I was in Houston for the Health Disparities Conference, and heard about the ruling while literally taping (Michel Martin told us about it). And it took the wind out of my sails. Just sucked the energy out of the room.My thoughts in no particular order: (more…)
Jamal Bryant used to run the NAACP’s youth wing. Now Bryant has his own church. Empowerment Temple. I haven’t really spoken much about the mega-church phenomenon. But then I saw the Empowerment Temple’s website.And was rendered even more speechless than I was.
Me, my man Jimi, and my other man Cobb did the thing. Cobb and I from the state of Texas. Jimi in Kentucky.Up for discussion? Video game addiction, Cheney’s issues, and Nader.Listen here. And do let me know what you thought.
We all know that black people die sooner, are more likely to be afflicted with a range of ills, and less likely to get care. Some of this is pure economics. But this dynamic goes up the socio-economic scale, indicating that this is not just “class” by another name.My own research looks at the degree to which media narratives about black people make them less likely to mobilize to combat some of these disparities–HIV/AIDS for example.Today I go to Houston to present my research at the MD Anderson Center for Research in Minority Health. I conducted an experiment manipulating stories about male HIV/AIDS to see what type of effect “down-low narratives” had on people exposed to them.The results?The stories generated significant antagonism towards black men, and in some cases made people less likely to want to mobilize politically to deal with the disease.It should be available on video later, and I’ll send a link to it. If you by chance are in the Houston area and want to holler please feel free to do so as I’m available through email.If not? Look out for Prometheus6 and others at tomorrow evening’s Democratic debates.
For those of you who don’t know, my wife has her own radio show called Chocolate Chats. Last week I was the guest, but tonight she’s going to run a full hour and deal with the black presence in new media. Among her guests will be Craig Nulan (from Mobilepage.net but who also pops up from time to time on various black blogs), Steph Renee of Soul Sanctuary, Jennifer James of Mommy Too Magazine, and Carlos Muhammad of Luv4self publishing.Her show usually goes only a half hour, but she’s going to go for an hour this time out. Should be a fascinating conversation, and one that I think a number of folks out there should be interested in.
