Arts today 3.9

Vol 3.9 |

November 26, 2016

~featured~

KEVIN BAKER PLAY CHANNEL PHOTOGRAPHY pg #100

D'JONIERO JONES ARTIST pg #33 ALLEN LLOYD PHOTOGRAPHER pg #58 LOIS INGRUM ARTIST pg #82

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EQUITY IN...

TRUMP VICTORY

BLACK CODES

pg. #12

pg. #46

pg.#76

PAMELA J. MEANES

DR. MALAIKA HORNE

BERNIE HAYES

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

IN THIS

ISSUE:

4

IN THE NEWS POLITICAL HISTORY...

6 OPAL’S WALK OPAL LEE

46

34 FEATURED ARTIST D'JONEIRO JONES

TRUMP VICTORY...

DR. MALAIKA HORNE

178

156

AMERICA WHO ARE WE...

KEVIN POWELL

LEFT-OVER WOES III LENA O.A. JACKSON

pg. 4

LIVE / WORK / PLAY NATE JOHNSON

10

22

MOLINE ACRES POLICE DEPARTMENT INFINITE SCHOLARS

136

76 WILL DONALD TRUMP...BLACK CODES BERNIE HAYES

FEATURED POET CHARLIE R. BRAXTON A writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, or because everything she does is golden. A writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.

Junot Diaz, Professor of Writing,

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 2008

Established 2014 Volume 3.9 St. Louis, MO www.the-arts-today.com/ Layout/Design www.bdesignme.com

NOTE:

As the publishers of The Arts Today Ezine we take care in the production of each issue. We are however, not liable for any editorial error, omission, mistake or typographical error. The views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of their respective companies or the publisher.

Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

COPYRIGHT:

This Ezine and the content published within are subject to copyright held by the publisher, with individual articles remaining property of the named contributor. Express written permission of the publisher and contributors must be acquired for reproduction.

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

IN THE NEWS

September 25th, Ms. Opal will walk from Becket Park in St. Louis, MO at 1:00 PM

Dear President Obama, Here I go again, a day late and a dollar short! I stumbled upon a contest “to meet the president” and I was busy entering the contest when (1) I lost what I was writing (I have a quirky laptop) and (2) the contest was closed, so I’ll write you any way.

I begin by saying how grateful I am for having met you three times in my ninety years. I’ve been to both inaugurations, have received a letter from First Lady Michelle, and I’m a part of Federated Women here in Fort Worth, TX waiting to hear back from First Lady Michelle’s mother, Mrs. Robinson. That’s all been pleasurable, however I want to have a real sit down heart to heart talk with you. Can that be arranged? I know you are busy as a cat on a hot tin roof, that you are working with your hands tied behind your back and I admire the herculean job you’re doing.

One of the many things I want to discuss with you is why Juneteenth has not been made a national holiday on the lines of Flag Day. Did you know that 45 out of 50 states have Juneteenth as state holiday? To that end I’m planning to walk to Washington, DC to hear from you for myself the reason why. I’ve done the calculations and it’s about 1400 miles. If I can do ten miles a day it will take 21 plus weeks to get to the White House if the Lord says the same and the creeks don’t rise. Only thing is, the creeks are rising in Texas right now.

I am the chair of our Juneteenth Celebration in Fort Worth and have been making sure we celebrate the freedoms we have for over 40 years. I have had Obama offices both times you ran in a building that a grandson lives in now with a big Obama sign (donated by a Republican). I’m a precinct chair and do a fair job of getting my people out to vote. I do my share of feeding the hungry. I take boxes of food from our food bank to people who are house-bound for whatever reason and cannot get to the food bank or stand in long lines. We pg. 6

are feeding 500 plus families per day.

A wonderful group of young people (I call anyone under ninety a young person) are part of a Board that we’ve formed to farm 13 acres on the Trinity River that we’ve been given permission to use. The idea is to help some of those persons who have been incarcerated and can’t find jobs to become self-sufficient. Sixty-six people signed up to participate.

Our role model is Paul Quinn College a denominational (AME) school where that president took the football field and the students are paid ten dollars an hour to grow produce that they share with the school cafeteria, their neighbors and the rest is sold. That’s what we propose for our people at a twelve dollar an hour wage.

It’s our hope that their families (children) will become a part of the equation and learn that all food doesn’t come off the grocer’s shelf.

There are several other things I want to talk with you about. Here’s hoping I can have an audience with you when I get there this winter. I’m looking forward to seeing you again.

Sincerely,

Opal Lee Juneteenth Chair PS. You could save me a lot of shoe leather and a lot of wear and tear on an old body by saying how soon you can see me so I can get all my ducks in a row (all my questions) and not waste your time.

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pg. 10

OP / ED SECTION

Editorial Rebeccah Bennett TRUTH: This is not the first time that this country has been run by a bigot.

It is not the first time that we have experienced political isolation and social rejection.

Founder and principal of Emerging Wisdom LLC.

A

nd it is not the first time that we have had to figure out how to metabolize our grief and fear in ways that did not immobilize us, but caused us to actualize our power to change the world.

PERSPECTIVE: Right

and forefathers lived through horrors that were generational in scope and scale. They persisted through times when there was little chance of a better tomorrow, much less a better life – not even for their kids. Yet they responded to their lot in life by creating resistance movements, aid societies, educational and religious institutions, banks and co-ops, art forms, innovations and spiritual practices that continue to make our lives

now it might do us some good to call upon our ancestors for wisdom, strength and guidance. Our foremothers Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

better today. Remember that their blood is our blood. Their strength is our strength. They are the ROOTS and we are their FRUITS.

PRAYER:

We call upon our ancestors, those upon whom the sky fell.

We call upon our ancestors who experienced all manner of degradation, humiliation, violation and death. We call upon our ancestors, people who swung from trees and were forced to live on their knees. We call upon our ancestors, many of whom persisted, survived and endured without destroying themselves or others. May whatever it is that nourished and sustained them come more fully alive in us. Ashe.

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

Equity in American Education:

The Intersection of Race, Class and Education

By Pamela J. Meanes*

For decades, our nation has stood – with great uncertainty – before the issues of race, class, economic opportunity, discrimination and fairness.

The Civil Rights movement cast what to many was an uncomfortably bright light on these issues, exposing the nation’s long history of racism, prejudice, and its culturally-ingrained bias against minorities, especially African Americans.

The riots often associated with the Civil Rights era were in fact, a harsh reaction against the efforts of some white Americans, who felt a serious threat from the very notion of not “giving” African Americans the same education, jobs and economic status as white Americans, but from the idea that there should be no barriers placed before African Americans. This thinking was built on a foundation that African Americans were not deserving of equal opportunity, or were somehow inferior to other Americans. Obviously, this thinking – however cloaked it may have been at the time and in some cases, to this day – stood and continues to stand in direct opposition to the idea set forth in our Declaration of Independence that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

After the apex of the Civil Rights movement in the late 1960’s, the rate of change slowed. Barriers fell, “firsts” such as the first black presidential candidate, the first black head coach of an NFL team and the first black president of the United States came steadily, if not swiftly. Progress, however slow, was being made.

But many of the core issues which in large part fueled the Civil Rights movement, remained, albeit not as solidly as they had in the past. Prejudice and racism became a closeted, “wink and a nod” affair, but one with results just as insidious as the horrors visited upon African Americans in the Jim Crow South of the late 1800’s and 1900’s.

All that was once again brought to the fore on August 8, 2014. That was the day when Michael

Brown, an unarmed African American 18 year-old was shot to death by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer named Darren Wilson. Charges of unnecessary force, police brutality and outrage at the level of violence unleashed at Michael Brown led to nationwide protests, rioting and fevered emotions on all sides.

While a St. Louis County Grand Jury declined to indict Officer Wilson on any of the charges, and while increased protests and rioting followed that decision by the Grand Jury, the particulars of the Brown shooting, while unquestionable tragic, perhaps most importantly served as a catalyst for our nation to take a long, hard look at the treatment of minorities – especially African Americans – in our courts, our schools, by the police and by our economic system.

And though Brown’s death was an unnecessary tragedy, and while officer Wilson may have unfairly avoided prosecution, what may well be more important is the fact that our nation once again has looked at itself in the mirror, and many Americans – particularly those in positions of power – do not like what they see.

As during the halcyon years of the Civil Rights era, change once again is coming.

“Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men.”

-- Horace Mann As a lawyer, I’m too familiar with the inequities minorities face in our legal system. Profiling by police. “Driving while black.” Lack of access to legal services. Taxation by citation, a practice by which municipalities with low property tax bases generate income through traffic citations passed out in speed traps, for minor infractions associated with residential upkeep, or through fines for an immensely wide spectrum of ludicrously minor infractions. Without question, these issues must

pg. 12

be – in in many jurisdictions are being – addressed effectively and immediately.

But as the mother of four young children, I’m painfully familiar with the inequities minority children face in the educational system. And while there is no shortage of issues that must be addressed if we as a nation are serious about equality for all and true social justice, access to the best possible education is the issue that is closest to my heart. And I believe it is the key to solving most of the issues that even today block many African Americans from having access to economic and social equity.

Consider the following statistics released by the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014): · The unemployment rate for college graduates holding a professional degree was 1.9%. · The unemployment rate for college graduates holding a bachelor’s degree was 3.5%. · The unemployment rate for those who earned a high school diploma and then either completed some college coursework or discontinued their education was 6%. · The unemployment rate for high school dropouts was 9%.

The statistics are clear: young workers who have not completed high school are two and a half times more likely to be unemployed than are college graduates. And those same young people are more than four times more likely to be unemployed than are college graduates holding a professional degree.

What does that mean in terms of economic opportunity? The same Department of Labor statistics paint a bleak picture: · The median weekly earnings for college graduates holding a professional degree was Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

$1,639. · The median weekly earnings for college graduates holding a bachelor’s degree was $1,101. · The median weekly income for a young worker who earned a high school diploma and then joined the work force was $668. · The median weekly income for a worker who had failed to earn a high school diploma was $488.

So a worker who failed to complete high school had a median weekly income of less than half of that of a college graduate holding a bachelor’s degree, and less than one-third of that of a college graduate holding a professional degree.

The correlation between education and economic opportunity is direct and clear. Education equals economic power and opportunity. And the lack of education is tied directly to high unemployment rates, lower pay, and drastically reduced economic opportunity.

The numbers don’t lie.

“Today knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement.”

-- Peter Drucker Clearly, the most important determining factor in gaining access to economic opportunity is education. And not to oversimplify the issue, but the first step in becoming educated is being in school.

Elementary school, middle school or high school, students have to be in school to graduate.

So when students are suspended or expelled, the drive toward economic success ends. With that in mind, consider the following statistics from a 2014 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights:

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

EQUITY IN AMERICAN EDUCATION... cont.

· Suspension of preschool children, by race/ethnicity and gender (new for 20112012 collection): Black children represent 18% of preschool enrollment, but 48% of preschool children receiving more than one out-of-school suspension; in comparison, white students represent 43% of preschool enrollment but 26% of preschool children receiving more than one out of school suspension. Boys represent 79% of preschool children suspended once and 82% of preschool children suspended multiple times, although boys represent 54% of preschool enrollment. · Disproportionately high suspension/expulsion rates for students of color: Black students are suspended and expelled at a rate three times greater than white students.

On average, 5% of white students are suspended, compared to 16% of black students.

American Indian and Native-Alaskan students are also disproportionately suspended and expelled, representing less than 1% of the student population but 2% of out-ofschool suspensions and 3% of expulsions. · Disproportionate suspensions of girls of color: While boys receive more than two out of three suspensions, black girls are suspended at higher rates (12%) than girls of any other race or ethnicity and most boys; American Indian and Native-Alaskan girls (7%) are suspended at higher rates than white boys (6%) or girls (2%). · Suspension of students with disabilities and English learners: Students with disabilities are more than twice as likely to receive an out-of-school suspension (13%) than students without disabilities (6%). In pg. 14

contrast, English learners do not receive out-of-school suspensions at disproportionately high rates (7% suspension rate, compared to 10% of student enrollment). · Suspension rates, by race, sex, and disability status combined: With the exception of Latino and Asian-American students, more than one out of four boys of color with disabilities (served by IDEA) — and nearly one in five girls of color with disabilities — receives an out-of-school suspension. · Arrests and referrals to law enforcement, by race and disability status: While black students represent 16% of student enrollment, they represent 27% of students referred to law enforcement and 31% of students subjected to a school-related arrest. In comparison, white students represent 51% of enrollment, 41% of students referred to law enforcement, and 39% of those arrested. Students with disabilities (served

by IDEA) represent a quarter of students arrested and referred to law enforcement, even though they are only 12% of the overall student population. · Restraint and seclusion, by disability status and race: Students with disabilities (served by IDEA) represent 12% of the student population, but 58% of those placed in seclusion or involuntary confinement, and 75% of those physically restrained at school to immobilize them or reduce their ability to move freely. Black students represent 19% of students with disabilities served by IDEA, but 36% of these students who are restrained at school through the use of a mechanical device or equipment designed to restrict their freedom of movement.

In summation, children of color and particularly African American children receive in-school suspension, out of school suspensions and are expelled at significantly higher rates than are white children.

Certainly, there are a number of factors contributing to this. Chief among them is the now widespread use of “Zero Tolerance” policies employed by school districts across the country. Rooted in parent frustration with school discipline issues and what is perceived as school administrators’ inability to effectively address discipline problems, Zero Tolerance policies have become the “go to” solution for many districts. Also factoring into the equation is the fact that while on the one hand school districts are seeing stagnant – if any – funding growth, districts are under steadily increasing pressure to meet student testing goals in order to retain their existing funding. To be blunt, students who disturb the classroom environment in any way are often viewed not as a student in need of help, but rather, as an obstacle to retaining school district funding. Too often, the fastest and easiest to employ in dealing with a problem student is for administrators to fall back on a Zero Tolerance policy and send the student out the door.

This means a student is lost, but the district’s effort to achieve high standardized test scores is protected. In short, too often now it’s not about the student, but about protecting school district funding.

“problem student” is incorrigible, beyond help and is destined to fail.

That is a waste. And it’s wrong. I can tell you from my personal experience that a “problem student” is not necessarily incorrigible and destined to fail. You see, I myself was a problem student.

As a young elementary school student, I was a bully. I created problems for other students and for my teachers. But I was lucky. Rather than being labeled as a “lost cause,” suspended, expelled and tossed into the streets, my teachers gave me the discipline I needed to change my ways, and become a focused, successful student. I not only stayed in school, I graduated, went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree, a Master’s degree and a J.D., and have been practicing law for nearly 20 years.

Had I been a student in the era of Zero Tolerance, I suspect there’s a good chance that I’d be a jailhouse lawyer today. I could have gone either way; I’m just fortunate that my teachers and my mother cared about me and got me back on track.

“Every man in my family has been locked up.

Most days I feel like it doesn’t matter what I do, or how hard I try – that’s my fate too.”

-- 11th Grade African American student, Berkeley, California

Unfortunately, in today’s educational environment, “problem students” end up not on a path to college and economic opportunity, but in the “school to prison pipeline.”

Of course, this is predicated on the idea that the Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

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The term “school-to-prison pipeline” describes what educators and educational activists see as a widespread pattern in the United States of pushing students, especially those who are already at a disadvantage, out of school and into the American criminal justice system.

offenders doesn’t reduce further offenses; wastes taxpayer dollars; and exposes young people to high levels of violence and abuse. · African Americans now make up nearly one million of the total of 2.3 million people now incarcerated in the United States.

