This news is important enough to cover…and particularly interesting given the fact that New York City is no longer majority white. But the reality is that the Harlem we carry in our head? The Harlem viewed as being the capital of black America? It was more of a public relations construction than anything else. Compare the artistic output of the Black Arts Movement–spearheaded in cities like Newark, Chicago, and Detroit–to the Harlem Renaissance and Harlem’s art movement becomes some guys who wrote a couple of poems in comparison. Jazz, the blues, rhythm and blues, rap, hip-hop, techno, house, none of the musics we associate with blacks were birthed in Harlem. Harold Cruse spent the majority of his seminal book The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual deconstructing the cultural politics of Harlem as if Harlem could stand in for black America writ large…and his analysis was powerful. But Cruse made a critical mistake positing that Harlem was black America. Harlem was never the cultural site that Chicago or Detroit were. Further, politically it was always underdeveloped, particularly because it lacked the type of union-connected black class that Detroit and Chicago were able to use to great success. (This is the same reason why I have never held much love for Atlanta.) Finally, economically Harlem never had access to the type of wealth that other cities had. The year before Detroit’s Coleman Young was elected mayor, blacks had $25,000 in city contracts. The year AFTER he was elected? $125 MILLION.

Is there anything in Harlem’s history that compares here?

“Losing” Harlem to non-blacks may represent the passing of an age to some. But for me to the extent such a thing matters, we never really “had” Harlem to begin with.

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Like Gates I was caught in a narrative I couldn’t get out of. It didn’t matter that I was a faculty member, didn’t matter that I tried to diffuse the situation, didn’t matter that I was leaving anyway. They were going to call campus security on me no matter what. Gates noted that there was a black officer on the scene who was particularly sensitive–they originally handcuffed him in the back, but the black officer convinced them otherwise.

In my case it was the black officers who prevented the situation from escalating as they understood the narrative (“he started raising his voice and making gestures and i felt threatened…”) being deployed against me. I suppose that if I would’ve contacted the news or students, or the black staff and faculty association heads would’ve flown.

But to quote my 4 year old son “that’s not how I roll”.

Dr. Gates’ story is a perfect example of pre- and post-racial politics. Whether it’s Sotomayor, Dr. Gates, the Philly kids who just wanted to swim, or me, these flashpoint examples are examples of non-white “innocents” being treated in a heavy handed manner by hood-wearing (or badge carrying) white racists.

But I noted yesterday that I am less interested in the racial politics angle than in the black politics angle. That is, the central question to me isn’t really whether what happened to Gates or to me would have happened had we not been black–although I asked myself that question as they were trying to jack me. The central question is twofold:

1.  What would our response have been had Gates been poor and black?
2. What would Gates’ response been?

These questions deal with black politics rather than racial politics. With the way that scarce resources that are given/withheld BY blacks FROM blacks based on class, gender, and in some cases sexual preference. 

The class dynamics here are particularly stark. Gates is a Harvard Professor, his lawyer (Charles Ogletree) is not only also Harvard Law Professor, but is his friend. As soon as he’s arrested he is able to get his personal secretary to make a call to one of the best civil rights lawyers on the planet. Because he is who he is, he gets instant national (international?) press coverage. And even though he felt he was stuck in a narrative he couldn’t get out of, because of his stature he was able to quickly establish an effective counter-narrative! Check out the introduction of the statement issued by Prof. Ogletree (his lawyer).

How do the sentences establishing his full title, and his whereabouts before the incident work here? For me they work to establish that Gates wasn’t your “regular negro.” (Even though he arguably acted like one–the original police report has been scraped from the web but I believe it, rather than Gates’ statement.) Whereas then-candidate Barack Obama was hesitant to make any type of definitive statement about the Jena 6, last night during his press conference he was quick to label the Cambridge police officer’s action “stupid”.  

Now here’s the stark reality.

Working class and poor black men are treated like this every single minute of every single day. But our–and here I mean not just whites but blacks–response is usually muted at best. Because the entire concept of racial profiling is based on class–on the idea that black middle and upper class men are treated as if they are POOR and black. If Gates wasn’t Gates but John John, we either never hear about it in the media, or (if we live in a black neighborhood) we drive by it without even thinking twice. We routinely withhold care–a political resource–from poor and working class blacks, so we give less than a damn when they get jacked. (This is why Obama’s Father’s Day rhetoric plays so well in black communities.)

I referred to Dr. Melissa Harris Lacewell’s piece in The Nation yesterday. Harris-Lacewell noted that Gates was “apolitical”, a term that I also used.

This isn’t actually right.

