https://www.dailykos.com/news/GraceLeeBoggs News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Tue, 28 Jan 2020 02:01:21 +0000 Tue, 28 Jan 2020 02:01:21 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/9/25/1887734/-Cartoon-Grace-Lee-Boggs <p><a href="http://www.patreon.com/keefknight" target="_blank">www.patreon.com/keefknight</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Keith Knight) Comics GraceLeeBoggs _1887734 Wed, 25 Sep 2019 21:50:10 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/1/15/1620828/-Good-Films-on-Food-Farming-Gardening <div>I subscribe to the NE Food mailing list (nefood@elist.tufts.edu) for those with an interest in food and agriculture in the NE region.  Recently, there was an active conversation started by one person looking for "Good films on food, farming, gardening.”  I found it so useful that I compiled the resources and individuals films mentioned, in case anyone else is  interested in eating or growing good, agricultural systems and economics.</div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>Phil Howard (at Michigan State) maintains a great database of food-related media, with many films from the last 15 years: </div> <div><a href="https://creator.zoho.com/howardp/books-and-films/view-embed/CFA_books_and_films_View/" target="_blank" title="">https://creator.zoho.com/howardp/books-and-films/view-embed/CFA_books_and_films_View/</a></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>Educational Materials List from Cornell</div> <div><a href="http://guides.library.cornell.edu/c.php?g=31298&amp;p=199454/home#s-lg-box-611592" target="_blank" title="">http://guides.library.cornell.edu/c.php?g=31298&amp;p=199454/home#s-lg-box-611592</a><br>  </div> <div></div> <div></div> <p><span>"The Garden" is a story that incorporated gardening, food, race and class: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1252486/" target="_blank" title="">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1252486/</a></span></p> <div></div> <div>"Can You Dig This?" a documentary about "Ron Finley and LA urban ag, produced by musician John Legend. The film explores urban gardening in South Central Los Angeles, what Finley calls one of the largest food ‘prisons' in the country. The film follows Finley and the inspirational personal journeys of four other ‘gangster gardeners,’ all planting the seeds for a better life." </div> <div><a href="http://canyoudigthisfilm.com" target="_blank" title="">http://canyoudigthisfilm.com</a></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>"Real Food Media hosts short film competitions annually. These 5-10 minute films focus on issues in the food system, and are made available on their website."<br> <a href="http://realfoodmedia.org/" target="_blank" title="">realfoodmedia.org</a></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>"A new 6-part series coming out soon on Vermont PBS is The Local Motive. If you're interested in learning more, there's more info here": <a href="http://vermontpbs.org/localmotive" target="_blank">http://vermontpbs.org/localmotive</a></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>"You can also check out KNOW YOUR FOOD, a series of short films for PBS, which also comes with discussion guides."</div> <div><a href="http://www.pbs.org/show/lexicon-sustainability/episodes/" target="_blank" title="">http://www.pbs.org/show/lexicon-sustainability/episodes/</a></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>"Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution" (2008), [subtitled]; "about a farming town, in France, that officially embraced organic agriculture.  The best parts are about the kids programs in the schools.  The saddest parts are people talking about how they poisoned themselves and families by spraying pesticides.  The coolest scene, compares the soil-structures at the edge where an organic farm borders on a commercial farm.  The downside of watching this film, is that you'll want to move to this town, immediately."</div> <div><a href="http://firstrunfeatures.com/foodbewaredvd.html" target="_blank" title="">http://firstrunfeatures.com/foodbewaredvd.html</a></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div><br> "Portrait of a Garden", from Holland; "which I haven't seen, but looks beautiful, and philosophical; and that I was hoping would come to a local theater, so I could watch it on a big screen--but no such luck, yet.  However, I believe you can buy and watch it, on-line."</div> <div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FGWYU6TKLc" target="_blank" title="">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FGWYU6TKLc</a></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div><br> "Edwardian Farm" (2010); "is one of these historical-reality shows, in which we get the fun of watching people like ourselves--except, they're historians and archaeologists--submitting themselves to living under the conditions of 100+ years ago.  They move into this old farm--a dirty, empty ruin--and bring it back to life.  Each episode involves specific aspects of the traditional farm lifestyle; and, they bring in experts to advise them.  So, they have this real farmer, looking at their fields, and advising them about crops; etc.  Apparently, England supports people to keep the old crafts alive.  You see how to rejuvenate a neglected hedgerow; how to build a hayrick to store your hay outdoors in a way that it won't rot; etc."