From there to here

I am struggling with the role of writing, with the roles of activism, journalism,privilege race and technology.

Getting Google Reader to aggregate my readings has truly changed the way I read news. It has made it easier but it has also made me believe that it does not and should not be EASY.

With fading paper news, a black president, and the rise of the internet , the world does not look , the discourse does not look the way it has before ,

and although my entire ability to even run my mouth in it , I am becoming more and ore disturbed by the " new media" tongue bath being given .

About the Voice of the people.

Let us be plain, the ability however small however much it doesn't always feel like it.

To engage in a public intellectual life, as a blogger or teacher or professor or writer or artist and not have it be your side hustle or your " hobby" thanks to the ever crush of bills or whatever

is a confluence of privileges ( yep even as much as I bitch about it I know I am treading on privileged ground here)

and we have to have to start asking the very serious question of "To who are we accountable"

It is an amazing bit of writing . AMAZING , but it reinforced the growing ( and it's gonna be repeated ) pit in my stomach about media and MOVEMENT and ARTISTIC and RACIAL accountability.

While people are becoming excited about a discourse and very keen a on using these tools to ad d to it, to become large figures in it, no one seems as excited about having the tough discussions about what and who they seek to "improve"

It plays out in my mind of course and in writing in terms of race and gender.

I black I am multi-ethnic , I am Ivy League educated.

I am not enthusiastic about the "opportunities presented by America's election of a black president" and I am deeply troubled by the frame of the discourse present by the "Soul Patrol AND the Melissa Lacewell Harris response.

While the sum total of my response of Tavis Smiley is too long it often can be sum mated in " ARE YA SERIOUS?". I have deep reservations about MLS's dissection of it and the Soul Patrol.

First and foremost the fact that the first thing mentioned is the production value is bothersome, especially when later on it attacks the fact that they are all well endowed professors and or corporate backed ( in a CNN article by a Princeton professor , who is now being critiqued by a Penn grad yeah I'm getting to that)

While yes it is democratized, lets be clear on what voices even within these formerly underserved communities, are gtting play, or even in fringe circles ( I am an intsy bitsy blogger but i gots ome truck) why certain voices and certain credentials KEEP RISING, and keep getting play, as well as counterpointed. It si in this age I believe no longer enough to mention it or point at it but it has to be laid bare and ultimately destroyed.

Meanwhile equating the ability to become part of a system that STILL disenfranchises black americans ( not all black americans are African Americans) with maturity

Further, Smiley and his "soul patrol" seemed to have missed the intervening 40 years between the era of King and the election of Obama. African-Americans are no longer fully disfranchised subjects of an oppressive state.

African-Americans are now citizens capable of running for office, holding officials accountable through democratic elections, publicly expressing divergent political preferences and, most importantly, engaging the full spectrum of American political issues, not only narrowly racial ones. The era of racial brokerage politics, when the voices of a few men stood in for the entire race, is now over. And thank goodness it is over. Black politics is growing up.

While I totally like the idea of avoiding the race men( and women) , I dislike the use of this phenomena as a chastisement of the way TS and em are going about this. Because this phenomena this need of race men was predicated on a deep racism that predicated the use of perfect blameless people for organizing ( Rosa Parks anyone). And Barack Obama's election , which is being used to even as many people cringe to herald a " post racial era" gives us a deep hint that no it's not actually that far gone.

While I agree fully and totally that the TS and Soul Patrol critiques are often baseless and unproductive and ignorant of people who are not in their vision of productive. I also say that a view that hold up racial neutrality is any better,especially as a black president isn't all races nor does it indicate a clear race history.

Which is where I really disagree with Jay Smooth and a lot of the we're further along than we were rhetoric framing of the " post Obama moment". While his observation is brill ant and funny. The why is NECESSARY this rush for post racialism is not benign.

It is part of a continued and multi pronged death grip of entitlement and privilege to move from not having to care cause it didn't affect them to not having to care cause we're beyond that. Because if we're not beyond it and people are still concerned we might have to talk about why and that's not just boundaries and it's tied up in a whole lot of things that make racial neutrality a LOT more difficult than presented and the variety of voices not only presented but centered a LOT BIGGER

What i do think it is important to talk about and address is this constant portrayal of this action of ' fam correction" as jealousy and unproductive and baseless. My Google Reader sends me news alerts on race and racism and feminism and it picked up this article that featured the MLH piece from feministing this is the part that made me go yeah well no:

This question of authenticity in identity is a very frequent theme in argument between different types of feminists and specifically different generations of feminism. The older "watchdogs" are disappointed with what they see is a diluted brand and less than tough stance on issues by younger generations. The reality that material conditions have changed for women, people of color and other disenfranchised communities is not explored in depth, which has allowed for different types of political identifications, different types of movements.

Because frankly the "watchdogs" are not disappointed with out reason, and these material conditions improving for SOME of these groups is not enough for them to stop being vigilant, not to mention the constant belief that these watchdogs are themselves a homogeneous group is baseline insulting. Especially if only certain sections ( or people) are getting these improvements based on representing themselves as or being represented as standard bearers for the whole group. The other reality is that often the material conditions for many of these groups HAVE NOT MOVED AT ALL IF THEY HAVE NOT OUT RIGHT REGRESSED.

And the fact that these opinions often come with identification or absorption into capitalistic or commerce based affluence isn't something that changes things for everybody else. The fact that we can discuss this does not change the fact that there are more homeless and trans murders and service reduction to the disabled and that if they are annoyed or upset or so angry they can barely achieve coherency , pointing at my article in make/shift doesn't change that.

and if I am accountable to them and not the next run for the zeitgeist or the possibilities or the evolution the dialogue MUST CHANGE and must stop being posited as an old vs new,and start digging into the SCARY issues, in ways that ARE NOT territorial defense and predicated on hoping a voice speaks privilege enough to be comprehended and "hip " enough not to be dismissed.

But instead predicate themselves on pushing us as far as we can as deep as we can to exposing the parts of ourselves we hide the most to the BEDROCK of our views. Of what we move for , who move for and WHY

It is swinging in my head so hard because frankly it's going to get harder. Asking the tough necessary questions without a "hook" or a spin or a niche.

is getting more and more difficult and surprise it's dryng up and going away along very familiar lines.

Not only does the world need our voices, and everyone Else's but it needs OUR PURPOSE

and while yes our ability to do it ourselves, and challenge old wisdom, and be creative is good.

It is being done ( YEAH MAEGAN AND NEZ AND KAI AND THE SANCTUARY)

What is necessary are our loves our allegiances, and our purpose because

MLK?

sacrificed the good graces of LBJ for the unions and opposing the war.

Because moments opportunities moments epochs are merely after thoughts in describing one thing

What finally moved you from there

to

here.