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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span>fter a hiatus these past few months, pro sports are back. And somehow, in the meantime, I’ve converted from a common fan to a social scientist, paying extremely \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13883646/the-strangeness-of-baseball-during-a-pandemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">close attention\u003c/a> and constantly analyzing how they play a part in the oddity that is the year 2020. Thus far, from what I’ve seen, the WNBA and NBA are maintaining health and safety, as well as keeping a focus on social justice—in fact, they’re doing it better than any of the “Big Four” sports leagues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ve got strict health guidelines and \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_NBA_Bubble\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">now-famous bubbles\u003c/a> to contain the basketball players for the season. The room for social commentary, while limiting (after all, both leagues are businesses), seems to be more flexible than other leagues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s entertaining competition. The actual games, aesthetically, are eye-catching. Even with a \u003ca href=\"https://kslsports.com/439132/whats-it-like-to-be-an-nba-virtual-fan-during-a-jazz-game-in-orlando/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">digital display of fans\u003c/a> replacing the normal crowd, it’s not too bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s also not pure escapism. The masks on the faces of everyone sitting on the sidelines is a reminder that we’re living in a pandemic where over 700,000 people around the world (and \u003cem>over one-hundred and sixty thousand people\u003c/em> in the United States) have died from the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, man, after a long day of work, reading and writing about bad news on top of bad news, confined to my house with no one to talk to, there’s nothing like yelling at my screen while Oakland-raised NBA superstar Damian Lillard goes for 51 points.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13884661\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13884661\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/Lillard.HowManyMore.jpg\" alt=\"Damian Lillard, in a jersey reading 'How Many More,' worn during the 2020 NBA season.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/Lillard.HowManyMore.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/Lillard.HowManyMore-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/Lillard.HowManyMore-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Damian Lillard, in a jersey reading ‘How Many More,’ worn during the 2020 NBA season. \u003ccite>(Via Damian Lillard/IG)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">L\u003c/span>illard, who wears the number 0, sports a jersey this season bearing the words “\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CDbhxHMgJ9G/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How Many More\u003c/a>” across the top. It’s a rhetorical question, posed to the general public, about the number of Black people killed by the police; obviously, the ideal answer is zero. Lillard evidently \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Dame_Lillard/status/1290109760662990850\">wanted to have “Oscar Grant”\u003c/a> on his uniform. But he, like all other NBA players, had to choose from \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/07/30/nba-social-justice-jerseys-names-messages/?arc404=true\">a pre-selected list of about 30 social justice terms\u003c/a> the NBA decided to allow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means Lakers guard Alex Caruso—who, aside from the fact he’s 6’5″, is a relatively “normal looking” balding American white dude—now goes to work every day with the words “Black Lives Matter” on the back of his uniform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At press time, Caruso, along with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, have given the Lakers the best record in the Western Conference in this abbreviated NBA season, which is actually a continuation of the suspended season from earlier this year. That means that, although play resumed just about two weeks ago, the “season” will conclude at the end of this week. And then the playoffs start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the WNBA is heading into their fourth week of play; their abbreviated season began in late July and is set to run until mid-September. (Normally the season goes from late May until early October.) Their bubble is located in Bradenton, Florida, at the sports magnet school IMG Academy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the bubbles within that bubble is the attention given to Bay Area-born point guard Sabrina Ionescu. A star rookie from the University of Oregon, Ionescu was drafted number one overall last year by the New York Liberty. Ionescu and her squad opened the season against Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm, and before the National Anthem played, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wnba-storm-liberty-players-walk-off-court-national-anthem/\">both teams walked off the floor\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2yu9SLNz-M\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This came on the heels of the league developing the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wnba.com/news/wnba-announces-a-2020-season-dedicated-to-social-justice/\">Justice Movement\u003c/a> platform and the WNBA/WNBPA Social Justice Council. According to their press release, “The mission of the Social Justice Council is to be a driving force of necessary and continuing conversations about race, voting rights, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and gun control amongst other important societal issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to teams wearing warm-ups that say “Black Lives Matter” across the front and “Say Her Name” on the back, the Social Justice Council has backed this year’s WNBA’s customized jerseys, which bear \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/angel_35/status/1276273404262313984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1276273404262313984%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbsnews.com%2Fnews%2Fwnba-players-special-uniforms-for-women-victims-of-police-brutality-racial-violence-black-lives-matter%2F\">Breonna Taylor’s name\u003c/a> across the back. The idea, reportedly brought forward by \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wnba-black-lives-matter-season-social-justice-say-her-name/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Las Vegas Aces star player Angel McCoughtry\u003c/a>, has met some opposition—namely from Senator Kelly Loeffler. A Republican from Georgia and co-owner of the WNBA team the Atlanta Dream, Senator Loeffler has been \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SenatorLoeffler/status/1289267567727726592?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">critical of the Black Lives Matter movement\u003c/a> in the past, and just last week published \u003ca href=\"https://kellyforsenate.com/wnba-playing-politics/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a statement\u003c/a> against BLM’s “radical ideas and Marxist foundations, which include defunding the police and eroding the nuclear family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loeffler’s statement came in response to WNBA players on both the Atlanta Dream and the Phoenix Mercury wearing shirts that read “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/sports/basketball/wnba-dream-loeffler-warnock.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vote Warnock\u003c/a>,” in support of Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, the Democrat currently campaigning for Senator Loeffler’s seat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/PhoenixMercury/status/1290760554408300546\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">D\u003c/span>onning the shirts wasn’t just a supportive gesture for the broad idea of pushing society toward a more equitable world, like other actions in pro sports—it was a firm and targeted shot into the world of electoral politics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the WNBA isn’t alone in that area. Earlier this summer, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green teamed up with Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy to pen \u003ca href=\"https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29355315/us-senator-murphy-draymond-green-college-sports-return-business-usual\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an op-ed fighting for the right of college athletes to be paid\u003c/a>. Green’s stance is supported by LeBron James, who in addition to being vocal about the issue of college pay has also reportedly \u003ca href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/US/lebron-james-nonprofit-commits-pay-fines-felons-vote/story?id=71975626\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">donated $100,000 to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition\u003c/a> to help pay off the court debts of Florida residents formerly convicted of felonies so that they can be legally allowed to vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s all more direct and effective than earlier, less-successful attempts at confronting social issues. Like in April of 2014, when \u003ca href=\"https://www.espn.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/10848577/los-angeles-clippers-stage-silent-protest-donald-sterling-hide-team-logo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Clippers\u003c/a> protested then-owner Donald Sterling, who had made racist comments in a leaked audio clip. The team essentially threw down their warm-ups at center court, wore inside-out warm-ups (so as to conceal the Clippers’ logo) and then proceeded to play the game while wearing black armbands. They lost to the Warriors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or in July of 2016, when the WNBA initially \u003ca href=\"https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2653275-wnba-fines-players-3-teams-for-wearing-black-warm-up-shirts\">fined players for wearing black warm-up shirts\u003c/a> as a way of protesting police brutality; the league later rescinded the fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, the bubble is handling this year much better than the MLB’s traveling escapade, which has already caused multiple teams to cancel games after players and staff contracted COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The NHL’s bubble in Canada seems to be working, health-wise. And even there, they can’t escape the current conversation: \u003ca href=\"https://deadspin.com/matt-dumba-spoke-from-his-heart-and-the-nhl-left-him-o-1844594073\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Minnesota Wild player Mathew Dumba\u003c/a> spoke out against institutional racism, even within the NHL, before he took a knee during the National Anthem at a game earlier this month. It being hockey, Dumba was alone in kneeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The NFL, America’s darling, is stumbling out of the blocks. As of this week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/09/us/nfl-football-future-spt-trnd/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">over 60 players\u003c/a> have declined to play this season (though they can still \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/agents-take-how-key-players-opting-out-affects-salary-cap-for-2020-and-beyond-plus-more-opt-out-details/#:~:text=The%20%24150%2C000%20stipend%20is%20considered,from%20playing%20in%20the%20NFL.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">receive stipends of $150k or more\u003c/a> as advances against future pay). And, after watching the lack of properly worn face masks in this \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/1289285758868692992?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Philadelphia Eagles promotional video\u003c/a>, I wouldn’t play either. (Two days after that video was posted, the Eagles confirmed that coach \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/1290091673423212544?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Doug Pederson had contracted COVID-19\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But we already know that the NFL, which struggles with issues of domestic violence, players’ mental health and racist owners, doesn’t have the best track record of caring about its players, nor social justice issues. We’ll see how it handles the current social-political climate, as well as health concerns, when they officially kick off next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/JimmyButler/status/1289671825526525955\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he growth that’s happened in basketball is good for the game, and better for the country. I’d like to keep the conversations about social justice and electoral politics going. Even if it gets a little weird at times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ll admit, that pre-fourth quarter interview that sideline reporters do with coaches is already awkward. You know the interview I’m talking about: when the coach clearly doesn’t want to talk, but the network thinks it’s a good idea to have the reporter ask them what their strategy is for the upcoming period. Couple it with questions about the importance of addressing systematic inequality, and it makes for an interaction that’s just a bit off-kilter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a lot of what’s happening in basketball \u003cem>isn’t\u003c/em> awkward. There’s something to be said about \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1290078746083389440?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylen Brown\u003c/a>’s post-game comments from last week, in which he quoted Angela Davis and critiqued the “deeply embedded” racism in the United States—harkening back to the third verse of the National Anthem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, again, acknowledging that these players make millions of dollars to play a game, you have to take your hat off to Jimmy Butler. The Miami Heat player stepped onto the court wearing a jersey with no name at all—to symbolize that if he weren’t an NBA player, he’d be just another Black man. He later posted a photo of the jersey accompanied by a relevant quote from \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/JimmyButler/status/1289671825526525955?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the late Rep. John Lewis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Intellectual monologues from San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich have long been praised. So it’s almost no surprise that earlier this month, when asked about the status of one of his players, Marco Belinelli, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/royceyoung/status/1289997125242085382?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Popovich used it as a chance to explain\u003c/a> the extent of deeply ingrained racism in the country, using legislation from the former Confederacy as an example, at length. (He wrapped by finally noting, “Marco Belinelli is out tonight.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/frntofficesport/status/1287029897710501894\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a real conversation going on here. And it’s not just one-sided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miami Heat big man Myles Leonard says he supports Black Lives Matter, and even has the word “Equality” on his jersey. But Leonard, who served two tours in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marine Corps, has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nba.com/article/2020/08/01/meyers-leonard-stands-anthem-explains-why\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">declined to kneel for the National Anthem\u003c/a>. Jonathan Isaac, who plays for the Orlando Magic, made it clear that he won’t kneel for the National Anthem \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/magics-jonathan-isaac-explains-why-he-didnt-take-knee-or-wear-black-lives-matter-shirt-friday/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">for religious reasons\u003c/a>. (In a bit of unfortunate irony, last week Isaac tore an ACL.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for my personal hesitations, seeing the words “Black Lives Matter” plastered on the hardwood \u003ca href=\"https://junipersports.com/wnba-kicks-off-with-support-for-black-lives-matter-movement/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">next to AT&T and Deloitte\u003c/a> logos still feels slightly \u003cem>off\u003c/em>. Like, either the WNBA and NBA are commandeering the message, or using it as a password to be socially accepted. Or maybe it’s just further evidence that public statements putting one on the “right side of history” are good for business. Just ask Nike—\u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nike-stock-price-reaches-all-time-high-despite-colin-kaepernick-ad-boycott/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their stock reached an all-time high\u003c/a> after their Kaepernick ad in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, again, while I’m a fan of pro hoops and I appreciate superstars using their platform, I do question if it’s \u003cem>just business\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span>fter a hiatus these past few months, pro sports are back. And somehow, in the meantime, I’ve converted from a common fan to a social scientist, paying extremely \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13883646/the-strangeness-of-baseball-during-a-pandemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">close attention\u003c/a> and constantly analyzing how they play a part in the oddity that is the year 2020. Thus far, from what I’ve seen, the WNBA and NBA are maintaining health and safety, as well as keeping a focus on social justice—in fact, they’re doing it better than any of the “Big Four” sports leagues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ve got strict health guidelines and \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_NBA_Bubble\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">now-famous bubbles\u003c/a> to contain the basketball players for the season. The room for social commentary, while limiting (after all, both leagues are businesses), seems to be more flexible than other leagues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s entertaining competition. The actual games, aesthetically, are eye-catching. Even with a \u003ca href=\"https://kslsports.com/439132/whats-it-like-to-be-an-nba-virtual-fan-during-a-jazz-game-in-orlando/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">digital display of fans\u003c/a> replacing the normal crowd, it’s not too bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s also not pure escapism. The masks on the faces of everyone sitting on the sidelines is a reminder that we’re living in a pandemic where over 700,000 people around the world (and \u003cem>over one-hundred and sixty thousand people\u003c/em> in the United States) have died from the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, man, after a long day of work, reading and writing about bad news on top of bad news, confined to my house with no one to talk to, there’s nothing like yelling at my screen while Oakland-raised NBA superstar Damian Lillard goes for 51 points.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13884661\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13884661\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/Lillard.HowManyMore.jpg\" alt=\"Damian Lillard, in a jersey reading 'How Many More,' worn during the 2020 NBA season.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/Lillard.HowManyMore.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/Lillard.HowManyMore-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/Lillard.HowManyMore-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Damian Lillard, in a jersey reading ‘How Many More,’ worn during the 2020 NBA season. \u003ccite>(Via Damian Lillard/IG)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">L\u003c/span>illard, who wears the number 0, sports a jersey this season bearing the words “\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CDbhxHMgJ9G/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How Many More\u003c/a>” across the top. It’s a rhetorical question, posed to the general public, about the number of Black people killed by the police; obviously, the ideal answer is zero. Lillard evidently \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Dame_Lillard/status/1290109760662990850\">wanted to have “Oscar Grant”\u003c/a> on his uniform. But he, like all other NBA players, had to choose from \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/07/30/nba-social-justice-jerseys-names-messages/?arc404=true\">a pre-selected list of about 30 social justice terms\u003c/a> the NBA decided to allow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means Lakers guard Alex Caruso—who, aside from the fact he’s 6’5″, is a relatively “normal looking” balding American white dude—now goes to work every day with the words “Black Lives Matter” on the back of his uniform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At press time, Caruso, along with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, have given the Lakers the best record in the Western Conference in this abbreviated NBA season, which is actually a continuation of the suspended season from earlier this year. That means that, although play resumed just about two weeks ago, the “season” will conclude at the end of this week. And then the playoffs start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the WNBA is heading into their fourth week of play; their abbreviated season began in late July and is set to run until mid-September. (Normally the season goes from late May until early October.) Their bubble is located in Bradenton, Florida, at the sports magnet school IMG Academy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the bubbles within that bubble is the attention given to Bay Area-born point guard Sabrina Ionescu. A star rookie from the University of Oregon, Ionescu was drafted number one overall last year by the New York Liberty. Ionescu and her squad opened the season against Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm, and before the National Anthem played, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wnba-storm-liberty-players-walk-off-court-national-anthem/\">both teams walked off the floor\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/t2yu9SLNz-M'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/t2yu9SLNz-M'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>This came on the heels of the league developing the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wnba.com/news/wnba-announces-a-2020-season-dedicated-to-social-justice/\">Justice Movement\u003c/a> platform and the WNBA/WNBPA Social Justice Council. According to their press release, “The mission of the Social Justice Council is to be a driving force of necessary and continuing conversations about race, voting rights, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and gun control amongst other important societal issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to teams wearing warm-ups that say “Black Lives Matter” across the front and “Say Her Name” on the back, the Social Justice Council has backed this year’s WNBA’s customized jerseys, which bear \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/angel_35/status/1276273404262313984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1276273404262313984%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbsnews.com%2Fnews%2Fwnba-players-special-uniforms-for-women-victims-of-police-brutality-racial-violence-black-lives-matter%2F\">Breonna Taylor’s name\u003c/a> across the back. The idea, reportedly brought forward by \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wnba-black-lives-matter-season-social-justice-say-her-name/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Las Vegas Aces star player Angel McCoughtry\u003c/a>, has met some opposition—namely from Senator Kelly Loeffler. A Republican from Georgia and co-owner of the WNBA team the Atlanta Dream, Senator Loeffler has been \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SenatorLoeffler/status/1289267567727726592?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">critical of the Black Lives Matter movement\u003c/a> in the past, and just last week published \u003ca href=\"https://kellyforsenate.com/wnba-playing-politics/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a statement\u003c/a> against BLM’s “radical ideas and Marxist foundations, which include defunding the police and eroding the nuclear family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loeffler’s statement came in response to WNBA players on both the Atlanta Dream and the Phoenix Mercury wearing shirts that read “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/sports/basketball/wnba-dream-loeffler-warnock.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vote Warnock\u003c/a>,” in support of Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, the Democrat currently campaigning for Senator Loeffler’s seat.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">D\u003c/span>onning the shirts wasn’t just a supportive gesture for the broad idea of pushing society toward a more equitable world, like other actions in pro sports—it was a firm and targeted shot into the world of electoral politics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the WNBA isn’t alone in that area. Earlier this summer, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green teamed up with Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy to pen \u003ca href=\"https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29355315/us-senator-murphy-draymond-green-college-sports-return-business-usual\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an op-ed fighting for the right of college athletes to be paid\u003c/a>. Green’s stance is supported by LeBron James, who in addition to being vocal about the issue of college pay has also reportedly \u003ca href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/US/lebron-james-nonprofit-commits-pay-fines-felons-vote/story?id=71975626\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">donated $100,000 to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition\u003c/a> to help pay off the court debts of Florida residents formerly convicted of felonies so that they can be legally allowed to vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s all more direct and effective than earlier, less-successful attempts at confronting social issues. Like in April of 2014, when \u003ca href=\"https://www.espn.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/10848577/los-angeles-clippers-stage-silent-protest-donald-sterling-hide-team-logo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Clippers\u003c/a> protested then-owner Donald Sterling, who had made racist comments in a leaked audio clip. The team essentially threw down their warm-ups at center court, wore inside-out warm-ups (so as to conceal the Clippers’ logo) and then proceeded to play the game while wearing black armbands. They lost to the Warriors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or in July of 2016, when the WNBA initially \u003ca href=\"https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2653275-wnba-fines-players-3-teams-for-wearing-black-warm-up-shirts\">fined players for wearing black warm-up shirts\u003c/a> as a way of protesting police brutality; the league later rescinded the fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, the bubble is handling this year much better than the MLB’s traveling escapade, which has already caused multiple teams to cancel games after players and staff contracted COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The NHL’s bubble in Canada seems to be working, health-wise. And even there, they can’t escape the current conversation: \u003ca href=\"https://deadspin.com/matt-dumba-spoke-from-his-heart-and-the-nhl-left-him-o-1844594073\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Minnesota Wild player Mathew Dumba\u003c/a> spoke out against institutional racism, even within the NHL, before he took a knee during the National Anthem at a game earlier this month. It being hockey, Dumba was alone in kneeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The NFL, America’s darling, is stumbling out of the blocks. As of this week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/09/us/nfl-football-future-spt-trnd/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">over 60 players\u003c/a> have declined to play this season (though they can still \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/agents-take-how-key-players-opting-out-affects-salary-cap-for-2020-and-beyond-plus-more-opt-out-details/#:~:text=The%20%24150%2C000%20stipend%20is%20considered,from%20playing%20in%20the%20NFL.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">receive stipends of $150k or more\u003c/a> as advances against future pay). And, after watching the lack of properly worn face masks in this \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/1289285758868692992?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Philadelphia Eagles promotional video\u003c/a>, I wouldn’t play either. (Two days after that video was posted, the Eagles confirmed that coach \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/1290091673423212544?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Doug Pederson had contracted COVID-19\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But we already know that the NFL, which struggles with issues of domestic violence, players’ mental health and racist owners, doesn’t have the best track record of caring about its players, nor social justice issues. We’ll see how it handles the current social-political climate, as well as health concerns, when they officially kick off next month.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he growth that’s happened in basketball is good for the game, and better for the country. I’d like to keep the conversations about social justice and electoral politics going. Even if it gets a little weird at times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ll admit, that pre-fourth quarter interview that sideline reporters do with coaches is already awkward. You know the interview I’m talking about: when the coach clearly doesn’t want to talk, but the network thinks it’s a good idea to have the reporter ask them what their strategy is for the upcoming period. Couple it with questions about the importance of addressing systematic inequality, and it makes for an interaction that’s just a bit off-kilter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a lot of what’s happening in basketball \u003cem>isn’t\u003c/em> awkward. There’s something to be said about \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1290078746083389440?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylen Brown\u003c/a>’s post-game comments from last week, in which he quoted Angela Davis and critiqued the “deeply embedded” racism in the United States—harkening back to the third verse of the National Anthem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, again, acknowledging that these players make millions of dollars to play a game, you have to take your hat off to Jimmy Butler. The Miami Heat player stepped onto the court wearing a jersey with no name at all—to symbolize that if he weren’t an NBA player, he’d be just another Black man. He later posted a photo of the jersey accompanied by a relevant quote from \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/JimmyButler/status/1289671825526525955?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the late Rep. John Lewis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Intellectual monologues from San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich have long been praised. So it’s almost no surprise that earlier this month, when asked about the status of one of his players, Marco Belinelli, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/royceyoung/status/1289997125242085382?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Popovich used it as a chance to explain\u003c/a> the extent of deeply ingrained racism in the country, using legislation from the former Confederacy as an example, at length. (He wrapped by finally noting, “Marco Belinelli is out tonight.”)\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>There’s a real conversation going on here. And it’s not just one-sided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miami Heat big man Myles Leonard says he supports Black Lives Matter, and even has the word “Equality” on his jersey. But Leonard, who served two tours in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marine Corps, has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nba.com/article/2020/08/01/meyers-leonard-stands-anthem-explains-why\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">declined to kneel for the National Anthem\u003c/a>. Jonathan Isaac, who plays for the Orlando Magic, made it clear that he won’t kneel for the National Anthem \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/magics-jonathan-isaac-explains-why-he-didnt-take-knee-or-wear-black-lives-matter-shirt-friday/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">for religious reasons\u003c/a>. (In a bit of unfortunate irony, last week Isaac tore an ACL.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for my personal hesitations, seeing the words “Black Lives Matter” plastered on the hardwood \u003ca href=\"https://junipersports.com/wnba-kicks-off-with-support-for-black-lives-matter-movement/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">next to AT&T and Deloitte\u003c/a> logos still feels slightly \u003cem>off\u003c/em>. Like, either the WNBA and NBA are commandeering the message, or using it as a password to be socially accepted. Or maybe it’s just further evidence that public statements putting one on the “right side of history” are good for business. Just ask Nike—\u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nike-stock-price-reaches-all-time-high-despite-colin-kaepernick-ad-boycott/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their stock reached an all-time high\u003c/a> after their Kaepernick ad in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, again, while I’m a fan of pro hoops and I appreciate superstars using their platform, I do question if it’s \u003cem>just business\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "huey-newton-was-freed-50-years-ago-today-whats-really-changed",
"title": "Huey Newton Was Freed 50 Years Ago. What's Really Changed?",
