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From Afros To Shelltoes — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:34:56 +0000

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Jeff Chang Brian Komar On Why Progressives Need Cultural Strategy

From Afros To Shelltoes — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 07:39:33 +0000

Art by Hyperkat

Source: www.cantstopwontstop.com

Jeff Chang and Brian Komar of the Center For American Progress teamed up for this new piece in The American Prospect, “Culture Before Politics”, making the case that progressives need to build the infrastructure to support cultural strategy and cultural organizing.

Here’s an excerpt:

On Nov. 3, progressives awoke to find that they had returned to 2004. Despite important legislative victories, Democrats had been outflanked. Republicans had successfully sold themselves as the party of economic growth, the party of the angry out-of-work American, and, most dissonantly, the party of change. They owned the narrative and won big.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. In the dark days following George W. Bush’s re-election, frustrated progressives set out to build an enduring movement that would effectively advance and communicate their ideas, policies, and values. Funders and strategists created new institutions and scaled up existing ones, including think tanks, civic-engagement organizations, and media-watchdog groups. These institutions played a key role in the 2006 Democratic takeover of Congress, the 2008 election of President Barack Obama, and the passage of parts of the Obama platform in 2009 and 2010.

Yet as progressives watched Democrats suffer the worst election loss since the Republican collapse of 1948, they seemed to be back where they started. Just as in 2004, many have blamed the losses on ineffective Democratic campaign messaging. The problem, however, runs much deeper. Electoral and Beltway politics are episodic, short-term, and transactional. Movements, however, are long-term. “Public sentiment is everything,” Abraham Lincoln once said. “With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed. Consequently, he who moulds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. He makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be executed.” In other words, movements must change hearts and minds in an enduring way. They must change the culture.

Culture is the space in our national consciousness filled by music, books, sports, movies, theater, visual arts, and media. It is the realm of ideas, images, and stories — the narrative in which we are immersed every day. It is where people make sense of the world, where ideas are introduced, values are inculcated, and emotions are attached to concrete change. Cultural change is often the dress rehearsal for political change. Or put in another way, political change is the final manifestation of cultural shifts that have already occurred. Jackie Robinson’s 1947 Major League Baseball debut preceded Brown v. Board of Education by seven years. Ellen DeGeneres’ coming-out on her TV sitcom preceded the first favorable court ruling on same-sex marriage by eight years. Until progressives make culture an integral and intentional part of their theory of change, they will not be able to compete effectively against conservatives…

Read the entire piece by CLICKING HERE

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Konsole Kingz Host ATL VIP Madden Preview

From Afros To Shelltoes — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:00:09 +0000

GAMING HEADS KONSOLE KINGZ FLAUNT VIP MADDEN PREVIEW

Atlanta, Ga (Pitchengine.com) July, 2009 – Konsole Kingz, the leading urban game brand, will partner with EA Sports and Xbox 360, to host an exclusive preview of Madden NFL 2010 titled the “Madden NFL 10: The MVP Experience”. “Madden NFL 10: The MVP Experience” is a highly sought after, invitation-only gaming suite where select athletes and celebrities are privy to viewing & owning the highly anticipated game prior to the scheduled release of August 14, 2009. The suite, hosted by Konsole Kingz VIP Madden Gamer and international comedian Griff, will take place at an undisclosed location on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 from 6:00pm – 10:00pm.

Guests will experience first-hand what it’s like to “Fight for Every Yard” in Madden NFL 10 for Xbox 360. With the all-new Pro-Tak™ animation technology, players have more control over the outcome of each play. Whether driving a running back towards the first down, or battling for a fumble at the bottom of a pile, the play will not end until the whistle blows. Add to that the most immersive broadcast presentation and online innovation in franchise history, and Madden NFL 10 captures the authenticity and emotion of the NFL like never before.

Completely redesigned and built from the ground up, Madden NFL 10 introduces a unique art style that will define the look of sports games. All-new player models embody characteristics of your favorite athletes, plus new larger-than-life stadiums showcase the unique details found at each of the 32 NFL fields. Madden NFL 10 epitomizes what fun looks like on the xbox 360, delivering the most social and dynamic experience from the franchise to date. For more information about Madden NFL 10, visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/m/maddennfl10/

About Konsole Kingz:

Konsole Kingz has consecutively partnered with leading video game companies such as EA Sports, 2K Sports and Xbox 360 to provide outreach and create successful alliances with urban influencers nation-wide. www.konsolekingz.com

Media & Celebrity/ Athlete RSVP Contact:

The Garner Circle PR

…are you in?

P: Nicole Garner

O: 866-984-5854

C: 770-256-1800

E: pr@thegarnercircle.com

E: daniel@thegarnercircle.com

W: www.thegarnercircle.com

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Big Boi Hip Hop Heads Highlight Grand Theft Auto Launch

Live From Mammas Basement Let’s Do It At The Fish Fry

From Afros To Shelltoes — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:02:30 +0000

Ed & Sugar Star in their latest music video “Lets Do It At The Fish Fry”!!!