</div> <div><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w15jc" target="_blank" title="">http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w15jc</a></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>SEED: The Untold Story</div> <div><a href="https://www.facebook.com/seedtheuntoldstory/" target="_blank" title="">https://www.facebook.com/seedtheuntoldstory/</a></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>Kombit: the Cooperative, <a href="http://www.kombitfilm.com/" target="_blank" title="">http://www.kombitfilm.com/</a> about sustainable farming in Haiti to address the deforestation problems.</div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>"My students just love Just Eat it: A Food Waste Movie by Peg Leg Films.  Though you should make clear to students that you aren’t advocating dumpster diving.  Very dangerous!"</div> <div><a href="http://www.foodwastemovie.com" target="_blank" title="">http://www.foodwastemovie.com</a><br> <br> <br>  </div> <div><br> For those who want to relate planting a seed in a garden to building a political future of justice and equality  Grace Lee Boggs’ work in Detroit is extremely useful.  My notes on her book The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century are at <a href="http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-next-american-revolution.html" target="_blank" title="">hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/…</a><br> <br> <br> <br> As the saying goes, you can fix all the world’s problems in a garden:<br> <a href="http://solarray.blogspot.com/2007/06/you-can-fix-all-worlds-problems-in.html" target="_blank" title="">solarray.blogspot.com/...</a></div> rss@dailykos.com (gmoke) Agriculture Ecology Economics Environment Food Garden Gardening GraceLeeBoggs Green Ne Politics _1620828 Sun, 15 Jan 2017 19:03:39 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/4/28/1520921/-Alinsky-s-Tactical-Rules-for-Radicals <p>I read Saul Alinsky’s  <u>Rules for Radicals</u> (published 1971) in the 1990s and wanted to remind myself of what my thought was then of what Alinsky wrote long before his name became a conservative slur.  </p> <p>Alinsky was a successful organizer and a seasoned tactician.  Alinsky, however, was not a strategist.  The difference between strategy and tactics is often confused:  Tactics are the means used to gain an objective and strategy is the general campaign plan or goal.</p> <div> <div></div> </div> <div> <div> <div></div> <div>Here are some of the tactically radical rules of Saul Alinsky that I noted then and now note again:</div> <div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <blockquote> <div>Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.</div> <div></div> <div>Never go outside the experience of your people.</div> <div></div> <div>Whenever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy.</div> <div></div> <div>Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.</div> <div></div> <div>Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.</div> <div></div> <div>A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.</div> <div></div> <div>A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.</div> <div></div> <div>Keep the pressure on.</div> <div></div> <div>The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.</div> <div></div> <div>The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.</div> <div></div> <div>If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside.  </div> <div></div> <div>The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.  </div> <div></div> <div>Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.</div> <div></div> <div>The real action is in the enemy's reaction.</div> <div></div> <div>The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction is your major strength.</div> <div></div> <div>Tactics, like organization, like life, require that you move with the action.</div> </blockquote> <p>For a different take on community organizing, my notes on Grace Lee Bogg’s <u>The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century​</u> are at <a href="http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-next-american-revolution.html" target="_blank" title="">hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/...</a></p> </div> <div></div> </div> <div></div> rss@dailykos.com (gmoke) Books CommunityOrganizing GraceLeeBoggs History Organizing SaulAlinsky Sociology Strategy Tactics _1520921 Fri, 29 Apr 2016 02:49:08 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/7/1428824/-Michigan-Weekly-Open-Thread-Women-Making-the-News <p>Just about all the major news to hit Michigan this week involves women in an important way.</p> <p>First, the news of the passing, at age 100, of Grace Lee Boggs. Second, also out of Detroit, an important new initiative led by black women to fund the processing of thousands of archived rape evidence kits, languishing in storage for years. Third, the announcement of a new environmental action campaign led by Debbie Stabenow, the senior senator from Michigan, against the Canadian plan to create a nuclear waste storage plant on the shore of Lake Huron. Fourth, the announcement by former MI Governor Jennifer Granholm that she has joined the 90 for 90 voter registration drive seeking to make a positive impact in Virginia and beyond.