Tuesday, January 30, 2007
August Wilson's King Hedley II
How often can one attend live theater in New York for $15? Grab your ticket -- fast! The tickets went on sale a few days ago. The performances, at the Signature Theatre, run from Feb. 20 through Apr. 15 at 555 W. 42d Street (bet. 10th and 11th Avenues). 212-244-PLAY (7529) or www.signaturetheatre.org
Monday, January 29, 2007
HIV/AIDS
No, there's no big event coming up, no anniversary that I know of. But that's why I'm talking about HIV/AIDS. It's every day. 24/7. Coretta Scott King, God bless her soul, said: "Anyone who sincerely cares about the future of Black America had better be speaking out about AIDS."
Mrs. King was my mother's generation, and Mama hasn't quite come to grips with the fact that my brother, John, and her brother, Richard, died of AIDS. Cancer? OK. Having Mrs. King say what she said was as profound as hearing the Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts 3d of the Abyssinian Baptist Church advising from the pulpit some years ago that folks -- especially men -- use condoms. The Black AIDS institute has great information (http://www.BlackAIDS.org). Phone: 213-353-3610. AIDS has become a Black disease, and we CANNOT deny that. Guys coming out of prison infect women -- many of them more older than younger and ashamed to say so. Teens often don't have a clue.
Read this excerpt from "AIDS in Blackface":
"Today, Blacks represent half of the more than one million Americans living with HIV. Between 2000 and 2003, Blacks accounted for 69 percent of new diagnoses among women -- and with an infection rate 18 times higher than among Whites. Among teens, Blacks are 66 percent of new infections."
We've got to DO SOMETHING about this. As Black History Month approaches and people get all nostalgic about what happened a hundred years ago and who invented what, PAUSE, REWIND and come back to the present.
Mrs. King was my mother's generation, and Mama hasn't quite come to grips with the fact that my brother, John, and her brother, Richard, died of AIDS. Cancer? OK. Having Mrs. King say what she said was as profound as hearing the Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts 3d of the Abyssinian Baptist Church advising from the pulpit some years ago that folks -- especially men -- use condoms. The Black AIDS institute has great information (http://www.BlackAIDS.org). Phone: 213-353-3610. AIDS has become a Black disease, and we CANNOT deny that. Guys coming out of prison infect women -- many of them more older than younger and ashamed to say so. Teens often don't have a clue.
Read this excerpt from "AIDS in Blackface":
"Today, Blacks represent half of the more than one million Americans living with HIV. Between 2000 and 2003, Blacks accounted for 69 percent of new diagnoses among women -- and with an infection rate 18 times higher than among Whites. Among teens, Blacks are 66 percent of new infections."
We've got to DO SOMETHING about this. As Black History Month approaches and people get all nostalgic about what happened a hundred years ago and who invented what, PAUSE, REWIND and come back to the present.
United Negro College Fund
“A mind is a terrible thing to waste….”
“When my soul was in lost and found, you came along and claimed me….”
The first quote is the slogan of the United Negro College Fund (www.uncf.org)
The second is a line from one of Aretha Franklin’s many hit songs, celebrated in recent days on cable TV’s salute to her as a way to carry on Lou Rawls’ dedication to raise money to make dreams reality for kids of color. Before his death a year ago, he helped raise $200 million for historically black colleges and universities.
I kind of regret that I did not attend one of those HBCUs (www.edonline.com/cq/hbcu); maybe I’ll wind up my teaching days by teaching at one of them – probably in Atlanta.
In the meantime, think of contributing money or mentorship. Go to the website or call: 1-800-331-2244.
“When my soul was in lost and found, you came along and claimed me….”
The first quote is the slogan of the United Negro College Fund (www.uncf.org)
The second is a line from one of Aretha Franklin’s many hit songs, celebrated in recent days on cable TV’s salute to her as a way to carry on Lou Rawls’ dedication to raise money to make dreams reality for kids of color. Before his death a year ago, he helped raise $200 million for historically black colleges and universities.
I kind of regret that I did not attend one of those HBCUs (www.edonline.com/cq/hbcu); maybe I’ll wind up my teaching days by teaching at one of them – probably in Atlanta.
In the meantime, think of contributing money or mentorship. Go to the website or call: 1-800-331-2244.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Babies
There's so much bad news these days about babies killed, babies abandoned, babies abused, babies kidnapped, babies with health issues that our various levels of government and our private institutions are not addressing.
