Arts Today Ezine 4.6 by Arts Today Ezine

Vol 4.6

AUGUST 7, 2017

Mark Murphy

photography pg #138

PIERRE

BLAINE

WAKE-UP EVERYBODY... pg #132

Horne DR. MALAIKA

African American History... pg #60

View this and past issues from our website.

ABOUT TIME

HOW MUCH...

AFRICAN...

pg. #8

pg. #28

pg.#36

MARIAH RICHARDSON

VERONICA NEWTON

DR. TRACEY MCCARTHY

pg.

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Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

IN THIS

ISSUE: View in browser

IN THE NEWS POLITICAL HISTORY...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For media information, contact Jeremy Goldmeier, Public Relations & Digital Media Manager IT'S ABOUT TIME... (314) 687-4043 jgoldmeier@repstl.org MARIAH L. RICHARDSON

28 HOW MUCH DO BLACK BODIES... VERONICA NEWTON

72 TRAVEL ADVISORY NAACP

CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG... THE REPERTORY THEATRE

The Rep announces cast and creative staff for its 51st season opener, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

ST. LOUIS – The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is proud to announce its cast and creative team for its 2017-2018 season opener, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. This talented group of artists will bring the 2015 Tony Award winner for Best Play to The Rep stage, September 6 – October 1. Written by Simon Stephens, based on the novel by Mark Haddon and directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, this immersive and thrilling play follows the journey JAY-Z AND THE RE-MAKING... of 15-year-old Christopher as he investigates the murder of his neighbor’s dog.

KEVIN POWELL

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No major discipline problems

our mentorship program with Infinite Scholars, the Moline Acres Police Department wishes to the hopes and dreams of families in our community wishing to send their children to college. te Scholars program uses it extensive nationwide network of 500+ colleges and universities to ege scholarship for students who achieve the criteria above. The Moline Acres Police ent is committed to helping our students accomplish these criteria. The motto for this program dges Create Scholars.”

cres is located in North St. Louis County, Missouri. To learn more, contact the Moline Acres partment at 314-868-2433 or Infinite Scholars at 314-499-6997.

LIVE / WORK / PLAY NATE JOHNSON

African American Genetic Journey:

ch of the Hidden Seed & the Holy Grail? Dr. Tracey McCarthy, PsyD, DCFC, JD, MA

Psychologist/Attorney/Professor Legal Studies Department – Webster University OP/ED SECTION INFINITE SCHOLARS

Pictured are Moline Acres Chief of Police Colonel Ware, Police Officer Donaldson, and students Charmaine and Charles.

AFRICAN AMERICAN GENETIC JOURNEY DR. TRACEY MCCARTHY

THE LYRICAL PROWESS... DR. MALAIKA HORNE

King Edward VI

...Listen people... Life is a giant, invisible scale with two sides; Science versus History Good and bad You and your beliefs Are the weights esearch is uncovering some astonishing facts regarding African The things you do each day y. These findings serve to rival, and bring into question, competing Determine the balance Your conscience is a flawless n African American heritage. One body of research comes from the Judge and jury; . Such emerging knowledge functions to shed new light on the The only question is what you want...

realities of African Americans and also gives rise to countless beg for answers and further exploration. Established 2014 Volume 4.6 St. Louis, MO www.the-arts-today.com/ Layout/Design www.bdesignme.com

NOTE:

The Temptations,

"You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here on Earth"

As the publishers of The Arts Today Ezine we take care in the production of each issue. We are however, not liable for any editorial error, omission, mistake or typographical error. The views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of their respective companies or the publisher.

This Ezine and the content published within are subject to copyright held by the publisher, with individual articles remaining property of the named contributor. Express written permission of the publisher and contributors must be acquired for reproduction.

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Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

IN THE NEWS

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS for the Annual Fellowship Programme for people of African descent

GENEVA (21 March 2017) – The United Nations Human Rights Office today announced the opening of the application period for its annual Fellowship Program for People of African Descent.

The Fellowship Program is one of the key activities taking place during the UN International Decade for People of African Descent, which was launched to effectively improve the human rights situation of Afro-descendants worldwide.

Every year, the Program offers an intensive learning opportunity to people of African descent on human rights issues of particular importance to Afro-descendants globally. Topics include: human rights law, forms of racial discrimination, access to justice, and racial profiling, among others. Fellows learn about a wide range of UN anti-racism legal instruments and mechanisms, which can help them in combating racism and racial discrimination and in the overall protection and promotion of human rights.

Application Process:

“Through our Fellowship Program, we want to empower a new generation of advocates to combat racism everywhere, and to advance the human rights of Afro-descendants. While the abolition of slavery brought freedom, many of the deeply discriminatory social structures were never torn down and remain to this day. Our past Fellows are using their human rights knowledge to open new avenues for recognition, justice and development for Afro-descendants in their countries,” said Yury Boychenko, Chief of the Anti-Racial Discrimination Section at the UN Human Rights Office.

Following the completion of the three-week long programme, past Fellows have carried out human rights awareness and capacity building initiatives for civil society working to promote the rights of Afro-descendants in their respective countries. They have also supported civil society engagement with UN during fact-finding missions to their countries. A number of Fellows have successfully received grants for local projects; contributed to discussions about national plans of action on combatting racism; and lobbied for new anti-racism legislation.

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Applications and additional information are available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ Issues/Racism/WGAfricanDescent/Pages/ FellowshipProgramme.aspx). The Fellowship Program application period begins on March 21, 2017 and runs until May 31, 2017. Applicants must be fluent in English, should have a minimum of 4 years of work experience related to promoting Afro-descendant rights and must be currently employed by an organization working on issues related to People of African Descent or minority rights. They must submit their CV and a letter from their organization, certifying their status. Selected Fellows must be available to attend the full duration of the Program, which will be held in Geneva, Switzerland from 13 November to 1 December 2017. Additional resources: Video of past Fellows: https://youtu.be/BSiCHpZ_6PA UN Decade for People of African Descent: http://www.un.org/ en/events/africandescentdecade/

Your Source for Art Appreciation

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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE DOES AMERICA'S BLACK... | BERNIE HAYES .............................. pg. 92 AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY | MALAIKA HORNE .................... pg. 102 FEAT. ARTIST | TRISH WILLIAMS .................................................. pg. 112 LOVE OF FOOD | LENA O.A. JACKSON......................................... pg. 156

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fer events or programs with an emphasis on the arts and creativity.

OPPORTUNITIES | A.T.EZ ................................................................ pg. 174 CAREERS | A.T.EZ ............................................................................. pg. 176

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It’s About Time: a review of A Wrinkle in Time

By Mariah L. Richardson

am so excited about the March 2018 release of the film version of A Wrinkle in Time mainly, because it is the first time an African American female director will command a budget of over 100 million dollars. Kudos to Ava Duvenay. The promos for the film seem so promising so, I decided to read the book that the film is based on. I have to admit that I have never read it. A Wrinkle in Time is written by a fellow Smith college graduate, Madeleine L’Engle. The manuscript was rejected 26 times before it was picked by publisher John Farrar in 1962. A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in the Time Quintet. In 1963 the book won

In her acceptance speech for the Newberry award, L’Engle, speaking to fellow writers spoke of, “The vocation of keeping alive Mr. Melcher’s (publisher, excitement, and bookseller) in leading young people into expanding imagination.” That was 1963 and since the advent of the prestigious Newberry Medal.

personal computers and digital technology now, more than ever, the imagination of young people is in desperate need of imagination. So, what is the hype about this book? I went at it like I did about Beyonce’. The whole bee hive thing, I just didn’t get it. I went to her concert and was blown away by her showmanship. I began A Wrinkle in Time and consumed it like a delicious dessert. I was enthralled. I love to be carried away into wondrous adventures in worlds that only a vivid imagination can construct. Meg Murry, the book’s protagonist suffers from what lots of young teenage girls suffer from, self-loathing, feeling different, not fitting in. Kids at school make fun of her and her family. Rumors abound about the disappearance of her father Dr. Murry.

Both he and her mother are doctors and have been working to find a phenomenon called the Tesseract. Something that can hasten travel through time and dimensions. Meg has three younger brothers, the twins, Sandy and Dennys, and 5-year-old Charles Wallace. The twins are typical boys but Charles Wallace is wise and intellectually superior to the twins and Meg. I really love the character of Charles Wallace and he gives the story it’s balance to the impatience and anger of Meg. Without him it would be just a story of a sullen teenage girl. But with Charles Wallace Meg finds out how to use her faults to discover her strength and courage. At the top of the story which starts with Meg fearfully suffering from a violent storm, a strange woman wanders into her house. Mrs. Whatsit. Mrs. Whatsit is one of three mysterious characters that live in the “haunted” house that sits in the woods behind the Murry home. Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which are the other two. When Meg and Charles Wallace venture to the house the night after the storm they encounter Calvin O’Keefe. A young man who is older and goes to the same school as Meg. He and Charles Wallace share some of the same extraordinary traits. Calvin becomes the rock that Meg comes to lean on throughout their transgalactic journey to find her father led by Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. Meg needs the steady arm of Calvin to prepare her to find her father but also to

Mariah L. Richardson is a playwright and adjunct professor and playwright. She resides in St. Lous, MO.

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IT'S ABOUT TIME... cont.

complete the ultimate mission; to save Charles Wallace from the darkness, IT. I imagine this was a big deal in 1962 to have a female protagonist in books for young audiences and certainly the book is reflective of the era in which it was written. The 1960s ushered in the second wave of feminism and Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Engle put a female character at the center of adventure with unladylike traits such as anger and bravery. This is a classic story of an age old battle that has captivated humans for eons; light versus darkness. Th Black Thing is a shadow that surrounds our world and has taken over other worlds in other galaxies. By means of the tesseract Meg and her crew are able to get to Camazotz, find and rescue her father only to have Charles Wallace taken captive. She must find out what she is truly made of. We as readers, and soon as viewers, are transported to far off planets in far off galaxies all from the imagination of Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Engle. If the movie is anything like the book then we are in for a wild and beautiful adventure, for sure. This is a delightful read and should be on your summer reading list whether you are a young reader or a young in spirit reader.

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OP / ED SECTION

Moline Acres Police Department College Scholarship Program in partnership with Infinite Scholars Program

The Moline Acres Police Department College Scholarship Program wishes to acknowledge some of the students in our city that have accepted the promise of a college scholarship for accomplishing the following criteria: 1. 2. 3. 4.

95 percent school attendance 3.3 or better cumulative grade average 22 or better composite ACT score No major discipline problems

Through our mentorship program with Infinite Scholars, the Moline Acres Police Department wishes to help fulfill the hopes and dreams of families in our community wishing to send their children to college. The Infinite Scholars program uses it extensive nationwide network of 500+ colleges and universities to find a college scholarship for students who achieve the criteria above. The Moline Acres Police Department is committed to helping our students accomplish these criteria. The motto for this program is â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our Badges Create Scholars.â&#x20AC;? Moline Acres is located in North St. Louis County, Missouri. To learn more, contact the Moline Acres Police Department at 314-868-2433 or Infinite Scholars at 314-499-6997.

Pictured are Moline Acres Chief of Police Colonel Ware, Police Officer Donaldson, and students Charmaine and Charles.

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Editorial Rebeccah Bennett TRUTH: This is not the first time that this country has been run by a bigot. It is not the first time that we have experienced political isolation and social rejection. Founder and principal of Emerging Wisdom LLC.

nd it is not the first time that we have had to figure out how to metabolize our grief and fear in ways that did not immobilize us, but caused us to actualize our power to change the world.

PERSPECTIVE:

Right

and forefathers lived through horrors that were generational in scope and scale. They persisted through times when there was little chance of a better tomorrow, much less a better life â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not even for their kids. Yet they responded to their lot in life by creating resistance movements, aid societies, educational and religious institutions, banks and co-ops, art forms, innovations and spiritual practices that continue to make our lives

better today. Remember that their blood is our blood. Their strength is our strength. They are the ROOTS and we are their FRUITS.

PRAYER:

We call upon our ancestors, those upon whom the sky fell. We call upon our ancestors who experienced all manner of degradation, humiliation, violation and death. We call upon our ancestors, people who swung from trees and were forced to live on their knees. We call upon our ancestors, many of whom persisted, survived and endured without destroying themselves or others. May whatever it is that nourished and sustained them come more fully alive in us. Ashe.

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Would you like a printed copy(s) of an issue mailed to your home? Send your request to us by email **Remember to include the volume/issue** Cost may vary per issue.

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IVE WORK PLAY

Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017 St. Louis

n the struggle between crafting a well thought out intro, or just sending you some great events for the month of August before the weekend gets away, I opted for not letting the perfect be the enemy of done! We have an amazing month ahead, which features my birthday :), and one of my favorite festivals of the year, along with a host of other highlights of ways to enjoy what this wonderful town has to offer. I certainly hope to see you out and about this month. It's going to be great!

AUGUST

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If you are looking for something to do this afternoon, head on over to Grand Center and groove to the Soulition DJ Collectives's mix of Soul, Funk, Afro Beat, House, Latin Funk,Reggae/Dancehall, Hip-Hop, Disco, Breaks, Acid Jazz and more, it is accompanied by Lucha Mexican Soul Food Happy Hour and guest painters! The party goes from 330-630. It's all part of the Strauss Park Alive Festival , where you can check out the live painting demonstrations, community yoga, food trucks, live music and more as this festival offers something different everyday though the end of the month! While you're in Grand Center, don't forget that it's First Friday, and you might find me on a tour of the latest exhibitions at the museums and galleries in Grand Center , which are all free today until 9 p.m! I'm especially excited to see the Urban Planning: Art & The City 1967-2017 exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Museum. I can't believe that I haven't seen it yet! DJ Nappy Needles will be spinning, and the staff is always happy to provide a tour of the exhibits. I'm also looking forward to heading over to the Pulitzer to see Blue-Black, where influential American artist Glenn Ligon offers a lyrical meditation on the colors blue and black. This exhibit brings together over 50 works from artists Norman Lewis to Andy Warhol. Since we are on the subject of Blue, tonight, you can chill out with a relaxing drink at Stress-Free Fridays, which will be hosted at the Blue Pearl, down on Cherokee Street. You can also head downtown for Blues at the Arch with Big George

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Local Events AUGUST

Brock and Lil' Ray Neal! It happens every Friday in August. Also, tonight is your last chance to see the Broadway classic, A Chorus Line, which will be playing it's final night at The Muny . The weather should be amazing! For a different flavor, you can to Off Broadway to check out the Open Highway Music Festival which is presenting JD McPherson, who is known for a retro sound rooted in the rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and rockabilly music of the 1950s. If you are feeling blue on Saturday, seeing the Union Opera Theatre's performance of Rodger's & Hammerstein's Carousal will be sure to cheer you up. (you see what I did there?) Also, Saturday is the final day of St. Louis Craft Beer Week , which has a host of events happening all over my beloved St. Louis. Grab the kids, even if there not yours, and

head over to check out The Insight Theatre Company's presentation of Madagascar the Musical, which is sure to entertaining for everyone. Also on Saturday is the annual Moonlight Ramble. The Moonlight Ramble is the longest running night time bike ride. Come take a midnight ride while supporting a great cause! On Saturday night, make sure to "Burbs" Music & Art Festival at the Chesterfield Amphitheater. With three performance stages it is sure to electrify the whole park. Enjoy arts, music, food, and good vibes as you and your family take part in this eccentric festival. Sunday is the last day for you to go by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts to show support for the thesis projects of Washington University's Graduate School. The Art Hill Film Series concludes for the season with a showing of The Devils Wear

Prada. Bring the family out for dinner at one of the local food trucks starting at 6 and the movie starts at 9. Tax Free Weekend runs from Friday until Sunday. School supplies are available for purchase in Missouri tax free and includes all clothing, school supplies and computers. Items must be paid for in full during this period to be excluded from sales tax. Do your back to school shopping at Taubman Prestige Outlets in Chesterfield and enjoy live music all weekend while you shop! Soulful Sunday at the National Blues Museum takes place every Sunday in August. On August 6th catch the Coleman Hughes Project and visit the museum for only $20. A Community Clothing Swap will take place on Sunday, as well, from 1 p.m.3 p.m. at Perennial. Bring in your unwanted clothes and switch them out for new to you items!

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IVE WORK PLAY

The Midwest's largest bridal show, The Wedding Show, takes place Sunday at the America's Center. Take the stress out of planning with over 100 vendors, a fashion show, and discounted offers. It would take you months to see all the wedding businesses that you are able to see in just one afternoon!

The Compton Heights Concert Band's Musical Mondays wraps up the season on August 7th at Tower Grove Park. Bring some chairs and enjoy this Sousastyle band concert! The Newsies makes its debut at The Muny! This musical is based on real life events of the 1899 Newsboy Strike. It follows the story of a young boy with big dreams who helps organize a strike against a greedy newspaper publisher.

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On Wednesday, the Beale Street Concert Series takes place with the sounds of Marquis Knox. He is a local prodigy who has opened up for many national blues acts, including as B.B. King, and what better way to see him than on the historic streets of Saint Charles! The 9th is the second Wednesday of the month so be sure to make it out to Clayton's Parties in the Park. This month the Midnight Piano Band will be offering a live musical performance playing all your favorites! On Thursday Foundry Art Centre is hosting a free art-making event. The event will focus on language and how to communicate using creativity. Try something a little different for dinner on Thursday. Come out to Food Truck Thursday in the Affton Christian Church parking lot. There will be a huge variety from 5 different food trucks, all there so your family can choose their favorites. Jim Jefferies is bringing his Unusual Punishment Tour to the Peabody Opera House on Friday. There will be a showing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at sundown behind Westport Plaza by the lake. Come get your picture taken with some of your favorite Harry Potter characters before the movie! On Saturday, the Riverfront Times is hosting the city's best brunch restaurants at Union Station in Downtown St. Louis. Grab your friends and come enjoy the best of St. Louis all under one roof! Show some support for the Saint Louis Football Club on Sunday as they take on the Tampa Bay Rowdies at the World Wide Technology Soccer Park! The Great Muslim Cook Off will also take place on Sunday at the World's Fair Pavilion. Local families and caterers will battle for the best meal.

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IVE WORK PLAY

Green Day will be playing at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre on Monday night! Monday starts Downtown Restaurant Week! Gather the family and head downtown for dinner on Monday to receive a 3 course meal for either $25 or $35 based on your choice. There is no coupon needed for this event. Most downtown restaurants are participating in this event. On Monday make your way to the Missouri Botanical Garden for a narrated tram tour throughout the entire garden. The tour is approximately 25-30 minutes where you will travel the whole garden learning about the different plants and sculptures and buildings. Idina Menzel will be performing at the Fabulous Fox Theatre on Tuesday night!

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On Tuesday meet your friends for a Food Truck Event in St. Charles. Come out and enjoy live entertainment and endless possibilities for dinner. This event runs from 5p.m. - 8p.m. On Wednesday join the fun downtown at the annual Glo Run St. Louis. There are plenty of different runs to choose from based on ability and age. There will also be a slew of family activities on race day. Make sure to sign up early to reserve your spot. Grab your love and head to Forest Park on Thursday. The summer "Moonlight Paddleboat Picnic" is back again this year. You will enjoy a romantic evening under the stars as you paddle your way around Post-Dispatch Lake and eat a provided dinner for two. Make sure to sign up early in order to reserve your boat. Did your family miss the 1904 World's Fair in Forest Park? Of course, but do not miss out on the 2017 World's Fare Festival this weekend in the beautiful Forest Park. There will be live entertainment, kids activities, plenty of food options and memorabilia from the original World's Fair. Grab the kids and make it out to the World's Fare Festival happening this weekend. Festival of the Little Hills- Make it out this weekend to Historic Main Street in St. Charles. Enjoy live entertainment and kid activities while shopping for locally made arts and crafts. This festival is a free event and will run through Sunday. Sit back and listen to your favorite blues hits; all while under the iconic St. Louis Arch. The Blues at the Arch summer concert series is every Friday in August. Pack a picnic, pack the kids and make it out to the Arch on Friday nights in August for the Blues at the Arch concert series. It's Friday! Take advantage, The Magic House in Kirkwood is offering a free family night this Friday. Up to two adults and four children may enter the Magic House at no cost. This is an event the Magic House is offering every third Friday each month. Make plans to enjoy a free admission to the Magic House. Bring the family for a fun filled day at the Annual Kids Block Party in Saint Charles. This FREE event will take place on Saturday starting at 10am. There will be a host of kids activities including inflatables, arts and crafts, and live entertainment. Get your one hour of reading everyday done easier when you bring the family out to the annual St. Louis YMCA Book Fair this weekend in Queeny Park. Admission is FREE starting Saturday and books start at just .50 cents. Stock up on some books to have around the house when you're trying to escape the summer heat. Expand your family! On Sunday the Kirkwood Petco is having an open adoption from 12pm-3pm. Come out to Petco and see the all of the different options for that special dog or cat you are wanting to add to the family.

