Race, Visual Matters, and Harm

How do we account for the harm caused by anti-black racist images?

That's one of the questions that came up and then continually came back to me as I reflected on Sean Delonas's image (pictured above) from last week's New York Post.

The issue of harm surfaced as I followed discussions about the problem with the cartoon. Large numbers of black folks expressed disgust with the image. The Reverend Al Sharpton, for one, noted on his website that "The cartoon in today’s New York Post is troubling at best, given the racist attacks throughout history that have made African-Americans synonymous with monkeys."

Columnist Leonard Pitts explained that the initial ignorance and arrogance of New York Post editors and Delonas concerning the cartoon were a larger problem.

"Let's be clear on one thing: The Post has a right to provoke and even offend," explained Pitts. "That is absolute and sacrosanct. But it is difficult not to be troubled by a suffocating cluelessness that allows it to provoke and offend without knowing it or meaning it or even, apparently, caring about it -- and then, to dismiss provocation and offense as the work of ''opportunists'' instead of seeking to understand why people were so upset."

Indeed, progressive-minded folks were upset, and I also think untold numbers of people are hurt by such images. Who knows the damage done to a people when they are dehumanized in public discourses? And if, as Pitts suggests, the Post "didn't know that it didn't know" what it was doing by publishing the image, we might be in more trouble than we previously imagined. All this despite the presence of a black president.

A number of our Black Studies programs have been focusing on visual matters, but after the appearance of that Post cartoon, I started thinking that we had perhaps not been doing enough to really identify and critique racist practices. Maybe.

So far, our Interactive Reading Group has largely focused on Aaron McGruder's and Keith Knight's works, and our discussions have not gone deep about the prevalence of anti-black racism in comic art.

Our regular contributions on our editorial cartoons have focused on depictions of Obama, which have tended to be somewhat positive, hopeful. And our visual matters campaign has concentrated on promoting empowering images, which of course may be a response to the existence of troubling representations.

So on the one hand, we seemed to be inadequately addressing the nature of racist imagery. But then again, I discovered another take. The very existence of these groups and small teams of folks focusing on Black Studies issues constituted mini-communities that allowed us to engage in meaningful discussions. It also allowed us to draw on one of the benefits of community: support.

In a future post, I'll try to say more about some of our short-term and long-term responses to the cartoon. I'll also want to say more about the significance of us establishing communities devoted to subject-matter related to Black Studies.

The Arts and Education

The arts and humanities remain as important gateway experiences that lead to important learning opportunities for citizens. Accordingly, a range of commentators, scholars, and active citizens have been pressing for new and sustained efforts to increase the presence of the arts and humanities in American society. Of course, in a struggling economy, the arts and humanities face serious challenges.

James Vaznis’s Boston Globe article Study Urges More Arts Classes dwindle in Higher Grades” addresses the decreasing presence of arts in public education and its effects. According to Vaznis, the arts have been lacking, particularly in high schools, and most of the emphasis is being placed on testing. As a result, the arts are the first to go during budget cuts.

The decreased support for the arts has led some observers to call on the president for a larger financial commitment from the U.S. government. John Cavanagh, E. Ethelbert Miller, and Melissa Tuckey’s Nation article Stimulus: One Percent for the Imagination focuses on a petition asking Congress to spend one percent of the stimulus package on the arts. According to the article, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) created by the Franklin D. Roosevlet was helpful in creating jobs for low-income communities and artists. “The WPA created jobs for more 40,000 artists, musicians, writers and theater workers who were paid a living wage to create public works of art.”

Notably, the article also mentions how support in the arts could in-turn support black communities. “Money should be set aside to develop creative writing programs at minority and historically black colleges; currently, no creative writing program exists at any black college. This would create teaching jobs for many African-American authors.” With funding and Congressional backing, larger numbers of citizens might be encouraged to pursue careers in the arts.

--Massinga, Smith, Rambsy

Culture, Conflict, and Comics

[Click on the above comic strip to enlarge.]

This comic strip by Darrin Bell humorously displays a possible conflict within a culture. In particular, Bell illustrates how rising sentimental emotions can become quickly become trumped by hip-hop’s ‘bad man’ stereotype. Just as one of the main characters expresses being moved by a rap song about Barack Obama, he immediately recognizes that such emotions are off limits.

The strip displays the momentary, disrupting effects that might occur as young men associated with rap culture consider the significance of Obama’s achievements. When confronted with the idea of an Obama, at least one of the men represented here temporarily abandons the tough guy image. Given the overwhelming force of such tough guy images, maybe even taking small steps away are important.


Bell’s humorous critique of the bad man persona is central to the message he conveys. The strip indicates that these tough guys ironically fear showing their emotions. And thus, Bell suggests that the changes Obama prompts can be personal and not merely political in the conventional sense.

