Left of Black: Saggy Pants, Talking White and the Obama Bully Pulpit

Left of Black:

Saggy Pants, Talking White and the Obama Bully Pulpit

by Mark Anthony Neal



One of the more interesting aspects of the Obama presidency thus far, has been the focus placed on some of the more mundane aspects of Black life in America. Simple gestures by the President and the First Lady, such as a fist pound and the bearing of bare arms have become obsessions for journalists and pundits. Nowhere has this been more pronounced than with the reaction to President Obama’s oft-cited complaint about young black men and their saggy pants and Michele Obama’s recent reflection about childhood friends who accused her of “talking white.” What passes as simple curiosity about a very popular elected official, I suspect has more sinister aims, when considered within the context of popular pronouncements like “no more excuses” in the aftermath of President Obama’s election. Thus casual commentary from the President and the First Lady serve as a bully pulpit for those desiring to police the lives and culture of Black Americans.



The issue of “saggy pants” has functioned like a social panic in some municipalities, where local officials have sought to pass ordinances banning sagging pants, as the style is thought, by some, to be evidence of criminality among young black men. The town of Delcambre, LA did in fact pass such an ordinance, punishable by 6-months in jail and a $500.00 fine. The city of Opa-Locka, FL banned sagging pants in city parks and public buildings. Additionally the city of Dallas funded a series of public service announcements denouncing saggy pants, equating the practice with homosexuality. It was in this context that a MTV viewer asked then Senator Obama about saggy pants, when he sat down with MTV News days before the November election. During that interview, Obama made the now famous comment, “brothers should pull up their pants. You are walking by your mother, your grandmother, your underwear is showing. What's wrong with that? Come on.”



Within days of Obama’s pronouncement, numerous television news programs and newspapers ran stories about Obama denouncing saggy pants. Obama’s comments, taken out of context, could easily be read as an admonishment of young black men and by extension, the influence of hip-hop culture. In fact Obama, prefaced his comments by stating “I think people passing a law against people wearing sagging pants is a waste of time… any public official, that is worrying about sagging pants probably needs to spend some time focusing on real problems out there.” But as a politician, Obama also knew that his comments about saggy pants represented a “win-win” for him; he would gain traction with undecided voters who hoped that he would provide a moral center for a youth culture supposedly gone awry, while serving as a non-issue for the hip-hop community that he had so deftly recruited in support of his campaign. Quiet as it’s kept, the saggy pants style is largely passé with regards to hip-hop generation masculinity, as some of the most highly visible and highly compensated hip-hop figures such as Sean Combs, Sean Carter, Curtis Jackson and even the recently incarcerated Clifford Harris, Jr. are more often than not, seen in public wearing business attire.



Yet while Obama carefully crafted response was intended to offend no one who might have potentially voted for him, his comments have taken on a life of their own, utilized to organize anti-sagging/dress code efforts at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and public high schools, like Plantation High School in South Florida which recently sponsored a “Pull Up Your Pants Day.” That this sudden inspiration often take places within the context of black communities, long grappling with how to relate to and control the young men in their communities, should not be surprising. President Obama’s stance on the issue has simply been used to shame black youth into “normalcy.” Underlying this push towards routine sartorial choices, is a troubling class dynamic, rooted in a century-old (if not longer) debate amongst Black Americans about the proper presentation of blackness in mainstream culture. Michelle Obama’s comments about “talking white” puts this dynamic in particular focus.



At a recent Women’s History Month event with Washington DC Public school students and prominent women like Dr. Mae C. Jemison, Alicia Keys, Alfre Woodard and Alicia Keys, Michelle Obama told a gathering of students that when she was growing up “I remember there were kids around my [Chicago] neighborhood who would say, 'Ooh, you talk funny. You talk like a white girl.' I heard that growing up my whole life. I was like, 'I don't even know what that means but I am still getting my A.” Like the President’s comments about saggy pants, Ms. Obama’s reflections were prominently featured in the next day’s news cycle. The notion of “talking white” and “acting white” have long been bandied about in black communities, but for a nation that has historically chosen to be oblivious to the inner dynamics of Black life in America, such a discussion elicits a fresh focus. It was just last year that perennial protest candidate Ralph Nader accused then Senator Obama of “talking white” as part of Obama’s effort to assuage white voter fears that he might be cut from the same cloth of traditional Civil Rights leaders. Nader’s comments would have been offensive, if not for the fact that there quite a few Black Americans who also read diction as an index of racial authenticity.



