African-Americans | ZETEO

The Patriarchy of Hillary Clinton

April 19, 2015 by fritztucker

Hillary Clinton has officially announced her candidacy in the 2016 Presidential election. In her announcement video (above), Clinton claims that “the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top (1:41-4).” It is hard to argue with her, given that she is the wife of a former President. Insofar as U.S. voters are resentful of dynastic wealth and power, perhaps Clinton’s best hope for winning the election would be for her Republican opponent to be Jeb Bush. Obama’s […]

Categories: Fritz Tucker, ZiLL • Tags: African-Americans, capitalism, civil rights, gender, Hillary Clinton, History, politics, race, sexuality, social justice, women

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The drawbacks of ethnic product placement

February 23, 2015 by Alexia Raynal

Or On the Importance of Inclusion To some extent, ethnic art (including film and literature) has been recognized as an empowering tool for minorities. Latino and African-American advocates have consistently pushed for the inclusion of content reflecting the lives and struggles of people of color in art and at school. But while these stories have gradually made it into the market, they have nonetheless preserved their ethnic labels. For example, movies with African-American casts are usually labeled as ethnic films rather […]

Categories: Alexia Raynal, ZiR • Tags: African-Americans, art, books, children, education, film, literature, reading, writing

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Joy in a Police State

December 9, 2014 by fritztucker

Although the video of this young girl’s spontaneous dance party has been viewed by millions, energetic outbursts by young children on the subway are more typically followed by a parent threatening or abusing the child if he or she doesn’t sit still. I witnessed one such scene on a nearly empty E train the other day. I’ve observed scenes like this regularly since I began riding the subway daily as a teenager. More often, I noticed public child abuse at the […]

Categories: Fritz Tucker, ZiLL • Tags: African-Americans, anthropology, education, ethics, History, New York City, police state, politics, sociology, subway

Iconic, but of what?

December 3, 2014 by fritztucker

[print_link] [email_link] If a tree falls in a forest and six different news channels capture footage of it, does it matter? The Internet has changed, ever so slightly, the definition of mass media. Major networks still create most of it. Now, however, anybody has the potential to create iconic images if they get enough retweets and ‘Likes’ on Facebook. Recently, a photo of a crying Afro-American boy embracing a compassionate, Euro-American cop at a Ferguson solidarity protest in Portland, Oregon has gone viral, typically accompanied […]

Categories: Fritz Tucker, ZiLL • Tags: African-Americans, art, children, civil rights, ethics, New York City, politics, race, technology

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The Lincoln Tunnel to Ferguson

November 26, 2014 by William Eaton

I regrettably ended up with the more dysfunctional of the two ‘solidarity with Ferguson’ protests last night. I didn’t think marching to Times Square was desirable in the first place. Somewhere along the way, however, we went west, and half-an-hour later ended up at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. For those who are familiar with NYC geography, that is a considerable and complex diversion, not merely a wrong turn. I asked several people how/why we ended up there. The only person who […]

Categories: Fritz Tucker, ZiLL • Tags: African-Americans, civil rights, crime, death, New York City, politics, race

No Citizen Left Behind?

March 9, 2014 by William Eaton

Revisiting this Proverbial Question of Equal Opportunity Review of No Citizen Left Behind by Meira Levinson (Harvard University Press, 2012) {click for pdf} By Moorel Bey And what I believe unites the people of this nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all, the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead in America. (Applause.) President Barack Obama, 2014 State of […]

Categories: Review • Tags: African-Americans, education, Harvard University, segregation

Amiri Baraka, poet, dramatist, and civil rights activist (1934-2014)

Amiri Baraka and Suppose Sorrow Was a Time Machine

January 15, 2014 by William Eaton

We lost Amiri Baraka (1934-2014) last week, at least in body. Writer, poet, dramatist, and civil rights activist, Baraka was slight in stature but grand in presence, words, and ability to generate controversy. He inhabited multiple spaces—in the form of books such as Blues People: Negro Music in White America (1963) which he wrote when he still called himself LeRoi Jones, never out of print; in politics as he protested unequal treatment of African Americans; in poetry in his association with Ginsberg, […]

Categories: ZiR • Tags: African-Americans, Civil Rights Movement, poet, theater

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James Baldwin and the Black Press

April 11, 2012 by William Eaton

“Next Time, the Fire in Giovanni’s Room” The Critical Reception of James Baldwin’s Second Novel in the Black Press By Rachel Corbman In February of 1950, the most prominent and widely distributed black newspaper, The Pittsburgh Courier, published a supplely illustrated feature article that considered the history and future of African American literature. Penned by educator and scholar James W. Ivy, “Fifty Years of Progress in Literature” placed the then twenty-five year old James Baldwin on the vanguard of […]

Categories: Article, Spring 2012 Issue • Tags: African-Americans, Civil Rights Movement, gay lives, gender, homophobia, homosexuality, James Baldwin, race, sexuality