</p> <p><strong>Grace Lee Boggs, Applied Philosopher and Radical Activist Extraordinaire, Dies at the Age of 100</strong></p> <p>If you are not already familiar with the writings and activism of Dr. Boggs (holder of a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Bryn Mawr in 1940), I encourage you strongly to remedy that omission. Here are excerpts from and links to a few tributes that have poured in since her death:<br /></p> <blockquote><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/us/grace-lee-boggs-detroit-activist-dies-at-100.html?hpw&amp;rref=obituaries&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;module=well-region%C2%AEion=bottom-well&amp;WT.nav=bottom-well">Grace Lee Boggs, Human Rights Advocate for 7 Decades, Dies at 100</a> <em>(New York Times)</em><br /> Grace Lee Boggs, one of the nation’s oldest human rights activists, who waged a war of inspiration for civil rights, labor, feminism, the environment and other causes for seven decades with an unflagging faith that revolutionary justice was just around the corner, died on Monday at her home in Detroit. ... <p>Born to Chinese immigrants, Ms. Boggs was an author and philosopher who planted gardens on vacant lots, founded community organizations and political movements, marched against racism, lectured widely on human rights and wrote books on her evolving vision of a revolution in America.</p> <p>Her odyssey took her from the streets of Chicago as a tenant organizer in the 1940s to arcane academic debates about the nature of communism, from the confrontational tactics of Malcolm X and the Black Power movement to the nonviolent strategies of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and finally to her own manifesto for change — based not on political and economic upheavals but on community organizing and resurgent moral values.</p> </blockquote> <blockquote><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2015/10/5/remembering_legendary_detroit_activist_grace_lee">Remembering Legendary Detroit Activist Grace Lee Boggs (1915-2015)</a> <em>(Democracy Now!)</em> <strong>INCLUDES FOUR EXTENSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEWS</strong><br /> Democracy Now! has learned the longtime Detroit activist and philosopher Grace Lee Boggs died this morning at the age of 100. "She left this life as she lived it: surrounded by books, politics, people and ideas," said her friends and caretakers Shea Howell and Alice Jennings [both of whom are also wonderful, indefatigable activists in their own right]. <p>Grace Lee Boggs was involved with the civil rights, black power, labor, environmental justice and feminist movements over the past seven decades. ... In 1992, she co-founded the Detroit Summer youth program to rebuild and renew her city.</p> </blockquote> <blockquote><a href="http://www.upworthy.com/grace-lee-boggs-died-today-at-100-these-are-5-quotes-to-remind-you-how-amazing-she-was">Grace Lee Boggs died today at 100. These are 5 quotes to remind you how amazing she was.</a> <em>(Upworthy)</em><br /> The globally respected Detroit-based activist and philosopher wasn't just special because she was a legendary leader in the 1960s Black Power movement as a Chinese American woman. <p>And it's not just because she was still fiercely loving and supporting young people through her award-winning youth program in Detroit at the age of 100.</p> <p>And it's not just because she refused to be put into an "cause" box, seamlessly using her voice for education reform, anti-racism, environmentalism, urban revitalization, and countless other issues that she saw as all undeniably connected.</p> <p>Nope. Grace's greatest contribution to those of us who care about making the world a better place is that she was, above all, a thinker. She didn't believe in mindlessly doing in the name of good. She knew that we had to think deeply and critically about the world around us. Her deep commitment to the role of philosophy in social change led her to ideas that didn't just help wage political campaigns or fights — they helped people live better, richer lives.</p> <p>[Check this out: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GraceLeeTaughtMe?src=hash">#GraceLeeTaughtMe</a> &nbsp;where you'll find some fine testimonials about her impact and influence. Maybe you can add your own....]</p> </blockquote> Krista Tippett of OnBeing interviewed Grace Lee in 2011, and a <a href="http://www.onbeing.org/program/grace-lee-boggs-a-century-in-the-world/1060">link to that interview is here.</a> <p>Perhaps the most convenient vehicle for learning the most about the work and life of Grace Lee Boggs, apart from reading her own writings, is the 2014 documentary, <em>American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs.</em> <a href="http://www.pbs.org/pov/americanrevolutionary/">It was screened on PBS as part of its POV series,</a> and is again available to stream at that site until November 3, 2015.</p> <p>Along with the streaming link, there are several other good sources of information provided by <a href="http://www.pbs.org/pov/americanrevolutionary/links_books.php">PBS/POV, including a list</a> of Grace Lee Boggs' writings, many of which were collaborations with her husband, Jimmy Boggs, also a life-long radical activist. These books include:<br /></p> <blockquote>Boggs, Grace Lee. Living for Change: An Autobiography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998.<br /> Boggs, Grace Lee, with Scott Kurashige. The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism For the 21st Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.<br /> Boggs, James. The American Revolution: Pages From a Negro Worker's Notebook. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1963.<br /> Boggs, James, and Grace Lee Boggs. Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1974.<br /> Ward, Stephen M., ed. Pages from a Black Radical's Notebook: A James Boggs Reader. Detroit: Wayne State University Press,2011.