Anderson@Large

Politics of Black Hair

I will be in New York City today. While in Brooklyn, I will get my hair done.

Yes, I know TMI.

Last weekend, I attended a panel discussion, “Good Hair Revisited: The Politics of Black Women’s Strands,” at the Celebration of Black Writing Festival.

The panelists included Dr. Akosua Ali-Sabree, founder of the International Locs Conference; Lori L. Tharps and Ayana D. Byrd, co-authors of “Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair”; and Yvette Smalls, the director of “Hair Stories.”

I will be hard-pressed to view a trip to the beauty shop as an opportunity to catch up on my reading -- or doze off under the dryer. Now, l have to think about the economic and political implications of my choice of hair salon.

For the last seven years, I have been going to Dominican salons because their prices are much lower than African American-owned salons. As important, I’m in and out in a fraction of the time.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on how African American stylists are facing stiff competition from Dominicans:

Armed with a blow dryer and brush, deft wrist action and shrewd promotional tactics, immigrants from the Dominican Republic are snipping away market share from African-American stylists whose mastery of black women’s hair ensured for generations that their customers wouldn’t, or couldn’t, leave them. Promises of seemingly healthier hair, swifter service and far lower prices are wooing away a growing number of black women.

Like a barber shop, a hair salon is more than a place to get one’s hair styled. They are institutions in the black community, where news, information and gossip are shared -- and politicians stump for votes.

Indeed in 2008, Barack Obama’s voter mobilization effort included a Beauty and Barber Shop program.

The loss of market share is worrisome. So, I will have to rethink my choices.

At the same time, African American stylists must re-imagine the beauty shop of the 21st century. Truth be told, buy black may not be enough to ensure their survival.

RIP State of the Black Union

Tavis Smiley, the author of “Accountable” who does not want to be held accountable for the predatory business practices of his sponsor, has pulled the plug on his annual talkfest, State of the Black Union.

The Associated Press reports:

After 10 years, Tavis Smiley is ending his annual State of the Black Union conference, which spawned best-selling books and his critical stance toward Barack Obama.

[…]

Smiley also said that, unlike a decade ago, black issues now are being addressed by numerous other media outlets, commentators and bloggers.

The State of the Black Union “doesn't have the premium that it used to have - and that's a good thing,” Smiley told The Associated Press.

Though Tavis severed ties with title sponsor Wells Fargo, the AP reports money was not an issue:

Smiley said money was not a factor in ending the series — which cost “well over seven figures” each year and was free to the public — because Exxon Mobil and Nationwide Insurance had committed to major sponsorship deals in 2010.

Yeah, whatever.

They say if you can’t say something good about someone, then don’t say anything at all. Tavis’ State of the Black Union is dead. Good.

Death of a Giant

The nation has lost a visionary and a giant among men. Dr. John Hope Franklin died Wednesday at the age of 94.

A lifelong activist who spoke truth to power, President Bill Clinton awarded Dr. Franklin the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

President Barack Obama noted the passing of this history-maker:

Because of the life John Hope Franklin lived, the public service he rendered, and the scholarship that was the mark of his distinguished career, we all have a richer understanding of who we are as Americans and our journey as a people. Dr. Franklin will be deeply missed, but his legacy is one that will surely endure. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to his loved ones, as our nation mourns his loss.

Rep. Barbara Lee, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said:

For many African Americans our first introduction to black history was through Dr. Franklin’s book “From Slavery to Freedom.” In its pages we found an account of American history that affirmed the dignity of black people and the nobility of our struggle.

Dr. Franklin was not only a noted historian, but also living history himself. His accomplishments are as many as they are great. One of Dr. Franklin’s earliest and most important contributions was as a member of the team of scholars who worked with Thurgood Marshall to win the landmark school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education.

Today we greatly mourn Dr. Franklin’s passing and the loss of his wise counsel, but we will be forever grateful for his lasting contributions.

Dr. Franklin was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit to get reparations for the survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, during which his father's law office was burned down by a white mob.

Reggie Turner is producer and director of “Before They Die!,” the story of the survivors’ search for justice. Reggie wrote:

We who were blessed to stand in this giant’s shadow and to have felt his touch will continue to use his teachings, wisdom, warmth and strength to ensure that his efforts are forever appreciated. We will mourn but we will not be stopped.

I only knew Dr. Franklin through his work, but I did get a chance to meet him at a congressional hearing.

Harvard Law Prof. Charles Ogletree was blessed to have known Dr. Franklin. Tree was the lead counsel in the lawsuit:

This breaks my heart. This hurts in ways I never imagined. John Hope Franklin was a giant and we will miss him in unimaginable ways. He was our Tulsa race riots hero and helped us bring national attention to this issue.

I’m still stunned that our young people know so little about the struggle and progress that opened doors for me and them today. Our work is never done.

