#Dr Peniel E Joseph

[haitilegends]

The Third Reconstruction: America's Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century

Book by Peniel E. Joseph

Historian

[padawan-historian]

MLK Day Resources

Decolonize your understanding of Dr. King’s teachings  and his legacy

Listen to this while reading Eye on the Prize -- Civil Rights Hymn

King’s philosophy of nonviolence: “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue… There is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.”

King on bootstrapism: “. . .when white Americans tell the Negro to “lift himself by his own bootstraps”, they don’t look over the legacy of slavery and segregation. I believe we ought to do all we can and seek to lift ourselves by our own boot straps, but it’s a cruel just to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.”

King’s rebuttal that nonviolence is passive: “Nonviolent resistance … avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but he also refuses to hate him. At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. The nonviolent resister would contend that in the struggle for human dignity, the oppressed people of the world must not succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter or indulging in hate campaigns. To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of our lives.“

Video & Literary Resources on Dr. King and lessons influenced by his resistance work:

Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail - April 1963

Dr. King’s 1967 speech (video) - The Other America

Dr. King’s 1967 speech (video) - New Phase of Civil Rights

An Experiment in Love: Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Six Pillars of Nonviolent Resistance and the Ancient Greek Notion of ‘Agape’ || Maria Popova

Prof. Ibram X. Kendi: Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (video) || American Historical Association

Teaching the History of Racist Violence in the High School Classroom (video) || American Historical Association

THREE PRINCIPLES OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: THOREAU, GANDHI, AND KING || Nick Gier

A Rap on Race: Margaret Mead and James Baldwin’s Rare Conversation on Forgiveness and the Difference Between Guilt and Responsibility

Decolonized Books to Read:

The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. by Peniel E. Joseph (2020)

Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign by Michael Honey (2008)

A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History by Jeanne Theoharis (2019)

From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century by William Darity (2020)

[wineisdivinepdx]

Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, a Postmodern View

Much has been written in the short time after we watched Will Smith slap Chris Rock on live television during the Oscars.  I found it disturbing.  I also felt guilty that it captured my imagination and thoughts over much more serious world events like the war in Ukraine, proliferating inflation, unpleasant economic times ahead, a waning global health crisis, and a weary, divided America. But here I am looking at this event from the world of entertainment and trying to make sense of it. The incident got my postmodern, philosophical brain working overtime, mainly what does this mean for Mr. Smith.

One can only bear so many memes and tweets before searching for a little more substance in public commentary.  One such article I much enjoyed was Peniel E. Joseph’s CNN opinion piece: https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/28/opinions/will-smith-chris-rock-oscars-joseph/index.html. It is a balanced, thorough look at the overall implications for Will Smith.  Yet, I do not fully agree with his view that “Smith’s actions do not negate all the good he has contributed as an actor, artist and humanitarian.” I’m afraid they kind of do.  I submit Bill Cosby.

It can be argued, particularly from a postmodern point of view, Bill Cosby through entertainment did more for the civil rights movement and the advancement of African Americans than any other public figure.  First, breaking down the color barrier with his soft, eloquent, narrative-driven standup comedy, he sold millions of comedy records to people from all walks of life before quickly moving into a class all his own.  Playing roles that would be normally reserved for whites, he transcended black stereotypes, playing the super cool intelligence agent, Alexander "Scotty" Scott, in I Spy during the 1960s.  In the 1970s, he entered the imagination and living rooms of children of all races with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.  Bill Cosby influenced acceptance and advancement, not through powerful, political acts, which killed civil rights activists Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, but through the seductive medium of entertainment, culminating to his magnum opus, The Cosby Show [1984 thru 1992]. America embraced the depiction of African American affluence in a sitcom set around the family of a doctor married to a lawyer.

The power that Cosby garnered from lifelong advancement of his craft as an entertainer, while championing the advancement of African Americans was immense and unprecedented.  Will Smith inherited this very mantle, vacated by Cosby after his downfall. In fact, Cosby paved the road for him.