Ironically only days earlier, President Obama appeared on ESPN to announce his NCAA Basketball bracket and in response to Andy Katz’s query about whether the President stayed up to watch an overtime game during the Big East Tournament, Obama dropped this ditty: "I can't be staying up until 2 in the morning…I've got work to do." President Obama’s “can’t be staying…” uttered in what linguists refer to as standard black vernacular (BVE), was much like his “nah we straight” response at Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington DC late last year. How can the man, who Nader accused of “acting white” be so adept at standard black vernacular? As Nia-Malika Henderson writes, Obama’s “language, mannerisms and symbols resonate deeply with his black supporters, even as the references largely sail over the heads of white audiences.” But President Obama is not unique; he is representative of at least three generations of Black Americans who have mastered the practice of switching codes—folk who move fluidly and fluently through multiple linguistic communities, with the understanding that so called mainstream American vernacular (talking white) was critical for putting Whites—at ill-ease because of their presence in the workplace or other places of business—at ease. Indeed, because we rarely see the “private” Michele Obama we have little knowledge of how adept her own control of BVE is, but her husband clearly has more pressure to navigate the tensions between making a nation of folk comfortable and being read as “authentic.”



There were many that read Ms. Obama’s “talking white” comments as rooted in Black middle class elitism, while others saw her comments as evidence of the bankruptcy of Black American culture, particularly in reference to the use what is often ignorantly referred to as “black slang.” The Obamas have little control over the ways their simple gestures will be utilized by others, whether it’s Black Middle Class gatekeepers trying to reign in the black poor or conservative ideologues who want to use the family’s success as ammunition to further erode the gains of the Civil Right era. Nevertheless this sudden focus on the intricacies of black like may finally help this nation get the story of race in this country, right.



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Mark Anthony Neal is Professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African & African-American Studies at Duke University. He is the author of several books including the recent New Black Man. He is currently completing Looking for Leroy: (Il)Legible Black Masculinities for New York University Press.

For Every Chris & Rihanna, There Are Dozens of Cases Like This

from The Washington Post

Charges Are Filed In Triple Stabbing
D.C. Family Says Woman's Boyfriend Has Violent History
By Matt Zapotosky and Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, March 23, 2009; B01

For years, family members feared that Erika Peters's volatile relationship with her live-in boyfriend would end in tragedy, her sister said. The family was so worried that they developed a code with Peters's oldest son so he could surreptitiously communicate with them.

On Saturday, Peters's sister Kimberly Trimble said, Erik used the code, telling his grandmother, "The sky is blue," to alert her that something was amiss. Hours later, police broke into his family's apartment in the 2000 block of Maryland Avenue NE to find him, his brother and his mother with stab wounds, police sources said. Peters, 37, and her younger son were dead. Erik died a short time later.

Police announced yesterday that they had charged Peters's boyfriend, 44-year-old Joseph Randolph Mays, with the triple slaying. To family members, the announcement came as little surprise.

"We knew about him beating the kids, but she wouldn't leave," Trimble said. "I don't know if she's scared of him or what the case may be." Trimble said she did not think that Peters ever sought a protective order.

Read the Full Story @

Beware the Kindle!

from The Christian Science Monitor

Kindle e-reader: A Trojan horse for free thought
By Emily Walshe
from the March 18, 2009 edition

Brookville, N.Y. - All you really need to know about the dangers of digital commodification you learned in kindergarten.

Think back. Remember swapping your baloney sandwich for Jell-o pudding? Now, imagine handing over your sandwich and getting just a spoon.

That's one trade you'd never make again.

Yet that's just what millions of Americans are doing every day when they read "books" on Kindle, Amazon's e-reading device. In our rush to adopt new technologies, we have too readily surrendered ownership in favor of its twisted sister, access.

Web 2.0 and its culture of collaboration supposedly unleashed a sharing society. But we can share only what we own. And as more and more content gets digitized, commercialized, and monopolized, our cultural integrity is threatened. The free and balanced flow of information that gives shape to democratic society is jeopardized.