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The Kirchweihfest Celebration is happening again this Sunday. Come join in the German themed attractions in South City. There will be live entertainment and plenty of German inspired food. The Kirchweihfest Celebration starts at 11:00am on Sunday.

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On Monday make sure to step outside during the day to get a glimpse of the total Solar Eclipse. Whether you are in North County, South County, St. Charles or St. Louis City make sure you are able to witness the total solar eclipse. UniverSoul Circus will be in town at the America's Center Dome on Wednesday. Watch as acrobatic gymnasts fly through the air, all while performing death defying tricks. Enjoy a night of entertainment with the whole family. The show starts at 7pm. Pick up your fresh fruits and vegetables at the Ferguson Farmers Market. Fruits and vegetables are not the only thing you will find at the Market. There is always a live band, fresh cooked breakfast options, and vendors selling one of a kind crafts. The Ferguson Farmers Market is every Saturday from 8 a.m. Noon until mid-October.

AUGUST

Join me at Festival of Nations this weekend, one of my favorites! Enjoy over 40 booths of ethnic food, live entertainments all day, and plenty of arts and crafts from around the world. The festival will be this weekend at the beautiful Tower Grove Park, in south Saint Louis City. Bottom's Up Blues Gang will be featured in Clayton's Musical Nights concert series this month. The concert series is held every fourth Sunday of the month in Oak Knoll park in Clayton. The live entertainment begins at 5:00pm.

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Free Ticket Tuesday is going on again at Ballpark Village. Every away game on Tuesday come enter to win tickets and enjoy the game on the big screen! Join in the exercise at Yoga in Ballpark Village. The free Yoga classes start on Wednesday at 6 p.m. All ages, levels, and abilities welcome. On Thursday The Stage at KDHX is hosting a screening of Graphic Means: The History of Graphic Design where you can learn about the tools and processes that were used in Graphic Design and how it is all at our fingertips now. Yes, we have a great rest of the month ahead of us! Please let me know if there is anything that I can do for you.

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P.S. Check out the latest Housing Report , or give me a call or email to see what the real estate market is doing in St. Louis. Let me know what questions I can answer for you. We would love to help you achieve your real estate goals! All the best. -Nate Nate K. Johnson ABR,CRS,GRI Broker/Owner Real Estate Solutions 314-575-7352 Direct | 314-558-6025 Fax | 314-514-9600 x 102 nate@livingstl.com | www.livingstl.com

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OLIVE BAR ROOFTOP O P E N TO N I G H T Click to RSVP COMPLIMENTARY ENTRY 10PM-11:30PM(ladies) and 11:00 (Men)

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How MUCH do Black Bodies Cost

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in the New JIM CROW? The Continued Commodification of Black Bodies in the U.S. - by Veronica Newton

How Much Do Black Bodies Cost in the New Jim Crow? The Continued Commodification of Black Bodies in the US. - by Veronica A. Newton, ABD. Mike Brown-$1.5 Million* Philando Castile- $3 Million* Sandra Bland- $1.9 Million* Eric Garner- $5.9 Million* *Settlements in civil courts. Is this the auction block, slavery or America 2017? Time has changed, but the system has not. Black bodies in the Americas have always been commodified or have always had a dollar amount associated with them. How much are Black bodies worth? For a government embedded in racism, sexism and capitalism, how much are Black bodies worth? This is a question that runs across my mind whenever I read about another police murder of a Black American; followed by a no indictment verdict, ending with a settlement in civil court. Why is it when an African American is murdered by the state, there is rarely any justice in the criminal courts? Why are the police officers rarely indicted on murder charges? Why is it that we, as Black people, seem to only receive ‘victory’ in civil court? Why does the government continue to put a dollar amount on Black people’s lives, and not give justice to the families, and to us as a people? It is often easy, pacifying and truthful to say that the cop was racist, the judge was racist or that the jury was racist to help explain the no indictment verdicts heard across the world. However, there is more to it than that if we further examine the laws and practices of white folk in the US government. Michelle Alexander, the writer of The New Jim Crow, discusses in her book, the series of laws that were changed to favor police officers over civilians. The Supreme Court ruled in Terry v. Ohio (1968) that if a police officer observes unusual or suspicious conduct, the officer is entitled to protect himself/herself and others in the area; therefore, it is constitutionally permissible to stop, question, and frisk individuals, even without probable cause. This ruling allowed for the over-policing in Black and Brown communities and basically federally legalized police brutality. The law is protecting the cop and his or her actions over the safety and lives of civilians. If a police officer ‘feels’ threatened, the law says they have every right to protect themselves in that situation. This helps explain why the officers who have murdered Black men and women have all said, ‘they felt scared of threatened’ during the altercation. Whether or not they actually feared the Black man or woman, does not matter to the courts, since the law states that officers have every right to protect themselves if they believe dangerous activity is occurring. Consequently, when the case is brought into criminal court and the jury has to decide if the law was broken by killing the unarmed Black person, the officer is never indicted because the law in fact has NOT been broken. The law and the system always protects and serves itself and its own interest in keeping power at the top, while not allowing for The People to have any power.

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HOW MUCH DO BLACK... cont.

Officers are supposed to protect and serve, but who and what are they actually protecting and serving? Policing as an occupation has its roots in slavery. White men who owned enslaved Blacks, hired other low income white men to protect and serve them, their plantations and their property. When I say property, I mean African Americans. During enslavement, slave patrollers were hired to find and catch run away enslaved Blacks to bring them back to the plantation for the masters of the enslaved. White men, the masters of the enslaved, for obvious reasons did not want enslaved Blacks to run away, because they wanted Blacks to continue to provide free labor for the plantation; but more importantly masters wanted to maintain their investment in the enslaved Blacks they already had purchased for their plantation, so they would not have to continuously purchase more enslaved Blacks. It was all about the money and power for the masters of the enslaved, as it is still about money and power for all the actors in the criminal justice system. Moreover, slave patrollers just like modern day police officers, have a stake in protecting the system itself because it benefits the people at the top of the system (law makers), which is where police departments receive money and resources. Protecting the system helps whites maintain power and control over how the government is ran. Whites continuously want to reap the benefits of their whiteness within a system built on the murder, rape and enslavement of Black folk and genocide of Indigenous folk. Murder has always been in the interest of colonial white power structures. This is how racism, sexism and capitalism function in the US. With the cycle of the no indictments, the victims’ families seek solace in civil court since the requirements for ‘justice’ and civil crimes have different conditions for wrongful deaths. The power players in the system would rather have taxpayers shell out millions of dollars to the victims’ families than indict the police officers and sentence them to prison. Because again, prisons were birthed out of enslavement and (old) Jim Crow to sustain power and social control over African Americans. Whites in power prefer not to amend the law because the laws benefit them. It also does not cost whites in power any money for the million dollar settlements for the victims’ families. This is how they set up the system and made sure police departments have insurance to determine how much money will be given to the victim’s families in civil court. Furthermore, it is not in the interest of whites in power to change or amend any laws that benefit Blacks, because there is no financial incentive for them to do so. Racism and capitalism are two sides of the same coin. Million dollar settlements for the death of Black folk IS NOT JUSTICE. It is just the system working how it was set up to work. The government and the criminal justice system will always make laws and policies that protect its power and money—regardless of how many Black people are killed along the way. To answer my initial question in the title of this paper, how much do Black bodies cost? They cost taxpayers millions, but cost nothing to whites in power. “What’s the price of a Black man’s life? I check the toe tag, not one zero in sight”- J. Cole If we, as Black Americans want justice within the criminal justice system, then one of our focuses should be on advocating to change the laws that gives protection to the police officers over civilians. This would be an unfamiliar change for the system built on racism, but we must fight the power. Ase! Veronica A. Newton is a St. Louis native and Ph.D. candidate in Sociology with a Ph.D. minor in Black Studies. Sources Michelle Alexander - The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness W.E.B. Dubois - The Souls of Black Folk J. Cole - January 28th: 2014 Forest Hills Drive

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Rev. Dr. Rosalyn R. Nichols

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Hello, I would love it if you took a moment to check out my GoFundMe campaign: CLICK GOFUNDME LINK BELOW TO DONATE https://www.gofundme.com/black-archaeologist-season-4

Your support would mean a lot to me. Thank you so much!

- Michael Lambert

Black Archaeologist. pg.

BLACK COMIX RETURNS - African American Comic Art & Culture

A hardcover collection of art and essays showcasing the best African American artists in today's vibrant comic book culture.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For media information, contact Jeremy Goldmeier, Public Relations & Digital Media Manager (314) 687-4043 jgoldmeier@repstl.org

The Rep announces cast and creative staff for its 51st season opener, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ST. LOUIS – The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is proud to announce its cast and creative team for its 2017-2018 season opener, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. This talented group of artists will bring the 2015 Tony Award winner for Best Play to The Rep stage, September 6 – October 1. Written by Simon Stephens, based on the novel by Mark Haddon and directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, this immersive and thrilling play follows the journey of 15-year-old Christopher as he investigates the murder of his neighbor’s dog.

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As one of the very ﬁrst regional productions of The Curious Incident, The Rep’s production will have a unique ﬂavor from prior runs in New York City and London. Dodge and her creative team will present a production rich in imagination, one that uses movement and choreography to express the unexpected ways in which Christopher sees the world.

Making his Rep debut, Nick LaMedica leads the Curious Incident cast as Christopher. LaMedica recently appeared in the ﬁrst national and international tours of War Horse, as well as productions of As You Like It and Benediction at Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The principal cast includes Jimmy Kieffer as Christopher’s father, Ed, Kathleen Wise (The Winslow Boy, 2015) as Christopher’s mentor, Siobhan, Dale Hodges (Noises Off, 2014) as neighbor Mrs. Alexander and Amy Blackman as Christopher’s mother, Judy. Rounding out the cast are Kevin Cutts (Double Indemnity, 2013), Dathan B. Williams, Ka-Ling Cheung, Michael Baxter and Laiona Michelle. Led by Dodge, who directed The Rep’s celebrated 2013 production of Cabaret, the creative staff includes scenic designer Narelle Sissons (To Kill a Mockingbird, 2017), costume designer Leon Wiebers, lighting designer Matthew Richards (Woman Before a Glass, 2007) and sound designer Fitz Patton (All the Way, 2015). Emilee Buchheit will stage manage the production. The Rep's production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is sponsored by The Fischer Family. Subscriptions to The Rep’s 2017-2018 season are currently on sale, and can be purchased online at repstl.org, by calling the Box Ofﬁce at 314-968-4925 or visiting the Loretto-Hilton Center at 130 Edgar Road (on the campus of Webster University) from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTimeand The Rep’s upcoming season, visit www.repstl.org.

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AFRICAN AMERICAN

Genetic Journey :In Search of the Hidden Seed & the Holy Grail?

African American Genetic Journey: In Search of the Hidden Seed & the Holy Grail? Dr. Tracey McCarthy, PsyD, DCFC, JD, MA Psychologist/Attorney/Professor Legal Studies Department â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Webster University

King Edward VI Science versus History Science research is uncovering some astonishing facts regarding African American history. These findings serve to rival, and bring into question, competing historical data on African American heritage. One body of research comes from the field of genetics. Such emerging knowledge functions to shed new light on the anthropological realities of African Americans and also gives rise to countless questions which beg for answers and further exploration.

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After spending two sabbaticals delving into the histories and current realities of those variously classified as Black American, African, Negro, Indian, Colored, and African American, a number of very interesting findings have emerged. These findings concern the history of human trafficking and the reported current descendants of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. One thing that is certain, after much archival research, is the actual narrative of African American history is significantly more complex than what society has been led to believe by multiple historians and social scientists. Interrogating History

The standard script passed down over time is that somewhere between the 15th and 19th centuries, “Black” African tribal neighbors were at constant war with each other. This culture of war was then used to facilitate transcontinental human trafficking and slavery in collusion with strange “White” Europeans who offered to take between 12 and 25 million captives off of the hands of the African tribes and kingdoms. The general folklore has been that Europeans showed up on the African coasts and began constructing slave castles to warehouse enslaved persons for transit across the Atlantic. These voyages could take several months to accomplish one way. During this time, millions of “Black” Africans who were held against their will, were bound, stacked, and chained in the bottoms of sailboats floating across the Atlantic Ocean.

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AFRICAN AMERICAN GENETIC... cont.

This, supposedly, after many captives walked hundreds of miles from the interior of Africa to dungeons awaiting them on the coasts, where they sat for months before being shipped abroad. Such precious moneymaking human “cargo,” however, was generally provided little food and lived in utter squalor. The story passed down in America has been that a large percentage of the captives died before ever embarking on the voyages. Notably, the sailboat voyage was often close to 10,000 miles one way from Africa to what is now the United States. Mysteriously, much of this human “cargo” was able to survive the voyage and emerge from these sailboats ready to sing, dance, cook, reproduce viable offspring, birth babies, sew, clear fields, drive horses, pick cotton, harvest rice, and grow sugar cane. On one hand, the abductions in Africa have been presented as random and related to warfare. At other times, however, the story passed down has been that individuals were specifically hand selected for the skills they possessed prior to enslavement, such as for rice cultivation. If the enslavement focus was actually on random and easy capture and skill possession, the genetic landscape of African Americans is bizarre to say the least. According to Professor Henry Louis Gates (2013), only about 388,000 enslaved persons were brought to America over the course of time. If true, this is a very small number compared to the 12,000,000 purportedly transported across the Atlantic in totality. This comparatively small number is important in terms of genetic and blood inheritance of African Americans and suggests the possibility that a large number of African Americans may have been hand selected due to their specific ethnicity. It is also likely that the slavery narrative, as currently told, has some big and

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gaping holes in it, which would, perhaps, partially explain the biological anomalies of some African American DNA. Four genetic anomalies have emerged which call for attention. One anomaly is related to male Y Haplogroup DNA. The other anomaly is related to female MtDNA and what are known as the immortal cells. An additional anomaly relates to the distinction between African American DNA and African DNA. Yet another issue is the lack of similarity between African American DNA and other known DNA in science databases. Genetic Immortality Let’s begin with the now famous “immortal cells.” In 1951, cells that basically never die were removed from the body of an African American female named Henrietta Lacks. These cells are known around the world in science circles as the HeLa cells (for the “He” and “La” in Mrs. Lacks’ name). These everproliferating cells, which have found their way around the globe, have been cloned and they never perish. For this reason, what have become known as HeLa cells, have been used the world over to research almost every disease known to humanity. Mrs. Lacks’ DNA is used to test medicines and to study the trajectories of multiple human infirmities over time, from cancer to diabetes. Vaccines, such as the polio vaccine, exist in large part due to her African American genetic composition (Claiborne, 2010) and the wiles of a few “colored” doctors. (Notably, pursuant to Turner (2012), these African American female immortal cells found their way to the famed Tuskegee Institute. There, “colored” medical doctors used HeLa cells to further research to save humanity, while simultaneously issuing death sentences to targeted African American males in the

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DISPLACED

&ERASED

The history of Clayton, Missouri's uprooted black community. emmakriley.com

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AFRICAN AMERICAN GENETIC... cont.

human rights violating Tuskegee syphilis experiments. One need only review the foundations of the experiments to understand the concurrent sacrifices of the African American body on the debauched altar of humanity.) How does an African American woman possess cells that never die and essentially live forever? How and why is an African American female “immortal” in her genealogical makeup? What connection does this woman have to who would be known as “Mitochondrial Eve” in genetics parlance? How did she end up seeded in America, versus some other reportedly ancient part of the world? Why did God make her in this immortal fashion? How many more are really out there, as with Henrietta Lacks, even unknown to themselves? Furthermore, given the purported randomness of the slave trade, how is it that out of all of the world’s humans, and all of the humans in Africa at the time of slavery, this African American woman’s DNA made it to the New World intact? “A” is for “Adam” and “African American” Male This immortal genetic anomaly is enough to digest, but there is yet another genetic and evolutionary finding that raises even more questions regarding the human evolutionary history of African Americans. This finding is that of the African American Albert Perry founding DNA. In 2013, researchers (Mendez et al) affiliated with the University of Arizona discovered the most ancient root of the Y chromosome phylogenetic tree in an African American man. They essentially uncovered that an African American male was in possession of the ultimate “father” DNA. His DNA is the most ancient of all male Y Haplogroup DNA found, thus far, on the planet. The Y chromosome DNA is the paternal genetic heredity marker that is passed from fathers to their sons down through time.

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What does this mean? It means that this African American male’s Y chromosome carries the ancestral genetic state of all modern humans currently on the globe. This DNA has been labeled “A00,” with the “A” standing for none other than “Adam.” This DNA is older than the oldest maternal DNA found on the planet, so far, and predates the oldest human fossils currently known. While this DNA is unknown in the traditional hunter gatherer populations of Sub Saharan West Africa, this male DNA rarity is also found at a very low frequency among discrete Cameroonian males. So, to go along with the African American female Henrietta Lacks’ immortal cells, there is now the African American Albert Perry’s “Adam” DNA. How does such a thing “randomly” happen in the course of human history? Add to these anomalies the fact that many African American males share in the R1B Y male haplogroup with discrete Cameroonians, discrete Native American Indians, discrete Western Eurasian groups, and discrete groups of Western Europeans. Oddly, this DNA marker has not been found profusely among the many West African populations from which enslaved “African American” ancestors were purportedly stolen during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This R1B grouping serves as yet another genetic connection to some Cameroonians, Native American Indians, and Western Europeans (particularly, the Irish) that likely has very little to do with the African American female ancestor slave rape narrative that has been pushed on the African American males who have demonstrated this genetic marker.

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AFRICAN AMERICAN GENETIC... cont.

Cameroonian Connections

It should be noted that certain Cameroonians also have an unusual genetic architecture, as reported in 2011, by researchers (Montano et al) out of Rome and Spain. These researchers looked at what is known as the African Bantu Expansion to examine the Y chromosome variations in Central West Africa. The researchers were surprised by their findings. Of the DNA samples utilized, the researchers concluded that the evolutionary scenario was far more complex than they had anticipated based upon recorded history. While looking at Y chromosome variations in Gabon, the Congo, Nigeria, and Cameroon, the researchers uncovered “a marked differentiation of Cameroonian populations from the rest of the dataset.” Also, the researchers remarked that the dataset populations’ demographic histories showed substantial divergence. (Researcher Dr. Lisa Aubrey from Arizona State University sheds some light on the possible historical connections between Cameroon and some African Americans - which might help explain some of the repeated anomalous genetic coincidences.) Hidden Seed in Plain Sight An additional genetic mystery seems to revolve around the actual obscurity or hidden nature of a large proportion of African American DNA. In 2009, a team

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of researchers (Zakharia et al) affiliated with Stanford University, delved into the African admixed genetic ancestry of African Americans. What they have reported is historically and phenotypically profound and stands to bring into question the Transatlantic Slave Trade narrative. As reported, the team’s research results “indicate that the genetic architecture of African Americans is distinct from that of Africans” in terms of Y male haplogroup genetics. This, they owe to the so-called “European” component (which is generally presumed to be “White”), while simultaneously recognizing that there is no such thing as purely European (or “White”) DNA in the literature. Additional notations by Zakharia et al (2009) involved attempts at characterizing the African origins of African Americans by comparing and contrasting such with indigenous Africans from varying geographic and linguistic groups. These groups included the Mandenka from West Africa, the Yoruba from West Central Africa, Bantu speaking persons from Southwestern and Eastern Africa, the Pygmy and the Mbuti Pygmy from Central Africa, and the San from Southern Africa. “White” European Americans were used to represent potential European ancestors of the African Americans. One of the issues noted by these researchers in conducting their examination was that other research of maternal MtDNA haplotypes in African Americans revealed that 40% of African American maternal DNA sequences “matched no sequences in the African database” referenced. Also, “Fewer than 10% of AfricanAmerican mtDNA haplotypes matched exactly to a single African ethnic group.” When matches were found, however, such tended to match haplotypes found among various ethnic groups in West Africa or Central West Africa. (Please note, this does not mean this is where all African Americans came from prior to the slave trade. Such simply points out similar genetic inheritance between the groups.

