Comments on: Obama and the Prophetic Tradition: Brown Bag (II) http://www.radioopensource.org/obama-and-the-prophetic-tradition-brown-bag-ii/ Christopher Lydon in conversation on arts, ideas and politics Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:09:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Kenyada http://www.radioopensource.org/obama-and-the-prophetic-tradition-brown-bag-ii/#comment-93083 Kenyada Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:45:00 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=2172#comment-93083 Chris, Thanks for posting my essay, Inauguration Ball 2009, which is included in my new book, Reflections in the Dark Room, and available at www.KenyadaEssays.com. the book includes the original longer version of the piece which includes, incidentally, many of the names suggested by other readers Best Wishes, Richard Kenyada, Atlanta Chris, Thanks for posting my essay, Inauguration Ball 2009, which is included in my new book, Reflections in the Dark Room, and available at http://www.KenyadaEssays.com. the book includes the original longer version of the piece which includes, incidentally, many of the names suggested by other readers

Best Wishes,

Richard Kenyada, Atlanta

]]> By: orangescissor http://www.radioopensource.org/obama-and-the-prophetic-tradition-brown-bag-ii/#comment-93082 orangescissor Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:21:16 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=2172#comment-93082 I liked the focus on Joseph Lowery's speech, it seems like a great document to begin with to think about questions of American hegemony past and present that will effect how a sort of narrative, or new American identity emerges in the Obama era. In addition to thinking about the black prophetic tradition, maybe this is a moment to also revisit the fall of the Berlin wall - in the sense that the Cold War bi-polar world ended in 1989 to be filled by a unipolar *I think we can now say, disastrous* dream (aka New World Order) - and we now have a chance to challenge both the neoconservative and neoliberal attempts to resecure American hegemony after 1989. 20 years later, maybe this is the time to think differently about the cultural blocks and militarization that grew in postwar era and became the master narratives (that for me seems to be a big difference separating King from Obama, the Postwar, Cold War, post-Wall entangled histories of American exceptionalism and re-militarization)....going to another line from the speech: "Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors" I liked the focus on Joseph Lowery’s speech, it seems like a great document to begin with to think about questions of American hegemony past and present that will effect how a sort of narrative, or new American identity emerges in the Obama era. In addition to thinking about the black prophetic tradition, maybe this is a moment to also revisit the fall of the Berlin wall – in the sense that the Cold War bi-polar world ended in 1989 to be filled by a unipolar *I think we can now say, disastrous* dream (aka New World Order) – and we now have a chance to challenge both the neoconservative and neoliberal attempts to resecure American hegemony after 1989.

20 years later, maybe this is the time to think differently about the cultural blocks and militarization that grew in postwar era and became the master narratives (that for me seems to be a big difference separating King from Obama, the Postwar, Cold War, post-Wall entangled histories of American exceptionalism and re-militarization)….going to another line from the speech: “Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors”

]]> By: chris http://www.radioopensource.org/obama-and-the-prophetic-tradition-brown-bag-ii/#comment-93081 chris Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:55:08 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=2172#comment-93081 "You ask what [Obama] absorbed from [Jeremiah] Wright: I take Obama to be a modernist, that is, capable of deep distance from what he does, sees, experiences, and thinks. He is coherent because bifurcated. I am certain he heard, experienced, judged, filed, and preserved for use everything he heard from Wright—as he did from his Harvard and Columbia Profs. After all, what did he learn from [Edward] Said’s seminar at Columbia? He is, I think, an artist intellectual in politics. That means he will attempt to play the possible within the middle ground, which is where he understands the possible to lie. We shall see." From a terrific <a href="http://boundary2.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F20387E0C5D4AA09!231.entry" rel="nofollow">blog thread on "boundary 2"</a> -- chasing down Anthony Bogues' questions here about Obama's deepest identity and his personal attachments to the civil rights movement, the MLK Jr. anti-imperial vision of power in the world and the wider struggles of poor and powerless folk out there as never before. Check it out <a href="http://boundary2.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F20387E0C5D4AA09!231.entry" rel="nofollow">here</a>. “You ask what [Obama] absorbed from [Jeremiah] Wright: I take Obama to be a modernist, that is, capable of deep distance from what he does, sees, experiences, and thinks. He is coherent because bifurcated. I am certain he heard, experienced, judged, filed, and preserved for use everything he heard from Wright—as he did from his Harvard and Columbia Profs. After all, what did he learn from [Edward] Said’s seminar at Columbia?

