Culture

Tribute to Karen McCarthy Brown: Author of Mama LoLa or the Book that Kept Me in Grad School

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Well, there was this book, Mama Lola, about a Vodou priestess in Brooklyn. Did I know the author? No I did not. The subject was close to home. We had inherited responsibilities that have been overstretched by migration. It’s not something that we talk about. Maybe after your dissertation on Jamaica, you’ll write another book on your family’s story. In the meantime was there enough interest in this work to bring her to campus? Mere thoughts of that someday became inspiration enough to help me keep my eyes on the prize.

Culture

Al Rosen Banged Homers and Battled Anti-Semitism

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Al Rosen, a slugging Jewish third baseman for the Cleveland Indians and winner of the American League’s Most Valuable Player award in 1953, died Saturday at age 91. Rosen was an outstanding player and executive and a source of pride for many postwar Jews enthralled by our national pastime at a time when they still faced hostility and barriers in American society.

Empathy

Wielding Truth and Nonviolence in the Fight of Our Lives

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The fact that the conservative (so-called) narrative is dead wrong matters not a bit if there is no alternative. Some would have us believe that there simply is no coherent progressive narrative: we’re just on the wrong side of reality. Though this may be true, the fact is that this implicit foundation story of our civilization is dead wrong, and does not admit of progressive reasoning, or progressive values.

Culture

“Islam in America": A Conversation with Jonathan Curiel

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Jonathan Curiel’s new book is a readable and reliable history of the Muslim experience in America. The first waves of Muslim immigrants in the United States were very insular, Curiel writes, but interfaith efforts are one of the new hallmarks of American Islam — and a hallmark that separates American Muslims from Muslim communities in other countries.

Non-Violent Communication (NVC)

Abundance, Inequality, Needs, and Privilege

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I am immensely curious to understand the obstacles to having gift economy experiences be the norm rather than the exception. In this post, I am writing about one piece of this huge puzzle that fell into place for me: why the idea of “deserving” might have come into existence, and how it’s related to the difficulties in establishing gifting and collaboration.

Culture

What Rev. Vincent Harding Might Have Said About Benjamin Netanyahu's Visit to Congress

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The visit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the USA while he is in a political campaign in Israel, that does not have the sanction of President Obama, has reminded me of another manifestation of a street corner bit of analysis that I first heard as I was growing up in North Carolina, Texas and South Carolina; “If you are white, you are alright, if you are brown stick around, if you are black, stand back.” The whiteness of Prime Minister Netanyahu trumps the blackness of President Obama, and the assumption of those who invited the Prime Minister is that President Obama must stand back, because he is black.

Culture

Kids and Gun Violence: Can We Change?

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At least one explanation is obvious. Few industries are more lucrative than firearms. According to the Nations Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry is worth $32 billion per year. Moreover profits on handgun sales are surging according to Bloomberg Business Week—43% for the first quarter of 2014.