0 Dear Don Lemon

I wish I had waited another hour before starting this piece because partway through it, Don Lemon started another segment and revisited these points. He wasn't apologetic, to say the least, and the guests he had on the show had their own problems.  No less, here is what was finished right after today's episode with Don Lemon ended. Dear Don, I have to admit that it has been weird for me to hear all the criticism coming your way.  I was on a flight recently when I flipped to the CNN channel and saw you talking with Ben Ferguson on News Room after President Obama's remarks in the wake of the acquittal of George Zimmerman.  In the...

0 What We're Reading Today (7-26-13)

Trayvon was Homophobic: And 2 More Things Racists Keep Saying About the Zimmerman Case - Black Girl Dangerous Mia McKenzie A Feminist Takedown of Robin Thicke, And Anyone Who Thinks there is something, "Blurry," about Sexism - Policy Mic Elizabeth Plank Made of Shade: Dr. bell hooks on Zimmerman Effect - Jet Quassan Castro I Let Trayvon Die - Stephen Goeman Thought Catalog 'I Guess You Really Ain't Sh*t, Questlove' - Ebony Jamilah Lemieux The Tragic Drama of Anthony Wiener - The Atlantic Garance Franke-Ruta As States Rush to Restrict Voting Rights, Justice Ginsberg says, "I Told You So" - The Atlantic Elspeth Reeve North Carolina Passes...

0 What We're Reading Today (7-24-13)

From 125th and Malcolm X Blvd. The Worst of White Folks - Gawker Kiese Laymon On Trayvon Martin and Our Fear of Smiling Black Men - Gawker Jozen Cummings The Time Isn't Right but It Is Now - Crunk Feminist Collective 'My Name is City': An Excerpt from the Novel Long Division - Gawker  Kiese Laymon Rewriting Black Manhood: A Conversation with 'Fruitvale Station' Director Ryan Coogler - The Nation Mychal Denzel Smith Profiles in Black and White: Race and the Presumption of Innocence - Dr. David J. Leonard David Leonard Two 7-Year-Old Boys, Two Dramatically Different News Stories - Huffington Post Lisa Wade I'm the 14-Year-Old...

1 What We're Reading Today (7-23-13)

In a couple weeks, when I have added some teacher-pounds, somebody needs to remind me to sign up for this. The Betrayal of Helen Thomas - Counter Punch Barbara Lubin and Danny Muller Goodbye to my American dream - Salon Tiffanie Drayton Obama, Trayvon and the Problem That Won't Be Named - Color Lines Aura Bogado Why "Black-on-Black Crime" is a Dangerous Idea - The American Prospect Jamelle Bouie Zimmerman Verdict: 5 Confused Reactions - The Root Jenee Desmond-Harris Black Violence And Concern Fatigue - Post Bourgie Gene Demby James Baldwin Tells Us All How to Cool It This Summer - Esquire The Editors Sequestered Zimmerman trial jurors...

0 What We're Reading Today (7-22-13)

Standing With Trayvon, Waiting for LeBron... - The Nation Dave Zirin A Statement on the Reclamation of All Black Life: For Trayvon, Marissa, & Jordan - The Feminist Wire Brothers Writing to Live (Kiese Laymon, Mychal Denzel Smith, Kai M. Green, Marlon Peterson, Mark Anthony Neal, Hashim Pipkin, Wade Davis II, Darnell L. Moore) On Trayvon and What it Means to Live in the US Right Now - Let's Break It Down Eesha and Susana Teach for America under heavy fire from educators and former members - Guardian Amanda Holpuch What Should Trayvon Martin Have Done? - New Yorker Amy Davidson 5 Ways the Prosecution Messed Up the Zimmerman Case - New...

0 What We're Reading Today (7-16-13)

Trayvon Martin, one more among so many black men killed in my lifetime - Guardian Alice Walker Decoding Jay-Z's 'Magna Carta Holy Grail' - Wall Street Journal Mark Anthony Neal First and Foremost: To My Former Students - Wright and Left Greg Wright Marc Lamont Hill: 'Trayvon Martin Was Put On Trial' [Exclusive] - Black Enterprise Marc Lamont Hill An Open Letter to Whites About the Black Community and the Trayvon Martin Case - The Molinist Matthew Simmermon-Gomes The Trayvon Martin Killing and the Myth of Black-on-Black Crime - The Daily Beast Jamelle Bouie Trayvon Martin and the Irony of American Justice - The Atlantic Ta-Nehisi Coates The...