He is, I think, an artist intellectual in politics. That means he will attempt to play the possible within the middle ground, which is where he understands the possible to lie.

We shall see.”

From a terrific blog thread on “boundary 2″ — chasing down Anthony Bogues’ questions here about Obama’s deepest identity and his personal attachments to the civil rights movement, the MLK Jr. anti-imperial vision of power in the world and the wider struggles of poor and powerless folk out there as never before. Check it out here.

]]> By: nother http://www.radioopensource.org/obama-and-the-prophetic-tradition-brown-bag-ii/#comment-93080 nother Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:03:25 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=2172#comment-93080 The only thing better was the after-party at Langston Hughes’s crib in Harlem. This is where the crazy sh*t went down. As soon as we walked in my man Bob passed around a spiff and insisted that everyone sing the same refrain: “Sayin' One Love, One Heart Let's get together and feel all right I'm pleading to mankind (One Love) Oh Lord (One Heart)” But Belafonte insisted on singing it in Calypso style, which I guess was cool in it’s own way. It went over better then Jay Z’s One Love rap. Anyway, we were all waiting for Lady Day to pierce our heart with her like-only-Billy-can version, but the problem was she was still waiting for Roy Haynes to make her another Gin and Tonic in the Kitchen. But you see Roy was distracted by the craziest sh*t he’d ever seen…at the kitchen table, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu were freak’n arm wrestling! I was a little disturbed but Bill Cosby was laying odds on “Nelly” and Chris Rock was said he was for Tutu cuz he is small like him. Speaking of small guys, Spike Lee and the Prez couldn’t take their eyes off the TV where big guy Bill Russell just stuffed another Walt Frazier shot in his face. And somehow, amidst all the loud music and chaos, Robert Gould Shaw sat in the middle of the room playing an intense no-holds-barred chess match with Cornel West. Just to catch my breath I went into the bathroom for a quiet moment and to my surprise, Ol’ Langston had put one of his poems over the toilet: “No Regrets” Out of Love, No regrets- Though the goodness Be wasted forever. Out of Love, No regrets- Though the return Be never. It was time to return to the party and I wouldn't be leaving any time soon, George Foreman was cook'n some bbq, and Halle Berry had promised me that dance. The only thing better was the after-party at Langston Hughes’s crib in Harlem. This is where the crazy sh*t went down. As soon as we walked in my man Bob passed around a spiff and insisted that everyone sing the same refrain:

“Sayin’ One Love, One Heart

Let’s get together and feel all right

I’m pleading to mankind (One Love)

Oh Lord (One Heart)”

But Belafonte insisted on singing it in Calypso style, which I guess was cool in it’s own way. It went over better then Jay Z’s One Love rap. Anyway, we were all waiting for Lady Day to pierce our heart with her like-only-Billy-can version, but the problem was she was still waiting for Roy Haynes to make her another Gin and Tonic in the Kitchen. But you see Roy was distracted by the craziest sh*t he’d ever seen…at the kitchen table, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu were freak’n arm wrestling! I was a little disturbed but Bill Cosby was laying odds on “Nelly” and Chris Rock was said he was for Tutu cuz he is small like him. Speaking of small guys, Spike Lee and the Prez couldn’t take their eyes off the TV where big guy Bill Russell just stuffed another Walt Frazier shot in his face. And somehow, amidst all the loud music and chaos, Robert Gould Shaw sat in the middle of the room playing an intense no-holds-barred chess match with Cornel West.

Just to catch my breath I went into the bathroom for a quiet moment and to my surprise, Ol’ Langston had put one of his poems over the toilet: “No Regrets”

Out of Love,

No regrets-

Though the goodness

Be wasted forever.

Out of Love,

No regrets-

Though the return

Be never.

It was time to return to the party and I wouldn’t be leaving any time soon, George Foreman was cook’n some bbq, and Halle Berry had promised me that dance.

]]> By: avygravy http://www.radioopensource.org/obama-and-the-prophetic-tradition-brown-bag-ii/#comment-93079 avygravy Mon, 02 Feb 2009 06:56:58 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=2172#comment-93079 Aime Cesaire - ahhhh - you know Chris - the beauty of this litany is that it brings up deeper and older memories of those who have shaped you some time in life and then have disappeared into the shadows so you can be what you will be thanks to them! Aime Cesaire – ahhhh – you know Chris – the beauty of this litany is that it brings up deeper and older memories of those who have shaped you some time in life and then have disappeared into the shadows so you can be what you will be thanks to them!

