Black History Month is almost over.
And I really haven't done anything special at my blog Brown Man Thinking Hard to commemorate it, probably because this blog is written from an African American perspective.
There are times when I wonder, with black people in Haiti still suffering even as the world comes to their aid in an unprecedented outpouring of donations, with a black president struggling to lead his own party while deciding how best to fight back against the opposition, with black people all over this internet with fifty 'leven different opinions about things they understand and things they do not, with black soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and black CEO's who are either running their companies like a top or fucking them up just as bad as their white counterparts, if black history month even has an relevance anymore...
Pockets Of Darkness, Pockets Of Light from Kris Broughton on Vimeo.
...until I am reminded that most of the people who keep our jails full are black men, brethren whose mug shots are so sadly reminiscent of my own not incarcerated face. Until I remember that having progress without access is like handing someone the keys to a brand new car...
...in a land with no gas tanks.
My editors at Big Think liked my "Racial Discrimination: The Reality Show" video so much, I snatched took the opportunity to run a mini-series on a few topics this week as a way to wind up a month black people usually spend watching documentaries and patting ourselves on the back. Pockets Of Darkness, Pockets Of Light: To Be Brown And Not Brown In The New Millennium contains provocative, challenging pieces that defy conventional wisdom.
I hope the writing lives up to the promise of this promo video.
The first post, "Racial Discrimination: The Reality Show" is already up. The video is the same but the commentary is new.
The other three will run between now and Sunday.
Enjoy them.