Thursday, May 10, 2018
Does It Matter?
An excerpt from VerySmartBrothas -
Black Life, White Wife and the Art Caught in the Middle
By Panama Jackson
But there is a question that nags at me when it comes to dating and marrying outside your race (I’m not opposed to this, by the way; I’m the product of one of those unions): How much influence and impact does your spouse have on your work, especially when it’s couched in extreme racial observation and display?
Glover (and we can even throw Jordan Peele in here for now) work in a space that is heavily inspired by the world around him. It’s not a bird’s-eye view or navel-gazing; he’s doing very nuanced, informed and intentionally complex work about black culture. His show Atlanta, for instance, takes the black experience and shows it for all it can be.
~~~~~~~~~~
I wonder how those conversations about the execution of art that centers blackness and interacts with whiteness as, at times, a goofy, ignorant and uninformed barrier happen in Glover’s household. From personal experience with my white mother, I’ve had to defend blackness. I’ve had to point out things that I feel shouldn’t have to be pointed out. I indulged those conversations because it’s my mother. I imagine that a life partner would have to be indulged as well. And I know nothing of his partner at all (I haven’t so much as looked up her name), but I imagine that being with a creative means lots of conversations about art and the implications of it.
Am I to believe that he never uses her as a sounding board or asks her for her opinion? And if he does, how does that opinion seep into the art? Does it? I struggle with the idea that it doesn’t; that a person who works in such a racially rich context manages to create in a silo where the person he loves has no bearing on his creative decisions. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but your worldview is your worldview, and when you see something that is the opposite of your own, you are likely to question and offer an alternative view.
https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/black-life-white-wife-and-the-art-caught-in-the-middle-1825854549?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-05-09
Black Life, White Wife and the Art Caught in the Middle
By Panama Jackson
But there is a question that nags at me when it comes to dating and marrying outside your race (I’m not opposed to this, by the way; I’m the product of one of those unions): How much influence and impact does your spouse have on your work, especially when it’s couched in extreme racial observation and display?
Glover (and we can even throw Jordan Peele in here for now) work in a space that is heavily inspired by the world around him. It’s not a bird’s-eye view or navel-gazing; he’s doing very nuanced, informed and intentionally complex work about black culture. His show Atlanta, for instance, takes the black experience and shows it for all it can be.
~~~~~~~~~~
I wonder how those conversations about the execution of art that centers blackness and interacts with whiteness as, at times, a goofy, ignorant and uninformed barrier happen in Glover’s household. From personal experience with my white mother, I’ve had to defend blackness. I’ve had to point out things that I feel shouldn’t have to be pointed out. I indulged those conversations because it’s my mother. I imagine that a life partner would have to be indulged as well. And I know nothing of his partner at all (I haven’t so much as looked up her name), but I imagine that being with a creative means lots of conversations about art and the implications of it.
Am I to believe that he never uses her as a sounding board or asks her for her opinion? And if he does, how does that opinion seep into the art? Does it? I struggle with the idea that it doesn’t; that a person who works in such a racially rich context manages to create in a silo where the person he loves has no bearing on his creative decisions. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but your worldview is your worldview, and when you see something that is the opposite of your own, you are likely to question and offer an alternative view.
https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/black-life-white-wife-and-the-art-caught-in-the-middle-1825854549?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-05-09
If I had a Dime . . .
For every time this happens, I'd be rich.
A black Yale graduate student took a nap in her dorm's common room. So a white student called police
By Brandon Griggs,
A white person voices suspicions about an innocuous person of color. Police are summoned. And the encounter is posted on social media, sparking outrage about racial profiling.
In what is becoming an all-too familiar episode, a black Yale University graduate student was interrogated by campus police officers early Tuesday morning after a white student found her sleeping in a common room of their dorm and called police.
The black student, Lolade Siyonbola, posted two videos of the encounter to Facebook, where they have been widely viewed and drawn thousands of comments.
