Kenyan Diaspora and a New Politics of Culture/Identity

I found this 3-part article on African Path to be a good read, especially because while looking at matters of the global Kenyan diaspora, it asks more interesting questions about national identity and the role of nationalism in the shaping of a new cultural/political identity back home. Check it out.

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The Bay.

Planning out a trip to the Bay Area for the first time in my life. At first, I didn't really think I'd have a lot to see - I know some folks out there, but not that many. Then I started to think about how so many strands in my life seem to come together on those winding streets, and I can't wait for when I can visit and explore some of it.

For example... my favorite genre of metal - thrash - has many of its standard-holders coming from out of the bay.

Asian America, the movement and the arts scene, were born on the streets of San Francisco. It's hard not to think of Wittman Ah-Sing or his inspiration, Frank Chin or the Kearny Street Workshop when you think "Asian American art," actually. Or the I-Hotel. Or the Ghadar party, for that matter.

The Summer of Love, and so much of the music and hope of that heady time all trace back to San Francisco. When we wish that we lived in the 60s, which so many of the idealistic set do (I guess, thinking that race wouldn't be an issue there, which is of course, stupid), I don't think we're thinking of Chicago, or Boston, or even New York. It's all about the Bay.

I think of the beat generation, of cafes with people reading, writing, thinking. I feel like SF is the logical sibling of NYC, and that the distaste that NY'ers have for LA is probably pretty analogous to what Bay Area folks feel for LA. Though looking at it from a distance, SF seems like it may be a bit more pure than NY, if only because NY has its superstars and Fifth Avenue to match the Sunset Strip and LA's artifice, but I don't know whether that's the case in SF.

My friends have told me that the boho experience that I remember so fondly from mid-90s East Village (still after the real wave in the 70s and 80s), would comport nicely with SF. That there is a good possibility that I wouldn't want to come back, though learning another city that has so much history seems daunting, and at my age, a little unwieldy.

I've heard from others that folks don't let too much phase them, and while I get annoyed sometimes at everyone being on edge in NYC, there's something about the edginess that keeps me awake and vibrant, and I don't know if the activism in the Bay Area is as grounded in hyper-reality. Still, it may be easier to sustain the work if you're not fighting against the neighbors, the weather, and the system as much as you seem to be in NYC.

So with all the art, and community, and history out in the area - with the ability to check out Kearny Street, and Alcatraz, and Angel Island, and a Chinatown that I can finally give some respect to, I'm definitely excited about a prospective trip. Let's see if it all pans out.

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Afro-Punk & Metal: A Headbanger's Journey

I've been promising, among other things, a quick take on the really interesting documentary Afro-Punk that I picked up through NetFlix. I've not gotten around to it until now, and in the interim, I checked out Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, which definitely merits some airtime as well.

There are two very different docs, but both take on genres and subcultures that are altogether unknown to the mainstream. Afro-Punk isn't trying to be a retrospective history of punk - it's really looking at the intersection of race and the genre, primarily through a bunch of interviews with a bunch of young and long-time fans, as well as a few punk veterans. For someone like me, who is so new to the genre, and not a convert to punk, though punk elements in the metal that I love definitely appeal to me (early Maiden/NWOBHM, etc), it was an eye-opener.

Also, because the film kept race front-and-center, I found the questions, approach, and gems that they uncovered incredibly interesting. The filmmaker had a light tough, enough so that you didn't feel like he was trying to make some profound statement from the film. It asked a few questions, found a bunch of interesting people, and just gave us a brief introduction to their place in a genre of music that's so often associated with unhappy white kids that you forget that some of the real trailblazers, like Bad Brains, like members of a bunch of groups, were actually black.

My favorite part was when he had a bunch of the interviewees, in rapid succession, saying that they were the only black kid at punk shows growing up. It's just awesome to hear like 10-15 people say the same thing. And you think "I wish I could have them all meet each other!" There's also something refreshing about the do-it-yourself aspect of punk - I was pretty inspired to see/hear folks talk about it - the race didn't really matter - it was the attitude. And finally, one sister was really deep because of the way that she identified the music, and the culture of punk - from the haircuts to the tattoos and piercings, with specific traditions in Africa. It was quite powerful to hear her talk about it, and talk about how much she was mocked or told that she was "acting white" by folks in her neighborhood, when she flipped it and said "actually, I'm getting closer to a culture that we lost."

It's pretty powerful, and I appreciated her take on it. Regardless, the film moved smoothly, there was enough cool stuff that was known and stuff that was unknown (at least to me, a neophyte to the culture), and I have to say, some of it was damn funny. Not to ruin the film, but there's a moment when the guys from TV on the Radio are asked to name all the groups that had black members, and they went through a list, and eventually said "The Clash... because they *had* to be black" and quickly followed it up with, "the whole scene is full of them!" I guess you have to see it.

So with that rave review of Afro-Punk, which was very satisfying as a film, I have to move on the Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, which suddenly found itself high on my Netflix list and in my DVD player quickly thereafter. What can I say? This is my genre, my first love in music, and the first true community that I felt like I was a part of while growing up. The filmmaker is an anthropologist who was a metal-head while growing up in Canada, and he has an easy, welcoming style of narrative that draws you in.

The film starts with shots from Heavy Metal Parking Lot, a short film taken during a Judas Priest show in the heyday of crazy metal fans (sometime in 1984, I think) and just showed a bunch of kids waiting for the show to start. I rented that DVD, was not really impressed by the film itself and less impressed by the dozen or so extras, most of which were quite a bit longer than the actual film (though I have to say, the filming of the demolition of the arena where the show had taken place, as well as the metal fan who went through a quite detailed LP-by-LP review of each of the Judas Priest albums as he showed off his collection were precious).

