Black Bird Press News & Review

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Michael Jackson - They Don't Really Care About Us (Banned Prison Version...

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Umass Black Arts Conference

Conference Program (subject to change)

Thursday

4.00 pm	Melba Boyd talk on Dudley Randall and Broadside Press at Du Bois Library
8:00 pm	Randy Weston Concert

Friday

8.00-8:30 am	LINCOLN CAMPUS CENTER, Auditorium Lobby Registration, Coffee/Tea & Fruit/Pastries
8:30-8:45 am	Opening Amilcar Shabazz
Concurrent Sessions Round I
8.45-10.00am	Amiri Baraka Panel Emahunn Raheem Ali Campbell, UMass “Specters of Marxism: The Marxian Influence on Amiri Baraka’s Cultural Nationalist Poetry” La Donna L. Forsgren, Defying Death: A Search for Black Manhood and the True Black Woman in Amiri Baraka’s Madheart and Martie Charles' Where We At? Mohammad Aljayyousi, Indiana University of PA “Poems That Scream: Orality / Aurality as a Form of Radicalism and Militancy in the Poetry of Amiri Baraka”
8.45-10.00am	International Panel Grace Hampton and Mark Alan Herrin, Penn State “Festac 77 - A Cultural Milestone” Elizabeth Kai Hinton, Columbia University “Nixon’s War on Drugs and the Militarization of the Los Angeles Police Force: 1968-1973.” Robeson Frazier, University of California, Berkeley “The Limits of Tricontinental Solidarity” Samir Meghelli, Columbia University “The Battle From Algiers: Transnational Solidarities and The End of Black Power Abroad” Matthew Birkhold, SUNY Binghamton “Nothing But Negation: Black Power, New Communism, and the World-Economy”
8.45-10.00am	BAM and Genre Studies John P. Bowles, University of North Carolina “The African American Performance Art Archive: Documenting Collaboration Collaboratively” Lloren Foster, Western Kentucky University ‘Consciousness and the Short Story” Aimee Glocke, University of Wyoming “Is the Black Aesthetic Dead?: Positing the Black Aesthetic as the Foundation for the Black Novel” Lars Lierow, George Washington University “The “Black Man's Vision of the World:” Rediscovering Black Arts Filmmaking and the Struggle for a Black Cinematic Aesthetic
Plenary Session
10.15-11.45am	Music Roundtable John Bracey, moderator Randy Weston Glen Siegel Terri Jenoure Frederick Tillis
Luncheon Plenary
12.00-1.45pm	Malcolm X Roundtable Bill Strickland Sonia Sanchez Rickey Hill James Turner Haki Madhubuti
2.00-3.15pm	SNCC Plenary Ekeueme Michael Thelwell Judy Richardson Charlie Cobb
Concurrent Sessions Round IV
3.30-4:45pm	Women and BAM/Black Power Zahra Caldwell, UMass, “Black Power Foremother: Abby Lincoln, Music, Image, Representation And Black Womanhood in the 1960’s” Julie Burrell, UMass “A New Nation: Alice Childress Re-scripts Black Nationalism” Renee M. Kingan, College of William and Mary “Taking It Out!”: Jayne Cortez’s Collaborations with The Firespitters Luo Lianggong, Central China Normal University “Grow to Be a BAM Womanist”: Sonia Sanchez’s Evolution in the Black Arts Movement
3.30-4:45pm	Ideology, Politics, and Aesthetics Vanessa Fabien, UMass “The Black Arts Movement: The Performance of An Environmental Ethic Post Civil Rights” Donald Geesling, UMass “Survival Kits on Wax": Gil Scott-Heron, The Black Arts Movement, and the Poetics of Resistance in the Age of Nixon” Gary Holcolmb, Ohio University “Audre Lorde’s Queer Black Marxism: Reimagining Black Arts” Charles Nero, Bates College “The Black Arts Movement and the Black Gay Generation of 1986: The Case of Melvin W. Dixon; Poet, Scholar, Novelist “
3.30-4:45pm	Black Power, BAM, and Ethnic Studies Kedong Liu and Li Fu, Harbin Institute of Technology “Attitudes toward Tradition in North American Ethnic Literature” Matthew Calihman, Missouri State University “Ishmael Reed and White Ethnic Revivalism” Markeysha Davis, UMass “Implicating Whiteness: Black Arts Movement Poetry and the Attack on the White Ideal?
5:00-6:00pm	CAMPUS CENTER, Amherst Room (#1009) Keynote Address: Amiri Baraka
Dinner
8:00pm	FINE ARTS CENTER, BLACK BOX THEATRE Theatre reading of BAM Plays

