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Showing posts from February, 2009

What the Black Community Can Learn From A Tragic and Senseless Death

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I am still in shock about the death of a former student, Tiana Notice. Only 25, Tiana was a bright, talented, articulate, and highly motivated student who was making a difference in the world. Tiana had done a lot in her short time with us. She earned a bachelor’s degree in politics and government in 2007, and was pursuing a master’s degree in the School of Communication. While pursing her bachelor’s degree, she almost singlehandedly founded the University of Hartford chapter of the Roosevelt Institution , a national network of student think-tanks that conduct policy research on pressing issues. Tiana was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, James Carter II. Tiana did what was expected of victims of intimate partner violence (IPV); she got a restraining order. However, that did not stop her ex-boyfriend from stalking and harassing her and finally on Valentine’s Day, stabbing her to death. When I first heard about her death, I wondered how someone with the smarts and abilities of Tiana could

A Call For A New Black Politics

Commentators on both the left and the right sides of the political spectrum have been suggesting in their writings that the election of Barack Obama points to the end of black politics and that America has now become a post-racial society. Without a doubt, the election of the son of an African immigrant and a white woman from Kansas is a monumental step forward for America. But, America is not a society free of racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of exploitation and oppression. For the descendants of those who survived centuries of chattel slavery and Jim Crow segregation, the journey is incomplete. Black (and brown) communities across America face a litany of social problems, including poverty, unemployment, inadequate access to quality housing and healthcare, rape, HIV/AIDS, mass incarceration, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and intraracial violence just to name a few. According to “ State of the Dream 2009: The Silent Depression ,” the sixth annual Martin Luther King, Jr. D