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"headTitle": "Huey Newton Was Freed 50 Years Ago. What’s Really Changed? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">W\u003c/span>hen Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton was released from Oakland’s Alameda County Courthouse 50 years ago, on Aug. 5, 1970, he scaled the top of a car and looked out to the crowd of people gathered in support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/189469\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Footage\u003c/a> shows all eyes on Newton. He’d \u003ca href=\"https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/huey-newton-twenty-five-floors-from-the-street-176820/\">later tell \u003cem>Rolling Stone\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that taking off his prison-issue shirt wasn’t necessarily intended to be a symbolic gesture; it was just the consequence of it being a hot day in August. Nevertheless, Newton stood atop the automobile, shirtless, arm muscles big enough to lift the courthouse he just walked out of, as he addressed the crowd. News cameras rolled as he told those within earshot his soft-spoken words: “You have the power, and the power is with the people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, on Sunday, July 26, I drove two circles around the Alameda County Courthouse to observe the damage from the night before. The windows were busted, the walls of the joint were tattooed with anti-police graffiti, and burn marks remained from a fire started just inside of the building’s main entry (it was extinguished before causing any major damage). The damage occurred after a protest spearheaded by a group of people said to be in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon. The people who actually vandalized the courthouse, and those who did a number on the federal building and Oakland Police headquarters nearby, remain unidentified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I took a picture of the courthouse that Sunday morning and posted it on social media. Many responses hypothesized about the people who did the damage, where they were from, and what their intentions were. Journalist Rasheed Shabazz responded by wondering: where’s the “Free Huey” message?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>50 years after Huey was freed, that same courthouse is one of the many battlegrounds in the current fight for liberation and justice—but is it the \u003cem>same \u003c/em>fight?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13884382\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13884382\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-800x582.jpg\" alt=\"The Alameda County Courthouse on July 26, 2020, after being spray-painted and torched by protesters.\" width=\"800\" height=\"582\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-800x582.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-1020x742.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-160x116.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-768x559.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-1536x1117.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-1920x1397.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse.jpg 2047w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Alameda County Courthouse on July 26, 2020, after being spray-painted and torched by protesters the night before. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span>round 5am on Oct. 28, 1967, Huey P. Newton was driving a Volkswagen with passenger Gene McKinney when he hit the corner of 7th and Willow Street in West Oakland, \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/8/359.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to court documents\u003c/a>. That’s where he was pulled over by Oakland Police Officer John Frey; the officer called for backup immediately, which brought Officer Herbert Heanes to the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From there, the details get sketchy. There’s a story of Newton being asked to exit his car, and him doing so, law book in hand. There’s a report that Officer Frey might’ve called Newton a derogatory term after telling Newton where he could shove that law book. From all accounts I’ve read, commotion ensued from that point. Shots were fired and Newton was hit in the abdomen. Both officers were hit multiple times. Officer Frey died from his wounds. Officer Heanes survived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only fired rounds of ammunition retrieved from the scene were police-issued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huey, reportedly in and out of consciousness, ended up at Kaiser hospital, where he was simultaneously arrested and treated for his wounds. Photos show him \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackresearchcentral.com/uploads/4/1/3/7/4137870/733529614-huey-p-newton-handcuffed-to-hospital-bed-after-killing-cop_orig.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">handcuffed to a medical bed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1968, Newton went to trial and was found guilty of manslaughter. His attorney, Charles Garry, brought the case to the California Courts of Appeal. In May of 1970, it was found that the judge in the first trial held back relevant information to the jury—namely, that Newton’s contention that he was unconscious at the time Officer Frey was shot constituted a complete defense of manslaughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police brutality, shoddy evidence and a court system failing to do its job. Similar circumstances exist nowadays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"630\" height=\"730\" src=\"https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/189469\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The killing of George Floyd, during which multiple officers not only abused their power but also failed to check their coworker, showed that it’s not just about one bad cop. The death of Breonna Taylor, in which officers abused their power \u003cem>and\u003c/em> those in higher office have failed to bring justice, proves that the issues go beyond the officers patrolling the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And here in the Bay Area, there’s a long list of similar evidence: you can see recent examples in the California Highway Patrol withholding details in the killing of \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/DarwinBondGraha/status/1289363881836425217?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Erik Salgado\u003c/a> in East Oakland, and the Vallejo Police Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101878756/destruction-of-evidence-in-vallejo-police-shooting-spurs-calls-for-federal-investigation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">destroying evidence\u003c/a> in the killing of Sean Monterrosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13884376\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13884376\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/FredHamptonGrave-800x1055.jpg\" alt=\"The tombstone of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, Sr., which is shot up annually by officers in Haynesville, LA.\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The tombstone of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, Sr., which is shot up annually by officers in Haynesville, LA. \u003ccite>(Courtesy \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rasceylon/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\">Ras Ceylon\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he larger context of Huey P. Newton’s arrest was an all-out war waged on the Black Panther Party, Black Nationalists and Communists, concentrated in the counterintelligence program (\u003ca href=\"https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">COINTELPRO\u003c/a>), which was spearheaded by former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This led to the spread of misinformation and the insurgence of agent provocateurs in numerous groups. It also led to the incarceration of numerous Black Panther members and the killings of Black Panther leaders Mark Clark and Fred Hampton, Sr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a stretch to say that unmarked federal agents at protests in Portland and New York are any comparison to the FBI’s massive effort to stop the rise of a singular “Black Messiah,” one of the \u003ca href=\"https://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/814\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">goals of COINTELPRO\u003c/a>. But there’s something eerily similar about the federal government turning on its own people for the act of holding the government accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Footage of the federal troops in Portland shocked many, but realistically, it was a natural result of years of heightened state oppression. In 1970, when Newton was released after serving over two years at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, California’s prison population was 25,033. It would decline to 16,970 in 1972 before skyrocketing over the next four decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over-policing, over-sentencing, “three strikes” laws, the cocaine/crack disparity and mandatory minimums, combined with the demonization of African American youth in the media (see: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ4Z-803JZE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">superpredators\u003c/a>“), all made for a prolonged prison boom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, the conditions of California’s jails, prisons, juvenile detention centers and ICE facilities have been somewhere between poor and uninhabitable. They have seen prison strikes, riots, and numerous deaths. In 2011, \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-1233.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Supreme Court ruled\u003c/a> that the health conditions at California’s prisons constituted a violation of prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights protecting them from cruel and unusual punishment. The state was ordered to cut its prison population down from a high of over 160,000 to 110,000, or 137.5% of its capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A decade later, after numerous legislative changes, a process called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/guide-to-california-prisons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">realignment\u003c/a>,” and expedited releases in effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, just last month the overall prison population dropped below 100,000 for the first time in three decades. As of last week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/research/wp-content/uploads/sites/174/2020/07/Tpop1d200729.pdf\">California’s prison population is at 114%\u003c/a> of its capacity—meaning that although it’s finally well below federal guidelines, there are still more people behind bars than they were designed to hold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of that, this past weekend a group by the name \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/nojusticeundercapitalism/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">No Justice Under Capitalism\u003c/a> helped to organize protests at San Quentin, where inside the facility about 1/3 of the population has reportedly contracted COVID, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/covid19/population-status-tracking/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">over 22 people have died\u003c/a> from the virus. Also, last week, demonstrators gathered in front of Governor Gavin Newsom’s house to protest conditions faced by people in California’s prisons and ICE custody. The 14 protestors \u003ca href=\"https://ciyja.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FreeThemAll14.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">were then arrested\u003c/a>, and experienced the conditions firsthand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13884375\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13884375\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-800x525.jpg\" alt=\"Huey P. Newton and Billy X, archivist for the Black Panther Party, together in the 1980s.\" width=\"800\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-800x525.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-1020x669.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-768x504.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-1536x1007.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Huey P. Newton with Billy X, archivist for the Black Panther Party. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Billy X)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he graffiti on the courthouse that Sunday morning in July was markedly different than everything else that’s adorned the walls of downtown Oakland over the past few months. Earlier this summer, in response to threats of vandalism, businesses covered their windows with plywood, providing the perfect canvas for artists to express themselves. In the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881529/photos-black-lives-matter-murals-call-for-justice-on-oaklands-walls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">open-air art gallery\u003c/a> were raised painted images of Black fists, the names of those slain by police officers, and a mural or two bearing the Black Panther logo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Oakland has no permanent monument dedicated to the Black Panther Party, the ideals the party stood for are alive today. They’re shown through the city’s arts and culture, if nowhere else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A plaque on 55th and Market, dedicated to the Black Panthers’ efforts to establish a crossing light for schoolchildren at the former site of Santa Fe Elementary School. A portion of DeFremery Park officially dedicated to Lil Bobby Hutton, the first and youngest Black Panther to be killed by the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are multiple murals around the town honoring the Panthers’ legacy, many of them done by artist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851520/rightnowish-refa-one-spraypaint-in-hand-honors-west-oaklands-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Refa-1\u003c/a>. And with guidance from Black Panther leader Ericka Huggins, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jilchristinavest/mural-the-women-of-the-black-panther-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jilchristina Vest\u003c/a> is developing a mural in West Oakland dedicated to the women of the party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, council member Lynette McElhaney introduced a resolution to rename 9th Street between Center Street and Chester Street—the place where Newton was shot and killed in 1989—as “Dr. Huey P. Newton Way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://hueypnewtonfoundation.org/about-the-foundation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation\u003c/a>, with the support of Huey’s widow Fredrika Newton, is currently pushing for a permanent monument honoring Huey in front of the courthouse, among other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the Oakland Museum of California is currently remodeling its building and creating an entrance/exit not too far from the proposed monument site. The OMCA knows the impact of the Panthers’ legacy: their 50th anniversary exhibition dedicated to the Party attracted the highest number of attendees in the museum’s history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12278228\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12278228\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Angela Davis speaks inside West Oakland's abandoned 16th Street train station, in a still from Ava DuVernay's '13th.'\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angela Davis speaks inside West Oakland’s abandoned 16th Street train station, in a still from Ava DuVernay’s ’13th.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of SFFS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">C\u003c/span>ertain things today are clear connections to the past. Dr. Angela Davis continues to appear at both \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CalEndow/status/1276183690289258497\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">protests\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ShelleDione/status/998622334717124609\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">gatherings of Black joy\u003c/a>. There are former Panthers, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/01/jalil-muntaqim-former-black-panther-covid-19-prison\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalil Muntaqim\u003c/a>, who are still incarcerated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ericka Huggins is still active, working in education. Joan Tarika Lewis is using social media to remain engaged in arts, culture and politics. Fred Hampton Jr. is pushing to \u003ca href=\"https://southsideweekly.com/bigger-than-a-building-hampton-home/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">preserve his father’s childhood house\u003c/a> in Chicago. And Black Panther archivist Billy X Jennings tells me he would’ve helped organize a celebration in honor of Dr. Huey P. Newton today if it weren’t for precautions around large gatherings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.rickeyvincent.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rickey Vincent\u003c/a>, radio host and author of \u003cem>Party Music\u003c/em>, a book about the Black Panther Party’s house band \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851531/a-brief-history-of-the-lumpen-the-black-panthers-revolutionary-funk-band\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Lumpen\u003c/a>, told me he’s noticed a few drastic differences between the two eras of protest. For starters, there is no clear leader of this current movement, no “Black Messiah,” for better or for worse. And secondly, while Newton himself advocated for \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=W3ZV9ingN7g&feature=emb_logo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">freeing all political prisoners\u003c/a>, there is no clear end goal, as there was with the Free Huey movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this point, the phrase “Black Lives Matter” has lost whatever teeth it had to start with. Calls to defund the police, while attention-grabbing, remain a nuanced goal, with room for contention. Still, clear end goals exist with specific actionable demands that everyday people can understand, like instructions to \u003ca href=\"https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/breonna-taylor-demand-justice-1015060/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">call the District Attorney’s office and demand justice for Breonna Taylor\u003c/a>—that’s where actual change comes from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if we focused the next 50 years on specific actionable items to change the justice and prison systems? Now \u003cem>that’d\u003c/em> be a monumental change to the function of the Alameda County Courthouse. And it’d honor Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party in the best way possible—to truly bring the power to the people.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Huey Newton Was Freed 50 Years Ago. What's Really Changed? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">W\u003c/span>hen Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton was released from Oakland’s Alameda County Courthouse 50 years ago, on Aug. 5, 1970, he scaled the top of a car and looked out to the crowd of people gathered in support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/189469\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Footage\u003c/a> shows all eyes on Newton. He’d \u003ca href=\"https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/huey-newton-twenty-five-floors-from-the-street-176820/\">later tell \u003cem>Rolling Stone\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that taking off his prison-issue shirt wasn’t necessarily intended to be a symbolic gesture; it was just the consequence of it being a hot day in August. Nevertheless, Newton stood atop the automobile, shirtless, arm muscles big enough to lift the courthouse he just walked out of, as he addressed the crowd. News cameras rolled as he told those within earshot his soft-spoken words: “You have the power, and the power is with the people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, on Sunday, July 26, I drove two circles around the Alameda County Courthouse to observe the damage from the night before. The windows were busted, the walls of the joint were tattooed with anti-police graffiti, and burn marks remained from a fire started just inside of the building’s main entry (it was extinguished before causing any major damage). The damage occurred after a protest spearheaded by a group of people said to be in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon. The people who actually vandalized the courthouse, and those who did a number on the federal building and Oakland Police headquarters nearby, remain unidentified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I took a picture of the courthouse that Sunday morning and posted it on social media. Many responses hypothesized about the people who did the damage, where they were from, and what their intentions were. Journalist Rasheed Shabazz responded by wondering: where’s the “Free Huey” message?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>50 years after Huey was freed, that same courthouse is one of the many battlegrounds in the current fight for liberation and justice—but is it the \u003cem>same \u003c/em>fight?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13884382\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13884382\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-800x582.jpg\" alt=\"The Alameda County Courthouse on July 26, 2020, after being spray-painted and torched by protesters.\" width=\"800\" height=\"582\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-800x582.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-1020x742.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-160x116.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-768x559.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-1536x1117.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse-1920x1397.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/AlamedaCountyCourthouse.jpg 2047w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Alameda County Courthouse on July 26, 2020, after being spray-painted and torched by protesters the night before. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span>round 5am on Oct. 28, 1967, Huey P. Newton was driving a Volkswagen with passenger Gene McKinney when he hit the corner of 7th and Willow Street in West Oakland, \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/8/359.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to court documents\u003c/a>. That’s where he was pulled over by Oakland Police Officer John Frey; the officer called for backup immediately, which brought Officer Herbert Heanes to the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From there, the details get sketchy. There’s a story of Newton being asked to exit his car, and him doing so, law book in hand. There’s a report that Officer Frey might’ve called Newton a derogatory term after telling Newton where he could shove that law book. From all accounts I’ve read, commotion ensued from that point. Shots were fired and Newton was hit in the abdomen. Both officers were hit multiple times. Officer Frey died from his wounds. Officer Heanes survived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only fired rounds of ammunition retrieved from the scene were police-issued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huey, reportedly in and out of consciousness, ended up at Kaiser hospital, where he was simultaneously arrested and treated for his wounds. Photos show him \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackresearchcentral.com/uploads/4/1/3/7/4137870/733529614-huey-p-newton-handcuffed-to-hospital-bed-after-killing-cop_orig.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">handcuffed to a medical bed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1968, Newton went to trial and was found guilty of manslaughter. His attorney, Charles Garry, brought the case to the California Courts of Appeal. In May of 1970, it was found that the judge in the first trial held back relevant information to the jury—namely, that Newton’s contention that he was unconscious at the time Officer Frey was shot constituted a complete defense of manslaughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police brutality, shoddy evidence and a court system failing to do its job. Similar circumstances exist nowadays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"630\" height=\"730\" src=\"https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/189469\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The killing of George Floyd, during which multiple officers not only abused their power but also failed to check their coworker, showed that it’s not just about one bad cop. The death of Breonna Taylor, in which officers abused their power \u003cem>and\u003c/em> those in higher office have failed to bring justice, proves that the issues go beyond the officers patrolling the streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And here in the Bay Area, there’s a long list of similar evidence: you can see recent examples in the California Highway Patrol withholding details in the killing of \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/DarwinBondGraha/status/1289363881836425217?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Erik Salgado\u003c/a> in East Oakland, and the Vallejo Police Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101878756/destruction-of-evidence-in-vallejo-police-shooting-spurs-calls-for-federal-investigation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">destroying evidence\u003c/a> in the killing of Sean Monterrosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13884376\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13884376\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/FredHamptonGrave-800x1055.jpg\" alt=\"The tombstone of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, Sr., which is shot up annually by officers in Haynesville, LA.\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The tombstone of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, Sr., which is shot up annually by officers in Haynesville, LA. \u003ccite>(Courtesy \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rasceylon/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\">Ras Ceylon\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he larger context of Huey P. Newton’s arrest was an all-out war waged on the Black Panther Party, Black Nationalists and Communists, concentrated in the counterintelligence program (\u003ca href=\"https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">COINTELPRO\u003c/a>), which was spearheaded by former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This led to the spread of misinformation and the insurgence of agent provocateurs in numerous groups. It also led to the incarceration of numerous Black Panther members and the killings of Black Panther leaders Mark Clark and Fred Hampton, Sr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a stretch to say that unmarked federal agents at protests in Portland and New York are any comparison to the FBI’s massive effort to stop the rise of a singular “Black Messiah,” one of the \u003ca href=\"https://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/814\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">goals of COINTELPRO\u003c/a>. But there’s something eerily similar about the federal government turning on its own people for the act of holding the government accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Footage of the federal troops in Portland shocked many, but realistically, it was a natural result of years of heightened state oppression. In 1970, when Newton was released after serving over two years at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, California’s prison population was 25,033. It would decline to 16,970 in 1972 before skyrocketing over the next four decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over-policing, over-sentencing, “three strikes” laws, the cocaine/crack disparity and mandatory minimums, combined with the demonization of African American youth in the media (see: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ4Z-803JZE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">superpredators\u003c/a>“), all made for a prolonged prison boom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, the conditions of California’s jails, prisons, juvenile detention centers and ICE facilities have been somewhere between poor and uninhabitable. They have seen prison strikes, riots, and numerous deaths. In 2011, \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-1233.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Supreme Court ruled\u003c/a> that the health conditions at California’s prisons constituted a violation of prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights protecting them from cruel and unusual punishment. The state was ordered to cut its prison population down from a high of over 160,000 to 110,000, or 137.5% of its capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A decade later, after numerous legislative changes, a process called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/guide-to-california-prisons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">realignment\u003c/a>,” and expedited releases in effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, just last month the overall prison population dropped below 100,000 for the first time in three decades. As of last week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/research/wp-content/uploads/sites/174/2020/07/Tpop1d200729.pdf\">California’s prison population is at 114%\u003c/a> of its capacity—meaning that although it’s finally well below federal guidelines, there are still more people behind bars than they were designed to hold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of that, this past weekend a group by the name \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/nojusticeundercapitalism/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">No Justice Under Capitalism\u003c/a> helped to organize protests at San Quentin, where inside the facility about 1/3 of the population has reportedly contracted COVID, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/covid19/population-status-tracking/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">over 22 people have died\u003c/a> from the virus. Also, last week, demonstrators gathered in front of Governor Gavin Newsom’s house to protest conditions faced by people in California’s prisons and ICE custody. The 14 protestors \u003ca href=\"https://ciyja.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FreeThemAll14.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">were then arrested\u003c/a>, and experienced the conditions firsthand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13884375\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13884375\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-800x525.jpg\" alt=\"Huey P. Newton and Billy X, archivist for the Black Panther Party, together in the 1980s.\" width=\"800\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-800x525.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-1020x669.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-768x504.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX-1536x1007.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/HueyNewton.BillyX.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Huey P. Newton with Billy X, archivist for the Black Panther Party. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Billy X)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he graffiti on the courthouse that Sunday morning in July was markedly different than everything else that’s adorned the walls of downtown Oakland over the past few months. Earlier this summer, in response to threats of vandalism, businesses covered their windows with plywood, providing the perfect canvas for artists to express themselves. In the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881529/photos-black-lives-matter-murals-call-for-justice-on-oaklands-walls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">open-air art gallery\u003c/a> were raised painted images of Black fists, the names of those slain by police officers, and a mural or two bearing the Black Panther logo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Oakland has no permanent monument dedicated to the Black Panther Party, the ideals the party stood for are alive today. They’re shown through the city’s arts and culture, if nowhere else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A plaque on 55th and Market, dedicated to the Black Panthers’ efforts to establish a crossing light for schoolchildren at the former site of Santa Fe Elementary School. A portion of DeFremery Park officially dedicated to Lil Bobby Hutton, the first and youngest Black Panther to be killed by the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are multiple murals around the town honoring the Panthers’ legacy, many of them done by artist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851520/rightnowish-refa-one-spraypaint-in-hand-honors-west-oaklands-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Refa-1\u003c/a>. And with guidance from Black Panther leader Ericka Huggins, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jilchristinavest/mural-the-women-of-the-black-panther-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jilchristina Vest\u003c/a> is developing a mural in West Oakland dedicated to the women of the party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, council member Lynette McElhaney introduced a resolution to rename 9th Street between Center Street and Chester Street—the place where Newton was shot and killed in 1989—as “Dr. Huey P. Newton Way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://hueypnewtonfoundation.org/about-the-foundation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation\u003c/a>, with the support of Huey’s widow Fredrika Newton, is currently pushing for a permanent monument honoring Huey in front of the courthouse, among other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the Oakland Museum of California is currently remodeling its building and creating an entrance/exit not too far from the proposed monument site. The OMCA knows the impact of the Panthers’ legacy: their 50th anniversary exhibition dedicated to the Party attracted the highest number of attendees in the museum’s history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12278228\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12278228\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Angela Davis speaks inside West Oakland's abandoned 16th Street train station, in a still from Ava DuVernay's '13th.'\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/13th_01-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angela Davis speaks inside West Oakland’s abandoned 16th Street train station, in a still from Ava DuVernay’s ’13th.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of SFFS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">C\u003c/span>ertain things today are clear connections to the past. Dr. Angela Davis continues to appear at both \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CalEndow/status/1276183690289258497\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">protests\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ShelleDione/status/998622334717124609\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">gatherings of Black joy\u003c/a>. There are former Panthers, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/01/jalil-muntaqim-former-black-panther-covid-19-prison\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalil Muntaqim\u003c/a>, who are still incarcerated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ericka Huggins is still active, working in education. Joan Tarika Lewis is using social media to remain engaged in arts, culture and politics. Fred Hampton Jr. is pushing to \u003ca href=\"https://southsideweekly.com/bigger-than-a-building-hampton-home/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">preserve his father’s childhood house\u003c/a> in Chicago. And Black Panther archivist Billy X Jennings tells me he would’ve helped organize a celebration in honor of Dr. Huey P. Newton today if it weren’t for precautions around large gatherings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.rickeyvincent.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rickey Vincent\u003c/a>, radio host and author of \u003cem>Party Music\u003c/em>, a book about the Black Panther Party’s house band \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851531/a-brief-history-of-the-lumpen-the-black-panthers-revolutionary-funk-band\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Lumpen\u003c/a>, told me he’s noticed a few drastic differences between the two eras of protest. For starters, there is no clear leader of this current movement, no “Black Messiah,” for better or for worse. And secondly, while Newton himself advocated for \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=W3ZV9ingN7g&feature=emb_logo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">freeing all political prisoners\u003c/a>, there is no clear end goal, as there was with the Free Huey movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this point, the phrase “Black Lives Matter” has lost whatever teeth it had to start with. Calls to defund the police, while attention-grabbing, remain a nuanced goal, with room for contention. Still, clear end goals exist with specific actionable demands that everyday people can understand, like instructions to \u003ca href=\"https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/breonna-taylor-demand-justice-1015060/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">call the District Attorney’s office and demand justice for Breonna Taylor\u003c/a>—that’s where actual change comes from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if we focused the next 50 years on specific actionable items to change the justice and prison systems? Now \u003cem>that’d\u003c/em> be a monumental change to the function of the Alameda County Courthouse. And it’d honor Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party in the best way possible—to truly bring the power to the people.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Where Is the Empathy for Black Women When They’re Victims of Violence?",
