Author: amwood

Living in the New Jim Crow- Michelle Alexander

May 4, 2019 / amwood / 0 Comments

Recently, dialogue concerning the prospect of prison reform has reached mainstream conciousness because of celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Meek Mill, and Jay-Z who have used their hyper-visible platforms to bring attention to the problems of the U.S.’s criminal justice system. Yet, even before the idea of prison reform was made ‘sexy’ by the involvement of high-profile celebrities today, this issue has been the basis of many black activists’ platforms for decades, one of those activists being Michelle Alexander. Alexander formerly served as the director of the Racial Justice Project at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. The ACLU is a non-profit organization whose objective is to maintain the civil rights of Americans, specifically those rights that pertain to what is outlined by the Constitution and the United States law. The group is multi-functioning as it operates not only as an advocacy group, but also as a law firm and as a charity. Alexander’s focus within the ACLU was primarily on exposing and dealing with the biases of the criminal justice system and how those biases disproportionally and devastatingly affect black communities. During her time at the ACLU, she initiated and managed the ‘Driving While Black or Brown’ advertising campaign which sought to challenge patterns of racial profiling by police that specifically targets Black and Brown people. In a statement for the ACLU with regards to the DWBB campaign, Alexander said: “The ACLU is determined to put a stop to racist police practices in our neighborhoods and on our freeways.”

I would refer to Alexander as being a radical activist not only because of her work with criminal justice reform, but, too, because her platform is rooted in the idea that in order to bring about substantial change for the criminal justice system, we must uproot the racial caste system that still plagues America’s institutions and ideologies. She recognizes that injustice against Black and Brown peoples does not begin with the criminal justice system, nor does it end there. There are foundational racist ideologies that have permeated the criminal justice system and perpetuated the maltreatment of Black and Brown people. In her 2010 groundbreaking novel The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Alexander demonstrates how Jim Crow laws of the late 1800s to the mid-1950s have simply been repackaged and redesigned in our 21^st century reality so to maintain the subjugation of Black and Brown people. The ideas that the novel presents have been perceived as being so radical that several prisons across the country banned the book from their institutions including the prisons of New Jersey and North Carolina. Those bans did not stop the momentum or impact of Alexander’s novel as he novel has since been cited in judicial decision has been included in campus-wide curriculums. Alexander has shifted her approach to tackling the injustices of the criminal justice system as she now works as a visiting professor at the Union Theological Seminary where she, with her students, explores the morality and spirituality that underlies mass incarceration.

This tweet that civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. tweeted demonstrates just how powerful Alexander’s novel can be. Her novel has the power to change lives on both the macro and micro levels.

In this short excerpt from Michelle Alexander’s novel ‘The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness’ Alexander demonstrates how the incarceration of African Americans reinforces their subjugation and inferiority in the eyes of the racist mainstream of society.

Michelle Alexander and civil rights activist Angela Davis have a discussion about the state of civil rights today with both agreeing that there’s been a sort of stagnation in progress towards equality and equity for Black people in the United States. The cycle of oppression has proven to be no less destructive than it has been since the fight against it began, it’s only been repackaged to affect people differently. But they assure that there is still hope for a better future, one where Black and Brown people are not persecuted for the color of their skin.

A Divided Diaspora: Marvel’s Black Panther Review

April 9, 2019 / amwood / 0 Comments

Being Marvel’s 18th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s long-running film saga, Black Panther shattered records, expectation, and Marvel’s tradition of writing lackluster villains. Ryan Coogler’s third film as a director solidified his standing as a directorial powerhouse as he had consistently imbued his films with nuance and a social awareness that is especially astute. Coogler carried into Black Panther the same meticulous attention to detail and care for the art of narrative that he showcased in Fruitvale Station and Creed. Powerful, exciting, inspiring– Marvel’s Black Panther became a global phenomenon thanks to the artists both behind and in front of the screen that obviously nurtured this project and strove to create something that would resonate with audiences, especially Black audiences, across the globe. Black Panther, which is the film adaptation of the Marvel Comics hero by the same name, aligns itself with the Afrofuturism tradition as a film that serves as a celebration of Black culture throughout the African diaspora. (Note: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s first writing of T’Challa happens in 1966 predating the establishment of the Black Panther Party by nearly a year). Black Panther is a story that uplifts Black voices and bodies and realizes Black people’s potential as the film is circumscribed by a that has been untouched by white imperialism or supremacy. In the fictional world of Wakanda, Africa, Wakandans are free to fulfill their potential that otherwise, obstensibly, would have been stifled if they existed outside of their sequestered society which thy so strategically hid away from the rest of the outside world. Taking place after his father’s death in Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther follows T’Challa’s tumultuous and taxing journey of inheriting the throne of Wakanda and officially becoming Wakanda’s protector as he also inherited the role of the Is he inherited the mantle of becoming Black Panther. In assuming the role of Black Panther, T’challa is fitted with the Black Panther suit which is nearly indestructible, high-tech armor created by his little sister Sherri who is a technological genius and who is arguably the star of the film with her quick-wittedness and grounded humor.

