irmas-blog

Chinua Achebe: The passing of a gentle literary giant and a friend

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:01:31 +0100

Chinua Achebe, NYT

On March 22, 2013, Chinua Achebe, one of the world's foremost African writers, joined his ancestors. He died at the age of 82. My mourning the loss of this literary giant is not just the right thing to do, it's personal!

I had the distinct pleasure of being taught and mentored by this writer of novels, short stories, critical essays and poetry. Chinua used numerous forms to carry his message of the impact of colonialism on Africa: the novel, short stories, creative non-fiction, poetry and teaching.
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Original Post: 11 April 2013, Insight News

"Race" and the persistence of health disparities: How far have we come?

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:35:04 +0100

McClaurin with Shirlynn LaChapelle, MNBNA President

MNBNA Website

This is an excerpt of a speech delivered at the first annual "Springing Towards Health Gala" of the Minnesota Black Nurses Association on March 9, 2013 at the Crowne Plaza Minneapolis North, Brooklyn Center.

In 2000, I was part of an historic panel organized by the Congressional Black Caucus on Black Health. At the time, I was a Diplomacy Fellow at USAID just returning from a trip to South Africa. During that trip, one particular agency predicted the number of deaths that would be attributed to HIV-AIDS, and the thousands of Black South African children who would be left orphaned as a result.

McClaurin with Vusumuzi (L) & Nothando Zulu of Black Storytelling Alliance at MN Black Nursing Gala

The numbers were staggering, and I felt tremendous empathy for South Africans, especially Black South Africans, who were the most affected. Little did I know that we would be facing our own HIV-AIDS epidemic in the United States; one that would disproportionately impact African Americans and Latinos, especially African American and Latino heterosexual women who have the fastest growing rate of contracting HIV-AIDs today. We were also celebrating the establishment of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
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McClaurin with her sister, Reece Bell
Original Post 21 March, 2013, Insight News

Technology: the New Frontier of Inequality or the New American Promise?

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:04:30 +0100

Two score and ten years ago, a prophet named Dr. Martin Luther King stood before thousands of people—poor people, rich people, Black people, White people, people of different cultures, gay people, straight people, but mostly hopeful people—He stood before all of them at the Lincoln Memorial in our nation’s capital. This prophet, this “drum major for peace,” this “drum major for justice”, this “drum major for righteousness” as he sometimes referred to himself.
He presented America a vision of hope. He gave us a dream on that fateful day in 1963; he gave us a dream in which he articulated his belief in a racial equality and social justice. In his own words:
“ I have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day out in the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”
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Original Post: 21 January 2013, The Skanner

Walk Right In DVD reflects summer of 1969

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 16:21:58 +0100

Irma McClaurin '69, Lucy Flower Vocational High School, West Side of Chicago
(Photo credit: mcclaurin solutions)

In the summer of 1968, 140 students from inner city and rural America gathered at the Yale University Divinity School to participate in an educational experiment. White, Black, Puerto Rican, Indian American, and Asian American students, labeled by New Haven newspapers as "underachievers," were introduced to a "Great American Books" curriculum that included The American Constitution, Native Son, Antigone, and The Communist Manifesto. No one told them they weren't supposed to excel, and so they did.

The group of 110 boys and 30 girls (the first women to attend Yale before it went co-ed) participated in "T" (therapy) discussion groups to tackle the messy topic and tensions of race and social justice following the largest period of civil unrest in America after the assassination of Martin Luther King. Safe within the walls of Yale's Divinity School, the YSHS students, encouraged by the staff, found their voices and the inspiration to succeed academically.
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Original Post: 25 February 2013, Insight News

JustSpeak: Unlearning racism requires taking positive (affirmative) action

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 16:07:48 +0100

Dr. Irma McClaurin by fellmanstudio.com Dr. Kesho Scott (Grinnell College) by De Dudley

