Erykah Badu. In her "Window Seat" video, the neo-Queen stripped naked as she walked along the JFK assassination site in downtown Dallas. According to Badu, she was speaking out against "groupthink," or conforming. The singer further noted on Twitter, "the butt naked truth is powerful America!"
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA. When Golden Girls star, Bea Arthur, died a year ago on April 25, she left money to the animal rights organization in her will. To mark the one-year anniversary of her death, PETA published an ad that features the "Golden Girl" attacking the "Golden Arches," McDonald's, for their refusal to stop their chicken-slaughtering practices.
On Earth Day, April 22, on a full-page in the Chicago Tribune, the ad read, "McCruelty: It's enough to make Bea Arthur roll over in her grave." Arthur was a firm supporter of PETA and animal rights activist.
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. In a reality-show format, world-renowned chef and best-selling author, Jamie Oliver, attempts to keep Americans alive by improving our eating habits. By teaching America how to cook and prepare healthier foods, Jamie is on a mission to keep (especially) our youth from dying too soon of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and other diseases related to unhealthy eating habits.
Last week, I visited a park with a pond that was riddled with pollution. That's the picture that I have shown. Driving down the street, the expressways are bumper-to-bumper with only one person in each car, all going the same way. Animals are being cloned and treated cruelly, foods are being genetically modified and salt and sugar is abundant in everything because Americans are spoiled, greedy, overindulgent brats.
As I look around at all the unneccesary pollution, poison and savagery, I wonder, how can anyone with a clear conscious treat where they live like we do and not feel "funny" about it?
Seeing such blatant disrespect for Mother Earth gets under my skin like almost nothing else. Like the others, in my capacity as the Texas director of the African American Environmentalist Association, I'm taking on an environmental cause with a fierce vengence.
As a writer, it is my job, my duty and my responsibility to report news and information. I'm obligated to tell the facts and not make shit up. Therefore, in honor of Mother Earth's 40th year, I. will. take. my. pen, and. I. will. write.
I will tell the truth, no matter how harsh. I will reveal the truth no matter how insensitive it may sound. I will appeal to my colleagues and other writers to help me with my mission, and I will cause change. This is my cause. I am an advocate.
Finally, I loved and "got" Erykah's video; I applaud PETA and Bea in life and death and I strongly support Jamie. But for those of you that turned your nose up in disgust at Erykah, rolled negativity off your tongues at PETA or dismissed Jamie as rubbish, *eff u!*
I challenge you to discover something that you're the utmost passionate about; something so meaningful that it keeps you up at night thinking of ways to change it, challenge it, revise it or amend it, and tell me what extremes would you be willing to go, to resolve it.
Revolution. Start yours because I'm starting mine—Get Active. Go Green!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
America the Beautiful? Not So Much!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Make Earth Day Last All Year Long! Get Active. Go Green!
As part of our environmental responsibility, by recycling, reusing, reducing and educating, we are protecting and restoring the Earth’s resources. Do your part to help make Earth Day last all year long!
To enter my "Green Week" contest, meet me each week to donate as many used books and magazines that you can find around your home or office to recycle!
Attach your name, contact information and the week's Green Blog topic to your donation. The person that donates the most will win their choice of a FREE writing coaching session, FREE editing or a FREE writing project!
Meet me in Dallas each Wednesday at TBAAL (The Black Academy of Arts & Letters), located on the corner of Akard and Canton between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Or, meet me in McKinney each Thursday at the Starbucks on the corner of Custer and Eldorado between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. (Disclaimer: TBAAL and Starbucks are not affiliated with this contest.)
April 1st marks the beginning of Earth Month. Like last year, I'm reminding you that April is Earth Month, and April 22nd is Earth Day! I hope that you spent the entire year making small lifestyle changes that will make a huge, positive impact on Planet Earth.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. For the past 365 days, you've been taking action to save the Planet. To celebrate, make of list of exactly what you did to clean up the Earth.
Are you embarrassed by your lack of effort? Are you proud of the small, but significant effort you put forth? Did your small deeds turn to big deeds until eventually they became part of your lifestyle? Who else did you try to educate? Are you eager to do more?