"headTitle": "Where Is the Empathy for Black Women When They’re Victims of Violence? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Update, Oct. 8, 2020: \u003c/strong>According to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-megan-thee-stallion-tory-lanez-shootings-hollywood-185874c9213d94b556e40d5ca5e64b82\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Associated Press\u003c/a>, Los Angeles prosecutors have charged Tory Lanez with two felonies in relation to his alleged shooting of Megan Thee Stallion: one count of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and one count of carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Update, Aug. 21, 2020: \u003c/strong>More than a month after surviving a shooting in the Hollywood Hills, Megan Thee Stallion named Tory Lanez as the alleged assailant in an Instagram Live video. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office is conducting an investigation to decide whether to press charges against Lanez for felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On July 12, one of the brightest stars in rap could have been killed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Following days of online speculation about what happened after a late-night party in the Hollywood Hills, Megan Thee Stallion \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CCrBV3vlHvA/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">took to Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to explain that she had “suffered gunshot wounds as a result of a crime that was committed” against her and that she was “grateful to be alive.” Though she didn’t name the assailant, hip-hop commentators and fans widely believe him to be Tory Lanez, the R&B singer Megan had been seen hanging out with on social media since at least May. Following the incident, Lanez was arrested on concealed weapon charges and awaits a court hearing in October. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite the seriousness of the situation, people continued to post \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/megan-thee-stallion-shooting-twitter-memes/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">jokes, memes and judgmental comments\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. While recovering from gunshot wounds in both feet, Megan took to Twitter to remind people that “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/theestallion/status/1284236881971085313\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black women are so unprotected\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” and “we hold so many things to protect the feelings of others w/o considering our own.” She asked for sympathy, something that should have been granted to her from the beginning. Yet the public still \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/27/megan-thee-stallion-shooting-black-women\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">seemed reluctant to show\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> any. Black women’s hearts sank as they read Megan’s reflections, an all too familiar feeling of grief setting in. If a megastar like Megan was unsafe, what did that say about the average Black woman in the United States? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/theestallion/status/1284236881971085313?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black women’s concerns about their physical and emotional safety are not exaggerated. Statistics show that more than \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://assets.speakcdn.com/assets/2497/dv_in_the_black_community.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">40% of Black women will experience intimate partner violence\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in their lifetimes, and that they’re 2.5 times as likely to be killed by a man than white women. Black girls are also seen as adults from an earlier age; people view them as “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.law.georgetown.edu/news/research-confirms-that-black-girls-feel-the-sting-of-adultification-bias-identified-in-earlier-georgetown-law-study/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">less innocent\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” and, at times, blame them for experiencing abuse. The anger and grief associated with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://now.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Black-Women-and-Sexual-Violence-6.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">higher rates of sexual abuse\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> are routinely misjudged as “attitude” instead of as trauma responses. This can limit the compassion Black women and girls receive from their communities and people in positions of authority alike. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Colorism only intensifies these disparities. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2011/07/09/lighter-skin-ligher-sentence/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dark-skinned Black women\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> face harsher punishments and prison sentences. Skin color seems to be directly tied to perceptions of victimhood. So it’s heartbreaking—and, unfortunately, unsurprising—that many onlookers discredit the severity of the violence that Black women like Megan Thee Stallion experience. [aside postid='arts_13881399']\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Comic relief, albeit an important part of Black culture, can also be used as a defense mechanism to avoid complex emotions. Jokes become deadly ideological ploys when made at marginalized people’s expense. And most of the “comic relief” about Megan’s tragic ordeal did more to expose the public’s inability to take domestic violence seriously. There were some jokes about Tory Lanez’ \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sohh.com/internet-roasts-tory-lanez-megan-thee-stallion-destroying-his-stature-in-savage-memes-had-to-give-him-a-booster-seat-so-he-could-ride-in-the-police-car/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">height\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and bravado, but they failed to get at the root issue: That women still have to tiptoe around men’s fragile egos, whether it be their \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Napoleon complexes\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or their failure to process rejection. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another issue is fake news. Some speculated that Megan fought Tory Lanez, a claim she has denied, and others—including Cam’ron—made unfounded claims that Megan revealed that she’s\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.xxlmag.com/camron-megan-thee-stallion-tory-lanez-transphobia-insensitive-joke/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> trans\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, as if that would somehow justify Tory Lanez allegedly shooting at her. This claim contributes to the dangerous normalization of harming Black trans people. It still hasn’t sunk in. In order for Black lives to matter, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">all\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Black life must be respected, protected and affirmed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Savage” and Megan Thee Stallion’s other hit songs inspire millions of listeners to take charge. She’s built a career off of her fierce public persona, but that doesn’t make her invincible. We can’t forget that she’s experienced immense trauma in her young adult life, including losing numerous close family members. On July 27, Megan returned to Instagram to make an emotional plea. Tearing up, she described the physical and emotional trauma of the shooting. The post led to apologies from celebrities such as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/chrissy-teigen-apologizes-joke-she-154312497.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Chrissy Teigen\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.complex.com/music/2020/07/50-cent-apologizes-megan-thee-stallion-shooting-incident-meme\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">50 Cent\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eonline.com/news/1173039/draya-michele-apologizes-to-megan-thee-stallion-for-making-light-of-shooting-incident\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Draya Michele\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, all of whom had made light of her experience. Thankfully, Megan’s fans and supporters stood\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://uproxx.com/music/megan-thee-stallion-rihanna-lizzo-gifts-shot/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> behind her\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Lizzo sent her a bag of goodies and Rihanna mailed flowers, both demonstrating the importance of Black women standing up for one another. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Megan’s story also exposes the difficult position Black women survivors of domestic violence navigate as their desire not to “snitch” on abusers clashes with their need to get out of harm’s way. Police involvement can put Black women in danger or at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://vawnet.org/material/womens-experiences-abuse-risk-factor-incarceration\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">risk of incarceration themselves\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And many survivors and their advocates argue that the criminalization of abusers does little to rehabilitate our communities, and that the focus should be on providing survivors with resources they need for healing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So where can Black women turn? Organizations like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://ujimacommunity.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ujima\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, part of the National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community, offer educational tools and community outreach. But it’s clear that there aren’t enough tools for survivors. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. Prison abolition activist \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.indigomateo.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Indigo Mateo\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> recently commented that to be a Black woman survivor is a kind of strange privilege—in a sense, we’re lucky because not all of us make it. Black women are killed at a higher rate than any other group of women. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">During this moment of national reckoning against racism, we must take violence against Black women seriously. We must speak up. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some of our sisters will never get the chance to speak again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Resources for Survivors\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.thehotline.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The National Domestic Violence Hotline\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is available 24/7 at \u003cstrong>1-800-799-7233\u003c/strong>. If you are unable to speak safely, text LOVEIS to \u003cstrong>1-866-331-9474\u003c/strong>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.womaninc.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">W.O.M.A.N. Inc.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> offers a 24-hour support line at \u003cstrong>1-877-384-3578\u003c/strong> and offers counseling services and peer supporting groups for domestic violence survivors. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.rainn.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">RAINN\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has a hotline and live chat for sexual assault survivors that offers emotional support, health resources and legal information at \u003cstrong>1-800-656-4673\u003c/strong>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.roclinic.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> offers free legal services for survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking in the Bay Area.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Jokes and memes about Megan Thee Stallion getting shot illustrate a lack of support for Black women facing abuse.",
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"description": "Black women face high rates of intimate partner violence and other abuse, and we must take violence against them seriously.",
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"headline": "Where Is the Empathy for Black Women When They’re Victims of Violence?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Update, Oct. 8, 2020: \u003c/strong>According to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-megan-thee-stallion-tory-lanez-shootings-hollywood-185874c9213d94b556e40d5ca5e64b82\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Associated Press\u003c/a>, Los Angeles prosecutors have charged Tory Lanez with two felonies in relation to his alleged shooting of Megan Thee Stallion: one count of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and one count of carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Update, Aug. 21, 2020: \u003c/strong>More than a month after surviving a shooting in the Hollywood Hills, Megan Thee Stallion named Tory Lanez as the alleged assailant in an Instagram Live video. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office is conducting an investigation to decide whether to press charges against Lanez for felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On July 12, one of the brightest stars in rap could have been killed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Following days of online speculation about what happened after a late-night party in the Hollywood Hills, Megan Thee Stallion \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CCrBV3vlHvA/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">took to Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to explain that she had “suffered gunshot wounds as a result of a crime that was committed” against her and that she was “grateful to be alive.” Though she didn’t name the assailant, hip-hop commentators and fans widely believe him to be Tory Lanez, the R&B singer Megan had been seen hanging out with on social media since at least May. Following the incident, Lanez was arrested on concealed weapon charges and awaits a court hearing in October. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite the seriousness of the situation, people continued to post \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/megan-thee-stallion-shooting-twitter-memes/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">jokes, memes and judgmental comments\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. While recovering from gunshot wounds in both feet, Megan took to Twitter to remind people that “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/theestallion/status/1284236881971085313\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black women are so unprotected\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” and “we hold so many things to protect the feelings of others w/o considering our own.” She asked for sympathy, something that should have been granted to her from the beginning. Yet the public still \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/27/megan-thee-stallion-shooting-black-women\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">seemed reluctant to show\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> any. Black women’s hearts sank as they read Megan’s reflections, an all too familiar feeling of grief setting in. If a megastar like Megan was unsafe, what did that say about the average Black woman in the United States? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black women’s concerns about their physical and emotional safety are not exaggerated. Statistics show that more than \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://assets.speakcdn.com/assets/2497/dv_in_the_black_community.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">40% of Black women will experience intimate partner violence\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in their lifetimes, and that they’re 2.5 times as likely to be killed by a man than white women. Black girls are also seen as adults from an earlier age; people view them as “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.law.georgetown.edu/news/research-confirms-that-black-girls-feel-the-sting-of-adultification-bias-identified-in-earlier-georgetown-law-study/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">less innocent\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” and, at times, blame them for experiencing abuse. The anger and grief associated with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://now.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Black-Women-and-Sexual-Violence-6.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">higher rates of sexual abuse\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> are routinely misjudged as “attitude” instead of as trauma responses. This can limit the compassion Black women and girls receive from their communities and people in positions of authority alike. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Colorism only intensifies these disparities. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2011/07/09/lighter-skin-ligher-sentence/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dark-skinned Black women\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> face harsher punishments and prison sentences. Skin color seems to be directly tied to perceptions of victimhood. So it’s heartbreaking—and, unfortunately, unsurprising—that many onlookers discredit the severity of the violence that Black women like Megan Thee Stallion experience. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Comic relief, albeit an important part of Black culture, can also be used as a defense mechanism to avoid complex emotions. Jokes become deadly ideological ploys when made at marginalized people’s expense. And most of the “comic relief” about Megan’s tragic ordeal did more to expose the public’s inability to take domestic violence seriously. There were some jokes about Tory Lanez’ \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sohh.com/internet-roasts-tory-lanez-megan-thee-stallion-destroying-his-stature-in-savage-memes-had-to-give-him-a-booster-seat-so-he-could-ride-in-the-police-car/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">height\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and bravado, but they failed to get at the root issue: That women still have to tiptoe around men’s fragile egos, whether it be their \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Napoleon complexes\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or their failure to process rejection. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another issue is fake news. Some speculated that Megan fought Tory Lanez, a claim she has denied, and others—including Cam’ron—made unfounded claims that Megan revealed that she’s\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.xxlmag.com/camron-megan-thee-stallion-tory-lanez-transphobia-insensitive-joke/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> trans\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, as if that would somehow justify Tory Lanez allegedly shooting at her. This claim contributes to the dangerous normalization of harming Black trans people. It still hasn’t sunk in. In order for Black lives to matter, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">all\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Black life must be respected, protected and affirmed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Savage” and Megan Thee Stallion’s other hit songs inspire millions of listeners to take charge. She’s built a career off of her fierce public persona, but that doesn’t make her invincible. We can’t forget that she’s experienced immense trauma in her young adult life, including losing numerous close family members. On July 27, Megan returned to Instagram to make an emotional plea. Tearing up, she described the physical and emotional trauma of the shooting. The post led to apologies from celebrities such as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/chrissy-teigen-apologizes-joke-she-154312497.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Chrissy Teigen\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.complex.com/music/2020/07/50-cent-apologizes-megan-thee-stallion-shooting-incident-meme\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">50 Cent\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eonline.com/news/1173039/draya-michele-apologizes-to-megan-thee-stallion-for-making-light-of-shooting-incident\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Draya Michele\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, all of whom had made light of her experience. Thankfully, Megan’s fans and supporters stood\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://uproxx.com/music/megan-thee-stallion-rihanna-lizzo-gifts-shot/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> behind her\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Lizzo sent her a bag of goodies and Rihanna mailed flowers, both demonstrating the importance of Black women standing up for one another. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Megan’s story also exposes the difficult position Black women survivors of domestic violence navigate as their desire not to “snitch” on abusers clashes with their need to get out of harm’s way. Police involvement can put Black women in danger or at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://vawnet.org/material/womens-experiences-abuse-risk-factor-incarceration\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">risk of incarceration themselves\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And many survivors and their advocates argue that the criminalization of abusers does little to rehabilitate our communities, and that the focus should be on providing survivors with resources they need for healing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So where can Black women turn? Organizations like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://ujimacommunity.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ujima\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, part of the National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community, offer educational tools and community outreach. But it’s clear that there aren’t enough tools for survivors. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. Prison abolition activist \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.indigomateo.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Indigo Mateo\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> recently commented that to be a Black woman survivor is a kind of strange privilege—in a sense, we’re lucky because not all of us make it. Black women are killed at a higher rate than any other group of women. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">During this moment of national reckoning against racism, we must take violence against Black women seriously. We must speak up. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some of our sisters will never get the chance to speak again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Resources for Survivors\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.thehotline.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The National Domestic Violence Hotline\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is available 24/7 at \u003cstrong>1-800-799-7233\u003c/strong>. If you are unable to speak safely, text LOVEIS to \u003cstrong>1-866-331-9474\u003c/strong>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.womaninc.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">W.O.M.A.N. Inc.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> offers a 24-hour support line at \u003cstrong>1-877-384-3578\u003c/strong> and offers counseling services and peer supporting groups for domestic violence survivors. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.rainn.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">RAINN\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has a hotline and live chat for sexual assault survivors that offers emotional support, health resources and legal information at \u003cstrong>1-800-656-4673\u003c/strong>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.roclinic.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> offers free legal services for survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking in the Bay Area.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f you’ve used Instagram even casually in the last 48 hours, you’ve seen them by now. Black-and-white selfies of women accompanied by the words “Challenge accepted,” along with the hashtags #womenempowerment and #womensupportingwomen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13882786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final-160x176.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\"> On initially encountering these images yesterday—especially with zero context—it was hard for me to fathom what the “challenge” was exactly. So I clicked on the hashtags in an attempt to find out, only to have my confusion compounded. I took the time to scroll through hundreds of tagged photos. And the only thing I felt challenged by was the narrowness of representation on display.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Occasionally Instagram’s algorithm would permit me to see a woman over a size 8 or the age of 45—but they were few and far between. There were some women of color featured, but overwhelmingly, it was a sea of whiteness. I counted only a few trans women and exactly zero with any visible disabilities. All of which sent a very unfortunate message about what kind of women deserve “support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13884003\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13884003\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-800x743.jpg\" alt=\"More from the #womensupportingwomen hashtag.\" width=\"800\" height=\"743\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-800x743.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-1020x947.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-160x149.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-768x713.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-1536x1426.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-2048x1901.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-1920x1782.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">More from the #womensupportingwomen hashtag. \u003ccite>(Instagram)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then this morning it became apparent that it wasn’t just diversity that had been buried on my Instagram feed—the more meaningful origins of the black-and-white challenge had been erased too. What is now a light-hearted expression of female solidarity in America was originally, in Turkey, a campaign inspired by both the soaring rates of violence against women and the brutal murder of a 27-year-old student named Pinar Gültekin. [aside postid='arts_13883244']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Protests in the country broke out after Gültekin’s ex-boyfriend led police to her strangled and partially burned body, stashed inside an oil drum, five days after her July 16 disappearance. The murder appears to have been the last straw in a nation where women feel increasingly endangered. In 2019, \u003ca href=\"http://www.t-vine.com/fury-across-turkey-after-gruesome-murder-details-of-pinar-gultekin-emerge/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">474 women\u003c/a> were killed there—a 200% increase since 237 women were lost in 2013. It is also estimated that, so far in 2020 alone, 146 Turkish women have been murdered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After seeing the diluted message that her “international friends” were posting online as part of the #womenempowerment hashtag, one Turkish Twitter user named \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/imaann_patel/status/1288080743198068736\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@imaann_patel\u003c/a> attempted to explain the somber origins and meanings of the original challenge:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Turkey is one of the top countries when it comes to femicides. Most often the murderers barely get a slap on a wrist or no charges at all… Our government is trying to abolish certain aspects of [the] Istanbul Convention which is a human rights treaty that protects women against domestic violence… Turkish people wake up every day to see a black and white photo of a woman who has been murdered on their Instagram feed, on their newspapers, on their TV screens. The black and white photo challenge started as a way for women to raise their voice. To stand in solidarity with the women we have lost. To show that one day, it could be their picture that is plastered across news outlets.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> reporter \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/tariro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tariro Mzezewa\u003c/a> confirmed this on Twitter, after speaking to women in Turkey directly:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/tariro/status/1288065309233090560\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those original hashtags—\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/kad%C4%B1na%C5%9Fiddetehay%C4%B1r/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#kadınaşiddetehayır\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/istanbuls%C3%B6zle%C5%9Fmesiya%C5%9Fat%C4%B1r/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#istanbulsözleşmesiyaşatır\u003c/a>—roughly translate to “Say no to violence against women” (kadına şiddete hayır) and “Enforce the Istanbul convention” (Istanbul sözleşmesi yaşatır). They have since been buried under the flood of #womenempowerment and #womensupportingwomen hashtags. [aside postid='arts_13883723']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> reporter, Taylor Lorenz, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/1288129205662879744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">insisted on Twitter\u003c/a> that the #womenempowerment trend did not originate in Turkey, pointing out the fact that black-and-white photos accompanied by the hashtag #ChallengeAccepted have emerged on social media before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In 2016, [they] were meant to spread a message of ‘cancer awareness,’” she wrote. “Over the years the photo trend has also been used to ‘spread positivity.’” One of Lorenz’ interviewees went on to suggest this latest round was born from “Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaking out against Representative Ted Yoho’s sexist remarks against her on the floor of Congress last week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, many in Turkey remain steadfast that this latest round of black-and-white selfies first gathered steam there. Author Dr. Pragya Agarwal posted her own picture to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CDLoVr7nOUx/?utm_source=ig_embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Instagram\u003c/a>, accompanied by the message:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>This was started by Turkish women to say that they are appalled by the Turkish govt decision to withdraw from the Istanbul convention… This is not just performative, this is hopefully not just tokenistic, this is for PINAR GULTEKIN, a woman of color. Say her name!!