Anyway, so the filmmaker, Sam Dunn, a fan of the music, went on an exploration of metal culture and history in his film, and I thought that it was well done. He looked at the roots of the music, without talking about it for too long, interviewed people like Alice Cooper, Ronnie Dio (who kept making fun of Gene Simmons), Tommy Iommi, Dee Snider and a number of other respected folks from the beginning of the movement. He also did a one-on-one with Bruce Dickinson, in the Hammerstein Ballroom, which was pretty incredible, and a mind-blowingly funny interview with one of the most controversial black metal bands in the genre.

All that said, because I know the music fairly well, I wanted more. I thought that his exploration of controversy, from the Norwegian church-burning black metalists (and the way that Alice Cooper laughed at them) to the PMRC and Dee Snider discussion, were great. He even dealt with gender (and gender bending) in the genre. But he didn't open the question of race - which may seem like a non-issue because it seems like such an overwhelmingly white male genre and culture.

But it's not, the crowds around the world that turn out for metal shows is incredible (look at Brazil, Japan, and other places where metal shows can sell more than 75,000 seats easily), and even within metal, there are a good number of thrashers and others who are not white. Tom Araya of Slayer is Peruvian. Testament's Chuck Billy and Eric Petersen (at least) are American Indians. There are plenty of others. And the lyrics - from Anthrax's numerous songs to many others - also look at intolerance and hatred in interesting ways. [note, when posting this, I went to the website for this film, and realize now that Dunn is en route to making a follow-up that looks at the world metal phenomenon called: Global Metal. I'm impressed by this dude!]

I would say that the fan base in the United States is similar to punk - there aren't a lot of us, but probably more than you'd find at a typical country show. I haven't seen the extras from Metal but I'm not sure if there's anything there that looks at race either, and I think it remains an interesting angle for an aspiring filmmaker: "Gold, Bronze, Brown, and Red: The Many Colors of Metal"

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Explosions in the Sky.

Texan indie-rock band Explosions in the Sky has quickly exhausted my free listens on Napster. I heard of them in a (gasp) Rolling Stone article, and was intrigued because instrumental guitar rock that I listen to is generally pretty abrasive or acrobatic stuff by solo artists with studio musicians. This is a band. And let me tell you - they are worthy.

Take Sigur Ros without the nutty vocals, but keeping the cresendos and dropping some of the orchestral embellishments, and you've got a decent idea of what these guys sound like. It's just good music - plenty of clean tones mixed in with more lively full band arrangements. It's a soundtrack to our lives, in many ways. Actually, for probably the first time that I can recall, I'm interested in seeing a movie because of who did the soundtrack (EitS did the soundtrack for Friday Night Lights).

I just missed them in the area, but I'm hoping to at least check out a few of their disks. I don't know what the live show would be like (shoegazing hipsters? Who knows). If you're looking for disks that can play that wonderful role of either being something that you put on in the background or something to which you are actively listening, Explosions in the Sky seems like a good fit.

Oh, and get this, one of the members, who's often the interview giver for the band, is brown. But the band is just the band. It's sort of like Soundgarden with Kim Thayil (though I guess they had a line in Spoonman about "all my friends are Indian/all my friends are brown and red" so he's not fully stealth.

Anyway, check them out.

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So. Tired.

But will return in time (soon) to write about the world and all its infinite spinning. Some thoughts that are churning at this point...

I'm learning more about Transgendered identities and issues... just the tip of the iceberg, but it's got me thinking about gender privilege that moves away from a simple analysis of patriarchy. It's just tough for folks whose very identity is controlled by the state and state imposition, in a way that race, ethnicity, and even sexuality are not really touched.

I mean, you may not be able to get the equal treatment as others based on these characteristics, but the very essence of who and how you identify yourself is not being called into question or being defined for you (check that, sometimes that's not true, but generalities in this stream of consciousness, okay?). I can't imagine that feeling, or the feeling that you have no privacy at all every time there's some kind of alarm that goes off in the ID-checker's mind because the gender on your ID doesn't match what they think it should be, or how you want for it to be listed. I just feel like trying to find who and what you want to be should be your own journey, not one that the state gets in the middle of... but does that make me more of a libertarian? Or just someone who thinks that in some issues, self-determination is completely thwarted by block-headed state action.

Of course there's so much more, but so little time for me to write...

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Genius Kid: Unhappiness in Slavery.

This 4-year kid's dad has posted videos of him reciting all kinds of fun facts (like the 50 capitals of U.S. States). While I definitely prefer Animaniacs, this kid is really cute. But, I don't think I dig the trained puppy routine that parents seem to take with their kids. If you check out this video, I think he just wants to play games, not be the showcase spectacle that he's being pushed into.

But if you check out Spellbound and watch the way some of the desi parents turn life into a competition, you start seeing the math and spelling competitions as the bane of these kids' existance. How maladjusted does your kid have to turn out for you to realize that you're doing him wrong? I don't know. I don't think your kids should be your show pet. If you like competition, grow roses or something. But let the kid be a kid.

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Desi Attitude: Hardly.

A friend turned me onto DJ Desi's myspace site, from which I saw a link for Desi Attitude that I assumed was a rip of Rocawear or something. So I played along and clicked.

Ends up that DA is a non-profit that the DJ is involved in (i.e. founded?). Aside from a splash page that seems to have taken it's cue from myspace, at least in the number of photos it has on it, there was much to wonder about with this group.

Apparently, it's dedicated to the "hi-5s" - a list of five program areas that really kind of cover the whole spectrum:

Children
Poverty
Women
Literacy
Music & Arts

I don't know - it's a nice idea, and you can tell that he's sincere, I guess, but I'm skeptical about this whole thing - sorta the dude who takes himself a bit too seriously, and really, looks like he's all about the parties, but this "project" is his way to sell the other products.

Maybe that's a little cynical of me, but let me tell you, when you go to the desi attitude myspace, the wallpaper has "spread the desi virus" as the clever slogan. Wha?! Okay dude - I don't know what you're smoking, DJ "They-See", but that's not flying for me.

