33) What’s the Problem? What’s the Vision? What’s the Next Step Forward?

We’re excited to be joined in conversation with Ash-Lee Woodard-Henderson, an activist and organizer, extraordinarily innovative educator, an intensely forward thinker and a powerful doer, and for several years now, co-executive director of the Highlander Research and Education Center, one of the most storied social justice and activist centers in the country. The pedagogy employed at Highlander is the classic Freedom School approach: problem-posing and question-asking, from the people and to the people.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine and creator of the award winning “1619 Project,” as well as winner of a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, three National Magazine Awards, a Peabody Award, and two Polk Awards, was denied tenure at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill by the UNC Board of Trustees. She was recommended for tenure by the journalism school’s tenure committee and Dean, as well as the university’s Chancellor. Ignoring and canceling  layers of faculty governance and university authority, the Board declined to vote on Professor Hannah-Jones’s tenure, with one Board member saying she did not come from a “traditional academic-type background.” Note: none of the Board members comes from a “traditional academic-type background” or even holds an advanced academic degree—a collection of lawyers, bankers, real estate millionaires, and one young, wealthy “life coach.” 

The “1619 Project” is must reading: it challenges us to rethink the story of America, positing a start date of 1619 when the first kidnapped Africans arrived in chains; it invites us to foreground the role of race and slavery in the formation of the American economy; it upends the heroic and triumphant reading of history. And its publication ignited a predictable response: frantic denial, frenzied attacks, and mindless condemnation among right-wing ideologues, defenders of white supremacy, and reactionaries. 

Of course, there’s space to disagree and debate, but the attacks are not encouraging thoughtful discussion, a deeper search for evidence, or a clarity of perspective. No. Twenty-three Republican Senators and nineteen state Attorneys General have signed letters denouncing the “1619 Project.” They want to cancel Nikole Hannah-Jones and bury free thought.

The target of the attacks is, of course, Nikole Hannah-Jones herself and the writing she’s done for years, including her ground-breaking research and reporting on the impact of race and racism on education. Everyone of conscience, regardless of political orientation, should rally in her defense, raising the banner of free speech and academic freedom. 

But there’s something much more dangerous and insidious going on here. Imagine the high school teacher in Iowa City watching this spectacle, or the young journalist starting out in Tulsa, or the community college instructor in Florida—that’s the larger and truer audience for the assault. “If they can make this mess for Nikole Hannah-Jones given her list of accolades and accomplishments,” they must be thinking. “What chance do I have?”

That’s the larger motive of the twenty-three Republican Senators, the  nineteen state Attorneys General, the noisy pundits and the panicky talking heads: shut everyone up.

We resist. We rise up.

“Israel has a right to defend itself!”The stuttering cliche—always deployed to cover aggression, asymmetrical violence, and ethnic cleansing—sounds more desperate and phony with each repetition.”Israel has a right to defend itself!”Yes, and the US marines had a right to defend themselves at Khe Sahn after invading Viet Nam. “Israel has a right to defend itself!”Yes, and the Nazi occupiers had a right to defend themselves in Rome on March 24, 1944, killing 335 unarmed civilians, after suffering a partisan attack on their barracks a day earlier.”Israel has a right to defend itself!”Yes, and the Virginia planter class had a right to defend itself against Nat Turner and his rising rebels.”Israel has a right to defend itself!””Israel has a right to defend itself!””Israel has a right to defend itself!”

Why I’m Still an Activist

By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, The Hollywood Reporter

22 May 21

The NBA Hall of Famer and Hollywood Reporter columnist looks back at his career on the heels of the NBA’s creation of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award, which will honor one player annually.

 have often said that I will truly have achieved my full legacy when I have helped or inspired people who never knew I was an athlete. That will mean that I was able to use my fame from sports to improve the lives of people who never heard of me, never saw me slamdunk. I will have defined myself as someone more than the guy with the skyhook. Of course, I didn’t first pick up a basketball with the thoughts of creating a legacy. I just wanted to prove myself by beating the next guy or team who stepped onto the court. My court.