\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The problem is, the millions of non-Turkish women participating in #womenempowerment selfies are not saying Pınar Gültekin’s name. Hell, they’re barely even saying Breonna Taylor’s. Truthfully, they’re not saying much of anything at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just weeks ago, Black Lives Matter-related information sharing was impeded by a flood of well-meaning black squares that were hashtagged #BLM. This latest black-and-white trend will effectively prevent #womenempowerment and #womensupportingwomen from being used for anything other than black-and-white selfies for months.[aside postid='arts_13884151']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, there is certainly value in publicly expressing unity with other women. And yes, the #womenempowerment trend has undoubtedly been a bonding moment for thousands of women. But the vast majority of black-and-white posts currently flooding our Instagram feeds could just as easily have been tagged #feelingmyself, #selfcare or #selflove, and accompanied by an appropriately light-hearted phrase like “Pass it on.” Using serious tags for uninformative posts isn’t just misleading, it can act as a barrier to constructive work.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>f you’ve used Instagram even casually in the last 48 hours, you’ve seen them by now. Black-and-white selfies of women accompanied by the words “Challenge accepted,” along with the hashtags #womenempowerment and #womensupportingwomen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13882786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final-160x176.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\"> On initially encountering these images yesterday—especially with zero context—it was hard for me to fathom what the “challenge” was exactly. So I clicked on the hashtags in an attempt to find out, only to have my confusion compounded. I took the time to scroll through hundreds of tagged photos. And the only thing I felt challenged by was the narrowness of representation on display.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Occasionally Instagram’s algorithm would permit me to see a woman over a size 8 or the age of 45—but they were few and far between. There were some women of color featured, but overwhelmingly, it was a sea of whiteness. I counted only a few trans women and exactly zero with any visible disabilities. All of which sent a very unfortunate message about what kind of women deserve “support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13884003\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13884003\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-800x743.jpg\" alt=\"More from the #womensupportingwomen hashtag.\" width=\"800\" height=\"743\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-800x743.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-1020x947.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-160x149.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-768x713.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-1536x1426.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-2048x1901.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/BeFunky-collage-2-1920x1782.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">More from the #womensupportingwomen hashtag. \u003ccite>(Instagram)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then this morning it became apparent that it wasn’t just diversity that had been buried on my Instagram feed—the more meaningful origins of the black-and-white challenge had been erased too. What is now a light-hearted expression of female solidarity in America was originally, in Turkey, a campaign inspired by both the soaring rates of violence against women and the brutal murder of a 27-year-old student named Pinar Gültekin. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Protests in the country broke out after Gültekin’s ex-boyfriend led police to her strangled and partially burned body, stashed inside an oil drum, five days after her July 16 disappearance. The murder appears to have been the last straw in a nation where women feel increasingly endangered. In 2019, \u003ca href=\"http://www.t-vine.com/fury-across-turkey-after-gruesome-murder-details-of-pinar-gultekin-emerge/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">474 women\u003c/a> were killed there—a 200% increase since 237 women were lost in 2013. It is also estimated that, so far in 2020 alone, 146 Turkish women have been murdered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After seeing the diluted message that her “international friends” were posting online as part of the #womenempowerment hashtag, one Turkish Twitter user named \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/imaann_patel/status/1288080743198068736\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@imaann_patel\u003c/a> attempted to explain the somber origins and meanings of the original challenge:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Turkey is one of the top countries when it comes to femicides. Most often the murderers barely get a slap on a wrist or no charges at all… Our government is trying to abolish certain aspects of [the] Istanbul Convention which is a human rights treaty that protects women against domestic violence… Turkish people wake up every day to see a black and white photo of a woman who has been murdered on their Instagram feed, on their newspapers, on their TV screens. The black and white photo challenge started as a way for women to raise their voice. To stand in solidarity with the women we have lost. To show that one day, it could be their picture that is plastered across news outlets.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> reporter \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/tariro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tariro Mzezewa\u003c/a> confirmed this on Twitter, after speaking to women in Turkey directly:\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Those original hashtags—\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/kad%C4%B1na%C5%9Fiddetehay%C4%B1r/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#kadınaşiddetehayır\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/istanbuls%C3%B6zle%C5%9Fmesiya%C5%9Fat%C4%B1r/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#istanbulsözleşmesiyaşatır\u003c/a>—roughly translate to “Say no to violence against women” (kadına şiddete hayır) and “Enforce the Istanbul convention” (Istanbul sözleşmesi yaşatır). They have since been buried under the flood of #womenempowerment and #womensupportingwomen hashtags. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> reporter, Taylor Lorenz, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/1288129205662879744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">insisted on Twitter\u003c/a> that the #womenempowerment trend did not originate in Turkey, pointing out the fact that black-and-white photos accompanied by the hashtag #ChallengeAccepted have emerged on social media before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In 2016, [they] were meant to spread a message of ‘cancer awareness,’” she wrote. “Over the years the photo trend has also been used to ‘spread positivity.’” One of Lorenz’ interviewees went on to suggest this latest round was born from “Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaking out against Representative Ted Yoho’s sexist remarks against her on the floor of Congress last week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, many in Turkey remain steadfast that this latest round of black-and-white selfies first gathered steam there. Author Dr. Pragya Agarwal posted her own picture to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CDLoVr7nOUx/?utm_source=ig_embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Instagram\u003c/a>, accompanied by the message:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>This was started by Turkish women to say that they are appalled by the Turkish govt decision to withdraw from the Istanbul convention… This is not just performative, this is hopefully not just tokenistic, this is for PINAR GULTEKIN, a woman of color. Say her name!!\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The problem is, the millions of non-Turkish women participating in #womenempowerment selfies are not saying Pınar Gültekin’s name. Hell, they’re barely even saying Breonna Taylor’s. Truthfully, they’re not saying much of anything at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just weeks ago, Black Lives Matter-related information sharing was impeded by a flood of well-meaning black squares that were hashtagged #BLM. This latest black-and-white trend will effectively prevent #womenempowerment and #womensupportingwomen from being used for anything other than black-and-white selfies for months.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, there is certainly value in publicly expressing unity with other women. And yes, the #womenempowerment trend has undoubtedly been a bonding moment for thousands of women. But the vast majority of black-and-white posts currently flooding our Instagram feeds could just as easily have been tagged #feelingmyself, #selfcare or #selflove, and accompanied by an appropriately light-hearted phrase like “Pass it on.” Using serious tags for uninformative posts isn’t just misleading, it can act as a barrier to constructive work.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Lydia Night Takes on SWMRS—And Starts a New Phase For #MeToo",
"headTitle": "Lydia Night Takes on SWMRS—And Starts a New Phase For #MeToo | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]B[/dropcap]urger Records \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13883674/burger-boogaloo-festival-cuts-ties-with-record-label-after-sex-abuse-allegations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">folded\u003c/a> this week, under the weight of multiple allegations of sexual assault, harassment and coercion by members of bands signed to the label.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13882786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final-160x176.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\">Days before the decision was made to shut down, and in light of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/Lured_By_Burger_Records/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">survivor stories\u003c/a> that had emerged, Oakland quartet SWMRS (who have released albums and EPs through a variety of labels, including Burger) stepped forward to share their stance on the issues at hand. The band’s four-part \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CC1PEcrAElM/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Instagram statement\u003c/a> was, on the surface, a thoughtful acknowledgement of the cultural and systemic problems that can enable men to victimize young women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The music industry is deeply rooted in abusive patriarchal values,” the band wrote. “It’s impossible to overstate how deeply this permeates our culture … Subverting patriarchy is a lifelong commitment to unlearning this abuse that we are conditioned to accept and regurgitate.”[aside postid='arts_13883674']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following day however, Lydia Night, singer and guitarist of \u003ca href=\"https://www.theregrettes.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Regrettes\u003c/a>, put out her own \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CC4EzRqsU7U/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">detailed statement\u003c/a>, accusing SWMRS drummer Joey Armstrong (son of Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong) of pressuring her into a sexually coercive and emotionally abusive relationship when he was 22 and already in a popular band, and she was 16 and just starting out. She also said that Armstrong first made contact with her via Instagram, under the guise of working together in a touring capacity. She said their relationship began in secret while on one of those tours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had multiple conversations where [Armstrong] would say something along the lines of ‘I want to move at your pace,’” Night wrote, “but then would act in a completely contradicting way, pressuring me into sexual situations … He was essentially my boss … shaming me for saying I wasn’t comfortable, gaslighting me or ignoring me when I didn’t give my consent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gulf between SWMRS’ statement of feminist allyship and Night’s account of her experience is symbolic of a wider problem that stretches beyond the confines of the music industry. And it’s this: Just because someone knows sexist abuse is bad doesn’t necessarily mean they recognize it in their own behavior—or the behavior of those closest to them.[aside postid='pop_61190']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Missing both of these cues is fairly commonplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In my own life, I think about the ex who considered himself a feminist but would sulk and badger me if I said no to sex. (I stayed with him for a long time because I was young and thought this was normal.) I think of the guy who disavowed sexual harassment on Facebook, but repeatedly forced my hand down his pants in the middle of a party until I had to leave to get away from him. (I stayed on friendly terms with him because we had so many mutual friends, it was awkward not to. When I brought it up, everyone kept telling me what a Nice Guy he was.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Night’s story also reminds me of the affable, liberal man I was friends with for far too long because I failed to recognize that he was abusive to the women he dated. Shamefully, my eyes only opened when one of them broke down on my shoulder, told me what he did behind closed doors and asked if it “counted” as abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These things always seem very complicated when you’re in the middle of them and pretty clear cut once you’re out. I’m sure everyone who knew about Night and Armstrong’s relationship had their reasons for staying quiet at the time. Maybe they dismissed Night’s age because she was in a band and already touring. Maybe they justified it because Night and Armstrong weren’t just a casual hookup. (According to Night, their involvement went on for “about a year.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who knows where Night’s bandmates were in all of this. She says she kept the relationship secret from her parents, her best friend and her therapist at Armstrong’s behest. But it’s unclear what her band knew or whether they recognized the gravity of the situation Night was in.[aside postid='arts_13882981']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where the lines are drawn, of course, shouldn’t be this complicated. But women’s ability to talk openly about sexual abuse at the hands of friends, colleagues and partners—\u003cem>and\u003c/em> to be believed en masse—is fairly new as a practice. Remember how many survivors it took to bring down serial predators like Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Cosby? Too many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tireless work done by those survivors is the reason most people in America now understand the impact power structures have on people’s abilities to truly consent. (One needs only to examine how Monica Lewinsky was treated in 1998 to understand how recent a development this is.) That new understanding has paved the way for Lydia Night to be able to tell her story now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even just a few years ago, despite her age, Night’s abuse allegations may have been dismissed outright. Night herself has acknowledged that it has taken her “years” to recognize her own trauma. But she also understands inherently why her story needs to be heard now. In her statement, she explained:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>I know how hard it is to feel valid in something that’s so nuanced and exists in a space that’s not black and white … You can have feelings for someone and be in a technically consensual relationship and still be a victim of abuse and coercion.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Night’s statement—especially when read alongside some of the testimonies of the Burger Records survivors—doesn’t just force SWMRS (she directed her statement at the entire band, not just Armstrong) to acknowledge they’re not the “good guys” they thought they were. It also acts as a prompt for the hundreds of thousands of people who liked it (192,000 and counting) to examine their own behavior and ask themselves some hard questions. [aside postid='pop_98503']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Something similar occurred in 2018 after a Brooklyn photographer went on a now-infamous date with comedian Aziz Ansari. Her Babe.net story about the disastrous evening opened up valuable avenues to talk about sexual etiquette and vocalizing consent. Still many—including a CNN anchor—dismissed her story as merely “a bad date.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last few days, Night’s Instagram post has filled up with comments of sympathy and support. By contrast, SWMRS’ account is flooded with accusations of “performative wokeness,” and questions around why Armstrong’s brief attempt at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CC6mefugfNX/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an apology\u003c/a> did not acknowledge Night’s underage status at the time of their involvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The overwhelmingly supportive response to Night’s statement leaves the impression that we as a culture have come a long way since #MeToo exploded into the mainstream in 2017. But Night’s account, and the stories of all the other women caught up in Burger Records’ toxic culture, remains a stark demonstration that we’ve still got a long way to go.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">B\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>urger Records \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13883674/burger-boogaloo-festival-cuts-ties-with-record-label-after-sex-abuse-allegations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">folded\u003c/a> this week, under the weight of multiple allegations of sexual assault, harassment and coercion by members of bands signed to the label.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13882786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final-160x176.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\">Days before the decision was made to shut down, and in light of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/Lured_By_Burger_Records/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">survivor stories\u003c/a> that had emerged, Oakland quartet SWMRS (who have released albums and EPs through a variety of labels, including Burger) stepped forward to share their stance on the issues at hand. The band’s four-part \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CC1PEcrAElM/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Instagram statement\u003c/a> was, on the surface, a thoughtful acknowledgement of the cultural and systemic problems that can enable men to victimize young women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The music industry is deeply rooted in abusive patriarchal values,” the band wrote. “It’s impossible to overstate how deeply this permeates our culture … Subverting patriarchy is a lifelong commitment to unlearning this abuse that we are conditioned to accept and regurgitate.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following day however, Lydia Night, singer and guitarist of \u003ca href=\"https://www.theregrettes.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Regrettes\u003c/a>, put out her own \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CC4EzRqsU7U/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">detailed statement\u003c/a>, accusing SWMRS drummer Joey Armstrong (son of Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong) of pressuring her into a sexually coercive and emotionally abusive relationship when he was 22 and already in a popular band, and she was 16 and just starting out. She also said that Armstrong first made contact with her via Instagram, under the guise of working together in a touring capacity. She said their relationship began in secret while on one of those tours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had multiple conversations where [Armstrong] would say something along the lines of ‘I want to move at your pace,’” Night wrote, “but then would act in a completely contradicting way, pressuring me into sexual situations … He was essentially my boss … shaming me for saying I wasn’t comfortable, gaslighting me or ignoring me when I didn’t give my consent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gulf between SWMRS’ statement of feminist allyship and Night’s account of her experience is symbolic of a wider problem that stretches beyond the confines of the music industry. And it’s this: Just because someone knows sexist abuse is bad doesn’t necessarily mean they recognize it in their own behavior—or the behavior of those closest to them.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Missing both of these cues is fairly commonplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In my own life, I think about the ex who considered himself a feminist but would sulk and badger me if I said no to sex. (I stayed with him for a long time because I was young and thought this was normal.) I think of the guy who disavowed sexual harassment on Facebook, but repeatedly forced my hand down his pants in the middle of a party until I had to leave to get away from him. (I stayed on friendly terms with him because we had so many mutual friends, it was awkward not to. When I brought it up, everyone kept telling me what a Nice Guy he was.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Night’s story also reminds me of the affable, liberal man I was friends with for far too long because I failed to recognize that he was abusive to the women he dated. Shamefully, my eyes only opened when one of them broke down on my shoulder, told me what he did behind closed doors and asked if it “counted” as abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These things always seem very complicated when you’re in the middle of them and pretty clear cut once you’re out. I’m sure everyone who knew about Night and Armstrong’s relationship had their reasons for staying quiet at the time. Maybe they dismissed Night’s age because she was in a band and already touring. Maybe they justified it because Night and Armstrong weren’t just a casual hookup. (According to Night, their involvement went on for “about a year.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who knows where Night’s bandmates were in all of this. She says she kept the relationship secret from her parents, her best friend and her therapist at Armstrong’s behest. But it’s unclear what her band knew or whether they recognized the gravity of the situation Night was in.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Where the lines are drawn, of course, shouldn’t be this complicated. But women’s ability to talk openly about sexual abuse at the hands of friends, colleagues and partners—\u003cem>and\u003c/em> to be believed en masse—is fairly new as a practice. Remember how many survivors it took to bring down serial predators like Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Cosby? Too many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tireless work done by those survivors is the reason most people in America now understand the impact power structures have on people’s abilities to truly consent. (One needs only to examine how Monica Lewinsky was treated in 1998 to understand how recent a development this is.) That new understanding has paved the way for Lydia Night to be able to tell her story now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even just a few years ago, despite her age, Night’s abuse allegations may have been dismissed outright. Night herself has acknowledged that it has taken her “years” to recognize her own trauma. But she also understands inherently why her story needs to be heard now. In her statement, she explained:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>I know how hard it is to feel valid in something that’s so nuanced and exists in a space that’s not black and white … You can have feelings for someone and be in a technically consensual relationship and still be a victim of abuse and coercion.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Night’s statement—especially when read alongside some of the testimonies of the Burger Records survivors—doesn’t just force SWMRS (she directed her statement at the entire band, not just Armstrong) to acknowledge they’re not the “good guys” they thought they were. It also acts as a prompt for the hundreds of thousands of people who liked it (192,000 and counting) to examine their own behavior and ask themselves some hard questions. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Something similar occurred in 2018 after a Brooklyn photographer went on a now-infamous date with comedian Aziz Ansari. Her Babe.net story about the disastrous evening opened up valuable avenues to talk about sexual etiquette and vocalizing consent. Still many—including a CNN anchor—dismissed her story as merely “a bad date.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last few days, Night’s Instagram post has filled up with comments of sympathy and support. By contrast, SWMRS’ account is flooded with accusations of “performative wokeness,” and questions around why Armstrong’s brief attempt at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CC6mefugfNX/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an apology\u003c/a> did not acknowledge Night’s underage status at the time of their involvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The overwhelmingly supportive response to Night’s statement leaves the impression that we as a culture have come a long way since #MeToo exploded into the mainstream in 2017. But Night’s account, and the stories of all the other women caught up in Burger Records’ toxic culture, remains a stark demonstration that we’ve still got a long way to go.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Strangeness of Baseball During a Pandemic",
"headTitle": "The Strangeness of Baseball During a Pandemic | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span> was supposed to be writing something important this evening. One of those the-world-is-burning–type articles. But baseball started, and I got distracted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the first official pitch of 2020’s abbreviated 60-game regular season won’t be thrown until this weekend, Monday night’s exhibition game between the Giants and A’s took my attention away from the world for a few innings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the sun set yesterday evening, I sent out a text of distress, asking a good friend for their streaming password so I could watch the A’s broadcast. Once the eagle landed, I was in business: I poured a healthy portion of boxed red wine into my favorite mug, and pulled my beanbag chair so close to my 32-inch TV that I considered wearing a mask as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I promise you my intent was to watch a little bit of the game and write that article later. But baseball has an all-consuming effect, especially when it’s been away for so long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I mean, it’s the middle of summer, and I hadn’t seen a single home run. So when Oakland A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty dropped a bomb in the bottom of the second inning, I excitedly clapped loud enough for my neighbor, the self-identified “OG vato” from Santa Cruz, to hear it. He’s a big-time Giants fan, and just about every time we cross paths in the apartment complex, he playfully demands I take my A’s cap off. I never do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13883671\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13883671\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-800x440.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of a television showing the A's vs. Giants exhibition game on July 20, 2020. \" width=\"800\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-800x440.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-1020x561.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-160x88.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-768x422.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-1536x845.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photo of a television showing the A’s vs. Giants exhibition game on July 20, 2020.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span>h, the power of sports. Bringing people together, even when we disagree, and even when we’re apart. Or, um, \u003cem>supposed\u003c/em> to be apart: there’s still a pandemic going on, but somehow there were groups of men gathered in a dugout on each side of a white diamond in Deep East Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I couldn’t fully get into the game; the mental notes and health critiques kept popping up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the plus side, I noticed the way the TV announcers—normally in the same booth, an arm’s length apart—stayed apart in adjacent booths, divided by a translucent glass, and still maintained fluid communications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the eerie side, I kept focusing on the cardboard cutouts in the crowd. It started with a Where’s Waldo-esque game of looking for familiar faces on the poster boards. Then, as the TV cameras showed the “crowd” from different angles, it turned into a blatant reminder that this was far from a normal baseball game, both funny and scary. It didn’t help that when I first noticed the relief pitchers sitting in the rows behind the traditional bullpen, not too far from the fake people, my initial reaction was, “Oh—they’ve got \u003cem>moving\u003c/em> cardboard cutouts too?!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the questionable side, I kept thinking about potential health hazards during the game. Some players wore masks, some players didn’t. The umpire stood close to the catcher and batter, calling balls and strikes. I thought: \u003cem>does he have a mask on\u003c/em>? (He did.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I noticed violations of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/30/885239263/no-spitting-mlb-unveils-some-new-rules-due-to-coronavirus\">no-spitting rule\u003c/a>. How will they enforce it? \u003ci>Can\u003c/i> they enforce it? Spitting and baseball go together like police and brutality; you can’t have one without the other. But you know how it goes on this land: there’s a difference between what’s illegal and what’s enforced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many, baseball starting is a sign that things are getting back to normal. Both NASCAR races and MMA bouts have been happening since May, but baseball is the first of the “big four” sporting leagues to get going again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The WNBA and NBA seasons will start soon. And already the story of the social media curators within “the bubble” has made for \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/sports/basketball/nba-bubble-life-twitter.html\">national news;\u003c/a> as did the \u003ca href=\"https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/nba-2k-barbershop-neighborhood-trends-bubble/\">construction of the barbershop\u003c/a> in the bubble and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29431358/how-nba-picked-barbers-bubble\">barbers who’ll work there\u003c/a>, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11829302/barber-in-the-bubble-the-east-palo-alto-stylist-giving-coronavirus-cuts-to-nba-stars\">one from the Bay Area\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From this point on, these sports stories will only be more distractive. People’s attention span is only so long. If you thought there’d be sustained longevity to the disgust at how the pandemic has been handled by elected officials, or that the protests for Black Lives Matter were going to last until the masses marched to the ballot box in November, your imagination is better than the one I’ve rediscovered while homeschooling my three year-old daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A month ago, headlines were centered on companies moving to rectify their institutionalized racism. Last week, celebrity-ism took us on a ride through Nick Cannon’s cancellation, Tory Lanez’s reported assault on Megan Thee Stallion with a deadly weapon and Kanye West’s perpetual public mental breakdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sports is just another layer of distraction. A little something to take the mind off of the pains of the world—you know, like the criminal (in)justice system. Sports, entertainment and pop culture make front-page news, while bumped to the second page is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michigan-judge-denies-release-teenage-girl-who-was-jailed-after-n1234377?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma\">story of a teenage girl named Grace\u003c/a> currently incarcerated in Michigan. Her crime: violating probation by not doing her online homework. In the coming days, it’ll be a little easier to overlook \u003ca href=\"https://www.opb.org/news/article/police-violence-portland-protest-federal-officers/\">Portland, Oregon\u003c/a>, where unidentified federal agents have abducted people in unmarked cars in order to quell the 50-plus days of Black Lives Matter protests. (President Trump has not only openly supported these federal actions, he’s hinted at imposing them on other cities around the country, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11829763/federal-agents-to-police-oakland-protests-plans-unclear-despite-trumps-remarks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">including Oakland\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, let’s not talk about that, let’s talk baseball. Despite cases of COVID continuing to rise in California, Florida and Arizona, all baseball bastions. Despite people like San Francisco Giants star player \u003ca href=\"https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29440601/giants-buster-posey-opts-2020-season-citing-newborns-health\">Buster Posey\u003c/a> opting out of this season because he doesn’t want to put his family at risk of COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the fact the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/1d2884074e54e1c722d764c1288f7dc9\">Toronto Blue Jays\u003c/a> can’t play home games, because Canadian officials don’t want players traveling between Canada and the United States, where the number of COVID-19 cases is about to top 4 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13883670\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/MLBTweet.