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Now-Aug. 19: WORLD WAR I: MY FELLOW SOLDIERS EXHIBIT SLPL commemorates the centenary of America's official involvement in the First World War, with the exhibit, â&#x20AC;&#x153;World War I: My Fellow Soldiers," on display until August 19 at Central Library. A global conflict of unprecedented destruction and staggering loss of human life, the United States' participation led the Allies to victory and transformed our nation into an indisputable leader on the world stage.

Aug. 1-31: FERGUSON VOICES: DISRUPTING THE FRAME The Ferguson Voices: Disrupting the Frame exhibit will be on display throughout the month of August at Schlafly Library. The exhibit is open during normal Library hours. Please join us on August 3 for a panel discussion highlighting the Ferguson Voices Exhibit.

Aug 12: MYSTERY IN THE STACKS Solve the Mystery in the Stacks. Gather clues by interviewing suspects, using Library resources and exploring the Schlafly Library. Enjoy a mysterious scavenger hunt, testing both your brain and your powers of observation.

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Interview with Veronica Newton Runaway enslaved patrol...

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AFRICAN AMERICAN GENETIC... cont.

What makes this all so odd is that all African Americans are said to generally emerge directly from Africa. A huge portion of the genetic sequences, however, do not find an expected match in this homeland. There are, of course, a few possible explanations for this. Truth May Be Stranger than Fiction One possibility is that researchers have simply been unable to locate some current discrete ethnic group with genetic sequences similar to the obscure ones found in African Americans. Another possibility is that the comparison group or groups no longer exist due to extermination, natural extinction, or some other form of annihilation (such as literally being â&#x20AC;&#x153;writtenâ&#x20AC;? out of existence).

An alternative possibility is also that researchers have simply not compared the DNA of African Americans with a matching group due to an assumption that African Americans have no affiliation with such a group. For instance, failure to test African American DNA against the various ruins found in all Indian burial mounds might preclude researchers from finding matches that are readily available, yet are systematically ignored.

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Yet an additional potential explanation is that a large percentage of African Americans are descended from a distinct group that was taken from Africa or somewhere else as a complete entity, meaning that the group can only be compared to itself (as it is genetically incomparable along whatever dimension is being measured). By way of summary, many African Americans may actually represent an entire abducted and trafficked kingdom or tribe that only now exists primarily amongst itself in terms of global ethnicities. This would be the result of genocide and ethnic cleansing, which might explain the sense of ethnic aloneness many African Americans experience in the world compared to many other ethnic groups. Such might also make clear the three-continent-collusion (Europe-Africa-America) to totally obscure African American heritage. Why is the history such a secret? Given that many African Americans claim Indigenous American heritage and European heritage unrelated to the Transatlantic Slave Trade, it would be prudent for researchers to explore the possibility that many African Americans may, in fact, represent Indigenous Native American tribes which have been erroneously deemed extinct and disenfranchised. Indian mound research likely holds the key to many questions.

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AFRICAN AMERICAN GENETIC... cont.

Does anyone really still believe that entire Indian nations at every single location where slavery was introduced in the New World just miraculously went extinct, while certain other Indian nations miraculously remained intact and under treaties? Genetic anomalies found among African Americans might also represent a gene pool from the total movement of political and/or religious refugees from Europe related to the 30 Years War and the War of the Roses. Another possibility is that a large number of African Americans may descend from the Black Nobility of Europe who were likely genetically linked. There is also a high possibility that a large number of African Americans found their way to American shores through the Barbary Slave Coast human trafficking scheme that conveniently coincided with the Transatlantic Slave Trade out of Africa. Given the expulsion of both Moors and Jews from Spain and Portugal during the Inquisition, it is also likely that some African Americans were among such persons who headed to the Americas and Africa from Europe. Finally, a large number of African Americans may have been transplanted out of England by order of Queen Elizabeth 1 who demanded that “Negars” be removed from the country posthaste. (See below.) “In around 1600, the presence of black people had become an issue for the English government.” “In 1601, among the Cecil papers still held at Hatfield House, we hear this: ‘The queen is discontented at the great numbers of 'negars and blackamoores' which are crept into the realm since the troubles between her Highness and the King of Spain, and are fostered here to the annoyance of her own people.’

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“In July 1602, Cecil was putting pressure on the merchants, one of whom wrote:” ‘I have persuaded the merchants trading to Barbary, not without some difficulty, to yield to [ie pay for] the charges of the Moors lately redeemed out of servitude by her Majesty's ships, so far as it may concern their lodging and victuals, till some shipping may be ready to carry them into Barbary…’ (British Broadcasting Company, 2012). (The Elizabethan period lasted from 1533-1603, after which time the Stuarts took over the monarchy through King James VI & I from 1603-1625. The period from 1567-1625 marked the Jacobean (King James) era.)

King James VI & I & “Black Boy” King Charles II These are all very distinct plausible explanations of African American histories, given the findings of researcher William Piersen (1997) who noted that, for some odd reason, many enslaved African Americans were mysteriously versed in multiple languages during America’s early history. Specifically, Piersen indicated, “During the colonial era it was not unusual for African Americans to be

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St. Louis Auditions! th th Aug. 26 & 27

CLICK HERE or more information.

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AFRICAN AMERICAN GENETIC... cont.

multilingual, and some spoke several European languages as well as their own African natal tongue.â&#x20AC;? One would have to wonder exactly what types of individuals, and what socioeconomic statuses of people, would be proficient in multiple European languages, as well as an African one. Luso Africans and Lancados, perhaps? Genetics and the Journey to Justice Irrespective of the possible explanations, it seems very questionable that the anomalous genetic history of African Americans is some random human trafficking fluke. What seems more likely is that many African Americans were selected specifically for their genetic stock and their peculiar ethnicity prior to coming to the United States or upon being found in America when enslavers arrived on the shores. Nevertheless, the findings and queries have far reaching implications for further historical and anthropological analysis. Such also, more importantly, bring into question legal and mala in se human rights issues of genocide, identity theft, massive land theft, and centuries of ethnic cleansing of African Americans. Ethnic cleansing involves systematic and forced extraction, homogenization, and/or deportation of a group, often involving murder and genocidal rape. Ethnic cleansing also typically includes eradicating cultural and physical evidence of a targeted group. Sound familiar? Together, these violations rival even the current slave descendant claims related to enslavement and Jim Crow apartheid, which served as the foundations of the recent 2016 United Nations determination of causes for African American reparations (Tharoor, 2016).

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No reparations, however, should be offered, negotiated, or accepted until such time as the totality of collusive historic harm - involving three continents and multiple private parties - has been fully elucidated. This includes historic harm growing out of ethnic cleansing. The issues are beyond black and white and brown and white and are bound up in multiple shades of gray and tan. The DNA findings are just the tip of a very wide and deep iceberg.

Sources Consulted: 

British Broadcasting Company. (2012). Britain's first black community in Elizabethan London. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18903391.



Claiborne, R. (2010). How One Woman's Cells Changed Medicine. http://abcnews.go.com/WN/henrietta-lacks-woman-cells-polio-cancer-flu-researchmedicine/story?id=9712579.



Gates, H. (2013). How Many Slaves Landed in the U.S.? http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/how-manyslaves-landed-in-the-us/.



Mendez, F., Krahn T., Schrack B., Krahn, A., Veeramah, K., Woerner, A., Fomine, F., Bradman, N., Thomas, M., Karafet, T., & Hammer, M. (2013). An African American paternal lineage adds an extremely ancient root to the human Y chromosome phylogenetic tree. American Journal of Human Genetics, 92(3), 454-459.



Montano, V., Ferri, G., Marcari, V., Batini, C., Anyaele, O., Destro-Bisol, G., & Comas, D. (2011). The Bantu expansion revisited: A new analysis of Y chromosome variation in Central Western Africa. Molecular Ecology, 20: 2693–2708. doi:10.1111/j.1365294X.2011.05130.x.



Piersen, P. (1997). From Africa to America: African American history from the Colonial Era to the Early Republic, 1526-1790. New York, NY: Twayne Publishers.



Tharoor, I. (2016). U.S. owes black people reparations for a history of ‘racial terrorism,’ says U.N. panel. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/09/27/u-s-

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AFRICAN AMERICAN GENETIC... cont.

owes-black-people-reparations-for-a-history-of-racial-terrorism-says-u-npanel/?utm_term=.7f1084bd412f. 

Turner, T. (2012). Development of the polio vaccine: A historical perspective of Tuskegee University’s role in mass production and distribution of HeLa Cells. J Health Care Poor Underserved, 23(40), 5–10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4458465/.



Twombly, R., & Moore, R. (1967). Black Puritan: The Negro in seventeenth-century Massachusetts. The William and Mary Quarterly, 24(2), 224-242.



Zakharia, F., Basu, A., Absher, D., Assimes, T., Go, A., Hlatky, M., Iribarren, C., Knowles, J., Li, J., Narasimhan, B., Sidney, S., Southwick, A., Myers, R., Quertermous, T., Risch, N., & Tang, H. (2009). Characterizing the admixed African ancestry of African Americans. Genome Biology, 10(12), 200910:R141, https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2009-1012-r141.



https://www.biography.com/people/henrietta-lacks-21366671?_escaped_fragment_.



https://www.britannica.com/event/Thirty-Years-War.



http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/early_times/docs/acc_scotp10 1.htm.

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Walking the Blue Line: A Police Officer Turned Community Activist Provides Solutions for the Racial Divide By Terrell Carter Bettie Youngs Book Publishers

$15.00 paperback

“As I recall my experiences, I find it incredulous that people in law enforcement honestly believe and say that a racial divide and racial profiling don’t exist. An officer’s mind is divided: first, between the police and the general public and second, between the police and minorities.”~ Terrell Carter Walking the Blue Line follows the author’s experiences growing up as a black child in St. Louis, MO, a racially charged city still trying to overcome its divided past, and his five year journey as a law enforcement officer which led him to reevaluate his views on citizens and police alike. Readers are taken on a compelling journey as he details personal stories of the challenges of navigating this new world, including how he had to testify against a former partner for falsifying a major drug arrest. Terrell details the thoughts and tactics of police officers based on their training in the police academy and lessons they learn on the streets and how this information can help citizens better understand why officers do what they do while still holding them accountable for protecting and serving their communities. Walking the Blue Line can be ordered from www.terrellcarter.net, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and traditional booksellers.

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A CALL TO CONSCIENCE PRESENTS

THE PRICE OF THE TICKET FILM SCREENING/PANEL DISCUSSION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2 @ 7 P.M. SCHLAFLY BRANCH LIBRARY 225 N. EUCLID 63108

James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; December 1, 1987) was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, activist and social critic. Click this link for more information on this presentation and on A CALL TO CONSCIENCE

Link: http://www.acalltoconscience.org/ pg.

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The Lyrical Prowess of African Americans

This

is going to date me, but I’ve been enthralled with words for

a very long time. In elementary school, I always scored among the highest or the highest on the spelling tests. But of course, no one in my school paid this much attention. So I just chalked it up to one of those talents that just didn’t mean much. I’ve since revised that thinking because being a good speller for one helps you to look up words in the dictionary as you have to know or kind of know how to spell the word you’re looking up. But it also aids in reading comprehension and effective writing. For many years, I surrounded my bed with dictionaries (this is what dates me) from the Oxford, the two giant volumes with words so tiny it came with a magnifying glass, but also Webster Dictionary, Random House and others.

Of course I had more than my fair share of

thesauruses. In the wake of night, at any moment, I could look up the meaning of a word. Then came online dictionaries along with several dictionary apps and all those stodgy relics were cast aside.

Now

dictionaries are piled on one another in a lonely and forlorn corner akin to a scorned lover. Occasionally there are forays for old-time sake to these books of words stacked like leaning towers to leaf through comfortable and familiar pages finding the first and last word, headwords as it were, on the upper-left and upper-right hand side of the page to guide me alphabetically to the right one. With pointing finger deftly moving up and down the page landing on the right word

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to feast my eyes and mind on nomenclature, idioms, diction and jargon. It even spelled out (no play on words) how the word is used in a sentence and its origin. It’s like being in seventh heaven. Yet this is a digression. The purpose of this article is to present how words can be fashionable similar to styles of dress, cars, songs, etc. But also to call to mind the phrase, “African Americanisms,” which evokes a unique lyrical supremacy, part and parcel of the culture that cannot be overlooked. throw shade DEFINITION publicly criticize or express contempt for someone: "if she was really so above it all, she wouldn't have to throw shade" · "they weren't the only people who threw shade at her performance"§ §Oxford English Dictionary (Online)

African Americans are exceptionally deft in their use of words, phrases, slang and the like usually in a jocular or fanciful manner -- but always rhythmic, hip and cool. This unique combination of skill, creativity and verve tends to spread beyond their cultural landscape. After it flows into the mainstream of life, then annoyance sets in, particularly when outsiders completely appropriate it. Cultural appropriation can be more infuriating when there is no compensation yet the appropriators get handsomely paid. That typically means the usage is now obsolete and can quickly go from new cool to old school. Shall I use the term “My bad?” (Seemingly dying a slow death.) Then another flurry of words are unleashed, fluttering upwards then descending upon the masses like drizzling rain.

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THE LYRICAL PROWESS... cont.

While this article looks more so at popular culture, this writer would be remised if it didn’t give at least cursory attention to great Black orators and/or writers -- just to name a few: Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordon, Richard Wright, Zora Neal Hurston, James Baldwin, the Rev.(s) Dr. Martin Luther King, C.T. Vivian, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton. The force of their use of the English language is legendary. But even physical expressions of modern urbanity seem to mostly originate from African Americans like the “fist bump,” now de rigueur or rather common. Before that it was the high five and then the low five and most likely something else before that.

These were ways

people approvingly connected, boosting camaraderie, being social and celebrating. Athletes gleefully jump up chest-to-chest to lightly bump each other after a great play, for example. When Barack Obama locked in that historic Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008 becoming the first Black U.S. president, he and his lovely wife Michelle engaged in the fist bump. Quickly some elements of the corporate-controlled media -- obviously not on top of their game -- erroneously termed it a “terrorist fist bump.”

But on further

investigation, journalists discovered that even President George H.W. Bush had engaged in this cultural heft, conveying his street creds or sophistication, previously unbeknownst to many. dropped their cruel slur of the Obamas.

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So, they quietly

So what’s behind these catchy sobriquets?

It’s the cutting-edge

language of the nation’s 13 percent of the population resonating the spirit of the time. And like life itself, it fades in and out. Their brio, energy and savvy foster cultural capital and linguistic intelligence, cultivating attitudes and influencing economic forces.

Perhaps this

talent was inherited from the motherland or the fact that most African Americans reside in cities where the happenings are, the fast pace of it all, their exposure to multicultural and culturally diverse people and settings as well as their more openness to change. These could well be some of the contributing factors. Not to say that all buzzwords so to speak emanate from one ethnic group, it’s just that much of it seems to be born in the crucible of Black activism, music, dance and sports, even the drug/criminal subculture. When you begin to see quirky TV commercials showing and using the term “drop the mic,” then you begin to believe something is going on here. When White couples are cooing like lovebirds lovingly calling each other “boo” then another red flag goes up. Throw shade is another one that seems to be spreading, meaning being disrespectful according to the online Urban Dictionary. But this is a term that has been rebooted and refashioned. For example, Bernard von Bulow, chancellor of the German Empire, 1900 to 1909 said: We desire to throw no one into the shade (in East Asia), but we also demand our place in the sun.

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THE LYRICAL PROWESS... cont.

Throwing Shade is also part of the Black and Latino gay and transgender community. It was bantered about as far back as the 1990 documentary film, Paris is Burning, signaling the end of the New York City drag balls and where rival fashion houses strutted their stuff on the runway. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In a July 23, 2017 New York Times interview of California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, she was asked how it felt to be a meme (widespread popularity). Waters responded: I have been adopted by the millennials, and I’m enjoying every minute of it! I’m learning a new language. You never think about shade, for example other than, you know, “a tree is providing shade,” but when they taught me what shade was, I thought: Now isn’t that creative?

Even TV reporters are quoting Jay-Z and other rappers; Kendrick Lamar and Chance the Rapper also come to mind. Ari Melber of MSNBC cable news, also a lawyer, quoted J-Hova to support his questioning of the FBI examining Anthony Weiner’s wife’s computer, a top aide to Hillary Clinton. Weiner, the former New York congressman, with a sexting compulsion, had been inadvertently caught up in the Democratic presidential candidate’s FBI email investigation. Melber was alluding to the rights of citizens protesting the over-reach of law enforcement.

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"No greater authority than Jay Z's "99 Problems" when he says, ‘My glove compartment is locked, so is the trunk in the back. And I know my rights, you are going to need a warrant for that,'" Melber calmly rapped.

On July 2 this year Melber had a segment on MSNBC with Jay-Z business associate Kevin Liles, CEO, 300 Entertainment, called the Impact of Jay-Z.

Even President Obama waxed that he is the only

president (thus far) to listen to Jay-Z in the Oval Office. Of course everyone seemed enthralled with “He better call Becky with the good hair” fumed Beyonce in her Lemonade album stoking the smoldering embers of a suspicion that there was a Jezebel lurking amongst the Carter couple. The Becky meme was one of the quickest to go viral with mucho speculations of who this would-be home wrecker, this cheap opportunist, might be. It’s uncertain whether her identity ever became public. And let’s not let the man off the hook, with all Jay-Z’s bravado, street smarts and business acumen and to boot, risking a breakup with the “baddest” and the highest paid performer in the game, he apparently couldn’t resist the siren song of a Becky. There are other terms as well that seem to have staying power, such as “being woke,” an activists’ clarion call for being socially/politically conscious. Another is “haters gonna hate;” now these green-eyed monsters are just called “haters.”

Some accused them of drinking

hater-ade. Or chiding don’t hate the player hate the game. “Hatin’ on Venus and Serena (the Williams sisters are top pro tennis players) has

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THE LYRICAL PROWESS... cont.

become a sport of its own,” said Denise Oliver Velez, The Guardian article, July 23, 2017, Trump’s Obama Derangement Syndrome isn’t really about Obama.” The rapper Ludacris now hosting the MTV show, Fear Factor, is vying to be the next Ryan Seacreast, American radio personality, television host and producer. Ludacris raps one of his favorites: Cause I don’t really think that the fact that I’m Slim matters A plague and platinum status is wack if I’m not the baddest

When “King of Kush” Snoop Dog or Snoop Lion has a TV show with “Queen of Cuisine” Martha Stewart on Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party, nominated this year for an Emmy, the cross-fertilization has come full circle. All in all, this fusion signals the confluence of an “Africanized Europe and a Europeanized Africa.” On September 24, 2016 at the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama said: … too often, we ignored or forgot the stories of millions upon millions of others, who built this nation just as surely, whose humble eloquence, whose calloused hands, whose steady drive helped to create cities, erect industries, build the arsenals of democracy.

Of course, all nationalities including Native Americans have played an important role in shaping the U.S. cultural landscape.

Yet there

appears to be a greater prominence of the African American cultural

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inflection. African Americans have long had their fingers on the pulse of the public and their ear to the ground, bearing witness and voicing contradictions. A melting pot it isn’t (a pot melting makes no sense). Instead it’s more like a simmering mulligan stew comprised of a hodge-podge of conveniently available meats and vegetables with just the right temperature and amount of liquid. The cook, like a cultural/thought leader, instinctively knows the right time to turn off the heat right before it comes to bubble and boil, serving it up to feed a family of nations. Words are the essential ingredients that add spice and flavor to mulligan’s motley assortment, called the human condition. In short, words can take on biblical powers and grandeur and should be a higher priority for students contrary to some of my teachers who lacked a healthy respect for this part of the curriculum.

I secretly

disagreed with this cavalier dismissal and kept looking up words in my trusty dictionaries, increasing my vocabulary, my knowledge and English proficiency. Now I’m a writer. Can you believe it! Malaika Horne, PhD, is an academic writer and journalist

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Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

Missouri NAACP Issues

TRAVEL ADVISORY At the peak of the summer travel season, the Missouri State NAACP is warning African Americans to exercise caution when visiting the Show-Me State.