But the classic quote from your website is:

Money is not the only thing a homeless person is looking for. Sometimes they just want someone to ask, "How are you?"; sometimes they just need a hand to stand up, someone to listen to their story, someone to tell them a story, a laugh, an element of inspiration, just something to make them feel human. That's the attitude we want to bring to giving. And when you touch a human on that level, they get a lot more.

- DJ Desi

Uh. Okay dude. Thanks for the lesson. I thought the second sentence would be "they want a home." But I guess the point is compassion, right? You take yourself pretty seriously for someone who's supposed to be throwing a bunch of parties. Regardless, while going through the site, and the model-like team that you've put together, I keep trying to find the punchline.

But then I realize - I mean, your name is "DJ Desi." You don't have a single ironic bone in your body. For real. What about "DJ Day-Z." Not DJ They-C? How about DJ Daisy? Don't want to hate, brother, but I'm not a big fan of the shirts, the logos, the whole get-up. Come on brother. Is this for real?

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Mos Def.

I know that a lot of white kids got into Mos Def when his first solo album, Black on Both Sides, dropped. But I have to say, I think he's pretty awesome. He's walking this interesting line between mainstream sound, because his stuff isn't unaccessible, and the progressive avant guarde in hip-hop (at least by my estimation) because he's not walking the typical path, is using celebrity, Hollywood, Broadway, and the rest of it to raise consciousness, he's not a hack in any of the things in which he's engaged, and he's not afraid to make some statements. For example, he put out a track soon after the tragedy in New Orleans that slammed the Administration, and he had the conviction to sing the song outside of the (AWARDS NAME) and get arrested doing it.

So I have to give Mos Def some props. On MD's acting. I think he's a great actor, actually, from the soft role in Brown Sugar, to his cameo in Lackawanna Blues (awesome movie that you should check out if you can), to his star turn on 16 Blocks, and I just saw him play a cop with enough nuance in The Woodsman to make you both hate and like him at the same time. Mos Def has acting chops. I haven't seen him as Ford Prefect in Hitchhiker's Guide, but I think my father-in-law even liked his acting in a medical history movie called Something the Lord Made.

I haven't heard his latest album, but I'm finally listening to The New Danger on Napster, and I don't know why I didn't pick this up when it dropped years ago. It's basically an album's worth of proof, taken from his song Rock N Roll on the first album, which said flat out that rock music is black music, and reclaimed some of it from the folks who got famous with the rhythms. Danger is brimming with different aspects of rock, blues, soul with Mos Def switching over to the styles in songs composed with enough conviction to keep you on board. It's not the most cohesive album, by any means, but Black Jack Johnson, which is in itself comprised of members of some of the top black rock/funk/pubk acts (including Living Color, Bad Brains, and Parliament/Funkadelic) can cook.

I have to end here - but I'll pick this up on a post I've been promising about Afro Punk, which definitely gave me more to think about in the race/ethnicity prong of subculture/counterculture analysis. Don't know if I'll be that deep about it, but whatever. It's relevant to Mos Def's ever-expansive performance of what is "black music." Hat tip to Mos. I'm feeling you, man.

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Maiden India, Mashups, etc.

Okay - so as serendipity would have it, I have some great tidbits that seem to fit so perfectly into the little world I've created for myself in this blog (including my occasional reflections on South Asian diaspora, metal, critical and cultural theory, and whatever else) that you'd think I made this shit up.

First, I got an email from the Maiden camp about some new merch on their site. I thought "well, I can't get this in the U.S., but I might as well check it out." I didn't realize that Maiden's playing Bangalore next week. Wha?! Yeah. As in, India. And they even made a new shirt design up for it. Eddie blasting a cricket ball. How bloody perfect is that. But for 40 USD shipped, it's a shirt I can only admire on the internet. I cannot wait to hear about how many people went to a Maiden concert in India. There's a following? There are other brown Maiden heads (aside from the obvious freaks like Dave Baksh from Sum 41) out there? Who knew!

And on that tip - in recognition of this wonderful show (wonder if it's their first in India - anyone know?), Wax Audio, who has created some really interesting and cool mashups (read and hear the best of them here) created this mock-up called "Maiden Goes to Bollywood", with a funky, funny mashup to commemorate the concert.

Check it out. It's like all my worlds colliding (I'm not a Bollywood fan, but heck, even I like to get down once in a while). Avoid the Maiden/Public Enemy mash at all costs.

Finally, there's a discussion of "hipster metal" over at Invisible Oranges that I found fascinating. I wouldn't have thought enough to split out two branches to the kinds of metal (Dionysian and polished). I tend to follow the traditional view that most American thrash came out of a quest for a more aggressive NWOBHM sound, while Slayer's take on Venom led to the breadth of more extreme metal that's since followed. Regardless of its roots, IO's contention that hipsters are interested in the more extreme metal because of the discussions that can ensue. Interesting - read his words instead of my attempt to summarize here.

But I like his thoughts on Maiden - they are clearly not the most profound of the groups (though their use of historical figures and moments as fodder for songs is fun for the nerd-thrashers out there), but a Maiden fan is a Maiden fan. Sorta simple.

I'm going to have to come back to this soon with an eye towards the racial dynamics of metal audiences (fans and artists, really), in light of my recent viewing of "Afro Punk", a documentary with a pretty deep take on people who identify as black, and as punk/hardcore fans. I really liked it, but more to come. Meanwhile, check out those mashups!

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Night classes in law school are a mixed bag. I think that the evening students at my law school are more conservative. I also think that while they have some interesting perspectives compared to the young uns in my school, I feel like they have little perspective about why being a gunner in a night class seminar seems a little silly.