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Ed and Sugar’s Crazy Question of the Week: The Recession

From Afros To Shelltoes — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:55:10 +0000

Since the economy is so bad, are drug dealers gettin’ a bail out too?

Weigh In!!! Leave your comments/answers/vent sessions below!!

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Sugar Johnson On Recession & Health Care

Sugar Johnson On Recession & Health Care

From Afros To Shelltoes — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:07:08 +0000

$400 I Ain’t Got

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Obama Drama: When Racial Identity Goes Wrong

Edward M. Garnes, Jr. — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:20:12 +0000

Editor’s Note: The following piece appeared as a cover feature in the Atlanta Voice No.43 Issue 32

Obama Drama: When Racial Identity Goes Wrong

By Edward M. Garnes Jr.

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.–James Baldwin

Real change is often met with reluctance; and sometimes layered in resentment. Such is the case of the new America before us.

In the past, rubbing elbows with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or claims to have some sort of connection with him and/or the Civil Rights Movement– even if meager or grossly exaggerated– was a prerequisite for leading black America.

According to Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy, the rise of Barack Obama threatens to redefine not only preconceived notions of leadership, but also the delicate framing of ” blackness” as a organizing principle. Why? Because Obama is his own man, one not beholden to the whims of traditional leaders accustoming to having an unquestioned monopoly on black public opinion. But more importantly, his support from white folks and people of mixed heritage have the identity police wondering if Obama is on the right side of black or a mischievous racial turncoat; an alluring sell out in disguise.

Mired in treacherous territory, racial identification has long divided the black community’s loyalties. Know one knows that better than Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy, who authored Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, which garnered great criticism, earning him the label, “Sellout.” He has added fuel to the fire with his latest tome Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal, which explores how the polarizing term “sellout” truncates necessary dialogue and serves as a racial barometer for who is down with the black community..or not.

For Kennedy, the Obama debate is rooted, simply, in fear. “Quite frankly some people are afraid of success. We all come habituated to expectations. There are black people whose psyche is simply not ready to accept a black man who might rise to the highest office in the land. They are actually made afraid by the prospect. In my experience, it’s been older people by in large…younger people (say) why not.” Oftentimes, blacks are so socially conditioned to losing the very thought of winning is unfathomable.

Kennedy further asserts that due to the heavy burden of historic inequalities many in black America feel attacked on all sides. And while organizing against “the man” was once a source of group solidarity, new opportunity and advancement has created a state of racial paranoia.

“Some black people feel really besieged. White supremacists policies, segregation, etc, buttressed black solidarity. For some people, this anxiety about racial abandonment has become greater in the current period precisely because people have choices today that they didn’t use to have. There is fear that blacks will choose to identity with others outside the group.”

Besides igniting fear, Obama successes also changes the face of what constitutes a “Black” leader. Obama is not as racially obscure as Justice Clarence Thomas or as radical as the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. But, he occupies a curious public space where his “Blackness” is palatable across race and class fault lines. A trait many Black ‘leaders’, who are all too often campaigning to be the H.N.I.C., can only dream of. A point Kennedy is sure to underscore.

“We have a black American who is seriously contending. This is not a symbolic run. This is not a guy who is putting on a campaign because he wants to be the president of black America…that is not what this is about…this about a person who thinks he has the wherewithal to occupy the White House… (and) is being taken very seriously by everybody.”

With everyday folks still navigating the inconveniences of black life, Kennedy is quick to point out one of the greatest achievements of Obama; restoring internal belief. “Whether he wins or loses on of the great consequences of his campaign is that he has expanded the sense of the possible.”

If anything, Obama has proven black identity is far from static and provided a much needed ideological remix to contemporary discourse. For Kennedy, accepting our rich diversity is essential to true liberation.

“You can disagree with somebody in a profound and vigorous way and after you disagree you can still eat dinner…and maybe after dinner you may find something on which you agree. If however in the course of disagreement, you call me a sellout, we are no longer just ideological antagonists/foes…we have now become enemies. In our community, we should be careful of making enemies of anyone especially; other black people.”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Award winning writer, educator, counselor, and activist Edward M. Garnes, Jr. is the founder of From Afros to Shelltoes, a nationally acclaimed series of cultural productions bridging generation gaps between elders and hip hop heads. The Atlanta Tribune Man of Distinction holds a B.A. in English Writing from DePauw University and a M.A. in Counseling from Michigan State University . His seminal essay, ” Sweet Tea Ethics: Black Luv, Healthcare, and Cultural Mistrust,” currently appears in Not In My Family: AIDS in the African American Community, a 2007 NAACP Image Award nominated collection edited by Gil Robertson. (www.afrostoshelltoes.com).

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Ask Ed & Sugar: Got A Negro Republicans Play Racial Roulette

Damn Technology! Blog Being Remixed

From Afros To Shelltoes — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:56:59 +0000

Wassup cool people. We had some issues with the blog. Check back soon as we update. In the meantime Peep Us Here On Myspace

Peace & Cornbread

FATS STAFF

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