“We hope individuals in the state or visiting or traveling through will be aware of what they’re entering into. In Missouri people of color are stopped 75 percent more often than other motorists, and that is based on 16 years of data. It is incredible, and the only other thing is it’s getting worse each year,” says the state’s NAACP President, Rod Chapel. Chapel cited the data released by the state’s attorney general and anecdotal evidence as compelling reasons for the unusual decision to warn motorists, saying they are “not safe on the roads.” Chapel, who is a lawyer, points to examples of African American motorists being harassed and murdered.

That individual was the sheriff in Mississippi County, Cory Hutcheson, whose allegations of criminal wrongdoing already cast doubt on his ability to lead a law enforcement agency. Since then the state Attorney General has removed Hutcherson’s and is promising an investigation into Sanders’ death. But, during those days in May while Sanders remained in the custody of Hutcheson and his deputies, there were numerous phone calls between Sanders and his mother. Chapel says Sanders’ mother told investigators her son said, ‘They’re trying to kill me in here.’ An autopsy revealed there were no bruises on Sanders’ body, but there were marks from tasers. And, at one point, the sheriff’s department called in a mental health expert to evaluate Sanders, who suffered from depression. The expert reportedly determined that Sanders was fine and should be released. But, Sanders was not released. His family met with authorities and returned to Tennessee to bury their loved one while the cause of death is still undetermined.

The most recent example involves a young Black man who took a wrong turn on Interstate 55 while driving from his home in Nashville to Memphis. 28-year-old Tory Sanders ended up in the Mississippi County jail in the Missouri Bootheel. Days later, authorities say Sanders “became combative” and fought six officers before he was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens is also under fire for contributing to a racially biased climate by signing legislation making it more difficult to sue for workplace discrimination. Chappell and a trio of ecumenical clergy met with the Republican governor in hopes of dissuading him by posing an argument based, in part, on one of the tenets shared by most religions. “They said, ‘We have an obligation to look out for the least of these…who are historically disadvantaged and now have lost civil rights protections long fought for,’” recalls Chapel.

Chapel says, “Tory ran out of gas outside of Charleston, Missouri. He called his mother who suggested he contact the police for help. Tory was never arrested but ended up in a jail cell where he died. How did that happen? The individual who took the last charge who literally ran into the cell where he was…had no business handling inmates or anyone else.”

Despite the meeting and a rally at the Capitol, Greitens signed the legislation the Friday before the Fourth of July and did so in private. Senate Bill 43 allows lawsuits against employers but not the individuals accused of workplace discrimination, places a cap on damage awards, and applies to discrimination lawsuit involving housing and public accommodations.

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Chapel says, “This flies in the face of what we believe to be justice and equality, not only in Missouri, but in the United States.”

spiritual guidepost or moral underpinning or at least have a fundamental understanding of Constitutional rights, must come together whether it’s the NAACP or a faith-based organization or another civic organization to insist that protections are made or to seek redress when violations occur.”

The ACLU says Senate Bill 43 will “usher in a new era of ‘acceptable’ racism, sexism and xenophobia in Missouri. This bill makes workplaces potentially more hostile for Missouri’s women, people of color and religious minorities.”

Missouri’s Record on Race Missouri’s history is a recitation of referendums on race. It was Missouri’s request in 1819 to enter the United States as a slave state that triggered the Missouri Compromise. To maintain the balance of power between the slave and free states, Congress admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. Legislators also passed an amendment establishing a boundary between free and slave regions that were part of the Louisiana Purchase. The effort staved off The Civil War, but tensions continued to escalate between pro-slavery and anti-slavery states. Decades later in 1857, the Dred Scott case thrust Missouri back into the spotlight. Dred Scott argued that he was a free man because his slave owner had taken him into Illinois, a free state, and Wisconsin which was a free territory. Most of the Supreme Court Justices were from slave states, and the Court ruled that Scott was not a citizen and the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. The decision outraged Northerners and further inflamed tensions, setting the stage for the Civil War. Chapel remembers the stories his family passed down through generations, chronicling their participation in the ongoing struggle for civil rights and social justice. “My family’s been involved with the NAACP since well before Brown v. The Board of Education. They picked cotton on a neighbor’s land to send money to fund the litigation that became Brown v. the Board of Education,” he says. “And, they mailed the money from a different town to avoid attracting attention from the KKK which would have had significant and swift reprisal.” Ironically, Chapel is leading the NAACP in Missouri at a time when race relations in America are strained and the country is deeply divided along racial lines. As a frontline advocate in a state with Missouri’s history and the nation’s current climate, Chapel admits there are some major challenges. Marshalling the spirit of advocacy learned from his family’s legacy, he insists, “Informing the public about the attacks is critical. And for people who are concerned, Americans and Missourians who may or may not be people of color but believe in the Golden Rule as a Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

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An artist's duty, as far as I am concerned, is to reflect the times. (Nina Simone)

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I choose to reflect the times and the situations in which I find myself. How can you be an artist and not reflect the times? (Nina Simone)

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JAY-Z

and the Remaking of His Manhood. Or, The Crumpled and Forgotten Freedom Papers of Mr. Shawn Carter.

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Woke up this morning with my mind Stayed on freedom Woke up this morning with my mind Stayed on freedom Woke up this morning with my mind Stayed on freedom Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah…. — Civil Rights Movement song

Volume 1.

hen I was a little boy my mother, ever-protective of me and the world outside of our ghetto windows — the criminals, the hustlers, the drug addicts, the winos, the adults who “messed with children” in inappropriate ways, the violence, those police who might kill us simply for being Black and, consequently, dangerous — would quote the Bible, in her own way, warning me, more times than I can count, that the truth will set you free, or a liar is a thief, or a lie will leave you dead, or something to that effect. My ma’s point, which I have hauled with me my entire existence, is that we must always fight for ourselves, for truth, always fight to tell our own stories, otherwise someone else will do it for us, often to our demise

Because the ghetto is not merely a sunken place savagely pistol-whipped with poverty, fear, hopelessness, despair. It is also an emotional space, a cataclysmic nightmare pretending to be normal; and if you live there long enough, a nightmare that becomes mighty difficult to shake, for no matter where you go there you are, trauma, pain, scars. Like I was there the first thirteen years of my and devastation.

life, in my hometown of Jersey City, New Jersey, which I have learned, because of much movement and travel in my adult years, is no different than the poorest parts of Brooklyn, or Detroit, or Washington, D.C., or New Orleans, or Atlanta, or Miami, or Chicago, or Houston, or Seattle, or Los Angeles, or Oakland, or any other urban enclave one came name. The ghetto is the ghetto, and it is not merely about life when you are born and seemingly trapped there, unless you get fantastically lucky. It is simultaneously about survival however possible, legal, illegal, spiritual, diabolical, whatever it takes to withstand the uninterrupted barrage of insanity that gets at you. Not like we are given a blueprint, a box full of tools, physical or mental, or otherwise, to navigate and negotiate the madness. For sure, we spend our lives looking over our shoulder. I know I do, in spite of everything. Because I am a Black man, because I am a writer, because I am an activist — someone inevitably hates you for one or more of these reasons. Thus, you spend your woke hours doing a “stick and move stick and move” as The Notorious B.I.G. once muttered. But you are eternally like those big Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

bloated black rats my mother and I had in every single one of our tenement buildings, sprinting and squeezing from space to space, from hole to hole, and bumping into one wall or one object or another, hoping that you do not get killed, in some way, or kill yourself, so that you can make it to the next day. You are conditioned to believe that you are going to die young, before your time as the elders say, as one of my friends recently did, in his 40s, from a terrible and insatiable liquor habit, because it was the one thing, for him, that could dull the damage he had been conceived under as a fetus, quite literally, and what had circled and harassed him his entire short life, like a punch-drunk prizefighter slapboxing with the devil. Slow suicide, I call it, when we are not able to be honest with ourselves, when we do things that destroy us, that destroy others, because we do not know any better, or because we just do not care, or because we have given up. Add to that being a Black man drop-kicked into a globe dominated by a mountaintop of things White male-ish and rinsed in power and privilege, and your definitions of manhood, from certain kinds of White males, on television, in film, in popular culture, in your school textbooks, via the various levels of government — like everywhere — means you’ve got to figure out your own definition of manhood, which, in the main, is a bootleg definition of that powerful and privileged White manhood. Their power is your power, their privilege is your privilege, and their material possessions become your wet dreams, your aphrodisiac. You want what they have, not every White man but, yes, the ones with the power and the privilege, the ones who truly are the boss, the innovators, the superheroes, the saviors, the anointed and hailed rock stars. And if a poor Black male you hardly stand a chance if, like me, if, like JAY-Z, you inherited nothing except the color of your skin and a target on both your forehead and your back. And the ghetto you were given and in which you feel that you are stuck, permanently. For this is what American racism and American classism have wrought, what has been created, maintained, spread, like crack cocaine and the AIDS virus back in the day, coast to coast. Call it whatever you want to call it — ghettoes, inner cities, underprivileged populations — it doesn’t matter. What matters are the people who are trapped in these spaces, as I felt I was in the Greenville section of Jersey City, as JAY-Z felt he was in Marcy Houses in the BedfordStuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. And what we www.the-arts-today.com

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JAY-Z AND THE ... cont.

children of the ghetto feel, without fail, no matter where we land, is a need to tell our truths, to clutch the spiked bloody hand of survival, to step to those who would try to injure us or otherwise box us in, and to do battle with them, and with ourselves. I would be straight lying to you if I said that despite twelve books and hundreds and hundreds of published writings and probably at least a thousand speeches across America and internationally over the past two decades that I still do not tussle ferociously with the dark shadows and long nightmares of my past. I do. The physical violence and uncontrollable bursts of raw rage are not there any longer, have been long gone, thanks to years upon years of therapy and my spiritual practices, but the internal wars go on around self-esteem, staggering bouts with sadness, with depression, and triggers sparked by mean words my mother hollers, even now, or thoughts about the tremendous emptiness I endlessly have because of my father’s disappearing act when I was eight. This leaves you, if you are a man, if you are a Black man, also struggling with issues of intimacy and self-expression, of trying to figure out, often with little help from others, how to be a man who is not a human lethal weapon, to self, to others.

crazy, the price of the amusement park ticket is people trying to fix or distract you in some way. With the Lawd. With Jesus. With corrupt and crooked preachers and corrupt and crooked politicians. With prayer cloths and prayer oils. With that drug. With that liquor. With money. With unwise and irresponsible sexual adventures. With video games and television shows and movies and music that freeze your brain cells. With food that will one day give you diabetes or a heart attack or a stroke or cancer. With anything and everything that would, allegedly, take the pain away, and make you feel better. But those things are merely temporary Band-Aids; for the larger problem is that there is just no way to survive, and win, no matter who you are, in a way that is human, that is whole, physically, spiritually, emotionally, if you have not been taught how. I know I did not know, which is why I found myself, in my twenties, in my thirties, into my forties, yes, regrettably like those ghetto rats crashlanding into objects and walls and each other. Because you are forevermore in search of yourself, forevermore in search of a hero or shero, beyond yourself, forevermore in search of a meaning to your life, to your soul. And even the fortunate ones amongst us are not immune from the charade that is this thing we call life, Black or otherwise, as And then there are the secrets. Those of us who were made in America. verbally abused, or beaten viciously at times, or physically and emotionally abandoned, or all of the above, like me. We know why, if we ain’t afraid of the truth: Racism in Those of us who might have been raped, or sexually America has worked so well, for so long, that it can proudly assaulted, or molested. Those of us who cried loudly for sit back in its leather recliner, kick its cob-webbed feet up, that father love but our pops could not teach us to be men and watch us crush ourselves and each other, daily weekly because they had no idea either. Those of us who did not yearly for entire lifetimes. The oppressed will always tell the family secrets, or our own secrets, who wore the believe the worst about themselves, because they have masks to cover up that trauma, to cover up that pain, to been taught well by the oppressor. It is the obvious that pretend to be what we were not, just to survive. And yeah JAY-Z points out, light versus dark, rich versus poor, those how the wounded prey on and maim each other. Passed with access to mainstream America versus those who do from generations before, passed amongst each other like not, but it is also the meanness we see, today, on social a bottle of liquor or a marijuana joint, I have since learned media. The folks — White Black everybody everybody— these many years later that this applies not exclusively to who make it their business to dis those they do not like, who poor people in America, or working-class Black males in they do not agree with, in the worst ways imaginable. I’ve America, but also to middle class and super-rich Americans been on the receiving end of quite a bit of this, and it stings, of all backgrounds, too. Because we live in a nation, in a badly, especially coming from people Black like you. As I world, that does not encourage truth-telling, or honesty, or am sure it hurt JAY-Z as a child, as a young man, in these healing, or self-empowerment in a manner that is holistic, times, to be called “ugly” over and over because he has full that is healthy. What is encouraged, supported, spread like African lips and an expansive African nose and does not fit the latest trending topic on Twitter, is rugged individualism someone’s hateful vision of what it is to be handsome or and individual success stories that leave out the garbage- cute. Imagine what that does to the psyche of anyone: you stink back alleys of life; what feels nurtured, supported, are ugly because we said so…. encouraged, is darkness, is dysfunction, is self-sabotage, is a culture of dishonesty and dissing of self and dissing and So, when I came to JAY-Z’s thirteenth and newest album, outing of others; and is a dependency on being so unwell “4:44,” I came with no expectations, but thoroughly intrigued that the unwell is celebrated or sensationalized or both, by his marketing genius that had us wondering, for weeks while those who are trying to sort through the bull____ and on end, why “4:44” was plastered everywhere, who put heal are considered, well, crazy. And when you are labeled these numbers there, and what did it mean, precisely? But

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then we found out it was JAY-Z: it was the time JAY-Z woke up to pen perhaps the most mind-blowing apology from a man to a woman ever heard in pop music history, as the title song. As an album “4:44” is as abrupt a departure from JAY-Z’s lyrical norm as “What’s Going On” was for Marvin Gaye. What they have in common are real-world events that forced them to stand nose-to-nose in the mirror in ways they never had before. For Gaye that included the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the riots and protests happening everywhere. There was the turbulent marriage to his first wife, the sister of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, where there was misery, where Marvin, as perhaps a somewhat misguided exit strategy, made explicitly sexual music that touted his affairs with other women, including a teenager. And then there was the tragic death of his beloved singing partner Tami Terrell. Marvin had no choice but to re-imagine and re-invent himself, else he might have perished far sooner than he did. “What’s Going On” was his plea to us, to himself, his rebel yell for help. We know Marvin never really got that help and by the time he was close to JAY-Z’s age his own father shot him down during one of their many heated arguments. The love-hate of father and son, the father blasting a son who had spoken very candidly about his depression and drug use, but could never quite get off that corner, dead at the hands of his father…. For JAY-Z it has been the symbolic and historic presidency of Barack Obama and the many doubts about that president’s allegiance to those Black like him; rampant, out-of-control police murders of Black folks (countless ones captured on video) and the siren scream of Black Lives Matter; the explosive and angry rise of Donald Trump’s America; the Black-on-Black violence in the Brooklyns of America; JAY’s father longing the father longing of far too many Black males in post-Civil Rights America; the prisonindustrial complex that has gleefully gobbled up the lives of men from communities like JAY’s Brooklyn; and JAY’S now-admitted extramarital affair in spite of his stunningly beautiful and business-savvy wife being the most famous music icon on the planet Earth. This is a rapper, an artist, who has declared in his past lyrics that he did not know how to cry, that he had to let the song cry. But here we are with “4:44,” an album by a man, about manhood, one that feels like part of a trilogy that includes his sister-in-law Solange’s “A Seat at the Table” and Beyoncé’s “Lemonade”: Black folks, in an ecosphere riddled with racism, sexism, and toxic manhood, trying to figure ourselves out, and out loud. But “4:44” is its own unique thing, too, because JAY-Z, born Shawn Carter, had no choice but to eyeball his demons, alone. “4:44,” save some readily recognizable samples of Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, and Donny Hathaway, is a Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

minimalist magnum opus with only one producer, No I.D., one of Chicago’s pioneering hip-hop beatmakers. There are no major party anthems here, no ridiculously magnetic boom-baps for the sake of having that boom-bap. Think MTV’s stripped-down series “Unplugged” and that is “4:44.” You have to listen to the words because there really is no other option. It is clearly planned, it is a record, yeah, but it is also the autobiography of a 47-year-old man who has had everything except peace and truthfulness in his rollercoaster of a life. For sure “4:44” is a breath-taking achievement, one that I have digested a few dozen times. It has elements of Public Enemy’s agitprop political manifestos, and Tupac Shakur’s smoke-y ‘hood sermons are there, too. You also can feel the force of N.W.A’s and Ice Cube’s anti-authoritarian middle fingers as well. Like always I marvel at JAY’s verbal imagination, as his boundless genius means he has never written lyrics down, like never; but it is also clear that Big Daddy Kane, my favorite rapper ever, and one of Brooklyn’s finest, has been a continuous influence on JAY-Z’s diverse vocal stylings. JAY was there with him, unknown, when Kane was the mega-star, and in the pantheon of BK hiphop legends it is Big Daddy Kane, The Notorious B.I.G., and JAY-Z, in that order. Little wonder that JAY has, time and time again, referenced or vocally sampled Kane or Biggie wordplay in his own lyrics. He is forever a student of his art form, and what JAY-Z has given us with “4:44” is a blueprint on how to make a hip-hop album in the second decade of the twenty-first century that is a message to the masses, a confession of an ex- abuser of people, an apology to his wife, his sister-in-law, his mother, all women, while never quite losing that ego-centered palm grip he has had like forever on his private parts. He is vulnerable, yes, but he is also, in a word, free, fighting for his freedom, on his terms. Money don’t buy you freedom. And money can’t buy you love. What money does for JAY is give him access to the therapists most will never be able to afford or see, the Soul Cycle spin classes he pops up in when in Los Angeles, and a circle of influential and deep-pocketed friends, including men, to bounce all this ish off of. He wants to get saner, better, because, I believe, JAY in his heart not only wants us to get saner, better, but also because he suffers from the same survivor’s guilt that any of us who have escaped the ghetto carry around, including me. Like why me, God, and not my man over here, or him over there? When you hear JAY spit, on the 2011 Kanye West collaboration “Niggas in Paris “we ain’t even ‘spose to be here,” if you are from where we are from, you overstand, as we say, immediately. Like from the gutter to Paris, like why, like how? And you find yourself engaging in the trappings of that success because no one ever bothers to tell or warn www.the-arts-today.com

