Turkey, Michael Jackson & Black Media

Given that challenges related to division and separation are frequently the subject of this blog, it's nice to think about Thanksgiving. While US presidents from Washington to Lincoln declared 'Days of Thanksgiving' it was actually Franklin Delano Roosevelt who set the 4th Thursday of each November as the official day of recognition for the holiday in the US - it was approved by Congress in 1941.

I've enjoyed my Thanksgiving holiday, family, food, friends and football. But one of my favorite parts is reading all the magazines my mother receives at home that I normally do not take time to read unless I am here.

I was raised in a household with a lot of reading material around, books, magazines, newspapers etc., so I've been reading Ebony magazine on and off for more than two decades. Ebony is something of a staple for many African-American households. Rare is the black barbershop that doesn't have old issues of Ebony and Jet laying around.

Ebony was created in the same style as Life Magazine; just take a look at the lettering and logo in the upper left corner of the cover.

Langston Hughes penned an interesting take on the history of the magazine in 1965.

The cover of the December, 2007 issue featured Michael Jackson and I read through the cover story to see what the oft-maligned "King of Pop" was up to these days. Seems our fleet-footed friend has been living on an estate outside of Dublin where he's been writing material for a rumored album slated for 2008 or 2009 release.

He also reflects upon his career, the creation of Thriller and the state of contemporary music. If you're expecting to get an explanation on how one of the children who've accused him of child molestation could identify distinctive birth marks on the elusive star's penis you'll be disappointed.

Ebony, much like Life is given more to "puff" pieces in it's coverage of celebrities, the story, while it does feature an interview with Jackson, comes off as pretty 'safe' and right in synch with the Jackson camp.

Given the treatment and coverage of people of color by the mainstream media, (replete, by the way with 'puff' magazines...) saturated with negative images of blacks over the years, I think it's still important to have a magazine that portrays African-Americans in a positive light.

Regardless of whether or not the stories go into Vanity Fair-like detail, it continues to serve an important purpose and an audience that recognizes the brand as familiar and even comforting.

Kudos to John H. Johnson and the editorial staff over the years.

While headquartered in Chicago, the New York offices seem like they could use a little brushing up on the importance of the brand. My sister went over to the offices of Ebony & Jet for an interview recently and noted the curious absence of any magazine covers, logos or even photos adorning the walls of it's Big Apple offices.

As she observed, you be hard-pressed to even realize that the magazine was even associated with the office at all.

Support for 'Sippenhaft' by Some Swiss Signals Growing Racial Divide

In recent years there have been steady reports in the media concerning an unsettling rise in the number of groups that embrace right-wing neo Nazi ideology in Europe.

An October 4th New York Times story highlighted the attempts of the Swiss People's Party, or SVP, a right-wing Swiss political organization, the largest in the Swiss federal parliment, headed by Christoph Blocher, a billionaire who also serves as the nation's justice minister.

The SVP garnered headlines when they created a flag (pictured above left) with images of a group of white sheep kicking out a black sheep. The SVP also mass-mailed the image on postcards to homes throughout Switzerland and even plastered the image on billboards.

SVP members argue that government statistics indicate that approximately 70% of the Swiss prison population are non-Swiss. Lawmakers are attempting to pass legislation that would make it mandatory to deport the entire family of any foreign-born juvenile found guilty of a crime. Tactics the Nazi's used to deport thousands of people from Germany, a process known as Sippenhaft, or kin liability.

The flag seemed to have an affect, on October 22, 2007 the BBC website reported that the SVP won 29% of the vote and gained seven seats on the national council.

It's important to note that many Swiss citizens, including the president of the country were outraged and offended by the SVP 'Sheep Flag'. And marches and rallies by SVP supporters have been disrupted by violent clashes by anti-SVP protesters.

Anti-immigrant feelings are not unique to Switzerland or Belgium, England, France, Germany and Italy are all dealing with internal unrest over the presence of large foreign populations - particularly those of Muslim descent.

It is the trend of these anti-immigrant feelings turning to violence that is most concerning.

On Thursday October 11, 2007 I blogged about the horrifying case of 19-year old Hans Van Themsche (the son of the founder a right-wing anti-immigrant Belgian political front) who shot and killed Oulematou Niangadou, an African nanny from Mali and Luna Drowart the two-year old in her care while the two were in a public park in broad daylight.

Von Themsche later confessed to police that he had planned to kill at least five foreigners; he was subdued after he wounded a woman of Turkish descent and was shot in the stomach by police.

It will be interesting to watch how the SVP Swiss election results of fall '07 affect other countries in Europe. With populations worried about their national identity and a growing multicultural makeup becoming more of a European reality, time will certainly tell.

FBI Report on Race Reveals Disturbing Trends for US Racial Relations

An FBI report released on Monday, November 19th presents some disturbing data from police departments across America that show some 7,722 reported criminal incidents of behavior based on racial bias.