I do think that evening students are more diverse than the day students at my school, and I'd assume the same in many of the other schools that are falling over one another in the race to graduate students with the highest total debt load. But evening students often get the short end of the stick. Even though I'm older than a lot of my classmates, I still feel like I'm part of a community, and though I probably spend more time thinking about building a student community that I want to be a part of than I should, it's one of those things that you only get to experience as a student, and something that I really enjoyed while an undergrad.

But to go through the school process without the fun element, well, that would embitter me to just want to become a soulless facilitator of injustice too. But how do you make that evening experience enjoyable? I can't imagine going through school without getting to know your classmates and engage questions of justice and the philosophical boundaries of ethical community-based legal practice over bad food and long nights. Well, that was my first year, I guess. Not involved, not excited, and not engaged at all.

So I'm not knocking the evening students, but maybe just questioning the whole legal pedagogical industry. Is it really getting people excited about this profession? Is it truly making itself accessible to people who are outside of the traditional "I want to go to law school" cult? Not feeling it.

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MP3 Blogs: Get Peel!

I am a late comer to the whole MP3 Blog thing - basic concept is simple, though I don't understand how they get around copyright laws (i'm guessing that they don't): people who are really into music post up entries on music - reviews, reminiscences, whatever, and alongside the cover art, some random picture, and the occasional YouTube link for the obscure video, they actually post up MP3s.

Well, that's cool. So I'd started checking out a few blogs, and even through I use the syndication feature in Safari (Mac-only browser) that tells me when there are new posts, it was still a real pain to go to the site, download the song, figure out whether I want to keep it without having it get imported into iTunes, and then deal with the duplicate (because iTunes copies imported MP3s to file them away when you let it do the organizing for you).

Well, no longer. All music lovers + mac users, listen up! There's a tiny program that some beautiful people created called Peel that's awesome. It's basically an MP3 blog aggregator with a clean interface that goes online for you, checks out the blogs that you have identified as worthy, tells you if there are new tracks up, and gives you awesome control.

There are two tabs in the iTunes-like main window. One is Playlist - basically links all the tracks that have been on that blog in the last x days. It does not download the songs unless you set it that way. So you can just stream the music to hear it, and flip around to see what you like. Find something you dig? Just hit "download" and Peel brings it from the site. With back-end iTunes integration, if you just set up a couple of things (like having the files download into your iTunes music folder where all the artist folders are when iTunes is organizing your music), and you have iTunes organize imported music, the track will go into your library, get filed away nicely, and show up on a new Peel playlist.

The other tab is called "Web" and lets you read the text entry on the blog! It's like a mini browser in your music listening software - and sans the ability to hit links, will give you the context for the tunes you've been able to get your grubby hands on. I'm so hooked. It's the best of all worlds, cuts down my already ballooning site surfing, and gives me access to niche sites (I have 2 excellent metal sites for now, and deep soul cuts at Soul-Sides) as well as pretty eclectic stuff (looking for jazz now). The UI is clean, and updated regularly.

So Get Peel while it's still free! And if you're a peecee user, well, maybe you can find something similar with iTunes integration. I guess.

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Rage: What's in a Name?

I've been thinking a lot about anger lately, and considering how sometimes, people equate the vocalization of dissent, unease, or disagreement as an instant escalation. (If anyone out there remembers I Was Born With 2 Tongues - they played this out on a track with voices asking "why are you so angry?" over and over).

Anyway, this has come up for me because I've been thinking about my adopted name on this site - just sort of fell into it, and it seemed cool at the time, but when we can be deliberate about these things, we should.

But do I really want to reinforce the habit of many people to immediately peg someone who thinks critically and opens his/her mouth as angry? Think about the way that a righteous black woman in a graduate level class has to say to herself "I don't want to be thought of as that militant/angry black woman," and ends up censoring herself to avoid getting pigeon-holed, and eventually ignored. But if she silences herself, no one can hear her - even if they're listening.

So do we take on these personas ourselves sometimes? For me, is it a performance to seem more menacing than the traditional image of a blogger? I mean, hell, I am angry about some stuff, but I also recognize that anger doesn't always equal constructive energy. And I'm an optimist most of the time, especially after I've eaten. So what gives?

There's something larger afoot about the danger of groupthinking less of the folks who think differently, of course, but maybe we can draw this out a little larger...

For example, why do we all use so much military jargon and turns of phrase, even as dedicated peace activists, and advocates of non-violence. I've "rallied the troops," "assessed my targets," fought "battles" and "dropped bombs" in settings that had nothing to do with aggression, violence or anything of the sort. But how does using that terminology help us in the work that we're doing, and how does it send mixed messages?

A friend of mine made a statement saying that she was "bitching" about something in the company of about 10-15 folks, some of whom are ardent feminists. My friend is progressive, and has a commitment to human rights issues, but she never really thought about how using the "shorthand" of that word to describe a particular activity was a covert oppressive act itself.

I can talk about language all day - yesterday, the city of New York decided to ban the use of the n-word. I don't think that the ban holds the weight of statutory law, but it's still a powerful message (I guess in light of the ban on smoking, trans fats, and blocking the box, folks might say this is the last straw, taking away their right to say what they want to say but I would probably want to beat the shit out of those people, so it doesn't really matter to me).

Which brings me back to where I began - anger... animosity...rage. Even if we really have this inside us that makes us escalate within, should we really advertise it with the personas we take on? More in the last year or so, I've felt things boil up quickly, especially while on the road. While I don't think I was ever passive, I definitely didn't care as much about little things before - is the excuse stress? Or is it some kind of slipping backwards into a less advanced consciousness? Or is repression of anger what is really unnatural, and what we should address?

Maybe we all need to vent, and yoga and meditation isn't the quick release that let's us get there?

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Rosie O'Donnell Update.

UPDATE: 2.23.07
Rosie actually apologized, through her blog, because of Beau Sia's outstanding video, which I posted here. Don't underestimate the power of positive cultural production to move minds and hearts, no matter how hard it can seem. I think this is another reason why the demise of the Asian American focused MTV stations is a real shame - the production quality on Beau's video was quite good, the distribution was awesome, and he was able to use the medium to make the points very well. I just wish that the stations were maintained for the long-term. Anyway - thought it's nice to actually take note of rosie's turnaround.