Following with the awesome use portrayal of women as strong independent figures King T’Challa is protected by Okoye, the head soldier in the female-led bodyguard group known as the Dora Milaje. The plot is complicated when Ulysses Klaue, a South African arms-dealer whose intention was to steal vibranium from Wakanda and auction it off (Klaue was introduced to the MCU back in Avengers: Age of Ultron and also made an appearance in Captain America: Civil War) teamed up with the film’s ultimate antagonist Erik Killmonger. While it is Klause’s intention is to steal vibranium, Erik Killmonger had the intention is to take back what he feels he rightfully is owed– the Wakandan throne. Erik Killmonger’s story and inevitable character development is what gives the film it incredible nuance and striking political discourse. Erik Killmonger’s story begins in Oakland, California where he was raised. After playing with his friends outside, Erik goes up to his apartment and is met with his dad’s dead body. Erik’s father N’Jobu had apparently been smuggling vibranium out of Wakanda and selling it to the highest bidder. Upon hearing this news, King T’Chaka (T’Challa’s father and predecessor to the throne and the Black Panther mantle) goes to confront N’Jobu about his crime against Wakanda. The argument ends badly as T’Chaka ends up killing who was actually his brother N’Jobu. Here, we see the beginnings of a tension between putting your nation, your political ideologies, and the priority and solidarity of family, of blood relationship. The latter interpretation lends itself to the broader implications of the film that speaks to Erik Killmonger’s ideologies. The main question of the film that T’Challa must understand for him is whether or not to open Wakanda’s borders and share with the world the vibranium. As a traditionalist, T’Challa champions for isolationism. Yet, Killmonger’s character works not only to contrast T’Challa, but also Killmonger serves as a mirror for T’Challa. These two ideologies are what we find are at war with one another, coming to a head in a climactic CGI-laden battle scene where Erik Killmonger is ultimately defeated.

Political discourse is not new within the MCU as we’ve seen it being tackled in Captain America: Winter Soldier with the problem of surveillance and also in Captain America Civil War with the issue of the extent of governmental involvement in every-day lives. But, Black Panther is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that tackles its politics directly foregrounding in the film’s political discourse. Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole both wrote Black Panther with the intention of having Wakanda stand as a sort of symbol and as an exemplary utopia. Their goal was to show the potentiality for African people to succeed if they had not been subjugated or colonized by white imperialists. Yet, Coogler also, while he paints this vision of a sort of utopic nation tackles the troubling politics of what allowed for this nation to succeed in its isolationist ideologies. These ideologies harkento the ideologies of America’s right-wing in terms of the “America First” politics that called for America to embrace isolationist ideologies. There is also an underlying implication that in order for a nation such that belongs to groups who would otherwise be oppressed by the dominative forces of the world to thrive, they would have to be cut off entirely from the rest of the world and concerned only with their own success and survival. There’s a sense of Garveyism in creating one’s own nation as separate to that of those who could be oppressors and Wakanda as a construct takes that idea of Garveyism and shifts it to its extreme. There’s a tension in that it is the African king who is a champion for isolation and that Killmonger, raised as an American, is aware of the harmful consequences that isolationism reaps. Killmonger fights. though still for sort of Garveyistic agenda in that he wishes to separate Blacks from the rest of the world by putting them in in positions of power, but he understands this greater duty to serving the African diaspora as a descendant of peoples of Africa himself. Ultimately, Killmonger believes in a sort of Black global community, a Black global power whereas King T’challa believes in an isolated Wakandan nation.