The recent racist incident at Washburn High School of Minneapolis, in which a black doll was hung (lynched), is disturbing. We are living in the 21st century. And yet, not too long ago in 2003 Duluth, MN built a memorial to commemorate the unlawful and unjustified lynching of three young Black men in 1920. Despite this example of racial reconciliation, in 2008 an effigy of Presidential candidate Barrack Obama was found hanging from the Duluth memorial. Whether playing video games, watching movies set in the "wild" West, reading about suicide or violence in general, a reasonable child and adult knows that placing a noose around anything is no laughing matter. The "lynching" of a Black doll at Washburn High in Minneapolis, given Minnesota's recent history, is NOT a matter to be taken lightly or to gloss over as "kids will be kids" or "they had no idea how bad this was."
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Original Posting: 25 February 2013, Insight News

Justspeak: Eliminating the Rolodex of inequality

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 18:44:13 +0100

At a recent networking event for women in Raleigh, I listened as a panel of experienced women executives shared their experiences with the audience. One question posed was about how non-profit and corporate board members were recruited. One response stood out in my mind. The speaker indicated that she often recruited board members by tapping into her friends and colleagues. The answer affirmed a thesis of mine—there exists in our society what I call the “ Rolodex of inequality,” and what it produces is homogeneity or sameness.
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Original Posting: 01 February 2013, Insight News

Artspeak: New Year’s promise: “Live Simply, Laugh Often, Love Fully”

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 07:10:39 +0100

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The three maxims in the title greet me each morning. They are kitchen magnets placed above my stove, meant to guide me on the attitude I should carry into my day and into life generally. I take them to mean: 1) do not overly complicate my life (with work, obligations, possessions, other people's problems, or needless drama); 2) find joy and fun in my daily routines; and 3) make time to be connected and deeply embrace the passions that arise from friendships, family, and special friends/partners/lovers. Read More
Original posting: 05 Jan 2013, Insight News

Justspeak: (RE)Visioning a World without Violence Against Women

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 06:14:48 +0100

The senseless murder of 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins by her boyfriend, Kansas City Chief's linebacker Jovan Belcher, 25, and his subsequent suicide, is a double tragedy that highlights the degree to which domestic violence has permeated our culture. Perkins was also the mother of a three-month old daughter fathered by Belcher, and according to news reports, his mother and the child witnessed the murder. What is unique about this case is that most of the original media coverage focused on Belcher, the perpetrator—who, why, what? Questions about his motivations, state of mind, etc., pre-occupied the airways.

That is until some Black feminist women and (some feminist-leaning men) stepped in and said hey—this should not be about him, it should be about his victim. You haven't even mentioned her name.
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Original Posting: 21 Dec 2012, Insight News

Artspeak: Anthropology honors the mentoring legacy of Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 02:44:59 +0100

This presentation was delivered at the annual meeting of the American Anthropology Association on November 15, 2012 in San Francisco, where several sessions and panels were held to honor Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole. She is best known as the only woman to have served as President of two historically Black women’s colleges—Spelman College in Atlanta, GA (1987-1997) and Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, NC (2003-2008).

Upon retiring from Spelman, Dr. Cole went on to become an intellectual figure who crossed borders in three disciplines at Emory University as the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Women’s Studies, and African-American Studies from which she retired with emerita status (1999-2002). She was recruited out of retirement and served as President of Bennett College for women from 2003-2008. “Sister Prez,” as Dr. Cole is affectionately known, does not do “retirement” well. In 2009, Cole, who in her own words “flunked retirement” once again, became the Director of the Smithsonian National Museum for African Art.
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Original Posting: 07 Dec 2012, Insight News

A Farewell Requiem: Dr. Elvyn Jones-Dube

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 02:39:54 +0100

"I really have no regrets. I can go freely. There are things that I didn't accomplish that I wanted to but I have learned how to let go. I would have liked to have done more, and if I had more time, I would have done so." Dr. Elvyn Jones-Dube

Human beings, homo sapiens, or anthropology's political correct AMH (anatomically modern humans) are a unique species among mammals. We have culture, which according to my colleagues, has been our primary means of adaptation.

Through culture we have learned how to adapt to our environment by creating houses to shelter us from heat and cold, clothing to protect us from the elements as well as symbolize ideas of decency and propriety. We developed sun tan lotions to protect us from the sun and solar panels to harness the sun's power for energy. We created cooking to help us digest a variety of foods that contributed to our survival, and may have help trigger the development of our brain. And, we have created cultural rituals like marriage to facilitate the reproduction of the species and further social and economic relations.
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Original Posting: 21 Nov 2012, Insight News