]]> By: shaman http://www.radioopensource.org/obama-and-the-prophetic-tradition-brown-bag-ii/#comment-93078 shaman Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:08:52 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=2172#comment-93078 Also seated at the quiet table in the back are a few distinguished men of exceptional intellect and grace - confident enough to allow others the center stage: Thurgood Marshall, Arthur Ashe and August Wilson Also seated at the quiet table in the back are a few distinguished men of exceptional intellect and grace – confident enough to allow others the center stage:

Thurgood Marshall, Arthur Ashe and August Wilson

]]> By: hurley http://www.radioopensource.org/obama-and-the-prophetic-tradition-brown-bag-ii/#comment-93077 hurley Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:31:21 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=2172#comment-93077 In principle and in fact. Hurricane Carter: When you can't go out -- you go in. Robert Frost: The best way out is through. The Hurricane and the Frost might have had something to say to each other. The taxonomy gives me pause, but let's hope it all disolves into a version of Warren Bulworth's injunction to screw ourselves into some commonality. That's change I can believe in! In principle and in fact.

Hurricane Carter: When you can’t go out — you go in.

Robert Frost: The best way out is through.

The Hurricane and the Frost might have had something to say to each other.

The taxonomy gives me pause, but let’s hope it all disolves into a version of Warren Bulworth’s injunction to screw ourselves into some commonality. That’s change I can believe in!

]]> By: chris http://www.radioopensource.org/obama-and-the-prophetic-tradition-brown-bag-ii/#comment-93076 chris Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:50:11 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=2172#comment-93076 Nobody's excluded, Avygravy! I want to include, from the Caribbean, <b>Aime Cesaire</b> and the incomparable historian of Toussaint L'Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution, among other things, <b><a href="http://www.marxists.org/archive/james-clr/index.htm" rel="nofollow">C. L. R. James</a></b> of <a href="http://www.powells.com/review/2007_09_11.html" rel="nofollow"><i>Beyond a Boundary</i></a> fame; also the painter <b>Romaire Bearden</b>; and among the living, the great middleweight <b>Rubin "Hurricane" Carter</b>, who explained to me on the radio once how he'd taken his mind to Dostoevskian depths during his long and unjust imprisonment. He said: "Chris, when you can't go out -- you go in!" Nobody’s excluded, Avygravy! I want to include, from the Caribbean, Aime Cesaire and the incomparable historian of Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution, among other things, C. L. R. James of Beyond a Boundary fame; also the painter Romaire Bearden; and among the living, the great middleweight Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who explained to me on the radio once how he’d taken his mind to Dostoevskian depths during his long and unjust imprisonment. He said: “Chris, when you can’t go out — you go in!”

]]> By: avygravy http://www.radioopensource.org/obama-and-the-prophetic-tradition-brown-bag-ii/#comment-93075 avygravy Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:58:19 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=2172#comment-93075 Of course, I know that it is not possible to include every name but I still wonder why this litany has excluded Frantz Fanon, Sun Ra and Jean Michel Basquiat!! :-) Of course, I know that it is not possible to include every name but I still wonder why this litany has excluded Frantz Fanon, Sun Ra and Jean Michel Basquiat!! :-)

]]> By: hurley http://www.radioopensource.org/obama-and-the-prophetic-tradition-brown-bag-ii/#comment-93074 hurley Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:14:06 +0000 http://www.radioopensource.org/?p=2172#comment-93074 That post reminds me of a girl on a date long ago who objected when I selected a particularly romantic song from the jukebox. "That's just not fair"... The lovely thing about the litany, to use the word loosely, is how you can add to it, how limitless it is in principle. I'd add Benny Carter, Arthur Ashe, Art Blakey...But then the recitation betrays a need to say something that shouldn't ever have to have been said in the first place, even now. But let it be said. I'm happy to hear it. That post reminds me of a girl on a date long ago who objected when I selected a particularly romantic song from the jukebox. “That’s just not fair”…

The lovely thing about the litany, to use the word loosely, is how you can add to it, how limitless it is in principle. I’d add Benny Carter, Arthur Ashe, Art Blakey…But then the recitation betrays a need to say something that shouldn’t ever have to have been said in the first place, even now. But let it be said. I’m happy to hear it.

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