Afropunk: The Music Festival for the Underdog

March 28, 2019 / amwood / 0 Comments

To best encompass the entirety of Afropunk as an annual, global music festival, I used Keynote as the digital tool by creating a slideshow with a voice-over. I felt that this was the best tool to use because, as a contemporary music festival, Afropunk is a visual experience as well as auditory experience. I wanted to mimic that in a way by presenting the audience with vivid photographs of past Afropunk festivals and with my voice coupled by the instrumental from Lauryn Hill’s “Sweetest Thing”. In particular, I chose that song to use as an instrumental because Lauryn has headlined the Afropunk stage in 2015 and the song itself evokes the black aesthetic of neo-soul music. I felt that this tool was simple to navigate, though it took longer to actually create the slideshow than I thought it would, perhaps because I had never used Keynote before. It was interesting, too, having to voice my script in such a way that it evoked a sort of storytelling rather than sounding too dry or as to make it obvious that I was reading off of a paper. I think that putting character and differing inflections into my voice made for a more engaging video experience. Since Afropunk is vibrant and entertaining, I wanted that to also be expressed through my music choice, the “movement” that the pictures evoked, the vibrancy of the colored photos, the way I was saying my words, and the transitions of the slides. This tool, too, works well for getting information across to the audience in a concise, yet informative manner while constantly being engaging. The other tools, like a timeline or a map, would not have been as useful to portray Afropunk because Afropunk does not happen in one set location as it takes place in Brooklyn, Atlanta, Johannesburg, and Paris nor do events differ enough from year-to-year to construct a meaningful timeline.

The Motherland is Calling Us Home

March 6, 2019 / amwood / 0 Comments

Home

Where do I ground my roots?

Where can I plant my feet?

Where shall I rest my head?

A soul untethered, free?

-Alia Wood

The African continent drawn as the head of a Black woman.

From a young age, I’ve always had a contentious relationship with the racial identifier “African-American”. I never understood how that term reflected my identity. I would tell my mother, “Ma, but we’re not African, we’re only American.” I’d hoped that I’d eventually “outgrow” my discomfort with the word, but my relationship with “African-American” only grew to be more tenuous. By birth, I am a Black American, but as I’ve grown I’ve felt as though the America that I live in does not love me enough to make me want to stay. I think of a place in which I will be wholly accepted as a Black woman, a place where the color of my skin does not limit me to a constrictive set of oppressive possibilities, a place where my blackness can be celebrated. Especially after Trump’s election I understood that America was no longer mine, that the majority of people in this country, rather, the dominant forces in this country have made their voices clear they do not want me here. So why should I stay? It is clear that my life does not matter here, so what more to America do I owe? This America Is one that intends to be made white (in domination) again, blatantly oppressive again, openly discriminatory again. This place is not my home and it’s been made clear to me that it never has been.

In 2016, Dr. Ulysses Burley III coined the term “Blaxit”- a mass exodus of Black Americans moving to Africa- taking after Britain’s decision to leave The European Union. He wondered if an entire nation can leave an established union. why can’t blacks leave the U.S. and what would happen if we did. Since the 1800s there have been groups that have advocated for a “back-to-Africa” exodus for Black Americans. One of the most prominent leaders of the “back-to-Africa” movement was Marcus Garvey. Garvey, a Jamaican born leader of the Pan-African movement and black nationalist, was a civil rights activist who advocated for an establishment of independent Black states in Africa, particularly on the west coast of the continent and in Liberia. Garvey once asked: “Where is the Black man’s government? Where is his King and his kingdom? Where is his President, his ambassador, his country, his men of big affairs? I could not find them. And then I declared, ‘I will help to make them.’” Garvey understood that success for the Black race could only come when they were able to positively self-identify as who they wanted to be outside of the realm and constraints of white supremacist structures.

Garvey founded the UNIA, the Universal Negro Improvement Association, in 1914 and it was originally established to provide racial uplift in the form of imparting economic knowledge and education for the Black race. At one point, the UNIA had over 8 million members spanning across the globe. In our contemporary moment, understanding the problems that black diasporic peoples face every day such as poverty; racial discrimination; social, political, and economic exploitation; and perpetual conflict between dominant structures in place and those who are subjugated by those forces, it would be prudent to actively consider the teachings of Marcus Garvey.

Though much progress has been made through the Civil Rights Movement and by civil rights activists, Black people continue to be subjugated by an oppressive white supremacist system that has institutionalized and socialized racism so to limit opportunities and possibilities for the true liberation of Black people. We are not free as we are subject to our identities being formed by a white hegemonic narrative and social structure. We are powerless as we see that the white supremacist structures in place are so invasive that blacks cannot even have power over their own communities- think of redlining, the War on Drugs, and gentrification. Think of police brutality, incarceration statistics, Black unemployment, and poverty. Think of white savior films, cultural appropriation, and erasure and/or silencing of Black narratives. Think about all of these things that are woven into the fabric of America’s identity.