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"664\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/MLBTweet.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/MLBTweet-160x177.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">L\u003c/span>ook, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/20/893340343/dr-anthony-fauci-to-throw-first-pitch-for-washington-nationals-season-opener\">Dr. Fauci\u003c/a> threw out the opening pitch at the Nationals’ first game back, that’s gotta be a good sign. Right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, because of these games happening, there will be a financial boost for transportation companies, hotels, restaurants, media outlets and more. So the economy can lurch toward getting back on track. Right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, again, if baseball is back, that means things will soon be “normal” again. Right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Na. It won’t. Or at least it’s not there yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When watching baseball, I should be counting balls and strikes, not how many times my favorite player is shown on camera spitting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I appreciate the new rules. I appreciate the added health precautions. I appreciate the other historic aspects of last night’s game, too: the first-ever woman to coach a Major League Baseball game, Alyssa Nakken, as well as the silent protest from Giants manager Gabe Kapler and some of his players \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BR_MLB/status/1285399467483492352?s=20\">who took a knee during the national anthem\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But I know sports will prove to be a distraction. For some, it’ll be a healthy alternative to arguing with their significant other; now they can argue with the umpire instead. But for the majority of us, it’ll be a distraction from the important focus the country seemed to have just over a month ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I know, I know: it’s not one or the other. Just because we’re talking baseball doesn’t mean we can’t also talk politics. But damn, earlier this summer, when it seemed like we were all having the same conversation, and racism and sexism were being called out left and right—I was interested in seeing \u003cem>that\u003c/em> go into extra-innings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now it’s looking like we’re just going back to the ol’ ballgame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "How excited can I be for a pastime that takes people's minds off the state of the world?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span> was supposed to be writing something important this evening. One of those the-world-is-burning–type articles. But baseball started, and I got distracted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the first official pitch of 2020’s abbreviated 60-game regular season won’t be thrown until this weekend, Monday night’s exhibition game between the Giants and A’s took my attention away from the world for a few innings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the sun set yesterday evening, I sent out a text of distress, asking a good friend for their streaming password so I could watch the A’s broadcast. Once the eagle landed, I was in business: I poured a healthy portion of boxed red wine into my favorite mug, and pulled my beanbag chair so close to my 32-inch TV that I considered wearing a mask as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I promise you my intent was to watch a little bit of the game and write that article later. But baseball has an all-consuming effect, especially when it’s been away for so long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I mean, it’s the middle of summer, and I hadn’t seen a single home run. So when Oakland A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty dropped a bomb in the bottom of the second inning, I excitedly clapped loud enough for my neighbor, the self-identified “OG vato” from Santa Cruz, to hear it. He’s a big-time Giants fan, and just about every time we cross paths in the apartment complex, he playfully demands I take my A’s cap off. I never do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13883671\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13883671\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-800x440.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of a television showing the A's vs. Giants exhibition game on July 20, 2020. \" width=\"800\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-800x440.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-1020x561.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-160x88.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-768x422.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField-1536x845.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/AsField.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photo of a television showing the A’s vs. Giants exhibition game on July 20, 2020.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span>h, the power of sports. Bringing people together, even when we disagree, and even when we’re apart. Or, um, \u003cem>supposed\u003c/em> to be apart: there’s still a pandemic going on, but somehow there were groups of men gathered in a dugout on each side of a white diamond in Deep East Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I couldn’t fully get into the game; the mental notes and health critiques kept popping up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the plus side, I noticed the way the TV announcers—normally in the same booth, an arm’s length apart—stayed apart in adjacent booths, divided by a translucent glass, and still maintained fluid communications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the eerie side, I kept focusing on the cardboard cutouts in the crowd. It started with a Where’s Waldo-esque game of looking for familiar faces on the poster boards. Then, as the TV cameras showed the “crowd” from different angles, it turned into a blatant reminder that this was far from a normal baseball game, both funny and scary. It didn’t help that when I first noticed the relief pitchers sitting in the rows behind the traditional bullpen, not too far from the fake people, my initial reaction was, “Oh—they’ve got \u003cem>moving\u003c/em> cardboard cutouts too?!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the questionable side, I kept thinking about potential health hazards during the game. Some players wore masks, some players didn’t. The umpire stood close to the catcher and batter, calling balls and strikes. I thought: \u003cem>does he have a mask on\u003c/em>? (He did.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I noticed violations of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/30/885239263/no-spitting-mlb-unveils-some-new-rules-due-to-coronavirus\">no-spitting rule\u003c/a>. How will they enforce it? \u003ci>Can\u003c/i> they enforce it? Spitting and baseball go together like police and brutality; you can’t have one without the other. But you know how it goes on this land: there’s a difference between what’s illegal and what’s enforced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many, baseball starting is a sign that things are getting back to normal. Both NASCAR races and MMA bouts have been happening since May, but baseball is the first of the “big four” sporting leagues to get going again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The WNBA and NBA seasons will start soon. And already the story of the social media curators within “the bubble” has made for \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/sports/basketball/nba-bubble-life-twitter.html\">national news;\u003c/a> as did the \u003ca href=\"https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/nba-2k-barbershop-neighborhood-trends-bubble/\">construction of the barbershop\u003c/a> in the bubble and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29431358/how-nba-picked-barbers-bubble\">barbers who’ll work there\u003c/a>, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11829302/barber-in-the-bubble-the-east-palo-alto-stylist-giving-coronavirus-cuts-to-nba-stars\">one from the Bay Area\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From this point on, these sports stories will only be more distractive. People’s attention span is only so long. If you thought there’d be sustained longevity to the disgust at how the pandemic has been handled by elected officials, or that the protests for Black Lives Matter were going to last until the masses marched to the ballot box in November, your imagination is better than the one I’ve rediscovered while homeschooling my three year-old daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A month ago, headlines were centered on companies moving to rectify their institutionalized racism. Last week, celebrity-ism took us on a ride through Nick Cannon’s cancellation, Tory Lanez’s reported assault on Megan Thee Stallion with a deadly weapon and Kanye West’s perpetual public mental breakdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sports is just another layer of distraction. A little something to take the mind off of the pains of the world—you know, like the criminal (in)justice system. Sports, entertainment and pop culture make front-page news, while bumped to the second page is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michigan-judge-denies-release-teenage-girl-who-was-jailed-after-n1234377?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma\">story of a teenage girl named Grace\u003c/a> currently incarcerated in Michigan. Her crime: violating probation by not doing her online homework. In the coming days, it’ll be a little easier to overlook \u003ca href=\"https://www.opb.org/news/article/police-violence-portland-protest-federal-officers/\">Portland, Oregon\u003c/a>, where unidentified federal agents have abducted people in unmarked cars in order to quell the 50-plus days of Black Lives Matter protests. (President Trump has not only openly supported these federal actions, he’s hinted at imposing them on other cities around the country, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11829763/federal-agents-to-police-oakland-protests-plans-unclear-despite-trumps-remarks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">including Oakland\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, let’s not talk about that, let’s talk baseball. Despite cases of COVID continuing to rise in California, Florida and Arizona, all baseball bastions. Despite people like San Francisco Giants star player \u003ca href=\"https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29440601/giants-buster-posey-opts-2020-season-citing-newborns-health\">Buster Posey\u003c/a> opting out of this season because he doesn’t want to put his family at risk of COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the fact the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/1d2884074e54e1c722d764c1288f7dc9\">Toronto Blue Jays\u003c/a> can’t play home games, because Canadian officials don’t want players traveling between Canada and the United States, where the number of COVID-19 cases is about to top 4 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13883670\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/MLBTweet.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"664\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/MLBTweet.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/MLBTweet-160x177.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">L\u003c/span>ook, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/20/893340343/dr-anthony-fauci-to-throw-first-pitch-for-washington-nationals-season-opener\">Dr. Fauci\u003c/a> threw out the opening pitch at the Nationals’ first game back, that’s gotta be a good sign. Right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, because of these games happening, there will be a financial boost for transportation companies, hotels, restaurants, media outlets and more. So the economy can lurch toward getting back on track. Right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, again, if baseball is back, that means things will soon be “normal” again. Right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Na. It won’t. Or at least it’s not there yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When watching baseball, I should be counting balls and strikes, not how many times my favorite player is shown on camera spitting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I appreciate the new rules. I appreciate the added health precautions. I appreciate the other historic aspects of last night’s game, too: the first-ever woman to coach a Major League Baseball game, Alyssa Nakken, as well as the silent protest from Giants manager Gabe Kapler and some of his players \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BR_MLB/status/1285399467483492352?s=20\">who took a knee during the national anthem\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But I know sports will prove to be a distraction. For some, it’ll be a healthy alternative to arguing with their significant other; now they can argue with the umpire instead. But for the majority of us, it’ll be a distraction from the important focus the country seemed to have just over a month ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I know, I know: it’s not one or the other. Just because we’re talking baseball doesn’t mean we can’t also talk politics. But damn, earlier this summer, when it seemed like we were all having the same conversation, and racism and sexism were being called out left and right—I was interested in seeing \u003cem>that\u003c/em> go into extra-innings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now it’s looking like we’re just going back to the ol’ ballgame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "How Sheltering in Place is Shifting Women’s Beauty Standards",
"headTitle": "How Sheltering in Place is Shifting Women’s Beauty Standards | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]L[/dropcap]ast week, during a visit to the post office (snail mail has provided new realms of joy during shelter in place), I was approached by a woman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hey,” she said in hushed tones from behind her mask. “Who did your hair?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one’s cut it since February, but I do the color myself,” I replied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"198\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13882786\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final-160x176.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\">“Damn it!” the woman cursed. “I can’t find a stylist willing to break the rules. I thought you might know one. Last week, I got so desperate, I had my sister-in-law do my roots and she used too much bleach and now my hair is breaking off. Look!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For anyone with a regular beauty routine that requires the assistance of paid professionals, coronavirus-related salon and spa closures have demanded new levels of personal creativity. And for those who can’t access their usual products and services, living with what God and DNA naturally gave us has simply become a requirement of the new normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the middle of a global pandemic \u003cem>and\u003c/em> a movement for racial justice, even thinking about beauty can feel shamefully frivolous. After all, no one wants to be Karen at the rally holding up an “I NEED A HAIRCUT” sign. (Except for, you know, all of the Karens that actually did that.) Unfortunately, for most of the last century, women have been bombarded with messaging that tells them their beauty and worth are inextricably interwoven. That messaging can be a challenge to shake off, even in a crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/beauty-industry-mental-health-holistic-wellness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Glamour\u003c/em> reported\u003c/a>: “Historically when we [feel] good, cleansing ourselves, grooming ourselves and doing makeup and hair serve to increase confidence and self-esteem. Conversely, if on a downhill spiral, many would stop doing basic things like washing themselves, wearing makeup and brushing their hair and teeth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, an assertion that not wearing makeup might indicate some sort of mental breakdown might slip by largely unnoticed. Fast forward to mid-2020 and women are publicly considering \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnet.com/news/life-in-quarantine-why-i-quit-wearing-makeup-2-months-ago/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">giving up makeup permanently\u003c/a>, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/trends/a32070316/bra-free-quarantine/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Harper’s Bazaar\u003c/em> is asking\u003c/a> if we’ll ever wear bras again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up until the strangeness of the last few months—even in these Gen Z, gender neutral, natural eyebrow-embracing times—a woman proudly wearing her naturally gray hair remained a talking point. Just think about last year when Keanu Reeves and Alexandra Grant debuted their relationship at the LACMA Art and Film Gala. [aside postid='arts_13869451']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 55-year-old actor’s decision to date a 46-year-old woman with gray hair was seen by a majority of commenters as confirmation that Reeves was a “\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MissBrittHayes/status/1191515987566383104\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Good Man\u003c/a>.” As if dating a woman with non-colored hair was a penance of some sort. Grant later felt pressured enough to make \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/B5rNIa_lFBx/?utm_source=ig_embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a public statement\u003c/a> about her haircare decisions, citing the “toxicity of dyes” in her decision to go \u003cem>au naturel\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nine months later and—despite there still being no female equivalent of the “silver fox”—numerous women are embracing the salt in their pepper like never before. Celebrity examples have been set by the likes of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CAd_x3UjzeP/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kelly Ripa\u003c/a> (who has been doing regular “Root Watch” stories on Instagram since shelter in place began), \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/B-AoNZYJUxr/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tamera Mowry-Housley\u003c/a> and Lily Allen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CB2j-YiJ5Vm/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those not ready to take the plunge, box color kits are a fall back option—in April, research firm \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/coronavirus-shopping-out-of-stock-hair-color-dye-items-selling/6095606/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nielsen reported\u003c/a> that hair dye sales were up 23% compared to the same time last year. Even more telling was the news that the sales of hair clippers increased by more than 160% in the same period. Shaving it all off during shelter in place has been embraced by both \u003ca href=\"https://www.today.com/style/people-are-shaving-their-heads-quarantine-here-s-why-t177502\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">men\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/a32188285/women-shaving-head-covid-quarantine/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">women\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/B-70fF5gobs/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.hairetics-salon.com/lisa-swiss/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lisa Swiss\u003c/a>, a stylist at San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hairetics-salon.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hairetics\u003c/a> says her clients reflect the mixed reactions to salons being closed. While demand for Hairetics’ customized color kits, available for curbside pick-up, has been very high, a lot of clients are also rolling with new, natural looks—at least for the time being. Swiss has also been video conferencing to help people safely remove their hair extensions. [aside postid='pop_95111']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stylist says it’s hard to know the lasting impacts of how people will treat their own beauty regimes when services are readily available again. “Maybe we will see more gray,” she says, “but I think the trends will be all over the place. I do think the majority of people are going to want a big change though—people have had too much time to stare at themselves. I also think people are going to value their hair stylist more than ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stephanie Reeder, practice manager at \u003ca href=\"https://bellemarin.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Belle Marin Aesthetic Medicine\u003c/a> in Mill Valley, says that their clients are having a similarly mixed response to lack of access to beauty services. “I think a lot of people are getting creative with ways to keep up their beauty habits at home” she says. “Based on the amount of product we’ve been shipping, I’d say a lot of people are sticking to their skincare routines. But there are also plenty of people who’ve stopped caring as much now that they’re either wearing a mask, or at home all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1990 feminist classic \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beauty_Myth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Beauty Myth\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, Naomi Wolf made the argument that, as women made social and professional strides forward throughout the 20th century, they were bombarded with ever more impossible beauty standards to adhere to. “More women have more money and power and scope and legal recognition than we have ever had before,” Wolf wrote, “but in terms of how we feel about ourselves physically, we may actually be worse off than our unliberated grandmothers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The body positivity movement enabled by the arrival of social media has gone some way to undoing that structure. But not since World War II have women been denied access to hair and beauty treatments on this scale. Once the standards we were holding ourselves to became physically inaccessible, it actually opened up new realms of possibility for how we may treat self-care in the future. For many of us, things that once seemed essential no longer rank particularly high on the list of priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the course of our conversation, my new friend at the post office also confided that, having been hair-free for the entirety of her marriage, she is now learning to live with hairy legs. “It’s okay now that I’m used to not going to the waxer,” she shrugged. “Weirdly, I’m just now realizing my husband doesn’t care either. Who knew?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Growing accustomed to a world without access to hairstylists and beauticians may permanently alter how Americans treat self-care. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">L\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>ast week, during a visit to the post office (snail mail has provided new realms of joy during shelter in place), I was approached by a woman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hey,” she said in hushed tones from behind her mask. “Who did your hair?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one’s cut it since February, but I do the color myself,” I replied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"198\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13882786\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final-160x176.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\">“Damn it!” the woman cursed. “I can’t find a stylist willing to break the rules. I thought you might know one. Last week, I got so desperate, I had my sister-in-law do my roots and she used too much bleach and now my hair is breaking off. Look!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For anyone with a regular beauty routine that requires the assistance of paid professionals, coronavirus-related salon and spa closures have demanded new levels of personal creativity. And for those who can’t access their usual products and services, living with what God and DNA naturally gave us has simply become a requirement of the new normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the middle of a global pandemic \u003cem>and\u003c/em> a movement for racial justice, even thinking about beauty can feel shamefully frivolous. After all, no one wants to be Karen at the rally holding up an “I NEED A HAIRCUT” sign. (Except for, you know, all of the Karens that actually did that.) Unfortunately, for most of the last century, women have been bombarded with messaging that tells them their beauty and worth are inextricably interwoven. That messaging can be a challenge to shake off, even in a crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/beauty-industry-mental-health-holistic-wellness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Glamour\u003c/em> reported\u003c/a>: “Historically when we [feel] good, cleansing ourselves, grooming ourselves and doing makeup and hair serve to increase confidence and self-esteem. Conversely, if on a downhill spiral, many would stop doing basic things like washing themselves, wearing makeup and brushing their hair and teeth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, an assertion that not wearing makeup might indicate some sort of mental breakdown might slip by largely unnoticed. Fast forward to mid-2020 and women are publicly considering \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnet.com/news/life-in-quarantine-why-i-quit-wearing-makeup-2-months-ago/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">giving up makeup permanently\u003c/a>, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/trends/a32070316/bra-free-quarantine/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Harper’s Bazaar\u003c/em> is asking\u003c/a> if we’ll ever wear bras again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up until the strangeness of the last few months—even in these Gen Z, gender neutral, natural eyebrow-embracing times—a woman proudly wearing her naturally gray hair remained a talking point. Just think about last year when Keanu Reeves and Alexandra Grant debuted their relationship at the LACMA Art and Film Gala. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 55-year-old actor’s decision to date a 46-year-old woman with gray hair was seen by a majority of commenters as confirmation that Reeves was a “\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MissBrittHayes/status/1191515987566383104\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Good Man\u003c/a>.” As if dating a woman with non-colored hair was a penance of some sort. Grant later felt pressured enough to make \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/B5rNIa_lFBx/?utm_source=ig_embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a public statement\u003c/a> about her haircare decisions, citing the “toxicity of dyes” in her decision to go \u003cem>au naturel\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nine months later and—despite there still being no female equivalent of the “silver fox”—numerous women are embracing the salt in their pepper like never before. Celebrity examples have been set by the likes of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CAd_x3UjzeP/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kelly Ripa\u003c/a> (who has been doing regular “Root Watch” stories on Instagram since shelter in place began), \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/B-AoNZYJUxr/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tamera Mowry-Housley\u003c/a> and Lily Allen.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For those not ready to take the plunge, box color kits are a fall back option—in April, research firm \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/coronavirus-shopping-out-of-stock-hair-color-dye-items-selling/6095606/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nielsen reported\u003c/a> that hair dye sales were up 23% compared to the same time last year. Even more telling was the news that the sales of hair clippers increased by more than 160% in the same period. Shaving it all off during shelter in place has been embraced by both \u003ca href=\"https://www.today.com/style/people-are-shaving-their-heads-quarantine-here-s-why-t177502\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">men\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/a32188285/women-shaving-head-covid-quarantine/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">women\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.hairetics-salon.com/lisa-swiss/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lisa Swiss\u003c/a>, a stylist at San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hairetics-salon.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hairetics\u003c/a> says her clients reflect the mixed reactions to salons being closed. While demand for Hairetics’ customized color kits, available for curbside pick-up, has been very high, a lot of clients are also rolling with new, natural looks—at least for the time being. Swiss has also been video conferencing to help people safely remove their hair extensions. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stylist says it’s hard to know the lasting impacts of how people will treat their own beauty regimes when services are readily available again. “Maybe we will see more gray,” she says, “but I think the trends will be all over the place. I do think the majority of people are going to want a big change though—people have had too much time to stare at themselves. I also think people are going to value their hair stylist more than ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stephanie Reeder, practice manager at \u003ca href=\"https://bellemarin.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Belle Marin Aesthetic Medicine\u003c/a> in Mill Valley, says that their clients are having a similarly mixed response to lack of access to beauty services. “I think a lot of people are getting creative with ways to keep up their beauty habits at home” she says. “Based on the amount of product we’ve been shipping, I’d say a lot of people are sticking to their skincare routines. But there are also plenty of people who’ve stopped caring as much now that they’re either wearing a mask, or at home all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1990 feminist classic \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beauty_Myth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Beauty Myth\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, Naomi Wolf made the argument that, as women made social and professional strides forward throughout the 20th century, they were bombarded with ever more impossible beauty standards to adhere to. “More women have more money and power and scope and legal recognition than we have ever had before,” Wolf wrote, “but in terms of how we feel about ourselves physically, we may actually be worse off than our unliberated grandmothers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The body positivity movement enabled by the arrival of social media has gone some way to undoing that structure. But not since World War II have women been denied access to hair and beauty treatments on this scale. Once the standards we were holding ourselves to became physically inaccessible, it actually opened up new realms of possibility for how we may treat self-care in the future. For many of us, things that once seemed essential no longer rank particularly high on the list of priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the course of our conversation, my new friend at the post office also confided that, having been hair-free for the entirety of her marriage, she is now learning to live with hairy legs. “It’s okay now that I’m used to not going to the waxer,” she shrugged. “Weirdly, I’m just now realizing my husband doesn’t care either. Who knew?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Epstein Confidante Ghislaine Maxwell is Unlike Any Enabler We've Seen Before",