I am not equating the slap of Chris Rock to the rape, sexual assault allegations and conviction of aggravated indecent assault of Bill Cosby. I am saying that nothing will be the same for Will Smith. On the global stage, he stepped out of the world of seduction and entertainment into the world of power and politics, delivering a very real assault for all to see, he then sat back down in his seat of power to receive his tribute and ovation, only to discover his own brand for what it is: fragile, reversible, and tarnished.  An apology cannot change this fact.

Much damage is found at the intersection of seduction and power.

[sporadicducklove]

The Butler

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          Lee Daniels movie The Butler is a 2013 historical drama that recounts the life of an African American butler named Cecil Gaines during the civil rights movements. Gaines was raised on a cotton plantation in Macon, Georgia, with his mother and father. When Gaines was seven years old, he witnessed his mother raped and his father killed by the white plantation owner. Out of guilt for his father's slaying, one of the other white plantation owners moved Gaines out of the cotton fields and into the house to train as a house servant. At the age of 18, Cecil leaves the plantation and starts working at a hotel pastry shop where he learns advanced serving and communication skills. The white house then hired Cecil as a butler, where he remained working through eight presidents' terms. During his time working as a butler for the white house, Cecil observes the white house's inner workings during times of intense racism, protest, and war. While observing the white house's inner workings, Cecil also experiences the other side of things through his son's life, who was a freedom writer with ties to Martin Luther King Jr and the Black Panthers. Towards the end of the movie, Cecil resigns from the white house after witnessing President Reagan's refusal to support economic sanctions against the South African apartheid regime. After resigning, Cecil meets his son to protest the South African apartheid regime before being arrested.     

 https://www.google.com/search?q=the+butler+images&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=Qh_vx_n966a-gM%252C5aVPW_q2mcDIiM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kQkZKMljMPsUV0lx9mUXKsbl1p2eg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiN2qHYvZvsAhVRZc0KHRcAChEQ9QF6BAgKEEc#imgrc=Qh_vx_n966a-gM

     The film highlights important historical movements during the civil rights movement and calls into question the United States government's role in reaching racial equality. In our course, we have talked about race, the depiction of race through photography and white privilege, all concepts that can be viewed in the film through scenes of segregated dinners, and the appalled response of white individuals when the African American people take a stand. 

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQs25_Sy67SdXgnxMpRpDD9SSy7wUkKLr0PAg&usqp=CAU  

     At the time of this movie's release, it was one of the few films to showcase the racial violence of the 1960s accurately. According to Dr. Peniel Joseph, a scholar of the civil rights movement, he reports that Daniels does a great job illustrating the harsh realities of Jim Crow, but he states that the Black Panthers are portrayed more as radical than the most important group of revolutionaries in America (2013). This inaccurate portrayal reminds me of the shadow archives mentioned in Nicholas Mirzoeff's article, The Shadow and The Substance. The shadow archives are a collection of pictures that continue the oppression of individuals who are not of the white race. In ways, Daniels' inaccurate portrayal of the Black Panthers as a radical group continues the oppression of this group by showcasing them in a more negative light than they truly are. Being in the mainstream media can lead to many viewers believing that these individuals were wrong and bad. This negative belief will lead to the continued suppression of the group and the African Americans who populate it because they appear as a danger to society.

Joseph, Peniel E. “A Civil Rights Professor Reviews 'Lee Daniels' The Butler'.” IndieWire, IndieWire, 16 Sept. 2013, www.indiewire.com/2013/09/a-civil-rights-professor-reviews-lee-daniels-the-butler-34974/. 