Accordingly, educators, who will be honest, have acknowledged that mass incarceration and police brutality is a self-fulfilling prophecy of the school to prison pipeline. The school to prison pipeline includes several key components:

· African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of white Americans. · As of 2008, 58% of the U.S. prison population was comprised of African Americans and Latinos, who together make up only 25% of the U.S. population.

· Far too often, students are suspended, expelled or even arrested for minor offenses that leave visits to the principal’s office a thing of the past. · Students who are forced out of school for disruptive behavior are usually sent back to the origin of their angst and unhappiness— their home environments or their neighborhoods, which are filled with negative influence.

A. Those that are forced out for smaller offenses become hardened, confused, embittered.

B. Those that are unnecessarily forced out of school become stigmatized and fall behind in their studies; many eventually decide to drop out of school altogether and many others may or do commit crimes in their communities.

The results are tragic: · There are 60,000 young people incarcerated in the United States on the order of a juvenile court and nearly half are held in longterm correctional facilities. There’s compelling evidence that locking up low-risk youth

· Today, 58% of young people sent to state prisons are African American.

So the progression is clear; the problem student is expelled under a Zero Tolerance policy, ends up on the streets under the influence of the wrong peer group, gets involved in criminal activity, is arrested and incarcerated. A future is lost, economic opportunity is gone; after all, even at the completion of a prison term there is little future for a 28 year old with a criminal record and no high school diploma. A taxpayer is lost and a burden on society is gained. And keep in mind that the corrections system has little benefit in turning around the lives of the incarcerated; two-thirds of prisoners will reoffend and be incarcerated once again.

Unquestionably, this is a waste. A waste of young lives and their potential. A waste of the economic resources of school districts across the country. A waste of taxpayer dollars that have to be diverted to the judicial and correctional systems. And this must stop.

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“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25:34-40 NIV

We seek to impact the world with the love of Christ one life at a time!

Hopelessness and desperation are on the rise in a world where the greatest segment of the population possesses the least amount of resources.

We need your help! Please help us fight this epidemic by sending your tax deductible donations/contributions to: For His Glory Ministries of St. Louis P.O. Box 1942 Maryland Heights, MO. 63043 http://calvarychapelslc.com/homeless-ministry/ For other ways in which you can help please contact Pamela Ford at pamelaford98@gmail.com or 314-216-0744.

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

EQUITY IN AMERICAN EDUCATION... cont.

“We always hope for the easy fix: the one simple change that will erase a problem in a stroke. But few things in life work this way. Instead, success requires making a hundred small steps go right - one after the other, no slipups, no goofs, everyone pitching in.” ― Atul Gawande, The problems associated with economic opportunity, social justice and fairness, along with the roles race, social class and education play in those problems is certainly a challenge. And for decades, too many people, politicians, those in the community, educators, the legal professionals, parents and others have alternately put forward suggestions or thrown up their hands in frustration.

But make no mistake, we all are called upon by our laws to address this issue … and that call comes from the United States Constitution: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

And I believe that a moral directive to address this injustice can be found in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that​they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable

Rights that​among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

Clearly, solutions are called for, and it is our duty to devise and deliver those solutions. As President of the National Bar Association, I took up that challenge, and set forth an agenda intended to address these inequities. And while I left office at the end of July, I remain committed to seeing these injustices corrected. As president, and now as past president, I call for the following: Ending Zero Tolerance policies. These policies give school district administrators no latitude in dealing with problems and so-called problem students. It is a disgrace that these policies prevent highly trained professional educators from thoroughly investigating problems, evaluating potential solutions and making thoughtful recommendations on how to address issues in their schools and school districts. Zero Tolerance policies dismiss the very notion of evaluating situations on a case-by-case basis. And these policies, in practice, disproportionately affect students of color. For example, in the Orleans Parish Schools (near New Orleans, Louisiana), 100% of students expelled under zero tolerance policies and 100% of school-related arrests involved African American students.

Address inequities in school funding. While school funding mechanisms vary from state to state, economically disadvantaged communities feature schools and school districts that are not as well funded as those in affluent communities. In fact, today that is indeed the case in 23 states. This is rooted in the fact that because schools are funded to a significant extent by local property taxes,

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less money is generated by taxes collected from areas with lower property tax valuation. Those same economically disadvantaged areas also generate lower sales tax revenue as well.

Adding insult to injury, property tax rates are often significantly higher in poor areas, as districts struggle to collect enough revenue from low valuation properties to operate. So it’s not unusual for low income home owners to face much higher property tax rates – for their community’s underfunded, poor-performing schools – than to their more affluent counterparts. In short, far too often parents and property owners face steep property taxes that fund what are inevitably failing schools.

The choice is simple: school district funding mechanisms can remain as they are and children can be trapped in underfunded, poorly performing, crowded schools with little in the way of resources, and end up failing, dropping out, or being expelled. These children grow into adults who end up in the correctional system, or who become dependent upon a shaky safety net of entitlement programs. In either case, they and their families become dependent upon taxpayers. Or, more equity can be built into educational funding formulas, pooling more of the resources of wealthy areas with those of low income and impoverished areas. The end result of this will be better schools successfully graduating a higher percentage of students, and graduates who are more qualified for college or for entry into the workforce. And a greater number of these students will not become dependent upon the government, but rather, will become taxpayers.

Shut down the School to Prison Pipeline through Pro Bono efforts. The storyline is typCopyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

ical: an African American child gets into trouble at school. He or she then becomes labeled as “a problem” student, earning greater scrutiny by teachers and administrators. Soon, the student ends up being called before a school or school district disciplinary hearing. The student’s parents – if they are successfully notified – have little or no understanding as to how to deal with the hearing or the possible consequences associated with the hearing. The student, with only a parent or parents providing representation in the hearing, is suspended or expelled. With inadequate financial resources, the student’s parents cannot send her or him to a private school, so the now former student ends up on the streets. And in turn, involved in criminal activity and subsequently, prison. The school to prison pipeline is complete.

But that can be averted. Lawyers from across the country have served as legal representatives for these students, providing skilled, pro bono representation that has already kept countless students in school, off the streets and out of the school to prison pipeline. These efforts need to not only continue, but to be expanded. No child should be dragged before a school district disciplinary hearing with only his or her bewildered parents to provide representation. The battle to shut down the school to prison pipeline must be won, and the legal community can serve as front-line soldiers in the battle.

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

-- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. None of, black or white, young or old, male or female; Democrat or Republican, wants to see the chronic problems that burst forth following the killing of Michael Brown more than a year ago, continue. We all want peace. We all want justice. www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

EQUITY IN AMERICAN EDUCATION... cont.

We all want opportunity for everyone.

We all know that education is the key, and that knowledge is the root of power, economic or otherwise.

Look at a young student. You’ll see goodness, hope, optimism and possibility. The world of a six year-old is magical, full of imagination and dreams, dreams that weave with reality. No six year-old wants to be expelled from school someday, or to end up in prison. Those children want to do good in the world and they aspire to greatness.

So we have to do our part. We have to see those children as the roots of a better world. We have to nourish them by keeping them in school. We have to support them by providing them with the best possible schools, and by caring enough to do the hard work. We have to do this for them, for us, for our community and for our world.

It’s time.

Pamela J. Meanes is a partner with the law firm of Thompson Coburn LLP in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the Past President of the National Bar Association (NBA), the nation’s largest African American bar association. In addition, she served two terms as vice president of the NBA, lead the NBA’s Region VIII, which was named NBA Region of the Year under her leadership. Ms. Meanes is also a past president of the Mound City Bar Association, St. Louis’ African American bar. She is a frequent speaker, nationally, on topics ranging from equity in the justice system and diversity in the legal profession, to equality in education and police brutality.

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JIM JAMES THE PAGEANT

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TCHAIKOVSKY’S NUTCRACKER POWELL HALL

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3RD FRIDAY THIRD DEGREE GLASS FACTORY

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IVE WORK PLAY

DECEMBER

17 thru

DECEMBER

26

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An intensive writer’s workshop for writers who are at the final stages of completing their project, but need time, space, and professional assist to push through. The retreat also includes a professional development module that will cover publishing, and marketing processes to make sure your work gets out to the world.

C O M P L E T E T H A T W O R K I N P R O G R E S S Submit application and writing to: nightwritersstl@gmail.com 6 tuition paid spots available Submissions due by: December 1, 2016 by 11:59pm Retreat at Paul Artspace: January 20-22, 2017 & January 28-29, 2017 www.stlnightwriters.com

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

Featured

Artist

Submission

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De’Joneiro

Jones

BIOGRAPHY De’Joniero Jones was born in St. Louis in 1974, and raised on the border of Wellston and University City. Graduating from Parkway West High School in 1993, Jones pursued the clothing business before shifting focus to his own art and design style. His paintings and mixed-media artwork has been shown in a wide variety of galleries and venues, including the Urban League (2005), Jefferson Underground (2006), Art Co-Op (2007-11), Sheldon Concert Hall (2009), Art Lofts (2011-14), Grand Center (2011), and, most recently, the 2014 “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” exhibition at Regional Arts Commission. After heart surgery in 2012, Jones has expanded on the thematic scope and stylistic methods of his artwork, which has servedas a form of therapy.

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Art EXPLODES With Energy A cacophony of color, texture, and shape burst from hiswork in an exploration of historical and contemporary visual language.

Antique banknotes are collaged with cut-up credit and ID cards; acrylic paint splatters with a brash bravado in tension with popcultural imagery, newsprint, and textiles.

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Traditional MULTIMEDIA Art By Definition Traditional multimedia art by definition includes more than one type of art-making process, be it painting or sculpture.

Jones’s canvases are comprised of found objects across a wide spectrum of references and materials. Jones’s canvases are comprised of found objects across a wide spectrum of references and materials. Hip-hop moguls meet plastic school bus rings scattered across the canvas— a stop sign, a sheriff’s badge, and a delicate cameo brooch expand what we typically think of as painting.

pg. 36

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What Seems VIVID ABSTRACTION From A Distance... emerges as a logic of form and content the closer one examines; images of Anita Hill and the LA riots make meaningful dialogue with Louis Vuitton monograms, a Jimi Hendrix postage stamp, and a postcard advertising a high fashion retail store. For Jones, legacy becomes luxury, and vice versa. And amidst the iconography of the national, the global, the large and the minute, the infrastructure of St. Louis—be it commercial, institutional, or underground—is thrown into powerful relief.

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In Good Credit, STREET CRED Grounds...

A new understanding of past and present, private and public, right and wrong.

Racial and socioeconomic tensions make way for a space of introspection from which we cannot land on any definitive solution.

What defines us as consumers, and as citizens? Need they be the same thing? Jones’s artwork confronts us with these questions, and compels us to reassess our identities as bothindividuals and members of a tumultuous human whole.

- Eileen G’Sell

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

SEVEN IN

SEVENTEEN!!

It has been said that a dollar stays in the Black community for less than a day. How’s that possible you might ask?? Here’s one potential scenario. The very second a payroll direct deposit hits, or the moment we get our paycheck in our hot little hands, that money is rushed to cover already committed purchases of products and services that Blacks had no role in providing or manufacturing. In this scenario, we’re supporting and strengthening everyone else’s economy, to the tune of over a trillion dollars a year, at the expense of building our own.

If I purchase a product from a Black retail outlet, and the owner of that outlet hires a Black plumber/electrician/painter contractor, and that contractor hires a Black attorney, and that attorney hires a Black caterer, who then proceeds to hire a Black janitorial firm to clean up after each event, one dollar has passed through the hands of a Black business AT LEAST FIVE TIMES!!!

Controlling and directing our spending toward African-American businesses that understand “how” to conduct business is the quickest and easiest way to stimulate the Black economy and strengthen the African-American community. But let’s not stop at five. In 2017, let’s make SEVEN our goal: one dollar changing hands from one African-American to another AfricanAmerican at least SEVEN times!

On the first two Sundays in December, you will have two opportunities to practice what I’m preaching.

“OH BUY THE WAY” is sponsoring tours of African-American owned and operated retail outlets:

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4

GET IN THE LOOP!

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11 LET’S GO DOWN…..TOWN! LADIES, if you need to impress or search for that awesome dress, then “GET ON THE BUS!!” Explore St. Louis’ many boutiques with styles and fashions that will make heads turn!

GENTLEMEN, who do you need to buy presents for? A daughter, mother, sister, lover, side-chick or significant other?? Then “GET ON THE BUS!!” We’ll help you find something to satisfy them all!!

For more information, and to purchase tickets, check out the attached flyer!

ADVANCE PURCHASE TICKETS ONLY!!

See you on the “BUS” in December!!!

Oh Buy the Way

“Neighborhood Business Tours” www.ohbuytheway.us

844-STL-TOUR

844-785-8687

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Gifts for you, me and everybody!!

"GET IN THE LOOP!" FEATURED BOUTIQUES: Such A Lady, Bentil's Jahz Art, Simpson & Company Tailoring, Miss M's Candy, Calla Lily, Cocktailz.....A Beauty Bar, Femme Fatale

What a cute t-shirt!!!

Bus Departure Time: 1:30pm Departure Location: Legacy Books & Cafe, 5249 Delmar 63108 (At Union - In Delmar Plaza) Arrive early at Legacy so you can eat, drink and get merry before the tour!!!

Sunday, 12/04/16, "GET IN THE LOOP!" Tickets: "Click Here" "LET'S GO DOWN....TOWN!" FEATURED BOUTIQUES: 10th Street Gallery, The Dollhouse Studios, Le Divine Collection, Domi More, Progressive Emporium, A Taste of Luxurie, Miss M's Candy Wish I had more money to spend! I'm definitely coming back here again!!!

Departure Time: 1:30pm Departure Location: The Rustic Goat, 2617 Washington 63103 (park in lot across the street) Arrive early to The Rustic Goat so you can eat, drink and get merry before the tour!!!

Sunday,12/11/16, "GO DOWNTOWN!" Tickets:"Click Here!"

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pg. 44

Way

Black In Time Series

An animated black history web series for the whole family.

Season # 1 # 2, And # 3, DVD’s at: BlackArchaeologist.com https://www.facebook.com/BlackArchaeologist/videos/886767681406592/ Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

Trump Victory -

pg. 46

POLITICAL THEATER OF THE ABSURD

Trump Victory – Political Theater of the Absurd

It was an “Unblackening of the White House,” a white-lash, a “blacklash,” no – it was a backlash. It was this, it was that – and the blathering beat goes on. Whatever it was, most people are scratching their heads, unsure of what happened in the 2016 presidential election where even many Republicans thought they’d lose.

While it’s not unreasonable to assume that a critical mass of racist White voters were rejecting the presidency of Barack Obama as the first Black commander-in-chief, it’s also plausible that in a White patriarchal (maledominated) society, many were not ready for the nation’s first female president. Although Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was clearly the most qualified, having served as U.S. secretary of state, U.S. senator from New York and first-lady, the Republican Trump held no political office. To add insult to injury, he trailed in virtually every major poll.

And what about that pesky Electoral College? Shrouding itself in mystery, yet popping up after every national election to say: “Wait a minute, we determine the election, not the voters.” So how does this square with a democracy if “one-man – one-vote” is not the rule of law?

Who are these Electoral College members and why don’t we know their names? Why is it such a secret? Should American exceptionalism tolerate this sleight of hand?

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TRUMP VICTORY... cont.