For now, though, Kindle is on fire in the marketplace. Who could resist reading "what you want, when you want it?" Access to more than 240,000 books is just seconds away. And its "revolutionary electronic-paper display ... looks and reads like real paper."

But it comes with restrictions: You can't resell or share your books – because you don't own them. You can download only from Amazon's store, making it difficult to read anything that is not routed through Amazon first. You're not buying a book; you're buying access to a book. No, it's not like borrowing a book from a library, because there is no public investment. It's like taking an interest-only mortgage out on intellectual property.

Read the Full Essay @

Remember My Name: Dionne Farris & R&B's Outliers

from The Root

What Happened to Dionne Farris?
by Mark Anthony Neal

The crooner who stole Arrested Development’s track nearly 20 years ago is back—on the Internet. While you’re reuniting with Farris, check out the new crop of black female artists who are keeping soul music honest.

Singer Dionne Farris had become little more than a musical footnote, that talented backup singer on Arrested Development’s alternative hip-hop classic “Tennessee,” who wrested the song from lead vocalist Speech as she wailed, “won’t you help me, won’t you help me, understand your plan.”

Thankfully, she has resurfaced—on the Internet. For Truth If Not Love and Signs of Life, released on her own label, Free & Clear, and on MySpace, mark a new phase in Farris’ career and, with it, a new wave of attention to underplayed soul songstresses.

Farris’ return comes after a nasty parting of ways with her former label, Columbia, which wanted her to produce black-radio-friendly, neo-soul tracks, even though her post-Arrested Development breakout single, “I Know,” was a mainstream video pop hit. At a creative impasse, she requested and gained a release from her contract.

That was more than a decade ago.

Farris’ story is not unlike countless black women in the recording industry. But the marginalization—some of it self-imposed—serves as a necessary function, allowing the tradition of R&B to remain rooted in a politics of remembrance and accountability that simply couldn’t survive in the full bloom of the marketplace.

This is the role being played by a new crop of dynamic women soul singers, including Imani Uzuri, Muhsinah Abdul-Karim and Georgia Anne Muldrow.

Read the Full Essay @

Remembering John Hope Franklin

from The Nation

Farewell John Hope Franklin
by Melissa Harris-Lacewell

[T]he great Historian John Hope Franklin passed away at the age of 94.

I did my doctoral work at Duke University and had the the opportunity to encounter Professor Franklin many times during my graduate training. Each time it was a privilege because John Hope Franklin was a superstar intellectual who managed to be utterly open and personally humble with students. He made us feel like partners, rather than subordinates, in academic inquiry.

In an age when black public intellectuals are rewarded for pop-culture peppered verbal dexterity and aggressive self-promotion; Dr. Franklin maintained a mode of inquiry which exposed injustice and dismantled inadequate arguments with soft-spoken dignity. His gentle manner sometimes led interlocutors to underestimate him, but it was not a mistake made more than once, because Franklin's razor sharp intellect and quick wit were memorable.

John Hope Franklin had deep personal and professional knowledge of America's vicious racial legacy. Franklin researched America's story of slavery and freedom in segregated archives. He was relegated to separate tables and irregular library hours so that white patrons would not be exposed to a literate black man researching Southern history. Franklin uncovered the vicious legacy of our racial past and engaged in decades of the struggle to change our racial present: from marching in Selma to endorsing Barack Obama.

Read the Full Essay @

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from NPR's Tell Me More with Michel Martin

Remembrances
John Hope Franklin Dies, Leaves Guiding Light

Close friends and fellow scholars of Franklin — Duke University English Professor Karla Holloway, co-founder of the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies, and New York University professor and author David Levering Lewis — discuss why both the passion and the work of John Hope Franklin will live on.

Listen HERE

Underground Current - Bakari interviews Haki Madhubuti

From Bakari Kitwana:

I recently caught up with longtime Black political activist Haki Madhubuti to discuss the Obama economic stimulus package and the economic downturn’s impact on Black America. Here, Madhubuti delves deeply into some of the economic maneuverings that derailed the US economy. He also spoke about Obama’s cabinet picks, particularly those in education and foreign policy. I wanted to know, given Madhubuti’s extensive career as an educator (he and his wife, Dr. Carol Lee, founded New Concept Development Center in 1972), how he felt about the selection of Chicago Public Schools head Arne Duncan as Education Secretary. Being from Chicago, like Duncan, he cut to the chase. Likewise, Madhubuti is a Little Rock, Arkansas native and held no punches when speaking of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and how former president Bill Clinton complicates her role. Given what’s at stake in the arenas of the economy, education, foreign policy in the days ahead, Madhubuti offers a crash course.