Saturday

8.30-9.00am	LINCOLN CAMPUS CENTER, Auditorium Lobby Registration, Coffee/Tea & Fruit/Pastries
Concurrent Sessions Round V
9.00-10.15am	BP/BAM on Campus Martha Biondi, Northwestern University “The Black Revolution on Campus” Stefan Bradley, St. Louis University "Black Student Power at Columbia University, 1967- 1969." Tina Pierce, Denison University “A Call for Black Power: A Political Analysis of Black Student Insurgency at The Ohio State University from 1969 to 1970” Dexter Blackman, Loyola Marymount “We are men first, athletes second”: Black Student- Athletes and the Black Students Movement in the Age of Black Power
9.00-10.15am	RNA Panel Amilcar Shabazz, UMass Ahmed Obafemi, Community Activist Christian Davenport, Notre Dame Akinyele Umoja, Georgia State University Edward Onac, University of Illinois Paul Karolczyk, Louisiana State University
Concurrent Sessions Round VI
10.30-11.45am	New Scholarship Panel Peniel Joseph, Tufts University Margo Crawford, Cornell University William Strickland, UMass Ibram H. Rogers, Rutgers University Chair: James Smethurst, UMass
10.30-11.45am	Print Culture I Jonathan Fenderson, UMass “Renovating the Black World: Afro-Modern Festivities & Black Arts Internationalism, 1966-1977” Seth Markle, Trinity College “Reading for the Revolution: Drum and Spear Bookstore, Africa and Black Power Constructions of Popular Memory” Chris Tinson, Hampshire College “Harlem, New York! Harlem, Detroit! Harlem, Birmingham!” – Liberator Magazine and the Chronicling of Translocal Activism, 1963-1967” Brian Purnell, Bowdoin College “Agitate, Educate, Organize:” Black News and the Intersection of Black Art and Black Power Politics, 1969- 1983”
Luncheon Plenary
12.00-1.45pm	CAMPUS CENTER, Amherst Room (#1009) KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Sonia Sanchez
Concurrent Sessions Round VII
2.00-3.15pm	Local People Candy Tate, Clark Atlanta University “Visualizing Cultural Politics: Atlanta’s Neighborhood Arts Center (1975-1990)” Rickey Hill, Mississippi State Valley “The Bogalusa Movement: Self-Defense and Black Power In the Civil Rights Struggle” Kenneth R. Janken, University of North Carolina “The Several Faces of Black Power in Eastern North Carolina: The Case of the Wilmington Ten,” Ashley Farmer, Harvard University “Working Towards the Community is Our Full-Time Focus: Muriel Snowden, Black Power, and the Freedom House, Roxbury, MA”
2.00-3.15pm	Continuing the Legacy: Artists and Aesthetics of the Black Arts Movement in Dialogue with Contemporary African American Artists and Artistic Practice Lydia Diamond, Boston University Kirsten Greenidge, Playwright Marcus Gardley, UMass Djola Branner, Hampshire College Priscilla Page, UMass Michael Simanga, Fulton County Arts Council
2.00-3.15pm	Print Culture II Zachary Manditch-Prottas, Columbia University “The Revolution Will be Published: The Role of Prison Literature within the Black Power Movement” Ryan Burt, University of Washington ‘We publish black … for Africans here’: Amiri Baraka, Maulana Karenga, Haki Madhubuti and the Creation of an African Public Sphere” Tim Robinson, Old Dominion University “Society of Umbra and Umbra Magazine” Trevor Joy Sangrey, UC Santa Cruz “Politics on Paper: Origins and uses of pamphlet literature in the Black Power Movement”
Tribute to Writers & Poets Session
3.30-5:00pm	CAMPUS CENTER Authors giving readings & book signings
5:00-6:15pm	Plenary Panel: Legacies of Black Power and Black Arts Judy Richardson Amiri Baraka Sonia Sanchez Nelson Stevens Eugene Redmond
DINNER On Your Own

Monday, October 25, 2010

Hundreds Rally In Oakland To Support Oscar Grant « CBS San Francisco- News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of SF

Sunday, October 24, 2010

DR Congo women march against rape - Africa - Al Jazeera English

DR Congo women march against rape - Africa - Al Jazeera English

It is not only women in the Congo who are raped by soldiers from varying armies, but even in the US army 30% of the female soldiers claim sexual assault.