"I deserve to be here. I pay tuition like everybody else," an annoyed Siyonbola told responding officers in one video after they asked for her ID. "I'm not going to justify my existence here."
The incident is one of several in recent weeks in which police have been called on people of color for seemingly harmless acts. In one of the most recent, three black women were detained while leaving their California Airbnb after a neighbor called police, thinking they were burglars. Last month two black men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia after a manager called 911 on them because they didn't order anything.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/09/us/yale-student-napping-black-trnd/index.html
A black Yale graduate student took a nap in her dorm's common room. So a white student called police
By Brandon Griggs,
A white person voices suspicions about an innocuous person of color. Police are summoned. And the encounter is posted on social media, sparking outrage about racial profiling.
In what is becoming an all-too familiar episode, a black Yale University graduate student was interrogated by campus police officers early Tuesday morning after a white student found her sleeping in a common room of their dorm and called police.
The black student, Lolade Siyonbola, posted two videos of the encounter to Facebook, where they have been widely viewed and drawn thousands of comments.
"I deserve to be here. I pay tuition like everybody else," an annoyed Siyonbola told responding officers in one video after they asked for her ID. "I'm not going to justify my existence here."
The incident is one of several in recent weeks in which police have been called on people of color for seemingly harmless acts. In one of the most recent, three black women were detained while leaving their California Airbnb after a neighbor called police, thinking they were burglars. Last month two black men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia after a manager called 911 on them because they didn't order anything.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/09/us/yale-student-napping-black-trnd/index.html
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Again. Yep.
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
A woman called 911 about burglars at her neighbor’s house. They were black Airbnb guests.
By Marwa Eltagouri
They checked out of their Airbnb rental. They loaded their suitcases into the car. Then they found themselves surrounded by police.
Moments before, a neighbor had watched the three black women carry their luggage out of the Rialto, Calif., house. She didn’t recognize the guests as homeowners, so she called the police about a possible residential burglary in progress, police said. Police responded as they typically would to a report of an in-progress burglary, sending six police officers and a helicopter to the scene with the goal of surrounding the house’s perimeter, making it difficult for the criminals to escape, Rialto Police Lt. Dean Hardin told The Washington Post.
The April 30 incident is the latest example of law enforcement summoned by a business or individual to deal with minorities who had simply been going about their day. Last month, two black men were arrested for trespassing in Philadelphia after a Starbucks employee called police because they hadn’t purchased anything. Last week, two Native American brothers were pulled from a Colorado State University tour after a parent told a 911 dispatcher that their behavior was “odd” and that their dark clothing had “weird symbolism or wording on it.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/05/08/a-woman-called-911-about-burglars-at-her-neighhors-house-they-were-black-airbnb-guests/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.201649378347
A woman called 911 about burglars at her neighbor’s house. They were black Airbnb guests.
By Marwa Eltagouri
They checked out of their Airbnb rental. They loaded their suitcases into the car. Then they found themselves surrounded by police.
Moments before, a neighbor had watched the three black women carry their luggage out of the Rialto, Calif., house. She didn’t recognize the guests as homeowners, so she called the police about a possible residential burglary in progress, police said. Police responded as they typically would to a report of an in-progress burglary, sending six police officers and a helicopter to the scene with the goal of surrounding the house’s perimeter, making it difficult for the criminals to escape, Rialto Police Lt. Dean Hardin told The Washington Post.
The April 30 incident is the latest example of law enforcement summoned by a business or individual to deal with minorities who had simply been going about their day. Last month, two black men were arrested for trespassing in Philadelphia after a Starbucks employee called police because they hadn’t purchased anything. Last week, two Native American brothers were pulled from a Colorado State University tour after a parent told a 911 dispatcher that their behavior was “odd” and that their dark clothing had “weird symbolism or wording on it.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/05/08/a-woman-called-911-about-burglars-at-her-neighhors-house-they-were-black-airbnb-guests/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.201649378347
Monday, May 7, 2018
Sunday, May 6, 2018
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