Clinton won the popular vote by 1- and a-half-million, yet lost. So go figure. In other democracies there is no such thing as the popular vote, it’s just the vote because there is no Electoral College.

Yes, it does sound like a tawdry reality show, a political theater of the absurd. But Trump’s campaign dirty tricks and tactics were unprecedented.

Was it FBI Director Jim Comey who decided in July not to prosecute Clinton on the drum beat about her private email server and mishandling of classified emails yet lowered the boom when he said she was “reckless?” This accusation of recklessness most likely cast a pall of suspicion over her candidacy.

Then Comey turned around nine days before the November 8 election informing Congress that the FBI had found more emails connected to Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin. They claimed that Anthony Weiner, her estranged husband and former New York congressman, had access to Abedin’s emails. As you may recall Weiner had to step down as congressman because he was caught on more than one occasion “sexting” or texting photos of his genitals to women, some underage.

Then three days before the election, Comey calls off the renewed probe inferring nothing was found, dashing any eleventh-hour momentum for Clinton. In the election’s post-mortem, Clinton conceded Comey’s actions contributed.

Yes, it does sound like a tawdry reality show, political theater of the absurd. But Trump’s campaign dirty tricks and tactics were unprecedented.

pg. 48

Trump was outrageous and no one seemed to call him on it, for example, urging Russia to hack her emails. He and vice-president elect Mike Pence accused her of using the Clinton Foundation as a “pay for play.” They said she had no stamina. Despite lack of solid evidence about any of this, Trump and Pence repeatedly called her a “crook” and “a liar” and during the Trump-Clinton debate, he said he would have her jailed. At rallies maniacal chants like “Hang that B**ch” could be heard by adults and children. Fights broke out. Trump incited them, throwing red meat at his ravenous malcontents, utterly intolerant, blinded by bigotry with no misgivings.

Also, let’s also not forget the endless U.S. House hearings on the Bengazi attacks where Republicans were determined to link Clinton to the deaths of two diplomats and two CIA agents.

While this writer rejects the notion that working-class Whites alone were responsible for the Trump victory as the median income of Trump supporters surpassed Clinton voters. At the same time, Trump’s blunt no politically correct-speak seemed to resonate with the White workingclass. They viewed him as the billionaire blue-collar candidate, an oxymoron, but when did that stop anything. Yet, Trump is walking a dangerous tight rope, as he is appealing to the lowest common denominator among his base with cruel and bitter misogyny, racism and xenophobia. Saying anything to get elected has already sparked a number of hate crimes. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center,

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TRUMP VICTORY... cont.

more than 700 incidents of intimidation and harassment were logged since the election.

Trump will most likely over-promise and under-deliver, particularly when in comes to the issue of U.S. factories moving abroad. This is compounded by the decline of unions and working-class solidarity further weakening worker bargaining power. Although Trump claims he’s an ardent foe of globalization which includes international free trade deals such as TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) that Obama supports, many of his products are manufactured overseas. But we already know he’s a walking contradiction.

Workers at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis, upset over the company moving to Mexico, voted for Trump in hopes that he would save their jobs. They say they’re going to hold his feet to the fire, but it’s best to take a wait and see approach.

“Hopelessness may not be a condition studied by epidemiologists, but it is cutting a swath through a segment of white America,” said Rich Lowry, The Working Class Meltdown, The National Review, April 26, 2016.

Globalization has not been kind to the working-class across ethnicities.

Yet, the White working-class seems the angriest. For decades big business eviscerated the Black community, moving to the suburbs and then to Right-to-Work states in the South. Work disappeared from these communities long ago and people of color have suffered mightily, including soaring incarceration, further weakening Black families.

Nevertheless, there seemed not much outcry when it happened in these

pg. 50

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TRUMP VICTORY... cont.

areas. Now businesses are moving out the country and White workers are utterly bereft. Drug and alcohol abuse, chronic liver diseases as well as suicides have dramatically increased. Now they have the highest mortality rate in the country.

“Hopelessness may not be a condition studied by epidemiologists, but it is cutting a swath through a segment of white America,” said Rich Lowry, The Working Class Meltdown, The National Review, April 26, 2016. Victor Tan Chen wrote that a recent Pew study revealed the size of the middle class has shrunken over the last several decades, primarily due to high-paying jobs vanishing for the less educated. However, this problem has effected all ethnicities, not just Whites, yet he titled his article in The Atlantic, January 15, 2015: All Hallowed Out: The Lonely Poverty of America’s White Working Class.

It’s most likely baffling to people of color who have endured these transgressions and horrendous discrimination for seemingly an eternity.

Now the focus seems to be almost solely on helping White blue-collar workers. In fact, Trump reportedly will create jobs for unskilled White males day one in office.

Trump’s most outrageous bombastic meme caught on a hot-mike about “grabbing the p***y” should have been his election death knell. If this didn’t shock the conscience, nothing would. Yet many of his supporters shrugged it off, including many White women who voted for him by 53 percent and White men by 62 percent. This is very telling for White women as some point out a deficit in White female solidarity and an

pg. 52

indication that too many White women still consider White males as their savior and protector.

Could voter suppression be a contributor? The gutting of the Voting Rights Act that got rid of more than 800 polling places certainly put a dent in Black voting. The institution of government issued ID’s also contributed. While voter fraud has been next-to-none, conservatives plowed through strong opposition with laws as if it actually existed.

Said one strategist: “This election is so unpredictable that people are glued to it. Viewership translates into ad buys. The more viewers you have – the more online clicks and shares – the more profitable news becomes."

The media seems to take the brunt of most problems with its anemic, happy talk local TV news coverage but like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, turns on Blacks with a vengeance depicting them as ne’er do wells and criminals. Keeping the average voter abreast of government has fallen by the wayside. Some cable news and to an extent National Public Radio also seemed to have been co-opted and overly influenced by Fox News and conservative talk radio. This recent campaign proved to be disappointing to liberal viewers who saw too much pandering to the right. Trump spent much less money on TV ads than Clinton because of extensive TV news coverage reportedly worth more than $2 billion. It was a media ratings boon. Said one strategist: “This election is so unpredictable that people are glued to it. Viewership translates into ad buys. The more viewers you have – the more online clicks and shares – the more profitable news becomes."

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TRUMP VICTORY... cont.

Leadership continues to have a White male patina. The image of a leader is typically male and too many still have more confidence in male leadership. Barack Obama as a Black man apparently engendered more confidence in his leadership than Hillary Clinton as a White woman.

For example, she garnered five million fewer votes than Obama.

Votes among people of color also declined for Clinton, although higher in comparison to Whites. Seventy percent of Latinos voted for her, however, analysts expected it would have been higher, based on Trump’s invectives about building a wall on the Mexican border, calling Latinos criminals and rapists and insulting Federal Judge Gonzales P. Curiel, presiding over Trump University law suits, that he would be biased against him because of his Mexico heritage.

But the most impressive have been Black women -- focused, strong with an intrepid spirit. They continue to represent the most consistent, progressive bloc-vote, supporting Clinton by 96 percent. Black males voted 87 percent. Morgan Jenkins had this to say in her article, Black women do the most for Liberal America, and we get the Least Back, Quartz website, November 11, 2016.

Now is not the time for collective soul-searching. It’s time for white people to turn to one another and reckon with the racism and sexism they chose to turn a blind eye to for years. That is their moral debt in this country. Black women have and always will be the backbone of this country’s racial and social progress, despite rarely being acknowledged for our efforts. For black women, we do not owe anyone; we are owed. Gratitude and respect, not blame and condemnation, are long overdue.

The Trump campaign represented a long and vicious offensive against progress. Now many liberals are now saying we should work with him.

pg. 54

This is not a warning shot across the bow; this is a waving of the white flag. They think Trump is going to change and be presidential. But the chances of this happening are not good.

Leonard Pitts concurred, writing in the Miami Herald, November 15, 2016, I’m not in the mood for ‘unity.’ At the end of the day, Trump’s still a bigot. He alluded to conservatives doing everything in their power to make President Obama fail and that Trump rose to power questioning his birth certificate.

Said Pitts: “. . . I refuse to participate in this process of organized amnesia, to cooperate in normalizing a man who stands for everything America should not.”

Malaika Horne, PhD, is an academic writer and journalist.

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November 2, 2016

SO REEL #1 in Civil Rights

The African American Freedom Struggle In St. Louis “... if you wanted the story of the history of civil rights in the USA and had to confine it to one city, you could write the entire story of civil rights by going back to the history of the city of St. Louis.”

- Judge Nathan Young

.

Ferguson may have alerted the world to the racial divide in St. Louis, but in truth the struggle for civil rights has been marked by notable events throughout our history: from the Dred Scott case to the East St. Louis race riots to the Jefferson Bank protest and beyond. This complex past will be highlighted in an exhibit at the Missouri History Museum opening next March, but you can experience a fascinating preview now as we present Gwen Moore, the Museum’s Curator of Urban Landscape and Community Identity, for a discussion of the racial justice events and issues that shaped our city and continue to influence St. Louis today.

Wednesday, November 2 5:30-7:30pm Phyllis Wheatley Heritage Center 2711 Locust St. Louis, MO 63101

Light Dinner will be served. Free Admission

Questions? Contact Mary Ferguson mferguson@ywcastlouis.org 314-531-1115 YWCA Metro St. Louis 3820 West Pine Blvd.

St. Louis, MO 63108 (314) 531-1115 www.ywcastlouis.org

Original artwork by Robert Ketchens

pg. 56

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Featured

Photographer Submission

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Allen

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Lloyd

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Click image to

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Will Donald Trump Reinforce

??

BLACK CODES Will Donald Trump reinforce the ‘Black Codes”, or ‘Stop and Frisk’?

Anti-Trump demonstrators have voiced concerns that his presidency would infringe on Americans’ civil and human rights.

Protests took place in the cities of St. Louis, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco and Portland, Detroit; Minneapolis; Kansas City, Missouri; Olympia, Washington DC; and Iowa City and several more. Naming his campaign promises to restrict immigration and register Muslims, as well as allegations that he had sexually abused women. Will he also attempt to reinstitute ‘The Black Codes” or Stop and Frisk?

And as culturally unaware as Donald Trump is, I am certain that he has never looked into the roots of indifference and racial intolerance.

It used to be rare to report a violent death involving a child or teenager, and it brought astonishment and outrage to the community. But today it is no longer shocking and actually routine in some areas. The waste of a young life and empathy for the families are now all too common. Nearly everyone is talking about the problems in our society with the violence amongst our children and teens. Often when law enforcement officials step up the management and control of the youth in certain neighborhood and districts some residents insist the department is enforcing “The Black Codes”. Is it calling for ‘stop and frisk’ that has been ruled unconstitutional by several courts?

Although the Civil War had left the South in political and social turmoil, white Southerners were intent on controlling blacks. It was through the creation of the Black Codes that whites discovered they could control almost all aspects of life of Southern blacks.

Almost every aspect of life was regulated, including the freedom to roam. Many codes prohibited blacks

pg. 76

from entering towns without permission. In Opelousas, Louisiana, blacks needed permission from their employer to enter the town; a note that stated the nature and length of the visit was required. Any black found without a note after ten o’clock at night was subject to imprisonment.

No community would allow this to happen again. How are we to stop the killing? How can we counter the codes of silence, and do away with this “no snitching” mentality? This code of silence and no snitching attitude is another form of self-hatred. It is an extreme dislike of oneself, but The Black Codes or Stop and Frisk is not a solution.

Communication between law enforcement and the communities they serve is essential to successful community policing. The willingness of community members to share vital information and participate in partnership-enhancing activities with their local law enforcement agencies has been a successful strategy for addressing and preventing crime.

Unfortunately, intimidation and the fear of retaliation from individuals involved in illegal activities are straining the relationship between law enforcement and communities. Drug dealers, gang members, and other criminals are promoting a stop snitching culture that often threatens violence against people who provide information to, or cooperate in any way with, the police.

The resulting unwillingness to work with local law enforcement is jeopardizing law enforcement initiatives throughout the country”.

Dr. Carter G. Woodson noted “when you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions”. We must develop empowerment strategies. Far too often, the only

guidance young Black males receive comes after they have committed an offense against society.

Dr. Woodson also wrote in his book “The Mis-education of the Negro’, “to handicap a student by

teaching him that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst sort of lynching.

He wrote ‘the thought of’ the inferiority of the Negro is drilled into him in almost every

class he enters and in almost every book he studies’. We understand Black male youths face

formidable challenges to their educational development.

Statistics on educational attainment would suggest that many Black youth are at-risk in the nation’s schools.

The Black community must educate our youth and the community-at-large to save the children and tell them that when they report a crime, they are not ‘snitching’, but only helping to keep themselves and their families safe. It is our duty to save them and us. When it comes right down to it, we get what we allow, but we don’t deserve what we are getting. No Black Codes and no Stop and Frisk.

~Bernie Hayes

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“Acting White”

Share your Story Dear friends: I have been asked to write a chapter in a book that will address colorism in education. My chapter will focus on “acting white.”

Specifically, when I was growing up, I was a “smart” student. My top performance in school, doing homework, raising my hand to answer questions, etc. often drew the accusation from my African American classmates and friends that I was “acting white.”

Now, I know there are psychologists out there who say this is not true and does not exist. But alas, it was absolutely true for me. I have written about this in past works. I will do so again for this new book. I do know that many young folks today who continue to have such allegations hurled at them so feel free to share this email with whoever and have folks email me directly.

I did a survey on this very question about 7 years ago and the results were consistent with my experiences decades ago. I’d like to update my earlier survey. I would love to hear from anyone out there who has a similar/related story either involving yourself or someone you know. I would like to include your story in the chapter. I will conceal your identity if you request.

Do you have a story to share? If so, please email to me at: norwood@wulaw.wustl.edu.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead Kimberly Norwood , Professor of Law | Washington University School of Law pg. 78

Way

Black In Time Series

An animated black history web series for the whole family.

Season # 1 # 2, And # 3, DVD’s at: BlackArchaeologist.com https://www.facebook.com/BlackArchaeologist/videos/886767681406592/ Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

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PLAY CHANNEL PHOTOGRAPHY Let us show your smile to the world

Connect with me on Social Media

pg. 80

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Featured

Artist

Submission

pg. 82

Lois

Ingrum

The Doll Project with Multimedia Artist Lois Ingrum.

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Project Name /Title: “The Doll Project” Name of Organization: L.D. Ingrum Gallery & Studio Artists/Organizer: Lois Ingrum

ARTIST BIO:

Lois Ingrum the CEO/President of L.D. Ingrum Gallery & Studio Inc (Ingrum Studio)., Ingrum Studio prides itself as one of the leaders in providing comprehensive range of photographic/graphic art, installation of fine art and signage. She has worked in media arts and conducted community arts programs since 1983. Her community arts experience includes work with Ranken Technical College, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the St. Louis Public Schools, North St. Louis Arts Council, COCA interchange, ArtWorks and Support-a-Child International. She has a B.S. in Business Management and is also a respected member of St. Louis’s arts community. In 2001 she became a Fellow of the Community Arts Training Institute (CAT), an intensive program sponsored the Regional Arts Commission (RAC) in 2013 she followed that up with a TIGER Fellowship. 2016 Lois Ingrum received her Master of Science Education –Teacher Leadership from Walden University.

Lois technical skills and artistic accomplishments as a photographer and her deep connections to the St. Louis community and its African-American culture make her a valuable source for the community. In addition to her busy schedule as a professional photographer and teacher, she has worked as an instructor for The Doll Photography Project since 2008.