"headTitle": "Epstein Confidante Ghislaine Maxwell is Unlike Any Enabler We’ve Seen Before | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">L\u003c/span>ast week, 20 police officers and FBI agents raided a lavish home in Bedford, New Hampshire and emerged with Ghislaine Maxwell in handcuffs. Maxwell, a close associate, confidante and—many say—co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, now faces six counts related to the sex trafficking of minors, very similar to the ones that Epstein didn’t live long enough to face in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13882786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final-160x176.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Epstein’s accusers have long claimed that Maxwell recruited, groomed and exploited them; that he couldn’t have done what he did without her assistance. Federal prosecutors charge that Maxwell even took part in some of the sexual abuse directly. But the 58-year-old Brit has been evading authorities so flagrantly and for so long that, last year, the \u003cem>Sun\u003c/em> newspaper resorted to offering a \u003ca href=\"https://www.the-sun.com/news/74018/the-sun-is-offering-a-10000-reward-for-information-on-jeffrey-epstein-pal-ghislaine-maxwell/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">£10,000 reward\u003c/a> for information leading to her location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following 2017’s #MeToo reckoning, the world became all too familiar with the ways that enablers can assist and protect prominent sexual predators. But of all of the enablers that have emerged in the last few years, Maxwell is arguably the most notorious. That’s partly because she’s a woman alleged to have facilitated the abuse of others. And it’s partly because of the degree and depth of her involvement with Epstein (“She had served him for years, maintaining his homes, ranch, and private island,”\u003ca href=\"https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/07/inside-ghislaine-maxwells-life-on-the-lam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> reports \u003c/a>\u003cem>Vanity Fair\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s also partly because the allegations against her represent a new, monstrous degree of enabling we’ve not quite seen before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">W\u003c/span>hat we’re accustomed to hearing about enablers is that their work is done incrementally; little by little; one blind eye at a time. And it usually takes a whole team of them. Bill Cosby had attorneys—\u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kateaurthur/bill-cosby-is-in-disgrace\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Martin Singer\u003c/a> brokered deals to get accusations scrubbed from the press. He had agents—\u003ca href=\"https://www.vocativ.com/208960/bill-cosbys-circle/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Illus\u003c/a> distributed money to multiple women, without ever asking what it was for. He had writers—Mark Whitaker’s in-depth biography, \u003cem>Cosby: His Life and Times\u003c/em>, failed to mention any accusations against the actor, despite them being well-known at the time. He had a PR team that attempted to suppress \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HUPK34aiXE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>that\u003c/em> viral comedy routine\u003c/a> by Hannibal Buress. And he definitely had doctors, as evidenced by his seven prescriptions for quaaludes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harvey Weinstein had a similar deputized army of defense. In 2017, \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/25/harvey-weinstein-trial-helpers-enablers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em> listed\u003c/a> as Weinstein enablers everyone from “lowly limousine drivers,” on up through the lawyers who drew up NDAs to silence accusers, and all the way to New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance—who opted not to prosecute Weinstein despite strong evidence against him. Weinstein’s brother and business partner, Bob, is widely presumed to have been complicit in the abusive behavior. Then there’s David Boies, the lawyer who tried to stop the \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> from exposing Weinstein in the first place. (In a strange twist, Boies is now representing several women in the process of suing Ghislaine Maxwell.)[aside postid='pop_112955']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-former-employees-reckon-with-what-they-knew-and-what-they-didnt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">many of Weistein’s assistants\u003c/a>, enablers often claim they simply didn’t realize the seriousness of what was happening at the time. Some are swept up in friendship—Louis CK’s predilection for masturbating in front of unsuspecting women is said to have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.thedailybeast.com/louis-cks-powerful-army-of-celebrity-enablers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an open secret\u003c/a> in comedy circles for years. And for many of his pals, including \u003ca href=\"https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/sarah-silverman-louis-ck-masturbated-1202988208/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sarah Silverman\u003c/a>, it just didn’t seem like that big a deal. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some enablers may assume that in celebrity circles, predatory behavior is simply the norm. Photographer Terry Richardson is said to have had \u003ca href=\"https://www.marieclaire.com.au/terry-richardson-every-sexual-harassment-and-assault-allegation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">assistants\u003c/a> that laughed along and took photos while he was behaving inappropriately during shoots. Some, it’s been alleged, even provided towels to clean up after on-set sex acts had taken place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When entities enable, it’s usually related to how profitable the offender is to them. \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_O%27Reilly_(political_commentator)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fox News assisted Bill O’Reilly\u003c/a> in quietly settling five sexual harassment lawsuits totaling $13 million. Not only did NBC know about the \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2018/05/11/just-how-did-matt-lauers-famous-desk-button-work/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">button under Matt Lauer’s desk\u003c/a>, those door closing mechanisms were “a commonly available feature in executive offices in multiple NBCUniversal facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">F\u003c/span>or Ghislaine Maxwell, her motivations appear to be comprised of all three. She was emotionally invested in Epstein as a sometime-girlfriend. Her ability to live luxuriously was greatly facilitated by helping him. And she had grown up doting on her father, \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/09/robert-maxwells-sons-say-tycoon-was-to-meet-boe-the-day-he-died\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Maxwell\u003c/a>—one of the most morally bankrupt tycoons in modern British history. It’s possible that she thought all wealthy people just did whatever the hell they wanted. [aside postid='arts_13876352']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the stranger aspects of Maxwell and Epstein’s relationship is in the power dynamic. Many prominent predators get people around them to toe the line by reminding everyone how powerful they are, how much there is to lose by holding them accountable, and how much there is to gain from turning a blind eye. But Ghislaine Maxwell, a worldly socialite, was in many ways the reason Epstein was able to make so many prestigious contacts in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the “Lady Ghislaine” episode of the \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/broken-jeffrey-epstein/id1478460758\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Broken: Jeffrey Epstein\u003c/em>\u003c/a> podcast, host Ariel Levy notes that Maxwell “was the one who connected this college dropout from Brooklyn to what would otherwise have been the impenetrable echelon of American presidents, British royalty and world-famous scientists.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Epstein had the money, but Maxwell had the connections. For a while, at least, they benefited from each other. Maxwell not only facilitated Epstein’s rise, but she helped to keep him there, by any means necessary. Whether it was for power, money or love, we’ll probably never know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing of which we \u003cem>can\u003c/em> be certain is that there has never been an enabler like Ghislaine Maxwell before. The criminal charges against her reflect that. (Even Bob Weinstein \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/media/bob-weinstein-production-company.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">still has a career\u003c/a>.) Perhaps bringing her to justice will be a step forward in making up for all the other ones that got away. And that includes Jeffrey Epstein.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Ghislaine Maxwell facilitated Jeffrey Epstein's rise. Then she worked hard to keep him at the top. ",
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"title": "Epstein Confidante Ghislaine Maxwell is Unlike Any Enabler We've Seen Before | KQED",
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"headline": "Epstein Confidante Ghislaine Maxwell is Unlike Any Enabler We've Seen Before",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">L\u003c/span>ast week, 20 police officers and FBI agents raided a lavish home in Bedford, New Hampshire and emerged with Ghislaine Maxwell in handcuffs. Maxwell, a close associate, confidante and—many say—co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, now faces six counts related to the sex trafficking of minors, very similar to the ones that Epstein didn’t live long enough to face in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13882786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final-160x176.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Epstein’s accusers have long claimed that Maxwell recruited, groomed and exploited them; that he couldn’t have done what he did without her assistance. Federal prosecutors charge that Maxwell even took part in some of the sexual abuse directly. But the 58-year-old Brit has been evading authorities so flagrantly and for so long that, last year, the \u003cem>Sun\u003c/em> newspaper resorted to offering a \u003ca href=\"https://www.the-sun.com/news/74018/the-sun-is-offering-a-10000-reward-for-information-on-jeffrey-epstein-pal-ghislaine-maxwell/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">£10,000 reward\u003c/a> for information leading to her location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following 2017’s #MeToo reckoning, the world became all too familiar with the ways that enablers can assist and protect prominent sexual predators. But of all of the enablers that have emerged in the last few years, Maxwell is arguably the most notorious. That’s partly because she’s a woman alleged to have facilitated the abuse of others. And it’s partly because of the degree and depth of her involvement with Epstein (“She had served him for years, maintaining his homes, ranch, and private island,”\u003ca href=\"https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/07/inside-ghislaine-maxwells-life-on-the-lam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> reports \u003c/a>\u003cem>Vanity Fair\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s also partly because the allegations against her represent a new, monstrous degree of enabling we’ve not quite seen before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">W\u003c/span>hat we’re accustomed to hearing about enablers is that their work is done incrementally; little by little; one blind eye at a time. And it usually takes a whole team of them. Bill Cosby had attorneys—\u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kateaurthur/bill-cosby-is-in-disgrace\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Martin Singer\u003c/a> brokered deals to get accusations scrubbed from the press. He had agents—\u003ca href=\"https://www.vocativ.com/208960/bill-cosbys-circle/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Illus\u003c/a> distributed money to multiple women, without ever asking what it was for. He had writers—Mark Whitaker’s in-depth biography, \u003cem>Cosby: His Life and Times\u003c/em>, failed to mention any accusations against the actor, despite them being well-known at the time. He had a PR team that attempted to suppress \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HUPK34aiXE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>that\u003c/em> viral comedy routine\u003c/a> by Hannibal Buress. And he definitely had doctors, as evidenced by his seven prescriptions for quaaludes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harvey Weinstein had a similar deputized army of defense. In 2017, \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/25/harvey-weinstein-trial-helpers-enablers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em> listed\u003c/a> as Weinstein enablers everyone from “lowly limousine drivers,” on up through the lawyers who drew up NDAs to silence accusers, and all the way to New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance—who opted not to prosecute Weinstein despite strong evidence against him. Weinstein’s brother and business partner, Bob, is widely presumed to have been complicit in the abusive behavior. Then there’s David Boies, the lawyer who tried to stop the \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> from exposing Weinstein in the first place. (In a strange twist, Boies is now representing several women in the process of suing Ghislaine Maxwell.)\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-former-employees-reckon-with-what-they-knew-and-what-they-didnt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">many of Weistein’s assistants\u003c/a>, enablers often claim they simply didn’t realize the seriousness of what was happening at the time. Some are swept up in friendship—Louis CK’s predilection for masturbating in front of unsuspecting women is said to have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.thedailybeast.com/louis-cks-powerful-army-of-celebrity-enablers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an open secret\u003c/a> in comedy circles for years. And for many of his pals, including \u003ca href=\"https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/sarah-silverman-louis-ck-masturbated-1202988208/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sarah Silverman\u003c/a>, it just didn’t seem like that big a deal. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some enablers may assume that in celebrity circles, predatory behavior is simply the norm. Photographer Terry Richardson is said to have had \u003ca href=\"https://www.marieclaire.com.au/terry-richardson-every-sexual-harassment-and-assault-allegation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">assistants\u003c/a> that laughed along and took photos while he was behaving inappropriately during shoots. Some, it’s been alleged, even provided towels to clean up after on-set sex acts had taken place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When entities enable, it’s usually related to how profitable the offender is to them. \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_O%27Reilly_(political_commentator)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fox News assisted Bill O’Reilly\u003c/a> in quietly settling five sexual harassment lawsuits totaling $13 million. Not only did NBC know about the \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2018/05/11/just-how-did-matt-lauers-famous-desk-button-work/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">button under Matt Lauer’s desk\u003c/a>, those door closing mechanisms were “a commonly available feature in executive offices in multiple NBCUniversal facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">F\u003c/span>or Ghislaine Maxwell, her motivations appear to be comprised of all three. She was emotionally invested in Epstein as a sometime-girlfriend. Her ability to live luxuriously was greatly facilitated by helping him. And she had grown up doting on her father, \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/09/robert-maxwells-sons-say-tycoon-was-to-meet-boe-the-day-he-died\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Maxwell\u003c/a>—one of the most morally bankrupt tycoons in modern British history. It’s possible that she thought all wealthy people just did whatever the hell they wanted. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the stranger aspects of Maxwell and Epstein’s relationship is in the power dynamic. Many prominent predators get people around them to toe the line by reminding everyone how powerful they are, how much there is to lose by holding them accountable, and how much there is to gain from turning a blind eye. But Ghislaine Maxwell, a worldly socialite, was in many ways the reason Epstein was able to make so many prestigious contacts in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the “Lady Ghislaine” episode of the \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/broken-jeffrey-epstein/id1478460758\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Broken: Jeffrey Epstein\u003c/em>\u003c/a> podcast, host Ariel Levy notes that Maxwell “was the one who connected this college dropout from Brooklyn to what would otherwise have been the impenetrable echelon of American presidents, British royalty and world-famous scientists.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Epstein had the money, but Maxwell had the connections. For a while, at least, they benefited from each other. Maxwell not only facilitated Epstein’s rise, but she helped to keep him there, by any means necessary. Whether it was for power, money or love, we’ll probably never know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing of which we \u003cem>can\u003c/em> be certain is that there has never been an enabler like Ghislaine Maxwell before. The criminal charges against her reflect that. (Even Bob Weinstein \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/media/bob-weinstein-production-company.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">still has a career\u003c/a>.) Perhaps bringing her to justice will be a step forward in making up for all the other ones that got away. And that includes Jeffrey Epstein.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Independence Day Isn’t Cause for Celebration for Black Americans",
"headTitle": "Independence Day Isn’t Cause for Celebration for Black Americans | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>t’s odd, the relationship America has with its history. There is this unbudging death grip on the moments that flatter this nation and selective amnesia when it comes to moments that are dark and shameful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We throw fits over statues of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/us/confederate-statues-monuments-removal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">slave owners\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825103/san-francisco-removes-controversial-christopher-columbus-statue-on-telegraph-hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">colonizers\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> being pulled down—statues that were erected as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/news/how-the-u-s-got-so-many-confederate-monuments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">reminders of white supremacy\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> during moments of heightened racial tension, such as the Reconstruction, Jim Crow era and the Civil Rights movement. Yet we don’t think twice about the fact that tragedies like the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/gabrielsanchez/tulsa-massacre-photos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tulsa race massacre\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> aren’t taught in American history at any level of K-12 education.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am infuriated that I didn’t read the words of great minds like James Baldwin, W.E.B. Du Bois or Angela Davis until I was in my 30s—figures who refused to whitewash or sanitize the conversation around race and inequality in America. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When historical wounds are never mended, the rot of hate is allowed to fester and spread into other vital parts of the body. Wounds don’t heal unless they are properly diagnosed and tended to. If you take one look at the protests across the nation, you can see the wounded. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13882901\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13882901\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators at a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Oakland in June 2020. \u003ccite>(Brandon Ruffin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span>s the country prepares to celebrate the Fourth of July, I can’t help but think of the words \u003ca href=\"https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/2945\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Frederick Douglass spoke\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on July 5, 1852 in Rochester, New York.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I say with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me.The Fourth of July is yours, not mine, You may rejoice, I must mourn.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ten years after Douglass gave his speech, nearly 3.5 million enslaved Black people would be given the status of “free”—that was nearly 100 years after the 13 American colonies seceded from King George III’s United Kingdom. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Challenging the hypocrisy of celebrating Independence Day isn’t new, but unfortunately it is still very relevant. Today, people aren’t just out protesting the unjust deaths of Black people at the hands of police, they are protesting the many disparities Black communities face. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Disparities in wages, the justice system, loans, housing, education and access to medical care all continue to plague Black communities. And this year, we watched a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/872711019/examining-racial-disparities-observed-during-coronavirus-pandemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">global pandemic\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> ravage them all over the United States. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, examining the past and the present of this country, was there ever an Independence Day when Black Americans truly felt included or proud? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Were Black Americans expected to celebrate Independence Day in 1919, during the “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/news/red-summer-1919-riots-chicago-dc-great-migration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Red Summer\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">”? That year, the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/death-hundreds-elaine-massacre-led-supreme-court-take-major-step-toward-equal-justice-african-americans-180969863/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elaine Massacre in Arkansas\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> led to the deaths of nearly 300 Black Americans, including World War I veteran \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://ualr.edu/news/2018/09/13/leroy-johnston-medals/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Leroy Johnston\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Johnston was critically wounded in France, only to come home and be shot to death alongside his brothers by a white mob. It took over 90 years for Johnston to receive his Purple Heart earned in service to a country that barely recognized his citizenship. Even as he fought under the flag we wave on Independence Day, Johnston was not afforded the basic right to life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13882903\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13882903\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-IV-003.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-IV-003.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-IV-003-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-IV-003-768x1152.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators at a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Oakland in June 2020. \u003ccite>(Brandon Ruffin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Were Black Americans expected to celebrate in 1896–1965, when the Jim Crow laws undermined their citizenship and voting rights?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Were Black Americans expected to celebrate in 1921,\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">after the Tulsa race massacre? White mobs murdered men, women and children, using land and air attacks that leveled a 35-block district known as “Black Wall Street.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Were Black Americans expected to celebrate in 1965, when \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://freedomcenter.org/voice/death-sparked-selma-montgomery-marches-1965\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jimmie Lee Jackson\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was gunned down by a white police officer during a non-violent voting rights protest in Selma? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Were Black Americans expected to celebrate in 1998? I remember being terrified in the weeks leading up to Independence Day as I drove with my parents through Jasper, Texas on a trip to visit family in Louisiana. On June 7, just two weeks before we drove through the sleepy, Southern town, every major news network reported that three white men tied a Black man named \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newsweek.com/james-byrd-jr-lynching-texas-death-row-execution-1394474\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">James Byrd Jr\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him for miles until his body tore into pieces. I never forgot the chalk circles on the roadway that investigators drew to identify the location of his head, torso, arms and legs. Was I supposed to scarf down hot dogs, pop firecrackers and sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” that year?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once again, this year’s Independence Day feels heavy for Black Americans. Just over a month ago, I watched a video of George Floyd murdered in the streets of Minneapolis as police officer Derek Chauvin jabbed his knee into his neck, stripping him of his dignity. For nearly nine minutes, I watched Chauvin kneel on Floyd’s neck like a hunter standing over a trophy bear. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just a little over a week ago, I watched the president of the United States retweet and praise a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/trump-tweet-supporters-man-chants-white-power/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">video of a protest\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> where a man chanted the phrase “white power.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How enthusiastic about Independence Day should my family and I be? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13882905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13882905\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Murals in downtown Oakland call for justice for victims of police violence. \u003ccite>(Brandon Ruffin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">O\u003c/span>nce you understand American history in all of its cruelty, it’s easy to see why people want to pull down statues of so-called great Americans like \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-is-confederate-general-albert-pike-memorialized-at-judiciary-square/2016/10/22/9d69f26c-96ed-11e6-bc79-af1cd3d2984b_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Confederate general Albert Pike\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, who had strong ties to the KKK, and Confederate general Robert E. Lee, who was a slave owner. These monuments are a sham; they are a physical manifestation of gaslighting about the origins of this nation. These images, these flags, these great Americans—they are all coded language from those who have power and status to maintain. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the rest of us, American history is made up of horror stories, and people are tired of the reminders. People have naturally grown weary to tipping their hats to falsehood. People have grown tired of begging for immovable governments to move on their behalf.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This year, we should look at Independence Day as more than a day to barbecue and drink, more than a day to light fireworks and jump in pools. I suggest that this year we take a look at ourselves, take a look at our country and celebrate it for what it is and recognize its failures.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">History is not the death of time but the continuous sequence of life. The injuries endured will sustain the injured as a testament to their strength and resilience.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.ruffdraftvisuals.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Ruffin\u003c/a> is an Oakland photographer, writer and visual artist. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The wounds of racism can’t begin to heal in America until the country owns up to the violent atrocities in its past and present. ",
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"description": "The wounds of racism can’t begin to heal in America until the country owns up to the violent atrocities in its past and present. ",
"title": "Independence Day Isn’t Cause for Celebration for Black Americans | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>t’s odd, the relationship America has with its history. There is this unbudging death grip on the moments that flatter this nation and selective amnesia when it comes to moments that are dark and shameful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We throw fits over statues of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/us/confederate-statues-monuments-removal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">slave owners\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825103/san-francisco-removes-controversial-christopher-columbus-statue-on-telegraph-hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">colonizers\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> being pulled down—statues that were erected as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/news/how-the-u-s-got-so-many-confederate-monuments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">reminders of white supremacy\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> during moments of heightened racial tension, such as the Reconstruction, Jim Crow era and the Civil Rights movement. Yet we don’t think twice about the fact that tragedies like the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/gabrielsanchez/tulsa-massacre-photos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tulsa race massacre\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> aren’t taught in American history at any level of K-12 education.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am infuriated that I didn’t read the words of great minds like James Baldwin, W.E.B. Du Bois or Angela Davis until I was in my 30s—figures who refused to whitewash or sanitize the conversation around race and inequality in America. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When historical wounds are never mended, the rot of hate is allowed to fester and spread into other vital parts of the body. Wounds don’t heal unless they are properly diagnosed and tended to. If you take one look at the protests across the nation, you can see the wounded. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13882901\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13882901\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-0031.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators at a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Oakland in June 2020. \u003ccite>(Brandon Ruffin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span>s the country prepares to celebrate the Fourth of July, I can’t help but think of the words \u003ca href=\"https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/2945\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Frederick Douglass spoke\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on July 5, 1852 in Rochester, New York.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I say with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me.The Fourth of July is yours, not mine, You may rejoice, I must mourn.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ten years after Douglass gave his speech, nearly 3.5 million enslaved Black people would be given the status of “free”—that was nearly 100 years after the 13 American colonies seceded from King George III’s United Kingdom. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Challenging the hypocrisy of celebrating Independence Day isn’t new, but unfortunately it is still very relevant. Today, people aren’t just out protesting the unjust deaths of Black people at the hands of police, they are protesting the many disparities Black communities face. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Disparities in wages, the justice system, loans, housing, education and access to medical care all continue to plague Black communities. And this year, we watched a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/872711019/examining-racial-disparities-observed-during-coronavirus-pandemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">global pandemic\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> ravage them all over the United States. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, examining the past and the present of this country, was there ever an Independence Day when Black Americans truly felt included or proud? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Were Black Americans expected to celebrate Independence Day in 1919, during the “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/news/red-summer-1919-riots-chicago-dc-great-migration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Red Summer\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">”? That year, the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/death-hundreds-elaine-massacre-led-supreme-court-take-major-step-toward-equal-justice-african-americans-180969863/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elaine Massacre in Arkansas\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> led to the deaths of nearly 300 Black Americans, including World War I veteran \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://ualr.edu/news/2018/09/13/leroy-johnston-medals/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Leroy Johnston\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Johnston was critically wounded in France, only to come home and be shot to death alongside his brothers by a white mob. It took over 90 years for Johnston to receive his Purple Heart earned in service to a country that barely recognized his citizenship. Even as he fought under the flag we wave on Independence Day, Johnston was not afforded the basic right to life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13882903\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13882903\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-IV-003.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-IV-003.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-IV-003-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Justice-For-Floyd-IV-003-768x1152.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators at a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Oakland in June 2020. \u003ccite>(Brandon Ruffin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Were Black Americans expected to celebrate in 1896–1965, when the Jim Crow laws undermined their citizenship and voting rights?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Were Black Americans expected to celebrate in 1921,\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">after the Tulsa race massacre? White mobs murdered men, women and children, using land and air attacks that leveled a 35-block district known as “Black Wall Street.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Were Black Americans expected to celebrate in 1965, when \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://freedomcenter.org/voice/death-sparked-selma-montgomery-marches-1965\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jimmie Lee Jackson\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was gunned down by a white police officer during a non-violent voting rights protest in Selma? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Were Black Americans expected to celebrate in 1998? I remember being terrified in the weeks leading up to Independence Day as I drove with my parents through Jasper, Texas on a trip to visit family in Louisiana. On June 7, just two weeks before we drove through the sleepy, Southern town, every major news network reported that three white men tied a Black man named \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newsweek.com/james-byrd-jr-lynching-texas-death-row-execution-1394474\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">James Byrd Jr\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him for miles until his body tore into pieces. I never forgot the chalk circles on the roadway that investigators drew to identify the location of his head, torso, arms and legs. Was I supposed to scarf down hot dogs, pop firecrackers and sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” that year?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once again, this year’s Independence Day feels heavy for Black Americans. Just over a month ago, I watched a video of George Floyd murdered in the streets of Minneapolis as police officer Derek Chauvin jabbed his knee into his neck, stripping him of his dignity. For nearly nine minutes, I watched Chauvin kneel on Floyd’s neck like a hunter standing over a trophy bear. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just a little over a week ago, I watched the president of the United States retweet and praise a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/trump-tweet-supporters-man-chants-white-power/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">video of a protest\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> where a man chanted the phrase “white power.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How enthusiastic about Independence Day should my family and I be? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13882905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13882905\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Oak-Revolution-Art-0053.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Murals in downtown Oakland call for justice for victims of police violence. \u003ccite>(Brandon Ruffin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">O\u003c/span>nce you understand American history in all of its cruelty, it’s easy to see why people want to pull down statues of so-called great Americans like \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-is-confederate-general-albert-pike-memorialized-at-judiciary-square/2016/10/22/9d69f26c-96ed-11e6-bc79-af1cd3d2984b_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Confederate general Albert Pike\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, who had strong ties to the KKK, and Confederate general Robert E. Lee, who was a slave owner. These monuments are a sham; they are a physical manifestation of gaslighting about the origins of this nation. These images, these flags, these great Americans—they are all coded language from those who have power and status to maintain. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the rest of us, American history is made up of horror stories, and people are tired of the reminders. People have naturally grown weary to tipping their hats to falsehood. People have grown tired of begging for immovable governments to move on their behalf.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This year, we should look at Independence Day as more than a day to barbecue and drink, more than a day to light fireworks and jump in pools. I suggest that this year we take a look at ourselves, take a look at our country and celebrate it for what it is and recognize its failures.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">History is not the death of time but the continuous sequence of life. The injuries endured will sustain the injured as a testament to their strength and resilience.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.ruffdraftvisuals.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Ruffin\u003c/a> is an Oakland photographer, writer and visual artist. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "We All Know a ‘Karen’ When We See One—Now We Need to Talk About ‘Kevin’",