Original Post: 12/15/06

See Rosie's "apology" here.

Your ignorance knows no bounds. And your cop out apology was less sincere than Michael Richards' ridiculous "I don't know what came over me."

And for your information "ching chong ching chong" is not making fun of an accent - it's making fun of a language and a people. Throwing in your little Irish comment as an analogy doesn't work either because:

1) I'm assuming, and maybe I'm wrong, but you have some Irish ancestry. Does that mean only people from within the group can say certain things? I don't want to get into it, but is it really that hard to understand? Also...

2) Asian people don't make fun of themselves by saying "ching chong ching chong." You would have gotten laughs (because comedians apparently are "always getting in trouble") if you mixed your "L's" and "R's." It's still offensive, but at least it fits into your broad and vanilla kind of offense, and just boring caricature. When you take it to a different level, you're an idiot, and you're bringing up a lot of shit for a lot of people.

Oh yeah, and the audience shouldn't be your gauge, nor should the two Asian women you point to in the audience. That's just stupid and lame. It's like pointing at the Log Cabin Republicans and saying "see? queer people hate the movement for equal rights." If you're really going to test the water, talk to the kids who were taunted endlessly, felt like outsiders at home and at school, and ended up being quiet and not getting the class participation or other little things that count in school because they were ashamed and embarassed when other kids mocked them.

You should have the grace to understand that you offended people. You care so much for some causes, but don't seem to have the empathy in you to understand that this isn't the fringe talking - and while sure, people can be too sensitive, you're just the schoolyard bully saying "if I think it's funny, it's funny, and you should lighten up." Your experience, and knowledge, is not the universal experience. Can't you understand that?

*sigh*

I just can't understand why someone so damn rich and already comfortable has to get a cheap shot in to get a quick laugh. Why don't you read a book, like The Coming Man, an amazing inquiry into the way that images and words, like some of what you did, led to the scapegoating, exclusion, and violence against Chinese Americans in the 1800s and beyond. Why don't you speak with a scholar who has studied these issues? Or even the school kids who still live with this stuff?

Do you think that Lisa Ling would have been patting you on the back for your great impression of her people? Well, actually, I don't really know that answer to that, but hey, if even Michelle Malkin, my favorite hyper conservative, is getting in on the racist angle, you know it's got to be pretty bad.

Give it a rest, Rosie. You've lost any and all respect I had for you. Your professed ideals regarding equality and civil rights mean nothing if you're just going to relegate someone else to other status.

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Oscar Report.

12:15 AM, Monday morning. Academy Awards finally over. A bit of a bore, with some significant upsets along the way.

Al Gore stayed on message tonight. Which means there was no announcement, though they definitely teased us with the possibility.

Rats.

So I guess I can't start off this week with an "I told you so!" gloat.

I'll find something else.

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Be Careful What You Fall For: The Battle for Public Interest

Hyper-Conservatives have gotten really good at co opting good names for things, in the hope that they can reel in the uninitiated, making them think that they are in a supportive, positive space, before they slam the door and pull out the hoods. Okay, so Ku Klux Klan sounds spooky without even thinking about what they actually did. But these guys are definitely getting smarter.

Take for example, the Institute for Justice. I stumbled upon this when doing some research about eminent domain. An organization called the Castle Coalition was featuring a new piece about the impact of eminent domain on African Americans. I said right on, let me read this. Then I thought, hell, this is interesting as a group that publishes so much on this topic, so I dug further and found that it was a program of the Institute for Justice.

So then I started reading, and realized that IJ supports school choice. Well, that sounds good. But "school choice" is the code for school vouchers. And someone not doing education work, such as myself, could have easily fallen right into that trap. Then you realize that despite the glossy look that speaks of civil liberties and constitutional rights, the place is anti-government regulation to the point of saying clearly that it is against the "welfare-state." But the clincher was when I read this:

IJ sues the government when it stands in the way of people trying to earn an honest living, when it takes away individuals' property, when bureaucrats (not parents) control the education of children, when government stifles speech, and when public institutions classify individuals based on race.

Woah. Great. So in the midst of talking so much about equal protection, these guys are anti-affirmative action, and who knows what else. And avid supporters of First Amendment rights can also take the shade of hate-speech protectors, campaign finance reform opponents, and who knows what else. I definitely almost fell for it. Who knows if their legal interns understand that they are on a different side of "individual rights" than some of the more traditional civil rights/liberties groups. But I could also see very interesting/uneasy alliances between these guys and others, depending on the issue.

But this is definitely a weird trend - the Freedom-Based Public Interest Legal Movement (FBPILM). Basically, right-wing groups have been taking on the guise of public interest with a very different agenda than the standard legal aid/civil rights perspective. I don't know how I feel about this - part of me, from my obvious political leanings, thinks that this is crazy. But part of me feels like we have to delve more deeply into what is actually in the public's interest. I mean, if folks really believe that small government (i.e. decreasing or eliminating the so-called welfare state) is in everyone's best interest, then I guess this is the means by which they are pursuing that goal.

But ultimately, I guess the question is whether the different camps view "public" as meaning individuals, or our shared community as a whole. If there are principles that we believe in that extend somewhere beyond individual rights, or if we can accept that sometimes to ensure that everyone has some basic level of rights we all have to give something up, well, then maybe we can talk. But if it's all about the individual in front of them, and not the invisible many who are on the other side of the equation - if we view it as a zero-sum game with no hope of expanding the pie for everyone, well, then their perspective protects the rights not to lose to someone else (like a militia in Montana, I guess).