Brief explanation of project and organization: Since 2008, my work has involved the photographic exploration of sacred folk art or makeshift street monuments as a need for public healing, and closure as a reaction to violent deaths in our communities. As I began to explore my own community through the lens of my camera, my journey led me to eleven major cities across the streets of America, and several international countries. As I interviewed families, and loved ones who shared their loss and grief in moving video testimony with me, my work has addressed the fragility of violence, grieving, and mourning dynamics depicting an underlying need to place an impermanent, but everyday reminder that death can happen to anyone, and anywhere.

My photographs take a critical view of social, political and cultural displays of collective mourning in various U.S. neighborhoods, cities and communities. My aim with The Doll Project is to develop some understanding that creates avenues for open dialogue which gives worth to ALL lives lived, no matter their status.

n

pg. 84

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L.D. Ingrum Gallery & Studio 4937 Washington Blvd St Louis Missouri 63108

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CAM City Wide “Open Studios

10.09.16

10th Annual Open Studios STL This year marks the tenth anniversary of Open Studios STL, featuring over 200 St. Louisbased artists and art spaces; sponsored by the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.

The Jewelry, Poetry, Art, Carvings, project sketches and ideas of artisan David A. N. Jackson will be on display in The 2nd Floor Boutique 5555-5557 Etzel Avenue 63112 and in workshop display areas of the location. “This marks my first year of participating in OPEN STUDIOS (2016) so I hope to make it exciting, thought-full, thought provoking, & on point.

Portions, illustrations, and considerations of continued dialog are being created in reflection, response, and interreaction to what the world

Stop on by. Shop and buy. Sit, Look, Listen, and Chill Out.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1306956772671767/ pg. 96

and current climate environs asks, expects, and demands of Black/ African-n-America artists and persons of color. There are and will be some extra arts & music expression for you to InJoy by members, musicians and friends of PEPAA –(the Progressive Experimental Positive Arts Association).

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THE LAMBERT BROTHERS presents:

Black Way

In Time Series

Black Archaeologist, the Black History Cartoon.

WAY BLACK IN TIME SERIES, part # 9, Scottish Black Moores.

Purchase any or all three seasons on dvd at our website...

BlackArchaeologist.com

pg. 98

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Featured

Photographer Submission

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Keith

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Baker

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Featured

Poetry

Submission

Election Night 2016 there are no noblemen here no giant gallant knights no pale males with armor glistening white atop a herd of alabaster steeds descending from clouds of ethereal cotton down to this bitter, bitter earth scurrying across the wide white plains to rescue us in the nick of time no there are no hipster-looking bearded saviors here it's just us poor black, brown, red, yellow others and us has got to love and do for us

by Charlie R. Braxton

pg. 136

Charlie R.

Braxton

Election 2016: An Assessment after crawl/in through the horrid halls of hell & back i can tell you that I’ve seen the face of the devil & it looks a lot like donald trump his complexion burnt orange with a hint of fire red his hard eyes are glazier grey & ice blue cold as steel & unable to see the wealth in all of humanity

by Charlie R. Braxton

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

Trumpism 101 blood may be thicker than water, but money will evaporate both

by Charlie R. Braxton

pg. 138

BIO:

Charlie R. Braxton is a poet, playwright and cultural critic.

His current volume of verse is entitled Cinders Rekindled (Jawara Press, 2012).

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pg. 140

For African American Youth & Young Adults Ages 13 – 24 Living in St. Louis City and County

FREE 6-WEEK EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOP SERIES

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For Additional Program Information call 314-516-8491

REGISTER ONLINE

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Aliyah ~LotusMoon~ NOW on SoundCloud

Listen!

nagchamp009 pg. 142

Fall Gaggle at the Lakehouse NOV

20

Sunday, November 20 at 2 PM - 5 PM Cr eve Co eu r L ake h o u se 2160 Creve Coeur Mill Rd, St. Louis 63146

Mingle, enjoy the Creve Coeur Park setting and bid on our silent auction.

Tickets - $35, includes finger food buffet, one bar drink ticket and $10 tax-deductible donation.

Music by members of Red-Headed Strangers DON'T WAIT! Register NOW at http://www.stlouisaudubon.org/fall-gaggle/index.html

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FREE CONCERT

TOURS

SERIES

EVENTS

LIVE MUSIC AUGUST 2016 pg. 144

S.L .A .M.

St. Louis Art Museum

ART COLLECTIONS

EXHIBITS

EVENTS

Admission to the Museum is free every day.

Hours:

Tuesday–Sunday, 10:00 am–5:00 pm

|

Friday, 10:00 am–9:00 pm

|

Closed Monday

w w w. s l a m . o r g

One Fine Arts Drive - Forest Park, Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

St. Louis, MO 63110-1380 314.721.0072

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Mariea Antoinette

Tickets Now Available

Novembe 5:00 Sheldon Co 3648 Wa St. Louis, M

Call (314) 289-7523 www.cwah.org Metro Tix 314-534-1111 www.metrotix.com

Gail Jhonson

Robin Bramlett Sponsored by: Centene Corporation Ameren Missouri Missouri Lottery Ken and Nancy Kranzberg First Bank Central Bank of St. Louis Major Brands St. Louis American

pg. 146

Karen Briggs

$100 Corporate Reserved $60 Reserved $45 – Orchestra Seating $30 – Balcony Seating

er 6, 2016 0 pm oncert Hall ashington MO 63108

*** Reserved Seating includes admittance to post reception, silent auction and meet the artist*** Althea Rene

Danielle Thompson

Click here for you- tube preview https://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=G27S_HxHcfU

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Calling all fashion makers: Get

your brand reviewed by Ginger Imster, Executive Director, Arch Grants; Jason Hall, Vice President of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, St. Louis Regional Chamber; Eric Johnson, Executive Director, Saint Louis Fashion Fund; Eric Thoelke, President and Executive Creative Director, TOKY and Elizabeth Tucker, CEO, ALIVE--apply now to be a finalist in the Caleres Fashion Entrepreneur Competition.

pg. 148

Health, Beauty

And

Fashion

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pg. 150

t e e w T t e e w T t e Twe t e e w T t e e w T t e e Tw t e e w T t e e w T t e e Tw t e e w T t e e w T t e e Tw t e e w T t e e w T t e e Tw Follow us Tweet t e e w T t Twee t e e w T t e e w T t e e Tw t e e w T t e e w T t e e Tw @ArtsTodayez

#artstodayEZ

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

Portfolio Fundraiser Moves to Artist's Studio Janet Riehl's "Women & Wardrobe: The Riehl Collection" exhibit has finished it's successful run at The Portfolio Gallery and Education Center. It brought in $2,000 to help with much-needed building repairs. Many people went home with framed ($150) and unframed ($50) prints they love, and a good time was had by all.

Folks have said they would have loved to have seen the show, and were sorry they missed it. Janet has decided to host At Home evenings on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. so you can! Come visit, enjoy the work, and of course buy whatever calls to you.

Any profit realized will continue to benefit Portfolio Gallery.

If you'd like to come, please contact her at janet.riehl@gmail.com.

Janet and Robert Powell, director of Portfolio Gallery and Education Center appeared on Fox 2 news. http://fox2now.com/2014/07/29/women-wardrobe-and-art-on-a-cell-phone-atportfolio/# Janet and her art was featured in the Alton Telegraph. http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/home_top-lifestyle-news/50095336/Artists-workmakes-Riehl-results#.U-Tbf1Ao7qC

Come on out! Meet some new people and enjoy some playful, colorful, and sensuous art inspired by African Women.

pg. 152

OLIVE BAR ROOFTOP O P E N TO N I G H T Click to RSVP COMPLIMENTARY ENTRY 10PM-11:30PM(ladies) and 11:00 (Men)

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pg. 154

John Jennings Associate Professor Visual Studies SUNY Buffalo tumblr: http://jijennin70. tumblr.com/

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

ART OF FOOD

Left-Over Woes III

REVAMPING

pg. 156

Holiday EditionII First, I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season, shopping, quality family time, indulging in your favorite annual meals, etc. Now we all know holiday leftovers are always a gift and a curse. Yes, we are ecstatic to have them, happy we can go to the fridge and make a plate whenever we’re hungry. However after a few days, those leftovers start looking real old. Old meaning, if I see it or have to eat that one more time, I’m going to scream. I know I’ve had that feeling, more than once. So one of the best solutions for this issue……revamp your food!

Leftover never have to be a drag to have in your refrigerator. Simply try turning your leftover mashed potatoes into a patties or balls and fry them. Toss that stuffing into a waffle iron, add the turkey, cranberry sauce, etc. and make a sandwich. Or even make a quesadillas with all the fixings. Turkey Sliders?! Fried Mashed Potato Balls?! Turkey & Stuffing Turnovers or Egg Rolls?! Turkey or Ham Taquitos?! Way too much gravy leftover…use it as a dipping sauce! Accidently burnt part of a bundt cake? Grab a melon baller or ice cream scooper, make a glaze and there you have cake balls. With too many rolls leftover, make baked ham and swiss sliders. Made too many macaroni noodles and plenty of broth left over from making stuffing? Combine the two together with some veggies and make a quick soup. Never be afraid to take chances or risks, after all it’s all about experimenting! ~Léna O. A. Jackson Culinary Arts To contact me, get more recipes, find out about events I’m apart of, or to even order some of my food: www.facebook.com/gspDore www.instagram.com/gspDore gspDoreinfo@gmail.com

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

LEFT-OVER WOES III -

Holiday Edition II

Turkey Sub I have been wanting to try Subway’s new limited sub with carved turkey and a cranberry relish sauce. So I will be recreating it myself with this recipe, most likely with my family’s fried turkey.

Leftover Slices of Turkey Spinach Leaves or Romaine Lettuce Tomato Slices 2–3 Cheddar Cheese Slices Cranberry Mustard or Cranberry Mayo French Bread Cranberry Mustard ½ C Cranberry Sauce 1 ½ - 2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar Whisk all ingredients together, until smooth Cranberry Mayo ½ C Mayonaisse 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice 3 – 5 Tbsp Leftover Cranberry Sauce Salt & Black Pepper, to taste Combine all ingredients, until smooth. Assemble sandwich to your liking.

pg. 158

LEFT-OVER WOES III -

Holiday Edition II

Holiday Savory Egg Rolls ~ 25 Egg Roll Wrappers 1 lb Leftover Turkey or Ham, cut into strips 2 C Mashed Potatoes 2 C Stuffing/Dressing 1 Tbsp Cornstarch ¼ C Cool Water Oil for frying Dipping Sauce: 1 ½ tsp Water 1 tsp Orange Zest 1 ½ C Leftover Cranberry Sauce 1 ½ tsp Orange Juice In a small bowl, stir cornstarch and water, then set aside.

On a clean and flat surface, lay an egg roll wrapper in the shape of a diamond, so that the bottom corner is facing you. Dip your finger in the cornstarch mixture and spread on each edge of the wrapper. Spread ½ a tablespoon of mashed potato in the corner closest to you. Next add ½ tablespoon of the stuffing and meat.

Lift the bottom corner up and begin to roll away from you. (Be sure to tuck the sides as you roll.) Once half way up the wrapper, fold the left then right sides towards the center. Continue rolling until you get just to the top of the corner. Brush the cornstarch mix on the top edge and finish the roll. Brush a little more of the mixture along the seam and place seam-side down.

Fill a pot with 4–5 inches of vegetable oil. Heat oil to ~ 350 F. Gently add the rolls to the hot oil and fry no more than 4–5 at a time. Turning them occasionally, fry until they are doré (golden brown). Place on paper towels to drain. Serve hot with the dipping sauce.

For the dipping sauce combine all the ingredients in a microwave safe container.

Heat in the microwave for 40 seconds to 1 minute. Set aside to cool, until ready to serve. *Make sure rolls are tight and not too loose.

Otherwise the egg rolls will fall apart when frying.

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

LEFT-OVER WOES III -

Holiday Edition II

Loaded Mashed Potato Cups 4 C Mashed Potatoes 6 Bacon slices, cooked & crumbled ½ C Shredded Cheddar Cheese 1 C Sour Cream ½ C French Fried Onions, crumbled Chives for garnish Preheat oven to 350 F. In a greased muffin tin, add ½ cup of mashed potatoes per muffin cup. Press down with a fork and create a small dip in each “muffin”. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove and let cool.

After mashed potato cups are cooled, add a dollop of sour cream to the middle of each. Then garnish each cup with crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, chives and the crumbled French fried onions.

Fried Mashed Potato Balls Shape mashed potatoes into small patties or 1 inch balls. Roll the potatoes in egg wash then in bread crumbs. Freeze them on a small plate cookie sheet for 10 to 15 minutes. Using an electric skillet, heat 1” of oil to 375°. Or use a deep frying pan and heat oil over medium-high heat. Next fry mashed potato balls, a few at a time, for 2½ to 3 minutes, turning once halfway or until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon to paper towel lined plate or try to drain. Serve warm with gravy or alone.

pg. 160

LEFT-OVER WOES III -

Holiday Edition II

Leftover Stuffing Waffles 4 cups crumbled leftover stuffing 2 large eggs Chicken broth or turkey stock, as needed

Preheat the waffle baker and grease it with cooking spray. In a large bowl, stir together the leftover stuffing and eggs. Add ¼ cup of chicken broth and mix until well combined.

Continue adding chicken broth as needed until the mixture is well-moistened.

Scoop half of the stuffing mixture into the prepared waffle baker, spreading it evenly in a thin layer. Close the lid and let the waffle bake until golden brown and the egg is cooked throughout. Remove the waffle from the iron and repeat process with the remaining stuffing. You can serve the waffles with leftover cranberry sauce and warm leftover gravy. *This recipe works best if the stuffing/dressing does not contain large chunks of meat. The chunks prevents the waffles from binding easily.

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

LEFT-OVER WOES III -

Holiday Edition II

Turkey Quesadillas Tortillas Leftover Pulled Turkey Cheddar or Gorgonzola (Bleu) Cheese Cranberry Sauce/Relish Stuffing or Dressing Even if you don’t have a quesadilla maker, you can still accomplish this recipe. Take your tortilla and load it up in layers with your favorite leftover ingredients. Next fold your tortilla in half and place it in a quesadilla maker or in a medium-high heated pan. (If using a pan, be sure to flip the tortilla on both sides to ensure a slight crispiness & a golden brown color.) Use a pizza cutter to slice it in 4 to 5 pieces and serve warm.

pg. 162

LEFT-OVER WOES III -

Holiday Edition II

Bundt Cake Balls If you accidently burn a portion of the cake or bundt cake, this can easily be fixed without throwing away the entire cake. Find a small ice cream or cookie scooper or use the larger end of a melon baller and carve out portions of the cake. Set aside and make the icing.

Combine 1¼ cups of powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons milk, whisk until smooth. Using a spoon or toothpick cover or drizzle the cake balls and let rest/dry on wax or parchment paper. Serve and enjoy!

Doré

Bon Appétit, Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

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pg. 164

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R A T S L AL M O TO R S , I N C .

2012 Ford Focus SE 24,xxx

2006 Dodge Dakota SLT 70,xxx

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MAKE ME AN OFFER. www.Allstarmotorsinc.com pg. 166

Rickkita Edwards teaches Core:Cardio & More @ North Co.Rec Center

every Mon-Wed- Fri.