Haki Madhubuti is university professor at Chicago State University, the founder of Third World Press and the author of over 20 books, including the most recent, Yellow Black.

Post Race, My Ass!

Ryan Moats Police Video, Part One

Celebrating the Queen of Soul's Birthday

Celebrating the Queen of Soul’s Birthday

by Mark Anthony Neal

When on the campaign trail this past year, then Senator Barack Obama was often asked about his taste in music. Without fail, Obama would answer that Aretha Franklin was his favorite singer. Apropos choice for a candidate who, perhaps managed political risk, better than any candidate in modern history. Indeed you’d be hard pressed to find any American music lover over the age of 30 who would profess anything but affection for the woman who has been, for more than 40 years, simply known as “The Queen of Soul.” President Obama’s choice of Aretha Franklin to sing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” at his inauguration, was an informal acknowledgment of what we’ve all known; Franklin is simply a national treasure.

In celebration of Aretha Franklin’s life and career, on this her 67^th birthday, I’d like to offer a playlist of great Aretha Franklin performances. And while there are literally dozens of “best of” collections that put Franklin’s career in proper perspective, I’d like to offer performances that can’t regularly be heard on your local oldies station.

This Bitter Earth (1964)

Franklin’s A Tribute to Dinah Washington, was a public nod to the legacy of one of her most important influences (the other being gospel singer Clara Ward). Recorded when Franklin was still wallowing on the Columbia label, where the legendary John Hammond had signed her, “This Bitter Earth” may be the best inkling of the genius that was to come. Only 22-years old when she recorded this Dinah Washington classic, it was clear that Franklin was someone who had a grasp of many disparate popular forms, as well as the Gospel tradition.

Trouble in Mind (1965)

With jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell in tow and Ms. Franklin herself on piano, “Trouble in Mind” is rollicking gutbucket rendition of a 1926 Blues classic, written by Richard M. Jones and initially performed by Bertha “Chippie” Hill, with Louis Armstrong accompanying on cornet. The song highlights the spiritual component of the blues (I’m goin’ down to the river/I’m gonna take my old rockin' chair/Oh and if those blues overtake me/I’m gonna rock on away from here), which made it a perfect choice for Franklin, who finessed the line between Gospel and Blues better that anyone since the father of gospel Thomas Dorsey.

Take a Look (1967)

“Take a Look” was the title track of Franklin’s final studio recording for Columbia, released as she was walking into Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals to record her Atlantic debut. Written by famed songwriter Johnny Otis , who produced Dinah Washington’s recording of “This Bitter Earth,” the song highlights all the missed opportunities that the label had to really make Franklin a major star. With the Civil Rights Movement as a backdrop, “Take a Took” is an earnest call for peace and tolerance, just as Franklin herself would play a more public role in the struggle for Civil Rights.

So Long (1969)

By the time that Franklin’s Soul ’69 was released, she was already at the center of a seismic shift in popular music, which established her as a major crossover pop star and making her, arguably, the most popular black woman performer ever. On the strength of groundbreaking releases such as I Have Never Love a Man (1967), Aretha Arrives (1967), Lady Soul (1968) and Aretha Now (1968), Franklin could afford to look back and pay tribute. Covering a range of pop and blues classics including Percy Mayfield’s “River’s Invitation” and childhood friend Smokey Robinson’s “Tracks of My Tears,” the clear highlight is Franklin’s rendition of “So Long.” Simply put the song ranks as one of Franklin’s most exquisite performances ever.

It Ain’t Fair/Share Your Love with Me (1970)

By 1970, even Ms. Franklin was feeling the push of changing tastes, eventually adapting with the toe-tapper “Rock Steady.” In the meantime she held her own doing the music that she wanted to do. In the larger scheme of things, The Girl’s in Love with You (1970) is easily lost among her more visible outings, but it is arguably one of her finest recordings. Though the sublime “Call Me” and “Son of a Preacher Man” (a tossup between Ms. Aretha and Ms. Dusty, me thinks) are the more well known tracks on the album, which also included two Lennon and McCartney songs, “It Ain’t Fair” and ‘Share Your Love with Me” are examples of an artist who is just on the cusp of being in full control of her artistic capacity.