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you that the entertainment industry, like the concrete jungle a great adventure, to say the least. As JAY-Z says, not like we many of us have fled, is as hazardous as any ghetto could were given the skill sets to handle any of this. And success ever be. in whatever form does not equal maturity for us men. If anything, it entrenches us in the dysfunctional behavior, I was shocked, like for real, the first time I listened to “4:44,” toward ourselves, toward each other, toward women. We because I have long had an ambivalent relationship with in essence become successful damaged goods, cheating JAY’s music. I am a fan, yeah, because half of my life has on women, lying to women, beating on women, wounding been lived in Brooklyn, and there is mural-like Brooklyn women. It makes sense to me now, when I think back to pride and swag. I am a fan, yeah, because I always want that infamous elevator video of JAY-Z and Beyoncé and to see another brother succeed who comes from where I Solange, two things: why Solange was so angry. And why come from, who has survived what I survived. And I am a Beyoncé stood there, motionless and indifferent, as her fan, yeah, but my emotions have been all over the place sister kicked and punched at JAY-Z on that elevator. Like he because of this record. Every listen I hear different things, had it coming. Women, Black women, love hard, and when feel different things, see different things, in JAY-Z, in myself. you burn a woman, a Black woman, you are going to feel But I remain conflicted, too. I mean it has always been their wrath, hard. Thus, Solange’s album. Thus, Beyoncé’s evident that he is super-talented, that no rapper has ever “Lemonade.” Thus, all the women who challenged me when had the career run as him, solely as a rapper. The running I screwed up, as a young man, as my wife does. I believe joke has been that a hip-hop artist was lucky if they are able in my heart of hearts that most Black women, without fail, to squeeze two or three albums out of a career, and if they love Black men, want to see us heal, evolve, grow, often did not diversify from there into other business ventures, to their own detriment and mental health. But I also hear, then their career was over. Like Queen Latifah. Like MC loudly, as I criss-cross America, as a speaker, as an activist, Lyte. Like Will Smith. Like LL Cool J. Like Snoop Dogg. as a writer, that there is a great fatigue with waiting for us Like Ice Cube. Like The Roots. All began making songs, men to get it, to grow up. This juvenile behavior, in our all do many other things now where rhyming on records is 20s, in our 30s, in our 40s, even into our 50s and 60s, no longer their primary thing. Hip-hop has been said to be has got to end. The stunted growth has got to end. The a young person’s game, a game where we are so fickle, so excuse-making has got to end. That limbo area between easily persuaded, like sheep, that it is pretty impossible for being men and being boys must end. As I have heard in any rapper to survive beyond a few years of glory because my travels boys play all the time, men know when to play. the next big thing is waiting to exhale. Given that JAY-Z’s This is perhaps why many are referring to “4:44” as “grownfirst cd hit us in 1996, and it is now 2017, 21 years and 13 up hip-hop” or “adult hip-hop.” I respectfully disagree. I feel platinum solo albums later, he has shattered that notion, and “4:44” is a portrait of an artist who has made a conscious then some. Jigga really is the Michael Jackson or Michael decision to reject the material trappings of success first, Jordan of hip-hop, that rare pop culture action figure with for his own sanity and spiritual health, and, second, and crazy crossover appeal and a multi-generational and multi- equally as important, for the sake of the love for his wife cultural fan base. He really is hip-hop’s Grateful Dead all by and children. Must it have been humiliating and humbling himself, able to tour whenever he feels like it, knowing that to have your wife openly sing about what happened on her legions of diehard admirers will flock to his shows. He really last album, while you have to sit silently, as a man, and is hip-hop’s Frank Sinatra, that rare artist not only able to deal with it? One can only imagine that. But I also do not make hit record after hit record, but a shrewd business, have to imagine how my mother reacts, to this day, when man, trafficking in several entrepreneurial lanes, dabbling my father’s name is mentioned, because of the hurt she in entertainment, sports, artist representation, technology, feels, the unreconciled anger, the way she felt, as Beyoncé real estate, wherever JAY, like Sinatra before him, can did, similarly wounded and discarded, as if her life, and her expand and amplify his throne. feelings, did not matter? There was no “Lemonade” for my mother; like most women my ma had to suck it up and keep What I have felt listening to “4:44” is a range of emotions, going. Which is why I overstand the massive reaction to as I have lived through and written about many of the same that album, and the excellent short films that accompanied things. The poverty. The violence. The absent father. The it. People can say whatever they want about Beyoncé, but single mother struggling to be whoever and whatever she she too was growing, stretching, as a human being, as a is. The inability to commit to relationships, fully. I have never woman, as a Black woman, as an artist, and serving notice been a cheater in the way JAY-Z indicates he has, but before to everyone, including her husband, what is and what is not my very recent marriage, to an absolutely amazing woman, acceptable. Whether Beyoncé is a feminist or not is none of my relationships with women, through the years, have been my business. Neither is it my business what she and JAY-Z

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have decided to do together, as a couple. This is not the first famous marriage or partnership where there has been infidelity, nor will it be the last. Yoko Ono once told John Lennon to leave, to go do what he had to do, and after a year or so of doing so, he came back and was a different sort of man. The tragedy, of course, are the sacrifices both famous women and not famous women, like Yoko, like Beyoncé, make for the sake of the love of a man. But that is their choice, not ours. JAY’s responsibility, Lennon’s responsibility, is to not ever take for granted again these women who love them from the depths of their souls. To understand that manhood is not, in fact, power, privilege, sex, rock and roll, hip-hop, violence, ego gone wild, material things, money, any of that. That manhood should be about love, peace, nonviolence, respecting women as our equals, because they are, that manhood is about being honest, about being open, available, exposed. As JAY-Z struggles to be on “4:44,” as John Lennon struggled to be, many times in the last years of his life, where he owned up to having been a “hitter” who violently beat women, including his first wife Cynthia, because he was, as JAY-Z admits about himself, downright ignorant about what it was to be a man.

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he first time it dawned on me that JAY-Z was a major star was in the late 1990s, after the killings of Tupac and Biggie, and while I was in the midst of my own downward spiral with liquor and violence and a grudge match with low self-esteem in the aftershocks of those unsolved murders. I stumbled upon a party in New York City, it may have been a New Year’s Eve joint, and the vast majority of the attendees were White. And their soundtrack was one JAY-Z song after another, and they knew every single word to every single song. I thought I was dreaming, because the hip-hop I had grown up with, that I had known, even during my years as a writer for Vibe, had largely been populated by the African American, West Indian, and Latino communities who created the culture in the first place. But something had shifted, mightily, and this thing, this energy, now belonged to everyone. Pop goes the culture…. I was both proud and mortified. Proud because Jayhovah, one of the many nicknames he calls himself, had come up from the ghetto, had escaped a life destined for an early death or prison, to become, as he put it, the best rapper alive. And as we know, the life options for the products of our environment are perpetually reduced to these three things: be a rapper, be an athlete, or be a criminal in some form.

But I was also wary of JAY-Z because of the things he was saying, how apolitical much of his music was, how visibly comfortable he was with the word “nigga,” how comfortable these White folks at that party were, and many parties I would roll to in the years to come, with all the foul things JAY was saying about his own people. It was as if he consciously, purposely, dumbed down his lyrical content to meet the masses where they had been pushed to, with no regard for anything except his own power and money and pleasure principles. We saw a tease of awareness, like when he would wear a Che Guevara tee shirt or a red, black, and green wristband (the colors of Black liberation) during performances, or when he boldly detailed police racial profiling on his high-voltage song “99 Problems,” but otherwise JAY-Z chose to be silent, invisible, to not rock the boat of the America that was embracing him. This was maddening to many, particularly as he built, brick by brick, what was Blaxploitation on record, mind-spraying the most graphic tales about drugs, violence, and super-sized ego boosts, while pushing forth an assembly-line montage of racist, sexist, and materialistic lyrics, with no remorse whatsoever. Save his Roc-a-fella and Roc Nation inner circle, there seemingly was no community for JAY-Z, at least not in his music, it was just him against the world. But obviously something has been lying dormant since the 1990s. JAY-Z and I are not that far apart in age, and we grew up in the same eras, the soulful 1970s, the crack madness of the Reagan ’80s, the Golden Era of hip-hop that saw the explosion of socially conscious rap by acts like Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions, as well as that muscular political statement by N.W.A with “F____ tha police,” to this day the most concise and unapologetic anti-police brutality record ever made. So, JAY-Z was not mad uninformed, I do not believe. I believe he made a deliberate decision to sell the music that would be permitted by the powers that be. Because, to my thinking and observations, hip-hop culture, by the late 1990s, had not only become the dominant art form in the world, but also a threat, as it not only woke up the poor people of color who midwifed it, but it was reaching far beyond its ghetto origins to the suburbs, to White America, to an entire multicultural universe. I believe, in my gut and in my heart, that hip-hop was intentionally re-directed, and made to be, well, mostly stupid and directionless, the balance once present was water-hosed and coon-danced away, and it was split into two — hip-hop culture versus the hip-hop industry. Hip-hop culture, led by those poor people Dr. King warned us not to forget at the end of his life, was about life, about hope, about communities making something from nothing, about winning on their own terms; www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

Annie Malone Children & Family Service Center and The Ville Collaborative Presents On behalf of The Ville Collaborative and Annie Malone Children & Family Services, we would like to invite you to take part in The Ville Collaborative: Block Party, August 12th 11:00 AM-2:00 PM located at Kennerly & Sarah Ave. Our goal is to get as much school supplies as we can for our Annie Malone students and crisis care residents fork the upcoming school year. We ask you and your organization to please join us as a community resource and donate school supplies items to Annie Malone Children and Family Services. This event will be packed with food, community vendors, family fun, performances, parade trophies, games and much more! We would love to have you as a part of this Ville celebration!

We welcome donations of any amount. You can sponsor a child's needs with a donation of $100.00. Your donation will allow us to provide a child with: school supplies backpack books shirts and pants HELP A CHILD SMILE TODAY BY DONATING

Vendors click here!

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CALL FOR ART “All Colors” OVERVIEW: “All Colors” is an invitational and juried arts exhibit featuring the art of approximately 100 artists and 200 pieces of art. The show takes place January 13 through February 28, 2018 at the St. Louis Artist Guild, 12 Jackson Avenue, Clayton, Missouri 63105. We expect strong attendance, as the “All Colors” exhibit is a fund raiser with art and related funds to benefit artist of all disciplines, small not for profit 501C3 organizations and community/neighborhood organizations. Clayton, and the surrounding region have long been supporters of the arts and Portfolio Gallery and the “All Colors” sponsors are committed to make this exhibit a successful fund raiser and to introduce the St. Louis Metropolitan region to artist that mainstream publications have overlooked. HOW TO APPLY: Online applications may be completed though Portfolio’s website at www.portfoliogallerystl.org Click the Call for Art link that will take you to the sign-up, upload and payment. Each application must include the requested uploaded images and an artist’s statement of 100 words or less explaining the artist’s creative process including specific information about technique and materials.

Submit your art now!

www.the-arts-today.com

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but the hip-hop industry, as it ambushed and surpassed and transplanted the culture, peddled mayhem, beefs, turf and coast wars, drugs, guns, violence, and hatred and a despicable disrespect for women and for queer people, and a kind of reckless and irresponsible disregard for life, in particular the lives of Black and Latino folks most affected by this shift. JAY-Z was the right artist at the right time to emerge in the midst of this chaos and confusion. He did not have to pretend to be from the streets, he really was. He did not need a ghostwriter because, lyrically, JAY-Z is as gifted as they come with unwritten wordplay that is a cross between Brooklyn barbershop and ball court banter, the hell-fire comedic bursts of Dick Gregory or Chris Rock, and an uncanny ability, like the writers Richard Wright and Chester Himes before him, to convey the everyday realities of the forgotten America. Keeping it a hundred, that is what has kept me listening to JAY from the jump: he is the people’s poet, as Tupac Shakur was, as Kendrick Lamar is, and even without the fearless social justice vocal bombs of ‘Pac or KL I could always count on JAY to say something that made me respond with Damn.

expressions, exaggerated words, our bodies, our spirits, are lives, depicted as oversexualized, violent, dangerous, with no morals whatsoever. Shuffling, jiving, Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, Black mammy this or Black buck that, bugged out eyes, scared Negroes even scared of they own shadow; macks, pimps, whores, so super fly that we could possibly be nothing more than that presented to us, like the greasy fast food spots that overwhelm every inner city in America. The hip-hop industry, determined to put the balance and diversity of the Golden Era firmly in the rearview mirror, was simply doing it all to one hot musical track after another. JAY, like the drug dealers he and others were before they went legit, was crafty enough to peep the supply and demand game perpetuated by the hip-hop industry, and he flipped it. I got memories of what heroin and crack did to my people, excruciatingly dreadful memories. And I am clear what the hip-hop industry has done to my people since the late 1990s, mad clear. Be it a drug or entertainment, if it is meant to hurt and destroy, it will. And those who participate in it, on whatever level, wind up having blood on their hands, too. That means all of us —

But be that as it may, my activist life and my woke-ness around American and Black American history would not permit me to ignore the many ways the hip-hop industry, led by the creative cleverness of JAY-Z, was no different than the minstrel shows concocted in the 1800s, which became the most powerful and most visible entertainment in America for a century. Think excessively Blackened faces because Black was ‘spose to be ugly, perpetual mockery of thick lips and large noses, mumbled words trapped and loosened from the mouths of racist White entertainers and self-hating Black entertainers who saw Black folks as the running joke of these United States. It made White people a fortune, this industry of minstrelsy, and some Black people got paid, too, but that damage persists to this day…. Good hair versus bad hair Bloods versus Crips East Coast versus West Coast Black Americans versus West Indians Dominicans versus Haitians Your block versus my block Your projects versus my projects City folks versus country folks Your fraternity or sorority versus my fraternity or sorority This Civil Rights leaders versus that Civil Rights leader Light nigga, dark nigga, faux nigga, real nigga Rich nigga, poor nigga, house nigga, field nigga Still nigga, still nigga….

JAY-Z got out of the drug game and it now seems he is trying to escape from the hip-hop industry, too. He knows it is a sham, as demonstrated by his harsh criticisms of it throughout “4:44.” He knows it a sham when he says they will probably kill him for saying all of this. Well, yeah, strange ish happens to truth-tellers in these parts. And JAY’s truth is about power, who has it and who does not, and why. Cannot be mad at the boldness of JAY-Z’s positions. As we say, he has earned the right to say whatever he wants. For a myriad of reasons, few rap artists ever make the kind of money JAY-Z has made, and never will. But if you come from nothing, financially, spiritually, and your one shot to make a name for yourself is to denigrate you and people who look like you, that you have to sell your soul to the devil, you are going to do it. Poor people do not want to be poor. This is the crux of what I felt JAY-Z was doing before “4:44”, a very sordid dance with the devil, benefiting himself, his small circle around him, and hardly anyone else. Yes, I knew that he was quietly supporting Black Lives Matter with monetary donations. Yes, I knew about his foundation, his support of Barack Obama, and other charitable things. But because I am from the same ghetto as JAY-Z I also know that history of local drug dealers who sell death and devastation to the people daily weekly monthly yearly while also providing them with turkeys at Thanksgiving or children’s toys for Christmas. The criminal-minded amongst us know that we as a people have sunk so low and are so desperate for help that they can say or do anything to us, and we will be And no different, either, from those many Blaxploitation happy with the crumbs, even as they are killing us and our films of the 1970s: over and over, with exaggerated facial communities, then showing up at our funerals to offer their

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respects to our families — But I also believe that people can change, I truly do. “4:44” is in the nakedly confessional tradition of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Claude Brown’s Manchild in the Promised Land, Piri Thomas’ Down These Mean Streets. It is a man facing the many devils inside himself with the very first song “Kill Jay Z,” a trembling open letter spoken in the third person where he concedes his sins, and offers up a laundry list of how he has ducked and dodged himself. I mean, the man once more admits shooting his own blood brother and how cray cray it was to stab Un Rivera. There are echoes of the landmark rap album “De La Soul is Dead” within the tune “Kill Jay Z,” or, even, the Black church. That we have to be born, again, to have a different path, and sometimes we have to discard our old lives and our old identities without fear, without hesitation. “4:44” is part lecture, part spoken-word performance art, as if it were battered and fried right on the asphalt outside the Nuyorican Poets Café. Think Malcolm X coming back from Mecca saying he will work with anyone who is about justice and no longer calling White folks devil; think Martin Luther King, Jr. breaking ranks with scared Negro leadership and condemning the Vietnam War. This is what this Brooklyn boy named Shawn is doing with “4:44,” shocking the world, and himself, and attempting to be a new he, even if he is not quite clear how, or why as yet. “4:44” makes me think once more of that other otherworldly pop icon I mentioned earlier, The Beatles’ John Lennon: shaving the hair from his soul, trying to make peace with his fame and success, and how that fame and success blocked him from being a whole man, a different sort of man. John never got to speak with or about his mother in his music except in sheer terror and anxiety and wounded-ness. But there is JAY telling us, forthrightly, that his mother is a lesbian, been a lesbian, who, like him, had been living in the shadows, hiding her true self for much of her life. It is remarkable to hear a man who has spouted anti-LGBTQ lyrics say he loves his mother no matter what, regardless if that love is with a him or a her; to hear him speak plainly about his mother who, like him, living a life that is not completely her own, that was once fake, manufactured. Equally remarkable to hear that mother speak, at the end of “Smile,” calmly, confidently, as she reads her personal emancipation proclamation on a song by her son, arguably the most famous hip-hop artist in the world.

s I have listened to “4:44” over and over again, and hear it blaring out of cars and SUVs, on the subways, at restaurants and cafes, it is quite clear this work of art has struck a deep nerve. Even the hatred for JAY-Z and this album are real. Some are referring to him as going soft or corny, as this work being gimmicky, as him being “controlled by Solange and Beyoncé.” I have been there, and I am still there. When I pushed an ex-girlfriend into a bathroom door in July 1991, my life changed forever. I apologized to any and all, over and over, and apologized to her many years later, and feel as if I have been living a non-stop apology with what I say and do as it regards women, including my mother, ever since. I simply did not know any better, and that is what I am hearing with “4:44.” JAY merely did what he knew, did what he saw. Even if it meant suppressing any political and social thoughts he may have had along the way. And the fact that he spends so much time on the album talking about financial wealth, financial literacy, about ownership, says that he still, in the main, thinks money is the great equalizer, that hyper-capitalism is the only true path to freedom. While I certainly never again want to experience the kind of horrific poverty I have endured in my lifetime, I also think what JAY is missing is that all the money and material possessions and property in the world mean nothing if you are also not actively engaging your community, your people, the people who have purchased all these millions of records of yours. And there is a way to talk about economic empowerment without constantly rubbing one’s things in the faces of those of us who do not have what you have. That is the other corner JAY-Z, to me, needs to turn. There is nothing wrong with having wealth and privilege, if that wealth and privilege are tied to a sense of humanity, if that wealth and privilege are used to uplift those other than yourself and your immediate family. No, I am not into that celebrities need to do this and that with their money talk. What they do with their money is their personal business. Nor have I been duped into believing that just because someone has a huge platform that means they automatically are a leader. No, you cannot be a leader if you do not read and study and travel in a way that makes you accessible to the very people you claim to represent. What made a Tupac Shakur threatening, for example, or makes a Chuck D of Public Enemy threatening still, is that they were very much of the people they were rapping about, on the streets and in the communities with them on the regular. That cannot really be said about JAY-Z, at least not yet. As Bono said, giving money to causes is charity, no matter how well-intentioned. Anyone can do that. But if you are serious about social justice then you join the people, in the trenches. Like Paul Robeson did. Like Harry Belafonte and Joan Baez and Bob Dylan and Nina Simone www.the-arts-today.com

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and Bob Marley and Fela did. As Susan Sarandon, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen, and Rosie O’Donnell do. That is when you truly become a different type of artist, one who understands your greater calling beyond one album or one movie or one television show or one video. And we need Black artists, specifically, who think like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, who are as forthright as Miriam Makeba and Jesse Williams, who take stands, whether we agree with all of them or not, like Lauryn Hill and John Legend. “4:44” is clearly influenced by these types of artists, as I hear elements of them, and of The Watts Prophets, Arrested Development, Camille Yarbrough, and Sonia Sanchez across the ten tracks. But we also cannot pretend that “Black capitalism” is new (it is not), or talk about money, about capitalism, without also having a very serious critique of capitalism. Ghettos exist because of capitalism, on purpose. The “old Brooklyn” JAY rhymes about is gone because of greed and gentrification, fueled by the nastiest aspects of capitalism. In our ghettos everywhere we see fast food restaurants, liquor stores, churches, rent-a-centers, check cashing places, bad food options, food desserts, little to no places at all for our youth to exist and thrive, diabolically, because of capitalism capitalizing on the misery of the people. There is something wrong with any society where a handful of us get to “make it” and the rest of us remain stuck in that misery, living check to check, EBT card to EBT card. It is not merely a case of one person working harder than the rest. Most people I know work hard, but still nothing. There has to be an even more honest convo about how some who are wealthy got their wealth, and hold on to that wealth, on the backs of the rest of us. So, it is one thing for JAY-Z to scold us about being smart with our money, about not wasting it on dumb ish. I endorse that public service announcement. But it is a whole other thing to talk about power, who has it, and why, and who does not, and why. JAY alludes to this when he references the fight over Prince’s estate and namechecks Black attorney Londell McMillan, and also when he name-checks White music mogul Jimmy Iovine. He is right: why should White people get to automatically own what we Black folks build and create like it is no big deal? He is right: why do some Black folks participate in the selling out of their own people, their own creativity, with seemingly no remorse? As JAY-Z rapped these words I immediately thought of “Black Wall Street” in Tulsa Oklahoma, and the history of Black folks doing for self in the face of an obnoxious racism and segregation. I thought of Black folks from both the South and the Caribbean who, in our history, have supported each other financially, put together formal and informal economic cooperatives and lifelines for each other, owned things big and small, who have made a way