5:30 PM-6:30 PM

She also teaches "WaistNWeights" every Mon

@ Faith Miracle Temple

7:15 PM-8 PM

Contact me today for personal training sessions!

314-566-9125 I.G WaistNotFitness | FB WaistNotFitness | Email:WaistnotFitness1@yahoo.com Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

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Book of Poetry by Lenard D. Moore

th on 30 iti d Ed ite ry Lim ersa niv

An

http://www.mountainsandriverspress.org/Home.aspx pg. 168

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ART OF HEALING

Your Ad or Article could be here!

Contact us if you have a contribution to the ART OF HEALING.

pg. 170

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

Ajuma Muhammad Author of 101 Proven and Effective Strategies for Empowering Black Boys

WATCH NOW!

1 0 Strategies

f o r E m p o w e r i n g B l a c k B oy s 1. Black boys should maintain a healthy relationship with God. 2. Black boys should honor and always respect their parents.

3. Black boys should embody greatness in everything they do.

4. Black boys should take pride in their history and culture.

5. Black boys should empower their community through leadership and service.

6. Black boys should be role models in their communities.

7. Black boys should honor, respect and protect the black woman.

8. Black boys should work to establish an economic foundation in their communities.

9. Black boys should travel internationally to better understand their place in the world.

10. Black boys should love themselves!

www.ajuma.org

pg. 172

Copyright © 2014 by Ajuma Muhammad

RICKKITA EDWARDS

CARDIO-CORE & MORE AT NORTH COUNTY REC. CENTER

TIMES: MON WEDS FRI 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

She teaches a class 2 Mondays a month at Faith Miracle Temple 7:15 pm - 8:00 pm.

(ALL CLASSES ARE FREE)

COMING SOON! WAIST-NOT FITNESS PERSONAL TRAINING #GETWAISTEDBYRICKKITA

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Would you like a printed copy(s) of an issue mailed to your home?

Send your request to us by email **Remember to include the volume/issue** Cost may vary per issue.

pg. 174

Walking the Blue Line: A Police Officer Turned Community Activist Provides Solutions for the Racial Divide

By Terrell Carter Bettie Youngs Book Publishers

$15.00 paperback

“As I recall my experiences, I find it incredulous that people in law enforcement honestly believe and say that a racial divide and racial profiling don’t exist. An officer’s mind is divided: first, between the police and the general public and second, between the police and minorities.”~ Terrell Carter Walking the Blue Line follows the author’s experiences growing up as a black child in St. Louis, MO, a racially charged city still trying to overcome its divided past, and his five year journey as a law enforcement officer which led him to reevaluate his views on citizens and police alike. Readers are taken on a compelling journey as he details personal stories of the challenges of navigating this new world, including how he had to testify against a former partner for falsifying a major drug arrest.

Terrell details the thoughts and tactics of police officers based on their training in the police academy and lessons they learn on the streets and how this information can help citizens better understand why officers do what they do while still holding them accountable for protecting and serving their communities.

Walking the Blue Line can be ordered from www.terrellcarter.net, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and traditional booksellers.

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pg. 176

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and

America , who are we, what are we children? going to tell the

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

— BOB DYLAN

Well, it’s like cranes in the sky Sometimes I don’t wanna feel those metal clouds Yeah, it’s like cranes in the sky Sometimes I don’t wanna feel those metal clouds — SOLANGE

M

Y SINGLE MOTHER RAISED ME TO VOTE and she raised me to think for myself. It makes sense, given where my mother and my entire family are from, the rural and impoverished Low Country of South Carolina, a mere 30 minutes across the mammoth Savannah River into Georgia. My mother was birthed by Jim Crow America — Whites-only signs here, Coloreds-only signs there, domestic terrorism against her and people who looked like her as real as the blood that knifed through their sugarand-salt veins. And there was an understanding that White people, no matter what their class background, had power and privilege, and Black people, no matter what their class background, had nothing but themselves. It is not like my mother and I discussed the Civil Rights Movement or American history when I was growing up. We did not. We barely could afford food, there were no books save the Bible, and my mother never marched or rallied or outwardly protested anything. Indeed, there was both a fear and hatred of Whites, a fear and a hatred that intruded frequently, like the choking, I-can’t-breathe smoke from a deadly fire in our Jersey City ghetto. My mother did not quite know what to make of White Americans, and that bewilderment was transferred to me the way we teach children our cultural traditions. It was a defense pose, I know now, to protect ourselves from

everlasting insult and injury. What my mother did do was share and repeat the tales about what she and her three sisters and brother and father and mother endured in their America — the brutality and violence of their poverty, and the disrespect and meanness of the Low Country White folks, including the ones who hired her and her sisters, from the time they were little girls, to be the help, in their homes, at their stores, and on their land picking cotton. She lived, she survived, and her education was interrupted before she got to high school. But what my mother did have was a resolve not to allow anything to defeat or destroy her. When I hear folks talk about the amazing strength of women, in America, on this planet, historically, the person I think of is my mother, the first leader, the first teacher, and the first feminist I ever met, regardless if she readily knows or associates with that word. We survived the policies of presidents like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and homes dominated by rats and roaches; we survived thieves and hustlers who could’ve climbed our fire escapes and busted through our kitchen windows or robbed us on the streets outside; we survived violence and neglect, and shady public schools and corrupt landlords; we survived heroin and crack epidemics that ripped apart other lives, and we survived my mother’s minimum-wage jobs and cuts to whatever little public assistance

pg. 178

she could secure. It is astonishing to me, as the adult I am today, to think of how I sometimes earn for one speech more money than my mother made in any given year of supporting me from birth until I graduated from high school. We did not complain, we did not care, in actuality, who the president of the United States was, my mother and I, because we did what we had to do to maintain, and win. A win for us was my mother having a job. A win for us was the government cheese and other free food given to poor people in our time of need. A win for us was my getting excellent grades in school and believing my mother, when she said so, that an education was my one policies of presidents like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and homes dominated by rats and roaches; we survived thieves and hustlers who could’ve climbed our fire escapes and busted through our kitchen windows or robbed us on the streets outside; we survived violence and neglect, and shady public schools and corrupt landlords; we survived heroin and crack epidemics that ripped apart other lives, and we survived my mother’s minimum-wage jobs and cuts to whatever little public assistance she could secure. It is astonishing to me, as the adult I am today, to think of how I sometimes earn for one speech more money than my mother made in any given year of supporting me from birth until I graduated from high school. We did not complain, we did not care, in actuality, who the president of the United States was, my mother and I, because we did what we had to do to maintain, and win. A win for us was my mother having a job. A win for us was the government cheese and other free food given to poor people in our time of need. A win for us was my getting excellent grades in school and believing my mother, when she said so, that an education was my one chance for a life better than hers.

A win for us was our next dilapidated apartment building having fewer rats and fewer roaches and more consistent heat and hot water than the previous dwelling. A win for us was my mother never allowing any man to pimp her for food and shelter and sex. A win for us was my not getting murdered or imprisoned or addicted to drugs. Was it extremely hard and complex and tragic and depressing and hopeless?

Oh yes. Did we want to give up? Oh yes. I remember well those days when my mother would both pray to God and acidly curse my father’s name for being a no-good man who had abandoned us completely. I remember well the days when my mother said to me, point blank, whenever I got into trouble at school or with the police, “I don’t think you gonna make it.” And I remember well the days when my mother announced, without pause, that she wished she had given me up for adoption, because her life would have been easier alone. This is the America I know, an America that soaked and hand-washed my mother’s soul with racism and sexism and classism before she had had a chance at a whole life for herself. There was no therapy. There was no social media or online petitions with which to vent. There were no healing circles or women’s groups or yoga classes or any of that.

My mother had to suck it up, go it alone with child at her hip, have blind faith in a God she could neither see nor touch, and have a vision for my life since there was none for hers.

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I rarely saw my mother cry or show any emotion beyond raw anger, and I was the target of that raw anger on many occasions; this was my mother’s limited emotional vocabulary, her reality, and she had to keep going, based on what she knew, because the only other option was dying a slow death. Thus, she had to save her life, and she had to save my life, with tough love, with a rage vomited from an American dream not available for people like her. Perhaps this is why my mother drilled into me to vote, why she always used her voice for better housing for us, for a better school for me, why she would write, in the best use of the English language her eighth-grade education had afforded her, letters to politicians and other local leaders seeking help, an answer, anything. Somewhere inside her troubled mind my mother knew she, we, deserved better, that there had to be a better America, and a better world out there — THIS IS WHY I HAVE NOT HAD MUCH TO SAY in these early days after the American election that anointed Donald Trump president of this nation, and, shockingly, to at least half the country, escorted Hillary Clinton into a retirement she was not expecting. I have watched and listened and read through the numerous phone calls, news commentaries, emails, text messages, social media posts, appeals to resist, and blogs and interviews of those crying, of those dazed and confused, of those seeking guidance, wisdom, anything that would shake them of what feels to millions like an American nightmare. I have had many people — millennials, Gen Xers like me, Baby Boomers — reach out to me, petrified, saying they do not know what to do. There is hurt, there is resentment, there is a real and urgent anxiety of what might be next. I hear and feel that anxiety, and fear, in the voices of Black people who are scared that police forces nationwide will rev up practices like racial profiling, like stop and frisk, that more Blacks will be harassed, assaulted, and killed by the police. I hear and feel that fear in the voices of Latinos and other immigrant people, who believe that Mr. Trump’s menacing anti-immigrant rhetoric during his two-year campaign will now bear strange fruit that will seek and destroy families, communities, and separate children from their parents and grandparents, forever. I hear and feel that fear when one of my Facebook friends, Mark Zustovich, posted that he will fight the next administration every single day of the Trump years to protect his marriage to his husband, a fear that is mighty real for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, not only for the right to be married, but also for the right to be alive. Likewise, for my twenty-something assistant, who has two mothers, one Black, one White, whose very family make-up — multi-racial, queer, straight, unapologetic — is a threat to those who believe my assistant’s family is not “normal.” I hear and feel that fear from women of every distinction, who feel spectacularly dissed that there is a wicked hatred and reckless disregard for women and girls, an inyour-face dehumanization, that a man, a man like Donald Trump, who has a biography of sexual abuse and harassment and rape allegations against him, who has been a serial adulterer, and who, a month ago, could be heard on audiotape saying we men should grab women by their p____ — and now he is the next president of the United States of America. I hear and feel that fear with women who are concerned about their abortion rights, their reproductive www.the-arts-today.com

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rights, who do not want men telling them what they can and cannot do with their bodies, what services they can and cannot have. I hear and feel that fear with women who are survivors of domestic violence, of sexual assault, of rape, of rape culture on college campuses, who now wonder, more than ever, where they will be able to go, who they will be able to turn to, as they lug, like a heavy load, the exposed and unhealed scars of male abuse. I hear and feel that fear from Muslims, from Arab people, from the disabled, from the Jewish community, from any who were marginalized, maligned, and mocked by Mr. Trump’s words and antics on the campaign trail; these human beings feeling, more than ever, that they have targets on their backs because of who they are, what they are, what they look like, how they walk or do not walk, how they stand or sit, how they speak, how they pray, worship, think, live, love. Alas, the late rapper Tupac Shakur once said to me, in an interview, there is no place called careful. He was right. We are not safe in America, we do not feel safe, nor feel that we have any inalienable rights, because someone has decided to come after those of us who are different — the others — with a cruel and unrelenting salvo already: literally hundreds of hateful incidents since election day.

That is why this is, without question, an American tragedy, the entire 2016 American presidential season, and what it has wrought.

Quite clearly it was White Americans, rich ones and poor ones, White women and White men, Whites with college educations and Whites with not much schooling at all, who elected Mr. Trump. It was his direct and subtle embraces of race and racism and White nationalism — lying through its yellowed teeth that it was patriotism — that made Donald Trump a populist candidate, with his shaming and blaming of the others with the bullets in his perpetually cocked and loaded verbal gun. Make America Great Again.

But the question for us others, always: Make America great again, for who, precisely, and how? For here is a man who had no prior political experience, no military background to speak of, who had declared bankruptcy around his businesses at least a half dozen times, who is an unabashed racist. You think not, David Axelrod you who said on national television Mr. Trump is not a racist, then how do you explain, with a mountain of evidence, matters like the housing racial discrimination lawsuits against him and his father, or his relentless public demonization of the New York City Black and Latino young men who became known as the Central Park Five, who were falsely accused of raping a White female jogger and were cleared of the charges after spending time in jail and winning a settlement? This is just the short list for those of us who are also New Yorkers and have experienced Mr. Trump’s circus antics for decades. We Americans do not need to say Mr. Trump has Hitler-like qualities and in fact need to stop that. There are enough morally ruined leaders and figures in U.S. history who pushed various forms of hate and oppression for us to compare Mr. Trump to. We’ve got Frances Scott Key and we’ve got D.W. Griffith.

We’ve got Rutherford B. Hayes and we’ve got Woodrow Wilson.

We’ve got Bull Connor and we’ve got George Wallace. Yes, this new commander-in-chief is the historical President Andrew Jackson and the fictional Archie Bunker rebooted for the new millennium: crass, vulgar, enthusiastically ignorant, an egomaniac, someone who, like Jackson, belittles and despises those others: for Jackson it was Native Americans and his blood lust for their land, and

the Black slaves he owned and paraded, brazenly, like prized animals in a zoo; for Trump it is Muslims and Latinos and Blacks and women and immigrants; Donald Trump is someone who, like Bunker, hails from the New York City borough of Queens, who runs off at the mouth without any thought of what he is saying (or maybe he does), and who, like Bunker, is an equal opportunity offender. The hate that hate produced is for anyone who is not him, or people like him. For there is wrath, and then there is the wrath of The Donald. And this is not a dream, this is not a joke, there is no do-over, the electoral college ain’t gonna change its mind, petitions or not. As sure as President Barack Obama has already welcomed Mr. Trump to the White House, out of duty and protocol, to begin the transition process, this is happening. As sure as Mr. Trump has begun to hand over his transition team to right-wing fanatics and sexist, racist bigots, pretty much all White males, this is happening.

So I say let us feel what we are feeling, to get it out, the wet, soggy emotions, the fear, the sadness, the anger, the rage, the pain, the trauma. To not do so would be to deny our own humanity, to be as crazy as the times that are now clubbing us squarely in our faces. Yes, these are terrible chapters for America, this nation of ours. But depending on what group you belong to, what identity or multiple identities that you claim, it has never been the America it claims to be. Just ask Native American people who have suffered through genocide and degradation and exploitation for centuries in this land that was originally their land. Just ask Black folks whose ancestors were snatched from Africa and forced to work as slaves, for centuries, building the very foundation of America, including, I learned only very recently, colleges like Rutgers University in New Jersey where I studied. Just ask women, women of any race and creed, what it has been like to be viewed, from the very beginning, as a sexual object, as a caretaker or mother or mammy figure and nothing more, as evil or the b-word or a thot or whatever other anti-woman term one knows, if you, a woman happen to believe in yourself, if you happen to want to do something with your life other than be the punching bag or punchline for men. Just ask Irish people, or Italian people, or Jewish people, or Polish people, or Japanese or Chinese or Filipino people, or Latinos from anywhere in the vast universe we call Latin America, or Arab and Muslim people, what dirt and hate has been palmed and rubbed into their faces, what unwelcome journeys they’ve undergone in this imperfect union called America, and you will find folks who struggled to belong, who were told to go back where they came from, who too have found an America that at one time or another used them as both scapegoat and target practice for homegrown hate. Or simply ask poor people of any background, the ones we refer to as welfare queens, and ghetto, and ‘hood, and illegal aliens, and rednecks, and poor White trash, and every other name and phrase we can conjure, the people who, as my mother and I did, crawl and live day to day, paycheck to paycheck, teetering somewhere between life and death, between surviving and barely making it at all.