Sprit in the Dark/Spirit in the Dark (Reprise)(1971)

In February of 1971, Ms. Franklin headed to the Bay Area to do three nights at the famed Filmore West, with saxophonist King Curtis serving as opening act and musical director. The dates were an opportunity for Franklin to reach out to the counter-culture that coalesced in the region. Thus Franklin’s versions of Stephen Stills’s “Love the One Your With” and Bread’s “Make it With You” were obvious concessions on Live at the Filmore West (though the former is quite brilliant), but the Filmore West dates were also about exposing the Hippie crowd to the power of Southern Soul and nowhere is that more evident than Franklin’s final night performance of “Spirit in the Dark.” Initially recorded as a studio track, Franklin’s live version heightens the dramatic tension between the spiritual and the sexual world. But in a move that could have gone awry, Ray Charles who was in attendance for the performance, joins Franklin on stage for an 17-minute musical thesis on the importance of black music. Midway through, Franklin gives up her seat at the electric piano to Charles, and notes well into his solo, “it’s funky up in here.” Nearly 40 years later, the performance stands one of the greatest moments in the careers of both artists, if not one of the great live recordings in all of pop music. The late great Billy Preston and noted session guitarist Cornell Dupree were among the band members that night.

A Brand New Me (1972)

Though Franklin had long been aligned with the Civil Rights Movement, because of the work of her father The Rev. CL Franklin, her 1972 recording Young, Gifted, and Black might serve as her most explicit political statement. Her rendition of Nina Simone’s “Young, Gifted and Black” stands on its own, but one of the gems of the recording, which includes tracks originally recorded by the likes of The Delphonics, The Beatles, Elton John and Otis Redding, is Franklin’s take on the Jerry Butler classic “A Brand New Me.” One of the early efforts of Kenny Gamble and Huff and recorded by Franklin just as the duo were establishing Philadelphia International Records, “A Brand New Me” highlights her Jazz sensibilities. Her piano solo midway, is worth the price of admission.

Oh Baby (1974)

“Oh Baby” is a true obscurity from Franklin’s career. Tucked away on her largely forgettable 1974 recording Let Me In Your Life, which included her retread of Stevie Wonder’s “Until You Come Back to Me” (which many forget he originally recorded), “Oh Baby” is the portrait of an artist at the peak of her powers. A sweet song in its own right and one that Franklin penned herself, the tonal colors and pitch of her performance are simply amazing, especially during the final minute of the song. At age 32, Franklin could have retired and her legacy would still remain intact.

Don’t Waste Your Time w/Mary J. Blige(199)

After a string of success with Clive Davis and the Arista machine in the 1980s (at least until Ms. Whitney capture Mr. Davis’s attention), Franklin was ”re-introduced” in 1998 courtesy of a production collaboration with Lauryn Hill. A savvy commercial move, “A Rose is Still a Rose” was Franklin’s last “hit.” A year later Franklin, against all acceptable logic at the time, went in the studio with Mary J. Blige to record “Don’t Waste Your Time.” The song appeared on Mary (1999), which is in my mind, Blige’s career defining recording. Though Blige has never possessed Franklin’s technical skills, they very much share a relationship as the emotional centers of their respective generations.

Guest Post: Esther Armah on Rihanna & Chris Brown

special to NewBlackMan

THE NEXT IKE AND TINA?
by Esther Armah

“Yo! Check this out! Rihanna all battered, dyamn! She look like Tina musta did!.” The scene is a New York library session with a group of high school teenagers. Young women and men scramble over chairs to get to the computer screen where the young man is seated. One teenage boy, hand over his mouth, points and creates rapid fire scenarios around the image. Another laughs. Others point at her bruises. And there are those who are quiet, shocked at the picture. Bruised, battered, busted, Baijan singer Rihanna, eyes closed, is their focus. This is the picture that travelled the globe, followed by an affidavit that colored in details from the alleged assault by her pop star boyfriend Chris Brown. Raucous and rowdy, the librarian hushes them. Blame is thrown around like a ragdoll. Some blame Rihanna. Two question Chris Brown. Words like forgiveness, money, light-skinned beauty, provocation are slung, momentarily explored, discarded. They go quiet. The teenager who found the image on the computer shouts: “They like the new Ike and Tina?!”