Anyway, for more on the FBPILM, check out Timothy Foden's interesting article, The Battle for Public Interest Law: Exploring the Orwellian Nature of the Freedom-Based Public Interest Law Movement, 4 Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal 210 (2004-05). Or you can visit the Institute for Justice, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ - clever, huh?), or one of the many other groups out there.

It's a scary field, once you start clicking around. It's not always easy to sort out which groups are aligned with your interests, and which are opposed. So beware before you click, or worse, write a check.

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Why I Hate Press Release Reactions.

Cross-posted at Racialicious.

There is a storm brewing in Asian America this weekend over an idiotic posting by columnist Kenneth Eng at AsianWeek called "Why I Hate Black People" (can't find the article anymore on Asian Week, so I'll post later if I can find it). While I think that the underlying uproar is justified, the tired reasoning that found itself into the immediate press release issued by the Asian American Justice Center is a troubling retread of apologetic liberalism that doesn't strike at the core of why Eng's piece, and Asian Week's publication, are deeply problematic.

First of all, Kenneth Eng is not a leader in the Asian American community, and he's just some bullshit opinion writer who wrote some bullshit that got through some clueless editor at Asian Week. It was a dumb decision all the way around, but one that they'll likely regret far more on their own than through some kind of public stone throwing contest. Also, because he's not a leader, his words strike a shallow blow to the uneasy alliance we like to imagine exists between the larger communities. In other words, he's one guy who, albeit he did it through a media source, is voicing his own stupid opinion. It's not even a mainstream paper. Hell - because they don't RSS their articles, I don't even read Asian Week. Who else does? (and let's not mention that I find their perpetual use of "yellow" as shorthand for "Asian American" incredibly offensive on its own merits).

Second, I'm really tired of hearing our so-called leaders come out of the gate tripping over one another in an attempt to apologize faster than the next one about how fucked up some marginal person from the community is. In this instance, the reaction seems pretty out there. The story broke yesterday, as far as I can tell, and with the number of people that they have quoted in this press release, I imagine that there were quite a few late calls made back and forth from Washington to California (where many of the 6 quoted commentators are based).

Interestingly, there are no Filipino, Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander or South Asian folks on this release. What does that mean? Does that meant that our communities don't have much to say about this issue? Does it mean that Asian Week is clearly not catering to these communities? Does it mean that this mainstream Asian American group has finally transcended the tokenism of which many other Asian American groups have been accused by these communities - and they just go to the best folks to comment on the issue, regardless of their ancestry? Or does it mean that they still have to look deep into their own motivations to determine what gives and why the quotes turned out as they did.

Third, I just can't understand why civil rights leaders in our community retread "we know how much of a debt we owe to African Americans" without any further analysis. I think that this article and its publication should be opened up as a way to discuss the misunderstandings, misgivings, miscommunication, and missed opportunities between our different communities. I think that this is a reminder that what happens in the elite halls and meeting rooms of civil rights organizations and the Capitol Hill feel-good lobby is not what is happening in the real America, where class, race, and the state's deliberate pitting of groups against one another have been mixed together in the infernal cauldron of urban America, and people are not seeing eye to eye about oppression, power, and where we go from here. This is happening across the board, and unless we find ways to create a broader analysis - ways that don't just repeat the "we owe you a lot" analysis that new immigrants and privileged second/third generation Asian Americans generally don't understand/believe, we're not going to get anywhere.

I thought that Vijay Prashad's exploration of historic exchanges and respect between Asian and African nations and peoples was quite interesting in Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting. I think that modern America is replete with its own examples of interesting intersections that don't suck, but people remember L.A. in 1992. People remember the boycotts of Korean grocers in Brooklyn. People remember the countless episodes of personal racism that they have witnessed, experienced, and maybe even contributed to. Young folks who are more socially conscious need ways to broach issues of pervasive racism that exist within our communities without the throw-away, catch-all aphorisms that don't move the debate anywhere.

Beyond that, if we continue to simply say "we owe," we're disallowing the potential for true partnership as equals who bring important things to the table. We're supporting some kind of free-rider argument that Asian Americans aren't doing our share for civil rights, and perhaps even that if immigration opened up solely because of the civil rights fight (which I tend to disagree with, and am surprised that the Justice Center would put out there when the economic realities and unforeseen consequences of dropping the differential national quotas in the 60s are well documented), African American positions on immigration reform should have special weight on what the nation does. The positions are mixed, of course, but some black "pundits" aren't afraid to say "close the borders" based on a strict economic analysis concerning competition for the lowest rung of jobs in the nation. Instead of saying "let's work together on raising the bar for all workers" we're going back and forth on who should get these crappy jobs, and the big bosses couldn't be happier.

If we really care to show that we believe in the strength and importance of the African American community, we should be advancing political and social agendas that embrace zero compromise on education reform that really focuses on ensuring that the education gap for African American and other children disappears - so that the United States doesn't justify immigration on an economic basis, because that's what causes the tension between immigrants and native communities more than anything else. Why can't the nurse shortage or high-tech job market have been addressed by African American graduates? Why can't we focus on making sure that the education system guarantees a good education for everyone, instead of just the rich? Won't that make a much bigger impact than empty recognition of the past?

If we really care, we would work on prison and criminal justice reform. It is a real problem that the incarcerated population is so impossibly proportioned: it should not be the case, and the incarceration of African American men for minor offenses creates gaps between that community and others that are only multiplied over the generations. Why aren't we working tirelessly to change these policies, which are far far more problematic and devastating than some misdirected fool in a paper? Why aren't we putting our collective will behind issues of this kind of weight if we care so much?

And on the flip side, why is it that immigration is not a civil or human rights issue for the majority of the African American civil rights community? Why don't they really touch the issue, really relegating it to the Latino and Asian communities? And why don't we say how much we owe Latino communities for their fight against national origin and language discrimination in this country? I just don't feel like this analysis is adequate - or even analysis, really.

