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(Long) Weekend Reading & Listening

Elvis Mitchell interviews Denzel Washington on his show The Treatment (h/t Undercover Black Man).

Questions for Maya Soetoro-Ng: One of Barack Obama's sisters, Maya Soetoro-Ng, was interviewed in The New York Times Magazine this weekend:

What is the age difference between you and Barack? I’m nine years younger. Our mother, after divorcing Barack’s father, met my father at the same place, the East-West Center on the University of Hawaii campus.

What effect do you think your mother’s wanderlust had on Barack? Maybe part of the reason he was so attracted to Chicago and his wife, Michelle, was that sense of rootedness. He elected to make a choice, whereas Mom sort of wandered through the world collecting treasures.

Do you think of your brother as black? Yes, because that is how he has named himself. Each of us has a right to name ourselves as we will.

Do you think of yourself as white? No. I’m half white, half Asian. I think of myself as hybrid. People usually think I’m Latina when they meet me. That’s what made me learn Spanish.

That sort of culturally mixed identity was seen as an anomaly when you were growing up. Of course, there was a time when that felt like unsteady terrain, and it made me feel vulnerable.

You were ahead of the multicultural curve. That’s one of the things our mother taught us. It can all belong to you. If you have sufficient love and respect for a part of the world, it can be a meaningful part of who you are, even if it wasn’t delivered at birth.

Barack Obama avoids talking about the 'race issue,' but his wife doesn't. Allison Samuels interviews Michelle Obama in Newsweek and Farai Chideya talks to Allison about the interview on NPR's News & Notes. 

They call her "The Closer." As the race for the Democratic nomination turns to South Carolina and other Southern states, Campaign Obama is counting on Michelle to help close the deal with African-American voters. Obama has avoided being pigeonholed as the "black candidate" and has mostly steered clear of talking about race on the campaign trail (at least until his recent fracas with Hillary Clinton over whether she besmirched King's legacy by noting President Lyndon Johnson's role in the Civil Rights Act). But Michelle hasn't backed away from discussing her experiences of race and prejudice. At a November speech in Orangeburg, S.C., she drew a direct line between African-American women like Soujourner Truth and Rosa Parks and her husband's campaign. "These were all women who knew what it meant to overcome," she said. "These were all women who cast aside the voices of doubt and fear that said, 'Wait,' 'You can't do that,' 'It's not your turn,' 'The timing isn't right,' 'The country isn't ready'." That frankness is playing well with black voters in South Carolina, where her husband currently leads Clinton in the polls by nearly 10 percent.

Revising a Name, but Not a Familiar Slogan: More than 35 years after its debut, the slogan for the United Negro College Fund, “A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste,” remains one of the most recognized in American advertising history.

The years, however, have not been as kind to the organization’s name, which has gradually become a source of alienation to the very people the group aims to serve. And while the fund is not prepared to drop the word “Negro” from its name, it plans to try to shift attention away from it.

A branding effort being introduced Thursday will seek to play down the full name and instead highlight the nonprofit’s initials, U.N.C.F. An updated logo will seek to communicate the changing direction of the group while putting renewed emphasis on the well-known slogan.

“Forty-plus years ago, when I started at Morehouse, I thought of myself as a Negro,” said Michael L. Lomax, U.N.C.F.’s president and chief executive, referring to the historically black college. “By the time I graduated in 1968, I was black. And then in the last 15 to 20 years I’ve become an African-American.”

Fenty's First Year Gets High Marks, But Divide Persists:

District residents have renewed optimism about the direction of the city after Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's first year in office, and most say they expect his takeover of the public schools to improve the system, according to a new Washington Post poll. But those polled were less impressed by Fenty's efforts to reduce crime and create housing for the poor.

Even as the local real estate market has slowed and the D.C. government has been rocked by a massive embezzlement scandal, 56 percent of residents surveyed said they believe the city is on the right course, a 14-point jump from a Post poll in July 2006, the final year for former mayor Anthony A. Williams (D). Yet confidence in the city continues to break sharply along racial and socioeconomic lines.

Overall, Fenty (D), who swept into office by winning every voting precinct last year, remains popular, with more than seven in 10 residents saying they approve of his performance. The mayor made the takeover of the troubled schools his administration's top priority, and, though residents continue to decry the state of the almost 50,000-student system, 68 percent said they believe that Fenty's being in charge will improve it.

But the poll also revealed that the mayor faces persistently deep gulfs of perception between blacks and whites, and rich and poor residents when it comes to the city's quality of life. While 74 percent of whites in the poll say D.C. is headed in the right direction, 45 percent of African Americans agree. And two-thirds of those living in more affluent Northwest Washington see the city on the right course, compared with less than half of those who live in Northeast and Southeast.