Really? Chris Brown = Ike. Rihanna = Tina. Really. Tina Turner? Living legend, she of ‘Proud Mary’, and ‘Nutbush City Limits’ fame. She who endured violence at the hands of Ike throughout her 16 year marriage. And Ike? He of flashy clothes, musical vision, fierce musical independence and creativity. And later of voracious cocaine use and legendary temper fame. He who ended up in and out of jail. Both brought to life courtesy of Oscar worthy performances by Angela Bassett and Lawrence Fishburne in the July 93 film ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It?’ Still, how frightening that Chris at just 19 and Rihanna at just 21, should be doomed to a relationship marked by nearly two decades of cycles of violence as told in her biography ”I, Tina”. Tina left. In the end. She went on. She got strong. She healed. She recovered. She spit in Ike’s eye with each step of her success. Ike became the focus of ridicule. Broke, a self-imploding sad dude, high on stories of has-been glory, continually denying the violence and for whom many showed more than a little contempt. Tina & Ike. We know Tina’s story. We’re still learning Rihannas’. And that of every other black girl who knows Rihanna’s bruises intimately, and who has stared in the mirror at unrecognizable features.

The numbers say that most often a Tina would be dead at the hands of the man who she shared the aisle, vows, a gold band and a bed with – or a Rihanna who shared an intimate space with her alleged abuser. The number one killer of African-American women ages 15 to 34 is homicide, at the hands of a current or former intimate partner, according to the American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic Violence. The same study showed Black females experienced intimate partner violence at a rate 35% higher than that of white females, and about 22 times the rate of women of other races. Every number is a personal tale, a truth hidden, bruises covered, pain buried. Brenda Thomas’s book ‘Laying Down My Burdens’ shared her own behind the headlines story of a 15 year violent relationship – one that she finally escaped, but whose scars she carries. A new report “Black Girls in New York City; Untold Strength and Resilience,” by the Black Women for Black Girls Giving Circle (BWBG), a funding initiative of The Twenty-First Century Foundation and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) revealed violence remained a major fear for young black girls - and that they expected to have to protect themselves.

To the high school teenagers in that library, I wonder what Ike and Tina represent. Their laughter isn’t easy. Or comfortable. But it is there. Their eyes tell a separate truth from their laughter. They check one another’s reaction before offering their own. Older women watch them, unimpressed. Their conversation spins and spits at the video vixening of black women. They lament how these young women have been “ized” and “fied” - categor-ized, demon-ized, vili-fied, sexual-ized. I watch too. Not just these women, but depictions of us right across myriad forms of media. We have become comatose cuties, walking wounded, part of the living dead wrapped in the kind of fly fabulosity that shields external bruises and hides broken hearts and souls – even as popular American culture elevates the broken and celebrates the aristocracy of mediocrity. Back at the library. Two generations of women. One turns in horror to hear the one behind it shrug and ask what the big deal is? Other women rail against each other. Fast girls, good girls, bad girls, brown girls, light girls - the labels signify whether the violent treatment was apparently deserved. Smart women, hood chicks, Afrocentric activists, weave on crew, corporate cuties – notions of how women should and shouldn’t behave to avoid being on the receiving end of violence are too often tempered with – but she shouldn’t have, or why did she, or she should’ve known……….The generations part – each slightly disgusted by the other.