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This is our America, the America we’ve been given from the jump, passed from generation to generation, consciously, unwittingly, and, yes, maliciously, as if this is our birthright to dance with the ebb and flow of sheer insanity. Am I surprised that someone as racist and sexist and vile of a bully as Donald Trump is the new president of the United States? No, absolutely not. Indeed, I saw it coming, because I know America, and because I have seen America, each and every single one of the fifty states in fact, in a way most of us never have, and most of us never will. I have driven through the wide open fields of the Dakotas and I have ducked and dodged tornadoes in Kansas and Missouri. I have witnessed moose crossings in Alaska and watched, amazed, leaping whales in the aqua blue water of Hawaii. I have had fireside chats with residents of environmentally hip Oregon and Washington State, and I have grimaced at the confederate pride in states like Virginia and South Carolina, my family’s roots. I have driven across America, flown across America, been to all the large cities, all kinds of small towns that really do have Main Streets, and I’ve been amazed, time and again, by the magnificent architecture of an Atlanta or San Francisco, and the small-building humility of sleepy, winding towns like Green Bay, Wisconsin and Longview, Texas. I have felt the muddy blues of Chicago and the muscular go-go beats of Washington, D.C. I was there when there was civil unrest in cities like Teaneck, New Jersey, and Ferguson, Missouri, and my first trip to Los Angeles was for an MTV documentary after the riot in that sprawling metropolis. I have marveled at the ecological terrains of New England and New Mexico, and the spell-bounding snow blizzards of Michigan and Ohio. I have stumbled and climbed the Colorado Rockies alone and I have stood at the hungry mouth of the august Grand Canyon in Arizona, mesmerized that it existed. I was there in New Orleans, in the death trap that was Hurricane Katrina, as the last people were being evacuated, and I walked and mourned block after New York block in the aftermath of 9/11 as we collectively stared at the endless rows of photos of missing persons gone forever. I have done speaking tours along the brown clay of rural Georgia, and I have strolled, transfixed and with lumps of tears in my eyes, on the grounds of Tuskegee, Alabama where the famous Tuskegee Airmen — Black men — had trained to be pilots during the decade of World War 2. Black men who had been told they did not have the mental capacity or genius to fly planes. And here I am, a Black boy born and raised in an American ghetto, Jersey City, New Jersey, who did not even get on a plane myself until I was 24-yearsold, because I was poor, broke, and because I was too afraid to leave the comforts of where I was from, and because I simply did not have the courage nor the imagination.

at the 100th birthday celebration of the poet Langston Hughes in Lawrence, Kansas, in the 2000s; how my poem was about my Aunt Cathy and her agonizing struggle with mental illness; how when I was done an older White woman with granny glasses and a mop of gray hair atop her head, old enough to be my aunt or mother, came up to me sobbing uncontrollably, clutched me by the arms with her soft, sausage-thick fingers, and said “I’m Aunt Cathy too.” I was dumbfounded that a poem I had written about a Black woman had so connected with this White woman. I’ve recounted that Kansas story many times to audiences throughout the United States. But now that Donald Trump has been elected president, and it has become evident that a majority of White women voted for him, you have to wonder about the dynamic between White women and Black people, especially White woman and Black women. This woman said to me she is Aunt Cathy too, but how many White American women, conservative ones and liberal or progressive feminist ones as well, truly empathize and understand and feel a sisterhood for Black women like my Aunt Cathy, like my mother, or, even, Black women who are college-educated, professional, who are leaders in one space or another? How many of these White women are more invested in Whiteness than they are in womanhood, to the point where they could and did ignore Mr. Trump’s many sexist and misogynistic utterances and behaviors and voted for him anyway, because the Whiteness piece — anti-immigrant, anti-Muslims, anti-Black people, anti- any people of color — spoke to their deep-seated fears of the others taking over? That Kansas woman may have very well been sincere when she said “I am Aunt Cathy too,” but there is a nation of millions who publicly or privately do not see it that way. Understandable why a number of Black women are pissed at White women. Black women stood by Hillary Clinton in large numbers, were in her inner circle, and highly visible in the leadership of the Democratic Party that attempted to put Mrs. Clinton into the White House. There is a feeling of betrayal that I am hearing from Black women, that they supported the first female presidential candidate of a major party, a White woman, more than White women did; that these White women, in voting for Mr. Trump, represent, yet again, a total indifference for the lives and concerns of Black women and Black girls. This has left many dumbfounded….

So in seeing America I have gotten to know myself. When I first began to travel extensively here there everywhere, as a writer and journalist, as a public speaker, as an activist, I honestly only spoke about race and racism, no matter the other problems of our society.

As a matter of fact, I will never stop talking about race and racism, indeed, as that remains one of the great diseases of our republic.

But when you read, when you study, when you travel, when you listen, when you hear, when you share, and people like you and people not like you share, too, it affects your spirit, it affects your mind, it affects your eyes, it affects your ears, and you change, you evolve, you grow. I think about this when I think about my reading a poem

This is because we, Americans, live our lives in boxes, in closets, in that prison otherwise known as fear, and our lives are governed only by what is right in front of us, and we are unwilling or unable to see the humanity and the similarities between us, since we choose, first, always, forever, to see difference. Please do not misunderstand me: I would never want to be anything else other than my African self, my Black self. I am madly in love with my family, my community, my history, what my mother and I endured; I am madly in love with Black people, my people, our unique ability to make something from nothing, and the many inventions and innovations, the music and art and culture we’ve given the world; the many ways we express faith and spirituality; the timeless blueprint for freedom and democracy we built and created and christened the Civil Rights Movement; the way we have bounced back and maintained, time after time, against great odds. But because of my own wild and unpredictable journey, and because I have been open to learning and rethinking, I have come to feel the same about

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AMERICA WHO ARE WE... cont.

women, about my queer sisters and brothers, about Native people, about Latinos and Asians and Jews and Muslims, about White sisters and brothers of every ethnicity, about the disabled, about the religious and the atheistic and the agnostic, too, about the wealthy and the poor, about all members of the human race. This could not have happened if I had not learned my own history, my own culture, my own identity, first. But in learning myself I learned to be a bridge-builder, not a bridge destroyer, and I am so very clear you, whoever you are, are my people too, and in being divided from each other, purposely, maliciously, we have been divided from ourselves. So I know what I think and feel, now, is not the norm in America. One could argue that there has been a gross dumbing down of America just in the past twenty years alone, that Donald Trump is the great result of that dumbing down. I happen to agree with that sentiment. But even that is only partly true, because it is palpable to me that some of us have no clue what America is, what an American is, and that some of us do not even know our own history, or American history, or ourselves. Facts do not matter. Research and study do not matter. What matters is who can talk the loudest, who can yell over who, who can create the biggest lies and misconceptions about another person or group. What matters is who controls the storytelling, the myth-making machines, who has power, and who does not. And who is fighting for their life to hold on to that power, even as it damages, time and again, those with no power.

America is and has always been a nation propelled by division, violence, fear, hatred, ignorance, and the powerful few pitting the rest of us against each other. That mindset is as old as the split blood of the first slaughtered Native Americans, as old as that Constitution that proclaimed Black folks three-fifths of a human being, as old as the Emancipation Proclamation that happened, grudgingly, when it became clear that Abe Lincoln and the North needed those Black slaves, as soldiers, to fight to preserve the Union. This is that America, where every single time we seem to make some sort of progress, a baby step here, a baby step over there, something, someone, some force, water hoses us, unleashes barking dogs in our direction, and say things like Make America Great Again, knowing that alleged greatness has zero to do with anyone other than a select group of White people in America with boundless wealth and power to do whatever the hell they want to do whenever they want to. That making America great again means, especially, that White men, straight White men, need to stay on top, from here to eternity. That does not make one a racist for saying so, it makes one honest. From the so-called founding fathers like Washington and Jefferson and Hamilton to the Bush dynasty and now Donald Trump, this is what it is. The rest of us are left fighting for crumbs, and fighting each other. For sure as I am writing this there have been hundreds of racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and anti-queer incidents in our America. People, hateful people, ignorant people, have been emboldened, both by Mr. Trump’s campaign and by his victory, to go out and get the others.

This is a lynch mob mentality. This is the mentality that had my ancestors hanging from trees, that exterminated Jews, that rounded up Japanese Americans and herded them off to internment camps.

This is what oppression and discrimination look like. This is what White racism and White supremacy and White nationalism look

like. As for us others, dabbing at our gashes, writhing, futilely, from this madness, this moment is what it sounds like when doves cry — AND THIS IS WHY I KNEW DONALD TRUMP WAS GOING TO BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT, even if I never said it aloud. If one just looks at a few historical markers, the writing was always on the wall. First, this two-party system is a scam and needs to be busted up. There is something wrong with any country where a small group of people control that democracy, who gets to run for office and how, unless that person happens to be independently wealthy, like a Donald Trump, like a Michael Bloomberg, or is supported by the super-rich. Then the system bends to their will and inclinations. When I voted on election day in my beloved Brooklyn, New York, I thought about the instances I had seen the very same ballot, where there really were no choices at all, except, mainly for Democratic or Republican candidates, and oftentimes only one person was running for a particular seat, or if told on the ballot to pick six judges, there were only six judges listed. Or I think of the fact that a number of my New York City friends reached out to me on election day, asking who they should pick for certain judge positions, clearly not aware that if they and I did not reside in the same district we were not being presented with the same choices.

My point is that just like we do not learn about equality and diversity and inclusion and humanity in a real way in our schools or the mass media culture in America, we likewise learn very little about the political process, about civic engagement.

This makes it mad easy for a Barry Goldwater in 1964, a Richard Nixon in 1968, a Ronald Reagan in 1980, a George W. Bush in 2000, and a Donald Trump in 2016 to come along and essentially say the same exact things about law and order, to ignite finger-pointing, the blame game, fear, to build national political campaigns on snappy catch phrases that appeal to the stresses and anxieties of citizens White like them, with no concern for the dire consequences. This is how Southern Democrats, or what were called Dixiecrats, began to migrate over to the Republican party with Nixon in that year 1968, and became Reagan Democrats by 1980, and are now card-carrying members of the Republican Party, or the Tea Party, or both. Hate pretending to be politics, plain and simple. Blame the Blacks and those Latino illegal aliens. Blame women, blame queer people, blame the Muslims, blame the Arabs.

Blame anyone and anything, and never, like never, look in the mirror. Because these people, these others, are violent, they are dangerous, they are immoral, they are oversexualized, and they want to pimp their butterflies, and the government, our government, for every dollar possible. And when you have a school system and a mass media culture that still teaches gross lies and mythologies like Columbus discovered America, and conveniently ignores the fact that America was “founded” on racism and sexism and classism, that the founding fathers were remarkable and courageous and moral yet conveniently omits that most of them owned human beings — slaves — and did not believe in liberty and justice for all, then the never-ending un-reality show has been casted, from our textbooks to Trump Towers to the blatant lie that Rudy Giuliani was the hero of 9/11 when in fact he has made a huge fortune off those heartbreaking deaths while others still suffer, that White

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people, especially heterosexual White males, have not only been our saviors and heroes, but likewise, they have had to beat back one threat after another, for the sake of our democracy: Native Americans, slave rebellions, women, poor and angry Whites like those of Shays Rebellion, the foreign Whites who encroached upon this America, like the Italians and the Irish, and the Jews; there is forever an enemy lurking, generation to generation, who must be captured, interned, locked out, driven from the country, or blocked from getting in. Sometimes we call them communists, sometimes we call them terrorists, sometimes they are Japanese, sometimes they are Arab, but they assuredly are not Americans. Because to be an American, the way we’ve been taught to believe, is to be White, is to be heterosexual, is to be at the center of everything, is to be a man, is to be daring, a seeker, or doer, without any help whatsoever, is to be someone who makes his own way, who conquers immense obstacles always, is strong, speaks loud, is a rugged individualist, is someone who pushes back against the others who would fancy halting his motion, his forward progress. He, that American, not only knows the America that once was great, for people like him, but he knows what it takes to make America great, again. It is a fear factor that drives him, that if he does not do this, in America, on the planet Earth, then these others will completely out-populate him and overwhelm him, his identity, his purpose, his reason to exist. And that is not in his DNA, to be equal, on the same level as anyone, and not what he was taught. King of the world, him only, the others need not apply — SO WHAT BOTH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND white folks with power in America, and those of us lucky enough to sit and work with those White folks with power, bank on is us not knowing these things, us not being taught to be thinkers and, God forbid, critical thinkers. These realities consumed my thinking as I made my way to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio and then the Democratic one in Philadelphia this past Summer.

In Cleveland, where images of the basketball team, the Cavaliers, having just won the NBA championship were everywhere, it was also clear that this largely Black and heavily Democratic city had been besieged by mostly White, uber-conservative Republicans. It was an ironic juxtaposition, to see and hear White folks who may have only weeks earlier cheered on Black men, either LeBron James or the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry, now booing loudly and disputing incessantly anything that smelled of racial benefits to people of color. I even heard one White man equate the Black Lives Matter movement with the historically racist and obscene Ku Klux Klan, and another say BLM was a terrorist organization. Yup, ignorance and fear and hate are powerful aphrodisiacs. Then there was the great irony of the hordes of impoverished Black folks hustling and selling pro-Donald Trump and anti-Hillary Clinton shirts on the littered pavement leading into the convention. And quite surreal to see and hear the earsplitting parade of Christian evangelicals — the Jesus people I call them — with gigantic white crosses, screaming that queers were going to hell, that women who had abortions would be joining them, and that if you masturbated you were one step from being queer, too, and closer to hell as well. All of this would Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

be amusing, laughable, downright hilarious, if these folks were not serious, and if, inside the convention, Donald Trump and his legion of doom with names like Rudy Giuliani were not preaching the kind of dark hate and horror that wildly whipped up the racism of Whites of all stripes, not just the poor ones in rural America. I left that convention knowing Donald Trump was going to win, but I kept it to myself. It was White, very White, and I barely ever saw a single face of color, except a few “diverse” delegates here and there, and the rest were the help, serving food, pouring drinks, smiling on cue, and mopping and sweeping and keeping the convention clean and spotless.

Yes, the Democratic convention looked like America and its prodigious diversity, but I can be mad real now and say my politics are closer to that of Bernie Sanders than Hillary Clinton.

And I am not one of those folks who felt Bernie Sanders had a real platform, either. He did not. He was thin on his ability to speak to the others as well. But what Mr. Sanders did have was the magical touch in capturing with choice words what many of us feel about the people with power. That people like me, too, have become fatigued of a political system which, since 1989, and with the exception of Barack Obama these past eight years, has put a Bush or Clinton into the presidency. And has recycled Bush and Clinton political operatives in their administrations, including that of President Obama, to the point where you could barely tell which party, which president, as they often gave the same bullet-point speeches on the same issues, albeit with some nuanced differences if a Republican or Democrat. My point is that I was not surprised, when I got to Philly, to see the giant presence of Bernie Sanders supporters inside and outside that convention. Like Donald Trump, Sanders had tapped into the underbelly of political disillusionment, and had mass appeal from Americans who’d felt alienated from the political system.