Not to mention that the statements themselves seem fairly hollow. And you don't think that other people see that? Why do we, as a people, have to apologize for an outspoken idiot? If we're going to do that, why can't we admit that it's a viewpoint that exists that we pledge to work against? Why do we have to play the "it's not me, it's him" game when that's not truly representative of our community? Is this the new model minority that we're playing out, always apologizing, never pushing the envelope toward justice?

Anyway, finally, and this is a small point, I'm underwhelmed by the lack of sophistication in the press release by the AAJC. Generally quite media savvy, it boggles the mind that the Justice Center would actually send out a press release on something this small - basically giving Asian Week free publicity, not to mention TinyURL.com. But it's the TinyURL thing is what prompted this comment, because the posted link that made its way around list servs was through a TinyURL shortcut - which found itself into the AAJC release. They should have just had their tech person create a permanent page with the offensive site through their own site which would have been effective in a number of ways:

1) They could control the content, in case, as it has since done, Asian Week pulled the actual page that you're pointing to.

2) They could track the number of times folks click the link, giving a more solid sense of how many people learned of the story through their release. Without these numbers, their media advocacy really doesn't mean much.

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Postage Stamps and Identity.

So I was chillin' on the US Postal Service website (don't ask), and I decided to see what stamps were on their way this year. I've often said that the fine art of letter-writing is dying out, and with my desire to try to keep it going, I've been fascinated by stamps. Whenever I have to head out to the post office, I end up asking what stamps they have in stock, and usually end up getting some. I hate the U.S. flag stamp because it seems dull and uninteresting, but it's the only stamp that comes in a roll of 100, so I end up getting a mix everytime.

The Jim Henson stamps were a trip. I don't think that I saved any of these.

But I have a sheet of the Malcolm X stamps from when they were released - I distinctly remember Chuck D's lyrics going through my head "most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps." He said he had to change that tune with the issuance of the iconic Malcolm stamp (though an argument has been made that images of Malcolm and Che that have been emblazoned on everything from shirts to beer mugs kind of defeat the core of their message and feed right into the ever churning engine of capitalism. Rolling in their graves, I tell you.

Anyway - so this year, amidst the ubiquitous "Love" and Disney designs, they're actually releasing a stamp to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Mendez v. Westminster, a case in which a group of Latino parents challenged segregation on the basis of national origin. I am so impressed by the Postal Service - the civil rights commemorative stamps were amazing, and this one just seems like a great one to capture a piece of American history that isn't quite as known as Brown v. The Board of Education or other iconic cases in American legal history.

I think it's interesting how people see the inclusion of cultural and other icons on postage stamps as a part of the formula of "making it" in the United States. I know that the push for Diwali stamps (probably a response to the beautiful Eid stamp that the Postal Service has issued for a number of years) is representative of that (and I guess it's definitely cooler than the suspension of alternate side of the street parking).

But still, this quest to be recognized seems to be the theme for the mainstream members of any community that identifies itself as different in the United States. I've been thinking more about the concept of identity and re/pro/claiming such a thing because of a seminar that I'm taking which looks at the lenses of identity in the United States and the way that the law and the legal system have enforced and also turned notions of identity on its head over the centuries. But one of the central questions in class discussion has been whether the identities that we hold on to so dearly are truly important or useful.

One of the articles I just finished reading (The Subject of True Feeling, by Lauren Berlant) posits that a person's identification with a group as a reaction/claiming of collective pain will only go so far, and that the victimization and focus on pain/reparations inherent in organizing a politicized identity in such a fashion can seldom be transcended. I think that the author is questioning the casting of self as victim, and finding solace, comfort, and even community in similarly affected people, effectively centering upon pain as the primary stimulus for self-activation/politicization.

Some of this is relevant here - are we truly caught in an endless cycle of oppressors and the oppressed, in which the relatively calm eras reveal a push for equality and reparations for past wrongs, which forge the most lasting identities of that particular time? And are our assertions of self, and of community, merely reactive, perpetuating an understanding of ourselves that only revolves around that victimization? And is this why, while some white, mainstream folks feel surrounded and beleaguered by the "multicultural throngs" seeking a piece of their pie,
most don't really feel the need to confront issues of identity as often or as intensely as visible and other minorities. Though I guess the White Studies programs and white-only scholarships may call even that premise into question.

Anyway - back to the stamps. Why is it that communities make so much of these little "gimmes" - specifically related to recognition and inclusion in the constructed images of America? It's like some people are trying to photoshop themselves into the iconic snapshot of the "American dream/myth" that's rammed down our throats every day. But ultimately, is the goal of claiming and asserting our identity just so that the majority, or those in power, finally see us? Is that enough? Will we ever even the score?

Or is battling the giant for "separate" actually better than chasing the windmills of "equality"? So yeah, stamps are not just stamps, but still, this thing got out of hand and only touched a few surfaces, so let's see if we can revisit soon.

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Desi PACs: "Photographs And Checks"

Announcements from Presidential hopefuls have been titillating the media this month, and giving some hope to those who are sick of the comedy of errors that is our government. I thought I'd take a moment to review what has happened in the past, especially with South Asians and political fundraising/attempted king-making.

South Asians PACs have been around, with the first generation often focusing on nuclear treaties and H1-B workers (or India-Pakistan relations with the United States). There are quite a few of them, and they range from mildly annoying to downright nasty. The uncle generation has combined their preference for photo ops with their power of the purse to throw money at politicians who are happy to come out for a dinner or lunch, take a few pictures with the proud immigrants and walk away unmoved by the naive and generally unsophisticated (or unsavory) political suggestions that the PAC puts gently on the table next to the big checks. These folks have the money, but haven't usually used it strategically.

Fast forward to the second generation of desi Americans who have grown up here, and have spread out into political and policy positions. They're creating their own political fundraising organizations, PACs, and think tanks (at least in name). Everytime I turn around, there's a new PAC or think tank. And you'd think that these folks would be more nuanced about their approach towards the politicians. But it's more of the same, often with more flash but still some kind of deer-staring-at-the-headlights fixation with cameras and celebrity.