Whatever you did, there are so many more ways to help save our planet. As a booster, I've made a list to get you started or keep you advocating:
Get Involved. Go Green!
www.earthday.org/arts
http://www.earthday.net/
http://www.earthdaytexoma.org/
Get Educated. Go Green!
http://www.earthday.wilderness.org/
http://www.earth911.com/
www.dallascityhall.com/sanitation/recycling.html
http://www.epa.gov/
Get Conscious. Go Green!
http://www.ecofashionworld.com/
http://www.latricedesigns.com/
www.vegweb.com/composting
www.thegreenparent.com/2008/04/21/green-food-for-green-pets/
www.carbonfootprint.com/minimisecfp.html
Get Well. Go Green!
www.localharvest.org/csa
http://www.goveg.com/
http://www.indigo-amber.com/
http://www.dinahdaniel.com/
Get Savvy. Go Green!
http://www.robinwilsonhome.com/
http://www.theneststore.com/
http://www.greenirene.com/
http://www.greenshopper.com/
http://www.bagsontherun.com/
These and many other such efforts will not only positively impact your daily lifestyle by saving you money, food, paper and other resources, they will protect our planet!
Get Active. Go Green!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
"TEXAS TOUGH: The Rise of America's Prison Empire"
By Robert Perkinson (Metropolitan Books - March 2010)
The United States of America, land of the free, imprisons a greater share of its people than any other country, about 1 out of every 100 adults. On any given day, some 2.4 million people are incarcerated, more than the populations of Boston, D.C., and San Francisco combined. But despite the magnitude of imprisonment, the story of how one state came to dominate criminal-justice practices nationwide has never been told.
Covering 150 years of American history, Robert Perkinson’s "TEXAS TOUGH: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire" (Metropolitan Books; on sale: March 16, 2010) is a sweeping account of race, politics, and imprisonment from slavery to the present, with an emphasis on the country’s most locked-down, politically influential state: Texas. With its expansive territory that stretches from South to West, its racially mixed demographics, and its uniquely turbulent history, Texas has played the vanguard role in America’s punitive revolution: from assembly-line executions to isolation supermaxes, from prison privatization to sentencing juveniles as adults. While previous histories have emphasized the North’s rehabilitative approach to criminal justice, this is but a fraction of the story. It is the retributive and profit-driven regime of the South that has ultimately triumphed, and a plantation-based penal system once dismissed as barbaric has become the template for the nation.
Most provocatively, Perkinson argues in TEXAS TOUGH that just as convict leasing and segregation emerged in response to Reconstruction, so today’s mass incarceration, with its vast racial disparities, must be seen as a backlash against civil rights. A Southern style of punitive justice has become increasingly dominant as the nation’s politics have swung to the right. Based on a decade of archival and legal research—plus hundreds of interviews with prisoners, guards, activists, judges, and politicians—TEXAS TOUGH illuminates for the first time the origins of America’s prison juggernaut. At stake is not just the fate of those living behind bars but the vitality of the country’s democratic ideals.Robert Perkins
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Robert Perkinson, left, is a professor of American Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His writing has appeared in The Nation, The Progressive, and Boston Review, among others. Texas Tough is his first book. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii. TEXAS TOUGH: The Rise of America’s Prison Empireby Robert Perkinson ISBN-10: 0-8050-8069-8. ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8069-8$35.00, March 16, 2010Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and CompanyTexas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire
Robert Perkinson, Author and Professor of American History at University of Hawaii
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Tea Party Movement & The Environmental Movement
The first Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tennessee was broadcast on C-SPAN and the attendees looked to be all White. They even bemoaned the lack of minority participation and cited Blacks hither and yon who are participants. It reminded us of the Environmental Movement. Highly racially segregated yet pointing out 'hither and yon' participation. The Environmental Movement is privately proud of its exclusive make up. It makes us wonder if the Tea Party Movement is secretly proud of its elitist status too. Oh they do the 'corn pone' but we know all about that kind of corn bread. Sarah Palin was their keynote speaker at the end of the conference.
Interesting that the Environmental Movement has racial segregation in common with the Tea Party Movement. Yet they both give empty lip service to 'wanting' minority participation. Welcome to far left and far right racial hypocrisy. Do you have to drink the Kool-Aid to participate? Of course you do. We are wary of both of these movements because they have zero interest in Black communities. In fact, they do not even want to acknowledge the existence of these neighborhoods. Except in some sort of abstract way, as in they don't go there but surely some sort of 'program' can address the needs of 'those people.' We prefer President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush to these exclusive movements. At least those presidents let us in the door in high-level positions. And acknowledge our existence. Even the GOP recruited Micheal Steele. So don't go thinking you are 'all that' Tea Party Movement. Neither you nor your step sister the Environmental Movement are 'all that' to us.
