racial issues at Brave New Filmshttp://bravenewfilms.org/topics/racial-issues2008-07-22T08:57:04ZDon't Call Me Buckwheat - Garland Jeffreyshttp://bravenewfilms.org/blog/46489-don-t-call-me-buckwheat-garland-jeffreys2008-07-22T08:57:04Zgjeffreysadmin
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<p><span>Don't Call Me Buckwheat from my "Don't Call Me Buckwheat" album released in 1992.<br /><br />It's time to bury the 'N' word along with all the other racial slurs.<br /><br />I was inspired to write this song after a very upsetting moment: I was at Shea Stadium watching the Mets vs. Houston, Dwight Gooden vs. Nolan Ryan. I was sitting in foul territory in left field. I got up to get a few franks and soda for the guys, walking and watching the game and going down the steps, all at the same time. I was probably blocking the view of people--and one guy says, "Hey, Buckwheat! Get the f--k out of here, Buckwheat!" I had never heard the word used before like that; I was shocked. I turned around and I was just frozen. I kept walking and I was on line and feeling really uncomfortable. I said, "Don't call me Buckwheat" to myself, and I went home and wrote the song. It just brought back my whole childhood, all the name calling. I grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn in a very mixed-race community: Jews, Irish, Blacks, Italians and Spanish, K--s, M--ks, N-----s, W--s and sp--s. You heard those words a lot. I would cringe when I heard the "n------" word and I still do. The whole usage of it today in rap disturbs me to no end. Kids don't know the real meaning and how it feels to hear it. It got to the point where you knew you'd hear it almost every day from someone.</span></p>
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Don't Call Me Buckwheat - Garland Jeffreyshttp://bravenewfilms.org/blog/46488-don-t-call-me-buckwheat-garland-jeffreys2008-07-22T08:56:13Zgjeffreysadmin
<div class="post_content">
<p><span>Don't Call Me Buckwheat from my "Don't Call Me Buckwheat" album released in 1992.<br /><br />It's time to bury the 'N' word along with all the other racial slurs.<br /><br />I was inspired to write this song after a very upsetting moment: I was at Shea Stadium watching the Mets vs. Houston, Dwight Gooden vs. Nolan Ryan. I was sitting in foul territory in left field. I got up to get a few franks and soda for the guys, walking and watching the game and going down the steps, all at the same time. I was probably blocking the view of people--and one guy says, "Hey, Buckwheat! Get the f--k out of here, Buckwheat!" I had never heard the word used before like that; I was shocked. I turned around and I was just frozen. I kept walking and I was on line and feeling really uncomfortable. I said, "Don't call me Buckwheat" to myself, and I went home and wrote the song. It just brought back my whole childhood, all the name calling. I grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn in a very mixed-race community: Jews, Irish, Blacks, Italians and Spanish, K--s, M--ks, N-----s, W--s and sp--s. You heard those words a lot. I would cringe when I heard the "n------" word and I still do. The whole usage of it today in rap disturbs me to no end. Kids don't know the real meaning and how it feels to hear it. It got to the point where you knew you'd hear it almost every day from someone.</span></p>
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Shelby Steele - "Racial Masking" in American Popular Culturehttp://bravenewfilms.org/blog/27616-shelby-steele-racial-masking-in-american-popular-culture2008-11-17T23:40:22ZFORAtv
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<a href="/blog/27616-shelby-steele-racial-masking-in-american-popular-culture"><img src="http://bravenewfilms.org/pictures/medium/29682" width="140" height="105" border="0" align="left" style="border: solid 1px black;" /></a>
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<p>Complete video at: <a href="http://fora.tv/2008/01/18/Shelby_Steele_on_Why_Barack_Obama_Cannot_Win">fora.tv</a> </p>
<p>Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Shelby Steele explains "racial masking," a phenomenon he identifies as a common experience for minorities in American culture.</p>
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<p>A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win</p>
<p>Shelby Steele examines the challenges that Barack Obama must overcome in his bid to become President of the United States in A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win. Having to cater to both black voters and white voters in what binds Obama, and his dilemma is that he achieved visibility more as a racial icon than as an individual. In his analysis, Shelby Steele discusses his own mixed race background, and he empathizes with Obama's inner conflicts even as he critiques him. He also identifies the two 'masks' that blacks wear in order to seek success and power in the American mainstream: bargaining and challenging, and he argues that Obama is too constrained by divisive racial politics to find his own true political voice - and proposes a way for him to break those bonds and find his own voice.</p>
<p>Shelby Steele is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author of The Content of Our Character and White Guilt, and a contributing editor at Harper's; his work has also appeared in numerous other magazines and newspapers - Cody's Books</p>
<p>Shelby Steele is the Robert J. and Marion E. Oster Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He specializes in the study of race relations, multiculturalism, and affirmative action. He was appointed a Hoover fellow in 1994.</p>
<p>Steele has written widely on race in American society and the consequences of contemporary social programs on race relations</p>
<p>In 2006, Steele received the Bradley Prize for his contributions to the study of race in America. In 2004, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal. Steele is the author of White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era and most recently A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win.</p>
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<a href="/blog/27616-shelby-steele-racial-masking-in-american-popular-culture">Watch the video</a>
Shelby Steele - Race and the Obama Campaignhttp://bravenewfilms.org/blog/27605-shelby-steele-race-and-the-obama-campaign2008-10-22T03:30:24ZFORAtv
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<a href="/blog/27605-shelby-steele-race-and-the-obama-campaign"><img src="http://bravenewfilms.org/pictures/medium/29668" width="140" height="105" border="0" align="left" style="border: solid 1px black;" /></a>
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<p>Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Shelby Steele discusses racial issues he sees behind the success of Illinois Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama.</p>
<p>-----</p>
<p>A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win</p>
<p>Shelby Steele examines the challenges that Barack Obama must overcome in his bid to become President of the United States in A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win. Having to cater to both black voters and white voters in what binds Obama, and his dilemma is that he achieved visibility more as a racial icon than as an individual. In his analysis, Shelby Steele discusses his own mixed race background, and he empathizes with Obama's inner conflicts even as he critiques him. He also identifies the two 'masks' that blacks wear in order to seek success and power in the American mainstream: bargaining and challenging, and he argues that Obama is too constrained by divisive racial politics to find his own true political voice - and proposes a way for him to break those bonds and find his own voice.</p>
<p>Shelby Steele is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author of The Content of Our Character and White Guilt, and a contributing editor at Harper's; his work has also appeared in numerous other magazines and newspapers - Cody's Books</p>
<p>Shelby Steele is the Robert J. and Marion E. Oster Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He specializes in the study of race relations, multiculturalism, and affirmative action. He was appointed a Hoover fellow in 1994.</p>
<p>Steele has written widely on race in American society and the consequences of contemporary social programs on race relations</p>
<p>In 2006, Steele received the Bradley Prize for his contributions to the study of race in America. In 2004, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal. Steele is the author of White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era and most recently A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win.</p>
</div>
<a href="/blog/27605-shelby-steele-race-and-the-obama-campaign">Watch the video</a>