BROKEN MANHOOD = REAL MAN?
Chris Brown points to a deeper conversation – the one about manhood and masculinity and what that means in America. It reeks of the beginnings on this land of a people for whom the legacy of the lash and the lynch have become seamless and intimate parts of their relationship with this soil and one another. We are on intimate terms with violence. That experience continues to haunt via the nightmares of young women whose reaction speaks of their socialization in the acceptance of violence. What kind of man is he? Thug. Hood. Aggressive. Sexy. The marriage of aggression with manhood is an integral part of patriarchal America. Ike was a badboy, a cocaine user, a man in charge of his woman. That equaled sexy. A real man. Chris is seen as a sweet boy, a young man, a good man. So Rihanna must have provoked him, so said so many. Chris Brown’s persona was that of the good boy, the sweet man, the clean cut image, the anti-gansta sweetness of r’n’b. That affected folks’ conclusion that he “simply wouldn’t go off like that without dire provocation.” Another truth? Violent, troubled men are using women’s bodies as battlegrounds. They are the places where their internal wars are waged, their rage is poured, insecurity is fought, disrespect is mastered, pain is smothered. And then society – us, we, you, me, he, she – weighs in with versions and visions of how it happened, whose truth and whose lies linger, whose fault it is, what she should do, how he should act, that he should be forgiven, that she should know better than to provoke, that he was provoked. Manhood, masculinity and violence in America are so intimately intertwined, that to talk about violence and men is to have a conversation and exploration about what it is to be a man in America – and around the world. Add to that the protective posture of black folk when it comes to the brothers. They face such vulnerability due to the various assaults by society. So they are protected. Trouble is the way we protect young black men has been and continues to be via the sacrifice of young women. Add to that the created persona of celebrity, where image is truth, perception is everything. And versions of yourself can be packaged and sold as part of the commodification that is so much of today's black music – sometimes genius, sometimes tragic. Action around manhood does exist. Conversations about black manhood are present and live right here in New York – and across the States. Examples? ‘The Masculinity Project”, a major offering exploring the complex dynamic of manhood via film, exhibitions, personal testimony. The 10-city “State of Black Men National Townhall Meetings” tour in 2004, the 2007 “Black and Male in America, a 3-Day National Conference” followed up with monthly all male forums in Brooklyn that explore topics such as spirituality, physical health, mental wellness. All these events denote black male activists’ commitment to exploring masculinity – and the link between that and violence. And then there are the books. The most recent such as the moving and thoughtful “Be A Father To Your Child:Real Talk from Black Men on Family, Love and Fatherhood”. Edited by writer and activist April Silver, and featuring short stories, essays, interviews and poems by 25 men - a mix of activists, musicians, writers, educators and poets. There's also “The Beautiful Struggle,” by Ta’Nehisi Coates to name just two. Other books like “Black Pain: It Only Looks Like We’re Not Hurting,” by Terrie Williams reveals the untold story of black folk and depression, a sometimes contributory factor to violence. So often, domestic violence and its condemnation or discussion is led by women. In New York men like award winning film-maker Byron Hurt have been engaged in exploring masculinity and its association with violence, and his upcoming annual event “Stand Up…and Speak Out”, an annual conference in New York on May 21 and May 22nd organized by “A Call To Men”, an organization committed to ending violence against girls and women continues that work. He is one of many, many male activists right here in New York doing this work around manhood and masculinity in America. Movements of men are a welcome - and much needed - addition to the voices of women raised in continued protest and condemnation around relationship violence. For the daughters and the sons who are witnesses and who navigate this troubled terrain, this work is precious.

TRAUMA = DOLLARS
Healing. The healing is the universal word and work much needed, but also much maligned. Healing developed a bad rap. Even as it continued to be crucial. Healing got turned out like a whore by a pimp. Trauma became an industry, laid out on its back by publishing pimps who sniffed the green in the drama and spewed forth lecturers, authors, wannabe wannabes all espousing that delivery of demons lay in self love. The young women who called me after my special live radio show on violence talked about that. Some were pissed. They asked of self-love, where do I get that? Who can give me that? What would it look like? No glib notions for them. Explanations, they wanted. Break it down, they demanded. Explain where we get that, they asked. What would it feel like? And they were not satisfied with trite answers. One woman offered; ‘saying ‘you need to love yourself” is not helpful’. She continued: “clearly I don’t. I don’t know how. “ Don’t tell me what to do, show me how to do it.” Some young women spoke about the hypocrisy of healing from a previous generation. They spoke about a place where healing was little more than a conversation that sold books, created lecture circuits, and glibly paraphrased lives, experiences, complexities into neat caged sentences. The clarity of crap dominated pages of work. That’s what they thought. And they didn’t like it. It didn’t help them. Their anger at this industry for the apparently traumatized prompted suspicion and levels of contempt. They wanted answers, facts, details. And then there was a generation of women that admonished their youngsters to put away the pity party and pull themselves together. So some became silent. Or they lied. Or denied. Or built shields and armor. Learned behavior poured from breast to mouth, via the broken love of procreating previous generations doing the best they could with what they had. Healing? What did a road to recovery even look like?