The Mickey Leland Environmental Internship Program
The Mickey Leland Environmental Internship Program provides summer internship opportunities for minorities, women, and economically disadvantaged students pursuing environmental, engineering, science-related, and public administration careers at colleges and universities across the United States. The program was established in 1992 by the Texas Water Commission (a predecessor agency to the TCEQ) in partnership with the Texas Water Development Board, the Texas General Land Office, the Texas Chemical Council, the Texas Council of the American Electronics Association and numerous private corporation.The purpose of the program is to expose undergraduate and graduate students to environmental issues and provide them with opportunities to gain professional experience.
The program honors the late U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland's effective efforts to promote a clean and healthy environment. Congressman Leland was killed in a plane crash on August 7, 1989, en route to Ethiopia on a mission as Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Hunger. Leland's environmental commitment is well documented. He was most noted for his contributions as a member of the Subcommittee on Health and Environment. He emphasized and demonstrated the importance of heightened awareness and involvement of minority participation in the protection of public health and environmental issues and consistently addressed public health issues related to the minority community.
Students interested in participating in the Mickey Leland program must have completed at least 60 undergraduate semester hours at the end of the most immediate past Fall semester or be a current graduate student enrollee. Candidates must be enrolled full time during the current Spring semester and have a minimum academic grade point average of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale at the time of application.
The official deadline for submitting the application and supporting documents will be April 1, 2010. Interested intern candidates should submit an application form.
AAEA President McDonald, pictured above with Mickey Leland in 1982, organized the first Congressional Black Caucus Energy Braintrust in cooperation with the congressman's office. (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality)
Monday, November 23, 2009
New Book on Environmental Justice By Dorceta Taylor
A new book from a University of Michigan professor explores how the centuries-old connections between racism and the environment in American cities.
"The Environment and the People in American Cities, 1600s-1900s: Disorder, Inequality, and Social Change" was written by Dorceta Taylor, left, a professor at the School of Natural Resources and Environment and director of an institute studying the issue of environmental justice its modern context. Duke University Press plans to release the book this month.
"The Environment and the People in American Cities" provides a sweeping and detailed examination of the evolution of American cities from Colonial New York and Boston to recent urban planning and labor reform efforts, outlining the rise of problems like overcrowding, pollution, poverty and epidemics and connecting them to systemic environmental racism and other forms of environmental inequities.
In its coverage of race, class and gender inequalities, the book includes a dimension missing from other academic books on environmental history. Professor Taylor adds to current research on the subject by exploring the emergence of elite reformers, the framing of environmental problems and the responses to perceived breakdowns in social order. By focusing specifically on cities, she offers important clues to understanding the evolution of American environmental activism.
Beyond the contribution to historical literature on the subject, Professor Taylor connects her findings to current issues in environmental policy. The book grew out of an undergraduate class on environmental politics Professor Taylor taught more than a decade ago. After finding no books or articles examining race, class or gender and the environment in a historical context, she decided to write her own. The project eventually grew into two books.
While all-male expeditions and solitary males who retreat to the woods for months or years at a time are idealized in many environmental history accounts, the urban activists receive no such acclaim or glory," she said, noting that female, working class and ethnic minorities were active in environmental activism and affairs. "In the city, the classes, races and genders interacted with each other to create a kind of environmentalism that was very fluid and dynamic.
Throughout her analysis, she connects social and environmental conflicts of the past to those of the present. She describes the displacement of people of color for the production of natural open space for the white and wealthy; the close proximity between garbage and communities of color in early America; the "cozy" relationship between middle-class environmentalists and the business community; and resistance to environmental inequalities from residents of marginal communities.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Get Active. Go Green! The Benefits of Virtual Meetings
If you operate a small or home-based business and find yourself driving all over the city for meetings or workshops, you should consider attending virtually. While the idea is still new for some, for others, meeting online, over the phone, via Web cam, or chat room is more than just convenient, it's a new way of life! Not only are virtual meetings cost-effective, more importantly, they reduce your carbon footprint and you help save the planet!