BUT...
There are also good stories.
I want to welcome into the world two babies born to moms in my apartment building within days of each other: Nicholas and Liam.
At my church, Abyssinian Baptist, in Harlem, we have a tradition of taking responsibility for our youngsters. The second Sunday of each month children are brought forth to the congregation and we, in essence, pledge our allegeiance and our responsibility as part of the village needed to raise a child.
How about making that a national pledge?
Hello, babies!!!
BUT...
There are also good stories.
I want to welcome into the world two babies born to moms in my apartment building within days of each other: Nicholas and Liam.
At my church, Abyssinian Baptist, in Harlem, we have a tradition of taking responsibility for our youngsters. The second Sunday of each month children are brought forth to the congregation and we, in essence, pledge our allegeiance and our responsibility as part of the village needed to raise a child.
How about making that a national pledge?
Hello, babies!!!
Saturday, January 27, 2007
The World Is Watching Us
President Bush's "I like you" ratings are at an all-time low, but so is the US ranking in the world's sight. As I suggest to my journalism students, check out this website to get a sense of what the rest of the world beyond the standard US media is saying. It's quite sobering.
http://www.watchingamerica.com/index.shtml
http://www.watchingamerica.com/index.shtml
Friday, January 26, 2007
Get Over It?
A Virginia troglodyte of a legislator recently said that Blacks should “get over” the slavery thing and its aftermath. But how can one do so when just this week – finally - a man with the blood of a 1964 Mississippi lynching on his hands was arrested? In so many ways, the past is still too much the present.
James Ford Seale is 71. He’s lived 43 years longer than he allowed two Black teenagers, Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, to live. They were kidnapped, strapped to a tree, beaten, driven to Louisiana, then tossed into the Mississippi River to drown.
This incident caught my attention not only because of the issue of justice but because I am a Moore, maybe or maybe not connected genetically to Charles Eddie Moore given how Blacks took names after slavery. My folks and his folks were from the same neck of the woods.
This from the Associated Press: "Forty years ago, the system failed," FBI Director Robert Mueller said in Washington. "We in the FBI have a responsibility to investigate these cold-case, civil rights-era murders where evidence still exists to bring both closure and justice to these cases that for many, remain unhealed wounds to this day."
For me, this is not a cold case. I’m on it.
You can hear more about this from Michelle Martin's interview with Charles Eddie Moore's brother on News and Notes: www.npr.org.
James Ford Seale is 71. He’s lived 43 years longer than he allowed two Black teenagers, Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, to live. They were kidnapped, strapped to a tree, beaten, driven to Louisiana, then tossed into the Mississippi River to drown.
This incident caught my attention not only because of the issue of justice but because I am a Moore, maybe or maybe not connected genetically to Charles Eddie Moore given how Blacks took names after slavery. My folks and his folks were from the same neck of the woods.
This from the Associated Press: "Forty years ago, the system failed," FBI Director Robert Mueller said in Washington. "We in the FBI have a responsibility to investigate these cold-case, civil rights-era murders where evidence still exists to bring both closure and justice to these cases that for many, remain unhealed wounds to this day."
For me, this is not a cold case. I’m on it.
You can hear more about this from Michelle Martin's interview with Charles Eddie Moore's brother on News and Notes: www.npr.org.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
What Exactly Is Isaiah Washington Being "Treated" For??
This actor has checked himself into some program after making homophobic remarks about his Grey's Anatomy co-star. Is there a Betty Ford Clinic-style Stars-R-Us place for homophobes? This seems like a stupid public relations move that diminishes the seriousness of seeking treatment for the abuses of alcohol and drugs and such. Through Halle Berry's disastrous marriage to Eric Benet, we learned about the "need" for treatment for sexual addiction to women other than his wife. Mama would have a name for that -- and the Scriptures to back her up! Not to mention something to knock him in the head or whip his butt! There are legitimate reasons to seek treatment, but too often these folks in the public eye seem to equate "I'm going into therapy" with cleaning up their public images. Give us a break!
Homophobia exists in America and very much so in Black America. Washington needs to clean up his act but not pretend that going into therapy is the way ahead. Whatever this "therapy" is is merely the way to hold on to his acting gig on Grey's Anatomy.
Homophobia exists in America and very much so in Black America. Washington needs to clean up his act but not pretend that going into therapy is the way ahead. Whatever this "therapy" is is merely the way to hold on to his acting gig on Grey's Anatomy.
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