29/437685d4-bcd2-11e7-959c-fe2b598d8c00_story.html?utm_term=.d247ebd2aeb9
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Lessons From a Toni Morrison Short Story
From the New Yorker -
The Work You Do, the Person You Are
The pleasure of being necessary to my parents was profound. I was not like the children in folktales: burdensome mouths to feed.
By Toni Morrison
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/05/the-work-you-do-the-person-you-are
The Work You Do, the Person You Are
The pleasure of being necessary to my parents was profound. I was not like the children in folktales: burdensome mouths to feed.
By Toni Morrison
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/05/the-work-you-do-the-person-you-are
Pretty Proud
Years ago, 36 to be exact, I started a needlepoint project when I was pregnant with my oldest son, Ben. I completed about half of it before he was born, but was way too busy to deal with it after his birth, so I put it in a box and forgot about it.
When I moved recently, I discovered this long-lost project and decided to finish it. I was so proud of the end result, I had it framed and it's now hanging prominently in my new home. Here it is below.
A little background.
My degree is in pharmacy and I was working as a pharmacist when I started this.
You don't have to look too hard to see that it's not perfect, but that's OK. It's finished. It's done. It's complete.
And for that, I'm most proud.
When I moved recently, I discovered this long-lost project and decided to finish it. I was so proud of the end result, I had it framed and it's now hanging prominently in my new home. Here it is below.
A little background.
My degree is in pharmacy and I was working as a pharmacist when I started this.
You don't have to look too hard to see that it's not perfect, but that's OK. It's finished. It's done. It's complete.
And for that, I'm most proud.
Tombstones
From Stumbleupon -
50+ Brilliant Tombstones By People Whose Sense Of Humor Will Live Forever
By Šarūnė Mac
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/55Ff0Y/:12T1w86Dl:ns$+w71./www.boredpanda.com/funny-tombstones-epitaphs
50+ Brilliant Tombstones By People Whose Sense Of Humor Will Live Forever
By Šarūnė Mac
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/55Ff0Y/:12T1w86Dl:ns$+w71./www.boredpanda.com/funny-tombstones-epitaphs
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Quote
“The Democratic party is too male,” said Letitia James, public advocate for the City of New York and the first woman of color to hold citywide office in the city. “It’s too pale and too stale.”
(Bold is mine)
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/at-the-womens-convention-a-clear-message-follow-black-women-in-2018_us_59f4939ce4b03cd20b81e45f?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
(Bold is mine)
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/at-the-womens-convention-a-clear-message-follow-black-women-in-2018_us_59f4939ce4b03cd20b81e45f?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
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