ROAD TO RECOVERY……..Long and winding road…
Kyra, Ceillise, Nyema and La-vainna. Spanning a decade – from 11 to 21, each endured violence at the hands of a boy or a man. All were featured on the live radio specials for Wake Up Call, a morning talk show I host on WBAI99.5FM over a two week period. A media appetite for blood and gore prevails when it comes to domestic violence stories. Battered women, and those that batter fulfil the gory-ometer level where the news has more drama than dramas. Recovery is less sexy. It makes fewer headlines. Provokes less discussion. Sells fewer papers. Means less viewers. Equals loss of listeners. But that’s where the real work is. Erica Ford of L.I.F.E., a non-profit organization based in Queens that deals with troubled young people between the ages of 13-24 typically on the receiving end of some form of violence speaks about committing federal dollars to this work of practical healing that is long and often difficult. Her project is specifically devoted to the holistic healing of these youngsters. But it ain’t just federal, how about community dollars, ask some? Real ones, not punk dollars, states one young woman. Just as they wanted real recovery, not punk healing. They don’t want to hear what they call the proclamation healing. The proclamation without the acceptance. Not the: “I will never raise my hand to a woman again,” which one young lady likened to an alcoholic swearing they would never take a drink again, but then getting a job in a bar. Especially since, she explained, many still want to negotiate what violence means – and that no bruising or battering meant that violence hadn’t taken place. “They still negotiatin’, while I’m tryin’ to clean myself up from the pain.” Some of these younger women accused older generations – and since they are in their early 20s, they meant anyone over 35 – with hypocrisy about the notion of healing. Some explained they feel sacrificed as they listen to women negotiate acceptable levels of violence from men towards women, and then chastise their behavior. They question this notion of role-models. One said “y’all still want educated thugs, and I ain’t know the difference ‘tween an educated thug and a violent dude. Most thugs got smarts, so when dude smacks me, then yáll wanna know why I choose him. Cos you did, cos y’all did.” With recovery, these women, these witnesses to the violence between adults they love, despise and fear ask: What does a man who used to hit a woman and says he doesn’t now – where is his program? Alcoholics got a 12 step program, regular meetings, drug addicts got rehab? What about rage? How does he deal with the triggers that prompt his rage to turn into a closed fist and then a black eye? Where does he go for his sessions to tackle that rage.? What happens before rage becomes a closed fist against smooth chocolate, caramel or mocha skin that becomes a bruised, black eye – and worse? And the young men say little or nothing, struggling to control emotions but refusing to engage in any external source to quell feelings that may ultimately erupt and turn a woman into that statistic about homicide quoted earlier. One young woman said: ‘my dad had a ritual. Before he ever laid a hand on my Mama I saw there were a bunch of things he would do, so I had maybe five minutes to get outta there or find somewhere to take cover’. Others described the violence as uncontrollable and explosive. One said: ‘disagree with my Pops, expect to get a slap, then another then another, then it was on.’ Another explained: “Pops would, like black out, he wasn’t himself anymore. I wanted to ask him, where do you go? Why can’t you control where you go? If you say you’re not going to hit any more what did you do to change that?” Acceptance maybe one thing. Recovery is the next – and that is the patient, diligent, difficult, persistent work of therapy and more. Blame, like judgement, paralyzes and silences. Young women’s bodies cannot continue to be a battleground for the righteous indignation, pain and rage of black men. Young women are not just asking men to stop. They want us to heal, to do the work. All of us. Them, their men, their parents, their community. Are we willing to hear this call to practical healing? La-vainna Seaton is 17. Her friend approached her at school. Explained her boyfriend hit her. Asked for advice. What should she do? La-vainna told her: ‘where there is love, abuse cannot exist’.

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Esther Armah is an award-winning international journalist, a radio host, a playwright and an author. Armah host 'Wake Up Call' on WBAI99.5FM New York and the tri-state area and ‘Off The Page’ on WBAI99.5FM. Every FIRST and THIRD FRIDAY of the month. 11am – 12noon.