(Still) Waiting for Lauryn Hill

Fans have been waiting for Lauryn Hill to return in true form. Now that her national tour has begun, it's painfully clear that the wait is not over.

Waiting for Lauryn Hill
by Bassey Ikpi | The Root.com

For a decade, we have held our collective breaths waiting for the return of the Lauryn Hill. For many of us, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill served as both Greek chorus and sound track to our young adulthoods. Now she's back with a national tour ahead of her, and adoring fans at the ready. But she's not the Lauryn we once knew.

Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21

To Spank or Not to Spank? A Black Parents' Dilemma

Should spanking be a last resort or first line of defense?

Whup that Ass? To Spank or Not to Spank
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21

Recently, journalist Roland Martin and writer and critic Toure engaged in a spirited exchange on Twitter about spanking. It was pleasing to see two Black man talking publicly about the travails of parenting. Spanking though, is a subject that often transcends simple discussions about parenting, leading into the realm of physical abuse. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t regularly conflicted about when to spank or not, or whether spanking is appropriate at all.

Cards on the table, my mother used to whup my ass. My mother was the proverbial yeller and beater and I can’t say that my mother’s disciplinary skills ever served as a deterrent to my behavior, which was more along the lines of “stupid shit” rather than innate evil. My father on the other hand only spanked me once to my recollection.

The most memorable occasions associated with my parents’ discipline were times when they didn’t spank, like when my father purposely slapped a wall about 6 inches from my head as a teen-ager or when my mother showed up at a touch football game when I was ten, belt in hand, looking for me. Knowing that I should have been the house before dark, I took an alternative route back to the apartment. The subsequent embarrassment I experienced at the constant retelling by my peers of the incident was enough of a future deterrent.

Black parents have long been conflicted about spanking, if only because of the violence that was so often directed at Black bodies during slavery and after. During the era of legal segregation, Black parents often had to aggressively discipline their children so that their children would never fail to remember the unspoken rules of survival in a racist society, particularly in the South. In other words, Black parents had to lovingly “beat that ass” to make sure their sons, for example, didn’t engage in dangerous acts, such as reckless eyeballing (looking at White folk directly in their eyes), that could get them killed. As such, spanking has become part of the fabric of some Black communities.

Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21

After the Dance: Conversations on Michael Jackson's Black America

After the Dance:

Conversations on Michael Jackson's Black America

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Langston Hughes Auditorium
Friday June 4, 2010 at 6pm
Saturday June 5, 2010 at 11am

Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest on June 25, 2009. After a year of media-sanctioned mourning through concert tributes, film specials, video marathons and an extravagance of merchandising, who will bear the questions of music industry exploitation, self-hate, sexuality, addiction and apparent madness that Michael’s life and death urge us to ask? Who will discuss the value of Michael’s Philanthropy an environmental consciousness? Michael’s story echoes the ongoing crises of experience and identity faced not only by Black America, but the Black Diaspora. These conversations demand space beyond a video tribute.

Day 1:

Friday, June 4

6 p.m. Opening Reception

7 p.m. Opening Plenary with featured guests Nelson George, Author, Filmmaker, Television producer, and Critic & Touré, Music journalist, Cultural critic

9 p.m. Closing Reception: Jackson Rhythms provided by WildSeed Music NY

** Sugested $10 donation at the door.

Day 2:
Saturday, June 5

11 a.m. Can You Feel It? A Multi-Media Collage of the Decades-Long Jackson Family Musical Career

Panel Discussions

12 p.m. To be White, Gifted and Black: Managing Acceptable Representations of Blackness as the "King of Pop"

Moderator: Esther Armah, International journalist, Published author, Public speaker, Radio host, and Playwright.

Panelists:Arthur Jafa, Filmmaker, Cinematographer, Writer; Dream Hampton, Hip Hop journalist; dj lynnee denise, WildSeed Music NYC; and DJ Qool Marv

2 p.m. Keep it in the Closet: The Historic Speculation Around Michael Jackson’s Gender Bending Persona

Moderator: Steven Fullwood, Schomburg Center

Panelists: Mark Anthony Neal, Professor of Black Popular Culture at Duke University, and Author; Asadullah Muhammad, Educator, Father, Poet, Writer; and DJ Reborn, Music Consultant and Teaching Artist; and DJ Selly

4 p.m. Black Ain’t Green: Honoring Michael’s Environmental Consciousness and Philanthropic Endeavors

Moderator: Walker Sands, Majora Carter Group

Panelists: Andres Carter, Sustainable South Bronx; William Thomas, Green Jobs Leader, Trainer, Business Man; and Anisa Keith, Sustainanble Business Committee, Co-founder

5 p.m. Closing: Jackson Rhythms