TMG founder, writer, and editor Tracy Jones talks with rapper and educator Paul Richardson and recent Bard College graduate, Brooklynite, and future lawyer Bernadette “Bernie” Benjamin. We discuss the role of black men and women, the global #blacklivesmatter protests, Japan’s insular culture, and reparations for 400 years of free labor. If you didn’t see the live broadcast, below is an edited version of the discussion. At the beginning was a bit of a continuation about the re-education of America. The …
Tag: history
This morning was a quarantine dream. I talked to podcaster, writer, rapper, and Shanghai social commentator, Randy Flagg. I’ve previously written about him, here. I did not know we’d be talking live. It’s been years since I’ve talked to this brother face-to-face. I signed on through his streamyard link (which I’ve never used) then all of a sudden, live, I’m on the internet. “Oh shit.” Surprise, it was comfortable and good to reconnect with an old friend. He’s been grinding …
Three weeks ago when my latest Tokyo Weekender piece, “A Shut Door: ‘Japanese Hip-Hop Has Sectioned Itself Off’” was published online, it got more attention than I anticipated. I got to talk on The BBC. The article was to expose an extension of Japan’s xenophobia and its rejection of multiculturalism, even while it is straining western influences through a Japanese filter. To avoid talking about it is like braving a sand storm. Taping one’s windows, doors, and air vents still …
Confederate Statue, Lake Eola, Orlando, Florida 
Confederate Statue, Lake Eola, Orlando, Florida 
Confederate Statue, Lake Eola, Orlando, Florida 
Confederate Statue, Lake Eola, Orlando, Florida 
Confederate Statue, Lake Eola, Orlando, Florida 
Confederate Statue, Lake Eola, Orlando, Florida 
Confederate Statue, Lake Eola, Orlando, Florida
Blacks built America’s infrastructure and economy. Nothing will change that fact. Leave them statues alone. They are evidence of how the “victors” intended history to be written. I don’t want to forget that, and I don’t want my child to either. Reproach their significance. The real battleground is our children’s schools. They need to know that the face of horror, which is generally associated with blackness, actually exists in our forefathers. The Amy’s and John’s of America need their perceptions …
“You shut the fuck up and wait,” Tom said, pointing his finger at the driver honking at him from behind. Tom was a big-bellied fat man. A pistol and a pocketknife hung from his waist. Framed by ditches on both sides, Tom and Pops talked from their trucks, blocking the narrow two-lane road. In the back of our van, my middle brother Peter and I were sitting on tomato boxes. “Geeze,” Pete whispered, putting his head between his legs. “The …
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