[rel390b]

I thought this article was very interesting to read especially related to what we learned in class about Martin Luther King Jr. In a documentary we watched in class, Dr. King’s arrest on Easter Day was explored. His wife Coretta Scott was interviewed where she spoke of that day in Birmingham. In her conversation with Dr. King, she asked him to stay home and not go to the protest so he would not be arrested on Easter Sunday. However, Dr. King knew what he had to do that day despite being a minister. He dressed in casual attire with blue jeans with the understanding that he would be soon arrested. It was quite exciting to learn that his arrest record in Fulton County was expunged this past month on his death anniversary. After all, his arrests were for peacefully protesting and he had good reason for each of his arrests. In the article, a professor named Peniel E. Joseph says, “The record should be expunged in the sense that the society and not Martin Luther King Jr. were the ones guilty of crimes of violence and illegality against black bodies in that generation”. I completely agree with this statement. Dr. King was not wrong for his protests and in this day and age, we can acknowledge that the fault was on the system not him. Although I am not sure if it matters now since Dr. King has passed, I am sure his descendants and others will appreciate the gesture to have his record expunged. Having a criminal record can limit people of opportunities even if it were years ago and they had done the time. The prosecutors wanted to make a statement on the unjust criminal system by clearing Dr. King’s record. I also found it interesting that this article discusses how Dr. King was devastated to be arrested. There is even a quote that says, “King didn’t like to be arrested. He was not like John Lewis. He just broke down and cried and then felt so ashamed of himself”. This is a perspective that I had not learned of before. It reminds me of when Jesus cried out to his Father while being tortured on the cross. It feels somewhat disheartening to learn the trials and tribulations Dr. King had to go through. However, it only makes his fight for civil rights even more noble. He really changed the world and paved ways for many. He did not just change life for African Americans, he changed life for all people of color in America. I do not know how my life would have turned out if it was not for him but I know it would have been drastically different. As an Indian woman of brown complexion, I would have most likely been forced to live in segregation as well. Today, I still face some subtle racism but I would have had to face even more racial discrimination if it had not been for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a true savior of America.

[topworldhistory]

With a focus on racial pride and self-determination, the Black Power movement argued that civil rights reforms did not go far enough to end discrimination against African Americans.

By 1966, the civil rights movement had been gaining momentum for more than a decade, as thousands of African Americans embraced a strategy of nonviolent protest against racial segregation and demanded equal rights under the law.

But for an increasing number of African Americans, particularly young black men and women, that strategy did not go far enough. Protesting segregation, they believed, failed to adequately address the poverty and powerlessness that generations of systemic discrimination and racism had imposed on so many black Americans.

Inspired by the principles of racial pride, autonomy and self-determination expressed by Malcolm X (whose assassination in 1965 had brought even more attention to his ideas), as well as liberation movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the Black Power movement that flourished in the late 1960s and ‘70s argued that black Americans should focus on creating economic, social and political power of their own, rather than seek integration into white-dominated society.

Crucially, Black Power advocates, particularly more militant groups like the Black Panther Party, did not discount the use of violence, but embraced Malcolm X’s challenge to pursue freedom, equality and justice “by any means necessary.”

The March Against Fear - June 1966

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. being shoved back by Mississippi patrolmen during the 220 mile 'March Against Fear' from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi, Mississippi, on June 8, 1966.

The emergence of Black Power as a parallel force alongside the mainstream civil rights movement occurred during the March Against Fear, a voting rights march in Mississippi in June 1966. The march originally began as a solo effort by James Meredith, who had become the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, a.k.a. Ole Miss, in 1962. He had set out in early June to walk from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, a distance of more than 200 miles, to promote black voter registration and protest ongoing discrimination in his home state.

But after a white gunman shot and wounded Meredith on a rural road in Mississippi, three major civil rights leaders—Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Stokely Carmichael of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Floyd McKissick of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) decided to continue the March Against Fear in his name.

In the days to come, Carmichael, McKissick and fellow marchers were harassed by onlookers and arrested by local law enforcement while walking through Mississippi. Speaking at a rally of supporters in Greenwood, Mississippi, on June 16, Carmichael (who had been released from jail that day) began leading the crowd in a chant of “We want Black Power!” The refrain stood in sharp contrast to many civil rights protests, where demonstrators commonly chanted “We want freedom!”

Stokely Carmichael’s Role in Black Power

From left to right, Civil rights leaders Floyd B. McKissick, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Stokely Carmichael marching to encourage voter registration, 1966.