Black women were the most dissatisfied group, with 38 percent saying they are pleased with the city's direction.

There was not a large enough sample of Asians, Latinos or other ethnic groups to report results within those groups.

55 Secret Street

* My Little Brown Eye...Denzelllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* Michelle Au Natural Belle

Happy 90th Birthday Lena Horne!

Photograph © Carol Friedman

The one and only Lena Horne turned 90 years old on June 30.  Happy Birthday and God bless you Ms. Horne!

The Fiery Elegance of Lena Horne via 55 Secret Street.

Lena Horne Turns 90 via NPR's Tell Me More - Donald Bogle talks to Michel Martin about Ms. Horne's legendary career as a singer and an actress.

Lena Horne Turns 90 via NPR's All Things Considered - A tribute to Ms. Horne with her music.

 

Hey Nichelle, How's the book coming along?

Writers Like Me by Martha Southgate via The New York Times (Times Select).  So what’s holding us up? Sometimes it’s just the ordinary difficulty of juggling family, writing and earning a living. But African-American writers also speak of a larger problem of what I’d call internal or cultural permission. It’s just plain harder to decide to be a writer if you don’t have a financial cushion or a long cultural tradition of people going out on that bohemian limb. Consider the case of Edward P. Jones. He published his first book, “Lost in the City,” in 1992 (he was 41 at the time) to much critical acclaim and a number of significant honors, if not huge sales. He returned to his day job at Tax Notes magazine, where he remained until he was laid off 10 years later. He then wrote “The Known World” in about six months — though he told me he’d been thinking about it nearly those whole 10 years. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize.

African-American Writers: A Reading List by Martha Southgate (connected to the above article).  Some of her selections are favorites for me too, especially Erasure by Percival Everett and Elbow Room, the Pulitzer Prize-winning story collection by James Alan McPherson.

 

The Unstoppable Rise of the Afropolitan

Spike Lee to direct the play 'Stalag 17' on Broadway via The New York Times - "We're not casting rappers," Mr. Lee assured with a loud laugh. "50 Cent's not going to be in this one." I'll be there!

Bye Bye Barbar: The Unstoppable Rise of the Afropolitan by Taiye Tuakli-Wosornu via The LIP magazine. They (read: we) are Afropolitans – the newest generation of African emigrants, coming soon or collected already at a law firm/chem lab/jazz lounge near you. You’ll know us by our funny blend of London fashion, New York jargon, African ethics, and academic successes. Some of us are ethnic mixes, e.g. Ghanaian and Canadian, some indigenous tongue and speak a few urban vernaculars. There is at least one place on The African Continent to which we tie our sense of self: be it a nation-state (Ethiopia), a city (Ibadan), or an auntie’s kitchen. Then there’s the G8 city or two (or three) that we know like the backs of our hands, and the various institutions that know us for our famed focus. We are Afropolitans: not citizens, but Africans of the world.

Ireland Elects First Black Mayor via NPR's News & Notes - Nigerian-born Rotimi Adebari was just elected Mayor of Portlaoise, Ireland, a commuter town west of Dublin. He left his homeland seven years ago to escape what he calls "religious prosecution" of his Christianity. Adebari says he's thrilled about his new post and has big plans for the town.

Some black Americans returning to Africa via MSNBC - Marcus Manns is among a growing number of black Americans trading potentially lucrative careers and relative comfort back home for a new life in Africa, where the former slave-trading hub of Ghana is wooing Americans with some of the easiest immigration rules on the continent. That includes a "right of abode" for qualifying American members of the African diaspora, echoing Israel's offer of automatic citizenship for Jews.

Newark's Mayor Battles Old Guard and Rumors via The New York Times - The rumors and tall tales, born in Internet chat rooms and anonymous mailings, gain traction in barbershops, on basketball courts and after church on Sunday.

Mayor Cory A. Booker is not really black.

One of his top aides moonlights as a cocaine dealer.

The city is about to lay off African-American crossing guards and replace them with low-wage immigrants.

“From what I hear, Cory Booker doesn’t even live here,” Esta Williams, 75, said during a raucous Municipal Council meeting last month where dozens of residents called for his removal from office. “I hear he lives in a fancy house in the suburbs.”

In the year since his inauguration, Mr. Booker has enjoyed national celebrity as a rising black political star, but here at home, he and his chief aides find themselves at war with an amorphous enemy of innuendo that preys on this city’s deep-seated mistrust of outsiders and fear of change.

Key words: "fear of change."  Throw in a little intimidation of light skin and education along with garden variety 'hatin' and that will give you an idea of many of Cory Booker's opponents.  Legitimate constructive criticism of his administration is often mixed in with this foolishness.  And that's not to mention that he is only one person and he has been in office for exactly one year! What do people expect? One year is not enough time to undo several decades of corruption and cronyism.