Gates has long argued that there were two black Americas–one successful and well-to-do and one well….ghetto. And he’s argued clearly both in print (a 1992 article in Forbes) and on film (his black America documentary) that the black poor are poor not because of structural factors but because of their own poor habits. In fact, watching CNN’s first edition of Black In America (the second one aired last night and continues tonight) was like listening to Gates (and indeed, I believe that Soledad O’Brien was one of his students).

What would Gates do if the victim in this case were poor and black? He’d do what most of do–walk on by. And to the extent he even registered the event in his mind, he’d blame it on the victim. His own body of work says as much. From his perch in the ivory tower he’s done more to justify the way that blackness, poverty, and crime have been linked culturally than most black intellectuals. 

Which brings me back to Grand Canyon.

So now that Gates’ eyes have suddenly been opened as to the criminal justice system–how the hell can you be a Professor of African American Studies and NOT know??–he plans a documentary on it. When I caught a whiff of this the first thing I thought of was Steve Martin’s character in the movie. When Martin’s character gets shot he realizes that he–through his violent movies–was partially responsible for his plight. So the conclusion is obvious right? If his violent movies in fact LED to violence, it was his responsibility to right that wrong by creating other movies.

Gates’ decision reads like Martin’s decision to me. NOW he wants to deal with structural racism, after he feels he’s been almost literally hit over the head with it.

But here’s the thing. By the end of the movie, Martin’s back to his old ways, realizing that philosophical treaties don’t really make good movies. At the end of the day, Gates is a neoliberal with primary expertise in LITERATURE. While I hold out hope for another outcome, I’m thinking that–just like this incident–far more heat than light will be shed on this subject as the result of Gates’ efforts.

Oh. I realize I didn’t actually answer the question posed above. For those not familiar with the question it’s a line from a Malcolm X speech. The answer for him in the sixties? “Nigger.” But for me in the oughts?

Dr. Spence.

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When I first heard the news that Henry Louis Gates, Harvard Professor of African American Studies was arrested, and read the report, I had mixed feelings. As Melissa Harris-Lacewell notes, Skip has been apolitical through his entire professional career. What I want to do below is deal with the racial and black politics questions embodied by this case.

The racial politics question boils down to two. The first is, of course, would this have happened had Gates been white. I don’t think this is the real question to ask.

But on the first day of school last year, I had to deal with this myself. On the first Thursday of the Fall semester I was leaving my Introduction to Race and Ethnicity class. Hungry and thirsty because I hadn’t eaten the entire day (the class ended at 4pm), I wanted to get a quick bite before a doctor’s appointment at 5pm. When I walked outside I noticed a department welcome event on the patio of the engineering building. 

Moving swiftly into grad student mode (i.e. noticing free food and drink!) I walked over. I asked two women (most departments are staffed by women) whether I could have a drink or two. They said sure, and I grabbed a couple of Sierra Mists, placed my book bag on one of the patio tables so I could organize my stuff in preparation for the long walk to the doctor’s office, and take a breather. As I was about to get ready to leave, one of the staff members came up to me, abrupt and curt.

“We’re going to need you to move your stuff, because we’re going to need this table.”

She confused me with her statement, and with her manner. So I asked her a question.

“Sister [she was white], what did you see me do that made you say this to me?”

Her response was even more abrupt.

“I saw you taking things out of your bag like you were planning on staying.”

I was tired, but didn’t like her tone. So I pushed her further. I knew I was the only black person at the event, and knew I was the only recognizable outsider. 

“Sister, what did you see me take out of my bag?” At this point I was getting heated. While my language was respectful and cool, I was turning red, and becoming intense. Her next response floored me.

“I saw….well, you’re just going to have to leave.”

We were outside on a patio where I was a professor. How the hell could she kick me out of a place I was a professor in? 

“What’s your name? Where is your supervisor?”

She refused to answer, and she walked away. And I waited, trying to figure out my next move. I wasn’t going to leave, even though I had an appointment. As I was thinking over my options, a (white) man walked over to me. He was the supervisor. Up until this point I hadn’t introduced myself. To defuse the event I thought I would.

“Brother, I’m an Assistant Professor here. I came here from class because I saw that you had an event going on and I was thirsty. The staff was kind enough to let me get a drink. But your one staff member was extremely rude to me. I know that we’re all busy and tired at the beginning of the term….”

All the while he’s nodding, sagely.

“…but I don’t appreciate the way she treated me…”

He lets me finish. Then he drops the hammer.

“I understand what you are saying sir…but we’re going to have to ask you to leave, or we’re going to call security.”

Or we’re going to call security.

My response? Yeah. I got this.
 