The privileged, dominant class that thrives on these white supremacist ideologies, institutions, and interrelations regardless of our pleas and our protests continue to perpetuate this type of oppressive behavior because they are aware that they have stolen all and any power from us and hoarded it for themselves keeping them as the dominant entity in this country. Let us not repeat history, but rather learn from it and do something to change our destiny. Let us unite and grant ourselves the self-help that Marcus Garvey taught. Where do we belong? We belong somewhere where we are welcome. Africa is the motherland and it is where we belong.

Broken by Doubleness: A Preface to the Life of Johnny Larry Spain

February 20, 2019 / amwood / 0 Comments

Johnny Spain is a father, a son, an activist, a professor and, above all, a man with a story– a story that begins long before his incarceration in the San Quentin State Prison. One of the six men accused of a murder/escape ploy at San Quentin State Prison on August 21, 1971, Johnny Larry Armstrong is most well-known for his role in the San Quentin Six. The trial itself took place in 1975 and was dubbed the longest trial in the history California at the time, spanning 16 months and costing more than 2 million dollars. It is alleged that George Jackson, a prominent Black Panther figure of the time, was the mastermind behind the attempted escape of San Quentin and it was because of his attempt to escape that five other black and brown men were also implicated in their alleged involvement. Out of the five (George Jackson had been killed during the commotion of his attempted escape) Spain was the only to be convicted of two counts of first-degree murder. Spain ensures that he had no part in the murder of the two guards, but rather that he was in fact targeted only because of his political and social involvement with the Black Panther Party (Anderson, “Black Power, White Blood” ch. 12). Because of legal inconsistencies (Spain being shackled and forced to be absent during his 1977 trial), Federal District Judge Thelton Henderson overturned Spain’s conviction. Originally, Spain had been in prison convicted of first-degree murder and serving a life term because of the murder of Joe Long, a man who Spain, with a few friends, decided to rob. Spain shot Joe Long four times in the chest and served 21 years in prison for his crime. Spain was released from prison in 1988 because he had been granted parole (Anderson, “BP, WB” 71).

Before for the incarceration, before the trials, before the conspiracies, Johnny Spain was just a mixed-race American boy growing up in the 50s and 60s within a complicated familial household. Johnny Spain was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1949 to his white mother Ann Armstrong and to his black father Arthur Cummings. Ann Armstrong was married to Fred Armstrong, a white man, when Spain was born. Johnny Spain has not always been Johnny Spain. Spain was born with the name Larry Armstrong. Larry Armstrong was a white child. He was a child that had darker skin than his neighborhood friends, he was a child whose identity his white father questioned, he was a child that learned about himself through the ridicule of his hair. It was when his own brother, his white brother, called him a nigger that Larry understood his race to be more than what his parents, particularly his mother, had led him to believe. Larry Armstrong’s childhood was shaped by a duality wrought with tension. He was almost accepted in his community, he was almost a part of the Armstrong family, he was almost white if only it hadn’t been for his hair. Amongst Jackson community members, criticisms and speculations of scandal within the Armstrong household rose. When Larry was six years old, Fred Armstrong was made aware by a friend of his that Larry was indeed black. That night, Fred went home to confirm his suspicions with his wife Ann and she told him that, indeed, his speculations were reality. Spain says that he doesn’t remember much from his childhood in the Armstrong household but he does remember when his father would abuse his mother and scream at her to get that black child out of his home. Ann Armstrong conceded to her husband’s orders and, suddenly, Larry was being sent to live with a black couple in California. In Mississippi, Larry Armstrong was a white child, but in California Larry, who would become Johnny, became a black child.

Larry was sent to live with John and Helen Spain. John was an electrician and Helen, a mixed-race woman herself, was a cook and a caterer. Ann had entrusted Larry to these two people because they were a hard-working black couple that she felt would give her son the love that he deserved. Unfortunately for Larry, that was not the case. The Spains loved Johnny very much, but showed him their love only superficially, showering him with gifts and toys and expensive clothes. Their relationship was broken and missing that fundamental trait of parental love. Yet, there was affection there. He never thought of Helen as his mother nor did he feel that Ann was his mother. Johnny was a motherless child. With John Spain though, Larry had a much closer relationship, so close that he decided to don his father’s name therefore changing his name to Johnny Larry Spain. The Spain household was primarily comprised of Johnny, John, and Helen, but Helen’s mother, Mary Davis, lived behind their house and it was with her that Johnny had the most loving relationship. In an interview with Esquire, Spain said that Mary was “sweet; she smelled of fresh cooking; she always had time for him.” It was Mary’s death that sent Spain into a downward spiral. After she was taken away from their home, Spain took to the streets. It was then that Johnny’s life would never be the same.

Consulted:

Andrews, Lori B. Black Power, White Blood: The Life and Times of Johnny Spain. Temple University Press, 1999.