Though the author Richard Wright had written a book titled Black Power in 1954, and the phrase had been used among other black activists before, Stokely Carmichael was the first to use it as a political slogan in such a public way. As biographer Peniel E. Joseph writes in Stokely: A Life, the events in Mississippi “catapulted Stokely into the political space last occupied by Malcolm X,” as he went on TV news shows, was profiled in Ebony and written up in the New York Times under the headline “Black Power Prophet.”

Carmichael’s growing prominence put him at odds with King, who acknowledged the frustration among many African Americans with the slow pace of change, but didn’t see violence and separatism as a viable path forward. With the country mired in the Vietnam War, a war both Carmichael and King spoke out against) and the civil rights movement King had championed losing momentum, the message of the Black Power movement caught on with an increasing number of black Americans.

Black Power Movement Growth—and Backlash

Stokely Carmichael speaking at a civil rights gathering in Washington, D.C. on April 13, 1970.

King and Carmichael renewed their alliance in early 1968, as King was planning his Poor People’s Campaign, which aimed to bring thousands of protesters to Washington, D.C., to call for an end to poverty. But in April 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis while in town to support a strike by the city’s sanitation workers as part of that campaign.

In the aftermath of King’s murder, a mass outpouring of grief and anger led to riots in more than 100 U.S. cities. Later that year, one of the most visible Black Power demonstrations took place at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where black athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised black-gloved fists in the air on the medal podium.

By 1970, Carmichael (who later changed his name to Kwame Ture) had moved to Africa, and SNCC had been supplanted at the forefront of the Black Power movement by more militant groups, such as the Black Panther Party, the US Organization, the Republic of New Africa and others, who saw themselves as the heirs to Malcolm X’s revolutionary philosophy. Black Panther chapters began operating in a number of cities nationwide, where they advocated a 10-point program of socialist revolution (backed but armed self-defense). The group’s more practical efforts focused on building up the black community through social programs (including free breakfasts for school children).

Many in mainstream white society viewed the Black Panthers and other Black Power groups negatively, dismissing them as violent, anti-white and anti-law enforcement. Like King and other civil rights activists before them, the Black Panthers became targets of the FBI’s counterintelligence program, or COINTELPRO, which weakened the group considerably by the mid-1970s through such tactics as spying, wiretapping, flimsy criminal charges and even assassination.

Legacy of Black Power

Ten-year-old Robert Dunn uses a megaphone to address hundreds of demonstrators during a protest against police brutality and the death of Freddie Gray outside the Baltimore Police Western District station on April 22, 2015. 

Even after the Black Power movement’s decline in the late 1970s, its impact would continue to be felt for generations to come. With its emphasis on black racial identity, pride and self-determination, Black Power influenced everything from popular culture to education to politics, while the movement’s challenge to structural inequalities inspired other groups (such as Chicanos, Native Americans, Asian Americans and LGBTQ people) to pursue their own goals of overcoming discrimination to achieve equal rights.

The legacies of both the Black Power and civil rights movements live on in the Black Lives Matter movement. Though Black Lives Matter focuses more specifically on criminal justice reform, it channels the spirit of earlier movements in its efforts to combat systemic racism and the social, economic and political injustices that continue to affect black Americans. 

from Stories - HISTORY https://ift.tt/2V8qS4Y February 20, 2020 at 08:51PM

[fakeadmisslh-blog]

Hey Longhorns!

This week I had the privilege of attending Dr. Leonard Moore hold a reading of his book, “The Defeat of Black Power.” Dr. Moore is the is the Interim Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement and a Professor of History at the university.  

The book, The Defeat of Black Power explores the challenges of the Black Power Movement in American politics. Dr. Peniel E. Joseph, founding director of the Center for Study of Race and Democracy comments that the book "Offers critical and fresh insights into the way in which a highpoint of Black political radicalism became the ironic touchstone for the movement’s decline as a national political force. Essential reading.”

Dr. Moore teaches the course Black Power Movement and the signature course Race in the Age of Trump. As a student, be sure to check out Dr. Moore's innovative and engaging teaching style through his courses or discussions/lecture series provided on campus!  

Hook 'Em!  

-Shelby Guel, Admissions Recruitment Specialist