</blockquote> To give credit where it is due, I would like to send you to <a href="http://www.americanrevolutionaryfilm.com">the website for the film</a>, which was produced and directed by Grace Lee (yes, there is a story behind the names). <p>The premiere of the film also gave rise to some fine reportage last year about Boggs' life work, including this profile in <em>The Root</em>: <a href="http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/06/american_revolutionary_new_documentary_explores_the_life_of_activist_grace.html?wpisrc=topstories">How Did a Chinese-American Woman Become a Black Power Activist?</a> Similarly, <em>The Root</em> also has a good obituary about her, covering her decades of commitment to radical black activism: <a href="http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/10/the_life_of_grace_lee_boggs_a_leader_in_the_black_power_movement.html">The Life of Grace Lee Boggs, a Leader in the Black Power Movement</a> From the article:</p> <blockquote>It is no longer popular to talk about Marxism or communism or even socialism. (No one but those who run Fox News is afraid of anyone calling for black nationalism, because white people in power now know that that impulse is easily quelled with the right concessions.) It is considered nostalgic to talk about revolution. That term itself has been redefined—reduced, really—to continual, gradual change punctuated by occasional, radical upsurges, à la Black Lives Matter. <p>Grace Lee Boggs represented those who were behind, under, in front of, over and around the discussion and occasional attempt at revolution in mid-20th-century America. Her joining the realm of the ancestors—hers and ours—at the close of her century of writing, organizing and thinking signals, yet again, the tension between the old and the new: the search for new ideas and new strategies and tactics for the purpose of implementing old freedom dreams. [see original for links]</p> </blockquote> <em>Edited to add this obituary posted yesterday:</em> Another excellent obituary, this one from someone (Barbara Ransby, a superb scholar, historian and activist in her own right) who knew her personally and enjoyed her mentorship and friendship for years: <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/article/18474/grace-lee-boggs-obituary-detroit">The (R)evolutionary Vision and Contagious Optimism of Grace Lee Boggs</a> <em>(In These Times)</em> <blockquote>She often wore a t-shirt that read “(r)evolution.” It suggested that we are all evolving as people as we fight, build and envision revolution. Grace was a visionary and a doer. She could look at a trash-strewn field and imagine a garden. And then, she would work to transform it. She could look at Detroit’s broken down buildings and imagine new possibilities. <p>And she could look at all of us, her friends, comrades and fellow travelers of various stripes, flawed and fragmented, and she could imagine us as a whole. She could meet a scruffy little kid with no skills, no hope and no place to go, and imagine that he or she would become a poet, a revolutionary or brilliant scientist. This was the lens through which Grace saw the world and her optimism was contagious.</p> </blockquote> Those who knew Grace Lee Boggs in person are sorry that she has died, but grateful for her long life, well-lived, leaving a legacy that could last for the next hundred years and more. <p>THANK YOU to those who wrote and commented in two other Daily Kos diaries about Grace Lee Boggs within the past two days: <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/05/1428010/-Grace-Lee-Boggs-Passes-Away">Grace Lee Boggs Passes Away</a> (by apeshi) and <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/06/1428578/-Cartoon-Grace-Lee-Boggs">Cartoon: Grace Lee Boggs</a> (by keefknight).</p> <p>Please join me after the orange group hug for more Michigan news.</p> rss@dailykos.com (peregrine kate) 90 for 90 90for90 DebbieStabenow enoughsaid GraceLeeBoggs JenniferGranholm KimTrent LakeHuron Michigan MotorCityKossacks Recommended StateOpenThread WestMichiganKos _1428824 Wed, 07 Oct 2015 22:00:09 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/26/1347715/-Michigan-Motor-City-Kossacks-Weekly-Open-Thread-Ferguson-Protests-Lame-Duck-Action-Boggs-Doc-Talk <p><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/internetz/Motor_City_Kossacks_Banner_TEXT_car.jpg" border="0" alt="Motor City Kossacks Banner" /></p> <p>Terrible if not surprising news out of Ferguson MO this Monday evening. But solidarity demonstrations of people appalled by the miscarriage of justice in failing to prosecute Mike Brown's killer have broken out all over. Did you have a chance to attend any of the marches? I know there were a funeral procession (for Justice) held yesterday afternoon in Ypsilanti, a rally and march yesterday evening in Ann Arbor starting at the U-M Diag, and protests throughout Detroit. Please share your experiences below if you had a chance to attend. Also, please share notices if you have news of other demonstrations in Michigan.</p> <p>Next week, the Michigan Legislature enters their lame-duck session. I don't understand why they seem so driven to act now, since they'll have even larger majorities in both houses when they return next year. But let's push back to let them know that we ARE paying attention. I received this message indirectly about a hearing next Tuesday:</p> <blockquote>Letter from Scott Foval, Regional Political Coordinator, People For The American Way: <p>"Sorry for the last minute email before Thanksgiving, but we’ve just learned from our friends at the Michigan Election Coalition that the Michigan House Committee on Elections and Ethics is having another hearing next week on the Electoral College rigging bill, HB 5974.