BlogHer - misogyny - Comments

Wow.

Final Days Forum — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:46:43 -0500

Hi,

Thanks for such a thoughtful and timely post. The video is sobering and the closing excerpt about W.E.B. DuBois' "John" is chilling.

Judy

I thank you for this post too...

BrownImani — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:24:18 -0500

I have felt myself projecting a lot of my hopes (and fears) onto Barack also. I try not to but it happens. I am so worried about the young Black boys of today. They are so needy. Good, strong role models for them are rare. The ones that are out there don't get the airplay so the children never see them. But, Barack is everywhere. He is even on their tee shirts ! Wow. Everyone knows who Obama is. Our young girls and women need to see him too especially with his family. They are equally desperate for positive Black male role models. If by some chance Obama does not win I think the momentum will continue because it is time. Our community feels as if it is going through some spiritual transition right now and I don't know if Mr. Obama is a part of that or if he is just swept up in it like the rest of us but I feel like there is no turning back. So I thank you for this post too.

That's why culturally responsive teaching is so important

Kim Pearson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:02:40 -0500

Since I wasn't trained as a k-12 teacher, it really surprised me to learn this summer that about 30 percent of our students are kinesthetic learners. I hold out a lot of hope for the movement toward culturally resposive pedagogy and Richard Majors' work on emotional literacy. More soon -- the debate is starting!

Kim
BlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

Mulling a Bit More

rebellious thinker — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:37:51 -0500

Interestingly, some of the real clowns, or should I say attention-seekers, are the African African-American boys (meaning born in different Arican countries). Maybe they have to prove their manhood, their Americanness, their sense of belonging while still being their unique selves. But here, too, I should think that Obama would be a wonderful role model since for them, too, he surely has blazed a path.

Kim, your kinesthetic comment is right on. Some days I feel like I had been teaching a gym class, with so much tapping, clicking, and shuffling going on. Still working on how to handle that.

Laura, www.RebelliousThoughtsofaWoman.com

I know what you mean

Kim Pearson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:29:46 -0500

I see the same problems, although not with black male students. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that our secondary schools, especially, don't have many opportunities for kinesthetic learners. But that's another conversation.. :-) I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts as you mull further.

Kim
BlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

I hear you

Kim Pearson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:23:48 -0500

It's certainly true that many people have projected their own wishes onto Obama. But there is something unique about Obama's gender performance. Other successful black political figures, such as Colin Powell or even Jesse Jackson in his youth, don't engage young people the way Obama seems to. Perhaps it's because his autobiography makes it clear that he made some poor choices in his youth, so he seems more human? I don't know. But what other figure inspirers the creation of a website like "Ballers4Barack?"

Kim
BlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

Thanks for the Insights

rebellious thinker — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:28:51 -0500

Thanks for the post and the movie. Much to mull here. As a high school teacher in a very diverse area, I am sometimes amazed that many of my black male students put themselves out as the class clowns, when, in fact, they are among the smartest kids in the class and if they would settle down and do the work--they would probably be getting those scholarships.

I think a strength of Obama's is that he is a positive role model for everyone. And that may surely help bridge this mental divide.

Laura, www.RebelliousThoughtsofaWoman.com

Your Dad and Pastor are on point

Kim Pearson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:07:07 -0500

And I rejoice with you about your son!

Kim
BlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

Kim--Interesting and

Norma156 — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:50:07 -0500

Kim--Interesting and insightful post. Does it trouble you at all, though, that so much--hopes, dreams, aspirations, etc.--is being projected onto the shoulders of a single politician?

Thank you so much

Southerngirl — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:09:50 -0500

This is a very important and timely post. My son is one of those smart kids and to him that is what Barack represents, intelligence or more to the point that it's OK to be intelligent. His teachers have often told me that he covered his intelligence with silliness by trying to be the class clown. This year I have had no such report. He is proud of his brains as he realizes football will not get him to the places he wants to go. Barack has reinforced all of my rantings and talks with him over the years. He is succesful not as an ex ball player but because of his intelligence. My son's new goal is for enough academic scholarships to not have to pay for anyting when he goes to school. Thank God becuse his college fund was cut in half over the last month.

In your response to Maria speaking of our being connected, I rember my dad saying that was why he always worked with boys. A church memeber asked him if it was because he only had one boy he said no its becuse my daughters need good husbands and because my children have to go to school with these kids. I rember a former Pastor saying we need to know that the kids accross the street may not be your problem today but who do you think will be working in your nursing home?

Michelle

I blog at http://www.mommycan.blogspot.com/

Thanks For This Post

Megan Smith — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:42:19 -0500

Hi Kim,

This is a very thoughtful and important post about the impact Barack Obama is having on all black people but especially black men and boys.

It's about time that the image of success is held up as the gold standard for black men. Not ignorance and lack of respect for themselves or others.

Megan

Megan Smith

BlogHer CE, TV/Online Video

My Personal Blog:
Megan's Minute

The latest issue of Time mag

greenlagirl — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:39:52 -0500

The latest issue of Time mag had an article about what'd happen if Obama did NOT get elected -- but what was most poignant for me about that article is that it talks about the very issue you're pointing at here. It's about time we got to see a black man in the news on a daily basis for reasons not related to crime or gangsta rap, both pigeonhole-ing stereotypes. Thanks for the passionate post.

green LA girl

It's so important to remember that we are all connected

Kim Pearson — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:23:33 -0500

Thanks so much to bringing up the Koppel documentary. Talk about poetic justice.

One thing I worried about in writing this post is that readers might not realize that we all have a stake in seeing black boys succeed -- regardless of our own race or gender. We are all connected. The same destructive tropes are at work on young people of other races, too, although African Americans are especially vulnerable because of our history. And we all lose when young lives are wasted by violence and a lack of purpose.

My father was a public school teacher for many years and one of the things he lamented was that the gangbangers in his class were some of the most intelligent, creative and charismatic people in the school. He kept talking about what they could do if their talents could be constructively engaged. That's part of the hope that many people are investing in people like Obama -- that they can offer a model of success that is both powerful and positive.

Thanks again for reading and commenting.

Kim
BlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

Such an important message

Maria Niles — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:29:34 -0500

Thank you for this post, Kim. It is just as important that we examine the destructive force hypermasculinity can be for black boys and not just focus on the negative effects it has on girls via sexism.

I was struck by the statement that both Curtis and Barack are succeeding in a system that is not designed for them. I'm grateful for the positive model Obama provides on how to do that without losing an authentic self.

I watched part of Ted Koppel's documentary on the 1981 lynching of Michael Donald through the eyes of three people involved in bringing the klansmen who murdered him to justice and who were all delegates to the Democratic National Convention where Barack Obama was nominated. I am struck by the fact that black masculine non-violent success such as Obama's is still a threat to white patriarchy today. It makes Hurt's film resonate that much more.

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What's up with the constant

evilslutopia — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:04:05 -0500

What's up with the constant ageism? You do realize that McCain is older than Biden, right? Do you constantly refer to McCain as "that old guy from the Senate"?

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