The figure represents a sharp 7.8% increase from the 7,163 incidents reported in 2005.


With the slew of black Americans who've been recipients of copycat 'noose displays' in the wake of the Jena 6 incident, various degrees of hysteria surrounding anti-immigrant backlash across the nation and growing signs of rising cultural intolerance in communities across America there are some serious wrinkles in the fabric of our Culturegeist.

Are racial relations in the US taking a turn for the worse?

The data comes from 12,000 of the 17,000 communities and break down to 5,449 against individuals, and 3,593 against property or "society at large" which might include churches, synagogues, cemeteries, and schools.

58.6% of the 7,330 offenders were identified as white, 20.6% as black and 12.9% of other backrounds/nationalities etc.

These stats seem to point to noticeable rise in the level of fear and insecurity of many people in communities of various socioeconomic, and racial makeups. Is it a result of an overall rise in tensions that relate to 911 and terrorism and the subsequent invasion and occupation of Iraq?

How is it that in 2007 Americans seem to be reverting back to manifestations of prejudice, fear and intolerance that seem more at home with the 1950's and 1960's?

Kudos to the FBI and Justice Department for releasing the stats but our government needs to be assuming a larger and more active role in examining the root of these trends.

Is mainstream media doing enough to report this turn in the state of race relations?

The Culturegeist is shifting and people of all ethnicities and racial backgrounds should be aware of it.

Jarrel Gray, 20, Becomes Latest Young African-American Man to Die at the Hands of Police

Another young man of color fell victim to aggressive police tactics in an autumn that has seen an unsettling series of escalating physical confrontations with fatal results.

Jarrel Gray was allegedly confronted by Frederick County Deputies after he was involved in a fight after a party early on the morning of Sunday, November 18th.

According to a report on the WBAL Website the victim's mother claims her son was deaf in one ear and might possibly have not heard the officer's commands. After an altercation with police, Gray was tasered and later died.

One of the most detailed accounts of the incident seems to come from The Register, a Canadian Website which carried the story.

Will New Justice Dept. Chief Address Gonzales' Bungling?

One of the most glaring examples/remnants of the Alberto Gonzales-led Justice Department with more allegiance to the Bush White House than to actual justice, is US Attorney Rachel K. Paulose of Minnesota. (pictured left)

Paulose was one of many attorneys who replaced more seasoned prosecutors and DOJ managers with more experience at the behest of the White House because of her unwavering loyalty to the President.

Now new DOJ head Michael B. Mukasey is faced with an opportunity to step in and set the tone for his tenure. What can the American people expect?

Paulose, the daughter of Indian immigrants, a Yale Law School grad and a member of the conservative lawyer's group the Federalist Society, is accused of an abrasive management style that led three of her top staff members to step down from their administrative functions in April according to an article in today's New York Times.

Accusations that the Federalist Society serves as a mechanism for consistently advancing a right-wing agenda have made over the years by many groups.

Will Mukasey fire this inexperienced right-wing yes-man and replace her with someone actually qualified to manage the Minnesota office? Or will we see the first concrete evidence that Mukasey is merely another Gonzales in another guise?

Is Prejudice Seeping Into Science?

A well-written piece by Amy Harmon in Sunday's New York Times raises old questions of race, genetics and our perceptions of ourselves. New questions hovering around supposed scientific proofs reinforcing the supposed superiority or inferiority of people with different physical characteristics are once again grabbing media attention.

Once again we are witnessing attempts to cloak the irrationality and fear-based insecurity of thinking warped by prejudice in the folds of science.

Aside from attracting media attention it raises the question - at what point does objective scientific analysis begin to become subject to the ingrained prejudices of those whom laymen look to, or qualify as scientific experts?

There have been numerous attempts over the course of history to use questionable scientific conclusions or flat out bogus theories to prove racial superiority.

It brings to mind the infamous 'Piltdown Man', an alleged early human ancestor found near Uckfield, East Sussex, UK. For years members of the scientific community attempted to use Piltdown man to undermine the existence of fossils proving that mankind originated in Africa.

NPR's News & Notes, On Point Radio

Thursday night's 10pm "News and Notes" program on WNYC had a really in-depth and spot-on conversation of substance about the current state of the black family in America.

Oft-mention were Bill Cosby's now infamous and brutally frank comments on the issue. I think both he and Dr. Alvin Poussaint have an important message that merit's the ear of a much larger audience.

Here you've got two highly-regarded media savvy African-Americans with the guts to talk about dirty-laundry issues like the behavior of some African-American children in public and the need for blacks as a community to confront and take a greater responsibility for the bringing together the highly diverse elements within the black community.

Huge need for more dialogue here regardless of one's take on the issue.

There was also agreement amongst the guests on the program that these are broader social indicators that are by no means limited to the African-American community. These issues cut across the expanse of our culturegeist.