</p> <p>Needless to say, we need to pack this hearing with as many strong voices against changing the Electoral College award to a proportional system. This idea has been tried before, and we know it is a naked power grab by Republicans who would rather change the way votes are counted than fight to win more votes.</p> <p>It is important that we show up and let the Michigan GOP know that they shouldn’t mess with the Electoral College just because they can’t win on the issues.</p> <p>Can you be there next week to speak out against HB 5974?</p> <p><strong>WHAT: PUBLIC HEARING: Michigan House Elections and Ethics Committee, regarding HB 5974.<br /> WHEN: Tuesday December 2nd, 2014; 12:00 PM--2:00 PM ET<br /> WHERE: Room 519, Anderson House Office Building, 124 N Capitol Ave, Lansing, MI 48933<br /></strong><br /> If you can come and speak out against the bill, email me at sfoval@pfaw.org and I’ll send you talking points and additional contact information for folks from the Michigan Election Coalition, who are leading the charge against the bill.</p> <p>Thanks for all you do, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!</p> <p>-- Scott Foval, Regional Political Coordinator</p> </blockquote> <p>If you do plan to attend, please let us here know too. I'm hoping to go but can't commit yet.</p> <p>The last local announcement is about a film screening and panel discussion featuring Detroit's best-known social philosopher, Grace Lee Boggs.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/117665/large/Boggs_documentary_screening_112914.jpg?1417026186" alt="" width="403" height="522" /></span></div> (Sorry for the fade; I don't know how to do borders and today is not the best day for me to learn how.) <p>If you plan to attend, let me know. I'm planning to go myself with a friend, but we could certainly welcome Kossacks. Grace Lee Boggs and this documentary about her life were featured at Netroots Nation 14; for those of you who didn't have a chance to go then, this is an important and rare opportunity. At the age of 98 and counting, Grace Lee Boggs doesn't do much public speaking any more.</p> <p>Please feel free to add news of any other Michigan-based events in the comments.</p> <p>If you do celebrate Thanksgiving, may it be peaceful and meaningful for you and those you share it with.</p> rss@dailykos.com (peregrine kate) ElectoralCollege FergusonMo GraceLeeBoggs MichaelBrown Michigan MIGOP2014lameducksession miscarriageofjustice MotorCityKossacks Solidarity _1347715 Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:00:03 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/7/19/1315189/-Netroots-Detroit-and-you-where-progressive-change-happens <blockquote>"We will fight, and we will win!"<br /> - Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), July 18, 2014</blockquote> <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/95381/large/WaterMarch-fist.jpg?1405814616" alt="Turn On the Water march, Detroit, MI, July 18, 2014" width="550" height="435" /></span><br /> Turn On the Water march, Detroit, MI, July 18, 2014</div> Fighting the tyranny of an oligarchy that withholds the existential needs of its people in an effort to subjugate them is the act of a rebel. Fighting for the change that leaves the members of a society empowered and self determined is the act of a revolutionary. Both rebel and revolutionary are heroically selfless in their sacrifice, but it is the revolutionary who makes it possible for the changes sought by the rebel to become an unshakeable part of the social psyche. <p>The need to create change, to keep trying to get this experiment that is the United States right, is an essential part of being an American. "Stamped into the DNA of every American citizen, is a healthy skepticism for orthodoxy," Vice President Joe Biden told the annual gathering of progressive activists and bloggers, Netroots Nation, in Detroit, Thursday, as he related the story of a conversation he had with Malaysian leader <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew" title="wikipedia" target="_blank">Lee Kwan Yew</a> about what makes our country so resilient. We are not only willing to change; we are constantly finding new ways to affect change, so we can grow.</p> <p>After all, our Constitution was laid out "in order to form a <em>more</em> perfect union," which means, to me, that we will never have the "perfect" union, just one we will always be striving to make better.</p> rss@dailykos.com (ProseAndThorn) Activism automobileindustry Detroit Elizabeth Warren ElizabethWarren GraceLeeBoggs Joe Biden JoeBiden Netroots Nation NetrootsNation Politics Unions _1315189 Sun, 20 Jul 2014 00:43:51 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/7/1/1310308/-Black-Kos-Tuesday-s-Chile <p><a href="http://s236.photobucket.com/user/DeeOlive/media/MichelMartin_zps466ba2ad.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff112/DeeOlive/MichelMartin_zps466ba2ad.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo MichelMartin_zps466ba2ad.jpg" /></a></p> <p>NPR might as well be called "<strong>N</strong>o <strong>P</strong>eople of color <strong>R</strong>adio"</p> <p>Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez</p> <p>Well they have done it <strong>again</strong>. By "they" I mean the mostly white male honchos at National Public Radio. You may not have heard about it, yet. This is par for the course for NPR. Back in 2008 I wrote "<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/11/671777/-NPR-cutting-black-journalist-Farai-Chideya">NPR cutting black journalist Farai Chideya</a>". More about the history of all this in a bit—but first, the latest.