In high school, I was able to achieve my young boy’s goal of “proving myself” by defeating all comers on the court and on the playground. I had the trophies and college scholarship offers to prove it. At UCLA, things changed. Under Coach John Wooden, I was able to perfect my basketball skills to become part of a championship team. But my definition of “proving myself” evolved into something different. Coach Wooden wanted us to be great athletes, sure, but he also wanted us to be good people. To him that meant having high moral character as well as a well-rounded education because he was as concerned about what we would do when we left his tutelage as he was about what we did on the court. Basketball was a means to an end, not the end itself. Like any other college course, it prepared you — through discipline, hard work, and introspection — for life beyond school.

For Coach Wooden, part of being great athletes was to focus less on winning and more on pushing ourselves to perform at the top of our capabilities. Instead of “proving myself” to others, I learned to prove myself to myself by constantly pushing the limits of what I thought I was able to do. Yes, I wanted to please the crowds, excite the fans, win pennants, but mostly I wanted to do better in the next game than I had done in the last. To discover where my limit was. Like an explorer forging a roiling river in search of its source.

Athletes are entertainers. Like writers, actors, dancers, and musicians we get paid to thrill the audience. But there is a shimmering threshold that some cross over that transforms them from entertainers to artists: when they are able to not merely delight the audience, but also stir something dormant deep within them. It is when the artist becomes a tuning fork that triggers a similar tonal frequency within another person inspiring them to also try harder to reach whatever potential is inside. When they think: If that person can do that — make an impossible shot, write an elegant phrase, sing a haunting tune — maybe I’m also capable of more.

I realized it was gratifying to be able to inspire others as an athlete, but I also realized that wasn’t enough. If I pushed myself to become the best basketball player I could be, I should also push myself to become the best person I could be. That epiphany came when I was a sophomore at UCLA and NFL legend Jim Brown asked me to join the Cleveland Summit, a group of Black athletes meeting to decide whether to denounce or defend Muhammad Ali’s refusal to register with Selective Service because he claimed he was a conscientious objector. I was only 20, the youngest member of the group, and nervous that maybe I hadn’t yet paid my dues enough to be part of this accomplished gathering.

We debated heatedly. Some were military veterans and questioned Ali’s sincerity. But after hours of questioning Ali, we were all convinced. Ali would be stripped of his heavyweight title, banned from boxing which would cost him millions, face years in prison, and become hated among millions of white people as a draft dodger. The government even offered him a deal that would allow him to keep everything and he wouldn’t have to fight in Vietnam. He refused. His commitment was unbendable and we admired at his self-sacrifice.

The next year I boycotted the 1968 Olympics, not wanting to represent a country that was actively suppressing Black people’s civil rights, while beating, imprisoning, and killing those who fought for them. Dr. King had just been killed and I wasn’t in a particularly patriotic mood. Avery Brundage was The Olympic Commissioner. He had stopped Jewish athletes from competing in the ’36 Olympics so as not to offend Hitler. That was the origin story of my life as an athlete-activist — when I realized I didn’t want my legacy to be just a bunch of sports statistics that fans would argue about over beer and nuts. Oh, I still wanted to achieve those stats by setting records, but I also wanted to change lives.

While still in the NBA I started writing books that celebrated Black people in history who had made a huge impact on our country, but whom I’d never heard about in school. The attempt to literally whitewash history as if Black people had never done anything but be slaves and riot perpetuated the belief in generation after generation of white and Black children that Black people were of no worth. Even after retiring from the NBA, I continued to write books, articles, and documentaries extolling the achievements of inventors, scientists, patriots, writers, artists, and other Black people in order to educate Americans on their true history, and to inspire Black children to see they had many more career options than they realized. The further that goal even more, I started the Skyhook Foundation to promote STEM education among inner-city kids in Los Angeles.