"headTitle": "We All Know a ‘Karen’ When We See One—Now We Need to Talk About ‘Kevin’ | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">L\u003c/span>ast week, a Mexican American man named Michael Barajas was blocked from entering his own parking garage in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood by a couple in an SUV. The SUV driver, William Beasley, was \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/RichmondLyfe/status/1275829921969930240\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">caught on camera\u003c/a> repeatedly getting out of his vehicle to threaten Barajas. When he told Barajas he was calling the police, Barajas responded: “That’s fine, call the cops! What are you calling the cops about, Karen?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13882786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final-160x176.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\">The exchange was, most of all, a jarring illustration that racism is alive and kicking in San Francisco. But it also served to illustrate that we as a nation have been so laser-focused on Karens behaving badly, we forgot to even give a name to the men who conduct themselves just as atrociously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hashtag \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/KarensGoneWild?src=hashtag_click\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#KarensGoneWild\u003c/a> is a large section of Twitter dedicated to women who racially profile others, refuse to wear masks in stores, and generally behave with an inflamed sense of self-entitlement. Clips of men doing the same thing aren’t hard to find, but they often fail to garner the same degree of attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, 57-year-old \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/video-of-white-man-calling-police-on-black-men-at-stamford-marina-sparks-outrage/2488405/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steven Dudek called the cops\u003c/a> on a party of five Black and Latino men and accused them of harassing him. He shouted “White lives matter too!” in the middle of his phone call to 911. In May, a Minneapolis man named \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/27/video-minnesota-police-black-entrepreneurs-gym\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Austin called the cops\u003c/a> on a group of younger Black men for using the gym in their shared office building. (He said he didn’t think they looked like they belonged there.) And a few weeks ago, a man was \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MadMaxDante/status/1275877394943967237\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">caught on camera\u003c/a> calling a Black man “boy” and telling him to “fetch me some water.” Despite no women being featured in the video, the clip was hashtagged “#Karens” and “#KarensGoneWild” on Twitter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some corners of the internet have been actively trying to fill the Karen-adjacent void. In its reporting of the Beasley-Barajas altercation, \u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/2020/06/27/sf-ken-filmed-blocking-latino-man-from-entering-his-own-apartment-complex/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SFist\u003c/a> referred to Beasley as a “Ken”—a term that has also previously been used by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/male-version-of-karen-meme/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fatherly\u003c/a> website. \u003ca href=\"https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-male-equivalent-of-a-Karen-called-You-know-the-guy-who-always-wants-to-speak-to-the-manager-because-hes-entitled-to-better-services-or-upgrades\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Quora\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/an7xsa/who_is_male_equivalent_for_karen/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reddit users\u003c/a> are conflicted, with a mixed bag of suggestions including “Thad,” “Donald,” “Frank,” “Greg,” “Todd” and “Kevin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kevin” has recently emerged as the frontrunner. An Instagram account titled \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/karenandkevingoingwild/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">KarenAndKevinGoingWild\u003c/a> launched in May and already has upwards of 200,000 followers. “Kevin” got a boost on Twitter last week as well, after Mark and Patricia McCloskey\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1277526031935647744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> waved guns\u003c/a> in the direction of Black Lives Matter protesters in St. Louis. (The couple made \u003ca href=\"https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2020/06/29/couple-who-pointed-guns-at-protesters-release-statement-in-support-of-protesters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a statement\u003c/a> the following day that they were, in fact, in support of the protest.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/theodoricofyork/status/1277788707005882368\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the back of the McCloskys, #KevinsGoneWild is finally picking up a little steam on Twitter. Posts with the hashtag include two separate \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/901Flava/status/1277384025456422915\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">clips\u003c/a> of \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AnaBrand214/status/1277017065983897600\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">men harassing\u003c/a> peaceful protesters (including some 15-year-old girls), a \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AnaBrand214/status/1277005461317750785\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lyft passenger\u003c/a> refusing to wear a mask and using racial slurs against a driver, a shirtless white man standing on a street corner \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SpritzzyChick/status/1273980942533767168\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cracking a whip\u003c/a>, and a maskless man \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/adrianVenditti/status/1273726389926146048\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">harassing\u003c/a> a coffee shop employee over a Black Lives Matter sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite this kind of evidence, there have been suggestions that racially charged harassment—especially that which involves self-righteously calling 911—is an activity specific to women. In early June, Dr. Apryl Williams, an assistant professor at University of Michigan \u003ca href=\"https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/male-version-of-karen-meme/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told Fatherly\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The reason we don’t see so many of these incidents where white men are calling the police on Black people is due to the gender socialization process where women are conditioned to call out and seek help and men are not. In the case of Ahmaud Arbery, instead of calling the police, these white men decided to take justice into their own hands.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>There is ample evidence, however, that physical violence and phone calls to the police are not mutually exclusive. Let’s not forget \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/326700-full-transcript-zimmerman.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">George Zimmerman called the police\u003c/a> before shooting Trayvon Martin. [aside postid='arts_13881138']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some writers—including \u003ca href=\"https://gen.medium.com/how-the-karen-meme-benefits-the-right-4cff760d6e90\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nina Burleigh\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.boredpanda.com/julie-bindel-sparks-karen-slur-debate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julie Bindel\u003c/a> (who referred to Karen as a “slur” on Twitter)—have argued that the new widespread use of “Karen” is rooted in misogyny. That argument is a bit of a stretch. After all, these women got called out first and foremost because they were caught on camera behaving appallingly—not because they were women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It \u003cem>is\u003c/em> true, however, that America has a tendency to hold women to higher standards than men. We see that in school \u003ca href=\"https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/09/05/do-school-dress-codes-discrimate-against-girls.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dress codes\u003c/a> that target girls more than boys. And in professional environments where women receive \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2016/06/02/480487259/women-held-to-higher-ethical-standard-than-men-study-shows\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">harsher penalties\u003c/a> than men for committing the same infractions. And it’s why there are often \u003ca href=\"https://www.dictionary.com/e/mistress-and-other-words-that-have-no-male-counterpart/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no male equivalent words\u003c/a> for derogatory terms used against women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calling out the Karens is an essential part of exposing casual racism that white people might otherwise never witness. And using that handle—while unfortunate for women actually named Karen—brings a levity to hard-to-watch content that makes it more shareable. But as long as America is holding Karen accountable, it’s only right to apply equal pressure to her male counterpart. We need to talk about Kevin just as much.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">L\u003c/span>ast week, a Mexican American man named Michael Barajas was blocked from entering his own parking garage in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood by a couple in an SUV. The SUV driver, William Beasley, was \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/RichmondLyfe/status/1275829921969930240\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">caught on camera\u003c/a> repeatedly getting out of his vehicle to threaten Barajas. When he told Barajas he was calling the police, Barajas responded: “That’s fine, call the cops! What are you calling the cops about, Karen?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13882786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Rae-Alexandra-KQED_180_final-160x176.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\">The exchange was, most of all, a jarring illustration that racism is alive and kicking in San Francisco. But it also served to illustrate that we as a nation have been so laser-focused on Karens behaving badly, we forgot to even give a name to the men who conduct themselves just as atrociously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hashtag \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/KarensGoneWild?src=hashtag_click\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#KarensGoneWild\u003c/a> is a large section of Twitter dedicated to women who racially profile others, refuse to wear masks in stores, and generally behave with an inflamed sense of self-entitlement. Clips of men doing the same thing aren’t hard to find, but they often fail to garner the same degree of attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, 57-year-old \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/video-of-white-man-calling-police-on-black-men-at-stamford-marina-sparks-outrage/2488405/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steven Dudek called the cops\u003c/a> on a party of five Black and Latino men and accused them of harassing him. He shouted “White lives matter too!” in the middle of his phone call to 911. In May, a Minneapolis man named \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/27/video-minnesota-police-black-entrepreneurs-gym\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Austin called the cops\u003c/a> on a group of younger Black men for using the gym in their shared office building. (He said he didn’t think they looked like they belonged there.) And a few weeks ago, a man was \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MadMaxDante/status/1275877394943967237\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">caught on camera\u003c/a> calling a Black man “boy” and telling him to “fetch me some water.” Despite no women being featured in the video, the clip was hashtagged “#Karens” and “#KarensGoneWild” on Twitter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some corners of the internet have been actively trying to fill the Karen-adjacent void. In its reporting of the Beasley-Barajas altercation, \u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/2020/06/27/sf-ken-filmed-blocking-latino-man-from-entering-his-own-apartment-complex/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SFist\u003c/a> referred to Beasley as a “Ken”—a term that has also previously been used by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/male-version-of-karen-meme/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fatherly\u003c/a> website. \u003ca href=\"https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-male-equivalent-of-a-Karen-called-You-know-the-guy-who-always-wants-to-speak-to-the-manager-because-hes-entitled-to-better-services-or-upgrades\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Quora\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/an7xsa/who_is_male_equivalent_for_karen/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reddit users\u003c/a> are conflicted, with a mixed bag of suggestions including “Thad,” “Donald,” “Frank,” “Greg,” “Todd” and “Kevin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kevin” has recently emerged as the frontrunner. An Instagram account titled \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/karenandkevingoingwild/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">KarenAndKevinGoingWild\u003c/a> launched in May and already has upwards of 200,000 followers. “Kevin” got a boost on Twitter last week as well, after Mark and Patricia McCloskey\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1277526031935647744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> waved guns\u003c/a> in the direction of Black Lives Matter protesters in St. Louis. (The couple made \u003ca href=\"https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2020/06/29/couple-who-pointed-guns-at-protesters-release-statement-in-support-of-protesters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a statement\u003c/a> the following day that they were, in fact, in support of the protest.)\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>On the back of the McCloskys, #KevinsGoneWild is finally picking up a little steam on Twitter. Posts with the hashtag include two separate \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/901Flava/status/1277384025456422915\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">clips\u003c/a> of \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AnaBrand214/status/1277017065983897600\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">men harassing\u003c/a> peaceful protesters (including some 15-year-old girls), a \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AnaBrand214/status/1277005461317750785\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lyft passenger\u003c/a> refusing to wear a mask and using racial slurs against a driver, a shirtless white man standing on a street corner \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SpritzzyChick/status/1273980942533767168\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cracking a whip\u003c/a>, and a maskless man \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/adrianVenditti/status/1273726389926146048\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">harassing\u003c/a> a coffee shop employee over a Black Lives Matter sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite this kind of evidence, there have been suggestions that racially charged harassment—especially that which involves self-righteously calling 911—is an activity specific to women. In early June, Dr. Apryl Williams, an assistant professor at University of Michigan \u003ca href=\"https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/male-version-of-karen-meme/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told Fatherly\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The reason we don’t see so many of these incidents where white men are calling the police on Black people is due to the gender socialization process where women are conditioned to call out and seek help and men are not. In the case of Ahmaud Arbery, instead of calling the police, these white men decided to take justice into their own hands.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>There is ample evidence, however, that physical violence and phone calls to the police are not mutually exclusive. Let’s not forget \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/326700-full-transcript-zimmerman.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">George Zimmerman called the police\u003c/a> before shooting Trayvon Martin. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some writers—including \u003ca href=\"https://gen.medium.com/how-the-karen-meme-benefits-the-right-4cff760d6e90\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nina Burleigh\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.boredpanda.com/julie-bindel-sparks-karen-slur-debate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julie Bindel\u003c/a> (who referred to Karen as a “slur” on Twitter)—have argued that the new widespread use of “Karen” is rooted in misogyny. That argument is a bit of a stretch. After all, these women got called out first and foremost because they were caught on camera behaving appallingly—not because they were women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It \u003cem>is\u003c/em> true, however, that America has a tendency to hold women to higher standards than men. We see that in school \u003ca href=\"https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/09/05/do-school-dress-codes-discrimate-against-girls.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dress codes\u003c/a> that target girls more than boys. And in professional environments where women receive \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2016/06/02/480487259/women-held-to-higher-ethical-standard-than-men-study-shows\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">harsher penalties\u003c/a> than men for committing the same infractions. And it’s why there are often \u003ca href=\"https://www.dictionary.com/e/mistress-and-other-words-that-have-no-male-counterpart/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no male equivalent words\u003c/a> for derogatory terms used against women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calling out the Karens is an essential part of exposing casual racism that white people might otherwise never witness. And using that handle—while unfortunate for women actually named Karen—brings a levity to hard-to-watch content that makes it more shareable. But as long as America is holding Karen accountable, it’s only right to apply equal pressure to her male counterpart. We need to talk about Kevin just as much.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "the-pandemic-the-protests-and-the-police-songs-of-the-summer-2020",
"title": "The Pandemic, the Protests and the Police: Songs of the Summer 2020",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span> can’t tell you if it’s music for the movement, music for “the moment,” or just music to make money. But I can tell you artists have been working. And I’ve been listening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between the COVID-19 pandemic, the nationwide protests and the push for defunding the police, a wave of songs has arrived, all of them documenting the beginning of summertime in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Beyoncé released the track “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJT1m1ele00\">Black Parade\u003c/a>,” a lil’ southern flavor to accompany the Juneteenth holiday. Queen B doubled down on its message of Black empowerment by teaming up with stylist Zerina Akers, who runs the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CBn6B4iFkNr/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@black.owned.everything\u003c/a> page, to create a Black business directory called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.beyonce.com/black-parade-route/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Black Parade Route\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>J. Cole and Noname had a back-and-forth, during which Cole dropped “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZa3HyVLimQ\">Snow On The Bluff\u003c/a>,” a call for Noname to make her message accessible to the masses. Noname responded with “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFp1eW2bihg\">Song 33\u003c/a>,” a track that pretty much asked J. Cole why he was rapping about her, asking her to change her “tone,” when there are far more important issues to be addressed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past month, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VDGysJGNoI\">Lil Baby\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5HN-4396Jo\">Tee Grizzley\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWZkjXCU-ds\">Trey Songz\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ramteyfi9bE\">YG\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUnc3kl0DcA\">Meek Mill\u003c/a> all dropped songs about police brutality and systematic racism. Wale released a six-song EP, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHzeg4D5T9v4peshRjOitaZVT9N05Kt2f&src=Linkfire&lId=747b96e4-d374-4dd3-8990-9a4dcab5c737&cId=d3d58fd7-4c47-11e6-9fd0-066c3e7a8751\">The Imperfect Storm\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, which covers those issues and more. DaBaby released a “Black Lives Matter Remix” to his chart-topping song “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Em5cZFocQ0&feature=emb_title\">Rockstar\u003c/a>” featuring Roddy Ricch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Anderson .Paak crossed off all the boxes on his “Summer Song 2020” bingo card—he put out a song called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgItkJCm09c\">Lockdown\u003c/a>,” on Juneteenth, that managed to mention COVID, police brutality, looting, slavery, protests \u003cem>and\u003c/em> the unemployment rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgItkJCm09c\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">U\u003c/span>p here in the Bay Area, one of the most politically engaged and artistically inclined regions in the country, you already know artists have been getting active.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>E-40’s new track “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT20KfhnQow\">Give Me 6\u003c/a>” is a musical request that suggests maintaining the proper physical distance for pandemic socializing. Oakland’s Damian Lillard dropped “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1wQ7_h824U\">Blacklist\u003c/a>,” a track about the racism he faces, even as a wealthy African American man. And Berkeley’s Rexx Life Raj released a single about police brutality simply called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL4VLUSfwg8&feature=youtu.be\">War\u003c/a>”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s the artists who aren’t as popular who’ve really been talking that shit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I saw Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/STSpittin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ST Spittin’\u003c/a> in traffic recently, where he said he had something for me. His latest single “Huey P. Malcolm Martin” features a sample of Stevie Wonder’s “Visions”—and I was sold on it from the first note.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/2VM99IYLF-I\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NettaBrielle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Netta Brielle\u003c/a> shifted the tempo with her new release, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU-3Uea4PyI\">Get To You\u003c/a>,” a song that’s more about embracing love than protesting hate—a needed sentiment in these times. Another track using R&B to express emotion during tumult came from Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TalyaPatrick\">Tai Marie\u003c/a>, who recently put out a soulful R&B single titled “\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/ttaimarie/war-zone\">Warzone\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dipping her toes in the classical-piano realm is San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ImtheJournalist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Angélica Ekeke\u003c/a>, who just put out the song “\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CByayJUh8qs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Modern War\u003c/a>.” She says the track is inspired by her upcoming film on African American contributions during WWII at one of the nation’s largest shipyards, right here in Marin. But the words she sings, in her trademark soprano tone, are eerily relevant to today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From Sacramento, Rob Woods’ \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/therealrobwoods/sets/the-black-tape/s-7dyuknyLjtr\">The Black Tape\u003c/a>\u003c/em> mixes rap lyrics about hope and oppression over R&B vibes, and an undertone of that church feeling throughout the project. (He even incorporates a cold saxophone on the song “Stuck.”) And Pittsburg’s Hotboikal shot the video for “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO1dP7CMy78\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hands Up, Man Down\u003c/a>” in the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gmeline/status/1269139427751673858\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">middle of a protest march\u003c/a> in Santa Rosa, with lyrics about racial profiling and police brutality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO1dP7CMy78\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sharing that sentiment is Richmond’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/WallahUmoja\">Wallah Umoja\u003c/a>, who dropped a new video for an older track, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/7vbwGIkNzDs2PKryN9BFZ0?highlight=spotify:track:3ZPM9hdhw42oKotLM4Zc2N\">Senses\u003c/a>, delivered in a boom-bap cadence. Following that flow is Dom Shalom’s “\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/7HmoIXj4Z0GQhNXdqqrj19?si=FgqfUqSgRDiZnmo79Tx-FA\">The Next\u003c/a>,” a chill vibe that I’d also describe as boom-bap rap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you like music that bends genres, Oakland’s Dom Jones came through with soulful jazz-rock for the spirit. Her latest track “\u003ca href=\"https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/domjones/sayin-nothin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sayin’ Nothin’\u003c/a>” is the stuff movie soundtracks are made of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking of movies, the content in Nicholas Easter’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKDyDBIOjhs&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1AhAh620HVoEkRP5kgQAgHRIl67PQlv0gQ-B_58KHGMhC-ZvWfjerpwog\">Native Tongue\u003c/a>” video isn’t a song as much as it is a compilation of speeches and interviews from the civil rights era to today’s Black Lives Matter movement—featuring the likes of Maya Angelou, Ryan Coogler and Tupac, all layered on top of modern-day footage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Want more spoken-word quotes? \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ClifSoulo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clif Soulo\u003c/a> offers a new release titled \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/clifsoulo/sets/bunchy-carter-grooves/s-YAJYJ0GJAOY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bunchy Carter Grooves\u003c/a> \u003c/em>that’s full of clips from interviews with former members of the Black Panther Party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Want something more militant? Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BeastellaAllDat\">Beastella\u003c/a> got a verse from Jay Jonah, and dropped “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snbr-qCpxjY&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3PK1zW-v_0moh9V2MUE6rTuIIze6fyTQ15NGdcdCzHgb-QacprRGPR1gs\">1825\u003c/a>.” The track is up there with the most aggressive songs I’ve heard all month, and I’m here for it. As Jay Jonah says on the track: “She Harriet and I’m Nat,” comparing the duo to well-known abolitionist Harriet Tubman and rebellion leader Nat Turner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/Snbr-qCpxjY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">S\u003c/span>o yeah, I’ve been listening. I caught the a capella \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/caseycopesodope/status/1270886631994613762?s=20\">Twitter\u003c/a> post from San Leandro’s Casey Cope about being a Black man in these times, and I slapped Oaktownsoul’s trippy-hop bass-heavy joint “\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/oaktownsoul/maskup\">Mask Up\u003c/a>.” I soaked in Gina Madrid’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=2NYtB9g8VrE&feature=emb_title\">Dame La Mano\u003c/a>” and was reminded the need for unity across different demographics. And through Coco Peila’s track “\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/cocopeilamusic/coco-peila-whose-world-greennewdeal-prod-hawk-beatz/s-N5s69FMW0Gj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Whose World?\u003c/a>” I was reminded that in the midst of everything, global warming is still an issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I listened to Redtone Records’ “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TQuiigys6I&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0Gf4iyMU8EYVPksCnr7TP84x8d8WBh-MMVKR3AiiMe4a3mVaVg5QUoWIs\">Right Now\u003c/a>!,” a bouncy jazz track with some New Orleans flavor, out of East Palo Alto. Man, I even listened to \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wGk8jZQfQ8&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1EBRQ0yc2ZFzL-vonhWVVnsEaITwp8eQtrZ-pkDCnY0fKhu0w-Upn_ZlQ\">We Will Break Free, \u003c/a>written by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis and performed by an acoustic ensemble over videoconferencing:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>A body isn’t made for a jail, or a box.