http://www.thedefendersonline.com A civil rights blog promoting informed discourse on issues of race, justice, equality and democracy. Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:17:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/new-book-explores-link-between-blackness-and-crime/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/new-book-explores-link-between-blackness-and-crime/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:31:40 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12672 Imani Perry Khalil Gibran Muhammad introduces his book, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race Crime and the Making of Modern America, with a contemporary lens. He cites the dire reality that “Nearly half of the more than two million Americans behind bars are African American…” and describes the commonplace of associating blackness with crime in the contemporary United States.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/new-book-explores-link-between-blackness-and-crime/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/09/hollyhood-real-life-in-la-la-land/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/09/hollyhood-real-life-in-la-la-land/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:05:13 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12583 Eisa Nefertari Ulen As we digest and debate the results of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards—including the racial aspects of various wins and nominations—Hollywood insider Valerie Joyner’s debut novel, Hollyhood, has special resonance and relevance.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/09/hollyhood-real-life-in-la-la-land/feed/ 2 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/23/tara-betts-arc-hue/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/23/tara-betts-arc-hue/#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:44:11 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12445 Eisa Nefertari Ulen In her debut collection of poetry, Arc & Hue, Tara Betts articulates deeply-felt human emotion in a lyrical, beautiful way. Betts is a poet for the people.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/23/tara-betts-arc-hue/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/12/a-wish-after-midnight-young-adult-novel-with-lessons-for-all-ages/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/12/a-wish-after-midnight-young-adult-novel-with-lessons-for-all-ages/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:35:42 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12346 Paula L. Woods A Wish After Midnight is written with a lyrical grace that many authors of what passes for adult literature would envy as it examines universal themes of finding lost love, belief in one’s dreams and the power of friendship.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/12/a-wish-after-midnight-young-adult-novel-with-lessons-for-all-ages/feed/ 4 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/09/the-black-book-at-35-still-rich-relevant-and-revealing/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/09/the-black-book-at-35-still-rich-relevant-and-revealing/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:24:40 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12291 Eisa Nefertari Ulen In his introduction to The Black Book, Bill Cosby called it “a scrapbook…a folk journey of Black America…beautiful, haunting, curious, informative, and human,” and it is as intimate, revealing, heartbreaking, and uplifting as any treasured family album can be.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/09/the-black-book-at-35-still-rich-relevant-and-revealing/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/09/the-black-list-returns-with-stories-of-the-past-in-volume-three/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/09/the-black-list-returns-with-stories-of-the-past-in-volume-three/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:08:58 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12283 Grace Aneiza Ali “Stories matter. Many stories matter,” said Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie in her speech on “The Danger of the Single Story” at the TEDGlobal 2009 forum last year. She warned against one-dimensional views and singular stories that often depict Africans as “fighting senseless wars, dying of poverty and AIDS, unable to speak for themselves, and waiting to be saved.”]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/09/the-black-list-returns-with-stories-of-the-past-in-volume-three/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/26/ringshout-literary-salon-on-push-precious-and-erasure/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/26/ringshout-literary-salon-on-push-precious-and-erasure/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:19:59 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12080 Eisa Nefertari Ulen The controversial film Precious, released to great acclaim in November, is still making news. With Mo’Nique’s Golden Globe Awards win for Best Supporting Actress (with Oscar nods expected to follow), and eight NAACP Image Award nominations, the story of a teen abused every which way by both her mother and father provides fertile ground for introspection and discussion.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/26/ringshout-literary-salon-on-push-precious-and-erasure/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/the-cornel-west-you-don%e2%80%99t-know/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/the-cornel-west-you-don%e2%80%99t-know/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:15:26 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11893 George E. Curry I thought I knew Cornel West, the most public of public intellectuals. But it was not until I read his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud that I realized how much I didn’t know about my friend.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/the-cornel-west-you-don%e2%80%99t-know/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/05/bound-to-cotton/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/05/bound-to-cotton/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:54:44 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11743 Lee A. Daniels In 1865, the North’s victory in the Civil War freed black Americans from slavery. But it did not free them from cotton.