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out of no way. That is why there was no need for JAY-Z to fall into a very unwise stereotype as it regards Jewish sisters and brothers around wealth and credit. If JAY was reading more books, or people around him were having far deeper dialogue with him, he would know to name-check Black Wall Street, and Madam C.J. Walker, the first selfmade woman millionaire in America, and Reginald Lewis, America’s first Black billionaire. Part of being free, to me, is also having knowledge that is rooted in self, not the history and value systems of people who are not you. So even as JAY waxes poetic about legacy and Black excellence throughout the album, his lack of knowledge of his own history remains striking. White people, no matter who they are, have never been and never should be the litmus test for Black possibilities. We need to look to ourselves, and know ourselves. This is what ultimately separates “4:44” from, say, the work of Public Enemy or KRS-One or Tupac Shakur or Nas. You can find them referencing Black sheroes and heroes all over the place. As they should have, and as we should. It is not an either or to me. I love Black people and I love humanity, I love all people. But financial empowerment alone does not mean freedom if your mind and spirit are not truly free as well. Legacy legacy legacy legacy JAY says on the final track of “4:44,” as he converses, lovingly, about what he wants to give to his daughter, his new twins, his family. Yes, Legacy legacy legacy legacy but if Malcolm X, while sitting in prison for seven long years, could read book after book and make it a point to become a student of history, of life, in a manner that would permit him to become an intellectual giant and a magnificent spokesperson for the forgotten, then JAY, with all the luxuries and amenities he has at his disposal, including those therapy sessions he references and those Soul Cycle spin classes he loves, has a responsibility to do the same. No, I do not expect nor want rappers, or singers, or athletes to be the leaders of our communities. Most are simply not qualified to be leaders or spokespersons in that way, unless you happen to be a genuinely well-rounded and well-read renaissance person like, say, Paul Robeson, or Sam Cooke, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. However, if you are going to step out there and say something, then you do need to be as prepared as possible. Otherwise you leave yourself open to folks wondering why you are talking about Jewish folks, or calling little people “midgets” on “4:44” like it ain’t no big deal. Either you are going to go all the way with the transformation of self, or you are not. Either you, we, are for love and equality and justice for all people, or we are not. Ain’t no in between, especially not in this age of Trump —

Volume 4.

o, we need to also say that “4:44” is a community public therapy session because JAY was publicly embarrassed by that elevator episode with Solange, and by Beyoncé’s “Lemonade.” The album is both an action and a reaction. An action because he is doing inventory on his entire life. A reaction because you wonder if JAY would have made an album like this had Solange not stepped to him on that elevator video that went viral, if Beyoncé had not so audaciously made a record like “Lemonade.” Moreover, he lands where many of us men land when we are not happy in our marriages: we are doing it for the kids. We say things like what JAY says, that I never thought about how women feel or how I treated women until I had a daughter myself. What he, we, need to understand, is the crux of the problem itself. That sexism, and our definitions of manhood, never consider the lives of women and girls, except as appendages to who we are. What women said to me when I was younger, what my wife says to me today, is that we men need to consider the humanity and equality of women on the regular, not merely when it is convenient for us. There has to be a vigilance to ending the sexism Beyoncé speaks of on “Lemonade,” and that burden cannot fall squarely at the feet of women. JAY-Z, you, me, we, need to be able to say sexism. JAY does not even say the word once on “4:44.” As teachers of mine like bell hooks and Eve Ensler and Gloria Steinem and my mother have said, in their own ways, what we men and boys do to women and girls daily weekly monthly yearly — many of us our entire lives — will not end until we make a sustained and unafraid effort to make sexism end. Otherwise, just like Beyoncé ’s father cheated on her mother and JAY-Z cheated on Bey, some man at some point could do something that violates Blue Ivy. This is the thing we’ve got to come to understand, if we are serious. That we’ve got to remake manhood all the way, not just part of the way. What I was given, what JAY-Z was given, was patriarchy, sexism, misogyny, violence, a hatred and reckless disregard for women and girls that gives us a false sense of power and privilege that not only hurts and destroys women and girls, but us, too. All the money and fame and success in the world does not erase toxic manhood. Rather, as heard on “4:44” and from the person in the White House right now, it actually exacerbates the twisted behavior. Like America itself and everything before it, hip-hop has always been a male-centered and male-dominated culture. America’s so-called founding fathers matter-of-factly left out any mention of women. Women in America have only

had the right to vote for less than one hundred years. Women are told what they can and cannot do with their bodies, by men, when it is their bodies, not ours. Violence against women and girls is at epidemic proportions, in America, globally. You cannot constantly refer to women in disparaging ways in your words and deeds and that not be a reflection of how you really feel. You cannot be a famous Black public intellectual many of us have heard of, who routinely espouses how much he loves Black women, but is so pathetically addicted to sex, to cheating on his wife, that from coast to coast it is common knowledge this man’s hypocrisy and infidelities, as he is more or less the R. Kelly of Black scholars luring younger women with the spoils of his fame and access. I have witnessed women and men both enable and make excuses for this man, the way we make excuses for the legions of those who live dirty and blatantly contradictory lives while our eyes are wide shut. So, they go on, refusing to do the self-therapy JAY-Z is trying to do on “4:44.” And the list of famous men who’ve engaged in this toxic manhood is a virtual Who’s Who. Say their names…. Pablo Picasso, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, some of the Kennedy men, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, Bill Cosby, Johnny Depp, Rob Kardashian…. Clearly JAY got busted, as we all do, eventually. Clearly many of us men never get the memo that things like sex, violence, drugs, alcohol, money, and ego are the main things that destroy men of all backgrounds over and over. JAY, it seems via “4:44,” nearly destroyed his marriage, his family. As someone who just got married myself I think daily, my flaws and all, about how I treat my wife, how I speak with her and to her, and I think about something her grandfather said to me a couple of years back when I asked how he made a marriage of over 50 years endure: “I made a commitment.”

Jarring, weighty, real, those words spoken by that grandfather have rung like a freedom bell in my ears ever since. I made a commitment…. But it is hard, I admit, to make a commitment, if, as a man, you feel few have made commitments to you in your life, in this dog eat dog world. That is why what JAY lays out on “4:44” is all the more valuable. Because we men are not encouraged to be honest, to be vulnerable. We are encouraged to lie and cheat, as evidenced by all the men (and women) of the Trump administration, and quite a few of those masquerading as financial geniuses on Wall Street. It is hard to say if JAY is now a feminist, or if his wife is, either, for that matter. Only they know who they are, not those of us who gaze at celebrities as if we know them when we do not. What I see and feel are two www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

JAY-Z AND THE ... cont.

Black folks who had no idea, a decade and some change who have denigrated and disrespected themselves for ago, that, together and apart, they would be this wildly White America, for fame and money, why is it then all good successful, this wildly famous, and this wildly rich. If I may, that JAY-Z has been calling us niggas, over a symphony of hypnotic rhythms, for the past twenty years? Is casting feminism means women and men are equals, yes, himself as Jaybo in “The Story of O.J.” animated video an but to my understanding it also means that women admission that he has played an undeniable role for White have the right to do whatever the heck they feel, America for two decades, and now wants to be free? Well, on their terms. So if for Beyoncé that means working it that freedom might begin with letting go of the word nigga out, via “Lemonade,” via her pushing JAY on “4:44,” with once and for all. Cannot be free of someone else’s big their public art, and in private, too, the contours of their house if you still publicly use the master’s words to describe relationship, then that is her right, their right, and, frankly, yourself and your people. Because there is a mad thin line none of our business, whether they are public figures or between self-love and self-hate, and it begins with our very not. Do I condone cheating in a relationship? No, especially fragile self-esteem, whether we are light or dark or rich or because, in my lifetime, I have been cheated on, and poor or real or fake. Because wherever you go there you I have cheated. I do not like how it feels either way, the are. And, to me, it is bugged irony “The Story of O.J.” song spiritual filthiness of it all, and it is not something I would sampling Nina Simone’s “Four Women,” a feminist psalm do to my wife, now, ever. I think if someone cannot commit, by a person who spent her life resisting being a nigga, or a if someone cannot be honest, if someone is addicted to nigger, or a nigguh, to the point where it drove her off the sex, then one should not be in a relationship. But this is my edge. You wish someone would give JAY and all rappers journey, my path, not JAY-Z’s. He is figuring it out, aloud, for a copy of Jabari Asim’s book “The N Word: Who Can Say himself, on “4:44,” the way Malcolm X was figuring out ish It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why,” so whether JAY or Drake or in his autobiography. The way Marvin Gaye was figuring out Kanye or a mumble or trap rapper you at least know where ish on “What’s Going On” and “Let’s Get It On” and “Here, the word came from. Save the children, Marvin Gaye said to My Dear.” The way John Lennon was figuring out ish, post- us, not teach the children to call themselves niggas through your music…. Nothing wrong with ignorance, but definitely Beatles, until his untimely murder at age 40. something wrong with enthusiastic ignorance. JAY is not The above said, a step is better than no step at all. As it ignorant, we know this. Loaded with melancholy throughout, is an important first step, that public apology from JAY to you feel on “4:44” that there is almost a resignation that Bey; it says that we are indeed human, at least some of in spite of all of he has accomplished, JAY-Z understands, us, that at least some of us have the ability to empathize plainly, how he will forever be viewed by some because and feel for what women go through. Because I do believe of the color of his skin, and because of where he is from. that “4:44” is the album JAY has had in him for a very long Because that is the truth. JAY-Z does not want to be O.J. time. And fact is rappers in their teens and 20s have said Simpson, or Michael Jordan for that matter, either, Black many of these same things going back to folks like Melle men who have done whatever they can not to appear to Mel, Slick Rick, The Geto Boys, Outkast, others. What JAY be Black, or too Black, terrified of losing the favor of White has done, what any great artist can do, is to capture the America. We know what happened to O.J., and the jury still energy of our times, and to transcend those times. That is shadows the calculated movements of M.J. because it is what makes “4:44” a game-changing achievement, in spite clear he ain’t totally cozy wearing his dark skin color on of the flaws. He has become, as we say in activist circles, a the daily, no matter how much money he has earned. It is young elder, a master teacher, no question, and I am sure when I sink into songs like the O.J. one, like “Marcy Me” there is no way that JAY could make a song and ridiculously and “Family Feud,” that I get, finally, he is a man, a brother, uncomfortable animated video like “The Story of O.J.” if Shawn Carter, trying to figure out how to pivot, next. Like he were not at least somewhat familiar with the history of his athlete brothers LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony minstrel shows, Malcolm X’s classic 1963 speech “Message and Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade, it is about controlling his to the Grassroots,” and the Last Poets “Niggers Are Scared own destiny. I feel the exact same way. Black people did not of Revolution.” But also telling that JAY centers himself in survive capture and kidnap in Africa, the middle passage, the video as Jaybo, as in Sambo, virtually declaring that he slavery, segregation, second-class citizenship, to be slaves too has allowed himself to be used, the way Stepin Fetchit or suckers or butt-kissers to someone else our entire lives. and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and a roving army of Black We want to self-determine for us by us, which is really no entertainers have been used, then and now, just to make different than what Stokely Carmichael was shouting 50 a dollar, and to get closer to and inside the big house. If years ago with those two little words, “Black Power.” we say we despise these Black men and Black women

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But no matter the color or context of power it has to be rooted in love, in responsibility and, yeah, in commitment. Took me three long weeks since the release of “4:44” to work through all my feelings about JAY-Z, and I am sure this is just the beginning. I do not know if JAY is the best rapper alive, but he certainly has been the most fascinating one for a very long time, and he is not going anywhere. I feel “4:44” is JAY-Z’s true masterpiece, a work of art we will be discussing and debating for years to come. Without saying any names we’ve watched a lot of myth-making and half-truths and outright lies happen lately with hip-hop, on television, in movies, in media interviews. Now that hiphop is the dominant music and culture around, that will only continue, as it has with jazz and rock before it. I wonder, I am not going to lie, how much truth JAY-Z is telling, and if, also, he is attempting, in 2017, and in the aftermath of the episodes with Solange and Beyoncé, to bring a different image of himself, as an artist, as a man. Only JAY knows what is truly in his heart, only he knows the depths of his own soul, as I know mine. There are no tools for any of this, no blueprint, we make it up as we go along. That is why it was not lost on me when he rejected, on “4:44,” some of the older men before him, for cartoonishly taking selfies on social media, like Al Sharpton, for hanging themselves with their own rope, like Bill Cosby. Not lost on me, either, that JAY talked about those who did not help him, because that father hurt remains, even though he is a father himself. This album seems to be his coming out party, his attempt to help those behind him, his way. It makes you want more, seriously. Like imagine if a JAY-Z and other male musical artists and male athletes could spend some quality time with men like Byron Hurt, Antonio Tijerino, Jackson Katz, The Good Men Project (from who I borrowed part of the title for this piece), Joe Samalin, Charlie Braxton, Ed Garnes, Charles Knight, Juan Ramos, Quentin Walcott, Tom Keith, Michael Kimmel, and others I can name who have been doing this work around self-examination, around remaking manhood long before “4:44.” Imagine if these artists and athletes were far more connected to those on the frontlines of social justice, the way it was in other times, and the way it ought to be. Imagine if “4:44” were not merely an exciting and brilliant musical moment, but also the start of a movement to truly march manhood toward peace, love, nonviolence, and respect for women as equals. Finally, I say be you, Shawn Carter, be the man, the Black man, you ‘spose to be. It is your choice now where you go from here. Do you continually evolve, as an artist, as a man, as John Lennon did, as Stevie Wonder did? Or do you get derailed or remain stuck, as it happened to Marvin Gaye, unable to leave and turn even more corners? Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitude, said Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

Frederick Douglass, said the Bar-Kays, said somebody. And we been known freedom ain’t free. At the end of it all only you, JAY-Z, know what will truly set you free — Kevin Powell is the author or editor of 12 books, including his autobiography, The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy’s Journey into Manhood, which is being adapted into a feature film. You can email him, kevin@kevinpowell.net, or follow him on Twitter, @kevin_powell

Originally published at Medium.com www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

General Admission and Reserved Table Seating tickets may be purchased in advance by calling (314) 925-0016 ext. 403 or in person the night of the show at the National Blues Museum Box Office. #howlinfridays #nationalbluesmuseum

Sing the blues at Left Bank Books with The National Blues Museum Left Bank Books welcomes bestselling author Edward Kelsey Moore, who will sign and discuss his new novel, The Supremes Sing the Happy Heartache Blues! Thursday, July 13, 7pm Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid

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Left Bank Books welcomes St. Louis journalist and author Bruce Olson, who will sign and discuss his new books, That St. Louis Thing: An American Story of Roots, Rhythm and Race, Volumes 1 & 2! Wednesday, July 19, 7pm Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid

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Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

Does America's

Black Community Have a Leader?

ntil his death in 1895, Frederick Douglass was the most important African-American in the United States. He fought for his freedom, civil rights and equal rights for all. Except for the debacle in the last city primary and general election, most African-Americans exercise the right of franchise without the fear of retribution. And when it comes to the term ‘leadership’ in the African-American community, the term is ambiguous. There have been persons in our past who were considered ‘important leaders and freedom fighters.’ Marcus Garvey, W.E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Carter G. Woodson, Robert S. Abbott, Harriet Tubman, Mary McLeod Bethune, Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver were working to eliminate the political retrogression that was created by reconstruction, and reverse the trend of dependency of the government for public relief. Others became symbols of the potential of the race. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Bayard Rustin, Bobby Seale, Huey Newton, Dick Gregory, Roy Wilkins, Ralph Bunche, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Floyd McKissick, James Farmer, Angela Davis, Thurgood Marshall, Whitney Young, A. Phillip Randolph and Andrew Young Norman Seay, Percy Green, Ivory Perry are only a few names associated with efforts to make the quality of life better for people of African ancestry. The list is never-ending. When Kwame Ture, then known as Stokley Carmichael, in 1967 created the phrase ‘Black Power’, out of frustration and despair, I believe he visualized a nation where in the hands of African-Americans, the ballot was preferable to the bullet. I think he wanted African-Americans to become more involved in politics, both nationally and locally, with greater participation in global affairs. He wanted, most of all, as he once told me in an interview, economic independence, justice and self-determination for people of color. How does this impact the current conditions of African-Americans? I personally think we are a lost tribe. Apparently there is a power struggle between The Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton as the top civil rights advocate in the nation. The St. Louis Post –Dispatch once wrote: ‘The Gap appears to be widening between Jackson and Sharpton. Some of Sharpton’s supporters deny there is a rift between the two political leaders, but some of his statements and actions support the theory that he is trying his best to assume the title of the country’s preeminent civil rights leader.’ Apparently the recent mayoral race in St. Louis substantiates the division of the local African-American

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community. Criss Jami previously noted “The problem is politics is made a sport, almost as much a sport as football or baseball. When it comes to politics, adults and politicians do more finger-pointing and play more games than children ever do”. Do you remember the recent battle to become the mayor of St. Louis? There were seven Democrats, three Republicans, one Libertarian, and one Green Party candidate? Five of the Democrats were African American, as well as one African American Republican contender and the Green Party nominee. It is an inexcusable misfortune that occurred in the election. Each mayoral candidate had promised a brighter future for the city but none promised hospital beds in North St. Louis, or primary health care to the grassroots. Dr. Carter G. Woodson said ‘we do not show the Negro how to overcome segregation, but we teach him how to accept it as final and just’. He believed “if the Negro in the ghetto must eternally be fed by the hand that pushes him into the ghetto, he will never become strong enough to get out of the ghetto’. Dr. Woodson observed ‘when you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his “proper place” and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.” He is also quoted ‘“It may be well to repeat here the saying that old men talk of what they have done, young men of what they are doing, and fools of what they expect to do. The Negro race has a rather large share of the last mentioned class.” Any resemblance of the recent mayoral election?

~Bernie Hayes

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Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

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Colors of Jazz

August 1, 2017

AUGUST NEWS Stage Notes

Stay & Play

| Wineries

Stage Notes 12:30pm: The Mood Elevators 2:00 pm: Nick Savage Quintet 3:30 pm: Sean Coray 5:00 pm: The People’s Key 6:30 pm: Bach to the Future 8:00 pm: Funky Butt Brass Band

Stay and Play With more than 300 guest rooms — cozy cottages to luxury suites — there is lodging for every taste and budget. It gets as unique as tree houses and cabins to traditional B&Bs. The choice is truly up to you!

Wineries •

Adam Puchta

•

Hermannhof

•

Lost Creek

•

Stone Hill

Come for the Jazz . . . Stay for the Wine!

The third annual Hermann Wine and Jazz Festival is 12:30 to 9 pm, Saturday, August 19 at Clara Eitmann Messmer Ampitheater. Tucked in the hillside vineyards of the Missouri River Valley, you can enjoy the best of six (6) regional jazz groups, world-class wines, German cuisine, barbeque, homemade pies, Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner transportation and FREE admission. “You’ll hear a variety of jazz-related genres throughout the day, including Straight-Ahead Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Funk, Fusion, R&B, Blues, and News Orleans Brass,” said Founder / Director of Operations Jason Church. The event will feature the award-winning Funky Butt Brass Band who respect and revere New Orleans tradition, but also combine Motown, Southern rock, Memphis soul, Chicago blues and St. Louis R&B. “I’m very excited to have FBBB headline this year, as they transcend jazz and bring some really tasty crossover tunes as well. They will deﬁnitely be bringing the party!,” according to Church. Grab a lawn chair or blanket and enjoy the day! No outside alcohol, smoking or coolers permitted. Food, ﬁne wine, beer, and a distillery will offer beverages to buy. For more info: visithermann.com.

VIDEO 1

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Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

Class of 1978 The reunion committee has been working diligently to make our 40th reunion the best one yet, however, to do so, it will take money. With that being said, we will be hosting several fundraising events to raise funds so that we will have monies available to book venues. We have 2 fundraisers planned for the next 2 months. Once we book a venue, then we will be able to present to you dates and a reunion package. We plan to hold the reunion late summer, early fall of 2018. The first fundraiser, which is really our 3rd, is a car wash to be held on Saturday August 12th, we are asking you volunteer if possible by coming out and help us wash a few cars and/or bring your own vehicles and let us wash them for you. I have attached a flyer with all of the pertinent information if you have any questions, please call me at 314799-5296. We want to see on you on August 12th and please tell all of your family and friends. The next fundraiser ( number 4) is a trip to Mount Pleasant Winery on September 16th, there is also a flyer for this event attached. As you can see the planning committee is working very hard for you, but we need your participation to make this a success. If you would like to, you may also make a donation, make your checks or money orders payable to Beaumont Class of 1978 and send to: Beaumont Class of 1978 c/o Marietta Shelby 4510 Alice Ave St Louis, MO 63115

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YOUR

Beaumont High School Class of 1978

BHS 1978

A Bus trip to

Mt Pleasant Winery Augusta, MO Saturday September 16, 2017

Bus will depart from the Hanley Metrolink Station promptly at 11:00 am And depart from the Winery at 5:30 pm

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Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

Celebrate our 40th anniversary with a gift to

The Black Rep. Your Impact can be felt onstage

pg.