\u003cbr>\nA body will defy all the fences, all the locks.\u003cbr>\nWe will break the walls that lock us into cells.\u003cbr>\nWe will break the laws that keep us from ourselves.\u003cbr>\nWe will break free.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Taking in all these songs was like reading reports from a classroom full of students who all got the same assignment. There was no wrong answer. In fact, the only wrong would be \u003cem>not\u003c/em> saying something.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chances are, the real “song of the summer”—dubbed so by the music industry itself—will probably be a pop hit. (I’ve got $10 on something that incorporates that \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH_gfaiStm0&feature=emb_logo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hip Hop Harry remix\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It likely won’t be a protest song, or a song of Black celebration, and for sure not Black liberation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In spite of that, there are many artists, all across this nation, making music that documents what it means to be living right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I hear ya’ll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span> can’t tell you if it’s music for the movement, music for “the moment,” or just music to make money. But I can tell you artists have been working. And I’ve been listening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between the COVID-19 pandemic, the nationwide protests and the push for defunding the police, a wave of songs has arrived, all of them documenting the beginning of summertime in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Beyoncé released the track “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJT1m1ele00\">Black Parade\u003c/a>,” a lil’ southern flavor to accompany the Juneteenth holiday. Queen B doubled down on its message of Black empowerment by teaming up with stylist Zerina Akers, who runs the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CBn6B4iFkNr/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@black.owned.everything\u003c/a> page, to create a Black business directory called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.beyonce.com/black-parade-route/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Black Parade Route\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>J. Cole and Noname had a back-and-forth, during which Cole dropped “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZa3HyVLimQ\">Snow On The Bluff\u003c/a>,” a call for Noname to make her message accessible to the masses. Noname responded with “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFp1eW2bihg\">Song 33\u003c/a>,” a track that pretty much asked J. Cole why he was rapping about her, asking her to change her “tone,” when there are far more important issues to be addressed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past month, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VDGysJGNoI\">Lil Baby\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5HN-4396Jo\">Tee Grizzley\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWZkjXCU-ds\">Trey Songz\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ramteyfi9bE\">YG\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUnc3kl0DcA\">Meek Mill\u003c/a> all dropped songs about police brutality and systematic racism. Wale released a six-song EP, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHzeg4D5T9v4peshRjOitaZVT9N05Kt2f&src=Linkfire&lId=747b96e4-d374-4dd3-8990-9a4dcab5c737&cId=d3d58fd7-4c47-11e6-9fd0-066c3e7a8751\">The Imperfect Storm\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, which covers those issues and more. DaBaby released a “Black Lives Matter Remix” to his chart-topping song “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Em5cZFocQ0&feature=emb_title\">Rockstar\u003c/a>” featuring Roddy Ricch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Anderson .Paak crossed off all the boxes on his “Summer Song 2020” bingo card—he put out a song called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgItkJCm09c\">Lockdown\u003c/a>,” on Juneteenth, that managed to mention COVID, police brutality, looting, slavery, protests \u003cem>and\u003c/em> the unemployment rate.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/TgItkJCm09c'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/TgItkJCm09c'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">U\u003c/span>p here in the Bay Area, one of the most politically engaged and artistically inclined regions in the country, you already know artists have been getting active.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>E-40’s new track “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT20KfhnQow\">Give Me 6\u003c/a>” is a musical request that suggests maintaining the proper physical distance for pandemic socializing. Oakland’s Damian Lillard dropped “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1wQ7_h824U\">Blacklist\u003c/a>,” a track about the racism he faces, even as a wealthy African American man. And Berkeley’s Rexx Life Raj released a single about police brutality simply called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL4VLUSfwg8&feature=youtu.be\">War\u003c/a>”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s the artists who aren’t as popular who’ve really been talking that shit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I saw Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/STSpittin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ST Spittin’\u003c/a> in traffic recently, where he said he had something for me. His latest single “Huey P. Malcolm Martin” features a sample of Stevie Wonder’s “Visions”—and I was sold on it from the first note.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/2VM99IYLF-I'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/2VM99IYLF-I'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Berkeley’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NettaBrielle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Netta Brielle\u003c/a> shifted the tempo with her new release, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU-3Uea4PyI\">Get To You\u003c/a>,” a song that’s more about embracing love than protesting hate—a needed sentiment in these times. Another track using R&B to express emotion during tumult came from Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TalyaPatrick\">Tai Marie\u003c/a>, who recently put out a soulful R&B single titled “\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/ttaimarie/war-zone\">Warzone\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dipping her toes in the classical-piano realm is San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ImtheJournalist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Angélica Ekeke\u003c/a>, who just put out the song “\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CByayJUh8qs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Modern War\u003c/a>.” She says the track is inspired by her upcoming film on African American contributions during WWII at one of the nation’s largest shipyards, right here in Marin. But the words she sings, in her trademark soprano tone, are eerily relevant to today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From Sacramento, Rob Woods’ \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/therealrobwoods/sets/the-black-tape/s-7dyuknyLjtr\">The Black Tape\u003c/a>\u003c/em> mixes rap lyrics about hope and oppression over R&B vibes, and an undertone of that church feeling throughout the project. (He even incorporates a cold saxophone on the song “Stuck.”) And Pittsburg’s Hotboikal shot the video for “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO1dP7CMy78\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hands Up, Man Down\u003c/a>” in the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gmeline/status/1269139427751673858\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">middle of a protest march\u003c/a> in Santa Rosa, with lyrics about racial profiling and police brutality.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/VO1dP7CMy78'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/VO1dP7CMy78'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Sharing that sentiment is Richmond’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/WallahUmoja\">Wallah Umoja\u003c/a>, who dropped a new video for an older track, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/7vbwGIkNzDs2PKryN9BFZ0?highlight=spotify:track:3ZPM9hdhw42oKotLM4Zc2N\">Senses\u003c/a>, delivered in a boom-bap cadence. Following that flow is Dom Shalom’s “\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/7HmoIXj4Z0GQhNXdqqrj19?si=FgqfUqSgRDiZnmo79Tx-FA\">The Next\u003c/a>,” a chill vibe that I’d also describe as boom-bap rap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you like music that bends genres, Oakland’s Dom Jones came through with soulful jazz-rock for the spirit. Her latest track “\u003ca href=\"https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/domjones/sayin-nothin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sayin’ Nothin’\u003c/a>” is the stuff movie soundtracks are made of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking of movies, the content in Nicholas Easter’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKDyDBIOjhs&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1AhAh620HVoEkRP5kgQAgHRIl67PQlv0gQ-B_58KHGMhC-ZvWfjerpwog\">Native Tongue\u003c/a>” video isn’t a song as much as it is a compilation of speeches and interviews from the civil rights era to today’s Black Lives Matter movement—featuring the likes of Maya Angelou, Ryan Coogler and Tupac, all layered on top of modern-day footage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Want more spoken-word quotes? \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ClifSoulo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clif Soulo\u003c/a> offers a new release titled \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/clifsoulo/sets/bunchy-carter-grooves/s-YAJYJ0GJAOY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bunchy Carter Grooves\u003c/a> \u003c/em>that’s full of clips from interviews with former members of the Black Panther Party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Want something more militant? Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BeastellaAllDat\">Beastella\u003c/a> got a verse from Jay Jonah, and dropped “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snbr-qCpxjY&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3PK1zW-v_0moh9V2MUE6rTuIIze6fyTQ15NGdcdCzHgb-QacprRGPR1gs\">1825\u003c/a>.” The track is up there with the most aggressive songs I’ve heard all month, and I’m here for it. As Jay Jonah says on the track: “She Harriet and I’m Nat,” comparing the duo to well-known abolitionist Harriet Tubman and rebellion leader Nat Turner.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Snbr-qCpxjY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Snbr-qCpxjY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">S\u003c/span>o yeah, I’ve been listening. I caught the a capella \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/caseycopesodope/status/1270886631994613762?s=20\">Twitter\u003c/a> post from San Leandro’s Casey Cope about being a Black man in these times, and I slapped Oaktownsoul’s trippy-hop bass-heavy joint “\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/oaktownsoul/maskup\">Mask Up\u003c/a>.” I soaked in Gina Madrid’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=2NYtB9g8VrE&feature=emb_title\">Dame La Mano\u003c/a>” and was reminded the need for unity across different demographics. And through Coco Peila’s track “\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/cocopeilamusic/coco-peila-whose-world-greennewdeal-prod-hawk-beatz/s-N5s69FMW0Gj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Whose World?\u003c/a>” I was reminded that in the midst of everything, global warming is still an issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I listened to Redtone Records’ “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TQuiigys6I&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0Gf4iyMU8EYVPksCnr7TP84x8d8WBh-MMVKR3AiiMe4a3mVaVg5QUoWIs\">Right Now\u003c/a>!,” a bouncy jazz track with some New Orleans flavor, out of East Palo Alto. Man, I even listened to \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wGk8jZQfQ8&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1EBRQ0yc2ZFzL-vonhWVVnsEaITwp8eQtrZ-pkDCnY0fKhu0w-Upn_ZlQ\">We Will Break Free, \u003c/a>written by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis and performed by an acoustic ensemble over videoconferencing:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>A body isn’t made for a jail, or a box.\u003cbr>\nA body will defy all the fences, all the locks.\u003cbr>\nWe will break the walls that lock us into cells.\u003cbr>\nWe will break the laws that keep us from ourselves.\u003cbr>\nWe will break free.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Taking in all these songs was like reading reports from a classroom full of students who all got the same assignment. There was no wrong answer. In fact, the only wrong would be \u003cem>not\u003c/em> saying something.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chances are, the real “song of the summer”—dubbed so by the music industry itself—will probably be a pop hit. (I’ve got $10 on something that incorporates that \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH_gfaiStm0&feature=emb_logo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hip Hop Harry remix\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It likely won’t be a protest song, or a song of Black celebration, and for sure not Black liberation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In spite of that, there are many artists, all across this nation, making music that documents what it means to be living right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I hear ya’ll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "America’s Favorite Beauty Brands are Still Pushing Skin Lightening Overseas",
"headTitle": "America’s Favorite Beauty Brands are Still Pushing Skin Lightening Overseas | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Last weekend, Johnson & Johnson announced it would no longer sell skin-lightening products. The company will be axing Neutrogena’s Fine Fairness line and Clean & Clear’s Clear Fairness creams in Asia, the Middle East and India. “Some product names or claims on our dark spot reducer products represent fairness or white as better than your own unique skin tone,” the company said in \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/us-johnson-johnson-whitening/johnson-johnson-drops-skin-whitening-creams-idUSKBN23Q2BZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a statement\u003c/a>. “This was never our intention—healthy skin is beautiful skin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson & Johnson’s commitment to discontinuing these products sets a much-needed precedent for the beauty industry. It comes just weeks after social media users called out Indian celebrities who had created social media posts in support of Black Lives Matter, but also previously endorsed skin-lightening creams. The actresses included \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/maXes_MB/status/1268311171691503617\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Priyanka Chopra\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/aluminiummaiden/status/1267060974810550272\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sonam Kapoor\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Man_isssh/status/1266963455736786945\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Disha Patani\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/DoctorLFC/status/1267902864606875655\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kiara Advani\u003c/a>. All of them were advertising the creams of brands that are household names in America—L’Oréal, Ponds and Garnier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nivea—a company that came under fire in 2017 for a British ad campaign that featured the phrase “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/business/media/nivea-ad-online-uproar-racism.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">White is purity\u003c/a>”—is also a major player when it comes to \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Nivea-Extra-Whitening-Lotion-200ml/dp/B00HRSRG9G\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">skin-lightening products\u003c/a>. As is Unilever, the parent company of Dove—a brand known for pushing a message of inclusivity in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='pop_102572']Unilever has been historically unrepentant about its Fair & Lovely brand and the accompanying marketing campaigns that have often equated romantic and professional success with lighter skin. In 2017, \u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/scaachikoul/doves-gaffe-is-part-of-a-history-of-racist-beauty-marketing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a statement\u003c/a> from Unilever defended its stance by saying: “Even-toned and lighter skin remains the most sought-after beauty desire across Asia and parts of Africa and Latin America.” Fair & Lovely remains one of the most commonly available skin-lightening brands in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last few weeks, some of these same companies have paid lip service to America’s racial justice movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/garnierUSA/status/1267815470192668672\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CA_Ph89HIWn/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/LOrealParisUSA/status/1267449907880824832\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(That last post from L’Oréal prompted a response from \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MunroeBergdorf/status/1267460238678069249\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">model Munroe Bergdorf\u003c/a> who claimed that in 2017, the company “dropped me from a campaign and threw me to the wolves for speaking out about racism and white supremacy.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the beauty industry, promoting and selling lighter skin tones is a multi-billion dollar business—specifically, $8.3 billion in 2018. In 2009, Indian consumers alone spent $432 million in pursuit of lighter skin. And while America does not see the types of mainstream marketing used in other parts of the world, these kinds of products aren’t hard to find in local pharmacies and beauty shops. What’s more, the internet has made available a mind-boggling array of skin-lightening products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A quick Google search sent me almost immediately to an Amazon page unabashedly titled “Skin Bleaching.” And while many of the items on the page are dressed up as dark spot correctors, scar reducers or “brightening” products, there are numerous other creams, serums and supplements that are more brazen about their raison d’être.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-13882343\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some products are undoubtedly safer than others, America has known for decades that skin-lightening products can be dangerous. In 2010, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/health/16skin.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> reported\u003c/a> that: “Dermatologists nationwide are seeing women of Hispanic and African descent, among others, with severe side effects … from the misuse of skin-lightening creams, many with prescription-strength ingredients,” including steroids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that same article, one dermatologist, Dr. Eliot F. Battle Jr, stated: “It’s happening more because the internet has been a great source for these patients to get physician-strength or prescription-strength products.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fight against skin-lightening products has already started in other countries. In 2015, they were \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/07/ivory-coast-bans-potentially-deadly-skin-whitening-creams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">banned\u003c/a> on the Ivory Coast. In 2019, they were banned in Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa and Sudan. However, despite a Europe-wide ban on skin-lightening products containing dangerous ingredients (such as hydroquinone and mercury), consumers there are still seeking them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13881748']Last year, Britain’s Local Government Association issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49851669\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a warning\u003c/a> after seizing thousands of illegal skin-lightening products. Calling hydroquinone “the biological equivalent of paint stripper,” an LGA representative said: “Skin creams containing banned ingredients are very dangerous and could seriously damage your health, scar you for life and even kill you, so they should be avoided at all costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While larger companies have the means to more rigorously test their products before they hit the shelves, the social implications of all skin-lightening brands are the same across the board. Not only do they have roots in colonial ideals around beauty and status, Hasan Minaj also recently highlighted the link between such products and racism towards the Black community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an impassioned \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_FE78X-qdY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 3 monologue\u003c/a>, speaking specifically of the South Asian community, Minaj said:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>We love Black America on screen, in our living rooms. But if a Black man walks into your living room, or wants to date—God forbid, marry—your daughter? You’d call the cops! Do you know what we call Black people? We call them ‘Kala.’ It means black—not in a good way. If someone in your family is dark skinned, we clown them. We call them ‘Kallu.’ Our Bollywood stars do skin whitening commercials, so we don’t look Black. It is bad to be Black in Desi culture, even though we all wish we were Black. You don’t think that affects how we view Black people?\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>There are signs that skin-lightening fatigue amongst consumers is on the rise. Just this week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.shaadi.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shaadi\u003c/a>—a dating site popular with the Indian diaspora—\u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53146969?fbclid=IwAR3KTDTrBaO04-EwxzPaTgRR2TRHbhUyPJ9x_nCDt0e9eCq1RHP_r8iXlbs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">removed a feature\u003c/a> that asked its users to specify the lightness of their skin tone, using descriptors including ‘Fair,’ ‘Wheatish,’ and ‘Dark.’ The decision was made just two weeks after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/shaadi-com-remove-the-colour-filter-from-matrimonial-website?recruiter=1114601771&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">petition\u003c/a> was set up, demanding the change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this moment of trying to exact systemic change at the highest levels, worrying about what the cosmetics industry is doing can seem somewhat inconsequential. But while \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825103/san-francisco-removes-controversial-christopher-columbus-statue-on-telegraph-hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">statues\u003c/a> are being torn down, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881748/what-should-we-do-with-old-racist-movies-on-streaming-platforms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">old movies\u003c/a> are being reevaluated and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/entertainment/30-rock-episodes-blackface-trnd/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TV shows are being revised\u003c/a>, it would serve American consumers to understand just which companies continue to profit from, and push, beauty ideals that center white supremacy.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Johnson & Johnson will discontinue skin-lightening products, but L'Oréal, Ponds, Garnier, Nivea and Unilever are still selling them.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Last weekend, Johnson & Johnson announced it would no longer sell skin-lightening products. The company will be axing Neutrogena’s Fine Fairness line and Clean & Clear’s Clear Fairness creams in Asia, the Middle East and India. “Some product names or claims on our dark spot reducer products represent fairness or white as better than your own unique skin tone,” the company said in \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/us-johnson-johnson-whitening/johnson-johnson-drops-skin-whitening-creams-idUSKBN23Q2BZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a statement\u003c/a>. “This was never our intention—healthy skin is beautiful skin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson & Johnson’s commitment to discontinuing these products sets a much-needed precedent for the beauty industry. It comes just weeks after social media users called out Indian celebrities who had created social media posts in support of Black Lives Matter, but also previously endorsed skin-lightening creams. The actresses included \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/maXes_MB/status/1268311171691503617\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Priyanka Chopra\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/aluminiummaiden/status/1267060974810550272\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sonam Kapoor\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Man_isssh/status/1266963455736786945\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Disha Patani\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/DoctorLFC/status/1267902864606875655\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kiara Advani\u003c/a>. All of them were advertising the creams of brands that are household names in America—L’Oréal, Ponds and Garnier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nivea—a company that came under fire in 2017 for a British ad campaign that featured the phrase “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/business/media/nivea-ad-online-uproar-racism.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">White is purity\u003c/a>”—is also a major player when it comes to \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Nivea-Extra-Whitening-Lotion-200ml/dp/B00HRSRG9G\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">skin-lightening products\u003c/a>. As is Unilever, the parent company of Dove—a brand known for pushing a message of inclusivity in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Unilever has been historically unrepentant about its Fair & Lovely brand and the accompanying marketing campaigns that have often equated romantic and professional success with lighter skin. In 2017, \u003ca href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/scaachikoul/doves-gaffe-is-part-of-a-history-of-racist-beauty-marketing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a statement\u003c/a> from Unilever defended its stance by saying: “Even-toned and lighter skin remains the most sought-after beauty desire across Asia and parts of Africa and Latin America.” Fair & Lovely remains one of the most commonly available skin-lightening brands in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last few weeks, some of these same companies have paid lip service to America’s racial justice movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>(That last post from L’Oréal prompted a response from \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MunroeBergdorf/status/1267460238678069249\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">model Munroe Bergdorf\u003c/a> who claimed that in 2017, the company “dropped me from a campaign and threw me to the wolves for speaking out about racism and white supremacy.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the beauty industry, promoting and selling lighter skin tones is a multi-billion dollar business—specifically, $8.3 billion in 2018. In 2009, Indian consumers alone spent $432 million in pursuit of lighter skin. And while America does not see the types of mainstream marketing used in other parts of the world, these kinds of products aren’t hard to find in local pharmacies and beauty shops. What’s more, the internet has made available a mind-boggling array of skin-lightening products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A quick Google search sent me almost immediately to an Amazon page unabashedly titled “Skin Bleaching.” And while many of the items on the page are dressed up as dark spot correctors, scar reducers or “brightening” products, there are numerous other creams, serums and supplements that are more brazen about their raison d’être.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-13882343\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/whitening-1-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some products are undoubtedly safer than others, America has known for decades that skin-lightening products can be dangerous. In 2010, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/health/16skin.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> reported\u003c/a> that: “Dermatologists nationwide are seeing women of Hispanic and African descent, among others, with severe side effects … from the misuse of skin-lightening creams, many with prescription-strength ingredients,” including steroids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that same article, one dermatologist, Dr. Eliot F. Battle Jr, stated: “It’s happening more because the internet has been a great source for these patients to get physician-strength or prescription-strength products.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fight against skin-lightening products has already started in other countries. In 2015, they were \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/07/ivory-coast-bans-potentially-deadly-skin-whitening-creams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">banned\u003c/a> on the Ivory Coast. In 2019, they were banned in Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa and Sudan. However, despite a Europe-wide ban on skin-lightening products containing dangerous ingredients (such as hydroquinone and mercury), consumers there are still seeking them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Last year, Britain’s Local Government Association issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49851669\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a warning\u003c/a> after seizing thousands of illegal skin-lightening products. Calling hydroquinone “the biological equivalent of paint stripper,” an LGA representative said: “Skin creams containing banned ingredients are very dangerous and could seriously damage your health, scar you for life and even kill you, so they should be avoided at all costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While larger companies have the means to more rigorously test their products before they hit the shelves, the social implications of all skin-lightening brands are the same across the board. Not only do they have roots in colonial ideals around beauty and status, Hasan Minaj also recently highlighted the link between such products and racism towards the Black community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an impassioned \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_FE78X-qdY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 3 monologue\u003c/a>, speaking specifically of the South Asian community, Minaj said:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>We love Black America on screen, in our living rooms. But if a Black man walks into your living room, or wants to date—God forbid, marry—your daughter? You’d call the cops! Do you know what we call Black people? We call them ‘Kala.’ It means black—not in a good way. If someone in your family is dark skinned, we clown them. We call them ‘Kallu.’ Our Bollywood stars do skin whitening commercials, so we don’t look Black. It is bad to be Black in Desi culture, even though we all wish we were Black. You don’t think that affects how we view Black people?\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>There are signs that skin-lightening fatigue amongst consumers is on the rise. Just this week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.shaadi.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shaadi\u003c/a>—a dating site popular with the Indian diaspora—\u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53146969?fbclid=IwAR3KTDTrBaO04-EwxzPaTgRR2TRHbhUyPJ9x_nCDt0e9eCq1RHP_r8iXlbs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">removed a feature\u003c/a> that asked its users to specify the lightness of their skin tone, using descriptors including ‘Fair,’ ‘Wheatish,’ and ‘Dark.’ The decision was made just two weeks after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/shaadi-com-remove-the-colour-filter-from-matrimonial-website?recruiter=1114601771&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">petition\u003c/a> was set up, demanding the change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this moment of trying to exact systemic change at the highest levels, worrying about what the cosmetics industry is doing can seem somewhat inconsequential. But while \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825103/san-francisco-removes-controversial-christopher-columbus-statue-on-telegraph-hill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">statues\u003c/a> are being torn down, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881748/what-should-we-do-with-old-racist-movies-on-streaming-platforms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">old movies\u003c/a> are being reevaluated and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/entertainment/30-rock-episodes-blackface-trnd/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TV shows are being revised\u003c/a>, it would serve American consumers to understand just which companies continue to profit from, and push, beauty ideals that center white supremacy.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
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"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
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"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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