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/05/bound-to-cotton/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/18/a-conversation-with-jabari-asim/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/18/a-conversation-with-jabari-asim/#comments Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:17:29 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11553 Eisa Nefertari Ulen It is entirely fitting that Jabari Asim’s debut fiction, A Taste of Honey, is published in this, the year after Change. Everything is different now that the President of the United States is a black man. Everything changes in Asim’s collection of connected short stories, too—not because a leader is on the rise, but because one is shot down.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/18/a-conversation-with-jabari-asim/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/the-thrill-is-on-attica-locke%e2%80%99s-black-water-rising/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/the-thrill-is-on-attica-locke%e2%80%99s-black-water-rising/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:24:57 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11457 Eisa Nefertari Ulen Attica Locke has added her name to the list of best black genre fiction with her debut thriller, Black Water Rising, acclaimed by many, from The New York Times to The Seattle Times, and named Booklist Best Debut Crime Novel of 2009.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/the-thrill-is-on-attica-locke%e2%80%99s-black-water-rising/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/01/funny-literary-funky-hip-victor-lavalle%e2%80%99s-big-machine/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/01/funny-literary-funky-hip-victor-lavalle%e2%80%99s-big-machine/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:02:34 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11350 By Eisa Nefertari Ulen Victor LaValle’s third book belongs on your shelf if you enjoy fine literary work from African-American writers. Or if you like to kick back on a wild ride with a fast read. Or if you dig genre fiction.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/01/funny-literary-funky-hip-victor-lavalle%e2%80%99s-big-machine/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/remembering-scottsboro/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/remembering-scottsboro/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:25:02 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11264 Ellen Feldman In March, 1931, as the Depression was deepening and 200,000 young people under the age of twenty-one were hoboing the country in search of an odd job, or a few scraps of food, or the little bit of fun that was supposed to be the birthright of youth, a group of young black and white men got into a fight on a freight train going from Chattanooga to Memphis, Tennessee, by way of northern Alabama. No crime in America, let alone a crime never committed, has resulted in as many trials, convictions, reversals, retrials, and Supreme Court decisions, including a seminal 1935 ruling. Collectively, the nine young men spent more than a hundred years in some of the worst jails and prisons in Depression-era America. Only one of them lived to be pardoned.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/remembering-scottsboro/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/29/%e2%80%98our-need-to-belong%e2%80%99-elizabeth-nunez-and-anna-in-between/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/29/%e2%80%98our-need-to-belong%e2%80%99-elizabeth-nunez-and-anna-in-between/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:43:22 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11010 Eisa Nefertari Ulen Anna In-Between, the seventh book from acclaimed author Elizabeth Nunez, is one of the finest novels published this year. Nunez has made each word choice with the economy of a poet. The result is elegant prose: substantive, meaningful, but never wordy or clunky, just beautifully satisfying and thought-provoking.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/29/%e2%80%98our-need-to-belong%e2%80%99-elizabeth-nunez-and-anna-in-between/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/21/nelson-mandela-the-authorized-comic-book/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/21/nelson-mandela-the-authorized-comic-book/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:00:36 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10922 Paula L. Woods “Young people read comics,” Mandela said in a 2005 speech that launched the autobiographical series on his life. “The hope is that the elementary reading of comics will lead them to the joy of reading good books….If the comic reaches new readers, then the project will have been worthwhile.”]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/21/nelson-mandela-the-authorized-comic-book/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/02/young-gifted-and-black-men-writers-who-rock-in-brooklyn/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/02/young-gifted-and-black-men-writers-who-rock-in-brooklyn/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:25:21 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10646 Chinyere Osuala There’s an exclusivity that Park Slope, Brooklyn boasts, that makes it different, makes it stand out. No, it’s not the strollers, or the young married couples, or the yuppie-ness, it is the amount of writers, famous writers at that, who call this affluent Brooklyn neighborhood home, including Jonathan Safran Foer, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Pete Hamill.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/02/young-gifted-and-black-men-writers-who-rock-in-brooklyn/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/11/stormy-weather-the-rich-rough-road-of-lena-horne/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/11/stormy-weather-the-rich-rough-road-of-lena-horne/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:25:07 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10384 Eisa Nefertari Ulen In many ways, James Gavin’s book tells the story of black America from the last lights of the Harlem Renaissance to the shining star that is the nation’s first black president. By focusing on Lena Horne, the trailblazer / activist / singer / actor/ dancer / icon, her rough road from the indignities of the segregated Cotton Club to an Upper East Side home is made clear.