Perhaps they are vying for post-election jobs, notoriety, and sometimes the very photo ops that their parents were looking for before them, the name of the community is often raised without much substance. And where "civil rights" have become a safe bet to put softly on the table beside the big check, issues of pervasive poverty in segments of our community, or driving a harder line about moving the debate from "illegals" to fair treatment of immigrants regardless of status are not discussed. If we could just get the money and the consciousness about inequity together in the same room, we'd get somewhere.

But the problem is, to really have a true analysis about class and inequity, we can't think about just South Asians. These issues are not race specific - they affect our community also, as they affect many others. But in organizing by race group (or political coalition, if you will), are these folks basically making the discussion around broader inequity impossible?

If each group buys the time of the politician and lists 2-3 issues that it has identified as important to itself (such as the self-serving "more of XYZ group in your administration" ("...and here's my resume!"), are they all giving the politician an out to say "the issue of poverty/hate crimes/anti-immigrant sentiment is important, but your group is still a small percentage of the total population... and I have to work on issues that affect more people"? Rather than just ignoring the communities in need, are these PACs actually hurting the most vulnerable folks?

***

Anyway, so last election cycle, we had "SAKI" - South Asians for Kerry/Edwards (still not sure of where the "i" came from). They raised something like $2M, had a few gala events, made a splash, and the candidates didn't win. Not winning isn't the issue, to me. It's that the establishment, the DNC, wasn't pushed to think more critically about the way that it engages South Asian and other immigrant communities. So the conversation didn't move anywhere, and we're in the same position now as we were 4 years ago with the DNC and the parties as a whole. Pretty short-sighted, enit?

For more about desi PACs, here are a few articles (1, 2), but as usual, they don't seem to be very critical.

Now, we'll likely have groups rallying behind their favorite candidates again. My prediction is that we'll have a lot of good people give their money to X or Y candidate and trust that the people pulling the effort together will have their general interests, and "the community's interests" (whatever that could possibly mean) in mind. Without commenting on that until I see more, let's have some fun with acronyms:

South Asians for Clinton II (SACT). I like the sound of "sacked." I don't know why. I just like it.

South Asians for Barrack Obama (SAFBO). Well, they would be smart not to add his first name to the acronym, because the connotation is too uncomfortably close for everyone involved.

South Asians for Bill Richardson (SABR). Sabre? While I like it, there was once a group called South Asians Against Police Brutality that used a similar acronym, so I don't know.

South Asians for John Edwards (SAJE). Sage! Pretty cool.

South Asians for Arnold Schwarzenegger (SAAS). Sounds like a statistical software package. Heck, with some of his plans for Cali, including a move closer to universal health care and a strong push to cut greenhouse emissions, not to mention the effort he'd make to change the Constitutional native-born requirement for the Presidency, I might even write him a check. He'd move the conversation further than any of the other major candidates.

My favorite, of course, is South Asians for Al Gore (SAAG). I mean, come on. Tell me that's not too perfect? I can see the logo now, as well as the endless green buffets, long talks about how global warming could affect spinach farmers everywhere, and even some crazy crossover with the Screen Actors' Guild (isn't he a member now?).

Seriously though, if you think that Gore is not a viable candidate, read this article in Rolling Stone about their thoughts on the issue. I found it compelling, though unlikely.

***

Well, again, political season is upon us. And all I can say is that I hope someone real comes along to keep it fun. Like Randy of the Redwoods.

Of whom I can't find a single picture or link through Google. What a shame. I remember you, Randy. I think I would have voted for you, if I was of age at the time.

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The Police Tour Confirmed.

Well, you read it here first. In what seems to be a very poorly coordinated PR plan for the much rumored Police reunion tour, I got an email in my inbox at 4:45 AM today from Best Buy pushing a special "Reward-Zone Only" promotion for pre-sale of tickets in NYC and Boston. The only thing is, the Police were planning to announce at 2 PM today.

Kinda stole their thunder. Oh well. When you're out of the game for more than 20 years, you're a little rusty.

Okay - so tickets are likely going to be very expensive, and almost impossible to get, but I have to say - seeing the Police would be a highlight for the summer.

What I loved from last night's Grammy's (and there were not a lot of highlights) was reading the liveblog on Stereogum where they skewered almost everyone. My favorite line:

Random Grammy Fun Fact: Andy Summers was born on 12/31/42, making him 11 months older than Keith Richards. He also wrote the Weekend At Bernie's soundtrack. A full life, that.

Reminds me of when a friend and I used to add these lyrics to "Born in the '50s"... "we were born, in the 50s (except for Annnndy)."

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Let's Give it Up for Slayer

That toad-like Dixie Chick is more annoying than James Blunt. The Grammy's were interesting this year - I tend to skip them, but I had to see the Police come back together was worth it.

I just wish they gave the Metal award on the air (the way that they used to). Slayer won this year for a song of their latest album. To be honest, I am shocked that the industry actually chose Slayer. While I'm annoyed that they weren't given the award on live TV, I have to give props to the voters for sifting through the garbage and going for the jungular. It's fascinating, because I think the decided who to put out on the stage purely by the number of albums they thought they could sell with the awards, and they probably couldn't fathom putting a band up there whose album is:

1) A pretty brutal thematic album that equates Christianity with war and condemns both of them,
2) Entitled "Christ Illusion",
3) Adorned with an image that is shocking, even to the non-believer.

I have to note that one of the guys from Mastodon (up in the category as well), when asked if he would be voting for his band by Rolling Stone said: No way! I'm voting for Slayer - I idolize those guys (paraphrasing here, of course). I'm impressed.

So let's give it up to the band - Kerry King is insane and a possible SS-apologist, but Tom Araya is awesome, and he's even a person of color (Peruvian).

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