Voice of Consciousness

The Emancipation Proclamation is 150 Years Old | The White House Thank you Obama for keeping it real. #obama2012 Economic justice, the heart of the on-going African diasporic freedom movement, has still yet to be achieved - 150 years after enslaved American blacks were granted legal freedom. To revisit the comments of Dr. MLK Jr. on the Chicago Freedom Movement, we are still on the first step of a thousand mile journey [paraphrase]. Ok, for the racial optimist among us, the 100th step of the second mile. Where is my forty acres and a mule? All slaves residing in states in rebellion 100 days from now will be free [paraphrase]. #1862sept22 #2012sept22 #AbeLincoln #EP150 #economicjustice #1863jan1 #2013jan1 The countdown to the 150th Anniversary of the first step to the Economic Justice of American Black s begins at midnight tonight.

Wells Fargo ($432.5M) and Bank of America ($335M) pay up on predatory lending settlement based on data showing that Black and Latino customers were charged more for mortgages, even with comparable credit standings. Amen! Check news story on CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/30/news/companies/wells-fargo-memphis/index.htm

Yesterday was a good day for many reasons. Today, reality reminded me of my marginality. Yesterday, the Chronicle issued an apology for its role in the sensationalization of right-wing treatments of race, ethnicity, diversity, and marginalization. They have dismissed Schaefer Riley from the Chronicle's Brainstorm blogosphere because they: ...now agree that Ms. Riley’s blog posting did not meet The Chronicle’s basic editorial standards for reporting and fairness in opinion articles. They also admit that their positivistic response to the concerned readers of the Chronicle amounted to giving Schaefer Riley's politicizing ideology validity in an open debate forum. Since Brainstorm was created five years ago, we have sought out bloggers representing a range of intellectual and political views, and we have allowed them broad freedom in topics and approach. As part of that freedom, Brainstorm writers were able to post independently; Ms. Riley’s post was not reviewed until af

This blog is a call to attention and solidarity. Has anyone considered boycotting the Chronicle of Higher Education? The Chronicle is feeding off of the sensationalizing effects of racially-tinged arguments. Their response is opportunistic and irresponsible. I reject the invitation to have a positivistic debate about the validity of Black Studies. The grounds for this position are multiple, including the hollow grounds of Schaefer Riley's original position, the dismissive nature of Schaefer Riley's reply, and the noncommittal response of the editorial staff of the Chronicle of Higher Education. There is bias present against the existence of Black Studies, and fields like it. The bias is institutionalized through blogs like Schaefer Riley's and through the deployment of positivistic arguments about debate used by the Chronicle's editorial staff. Given that the Chronicle is benefitting from our concern in terms of web traffic, I wonder whether the best response is no

I went to Bloomington's Consciousness Raising Rally for Trayvon Martin in "celebration" of my successful dissertation proposal oral defense. I have always tried to draw a distinct line between my scholarship and whatever activist voice that I have. The events of Trayvon Martin, however, capture a timeless problem of intersectionality to which even standard progressive politics may be blind. The poem I presented, and its precedent, draw from the thesis that the hate-crime of Trayvon Martin bespeaks the fatalizing stigmas at the nexus of race and gender.