Friday, October 22, 2010

4 teens held in Berkeley, Oakland shotgun holdups

(10-21) 09:56 PDT BERKELEY --

Four men allegedly responsible for a rash of holdups in Berkeley and Oakland have been arrested and charged, police said.

Keiarris Hall, 18, of Antioch, Brynell Polk, 19, of Berkeley and twin brothers Michael Anthony Glover and Markell Antwan Glover, both 18 and from Richmond, used a shotgun to rob victims in different parts of Berkeley, police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said.

The four robbed a victim on the 1300 block of Cedar Street in North Berkeley about 7:50 p.m. Oct. 13 and robbed another person at Russell and Wheeler streets about two hours later, Kusmiss said.

Also that night, a person was robbed by shotgun-toting suspects at Hudson Street and Boyd Avenue in North Oakland. A witness in that holdup gave police a description of the robbers' car as well as a partial license plate number, Kusmiss said.

On Oct. 14, Berkeley police Sgt. Brian Wilson and Officer Peter Lee spotted a car at Prince and King streets that matched the description of the car from the North Oakland holdup. They arrested the suspects and found property belonging to the robbery victims inside, Kusmiss said

Response from those who know them:

(Teacher) Response#1
I am from Oakland and I taught four of these young men as their teacher in Berkeley. It's so easy to look from the outside in and make sweeping judgements. As someone who has interacted with these men, I am here to reveal a little secret: All of them are polite and respectful. They came to visit me and some of the other teachers earlier this year. One of them I used to playfully call "my son." I looked out for him (and the others) to the best of my ability. They, like you, like me, and like any other person in this world, made choices based on their understanding or misunderstanding about life and themselves. They didn't murder anyone. ( In fact, they never got into a fight at school. ) They will likely be punished more severely than their caucasian peers in a similar situation. That ought to be consolation for those who judge their blackness as part of their crime. As for me, I see their humanity and know that they are still beautiful people.

(Student) Response#2
Okay now i dont know this boys, but i feel like yall going blowing this way out of proportion, and you guys are being some hypocrites, just because some young African Americans do something bad they have to be from Oakland, Im from Oakland as well as my brother is from Oakland but we not all criminals. These four young men made a mistake but dont everybody make a mistake i mean everybody isnt perfect. I say help them learn from what they have done. They should pay for thier consequnces but they shouldnt be tortured. Thats all i have to say, really you guys should just fall back and leave these young males alone.

(Teacher) Response #3
I know all four of these young men personally. In fact we here at B-Tech High School are in the building. We in the library right now reviewing all y'alls racists ignorant and retarded comments. This is the reason we label all of you Nazi's. The youth know how y'all feel about them and its Fonk forever. I'm confident that the younger people will make this world a better place, regardless what y'all think.

(Student) Response #4
I'm speaking as a student at B-Tech High School , and I find this very offense towards the young men especially because of the color of their skin. People have done worse than what these four have done and you guys are saying they should be tortured over a robbery?. Really you guys find something better else to do than blame the color of their skin and their backgrounds against what they have done. And answer this...if you are speaking up saying what were not doing , then what the hell are you doing to help us?

(Teacher) Response #5
Shame on all of you who threw these kids out a long time ago. You gave up on them as children. Your hatred and racism demonstrate that you don't know any of these kids at all. As a teacher who works with these kids every day, I know the good in them. I also know that you abandoned them a long time ago. I suppose they were left with the feeling, What the hell? -- if you can't join them, rob them. They committed horrible crimes but you all did too. You prejudge, give up, run scared, name call and bate today's youth of color and then act surprised by their actions. In my mind, you are as rotten as they are!

(Student) Response #6
you people are acting like they killed some one. i bet y'all wasn't say these awful things about Johannes Mehserle when he killed innocent (OSCAR GRANT) this is sooooo terrible. i Cant believe im in a world with all these wicked people. wishing and hoping gross and hurtful thing on young People..brain washers!!!!!!!!