Trump’s had been with working-class White Americans, especially working-class White males, while Mr. Sanders had been toward multicultural young America. And folks were not happy that Hillary Clinton and her team had seemingly bamboozled their way to the Democratic nomination. We would learn in Philly and in the weeks after the Dems gathered there of some very shading dealings by Clinton supporters toward Bernie Sander’s campaign. Why? Because Bernie represented a brash political movement unseen since, well, Bobby Kennedy in 1968.

I’ve always wondered what would have happened had Bobby Kennedy not been killed in June of that year, he who had the unique ability to reach highly educated people, but also had a flair for speaking to working-class people of every culture, including the same working-class White males who would eventually follow Reagan and Bush and Trump into the Republican fold. If there is a sin of the Democratic Party, and there are many, it is that it stopped being the party of working family America a long time ago, and became, for a variety of reasons, the party of class-conscious intellectual elites and liberal political lifers. The only use that working people have for the Dems, I have come to believe, is to vote when told to vote, and for whom. Perhaps that is why I felt as uninterested at the Dem convention as I did at the Republican one. Why I felt that just like Donald’s doomsday gathering was a spectacle, a show, so was it a show to force unity www.the-arts-today.com

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on Hillary’s one shining moment, even as Bernie delegates inside the convention shouted as loudly as they could to voice their discontent. The Hillary and DNC remedy for the discontent: to shhh them, to roar over the Bernie people, or to ignore them as if they were not there.

Yet we knew the choice we had: Donald Trump is an unrepentant racist, sexist, xenophobic barbarian of a man who inherited his father’s wealth and network; Mr. Trump is a New York used car salesman masquerading as a polished and intelligent businessman.

He is not. He is heterosexual White male privilege on steroids.

There was a time, for sure, when I was fond of Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton. It was in 1992 when they first burst onto the national stage. I stood by them, in my long-gone twenties, as Bill was accused of one sexual affair after another. They were the second coming of John Kennedy, of Jackie Kennedy, but the everyday people version. However, over the course of their eight years in the White House we watched President Clinton, supported by Hillary the entire way, push through a welfare reform bill and a crime bill that would have catastrophic effects on the very Black people who helped put him into office. We would watch Mr. Clinton methodically turn his back on the suffering folks in Haiti while helping other nations, and hear his wife refer to a certain segment of the Black community as “super predators.” And then there was the matter of Bill Clinton lying, in a nationally televised message, about his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky in the White House. Not lost on me either that had Mrs. Clinton won her husband, a serial adulterer and possibly a sexual predator himself, would have been right by her side. Ironies of ironies. And yes, I had thought about Hillary Clinton’s spotty, contradictory, and at times unethical work, as Secretary of State under Barack Obama, in global hotspots like Honduras and the Middle East, of the fortune she and Bill Clinton amassed post- his presidency, and the sloppiness with which those darn emails were handled. But, to be fair, Hillary Clinton was, by far, the most qualified candidate, Dem or Republican, from both parties. Heck, when you look at presidential party nominees dating as far back as 1968, except for Nixon that year, Gerald Ford in 1976, and George H. W. Bush in 1988, it can be argued that Mrs. Clinton had, by far, the best resume of them all, including Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, her husband Bill, and Barack Obama. But she is a woman, and we who are honest know it does not matter if a woman is as qualified or more qualified than a man for the same position. We know it does not matter if she is subjected to abuse and vulgarity and disrespect her entire career. As I made my way through Cleveland during that Republican convention, it stung me to see the shirts and signs calling Mrs. Clinton a criminal, a whore, saying her role was to give men blowjobs, to watch one Republican after another, women and men both, eagerly shelling out $10, $15, $20, more, to buy tee shirts that debased Hillary and her character in the cruelest and most inhuman ways. What does any of this have to do with politics? I wondered, and does anyone care that Hillary Clinton is someone’s wife, someone’s mother, someone’s grandmother, and would anyone want their wife, their mother, their grandmother, talked about in that way? One of the saddest moments at the Republican convention, on the streets, was watching two women talk with two men peddling those anti-Hillary tee shirts, the women telling them they understood the need for mon-

ey, then proceeded to give the men $500 not to sell the shirts any longer. The men took the money, packed their stuff, and walked off. But within half an hour the men, their clothes changed a bit, were back in the same spot selling the same tee shirts. Men, this is how sexism works, from the highest levels of power and authority to the streets. Our male privilege plus our male power means, or so we think, that we can say and do anything to women, any time any place, tell women who they are and are not, demean them by all available means, and exploit them, their images, for our own benefit, with no guilt whatsoever. Was Hillary Clinton a great candidate? No, but she was the best one. Is Hillary Clinton a great speaker or magnetic personality? No, but she knows her policy positions, both domestic and foreign, inside and out, whether I agree with her positions or not. Where the right-wing movement, dating back at least to Reagan, has been so very effective is in never having real platforms or policies itself, other than blaming and undermining the others at every turn, and doing whatever it could to disparage and assassinate the characters of their opponents. Especially when their opponent, like Mrs. Clinton, comes with easily exploitable baggage like a suspect husband, that sloppy handling of emails, and a laundry list of other items that we heard about more than we ever heard about any real issues and real direction for America this year.

And to be blunt, I am also not under any pretense that the Democratic Party actually stands for democracy, or that it actually cares about Black people. Trump was not wrong when he said the Dems have done little to nothing for Black America, for inner cities like where I come from. The Democrats have been highly effective at making us others believe we have nowhere else to go, that voting is our only option for salvation, and we are duped with that line every single presidential election cycle. This is why people did not vote in this year’s presidential election, why many do not vote in any local or national election in any given year. The whole thing leaves a very bad taste in your mouth. Shaming folks, calling folks out for not voting, in this era of got ya moments on social media is not the solution. Fact is even folks like me, who have voted in every single election since we could, local ones and national ones, are clear the system is horrific and needs to be changed. I am very clear what voting means to people in America who have been denied the right to vote at every turn in our history. I think of this when I go to vote. But I also feel that voting is just one of many tools for us, and this whole notion that if one does not vote, or did not vote in this presidential election means they have no right to speak, or are the problem, is as problematic, to me, as voter suppression, voter I.D. laws, and voter fraud. It smacks of an oppressive mindset, of a fascist mindset, of making people believe non-voters are the problem when, in point of fact, it is the system and the often-manufactured leaders strutted in front of us who are the problem. People of all backgrounds are simply tired of business as usual, of the same kinds of speeches and sound bites, of the same kinds of promises, of the same kinds of lies. I recall when I was running for that Congressional seat in Brooklyn the number one question I was asked over and over, by every kind of Brooklynite one could name, was this: Are you going to be exactly like these other politicians if you get into office? People wanted to know if I was going to be a better alternative. Just like those who voted for Donald Trump saw him as an alternative. But Trump as an alternative, as an option, is no op-

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tion. Supporting him is like supporting the devil, is like supporting a slave master on a plantation, is to be in bed with the evil and the soulless. You may get some trinkets, some money, some reward, some access, you may feel good in the moment for giving Hillary and the Dems the middle finger, but at what price to your spirit and your sanity, and at what price to America? Yes, I am speaking to some of those Blacks and Latinos and women and Whites and queer sisters and brothers and others who so bald-facedly supported Mr. Trump, even as he said the most sickening things we’ve ever heard on a national campaign trail. Where there is no self-love there certainly is no love of others, of the people, any people, and the absence of love is a ready recipe for the powerful to keep their power, while the rest of us, as I said, fight each other — But we also know this election of Donald Trump is a major rejection of the presidency of Barack Obama. It began as soon as he was elected and the obstruction has been ruthless. There was simply no way, I feel, that certain segments of America were going to tolerate a Black man, then a woman, even if she was White, as president back to back. That kind of cataclysmic shift means we would be rejecting what we’ve been taught, consciously and subconsciously, about who built and created America, who explored America, who developed and expanded America, and who continues to be the saviors of America. And if you are self-hating, ignorant by way of your education or ignorant only because you want to be, then you follow that narrative, that the Black man is incompetent, and has destroyed the country, that a woman does not have the ability to do the job, either. You in a sense nigger-ize both the Black man and the White woman. And that White woman cannot win no matter what, even when she does clumsy and racialized things like carry hot sauce in her purse or play street corner board games with old men of color in Spanish Harlem. It comes across as pandering for people of color votes, as hoping those same people of color will forget the policies and words and deeds of you and your husband back in the day, when they have not. So this election result was both White Americans saying enough of this rainbow coalition stuff, and people of color saying, Yo, we are not stupid, we are not feeling this at all. This is why many did not vote, stayed home, could care less. It is foolish to condemn them as if they are somehow betraying history, the Civil Rights Movements, their ancestors, their elders. It is foolish to say them not voting cost Hillary Clinton the presidency. No, what cost Hillary Clinton the presidency is a rigged and archaic electoral college system, given she won the popular vote nationwide. What cost Hillary Clinton the election is a system of sexism, espoused by men, internalized by women too, who truly believe that women are not equals to men, who truly believe the storyline that women are not fit to lead, do not possess the stamina, the mental toughness, that women cannot be trusted in positions of authority. What cost Hillary Clinton the election was referring to people as “deplorables,” which is about as classist and elitist as one can be, and is a metaphor for how classist and elitist the Democratic Party has been for a very long time. And what cost Mrs. Clinton the election is a Democratic Party that has not been innovative and visionary since at least the 1960s. Resting on your laurels is not going to cut it. Reminding people what you’ve done in the past is not going to cut it. Giving a few of the others influential leadership positions does not translate to the masses of people, Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

no matter how well-intentioned. What matters is power, who has it and who does not, and what matters is not taking people for granted, except when you need their votes every couple of years.

Part of the problem is that the political system, movement building, activism, all of it, has been reduced to voting and running for office. In the immediate moments after it became clear Donald Trump was the next U.S. president, many hit me up asking if I would consider running for political office again. As I said, I had done so in 2008 and 2010, for Congress in my adopted hometown of Brooklyn, and it was a nightmare both times. My past, which I have been very honest about my entire adult life, was attacked and used against me. Meanwhile, we could never raise enough money from that same elite class of Democrats who essentially handed this election to Donald Trump. And at the end of the day I began to realize, no matter how tight or progressive or inclusive my platform, no matter how well prepared I was around the issues, no matter how hard we worked, on the streets, at subways, door to door, that American politics is really not about the American people at all. Politics is a vicious, bloody, ego-driven gladiator sport that has little to do with the spiritual or love, it is about power and privilege, it is about who has the money and who does not, and, yes, it is about fame, about celebrity, about how exciting and shiny your brand. With that in mind, as much as Hillary Clinton got the support and push of Barack and Michelle Obama, the naked truth is it was Trump’s brand that was more aligned with President Obama’s. Both were, in a sense, celebrity candidates created by the mass media culture. Both electrified thousands at rally after rally.

Both ran campaigns very thin on actual policy. The difference, of course, between Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump, is that Barack Obama actually is highly intelligent and had the capacity and humility to learn, and to surround himself with good people. With Mr. Trump you get the impression that he truly believes he alone can fix everything in America, and in the world. But this is how American politics works, the ebb and flow of Democrats and Republicans, the back and forth between red states and blues states, the switching back and forth every few years of who gets the presidency and who gets to control the Senate and House of Representatives. We are told it is a democracy, many of us believe it, but no, let us stop lying to ourselves, America is an oligarchy, not a democracy. Power in the hands of a few, and we the people are so untrusted to make the right decisions that the presidential election is the only election in our land, on any level, where it is not one person one vote, where it is not you win if you win the popular vote, but instead the twisted and secretive electoral college, which allows states, party leaders, the crooked and the corrupt, to dictate how things unfold, depending on the mood of America.

THIS IS WHY IT IS SAD TO WITNESS THE NUMBER OF WHITE LIBERALS AND White progressives utterly flabbergasted by Donald Trump’s election. For people of color we have been conditioned to this for a very long time. We too may be surprised but we are not traumatized to the point of inertia or apocalyptic horror. We done seen some things, and it is business as usual as far as we see. This is why White liberals and White progressives have to be the ones to confront their White sisters and brothers who are racist, not Black people, not people of color. You all have www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

AMERICA WHO ARE WE... cont.

to be the ones to talk with your family members, your friends, your fellow employees, who loudly or privately voted for Donald Trump. And you all have to be the ones to challenge the racism in this country, in your communities, at every turn. It cannot just be us; it cannot just be people of color. The reason Donald Trump got elected is because you all have not been doing that work. It is not about making folks feel guilty. No. It is about telling uncomfortable truths so we can move, and move in the right direction, prayerfully, finally. For example, when I got back on the road to deliver a lecture post-election, I made it clear my feelings about what has transpired. It did not sit well with a White male who brought me in to speak during a West Coast stop. He proceeded to tell me, in the most condescending tone possible, that I had gotten “political” with my speech, that I was off message. I told that gentleman, without blinking, and after a back and forth that went on for an hour, that I was not his slave, that no one gets to dictate to someone else what they can and cannot speak about. But this is where we are, in America, in our America, where some ignorantly believe that if you address the presidential election, or race, or gender, or class, or anything else that is deemed to be too touchy or too controversial, that you are the divisive person, that you are the problem, that you are trying to be politically correct. No, sir, what I want to be is human and alive, and I am interested in real freedom and real democracy, not this illusion we’ve been toying with for centuries now.

What I am interested in are those young men at Rutgers University, my alma mater, who said I was demeaning them, on the day before the election, because I dared to challenge them on sexism and rape culture on our college campuses, and their lack of knowledge about women and girls beyond, yes, mother figures and sex objects. These are the young men who will go out into the world, who will make decisions, based on how they view themselves and how they view others, men who will either be about justice and equality, or who will spread the same backwards logic and behavior that has damaged women, and us men, for so long. Good people cannot continue to be still and silent. That stillness, that silence, is agreeing with hate, is agreeing with fear, is agreeing with violence, is agreeing with division, is agreeing with ignorance, and is like saying we are good with business as usual even as millions are suffering.

So we’ve got to figure out ways to come together, we must, to be human, to talk, to listen, to spread love. Slut-shaming Melania Trump for taking nude or semi-nude photos when she was a young woman twenty years ago is as sexist as anything that was said about Hillary Clinton. Hoping Mr. Trump gets assassinated, and saying that publicly, on social media, is participating in the very same violence we say we are opposed to. Telling people to just give Mr. Trump and his administration a chance, after we’ve been subjected to insult after insult during his campaign is not the way to go either. It is like saying let’s give racism a chance to fix itself, when it has had four hundred long years to do so, and that has not happened. And it will never happen, not small changes, not anything, without protest, without resistance, without us getting organized, without us being the media ourselves given the many tools we now have, and not without people voicing their grievances every chance we get, because this is an abomination, this man and this election victory.