Another key is the jarring generational and cultural shift.  There is a minister quoted in this article that was "offended" that Mayor Booker told him that the best way to reach him was via text messaging.

Dr. James described Mr. Booker, who has a degree from Oxford, as “an academic freak” and “multimillionaire,” and said he felt particularly bruised by the mayor’s refusal to make him City Hall’s official liaison to Newark’s clergy. He said he used to reach the former mayor with one phone call, and was offended when Mr. Booker suggested that the best way to communicate with him was text messaging.

For his part, Mr. Booker, in an interview in his office a few days later, rattled off a list of things he had done for Newark’s black residents: renovating two recreation centers, creating 1,300 summer jobs for teenagers and establishing a $2 million college scholarship fund. Dr. James, the mayor said, was simply upset that he had not been given a job. Mr. Booker said that text messaging is how even his closest friends get in touch.

Welcome to the 21st century Pastor.  We're into text messaging.

His remarks remind me of Ron Rice Sr.'s remark during the mayoral race (he lost to Booker) "I don't know nothing about no "blueberry" or "Blackberry."

Sad.

Color of Cabinet Has Fenty on the Defensive via The Washington Post - Since taking office six months ago, Fenty (D) has replaced African Americans with non-black people in four of the city's highest-profile jobs: city administrator, police chief, fire chief and schools chief. Among those who hold arguably the 10 most influential positions, five are white, three are of Asian descent and one is Latino. Only one -- Neil O. Albert, the deputy mayor for planning and economic development -- is black. In a city that is 57 percent black and has a predominantly black government workforce, the mayor's choices have not escaped criticism.

As to the racial makeup of his inner circle, Fenty points out that he has appointed black directors to lead critical city agencies, including transportation, public works and the sports commission. Of 48 appointees, 21 are black.

"I look at my entire Cabinet and I absolutely see people who are African American. I see Asians. I see Latinos, Indian Americans, Caucasians," Fenty said. "I think that's what people would want to see in cabinets. They want to see themselves in it. I've tried very hard to do so."

Inching Into The Public Eye: Michelle Fenty looks for ways to 'Make a Contribution' via The Washington Post - Michelle Fenty, however, is an enigma, not easily locatable in the District's political landscape. She is an inconspicuous lawyer in a downtown firm. She is seen about town on the mayor's tuxedoed arm at official dinners and galas, but her thoughts on D.C. affairs are little known. In public, she has the elegant reserve of her British upbringing, but close friends see the down-home bonhomie of her Jamaican ancestry. She is not invisible like her immediate predecessor, Diane Williams, nor as politically active as her predecessor, Cora Masters Barry.  Fenty is a private person married to arguably the most public District resident.

Michelle Obama at the New York Historical Society by David Patrick Columbia via New York Social Diary -

A very hot late June Tuesday in New York. At noontime I went over to the New-York Historical Society for their annual Strawberry Festival luncheon. This originally started as a Ladies Lunch in the 19th century, and it was at the beginning of the strawberry season, and strawberries were a great treat, almost a luxury. Strawberries and cream, strawberry shortcake. Ahh, the simple things. Today's speaker was Michelle Obama, the wife of the Presidential candidate. She was introduced by a friend from Chicago, Judith Byrd-Blaylock, a businesswoman and political activist who has been close to the Obamas for a number of years.

55 Secret Street

* 55 Summer Favorites

* Q&A with Novelist Meg Cabot

* Q&A with Author (and yes, Lucky Beauty Editor) Jean Godfrey-June

* Web Snob Weekend

Black Like Barack

So, is Barack Obama black enough or what?  And when will someone ask this question about 50 Cent?

Apparently, he is black enough to be the only presidential candidate to be quizzed about fears of personal safety. Michelle Obama told Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes that she is not losing sleep over her husband's safety as he runs for president. "The reality is, as a black man, Barack can get shot going to the gas station.  You can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.  We just weren't raised that way."

The senator has faced this question many times and his answer has been consistent.

"My view has always been that I'm African-American.  African Americans by definition, we're a hybrid people. One of things I loved about my mother was not only did she not feel rejected by me defining myself as an African-American, but she recognized that I was a black man in the United States and my experiences were going to be different than hers.  My daughters will grow up with a cousin who looks entirely Asian but who carries my blood in him. It's pretty hard not to claim that larger community."

That's good enough for me. 

There are several subtexts to the "black enough" question, including class and the  generational shift between the civil rights generation and their beneficiaries.  As several articles have pointed out, Obama's path is typical of the new generation of blacks in politics:

Decades ago, many black politicians shared similar roots: They studied at historically black colleges, became ministers, teachers and activists and made their names fighting racial injustice — braving death threats, police dogs and water hoses along the way.