There will be a celebration of Dr. Franklin's life and of his late wife Aurelia Franklin on June 11 in Duke Chapel. In the meantime, the family has asked that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the:

Aurelia W. and John Hope Franklin Endowed Scholarship Fund at Fisk University
c/o Office of Institutional Advancement
1000 17th Street North
Nashville, TN 37208

Dr. Franklin will be missed. May he rest in peace.

Bubble Boy

Today marks the sixth anniversary of Bush v. Gore, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that foisted George W. Bush on America and the world.

It’s maddening that Bush, an accidental president, is determined to remain trapped inside a bubble of delusion and fear of admitting he made a colossal mistake in invading Iraq.

If President Bush continues to ignore the will of the American people that we get the hell out of the Iraq hellhole, it may take the threat of impeachment to pierce his bubble.

Black Conservatives Shortchanged, Again

This piece in the Los Angeles Times is spot-on about blacks and the Republican Party:

Complaints among black pastors who had been courted by the White House — while less pronounced than those of Latino leaders — have been fueled by a tell-all book by former White House aide David Kuo.

The new book says that Bush, referring to pastors from one major African American denomination, once griped: “Money. All these guys care about is money. They want money (emphasis added).”

A White House spokeswoman said Friday that nobody there recalled hearing such a comment from the president.

The Rev. Eugene Rivers, a Boston Pentecostal minister and one of about two dozen black clergy invited to a series of White House meetings with Bush, said Friday that black leaders had been wooed with assurances that their social service groups would receive money from the president’s faith-based initiative. But, Rivers said, the bulk of the money had gone to white organizations, leaving black churches on the sidelines.

Rivers plans to send a letter early this week to the White House demanding to know how much social services money has been directed to black churches under the faith-based initiative, and requesting a “new conversation” with Bush.

”There’s a growing frustration and anger in the black religious community nationally as the Kuo book makes the rounds,” Rivers said. “Meetings at the White House show you the door, but they don’t necessarily open the door.”

Long before black evangelicals darkened the door of the White House, I sent a reality check about the GOP illusion of inclusion.

You can’t play an inside game with this bunch in the hope that they will grant you some chump change. If you do, they’ll make a chump out of you because they know that the only thing you bring to the table is your hand out.

Mexifornia

Today, I’m back on the Farm for Stanford’s alumni weekend.

I had hoped to meet with Dr. Victor Davis Hanson who coined the term “Mexifornia.”  Dr. Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, which is located on campus. Unfortunately, he has a speaking engagement at Harvard.

I was motivated to contact Dr. Hanson after I read his op-ed piece in the San Jose Mercury News in which he wrote:

Broad class considerations are now transcending particular party, racial and ethnic views of illegal immigration, pitting the well-off few against the less-fortunate many. Many of the more-privileged Americans who frequent fancy restaurants, stay in hotels and depend on hired help for lawn and pool maintenance, home repair and child care don't think illegal immigration is that big a deal.

Those in the higher-paid professions do not fear low-wage competition for their jobs in law, medicine, academia, the media or government. And many who have no problem with the present influx live in affluent communities with good schools insulated from the immediate budgetary consequences of meeting the needs of the offspring of the 11 million here illegally. These wealthier people aren’t so much liberal in their tolerance of illegal immigration as they are self-interested and cynical.

In the current issue of Focus magazine, published by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the premier black think tank, Dr. Steven J. Shulman of Colorado State University writes:

The questions that immigration inevitably raises—first and foremost about who we are, how many we are, and who has a claim on our resources—go to the heart of our national identity. That is nowhere more evident than in the debate about the impact of immigration on African Americans.

…

Nor is the immediately observable wage impact the only cause for concern. Carolyn Hoxby of Harvard University has shown that immigration reduces the probability of college graduation for African Americans (emphasis added); Julian Betts has shown the same for the probability of high school graduation. Schools with high immigrant shares of their student populations are forced to devote a rising fraction of their scarce resources solving the special problems of immigrant students. The result is the “educational crowding out” of African American students. The future consequences include slower wage growth for African Americans. Immigration thus harms their economic prospects in both the short term and the long term.

The future consequences also include fewer marriageable black men. Consider: There already are 500,000 more black women than black men who have graduated from college.

Yeah, happy homecoming.

It’s My Birthday

I’m taking the day off.  Among other things, I’m going to get my hair “dyed, fried and laid to the side” as I get ready for my trip to San Francisco tomorrow.

Speaking of hair laid to the side, I recently attended a colloquium on Josephine Baker at Columbia University.  That was one fierce sister who showed the world her derrière -- and lots of love as an activist with the French Resistance and the NAACP.  Ms. Baker's "Rainbow Tribe" of 12 multi-ethnic adopted children showed that her love knew no bounds.

OK, back to me.  It sure would be nice if some of you showed me some love.  And, no, I ain’t too proud to beg.