“Oh. I see. Well why don’t we do this. CALL security….and I’ll be waiting RIGHT [pointing] there. Let me know when they come.”

I’d been at Hopkins for three years at this point. Having gone to Michigan I was prepared for all types of micro-racism…but I’d gotten NOTHING. The police were cool, the professors were cool, the students were cool, the staff was cool. This was the first time that I’d ever been treated like this as a professor, and I was pissed. No way in hell they would have treated a white professor like this. No way they would have treated an older gentleman like this.

So I waited. Waited so long in fact that I called security myself, just to make sure that the staff member made the call in the first place! 

“Campus security.”

“Yes. I’m calling to see if there was an incident reported at the engineering building.”

“Let me see….yes there was. Are you somehow involved?”

“Yes. They’re calling about me.”

“And who are you?”

“I’m Lester Spence. I’m an Assistant Professor of Political Science.”

When I told her that I was faculty, the dispatcher tripped.

“You’re….FACULTY???”

“Yes.”

She then told me security was on its way.  There were three officers at first, two black, and one white. They talked to the staff members who pointed to me.

I waved.

They then walked over to me, and I asked one simple question.

“Officers, thanks for coming by so quickly. I’ve just got one question. Do they have the authority to kick a faculty member out of an event held outside on campus?”

“Wait. You’re faculty?”

“Yes sir.”

“Wow. I don’t think I….that doesn’t make much sense to me…I don’t THINK they can…”

“Well listen. If they CAN, then I’ll apologize and go on my merry way. I was leaving anyway. But if they can’t??” I just let that last question hang. 

At this point the two black officers walk over to get the story from the staff members. I overhear the white woman I encountered talking:

“And then he started making gestures and getting loud, and I felt threatened.”

BAM! Now at this point I’m pissed, but cracking UP. This is straight textbook 101 type racism right? I made sure I didn’t use foul language, didn’t yell (WAS intense though), weigh all of 150 lbs WET, but somehow I am the threat.

Hilarious.

But here’s the kicker. I am convinced that the only reason I had an even–not upper for reasons I’ll explain below–hand here was because the two black officers took the report and stuck around–even when a superior officer (sent by dispatch) came to check in. As soon as the woman told them that she “felt threatened” they understood the politics of the situation and reacted appropriately.

Afterwards, the superior officer was kind enough to drive me to my doctor’s appointment. Later I received a letter of apology from the Dean of the School of Engineering. But when I talked to the conflict resolution folks they stated that I didn’t really have a case. From the woman’s standpoint I treated her differently than I would have treated a man. Which I understand…but doesn’t really explain why they went to the extremes of calling security on a man who was about to leave anyway. The rest of the semester went…I wouldn’t say smoothly but went ok. I lost my keys that day and am pretty sure one of the staff members probably threw them away knowing they were mine. But that’s probably just me.

When Skip talks about getting stuck in the narrative of how police interactions are supposed to go, I feel him. It wasn’t the police in this case, but it was clear that if I would have spoken Greek I would’ve gotten a better response than the one I did.

The staff didn’t hear that I was faculty. The man didn’t hear that I was attempting to diffuse the situation by complimenting the staff for the event and for letting me have a drink in the first place. They didn’t hear that I was already on my way out!

Nothing.

So on that level Gates’ story resonates with me. 

I’ll end this here and take it up in part two. And get to why I began with Grand Canyon.

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I am particularly interested in what this means for Detroit and other rustbelt cities. On the one hand it isn’t like Detroit isn’t already the posterchild for corporate disinvestment, unemployment, and political corruption. But what this signals is the end of corporate socialism. Yes Detroit has had high unemployment rates going back almost forty years, but if you had a college education, and some professional training you were assured a job with one of the Big Three or one of their suppliers. Michigan MBA’s weren’t the ones out of work, Henry Ford High School graduates were.

Not anymore.

And what little the Detroit region spends in social services will now go to people who never imagined in a million years that they would need it, leaving those who have depended on these services out there. Out there bad, actually. And there is no sports stadium or entertainment complex that can bring Detroit back from the brink, right? No political leader who can lead Detroit into a shiny new era. Even if Kilpatrick hadn’t made the mistake of his life, we’d still be here.

I asked the following question on facebook.

Where else can you buy a nice home for $25 grand and still have access to international markets and a world class airport, as well as the largest body of fresh water in the world?

The difference between the hustler and the neoliberal subject/citizen is one of semantics. The perfect subject in the neoliberal order is the subject in control of his/her human capital and is able to–through discipline– use his/her entrepeneurial spirit to become self-sufficient. The schools in Detroit are bankrupt. The schools outside of Detroit are becoming bankrupt–everytime you see “Detroit” in this post, think “Metropolitan Detroit”. Unlike the seventies the fallout here won’t be confined to Detroit’s borders.