“Candorville” is written by Darrin Bell. The strip is syndicated in many newspapers throughout the U.S and can also be seen here: www.candorville.com.

--Chris, Jeremiah, Kirk

Standards and Achievement

Issues regarding academic standards and achievement gaps continue to draw widespread attention for those concerned about educational challenges facing students of color in general.

Tony Barboza’s recent article Santa Ana Seeks to Ease High School Graduation Requirements, for instance, addresses a proposal to lower the number of required graduation credits in a school district in California. Lowering the number of credits might help alleviate some problems with dropout rates.

However, a proposal to decrease credits could raise debates, especially for underrepresented students who often become the subject of debates related to “lower standards.”

Tamar Lewin’s article Blacks Less Likely to Take A.P. Exam addresses ongoing struggles in the educational system across the country, particularly with black students not enrolling in AP classes. “As in most aspects of American education,” Lewin noted, “troubling ethnic gaps remain. African-Americans are seriously underrepresented in the A.P. program, and no state has yet closed that gap, said Gaston Caperton, the president of the College Board.”

It’s likely that the financial hardships faced by black students influences this “troubling ethnic gap.” It’s also possible that larger cultural factors lead many African American students to believe that they can not achieve in the AP classes.

--Massinga, Smith, and Rambsy

image source

Poetry and the Economy

"Poor God," writes poet Kevin Young, "people everywhere/ swearing to you all day." Throughout his volume Dear Darkness, Young adopts blues persona and ends up talking about the pains of loss in artful ways.

Lately, given all the solemn and scary news about unemployment and the economy, I've tried to figure out the degrees to which modern black poets address these kinds of tough, everyday issues.

For Young and several other writers, poems that contain the sensibilities of the blues offer opportunities to convey serious experiences in sometimes humorous ways. Others draw on the blues to really accentuate senses of hurt and anger.

We'll see if we can draw some connections between what modern poets are writing and what the nation is experiencing. We'll share what we find. If you have leads, do drop us a line and let us know.

Contrast in History

In a single cartoon, Chris Britt presents two separate periods of time, two separate worlds. The top strip depicts what existed in the U.S. before 1865: an auctioning of an African American family, where the public accepted them as property. Then Britt, fast-forwarding to 2009 in his bottom strip, shows Obama at the inauguration where the public today accepts him as their President, cheering. It is a remarkable change in time and, as Britt writes, a “contrast in history.”

The two panels display key differences. In the top panel, the crowd is drawn in simple black and white, which brings to mind the idea of something old-fashioned and distant. By contrast, the bottom panel is full of color variety conveying fresh, immediate, and hopeful feelings. Overall then, black and white and color matter.

The images provide dramatic scenes in the history of race relations in the U.S. African Americans have worked their way through the worst possible situation for at least one to hold the highest governmental position. But, to what extent does Obama’s ascension prompt a reconsideration of the American dream for large numbers of black people? It’s interesting to consider how the image Britt offers coincides with visions about the alleviation of racial tensions.

Chris Britt draws for the State Journal- Register and his work can be seen in other syndications nationwide.

--Kirk, Chris, Jeremiah

Race and Education

Over the next few months, we’ll publish some pieces that relate, broadly speaking, to education and race. For some time now, we’ve been advocating for more conversations and critical activity concerning African American intellectual and academic interests. So ideally, our identification of pertinent news articles might allow us to collect and share information for a broader discussion in the near future.

Recently, we were thinking about multiple influences Obama might have on educational outcomes. In his article Stimulus Plan Would Provide Flood of Aid to Education, Sam Dillon writes about how Obama's proposed stimulus plan would benefit schools. Many governmental officials noted that the plan would “bring crucial financial relief to the nation's 15,000 school districts and to thousands of campuses otherwise threatened with severe cutbacks.”

Most notably in the context of education, the stimulus “could profoundly change the federal government’s role in education, which has traditionally been the responsibility of state and local government.” According to Dillon, “The Department of Education’s discretionary budget for the 2008 fiscal year was about $60 billion. The stimulus bill would raise that to about $135 billion this year, and to about $146 billion in 2010.”

In an earlier article Study Sees an Obama Effect as Lifting Black Test-Takers, Dillon reported on a preliminary research finding that suggests the President might have an effect on education beyond his policy decisions. According to the findings from a small study, select groups of African Americans appeared to score better on tests as a result of the “Obama effect.” As Dillon noted, “The inspiring role model that Mr. Obama projected helped blacks overcome anxieties about racial stereotypes that had been shown, in earlier research, to lower the test-taking proficiency of African-Americans.”

It’s perhaps too early to figure out what kind of effect Obama will have on black test-takers. However, putting some thought into what motivates and inspires African American students to do better in tangible ways is worth considering. Also, the increased funds directed at schools might also have some major effects on educational outcomes and levels of achievement for large numbers of African American students.

--Massinga, Smith, and Rambsy