Entertaining Diverse Audiences

In the classroom

Educating Promising Youth In our community

Enriching Our Community Your gift will help us advance our mission of providing platforms for theatre, dance and other creative expressions from an African American perspective that heighten the social and cultural awareness of its audiences.

We could not do what we do without you. Thank you for a wonderful 40th anniversary season MAKE YOUR GIFT BY FRIDAY, JUNE 30TH

DONATE

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The Beaumont Class of 1978 Is sponsoring a

Car Wash/Fundraiser

Saturday August 12 9am â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2 pm

Cars & Small SUVs $10.00 Trucks $15.00 Donut Shop parking lot 9426 Lewis & Clark Blvd St Louis, MO 63136

Hotdogs, Chips and & Cold Drinks will be sold 50/50 Raffle will be held pg.

100

#BlackDollsMatter

Buy Now!!!

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Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

Meditating Wretchedness on

under a

Strawberry Moon

hether we are trying to make sense of vice or holiness, innocence or guilt, stupidity or intelligence, we are condemned to think with rather than against the tides of media. Our contemporary fascination with social networking positions us to be complicit. We resist, then discover resistance does not suffice. The labels or ideological stances we adopt ----independent, conservative, liberal ---eventually collapse under what both David Walker and Frantz Fanon understood wretchedness to be. Our souls may escape to elsewhere, but our minds cannot. Given this scenario, Adam Benforado’s Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice (New York: Crown, 2015) should be required reading for the temporary relief it offers. The book should be required reading in our nation for President Donald J. Trump and his tribe, for members of Congress (especially for those who pretend to be Democrats), for public school and university students and teachers, for all of us inclined to resist from diverse angles. Benforado pricks consciousness. Is he selling a fake posttruth or an undeniable fact in the following paragraph?

Criminal Injustice, because Benforado backs his claims with testable evidence from research in psychology and neuroscience. Science does have reasonable credibility, does it not? The importance of his book pivots on the credibility of “Benigne faciendae sunt interpretationes, propter simplicitatem laicorum, ut res magis valeat quam pereat; et verba intentioni, non e contra, debent inservire” ((trans. Constructions [ of written instruments ]are to be made liberally, on account of the simplicity of the laity [or common people], in order that the thing [or subject matter] may rather have effect than perish [of become void]; and words must be subject to the intention, not the intention to the words.)) There is a reason that the American legal system buries its treasures in Latin. See Black’s Law Dictionary. Benforado’s book is a tool for meditating on wretchedness under a strawberry moon. It is not a solution. It is guide for action, for bending the arc of history toward elusive justice (286). It tells us what many African Americans know from historical experience, what non-African Americans have yet to learn. Jerry W. Ward, Jr.

The news media further distorts our perceptions because our threat-detection system tends to rely heavily on whatever is within easy reach. Incidents that are prominent in our memories end up taking on an outsize role. And how easily we can recall an event influences not only our sense of how frequently that event occurs but also our sense of how important it is. It makes a difference, then, that there is far more coverage of serial rapists and child kidnappings than of diabetes deaths. Likewise, the disproportionate number of stories on the local news about crimes committed by young African American men increases people’s fear of black men and leads to an overvaluation of the threat they pose, which may in turn affect how police officers, prosecutors, judges, and jurors treat them. (xvi) Is Benforado providing a description of why deliberate suppression of stories about crimes committed by white women and men cultivates fears among non-whites of the collective threat so-called white people present to humanity? In this instance, it is prudent to use the standard of reasonable doubt in any engagement with Unfair: The New Science of

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PRESENTED BY A Call to Conscience

Friday

FUNDED BY

The

T. D. McNeal

STORY

From Servitude to Civil Rights Gregory S. Carr DIRECTED BY Fannie Belle Lebby WRITTEN BY

A Call to Conscience will present The T. D. McNeal Story: From Servitude to Civil Rights, a

play that chronicles McNeal’s role in organizing the The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters’ Union in the 1930s and 1940s, his involvement in St. Louis lunch counter sit-ins in 1944, his successful campaign regarding the hiring of African Americans in the public utilities and the defense industry in St. Louis, and his election as the first African American state senator in Missouri. The following panelists will lead a discussion after the presentation:

OCT 20 and Saturday

OCT 21 Resource fair: 6pm Performance: 7pm Lee Auditorium

FREE Gwen Moore Moderator and curator of the #1 in Civil Rights exhibition

Percy Green

Vernon Mitchell, Ph.D.

Joan Suarez

Jamala Rogers

Christi Griffin, J.D.

Ron Gregory, Ph.D.

Now Open! | Free admission #1 in Civil Rights: The African American Freedom Struggle in St. Louis examines the local civil rights movement and the city’s leading role in advancing the cause of racial justice. From ground-level activism to groundbreaking court rulings, St. Louis has been front and center in contesting racial inequities. #1 in Civil Rights uncovers a history that’s compelling and complex, but that all too often has been overlooked in the telling and retelling of the larger national narrative. PRESENTED BY

COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND PROGRAM SPONSOR William T. Kemper Foundation—Commerce Bank, Trustee

SPONSORED BY

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY Maxine Clark and Bob Fox

JSM Charitable Trust

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Grandel

3610 Grandel Square, St. Louis, Missouri 63108

WATER SEED, D. MAURICE, TERESAJENEE SUITE SOUL SPOT CONCERT SERIES Water Seed Water Seed has proven to be the best new thing hailing from New Orleans. Their ever-growing resume includes multiple performances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, two performances at the New Orleans Essence Festival, the Richmond Jazz Festival, the Flood City MusicFestival, a three month residency in Russia, the Dogwood Music Festival, headliner at the Apollo Theater (sold out show), the Civic Theater in New Orleans, Tipitina’s in New Orleans, the BAM Cafe in Brooklyn, Nyc, Martyr’s in Chicago,The Mint in Los Angeles, The Legendary Bitter End in New York, and countless other venues and festivals throughout the world. Not simply focusing on performances, Water Seed has an extensive discography. With the release of their 5th album, Water Seed has racked up over 250,000 downloads, album sales and streams. Their last two projects, Wonder Love 1 and Wonder Love 2, debuted in the top 20 on iTunes charts. Water Seed has been reviewed and praised by Essence Magazine, Gambit Weekly, Soul Train, Afropunk, Rolling Out Magazine, New York Music Daily, Alt Daily, AOL, Cleveland Scene, Creative Loafing and several other publications. They have received the endorsements of The Gap Band, Cameo, Avery Sunshine, Cyril Neville, George Porter, Herlin Riley, Nicole Ari-Parker, Dwele, Corey Henry, PJ Morton, Gary Douran, Janelle Monae, Toni and Tamar Braxton, and Tisha Campbell. Their album We Are Stars is a musical journey through the sound and wide tapestry that has become the theme song for generations. D. Maurice Best known as Eric “Erro” Roberson’s longest running supporting vocalist, D. “DMo” Maurice Macklin (here known as D. Maurice) has released his long-awaited, independently released debut, Mosaic. Clearly influenced by Marvin Gaye, Carl Thomas and his own gospel roots, he is coming to St. Louis to bring his soulful and exciting show to the Suite Soul Spot. Teresajenee Teresajenee the "musician beatmaker pen" got her start as a feature on Osunlade's "Remember EP" (Yoruba Records/2007) and has opened for talents such as Eric Roberson, Anthony David, and Solange Knowles. She is a Riverfront Times winner in the Best Artist in R&B Female category. She has performed for the 2011 SXSW and International Soul Music Summit festivals, stages in St. Louis, Memphis, Atlanta, North Carolina, LA, DC, Richmond and on campuses including University of Missouri-Columbia, Webster University, and her alma mater Tennessee State University. Teresajenee has also released independently five projects.

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Webster Law Club

Welcome Back - Brown Bag Lecture

Nationalism:

Assessing the Role of Collective Narcissism in World Politics & Law Tuesday, August 29, 2017 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Sunnen Lounge – University Center Presenters  Dr. Daniel Hellinger - Professor Emeritus of International Relations 

Dr. Tracey McCarthy - Professor of Psychology & Legal Studies

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Past Issues

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Baba Askia Toure' I am an innovative, epic poet, who created two major books, "From the Pyramids to the Projects" (Africa World Press, 1990), and "Dawnsong!," Third World Press, 2000). "Pyramids" won an American Book Award in 1989. And in 2003, "Dawn-song!" won the 2003 Stephen Henderson Poetry Award, presented by the African-American Literature & Culture Society, an assoc. of the American Literature Assoc. Since then, I've done other books, of which I'm truly thankful. However, what I desire to bring before the Facebook reading body, is the fact that I've innovated the Nile Valley epic, in the volume, "DawnSong!," which was critiqued by Dr. James E. Smethurst, and also a young, Black female Ph.d graduate candidate...otherwise there was complete "silence" from the Black Literature Community, about the first Nile Valley epics written in the English language!

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Featured

Artist

Submission

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Trish

Williams

P.I.E.C.E.S: “Precepts Inspirited by Episodes of Creative Expressions of Self” is an exhibition of works by

fiber artist Trish Williams. As long as I can remember fabrics, threads, yarns, needles, and things associated with needlework have been a great part of my life. From my Big Mama, my grandmother and my great-grandmother I learned to quilt by just being near them. From my mother I learned her rhythm of coordinating colors and buying great fabrics. There is a peace, a comfort and a therapeutic release in quilting that has sustain, and encourages me. My later works have grown to include more of my hand dyed/painted fabrics, as well as more mix media with the inclusion of collage papers, plastic, and other found objects. http://trishwilliamshandworks.blogspot.com/ http://handworksbytrishwilliams.weebly.com/

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John Jennings Associate Professor Visual Studies SUNY Buffalo tumblr: http://jijennin70. tumblr.com/

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WAKE UP – EVERYBODY

NO MORE SLEEPING IN BED By Pierre Blaine No more backward thinkin’ time for thinkin’ ahead The world has changed so very much From what it used to be There is so much hatred war an’ poverty Wake up all the teachers time to teach a new way Maybe then they’ll listen to whatcha have to say ‘Cause they’re the ones who’s coming up and the world is in their hands When you teach the children teach em the very best you can The world won’t get no better if we just let it be The world won’t get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me Wake up all the doctors make the ol’ people well They’re the ones who suffer an’ who catch all the hell But they don’t have so very long before the Judgment Day So won’tcha make them happy before they pass away Wake up all the builders time to build a new land I know we can do it if we all lend a hand The only thing we have to do is put it in our mind Surely things will work out they do it every time The world won’t get no better if we just let it be The world won’t get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me. (Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes)

n the 21st century the only reason why we are still dealing with the racism and public policy of perpetuating it is that Americans tolerate it and have not stamped it out of our institutions. We must eradicate the institutionalization of racism that permeates all of our institutions which practices it. It is my fault that it still exists and I am doing what I can to eradicate it. A CNN poll in July, 2015 found that 57% of white Americans see the Confederate flag as a symbol of Southern heritage and 33% see it as a symbol of racism. Moreover, 51% of college-educated whites agree with the Southern heritage rhetoric. When we do not know our American history, we are doomed to repeat it. We are allowing libraries to be closed down in America, we are not challenging the history books coming out of Texas which have deliberately distorted the Civil War history in America, and we are allowing school administrators to balance their budgets by discontinuing history, social studies, and civics, and school libraries. Race Matters, History Matters, Blacks Matters, Voting Matters and Truth Matters, and truth crushed to the earth shall rise again. We cannot allow these

boils of injustice to erupt into violence and destruction in our communities for failure to acknowledge that they exist and pretend that somebody else is going to solve these issues. Movement, is about we the people coming together to address and to solve these problems. If we are not preparing our young people to deal in a complex world and understand context in dealing with it, they will make the same mistakes that were made in the last presidential election. Justice is never given; it is exacted and the struggle must be continuous for freedom is never a final fact, but a continuing evolving process to higher and higher levels of human, social, economic, political and religious relationship. (A. Philip Randolph) We cannot wait on the hero to ride in on some magnificent horse to save us from our own rejection of our own ideals of what it is to be American. We must go inward and observe the eruptions of neurosis that explode on the scene that indicate that there is work to be done to correct the underlying systemic injustices in our body politic. We must take this light and dream of future possibilities consistent with our shining ideals. We have looked the enemy square in the eye and the enemy is us. The 2018 Mid-term elections on already on us and we are arguing with ourselves – about how the NAACP and the Urban League are not relevant organizations for us to participate in and with – we do not have the luxury of time. We do not need to reinvent the wheel – join these organizations and if you think they are not relevant – then make them relevant. Every issue is on the table – pick one. If these laws are not relevant then why are the republicans changing laws and making it harder for you to live and move forward in a progressive way? The republicans have embarked on what I call in my book – Deconstruction. They must deconstruct the coalition that President Obama built to become the first African-American president in the history of the United States. We allowed them to deconstruct it and we now have a ‘reality show’ in the White House- a reality show is not real - but what is in the White House is real. Make sure you go to the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park and inhale the Civil Rights Exhibit. Pierre Blaine is the author of: Movement: Race, Power and Culture in America Available on Amazon.com

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“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:34-40 NIV

We seek to impact the world with the love of Christ one life at a time! Hopelessness and desperation are on the rise in a world where the greatest segment of the population possesses the least amount of resources. We need your help! Please help us fight this epidemic by sending your tax deductible donations/contributions to: For His Glory Ministries of St. Louis P.O. Box 1942 Maryland Heights, MO. 63043 http://calvarychapelslc.com/homeless-ministry/ For other ways in which you can help please contact Pamela Ford at pamelaford98@gmail.com or 314-216-0744. Copyright © 2017 - All rights reserved.

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Featured

Photographer Submission

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Mark

Murphy

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What do I do? I help the college bound teens of busy parents write extraordinary college entrance essays. And, I provide perceptive leaders with trustworthy diversity & inclusion facilitation. My book, Chop: A Collection of Kwansabas for Fannie Lou Hamer, is available at www.femininepronoun.com

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BLACK Archaeologist

We ask the question in this episode , “if superior black beings from another world landed here on Earth, and learned the true history of black people in America, how might they react.” Watch our other episodes on YouTube, TechNubian1, and don't forget to donate $5.00 to our upcoming fourth season, our Gofundme link on Facebook, I Love Black Archaeologist.

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Need a laptop to use while at your St. Louis Public Library? You’re in luck! SLPL now offers Chromebook laptops for inLibrary use to all patrons, age 10 years and older with a valid, unrestricted Library card. Ask a SLPL staff member for more information on in-Library use.

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ART OF FOOD

Love I Fell in

With A Salad

I am a sucker for a really good flavorful salad. This summer Wendy’s decided to be amazing & produce one of the most delicious salads I’ve ever had the pleasure of trying. Their Strawberry Mango Chicken Salad is officially my 2nd favorite salad of all time. It definitely doesn’t help that I have to drive by a Wendy’s every time on my way home from the gym. So of course, it has become a necessary stop before I head back home. Chopped romaine lettuce, juicy sliced strawberries, ripe chunks of mango, tangy crumbled feta cheese, well-seasoned chicken, honey roasted sunflower seeds all under a simple Honey-Citrus Vinaigrette. Every component of this salad is necessary to the full flavor you should want to experience. It is the perfect fresh summer salad. Now because strawberries and mangoes are seasonal fruits, this isn’t the salad you can eat year-round. However, you could use frozen mango & strawberries, to tie you over until they come back in season. With this salad, you can use your favorites or opt to try something new. I wish I could tell you where you could find Honey-Roasted Sunflower Seeds already ready for you, however the sliced Honey-Roasted Almonds at Trader Joe’s might be the best substitution. Grill or bake chicken tenders in your favorite seasoning mix. Or you can buy some chicken strips that are already cooked, just chop them up & toss it in the salad. Take out and replace whichever items you don’t like and add ingredients that you love. Make this recipe your own and enjoy! to put together. You'll even be impressed with yourself when you're done. ~Léna O. A. Jackson To contact me, get more recipes, find out about events I’m apart of, or to even order some of my food: www.facebook.com/gspDore www.instagram.com/gspDore gspDoreinfo@gmail.com

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Honey-Citrus Vinaigrette 2/3 C Orange Juice 1/3 C Olive Oil 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard 2 Tbsp Lime Juice ½ tsp Salt ¼ tsp Black or White Pepper 3 Tbsp Honey ½ Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar 1 Tbsp Brown Suagr 1 ½ Tbsp Lemon Juice *2 tsp Orange Extract, optional

Put all ingredients into a mason jar and shake until it is well combined. Or place all ingredients, except the Extra Virgin Olive Oil, in a blender or food processor. Slowly pour olive oil in while machine is blending the other ingredients. Store in an airtight container and chill until ready for use. *Olive oil may solidify, so let it sit out at room temperature and shake once again, before serving.

Strawberry Mango Salad 4 C ¼ C ¼ C 4 Tb ¼ C ¼ C a.n.

Romaine Lettuce or Mixed Greens Sliced Strawberries Crumbled Feta Cheese Honey Roasted Sunflower Seeds or Honey Roasted Sliced Almonds Diced Mango Chicken, sliced or chopped Honey-Citrus Vinaigrette

Doré

Bon Appétit, pg.

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Rickkita Edwards teaches Core:Cardio & More @ North Co.Rec Center

every Mon-Wed- Fri.

5:30 PM-6:30 PM

She also teaches "WaistNWeights" every Mon

@ Faith Miracle Temple

7:15 PM-8 PM

Contact me today for personal training sessions!

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“Acting White”

Share your Story Dear friends: I have been asked to write a chapter in a book that will address colorism in education. My chapter will focus on “acting white.” Specifically, when I was growing up, I was a “smart” student. My top performance in school, doing homework, raising my hand to answer questions, etc. often drew the accusation from my African American classmates and friends that I was “acting white.” Now, I know there are psychologists out there who say this is not true and does not exist. But alas, it was absolutely true for me. I have written about this in past works. I will do so again for this new book. I do know that many young folks today who continue to have such allegations hurled at them so feel free to share this email with whoever and have folks email me directly. I did a survey on this very question about 7 years ago and the results were consistent with my experiences decades ago. I’d like to update my earlier survey. I would love to hear from anyone out there who has a similar/related story either involving yourself or someone you know. I would like to include your story in the chapter. I will conceal your identity if you request. Do you have a story to share? If so, please email to me at: norwood@wulaw.wustl.edu. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead Kimberly Norwood , Professor of Law | Washington University School of Law pg.

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ART OF HEALING

Your Ad or Article could be here!

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RICKKITA EDWARDS

CARDIO-CORE & MORE AT NORTH COUNTY REC. CENTER

TIMES: MON WEDS FRI 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

She teaches a class 2 Mondays a month at Faith Miracle Temple 7:15 pm - 8:00 pm. (ALL CLASSES ARE FREE)

COMING SOON! WAIST-NOT FITNESS PERSONAL TRAINING #GETWAISTEDBYRICKKITA

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Jury Duty How

Changed Me

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By Sheila Bassoppo-Moyo, Ed.D. It was the third jury duty notice I had received from the Civil Courts Building in downtown St. Louis. Thinking to myself, “I better go this time. Don’t want to have to go before the judge to explain why I can’t serve.” Like many people, I felt jury duty was a nuisance and just another chore added to my busy schedule. Grudgingly, I drove downtown along a busy highway at about 8:00am, parked the car, and caught the shuttle from the arena parking garage to the court building on Jefferson and Market Street. I was sure I would not be chosen. I would sound too arrogant. Everyone knows the lawyers for both sides do not want anyone that has an independent thought. After sitting for what seemed hours, I was chosen as a juror to my dismay and irritation. I had to report back to the court for the trial the following day. I was not prepared for the court case I heard. After being sworn in, I was to judge, based on the facts presented in the case, the fate of a young female. She was an attractive petite black woman in her mid to late twenties. When introduced to the court, she stood at five feet and looked rather delicate. I noticed her small hands as she wrote on a note pad throughout the trial. She looked like a little girl sitting next to her Pakistani lawyer. She wore a white lace blouse and black pants. She had delicate features. The jury learned that she was a mother of two small boys. All names in this narrative have been changed. I will call the young woman, Jackie. From what I can recall these were the facts of the case: It was on Jackie’s job at the warehouse that she met a former male friend, Frank, from high school who had just been released after spending five years in the Missouri State Penitenuary. She had just broken up with her boyfriend, Eddie, who also worked at the same warehouse.