For those able to grow their own food, or develop local food markets, for those able to educate their children, for those symbolic workers who don’t need to be in a specific city in order to work, I can think of no better city to cast their lot in. If Bing and Metro Detroit leaders were smart this is the pitch I’d make. Several months ago Ed Dunn asked where the best cities for African Americans were. He stayed away from Detroit like the plague. I’d rethink that.

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Quick thoughts:

An email comment from “Eric” noted that in the wake of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination it’d be hard to ask taxpayers to continue to expend resources for the black “underclass”. My response was that blacks serve as our nation’s “miner’s canary”, and that sooner or later, he and people he cared about would need help too. Probably sooner than later given the current state of the economy. If I had a do-over what I’d focus on is the fact that taxpayers already spend their resources on the black “underclass”, Why would he prefer that more money be spent on punishing, surveilling, and terrorizing black bodies rather than creating programs that help more citizens live more productive lives? (I suspect I know the answer….)

I also spent a little bit of time emphasizing the importance of “inner-city” values. One of the callers talked about how we can find a great deal of strength in poor communities if we just looked. I agreed wholeheartedly, emphasizing that it was the knuckleheads I grew up with in poor suburban Detroit that taught me most of the values I live by. Without these values I wouldn’t be at Hopkins, wouldn’t have a PhD. I didn’t get any pushback from Wilson here, but there were a number of callers waiting to get a piece of me that never got their chance because of time constraints.

“Middle class people know how to make hard decisions too” was the money quote from one of them.

Here I’ve obviously got class bias issues–I grew up working class, even though I’m no longer in that category. So my comments can be taken with a grain of salt. But if we had a real discussion about what middle-class values were in practice I think we’d look less to the over-spending over-consuming under-saving middle class and more somewhere else for the values that make America work at her best.

The one area of disagreement Wilson and I had was on the amount of spending that Obama included in the stimulus package to deal with poverty. For Wilson 50 billion was a windfall, and he’s right, if you look at it from a position of lack. Going from nothing to $50 billion is a big leap. But I set our sights much higher. If he can spend $1 trillion on the finance industry and they don’t make a single product that you and I can touch with our hands, surely he can spend more than  $50 billion on poor and working class Americans.

And I’d say “that’s just me”. But it isn’t.

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What Detroit needs is more than a single politician. To that degree they could have elected Freeman, they could have elected Cockrel. Hell, I think that Kwame Kilpatrick was the best neoliberal mayor Detroit had (better than Archer, better than Cockrel, better than Bing will be). If the text scandal hadn’t happened Detroit would still be in the shape it’s in now. Housing market in tatters, unemployment rate too high to measure accurately, city services weak. I’ve had conversations with my fraternity brothers about what Bing brings to the table. They think his business savvy will bring new economic development into the city.

Wrong.

1. The economic development model they’re talking about doesn’t work for working class Detroiters because city services don’t increase as a result (tax abatements are usually used to bring businesses into cities) and because they don’t significantly lower unemployment levels (to the extent businesses like Compuware hire, they hire service professionals rather than manufacture workers).
2. The economic development model they’re talking about isn’t sustainable. It’s obvious that such a move won’t work in this economy. But it doesn’t work even outside of this economy. It potentially increases a number of short term outputs, and makes the city appear vibrant and “on the move”. But that’s about it.

Now it is possible that Bing’s election will send some type of signal that Detroit voters aren’t on crack and this will lead to more resources. This too is doubtful. I do think that resources will flow into Detroit eventually, but this would’ve happened regardless of the mayor, because Detroit is so connected to the automotive industry and even as Chrysler and GM fail there’s a perception that something has to be done to soften the fall. (Whatever that means.)

(I don’t think Detroit voters are on crack by the way.)

(I do believe that Detroit needs a better quality of city councilperson–but even that’s a wash given that all councilpersons in Detroit are elected at-large (meaning that no individual on the council has an identifiable constituency that can hold them accountable).)

With all this said, what’s required?

I’ve got ideas. I’ll toss a couple of questions out. Politicians have finally begun to think seriously about high-speed rail. I thought it was too little too late…until I realized how much the housing market had tanked. If you could buy a brand new home in the best suburb for $90,000 and had the opportunity to commute, to Chicago on a train that would take 2 hours would you?

With housing stock cheaper than almost any other industrial city, with the largest available land mass of any of them….what populations could you attract?

What would you do with the land?

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Metro, originally uploaded by Unbowed.