And, yes, artists should use their art to have the difficult conversations, to shake things up, and I am proud the cast of “Hamilton”

spoke up and challenged Mr. Pence as he was leaving one of their Broadway performances. Conversely, Mr. Trump, you cannot control everything, least of all us creative folks, us artists, and as long as you and your circle are behaving in ways that are the polar opposite of what America claims to be about, our art, our work, our protests, will reflect that. You’ve rolled up your sleeves, and so have we. We are not going to be passive in the face of oppression and meanness and hate. This is why White women and Black women fighting each other on social media, via blogs, is not the way to go. We should, yes, talk, openly, directly, about that intersection of racism and sexism, of what feminism and womanism mean here there everywhere, especially amongst so-called progressive and liberal folks, always, because it is real like that; but we’ve also got to figure out a way to talk with and listen to each other, no matter who we are, where we are not discarding and destroying each other to make our points. Hurt people hurt people, as we say, and there are many severely wounded souls in America. This is why we should protest, why we should organize, why we should raise our voices and vent, because this is our work, our therapy, our healing, and we should not listen to any disconnected celebrities or wouldbe mouthpieces that tell us to give him a chance, to give it time. We gave Mr. Trump the past two years to show us who he is, and it is abundantly clear that he is not thinking about the rest of America, including the working-class White folks who voted against their own economic interests to support him. Because it is about him, his brand of Whiteness, his brand of White manhood. That goes for Donald Trump, that goes for vice president-elect Mike Pence and the havoc he wreaked, as a politician, in his home state of Indiana.

A havoc that Mr. Pence will soon enough set loose on an entire nation. Him, Breitbart’s Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, Rudy Giuliani, and other salivating racists are the revolving door of White men who are lifting up Trump Nation. Ay, there is a pattern here. America has always been racist, has always been awash in the belief of White superiority above everyone else. But with Mr. Trump’s win we have that White supremacist mindset, that White nationalism, on full display in a way we have not seen since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. They aim to dominate and control, they aim to put, unapologetically, themselves, at the center of the universe, no matter who it injures, no matter who attempts to stop them. It is terrible, and it is going to get worst, because history tells us so — So yes we should practice peace, and yes we should practice love, and yes we should be kind toward each other, and figure out, Black people and White people and people of all races and cultures and creeds, women and men, straight people and queer people, poor people and rich people, abled body people and disabled people, religious people and non-religious people, good people of any ilk, how do we seize this moment in time and look at ourselves and what we’ve wrought, together, to create something better, something different, together. This is bigger than politics and voting.

People in power do not want change, they want their power, and they have it. And their power means they want confusion and chaos, they want trauma and pain, they want people feeling powerless. Because these are exactly the things that keep them in power.

White sisters and brothers who voted for Donald Trump somehow think they did the right thing, that they are innocent of any crime. I wonder about the ones who are my friends and colleagues,

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who I work with in different ways, who voted for Mr. Trump on the low, quietly, but do not dare say so aloud for fear of the response, even if the response is merely Why? In voting for Donald Trump you sent a clear message about what America is to you, what you want it to be, and it truly does not include the others, except at the margins, on the sidelines, to entertain on stage or in the sports arenas, to be at your service and pleasure, but definitely not to share power with you.

So what I want is power that is rooted in love, power that belongs to all people. I want us to understand that love is the revolution, is the change, that America will forever be a nation with a penniless soul, no matter how rich and no matter how strong militarily as long as love is absent from its core. This is hard business, this love thing, and America has avoided it for as long as it has existed. We prefer a dysfunctional relationship, an abusive relationship, and that is exactly what it has felt like. I think once more of my mother. Ma, as I have called my mother since I was a little boy, still believes in voting, still believes in America, even if America and her fellow Americans have not always believed in her, or even know that she exists. My mother lives a simple life, a humble life, for there is a power and a love there in that sort of life. And I take solace in the fact that Gloria Steinem, one of the majestic symbols of America’s women’s right movement, has said that Black women are the real and first feminists in this country. That is my mother, that is my aunts, that is my late Grandmother Lottie, my mother’s mother. You want to know what freedom is, what democracy is, what power is, what love is, get to know the lives of women like them. It is in the way they wash clothes, how they cook their food, how they sing their sorrow songs for God, how they do their hair, how they save their coins, how they raise their children, how they crease their bedsheets, how they scrub and clean their own homes, how they love the men who do not love them. They too sing America, even if America rarely sings for them. My mother is in her seventies today, living her golden years after a road trip that has taken her from the South to the North, from poverty to poverty, from a wooden Southern shack to the senior building where she is, finally, at peace with herself. She is retired, in a complex with other older people who done seen life, and America, in ways many of us could only imagine. They make it easy for these seniors to vote. My mother just gets on the elevator and goes downstairs, which she does, dutifully, for every single election.

I think of the pride my mother felt when Barack Obama was elected president in 2008. In my mother’s home, next to the White Jesus and the all-White-folks Last Supper sketch is a framed photo of Barack and Michelle and their two daughters, Sasha and Malia. Their family is my mother’s family. Reminds me of how many Black Americans, in years past, had in their homes framed images of the two Kennedys, John and Bobby, and Dr. King. Because in those images, just like the Obamas for my mother in 2016, was a feeling of safety, that someone in power, someone in leadership, truly cared about them, and had also risked their lives doing so. Whether that was all true or not is another conversation for another day. But the point is that we’ve gone from the Kennedys and Dr. King and Barack Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

Obama to Donald Trump and all the president elect’s men, and it don’t feel good, it makes my mother uncomfortable, makes her wonder what is next after all she has seen. She talks regularly about the shortness of life, she reminds me constantly, much to my discomfort, that she will not be here forever, that she is tired, but likewise my mother urges me to keep my life together. Ma knows life ain’t easy for no one, especially no one who comes from where we come from, who are people like us, the others, seemingly banished to the invisible corners of the American dream. I hear my mother loud and clear because this year has been one of the hardest of my life. In spite of regular exercise, as much sleep as I can get, and being super health conscious and a vegan with my diet, I have felt an exhaustion, this year, like I have never felt before. The weight of it has worn me down, physically, mentally, spiritually. I have had great highs with my work and opportunities, and I have had great disappointments in my interactions with people of various backgrounds, in person, online, via cellphone. Sometimes it was the other person, sometimes it was me. Honestly, in the aftermath of the Trump victory I have thought long and hard about my old hurts, any of my toxic feelings about people, why this person or that person and I no longer talk, what could possibly be so bad that people are divided from each other, given the monumental task now before us in America, to help heal a people, a nation, that ostensibly has no clue how to do so.

But there are clues, and they rest with young people, they rest with the children here and the children not yet born. I saw that hope with the mostly White children I was with in North Carolina just the other day, at Charlotte Country Day School.

There was a joy, a longing, a feeling, a shining in their eyes, amongst these young people born in the late 1990s, in the 2000s, that there can be a different sort of world, that there must be. I saw that hope with the Black and Brown young men I was with in Washington State the other day — African American, Latino, Asian, Native American, Arab — as they shared their dreams, their sorrow songs, their stresses, their anxieties, and, yes, their fears. There was a joy, a longing, a feeling, a shining in their eyes, too. And these boys, like those girls and boys in North Carolina, as they talked with me, as they asked me questions, as they sought a safe space to be themselves, to be free, whatever that means for them, are holding on to something they may not even see in many of us adults, that they can barely see in themselves sometimes due to the clutter of tech gadgets and social media and messages and symbols bombarding them from every direction. It is what my mother had in her when she was that young Black girl playing in her skinless front yard of rural South Carolina a lifetime ago, as sweat beads peppered her nose and the sun’s greasy hands tamed and twisted and braided her hair, that somehow and some way, she, we, we the rainbow children, gonna make a way out of no way, that we did not come this far just to give up now — Kevin Powell, writer, public speaker, activist, is the author or editor of 12 books, including his critically acclaimed autobiography, The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy’s Journey into Manhood. Email him, kevin@kevinpowell.net, or follow him on Twitter, @kevin_powell

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

pg. 190

VIDEO: bell hooks + Kevin Powell conversation on manhood, trauma, hiphop, violence against women, healing, more:

Click below to watch now!

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

pg. 192

Wed., Nov. 9, Noon‐4:00 PM and Wed., Nov. 16, 1:00 PM‐4:00 PM This two‐part, hands‐on training for PC users with little or no accounting or QuickBooks experience is team taught by Anders CPAs + Advisors in the LaunchCode Mentor Center. Optional pre‐ and post‐ sessions cover bookkeeping basics and payroll. The training will cover both QuickBooks Pro (destop version) and QuickBooks Online.

Tuition covers both sessions — November 9 and November 16. Sorry, no discounts for attending just one session.

Register at least 24 hours in advance and pay $35 per organization plus $15 for each additional person from the same organization. Tuition is $60 at the door.

This training will be held at the LaunchCode Mentor Center, 4811 Delmar, just east of Euclid. Free parking is available in the adjacent lot or on the street (metered).

Registration Form Need arts‐related legal or accounting assistance? Apply here.

St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA) serves the arts community by making referrals to lawyers and accountants; mediating arts-related disputes; publishing concise how-to guides; sponsoring seminars and public forums; providing guest speakers; maintaining a content-rich website; collaborating on arts advocacy initiatives; and facilitating access to the national volunteer lawyers for the arts network.

VLAA is supported by the Regional Arts Commission; the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts 6128 Delmar, St. Louis, MO 63112 314/863­6930; vlaa@stlrac.org

www.vlaa.org

Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

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Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

NOW

WHAT!

The 2016 election cycle may have thrust America back 240 years.

In my book, Movement: Race, Power and Culture in America, I argue that we cannot allow the racial politics of racial resentment to propel the nation into a Pre-Civil War neurosis. According to Pew Research in a preliminary analysis of the election, Trump won an Electoral College victory for President of the United States of America. Trump lost the popular vote for president, winning the white vote by 21 percentage points over Secretary Clinton. Romney won white voters by 20 percentage points in 2012.

The republicans created enough confusion and the democrats failed to articulate why the republicans are the cause of the disgruntlement that workers feel related to participating in the economy. Unfortunately, the republicans are not going to deliver what working class people want because the republicans have never represented what workers need for the improvement of their lives. They have always represented the 1% which is evident by a 1% being the standard bearer of the Republican Party. Those of us who understand history and what African-Americans have endured in this country, understood the coded messages that Trump articulated during his campaign and why he articulated it in the way that he did. He was appealing to the people who have been re-fighting the Civil War and now they think they have such an advocate in the White House.

With his major appointment of his strategic advisor in the White House being a person who believes that the United States should become an Ethno-White country, they may have such an advocate. When you add to that the ability of

the President-elect to appoint a Supreme Court justice to the high court, then that alone, has the potential of setting our country back 240 years.

Historically, the U.S. has had problems accepting immigrants before and what Trump and company really mean is that they do not like immigrants who are not white. The world order where the United States has been the major supporter of NATO will be fundamentally changed unless Trump has a come to Jesus moment and realize that Russia is not a friend of the United States.

Is the White House for sale, if Trump does not divest his holdings and put them in a blind trust as most presidents have done to avoid the possibility of conflict of interest and running the business of America? We could go on and on about this election and what it will be like for someone in the White House who takes pride in not following any rules. I am really sorry for the people who think that Hillary Clinton was going to be worse than Donald Trump as president. You are about to be in for a real education.

So, the question for us going forward is Now What! First, the democrats are going to have to be very disciplined and not implode on itself. The democrats are still the party for the 99% regardless of the outcome of this election. They must continue to articulate for and on behalf of working people even if the working people voted out of being mad for Donald Trump. The republicans always run populist campaigns for getting elected only for power sake. They are going to hang themselves because they do not know how to represent the 99%. The cost of being mad and not strategic will be tragic for people who need relief.

Unfortunately, that puts the democrats in the unenviable position of becoming obstructionists which is not what democrats do. Democrats govern. But if the republicans had the unmitigated gall to articulate that if Trump did not win, that the Congress would obstruct Clinton’s nominee for the Supreme Court for 4 years, then the democrats must do the same thing. How can republicans talk about doing infrastructure for this country because that is in the best interest of the United States but obstructed it when President Obama asked for it? They were never interested

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in healthcare for the Americans who were not covered, but now they want to replace it with a plan that has not even been developed.

The best thing for the republicans to do is to rename the Affordable Care Act – Romneycare since the Affordable Care Act is a marketplace concept and therefore was a republican idea before President Obama embraced it in order to get coverage for the 28 million Americans who did not have healthcare access.

The republicans did not govern they obstructed to make the recovery that steered the country out of the depression that President Obama inherited when he came into office, feel as bad as they could make it. The republicans then just said no – to make that recovery not be felt by the very people who just voted for Trump who now can only see big dollars signs for the deals he will make from the new White House at Trump Towers in New York.

Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

In the 21st century America is going to finally put this bigotry and hatefulness to rest.

Unfortunately, America is going to have to experience this the hard way in the next 4 years. Meanwhile, we must organize and reunite the coalition which transcended race to elect America’s first black president. If you did not understand the significance of that coming together as a multi-cultural people, you are going to understand it now.

Pierre Blaine is the author of Movement: Race, Power and Culture in America available on Amazon.com

www.the-arts-today.com

Volume 3.9 November 26, 2016

The Education of Kevin Powell A Boy's Journey into Manhood NEW! Audio Book

HEY EVERYONE! I am so excited to announce the AUDIOBOOK for my new book, The Education of Kevin Powell, A Boy's Journey into Manhood (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster), is on SALE TODAY at Audible @audible_com. It is my 12th book, this autobiography, but my very first time narrating an audiobook. It was long and hard to do, but so glad I did it. I especially want to thank the folks at Audible, sound engineer Ari Raskin, and

the great music provided by production team The Cultural Bastards, and also singer Hendii and guitarist Ron Jackson.

You can purchase the audiobook at this link and also listen to a free excerpt, HERE: http://tinyurl.com/gwoe5 qe

Have a blessed day!

Kevin

pg. 196

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Happy Th pg. 200

Thanksgiving Copyright © 2016 - All rights reserved.

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OPPORTUNITIES

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Closing in on my goal for “Fire this Time” - if everyone would do two things 1) support the making of this film with just a $20.00 donation and 2) encourage 2 of your friends to do the same - it will allow me to license some additional footage and photos - you can donate now by going here: http://www.cmt-tv.org/#!join-the-team/c1195 CMT-TV.org is a 501c3 non-profit organizations thus your donations are tax deductible - thank you - the making of this film will help me attract more resources which will allow real community filmmaking in STL -Phillip W. Johnson Producer of the #Ferguson Film Fire this Time

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CAREERS pg. 208

Don’t Just Believe in the Arts.

Make Them Happen.

For more than 50 years the Missouri Arts Council has been the State of the Arts. Now we are seeking strong candidates to join our team as a Program Specialist in Community Arts. It’s not just a title, it’s a tool to get things done. If you are a person that likes to make things happen, this just might be the opportunity you’ve been looking for.

Work That Matters. Creative Colleagues.

The right candidate is strategic, hard-working, and driven by results.

Our team loves the arts, and we bring that passion to support the arts throughout Missouri.

“Missouree.” “Missourah.” We speak both.

If the arts matter to you, and Missouri matters to you, this is the place to be. Are you that person? Do you know someone like this? Share this job description with them. And we will both thank you.

Missouri Arts Council Program Specialist LOCATION: Missouri Arts Council St. Louis, Missouri 63101 This is not a virtual position; it requires working in our St. Louis office.

ANNUAL SALARY: $35,640 - $39,708 (based upon experience and education) CLOSING DATE: September 6, 2016 APPLICATION PROCESS: Please send (via mail, email or fax) a cover letter, up-to-date resume, copy of transcripts (if applicable) and contact information for three professional references by the closing date to: Email: HRHelpdesk@ded.mo.gov Fax: (573) 522-9814 POSITION DEFINITION: Professional position in the Department of Economic Development through managing and coordinating assigned performing and/or fine arts grant programs for the Missouri Arts Council Full description

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pg. 210

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