DCentric

Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream has a place in hip-hop — but it wasn’t always that way “King’s absence makes sense to some. ‘The philosophy of nonviolent protest or redemptive suffering runs counter to the confrontational tone of so much hip-hop,’ says Adam Bradley, co-editor of the groundbreaking ‘Anthology of Rap’ (Yale University Press)…Even Common, for all of his use of King’s iconic speech, agrees. ‘Malcolm just represents more of the . . . the fire of hip-hop,’ he said.” (The Washington Post)

Returning to the ‘hood “But, my criticism of Brown and other middle-class blacks is that far too many of them have abandoned their neighborhood schools, fleeing to charters or out-of boundary DCPS facilities. Their exodus leaves communities, particularly those in Wards 5, 7 and 8, bereft of important leadership critical to significant and lasting reform.” (Washington Examiner )

Should UDC finally be able to take money the feds give D.C. kids to go someplace better? “The D.C. TAG program was established to compensate for the fact that D.C. didn’t have a quality four-year institution of higher learning. UDC, however, contends that it’s on the road to becoming one, and that students should be able to use their TAG money there. ‘It blows my mind,’ says UDC spokesman Alan Etter, of UDC’s singular ineligibility. ‘You want to go riot about something, that’s something to riot about…It puts the city in peril. We’re paying people to go away and not come back.’ (Washington City Paper)
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Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are the links we’re reading, right now:

Why Blacks Are Moving Back South: The Reverse Migration “Of course, African Americans aren’t the only ones heading south. But this trend is a definite shift in the pattern for most of the 20th century, when, from World War I to the 1970s, African Americans left the South for the North, Midwest and West in search of economic opportunity and a relief from racial violence and discrimination.” (The Root)

Imagining Michael Vick as a white quarterback in the NFL “Race is an undeniable and complex element of Vick’s story, both because of his style as well as the rarity of black QBs in the NFL. A decade after he became the first black QB to be drafted No. 1 overall, about one in five of the league’s passers is African-American, compared with two-thirds of all players. But after his arrest for dogfighting, so many people asked: Would a white football player have gotten nearly two years in prison for what Vick did to dogs?” (ESPN)

Mapping the New ”Gayborhood”: Census shows number of gay couples increasing, moving beyond traditional enclaves “In the District, the precincts with the highest number of same-sex couples has moved eastward from the Dupont Circle neighborhood, traditionally regarded as having a relatively high concentration of gay residents, to places such as Logan Circle, Shaw and Bloomingdale. There has also been a northward push into the U Street corridor, Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant and Crestwood, just south of Carter Barron Amphitheatre and Rock Creek Park.” (Metro Weekly )
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Good morning, DCentric readers! And now, for some links:

Gray cronyism probe sparks call for reform “D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh plans to introduce legislation next month that reduces the number of political appointees afforded the mayor, calls for proper screening of appointees and sheds light on their qualifications.” (Washington Times)

On Interracial Dating – The White Panel “A white high school friend dated a black guy, and her brother immediately asked her if she was going to turn into ‘one of those girls who wears her hair in a slicked-back tight ponytail’ — a class signifier, where I’m from, of being “trashy.” White women who dated black men (and to a slightly lesser extent, white women who dated Latino men) were definitely marked as low-class; the same wasn’t true of white women with Asian men.” (Racialicious)

Earthquake Safety Myths: DC Area Residents Not Sure What To Do “Tens of thousands of people flooded the streets of Washington as soon as the first tremors of Tuesday’s earthquake were felt. As it turns out, the commonly held belief that you get out of a building as soon as an earthquake strikes is not just wrong but potentially dangerous.” (WUSA Washington, DC)
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Conversations About Race: There’s a Limit “As many of us know, quite a few white people do not ‘get it.’ Maybe most of them don’t. It’s why we think of race as a ‘complex’ topic, of the sort where blacks are to speak and whites are largely to listen. This is what people really mean by America’s needing to have a conversation about race, for example.” (The Root)

Quake was a teachable moment “In Anacostia, several parents and grandparents whom I interviewed expressed worry that schools were slow to evacuate after the quake. ‘A lot of people were taking their time getting out,’ Kevin A. Thomas, 44, a car wash employee, said. ‘These buildings over here are old. If we get another one, they could come right down.’” (The Washington Post)