</p> <p>NPR's "Tell Me More" which is hosted by Michel Martin, will be no more as of Aug 1. It is the only NPR program specifically targeted at a "diverse audience" as they put it, meaning African Americans. &nbsp;</p> <p>Lots of times we don't put faces to the voices we hear on the radio. So you may not know who Michel Martin is. &nbsp;</p> <p>A brief <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Martin">bio</a>:</p> <blockquote>Michel McQueen Martin is an American journalist and correspondent for ABC News and National Public Radio. After ten years in print journalism, Martin has for the last 15 years become best known for her news broadcasting on national topics. <p>A Brooklyn, New York native, Michel Martin attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire as part of the fifth class of females to graduate from the formerly all-male school. In 1980, Martin graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College of Harvard University, then pursued post graduate work at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C.</p> <p>After working the local news beat for The Washington Post and becoming White House correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Martin joined ABC News in 1992. At ABC, Martin has reported for Nightline, and was awarded an Emmy for a report that aired on Day One. In 2001, she hosted the PBS show Life 360. Since April 2007, she has hosted Tell Me More for National Public Radio (NPR). As the host of Tell Me More, Martin focuses heavily on topics of race, religion, and spirituality. Upon the announcement by NPR of the cancellation of Tell Me More, to be effective 1 August 2014.<br /></p> </blockquote> There are some things you can do—and <a href="http://daniellebelton.com/who-is-danielle-belton/">Danielle Belton</a> over at The Snob has been leading the charge. <p><a href="http://daniellebelton.com/2014/05/22/say-no-to-npr-making-tell-me-more-no-more/">Say “No” to NPR Making “Tell Me More” No More</a></p> <blockquote>You can <a href="http://help.npr.org/npr/includes/customer/npr/custforms/contactus.aspx">send NPR an email here</a>. <p>You can <a href="https://twitter.com/NPR">send NPR a few choice tweets here</a>.</p> <p>You can post some <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NPR">strongly worded posts on NPR’s Facebook page here</a>.</p> <p>You can call the staff directory and ask for Paul G. Haaga, Jr., NPR’s acting CEO: &nbsp;(202) 513-2000</p> <p>Or you can try emailing Haaga at phaaga@npr.org.</p> <p>And you can send NPR some strongly worded mail here:</p> <p>NPR<br /> 1111 North Capitol St., NE<br /> Washington, DC 20002</p> </blockquote> I want to talk about the history of attempts to change the structural racism in Public Broadcasting (funded by your tax dollars). It's a history I happen to know a lot about, because back in the 70's I was employed by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) as part of a system-wide effort to address the absence of minorities, and women in positions of responsibility at NPR, PBS and at the member stations. <p>When I first got started at a non-commercial, listener supported radio station it was as a co-host at WBAI-FM in New York City in 1969 for a Young Lords Party show called "<a href="http://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/bb383502">Pa'lante</a>". WBAI is part of <a href="http://pacifica.org/about_history.php">Pacifica</a>, which founded listener-supported radio in the 1940's in the Bay area of California.</p> <p>Years later, I would become one of the founders of WPFW-FM, Pacifica Washington DC and help get it on the airwaves in 1977. I became the first black female program director in Public Radio in a major market, and our station manager was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/07/obituaries/gregory-b-millard-37-arts-official-with-city.html">Gregory Millard</a>, the first black male top exec at a full service station. <a href="http://mediaandthemovement.unc.edu/category/black-owned-radio/">WVSP in Warrenton NC</a> was the first black-controlled public station to hit the airwaves &nbsp;We were also the only "minority controlled" Pacifica station, and had a format targeted at a primarily black DC audience, which we called "jazz and jazz extensions". (see a <a href="https://archive.org/details/fowpfw197708ia">Folio</a> - Program Guide) We had a rich mixture of music, arts and public affairs. This was not standard public radio at the time. It was radical for even lefty Pacifica and met resistance internally. That's a story for another day. After my tenure ended as PD, and later as acting General Manager, I was offered a job at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.</p> <p>Though Pacifica had been around since the late 40s, later joined by other stations funded by listeners, it wasn't until the late 60's that the U.S. founded an official public broadcasting system.</p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Broadcasting_Act_of_1967#cite_note-1">Public Broadcasting History</a></p> <blockquote>The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 (47 U.S.C. § 396) set up public broadcasting in the United States, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and, eventually, the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio (NPR). <p>The act charged the CPB with encouraging and facilitating program diversity, and expanding and developing non-commercial broadcasting. The CPB would have the funds to help local stations create innovative programs, thereby increasing the service of broadcasting in the public interest throughout the country</p> </blockquote> <br /> The key words for me in the act were "encouraging and facilitating program diversity".