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/11/stormy-weather-the-rich-rough-road-of-lena-horne/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/08/19/street-lit-kindle-and-the-exotic-other-interview-with-mosaic-magazine-founder-ron-kavanaugh/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/08/19/street-lit-kindle-and-the-exotic-other-interview-with-mosaic-magazine-founder-ron-kavanaugh/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:36:44 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=9965 Eisa Nefertari Ulen In 1998, Ron Kavanaugh founded Mosaic, a literary magazine that celebrates the work of contemporary African-American and Latino writers. Ten years later, Mosaic still publishes reviews of literary work, interviews with important writers, and art that folk can dig. Recent covers include first time novelist Marlon James, Dark Room Collective Co- Founder Thomas Sayers Ellis, and author of The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/08/19/street-lit-kindle-and-the-exotic-other-interview-with-mosaic-magazine-founder-ron-kavanaugh/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/07/28/tribute-to-e-lynn-harris-1955-2009/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/07/28/tribute-to-e-lynn-harris-1955-2009/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:26:38 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=9496 The Editors E. Lynn Harris, who died last week at age 54, gave voice and visibility to gay and bisexual men who are too often pushed to the margins of American life. Here is our tribute to his literary legacy.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/07/28/tribute-to-e-lynn-harris-1955-2009/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/23/an-unsettling-peek-into-the-heart-of-america%e2%80%99s-darkness%e2%80%94a-review-of-danzy-senna%e2%80%99s-where-did-you-sleep-last-night-a-personal-history/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/23/an-unsettling-peek-into-the-heart-of-america%e2%80%99s-darkness%e2%80%94a-review-of-danzy-senna%e2%80%99s-where-did-you-sleep-last-night-a-personal-history/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:58:42 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=8644 Pamela Newkirk Senna's characters are not the stuff of fiction, but are drawn from her real life. From shards of truths, half-truths, legend, and a searing search into her personal history, Senna reveals a larger truth of America's character of racial mixing, undue pride and shame, and unreconciled identities.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/23/an-unsettling-peek-into-the-heart-of-america%e2%80%99s-darkness%e2%80%94a-review-of-danzy-senna%e2%80%99s-where-did-you-sleep-last-night-a-personal-history/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/09/a-year-of-cascading-change-1989/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/09/a-year-of-cascading-change-1989/#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:20:59 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.com/?p=8076 Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. The year 1989 was the pivot point in moving the world from one era to the next. It was a year of cascading changes that introduced the world's nations and peoples to a new arrangement of global forces and relationships- the complex of issues and circumstances we are grappling with today.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/09/a-year-of-cascading-change-1989/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/05/22/kipp-the-power-of-high-expectations/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/05/22/kipp-the-power-of-high-expectations/#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 18:46:55 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.com/?p=7664 Jay Mathews This year, David Levin and his friend Mike Feinberg are close to becoming the most famous teachers in the country. They have founded the nation's most successful network of public charter schools, the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP).]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/05/22/kipp-the-power-of-high-expectations/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/05/19/embrace-the-contradiction-colson-whitehead%e2%80%99s-sag-harbor/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/05/19/embrace-the-contradiction-colson-whitehead%e2%80%99s-sag-harbor/#comments Tue, 19 May 2009 19:01:08 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.com/?p=7334 Imani Perry Sag Harbor is the first-person narrative of teenaged Benji Cooper and his relationship to the place and people of his summers: Sag Harbor, New York.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/05/19/embrace-the-contradiction-colson-whitehead%e2%80%99s-sag-harbor/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/05/01/what-is-this-%e2%80%9cthing%e2%80%9d-with-gay-men-and-divas/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/05/01/what-is-this-%e2%80%9cthing%e2%80%9d-with-gay-men-and-divas/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 18:00:11 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.com/?p=6749 Stacey Patton Some years ago, I was a personal fitness trainer at the New York Sports Clubs Sheridan Square location at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 12th Street. One evening, a well-scrubbed young gay white guy named Alan meandered into the free weights section with bad posture, low eyes, and all kinds of insecurities shut up in his bones.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/05/01/what-is-this-%e2%80%9cthing%e2%80%9d-with-gay-men-and-divas/feed/ 8 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/04/14/a-model-of-grace-considering-staceyann-chinn%e2%80%99s-the-other-side-of-paradise/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/04/14/a-model-of-grace-considering-staceyann-chinn%e2%80%99s-the-other-side-of-paradise/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:07:35 +0000 The Editors http://thedefendersonline.com/?p=5960 Imani Perry Staceyann Chin's memoir, The Other Side of Paradise is a kuntsleroman, the coming-of-age story of an artist. It begins with her early childhood. Staceyann and her older brother are being reared by their efficiently loving and spiritually devout grandmother, two small poor children in rural Jamaica. By memoir's end she has attended the most elite University in the Caribbean, found her actor's voice through a theatrical production of Barbadian poet Kamau Braithwaite's The Arrivants, and is departing for New York City.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/04/14/a-model-of-grace-considering-staceyann-chinn%e2%80%99s-the-other-side-of-paradise/feed/ 0