I’m going to Vancouver on Thursday for a conference. I’m presenting the first chapter of my next book on neoliberalism in black politics. Vancouver has a Skytrain that traverses 33 miles through the city. It’s the longest rail of its kind in the world. Thirty years ago Detroit sought to be the first, by creating a People Mover that would extend from Detroit to Ann Arbor (over 40 miles). Although the money was there, suburban angst nixed the deal. The People Mover was built but it is barely used and travels only 3 miles around the city. I’ve probably ridden it five times in 30 years.

News comes today that the state legislature is seriously considering building a high speed rail line from Detroit to Lansing (over 50 miles).

Thirty years too late. Right now in Vancouver there is talk of extending the rail to the University of British Columbia, Vancouver…because people have seen the benefits of public transportation. Furthermore, Vancouver has a significant ridership (as well as a growing population). Metro Detroiters are conditioned to use cars, no matter what the price of gas is. But even if they could be conditioned to use public transportation…given the state of the region’s economy where would they take a Skytrain to? The region may have another chance to live together, but I don’t think some type of high speed rail line is going to be part of it. Folks in Lansing are living a pipe dream. Or maybe, smoking one.

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Day 60, originally uploaded by Unbowed.

I’m not sure how to take the news that the Baltimore Police Department will no longer inform the public about officers who kill/wound citizens in the process of carrying out their duties.

Yes, you heard that right. The Baltimore Sun, like many other big city papers is a shell of its former self–it didn’t even report the police department’s move. But combine the slow death of journalism as we know it, with government move away from transparency?

We can celebrate the rise of bloggers all we want. But even 10,000 bics (sorry, 20th century reference, I mean “lit up cell phones”) can’t provide enough light to read in the dark.

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Anyway, I’ve been meaning to comment on the new Attorney General’s comments about our nation being a “nation of cowards.” Although Coates, P6, Rachel among others addressed this, I think they mostly missed the point. From the Attorney General’s website:

The Attorney General represents the United States in legal matters generally and gives advice and opinions to the President and to the heads of the executive departments of the Government when so requested. In matters of exceptional gravity or importance the Attorney General appears in person before the Supreme Court. Since the 1870 Act that established the Department of Justice as an executive department of the government of the United States, the Attorney General has guided the world’s largest law office and the central agency for enforcement of federal laws.

 …and all he can ask is that we…TALK about race? To the extent that we talk about cowardice…who is the coward?? Where is the cowardice?? Buster is absolutely right. I expect an Attorney General to talk about something more than…talk.

Last weekend the New York Times ran a poignant story on the plight of the new American poor. Middle managers forced to work menial labor after being let go as a result of the current economic crisis. 

Mark Cooper started his work day on a recent morning cleaning the door handles of an office building with a rag, vigorously shaking out a rug at a back entrance and pushing a dust mop down a long hallway.

Nine months ago he lost his job as the security manager for the western United States for a Fortune 500 company, overseeing a budget of $1.2 million and earning about $70,000 a year. Now he is grateful for the $12 an hour he makes in what is known in unemployment circles as a “survival job” at a friend’s janitorial services company. But that does not make the work any easier.

“You’re fighting despair, discouragement, depression every day,” Mr. Cooper said.

More here.

Craig Nulan has done yeoman’s work in uncovering the causes and consequences of this dynamic. And reading stories like this literally breaks my heart. But note the move here? The challenges that Mr. Cooper and others face as they struggle making $10/hour is the struggle that some of us have been trying to wrestle with for decades. Obama’s attempt to shift the nation leftward is only possible when the neoliberal exception becomes the rule. I still argue that exception is worth our time and our political energy. That we should care about the people who’ve BEEN making $10/hour as well as those who NOW make that much.

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1. Digg the story so that the national media can pick up on it

2. Contact BART Director Carole Ward Allen and demand that 1) the officers involved be taken off duty without pay and charged and fully prosecuted; 2) there be an independent investigation of the shooting that includes a review of training and hiring practices; and 3) BART establish an independent residents’ review board for the police Call her at 510-464-6095 or email the BART Directors atBoardofDirectors@bart.gov

3. Call the BART police to complain about the officers’ conduct and demand immediate action: Internal Affairs: Sergeant David Chlebowski 510.464.7029,dchlebo@bart.gov; Chief of Police: Gary Gee 510.464.7022, ggee@bart.gov

Call them toll free at 877.679.7000 and press the last four digits of the phone number you wish to reach.

4. Talk it up on your blogs, networks and talk radio shows (call Michael Baisden 877-6BADBOY or Rev. Al, etc. to get this on the national radar)

5. Stay tuned for other actions, protests, etc., especially if you are in the Bay.

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