These days, many black political leaders have similar resumes: They have Ivy League degrees and have worked as lawyers and legislators. They know their way around the towers of high finance and can raise money everywhere from Hollywood to Wall Street.

"What you're getting is black people who come into politics the way most of the white guys do — you're interested in public affairs, you go to law school, you do some local stuff, you run for office," (Roger) Wilkins said.

Exactly.

The reality is, those of us whom have benefited from the victories of our parents and grandparents in civil rights generation have had it much easier - and I thought that was the point.  That does not mean we don't experience racism, but many of us went to school with whites (and Latinos and Asians and other races) and participated in many other activities with them.  In junior high school, I was a "Junior" in the Girl Scouts and my mom was the leader of my multiracial troop (Troop #488!) 

I say this to point out that some of us "regular" black folks (i.e., those of us who didn't go to Harvard or Wall Street or become Rhodes Scholars) do not find black Ivy League law school graduates with white friends and associates to be strange.  We get the "black enough" quizzes too - and the Oh! You're black! face (if you need an explanation, please ask a black friend, neighbor or colleague that knows you well.)  I promise you, 99.9% of professional/educated blacks have an "Oh, you're so articulate" story and have experienced the "Oh! You're black!" face.  The fact that this remains a surprise to some people just shows how isolated we are from each other in our society.  As film director Reginald Hudlin pointed out in the recent New York Times article, The Racial Politics of Speaking Well, "How many flukes does it take to constitute reality?"

Unfortunately, this reality still won't shield a black person that has "too many" white people that like them.  That has always made black folks nervous (see Will Smith.) There was an article in a recent issue of The New Republic called "Black Like Me" that explains why being the "good" black is tricky and why some blacks that white folks just love like Senator Obama or my mayor, Cory Booker (pictured with Arianna Huffington) feel pressured to reassure "the community" that they are still one of them - even while risking some white support.  The article opens with a paragraph on the famous Malcolm Gladwell article from The New Yorker, Black Like Them, which touches on the findings of a sociologist that discovered white employers in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn "had developed an elaborate mechanism for distinguishing between those who they felt were 'good' blacks and those they felt were 'bad' blacks." They held anti-black stereotypes but they discriminated in favor of blacks who defied those stereotypes.  Colin Powell's cousin Bruce Llewellyn explained it very simply for the reporter: "White people love to believe they're fair."  I believe this explains why so many white people are so mystified by the revelation that black people have long considered "articulate" a code word with racist connotations.  And, that there is such a thing as the "Oh! You're Black!" face.

Another politician that would be intimately familiar with the whole "black enough" question is Adrian Fenty, the new (and youngest) mayor of Washington, D.C.  Like Barack Obama, he has a white mother, a black father and an attorney wife named Michelle.  The Obamas have two girls and the Fentys have twin sons. I can already tell that I like Michelle Fenty.  She is Jamaican by way of London and an attorney that specializes in global technology matters at a high-powered law firm. And yet, she understands that Manolo Blahniks are like sculptures. Smart woman! 

Like Booker, Fenty is a disciplined morning jogger and apparently such a Blackberry addict that he has been nicknamed Mayor Blackberry.  And, like the other elite new generation politicians, he's got his hands full.

Reading in Black and White

* Lise Funderburg - Out of the Mulatto Closet. Includes a "pre-rock star" review of Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.

* June Cross -  Secret Daughter: A Mixed-Race Daughter and the Mother Who Gave Her Away.  This memoir is based on the Emmy-winning documentary of the same name.  June Cross tells the story of her relationship with her white mother Norma, who sent her to live with a black family, in part, to maintain the Hollywood career of her husband.

* James McBride - The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother.

* Shirley Taylor Haizlip - The Sweeter the Juice: A Family Memoir in Black and White describes her search for her mother's sister who decided to sever all ties with the family to pass as white. The story of the sisters reunion is chronicled in Finding Grace: Two Sisters and the Search for Meaning Beyond the Color Line.

* Toi Derricotte - The Black Notebooks: An Interior Journey. The poet frankly describes her ambivalence about constantly being mistaken for white (and taking advantage of it) and the idea of not being "black enough."


Watch and Listen

* Cory Booker - Official City of Newark web site.  New Black Leaders Must Innovate from NPR's Morning Edition.  Street Fight - the Oscar-nominated documentary about the 2002 Newark mayoral race. 

* Adrian Fenty - The Nation's Capital Gets a New Mayor from NPR's Morning Edition.  D.C. Mayor Wants Control of Schools, Increased Policing from NPR's News & Notes.

* Barack Obama - on Michael Eric Dyson's radio show discussing the "are you black enough" question, Senator Biden's comments (briefly) and how "black voters are sophisticated and paying attention to issues."

* Angela Nissel - What Are You? Life as a Bi-Racial American from NPR's Morning Edition.