Blacksmythe - blacksmythe.com - Dr. Lester K. Spence
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Colorlines Colorblind Approach to Detroit 5 Aug 2013 | 08:02 pm
Over the past few months or so I've had to correct the record on Detroit. About what it is, about what it was, about what it can be. I expected to have to correct the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic...
Fruitvale Station Follow-up: From Radio Raheem to Oscar Grant 30 Jul 2013 | 08:04 pm
I want to visually follow up on a point I made yesterday. I think Ryan Coogler did an excellent job at representing Oscar Grant not as a type, but as a fully developed human, with a range of feelings,...
On Fruitvale Station 29 Jul 2013 | 09:48 pm
I remember when BART cops murdered Oscar Grant in 2009, because it happened just a few weeks before Obama's inaugural. I'd known that Obama's election didn't eradicate racism or classism, but the star...
On Obama, Trayvon Martin, and the Prophetic Tradition 23 Jul 2013 | 11:17 pm
Today Salon ran two articles examining Detroit and Trayvon Martin. The article on Detroit, like most others ignore the role structural racism played Detroit's circumstances.1 However it does drive hom...
Detroit: The Future is Here 22 Jul 2013 | 09:17 pm
Last week Detroit Emergency Financial Manager Kevin Orr filed bankruptcy papers, and was later sent back to the drawing board. When I heard the news, I felt as if I'd been simultaneously punched in ....
Stand Your Ground 14 Jul 2013 | 11:09 pm
Scattered thoughts. Those of us who are routinely asked to speak about or somehow on behalf of black people should stop moralizing to black populations. And get in the habit of affirming the right of...
Jay-Z releases a delivery system 11 Jul 2013 | 06:00 pm
While some would argue Magna Carter Holy Grail is Jay-Z's latest album, I'd disagree. I think it more accurate to call it a delivery system, given the technological and economic dynamics of its releas...
“I own Black in America” 9 Jul 2013 | 04:32 pm
I've been meaning to write about the Chicago Sun-Times' decision to lay-off their entire photography division, in effect replacing them with…IPhones.1. But what I was looking for, along with time, was...
Big Enough to Matter Small Enough to Win–The Question of Proliferation 8 Jul 2013 | 07:17 pm
A few months ago my colleague William Connolly considered The Dilemma of Electoral Politics. Given how bankrupt yet at the same time essential the US electoral system is, how do those of us on the Lef...
Supreme Court Guts the Voting Rights Act 25 Jun 2013 | 09:44 pm
As expected, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to render Section 41 of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. Although it kept the preclearance section (Section 5) itself, this section is pretty much usele...