During my 50 years as an activist, I’ve always heard the same complaint from some whites: Just be patient. Things are getting better all the time. True, but it’s not real progress just because you’re getting beaten with a smaller stick. People who aren’t marginalized are giddy about the progress because it makes them feel better: look, things aren’t as bad as they were. They see the glass as half full. But Black people see it as half empty knowing that the first half was probably drunk by someone white before the glass was passed down to us. What we see in that half-empty murky glass is the Black man choked to death while going to the convenience store, the Black woman shot to death while in her apartment, the Black 13-year-old shot to death with his hands in the air. That water tastes bitter.

By the way, that glass of water is more than a metaphor. Several reports over the last few years have concluded that in America there is unequal access to safe drinking water based on race. So, even if it is half full, what’s it full of?

My answer to people who ask why I’m still an activist when I could just be resting on my laurels as an athlete is that the work is not done. We’re being murdered in the streets and in our homes. States across the country are trying to suppress our access to voting. How could I not be an activist for my community?

Athletes have a unique standing in society. Unlike some other instant social media or reality TV celebrities, athletes have earned their fame through years of dedication, discipline, physical injuries, and failures. They are role models for perseverance and fair play. To not extend this opportunity as a role model to help improve the world seems like a betrayal of the values of athletics. But there are different types of activism: some are public, some are private, some are national or even international in scope, others are more community based. Each athlete must find what they are comfortable with and pursue that. For some, the type of activism evolves, as it did with me. Which is why over the years my participation with diverse groups dedicated to equity increased. I started with civil rights for Blacks and expanded to include immigrants, different religions and ethnic origins, LGBTQ+, etc., embracing Dr. King’s belief, “No one is free until everyone is free.”

The past few years have seen more and more athletes speak out and that has prompted sports leagues to join them in seeking social justice. As a result, the NBA has created the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award to honor those NBA players who have made the pursuit of social justice a major priority. I can’t help but admire the NBA’s courage and long-term commitment to the cause of equity for all people. More than just joining the bandwagon they have chosen to be leaders. I am confident that this award will bring more satisfaction to the recipients than any records they break, any championships they win. Having my name associated with the award and with all the good that will be recognized because of it means my legacy has been fulfilled.

And I have finally proven myself to myself.

https://portside.org/2021-05-19/half-lenin-half-gandhi

Even as one branch of Asian American culture goes corporate & representational, another branch follows Edward Said’s insights and connects East/Southeast Asian “Orientals” to Arab “Orientals.” Hence, to be Asian American is also to decolonize & align with the Palestinian cause.Said himself, in ORIENTALISM’s conclusion, connects the Vietnam War to American Orientalism & dissects western media’s representations of Muslims in a way that shows a complete parallel to how the Vietnamese are represented. Gooks then, Muslims now, fulfilling the same function.Impossible to watch the IDF bombing and shelling Gaza and not think about American war strategies in Viet Nam, carried out in utter disregard of Vietnamese life and not caring to distinguish between combatants and civilians.And blaming the Vietnamese for the conditions that the Americans created, as Israel is blaming the Palestinians for making the IDF bomb and shell them, a ludicrous argument that a lot of western media is just repeating.In sum, one cannot be anti-racist without being anti-colonial and decolonizing. For Asian Americans not to see our common cause with other oppressed peoples means that we are not genuinely anti-racist. We’re just self-interested.

Rashid Khalidi (see EPISODE #23 of Under the Tree) clarifies the hundred year war against Palestine, and explains the Israeli terror unleashed against Palestinians:https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/13/what-were-seeing-now-is-just-latest-chapter-israels-dispossession-palestinians/

Episode # 32) “Eliminate All the Brutes!”

The Indian novelist Arundhati Roy says, “The trouble is that once you see it, you can’t un-see it.  And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing becomes as political an act as speaking out. Either way, you’re accountable.”  And implicated. Our guest today is Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, author of the classic An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, whose lifework has been an ongoing project to shake us awake, to rouse us from the deep, deep American sleep of denial, to invite us to face history in all its glory and horror.