0 What We're Reading Today, After Zimmerman Was Acquitted - (7-14-13)

There wasn't going to be any justice in that courtroom.  I mean, the law is predatory so what sort of "justice" are we aiming for in the law's temple?  Nonetheless, we could have done more for Trayvon Martin in this case.  I'm genuinely at a loss of words.  It's mostly just feelings of anger, of rage, of hurt, of anxiousness, of dismay, and of foolishness.  I feel as if many of us had the nagging feeling that Florida didn't want to convict Zimmerman.  Somewhere between the 44 days it took for an arrest and the 16 months we waited for a trial, it just felt like the justice system really didn't want to put the energy...

0 Problematize Your Justice, A Cry from a War Zone. #RIPTrayvon

“We should be able to save each other. /I don’t want to wait for the Heritage Foundation/to release a study saying/Black people are extinct.” - Essex Hemphill in “For My Own Protection” Less than a week after my birth, in black neighborhoods across Los Angeles, riot sprang forth in retaliation to the acquittal of the police officers accused of beating Rodney King, a local Black man pulled over for speeding. His beating, caught on film and released virally, incited rage and reminded Black bodies that we were under attack by police and other systems of “justice”. I was born into riot and defense. I was born into a war on Black bodies....

0 What We're Reading Today (7-6-13)

Throughout the week I'm sitting in sessions and end up with all these tabs open.  Sorry to have to dump them all on you like this but you'll have plenty to dig through for the weekend.  Also, if anyone knows how getting an auto loan works, hit me up. Trayvon Martin and Black Manhood On Trial - The Nation Mychal Denzel Smith A Tale of Two Best Friends - The Nation Aura Bogado World's Biggest Bands are British and Its Biggest Soloists are American - The Atlantic Andrew Wallace Chamings How Strong is the Female Sex Drive After All? - The Atlantic Emily Esfahani Smith Chicago Rising - The Nation Rick Perlstein LeVar Burton Gives CNN's...

0 What We're Reading Today 7-5-13

Recovering from the 4th? Here are some news updates, and some new Janelle Monae for the weekend. Is Media Coverage of Nelson Mandela's Illness Racist?, Minna Salami, The Root Venezuela, Nicaragua offer Snowden asylum, HADAS GOLD and NICK GASS, Politico Amazing 16-Year-Old Girl Created a Beat for Jay-Z's New Album, CALLIE BEUSMAN, Jezebel Connecticut Bars Felony Arrests for School Zip Code Fraud, Julianne Hing, Colorlines. Why Are White People So Touchy About Being Called Racist?, Scot Nakagawa, Changelab Earning My Parents' Stars and Stripes: An Immigrant Kid's Perspective on Citizenship and the Voting Rights Act, Hannah Giorgis, BlackGirlDangerous Who...

0 What We're Reading Today 7-2-13

 "Decolonization also calls on us to affirm community. One of the contradictions of capitalism and colonialism is that while we are increasingly dependent on global production processes for our basic clothing and food, we are increasingly isolated from one another. The strength of our relations is, therefore, subversive to the logic of alienation within capitalism and colonialism." Indigenous Women: Never Idle: The Feminist Wire-Harsha Walia We Were All Trayvon Martin. Why Aren’t We Supporting Rachel Jeantel?: Clutch Magazine- Whitney Teal George Zimmerman’s 1st interview with police revealed: The Grio/AP- Kyle Hightower and Mike...

0 What We're Reading Today 7-1-13

Same-Sex Marriage Makes David Brooks Crazy - Rolling Stone Matt Taibbi The Equity Gap, 1965-2013 [Infographic] - Color Lines Erin Zipper, Dom Apollon White Rapper FAQ - Aamer Rahman Aamer Rahman The Night the NBA Draft Got Drunk - Grantland Andrew Sharp 10 Years After the Fall of Saddam, How Do Iraqis Look Back on the War? - The Atlantic J.J. Gould The Divided States of America, in 25 Charts - The Atlantic Bob Cohn Queen of the Throne Age - GQ Dear Leader Dreams of Sushi - GQ Adam Johnson The New Inferiority - GQ David Remnick A Letter to Rachel Jeantel, The Prosecution's Key Witness In The George Zimmerman Trial - Role Reboot Khadijah...