<br /> Just what does that mean in the U.S., and more importantly how do you have diversity unless you have top staff and producers who are diverse? <p>By the late 70's it was clear that public broadcasting had failed to fulfill that mandate.</p> <p>CPB had undergone an extensive review of its hiring policies and programming practices, instituted by an investigative task force, and in <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/formula-for-change-the-report-of-the-task-force-on-minorities-in-public-broadcasting/oclc/7247123">1978 issued</a> "A formula for change : the report of the Task Force on Minorities in Public Broadcasting." They issued a similar report on women.</p> <p>One of the ways of addressing the complete lack of people of color (see <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=xUSF2YHkjTsC&amp;pg=PA37&amp;lpg=PA37&amp;dq=minority+task+force+report+corporation+for+public+broadcasting&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=MJkOC8CmyW&amp;sig=Ej-tbp2NxPi-4t630DrUAvugwxg&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=82KxU76zK-vgsATIv4C4Aw&amp;ved=0CEQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&amp;q=minority%20task%20force%20report%20corporation%20for%20public%20broadcasting&amp;f=false">Black Enterprise</a> article) at the decision making level.</p> <p>"<strong>Zero</strong> national shows produced by and targeted at Native Americans, Asians and Latinos. One black program. That black program, <em>Black Perspectives on the News</em> was carried by 77 of 276 stations. &nbsp;Of 583 decision makers at the local stations only 16 are nonwhite. That is less than 3%"</p> <p>Part of the solution to the "problem" was a decision to institute a Minorities and Women's Training Grant Program. Our office, was given a budget of 6 million dollars to award grants to induce stations to hire people of color and women, for key positions and we would pay half the salary and full "training" costs for those positions for two years. My description of this process was called "bribing the white station managers to make those hires". &nbsp;</p> <p>Fast forward to 2000. &nbsp;The Women's Task Force and women's training grant program worked - for white women.</p> <p><a href="http://www.current.org/wp-content/themes/current/archive-site/pb/pb017min.html">Minority job share doubles in pubcasting, but still lags behind progress of women</a></p> <blockquote>Members of minority ethnic groups have not advanced as rapidly as women into higher positions in public broadcasting over the past two decades, despite significant efforts within the system to make both programming and the workforce more multicultural.<br /> In public television, 12.5 percent of full-time officials and managers are members of minorities; 18.1 percent in pubradio are, according to 1998 employment data (table at right). Those percentages are double what they were in 1978, when a CPB-funded task force looked at minorities in public broadcasting and found that "the scarcity of minority programs can be attributed directly to the insufficient number of minorities employed in public broadcasting, particularly in decision-making positions." <p><strong>Minority employees in public TV and public radio</strong></p> <p><strong>Percentages of All full-time jobs&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Officials and managers*</strong><br /> .&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PTV&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PR&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PTV&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PR<br /> 1978&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 13.9&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 12.6&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 6&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 9<br /> 1998&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18.8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 19.6&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 12.5&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18.1<br /> 2006&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 27.8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 20.3</p> <p><em>Sources: 1978 data from "A Formula for Change: A Report on the Task Force on Minorities in Public Broadcasting"; 1998 and 2006 data from CPB's annual reports to Congress on minority programming and employment.<br /> * 2006 data added in update of this page, 2007. Figures are for combined public TV and radio employment.<br /> **As defined by the FCC, including general managers, station managers, controllers, chief accountants, general counsels, chief engineers, directors of news, research and promotion, and these managers: facilities, sales, business, personnel and production.<br /> In contrast, the percentages of women in fulltime jobs as officials and managers in pubcasting have tripled or quadrupled in about the same time, 1974 to 1998 [earlier Current article]. Women hold 43 percent of those executive jobs in public TV and 38 percent in radio. Twenty-four years earlier, women filled only about 10 percent of those top pubcasting jobs.</em><br /> To put the recent employment numbers in perspective, minorities comprised 26 percent of the total 1997 U.S. labor force, but held about 19 percent of all pubcasting jobs and 15.2 percent of the officials/managers positions.<br /> For women, the equity gap has narrowed faster. While women comprised 46.2 percent of the 1997 work force, they held about the same percentage of all pubcasting jobs and about 40 percent of executive-level jobs.