According to Jackie’s testimony, Frank, who was now

Jackie’s new lover, needed money and convinced her to take him to her old boyfriend’s apartment because he needed some money. The two men had already clashed on the job because of Jackie. Both Jackie and Frank were aware that Eddie owned some expensive electronic equipment. Jackie testified that Frank physically abused her over the course of their relationship and she pretty much did whatever he wanted. When Jackie and Frank went to Eddie’s apartment, Jackie was to be the decoy and get Eddie to open the door. Frank and another male accomplice rushed into the apartment. All three found Eddie was not alone. A couple that he had invited over were also in the apartment. A fight broke out. A horrible struggle ensued. Jackie, her new boyfriend Frank, and his friend tied up Eddie and the couple in the apartment. To make a long story short, they forced Eddie and his friends to lay down on the livingroom floor, tied them up, put duct tape over their mouths, and cut their throats. The prosecution showed photos of blood stained into the carpeting. Miraculously, the victims were able to loosen their bonds and run for help to neighbors. When all was over, victims had cuts to their throats and knife and gunshot wounds. Jackie and her accomplices were arrested. By the time of the trial, she had already spent two years in the St. Louis Workhouse. The prosecution had photos of the crime scene that showed blood stained carpeting, walls splattered with blood, and photos of the victims’ wounds. For me, it was a horrible experience. I grew up pretty sheltered in my life. I come from a Christian family, though my own faith has become more eclectic now that I’m older. I consider myself spiritual and not really tied to any particular religion. I sat in the court thanking God for my parents. I sat in that courtroom and wiped away my tears. I have always had the problem of controlling tears. Luckily, I wore a hat most of the time and prayed that no one would see me wiping away tears. The victims testified as well as Jackie’s mother. Both

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HOW JURY DUTY... cont.

parties had a different perspective of this young woman. She was painted as a heartless villain by the victims and by her Mom as a good mother who just went astray after meeting and falling in love with the wrong man. At break time, I went into the hall and saw Jackie’s mother sitting on a hard wooden bench next to the two little boys dressed in white shirts with ties and black pants. They both had book bags on their backs. Her two children, I thought. Of course, I felt sorrow for the victims, but my heart went out to Jackie and her family, and to her small children. They were also victims. I sat in the courtroom and listened to the testimonies, asking God why I had to sit through this horrific case. Suddenly the light bulb went off in my head. I learned that I was to mentor children and young people. It hit me like a bolt of lightning. It truly takes a village. From that day on, I promised myself that I would do all I could to help young people to stay on the right path. Today is the third anniversary of Michael Brown’s death. I volunteer my time to work with young people. I don’t view them as being other people’s children. I can’t tell others what to do, but for me, I am going to do all I can to help mentor our youth.

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The Black Rep

invites you to a subscription reception at The Black Rep office on Wednesday, August 16, 2017 from 5:30-7:00. You will have an opportunity to meet the cast of DOT and view the art show About A Song From The Field William Burton, Jr. & Robert A. Ketchens Get your subscription for the following productions to be held at the Edison Theater on the Washington University in St. Louis campus, located at 6465 Forsyth Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63105 DOT by Colman Domingo-September 6-24, 2017 FENCES by August Wilson-January 3-21, 2018 TORN ASUNDER by Nikkole Salter-April 13-29, 2018 Subscription rates are $135 for adults and $120 for seniors (65 and older). Please RSVP to Gale Ingram, Development Director at galei@theblackrep.org or 314-885-3333 by Monday, August 14, 2017. The Black Rep Administrative Office 6662 Olive Blvd St. Louis, MO 63130

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Book of Poetry by

Lenard D. Moore

th on 30 iti d Ed ite ry Lim ersa niv

http://www.mountainsandriverspress.org/Home.aspx

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"Quiet Time" by: Lonnie Powell

"Cuban Dancer" by: Ed Johnetta Miller pg.

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June 26, 2017 PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release Contact: Robert A. Powell 314-265-0432 Portfoliogallery@att.net,

Portfolio Gallery today issues its call for art, and invites visual artist of all disciplines to enter at:www.portfoliogallerystl.org The “All Colors” Fine Art Show will feature 100 artist and 200 pieces of art, both local and nationally known artists, collectors and educators to the St. Louis Region.

The “All Colors” exhibition will feature the art of invited artist Dean Mitchell, Charles Bibbs, Manuelita Brown, Ed Johnetta Miller, Lonnie Powell, Robert Hale, Sandra Smith, Cbabi Bayoc, Thomas Sleet, Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, Ronald Johnson and others. Our goal is to create an exciting art event that attracts a national audience. Sells income will support general operations of Portfolio, Inc. a not-for-profit 501C3 arts organization and further be used to provide grants to St. Louis artists, small notfor-profits and community based organizations. Please join the award winning Portfolio Gallery as it presents its 1st Annual “All Colors” Visual Arts Invitational & Juried Exhibition to be held January 13th through February 28, 2018, at the St. Louis Artist Guild, 12 Jackson Avenue, Clayton, Missouri 63105.

Portfolio Gallery is a member of The Alliance of Black Galleries

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Sycorax's Daughters

~ Edited by Kinitra Brooks, PhD, Linda D. Addison, Susana Morris, PhD. Forward by: Walidah Imarisha

A powerful, revealing anthology of dark fiction and poetry by Black women writers. The tales of what scares, threatens and shocks them will enlighten and entertain you. Sycorax’s Daughters’ stories and poems delve into demons and shape shifters from Carole McDonnell’s “How to Speak to the Bogeyman” and Sheree Renée Thomas’ “Tree of the Forest Seven Bells Turns the World Round Midnight” to far future offerings from Kiini Ibura Salaam’s “The Malady of Need”, Valjeanne Jeffers’ steampunk female detective in “Mona Livelong: Paranormal Detective II” and others. These thought-provoking twenty-eight stories and fourteen poems cover creatures imagined— vampires, ghosts, and mermaids, as well as the unexpected price paid by women struggling for freedom and validation in the past—slavery to science-fiction futures with transhumans and alternate realities. Leave the lights on and join these amazing authors as they share their unique vision of fear. Tiffany Austin - Tracey Baptiste - Regina N. Bradley - Patricia E. Canterbury - Crystal Connor - Joy M. Copeland - Amber Doe - Tish Jackson - Valjeanne Jeffers - Tenea D. Johnson - R. J. Joseph - A. D. Koboah Nicole Givens Kurtz - Kai Leakes - A. J. Locke - Carole McDonnell - Dana T. McKnight - LH Moore - L. Penelope - Zin E. Rocklyn - Eden Royce - Kiini Ibura Salaam - Andrea Vocab Sanderson - Nicole D. Sconiers - Cherene Sherrard - RaShell R. Smith-Spears - Sheree Renée Thomas - Lori Titus - Tanesha Nicole Tyler - Deborah Elizabeth Whaley - L. Marie Wood - K. Ceres Wright - Deana Zhollis

Review:

“

Sycorax's Daughters introduces us to a whole new legion of gothic writers. Their stories drip with history and blood leaving us with searing images and a chill emanating from shadows gathered in the corner. This anthology is historic in its recognition of women of color writers in a genre that usually doesn't know what to do with us.

”

- Jewelle Gomez, author The Gilda Stories

About the Editors: Kinitra D. Brooks, Ph.D. is an associate professor of English at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her research interests include contemporary African American and Afro-Caribbean, black feminism, and horror studies. Linda D. Addison grew up in Philadelphia and received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University. She is the award-winning author of four collections including How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend. She is the first African-American recipient of the HWA Bram Stoker Award® and has published over 300 poems, stories and articles. SUSANA M. MORRIS, PhD. is an associate professor of African American literature at Auburn University and co-founder of the popular feminist blog, The Crunk Feminist Collective. Sycorax's Daughters is available for Preorder on Amazon until March 10. Follow this link. http://amzn.to/2lsxgz3 ~~ Rochon Perry Publisher, Cedar Grove Publishing website: www.cedargrovebooks.com twitter.com/cedargrovebooks facebook.com/cedargrovepublishing

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BOONDOGGLE MEDIA presents a film by LERONE D. WILSON produced by NONSO CHRISTIAN UGBODE "COLORED FRAMES" BENNY ANDREWS JOHN ASHFORD GUSTAVE BLACHE III LINDA GOODE BRYANT MARY SCHMIDT CAMPBELL NANETTE CARTER ED CLARK ADGER COWANS FRANCKS DECEUS LARRY HAMPTON MARVA HUSTON GORDON JAMES JUNE KELLY JOHN KISCH WANGECHI MUTU OTTO NEALS RON OLLIE HOWARDENA PINDELL DANNY SIMMONS MICHAEL SINGLETARY DIANNE SMITH DUANE SMITH TAFA ANN TANKSLEY original music by THE MAGALI SOURIAU TRIO and LENAE HARRIS PG Parental Guidance Suggested Some material may not be suitable for children Â© 2017 Colored Frames. Boondoggle Media, LLC

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MOVIE REVIEW by Mariah L. Richardson

COLORED FRAMES

“We don’t show black velvet in our buildings” Click.

I never really did the research to see if black artists really painted on black velvet,” says Linda Goode Bryant, founding Director of Just Above Midtown (JAM), a New York City artists’ space that supports new work by emerging visual, video, and film artists, choreographers, musicians, writers, and performance and theater artists. JAM was the first gallery space to exhibit the work of African American artists and other artists of color in a major gallery district. The quote is Bryant recounting the time when she was trying to secure space to open a black art gallery. I write this review after visiting the Blue Black exhibit at the Pulitzer Arts foundation curated by Glenn Ligon. It delighted my spirit but also left me hungry for more exhibitions of black art.

Colored Frames, a 2011 documentary directed by Lerone D. Wilson, is an enlightening piece that delves deeply into the African American art world.

It speaks to the struggles of black artists being exhibited in public spaces and the real need for these works to be seen. My own quest to purchase works by black artists began about 20 years ago. Now, I own a signed print by Los Angeles based artist, Charles Bibbs, a signed artist proof by Synthia St. James, another by Om Shara, and even an original by St, Louis native, and John Rozelle, who in his early career used my mother’s garage as his artist studio. However, I am far from being learned on the subject of black artists and the rich perspective of black life they have to offer. Not just black life but life. These artists are a venerable feast of black expression that is waiting to be savored. Thankfully, Colored Frames introduces us to many artists that are relegated to the shadows but Wilson illuminates the darkness of

the art world and provides a starting point to expand our knowledge. Featured in the film are, the late Benny Andrews, Gustave Blanche III, Nanette Carter, Dianne Smith, Linda Goode Bryant, Adger Cowans, Frank Deceus, Wangechi Mutu, and Gordon James, just to name a few of the black art world’s luminaries. What makes this film so very important is that, as Gustave Blanche III states in the film, “If you really think about it from a historian’s stand point, that all that is left when generations die off, they look at the art, that’s how they measure that civilization’s success.” And if we are honest, the willful neglect and suppression of African American art in this country is telling to how unsuccessful the United States is as a country. When we look at commercial art with black subjects what we see is usually created by white artists informing us about black life through their perspective. Art by black people is kept out of the major art spaces. “Art throughout history, in terms of African American experience, has been served as one of the best ways to document that experience and really document it truly”, says artist Dianne Smith. This being said, another key to the success of black artists is, as June Kelly of the June Kelly Gallery says, “We have to support it for it to continue. African Americans must support our artists. We must validate ourselves.” The struggle lies not only with the white art world’s reluctance to include black artists into the canon, into the grand museum halls and galleries but, also with the need for black Americans to educate ourselves on art in general, black artists, in specific, and buy black art. Yes, the rise of Kehinde Wiley is great but there are others, many others worthy of exhibition in places like the Perez in Miami or the Metropolitan in New York. Which brings me to more burning questions that are raised in this film and they are: What is black art? Is it art that must feature black figures or is it any art that is created by a black artist? Can black people paint life as they see it which includes still life, abstract, or representational? If a black artist paints white people, is her art still black art? Lerone D. Wilson has put together an extraordinary film that can answer these questions but most importantly, for me, he has given me a glimpse into a world of beauty and those who create beauty giving me an urgency to learn more and buy more art by black people.

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Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

W.E.B. Dubois

MEET - UP

Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, was the most prominent African American civil rights activist and scholar of the 20th century. He was a prolific writer, editor, historian, and the first African American sociologist. He was the first African American to graduate with a doctorate from Harvard University in 1895. His most famous work, The Souls of Black Folk, introduced the concept of double consciousness. He co-founded the NAACP and was the editor of its magazine, called The Crisis. Du Bois fought against racism and championed human rights throughout his life. The W.E.B. Du Bois and Sociology Meet-up group will schedule a series of meetings to discuss Du Bois' writings. On Saturday, August 12th, members will discuss Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil (1920), the first of W. E. B. Du Bois' three autobiographies. This book is a collection of essays, poetry, and spirituals. The group will only be discussing the essay called "Of Work and Wealth" which is about Du Bois experience of the East St. Louis riot of 1917 and his impressions of St. Louis. Below is a link to the W. E. B. Du Bois Meetup that describes the upcoming meeting and gives a link to the full text of the essay: The first of a series of discussions on Darkwater will begin on Saturday, August 12th, 2017, in the meeting room at Starbucks in Ferguson, at 10776 West Florissant Ave. at 12 noon to 2:00pm. New members are welcome. https://www.meetup.com/Sociology/

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Help support New Music Circle’s upcoming 59th season by joining us for an evening of drinks and DJ’s on Tuesday, August 22nd (7:00pm – 9:30pm) at Tick Tock Tavern (3459 Magnolia Ave Saint Louis, MO 63118) located in Tower Grove East. RSVP on our Facebook event page here for continual updates. A full announcement of our upcoming season concerts and events will soon be available. Please sign up on our mailing list for an upcoming email announcement.

FREE! – no admission cost or cover ! On August 22nd from 7pm-9:30pm DJ’s will play records and raffle prizes (including CD’s, LP’s, and tickets to upcoming NMC concerts). All proceeds of drinks purchased during these hours at Tick Tock Tavern will help support New Music Circle concerts and workshops throughout the coming year. Tick Tock Tavern is a cash-only bar with an ATM machine located on premises, and shares the building with Steve's Hot Dogs (who will have food available during these hours - MENU). Info on Tick Tock Tavern may be found here: https://www.facebook.com/Tick-Tock-Tavern https://www.yelp.com/biz/tick-tock-tavern If you are unable to attend, and would like to make a donation to support our 59th season, please visit our donate page HERE to make a tax-deductible donation. Every dollar helps sustain another season of NMC concerts!

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Ever since I moved back to St. Louis, I've been wanting to do a full immersion meditation training. I recently got the push to just get it done when I got a call from University City School District to lead a meditation and mindfulness training for their guidance counselors. It was a nudge from the universe to get the research that I needed to get done to start training on another level. The event went well and I'm looking forward to going back to train more leaders in the district. By now I'm sure you've heard about all of the research that's been done showing the wonderful benefits of meditation and mindfulness. Meditation is now everywhere! (see the list below) Studies report that meditation helps relieve anxiety and depression, improves attention, concentration, overall physical and psychological well-being, and much more. WHAT TO EXPECT This 4-hour meditation and mindfulness training is educational, experiential and most definitely spiritual. You will be fully immersed in the foundational knowledge of the ancient practice of meditation, mindfulness, and breathing for personal growth and spiritual development. You will also get to practice meditation, mindfulness and breathing techniques immediately in order to anchor what you learn. IN THIS TRAINING YOU WILL LEARN: Exactly what is meditation and mindfulness, how to silence mental chatter at will and train your mind to focus The various faculties that make up the human being

and how to align them all to create a life you love The difference between your tangible (material) and intangible (spiritual) nature and how to balance them for inner peace and fulfillment The science behind creating habits and how to eliminate the ones that no longer serve you The true function of emotions and how to use them to serve you, instead of being controlled by them During the Breath & Belly segment, you will learn several breathing exercises (at least 5) and will have one-on-one assistance to ensure proper execution Ultimately, the goal of this training is to help you recognize, experience, and learn to live in the bliss of your true being as a means to set you free from suffering in whatever small or large ways it manifests in your life. This training will give you the foundational understanding and experience that will help you move into higher states of consciousness that will render to you such freedom. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS AND TO REGISTER Registration is $99 for the early birds who sign up before August 31st and $119 for registration on or after 9/1. You must pre-register online in order to attend. Wishing you peace, love, and happiness!! Selena J Personal Growth & Transformation Specialist Founder of the Meditation Lounge www.meditationloungestl.com www.selenaj.com

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Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

Why W.E.B. Du Bois Is Still Relevant

TODAY

had ended. “Do you trust white people?” asks one of Du Bois’ female students. Looking in her eyes, he describes his paradox. Du Bois struggles to be honest and frank, and finds it hard to be truthful. He thinks he must lie and responds that he does trust them. “…you repeat that she must trust them, that most white folks are honest, and all the while you are lying and every level, silent eye there knows you are lying, and miserably you sit and lie on, to the greater glory of God”

By Sheila Bassoppo-Moyo, Ed.D.

“What’s your fascination with W.E.B. Du Bois?” a friend once asked. I have a modest library of books written

by and about Dr. Du Bois, a prominent African American scholar and activist. I also hold meetups on his different publications like his seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk. For me, his thoughtprovoking essays, poetry, and novels eloquently articulate the African American experience and what we all, including white Americans, can do to continue the struggle for civil rights and obliterate racism in American society. Inspired by Du Bois’ life, my goal is to read as many of his works as I can. In “Of Work and Wealth,” he opens his essay by describing his life as a school teacher in rural Tennessee and leading a double life. He begins teaching at 17-years old in 1885 where he comes up against the realities of Jim Crow laws. He quickly begins the fight for civil rights. He takes up the gauntlet 20 years after the Civil War pg.

As a former middle-school teacher, I could identify with the dilemma Du Bois faced in the classroom. A white friend asked me to speak to his foreign language class about living in Zimbabwe for ten years. My friend only had one black child in his class. The black children were bused into the school which was in St. Louis County and was about 74% white, 11% black, and 5% each for Hispanic and Asian students. The one lone black boy in the class asked about Zimbabwe. I learned he was 10 years old. He seemed tiny and looked more like 7 or 8 years old. His question: “Do police carry guns?” The question took me by surprise. Similar to the question asked of Du Bois, I knew this child was thinking of race and the police shootings of black men. I lived in Zimbabwe ten years immediately following its independence from the British. Police in Zimbabwe at that time did not carry guns, only wooden batons. A few years ago, they started carrying guns. What has this 10-year old learned about being black in America? About the police? Did he already know the fate of

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black men and the relationship to the criminal justice system and mass incarceration in America? Had his parents prepared him for what he might have to face one day?

Du Bois wrote about the East St. Louis Race Riot in his third autobiographical work, Darkwater. The white labor class feared losing their jobs to

thousands of black people emigrating from the South for better opportunities in East St. Louis. As more and more black workers poured into East St. Louis from the South in the early 1900s, white fear of competition for jobs turned continued to fester, and blacks were fearful of remaining in poverty. This was the recipe that laid the foundation for the riot. Donald Trump’s rise to power was based on his appeal to the fears of the white working class who have steadily lost manufacturing jobs and his promise of employment. The rise of the alt-Right and emboldened white racists rising up on the heels of Trump is eerily similar to Du Bois’ writings. I see Du Bois’ writings in the media coverage of white hate groups and counter protesters throughout the country. The writings of W.E.B. Du Bois provide a thoughtful backdrop to those seeking to understand the African American experience in our society. His work also provides a historical lens to assess current events in our society today. History really does seem to repeat itself in some ways. If you want to understand the writings of Du Bois, you are welcome to join the W.E.B. Du Bois and Sociology Meet-up by clicking the link below:

https://www.meetup.com/Sociology/

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Volume 4.6 August 7, 2017

OPPORTUNITIES

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CAREERS

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