<br /> Although public broadcasting prides itself on its diversity efforts, the field's employment of minority officials/managers is in the same ball park as the broadcasting industry at large--14.2 percent, as figured by the FCC in 1998. (The four minority groups tracked by the CPB and FCC are African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian-Americans/Pacific Islanders.)<br /></p> </blockquote> The public tv solution vis a vis programming was to form "<a href="http://nmcmedia.org/who-we-are/consortia-members/">minority consortia</a>" to produce programs by and for PBS. &nbsp;I was present for the formation of the Black, Native American, Latino and Asian, Asian-Pacific consortia. At the time, poc producers were excited, and it was wonderful to meet with so many creative people of color with important stories to tell. <p>The monies provided to those consortia—never overly generous—are also being cut.<br /> <a href="http://www.current.org/2013/06/cpb-reduces-aid-to-longtime-grantees/">CPB reduces aid to longtime grantees</a></p> <p>I realize that NPR, PBS and CPB have been targets of the right wing, and Republicans in Congress. But that does not, and cannot excuse the fact that the public airwaves are a public trust, and last time I looked people of color are part of that "public". We are almost 37% of the U.S. population. Rather than cutting back on programs targeting our diverse "minority" populations, NPR needs to do more. Simply having a blog, or a program featuring jazz is insufficient.</p> <p>Let NPR know what you think about their colorlessness.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Black Kos) Black Kos BlackKos Community GraceLeeBoggs HakiMadhubuti JanetCollins LaverneCox MichelMartin News NPR PublicBroadcasting Recommended Senegal _1310308 Tue, 01 Jul 2014 19:59:17 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/29/1151964/-Good-Fences <p>The other day, I met a friend for breakfast at a local café here in Seattle. Outside was wet, cool, overcast—a typical fall day in the Northwest. But inside the restaurant was cozy and warm and invited a long, lingering conversation. We jumped around from topic to topic, until we landed on the laundry facilities in our respective apartment buildings. How we got there, I have no idea.</p> <p>More often than not, when it’s time to do laundry, we have to first clean up the messes left by the other tenants—the scattered and smeared dirt, the spilled detergents and stain removers, the telltale lint and chemically treated paper sheets used to soften (and chemically treat) their drying clothes. For me, cleaning up after my neighbors has become such a part of my routine that I often bring an extra towel or rag along when I do my laundry, just to be prepared for what I’ll find.</p> <p>But laundry facilities occupied our conversation for only a short time, and we quickly turned from dirty clothes to dirty public places in general. (After all, how much is there to say about a laundry room?) We have both observed that when it comes to shared spaces—those for which we can’t claim direct ownership—we seem to have a cultural mindset that precludes taking responsibility for anything we don’t consider part of our personal sphere, even if we’re paying hefty rents or taxes or fees to support them.<br /></p> rss@dailykos.com (R H Sheldon) belovedcommunity Civil Rights CivilRights Community Culture Dalai Lama DalaiLama Environment GlobalCommunity GraceLeeBoggs Health Care HealthCare MartinLutherKing Rescued _1151964 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:05:39 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/7/11/883564/--If-you-are-not-outraged-then-you-are-not-breathing <p>I have been working for social change and justice since I was a teenager. &nbsp;I was surrounded at a young age by people who were life-long activists and organizers. &nbsp;It was just seen as part of living a purposeful life. &nbsp;As Marian Wright Edelman has written, her parents taught her that "<strong><em>service is the rent you pay for living</em></strong>."</p> rss@dailykos.com (mka193) GraceLeeBoggs Organizing Outrage Rescued Social Change Social Justice SocialChange SocialJustice _883564 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:15:03 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/16/347296/-Grace-Lee-Boggs-on-Bill-Moyers-Journal <p>GRACE LEE BOGGS: "I don't see any leaders, and I think we have to rethink the concept of "leader." 'Cause "leader" implies "follower." And, so many-- not so many, but I think we need to appropriate, embrace the idea that we are the leaders we've been looking for."</p> <p>This 91 year old Chinese American woman was unknown to me until I saw this piece on Bill Moyer's Journal from last night. She has been an activist since her youth, first studying Karl Marx, then becoming active in the black community as a follower of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.</p> <p>So much of what she has to say about our (r)evolution as a community of diverse individuals reminds me of conversations I've read here lately revolving around how our leaders have let us down. She seems to brush aside the ability of the system to make real basic changes which would truly benefit our fellow citizens, and proves that only through community activism can we affect the change that we want to be.</p> <p>Read the entire transcript:</p> <p><a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06152007/transcript3.html">http://www.pbs.org/...</a></p> <p>Follow me below the fold to hear some of her answers to Bill Moyer's excellent questions:</p> rss@dailykos.com (JoMo DemKim) BillMoyers GraceLeeBoggs PBS _347296 Sat, 16 Jun 2007 19:49:39 +0000