On Interracial Dating “Asking me to switch to Cheerios – just because the corner bodega ran out of them – when I’ve been eating Raisin Bran my entire life wouldn’t work either. This binary solution for black women – stay single or date outside of your race – approach needs to stop. Also – can we please STOP acting like Tyler Perry’s version of the blue collar brother actually exists! It’s just an awful fantasy.” (Racialicious)
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Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are the five links we’re reading, right now:

D.C. Public Schools expand salad bars “Over the summer, [nutrition chief Jeff Mills] tested more than 30 local greens in search of the best roughage for the salad bars. Ingredients in the traditional cafeteria meals have been freshened up, as well. Next month, students will be offered locally grown nectarines, mushrooms, watermelons, tomatoes, arugula, squash and spinach. Mills has high hopes that the salad bars will help students develop ‘natural palates’ without a taste for added salt, sugar and fats.” (The Washington Post)

CNN discovers go-go “While the package sticks to the expected go-go talking points — the sound is dependent on percussion and call-and-response, it’s unique to D.C., it never went ‘national’ — it’s still pretty cool that a CNN camera crew took a trip out to Takoma Station.” (tbd.com)

Too many markets or not enough farmers? “True farmers markets can and should proliferate — but the fact is that they are a very particular beast and don’t on their own represent the “answer” to food system reform. In a healthy food system, there need to be many outlets for fresh produce and humanely, sustainably raised meat…demand for fresh, local food is growing fast. That’s excellent news. It also means that we have to get serious about growing more farmers and more infrastructure along with growing more farmers markets.” (grist.org)
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Good morning, DCentric readers! Welcome back from the weekend:

$8 Eggs and the Cost of Food “There are many, many people out there, of varying socioeconomic levels, who are worried about what goes into their food. A one size fits all prescription (“eat less meat” or “go vegan“) removes any incentive to bring more people into the movement (the food movement big tent: we have catering, and it is tasty!)- you either care about it and don’t complain, or you don’t care enough, and can go back to your wasteland of McDonalds and Chinese takeout.” (PostBourgie)

Black Scientists Less Likely to Win Federal Research Grants, Study Reports “Even when the researchers made statistical adjustments to ensure they were comparing apples to apples — that is, scientists at similar institutions with similar academic track records — the disparity persisted. A black scientist was one-third less likely than a white counterpart to get a research project financed, the study found.” (New York Times)

Allen West: ‘I’m Here As The Modern-Day Harriet Tubman’ To Lead Blacks Out Of The Dem ‘Plantation’ (VIDEO) “Rep. Allen West (R-FL) said that the Democratic Party has kept African-Americans on a “21st-century plantation,” with liberal black politicians being like the “overseers” who would rule over the slaves — and likened himself to Harriet Tubman, the most famous member of the Underground Railroad movement, who helped over 70 slaves escape to freedom and inspired many others by her example.” (Talking Points Memo)

The undoing of a village’s character “Without a strong sense of community and direction, youths and young adults become wolflike members of a pack and go on the prowl. It’s on the front end, instilling a sense of family and community, not on the back end, after flash mob perpetrators are locked up, where our messages are falling short.” (Washington Times)
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Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are your Friday links:

D.C., MontCo to join federal illegal immigrant crackdown “In 2010, the D.C. jail held 185 inmates on warrants from ICE…Only 10 were released to ICE, and another 78 to the U.S. Marshals Service. More than 30 were put back on the streets. A DOC spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.” (Washington Examiner )

School Districts Rediscover Value of From-Scratch Meals “’The biggest myth is that it costs more money,’ said Kate Adamick, a food consultant based in New York and co-founder of Cook for America. She said federal reimbursement rules could actually give poorer school systems some advantages in shifting back to scratch, especially for meat, which many districts buy with deep discounts. Cooking the meat themselves, rather than paying a processor, can drastically reduce total costs, she said.” (The New York Times)

Black Marriage: Good News by the Numbers “In Washington, D.C., 36 percent of those with only a high school diploma, 47 percent of those with a college degree, 59 percent of those with a master’s or professional degree and 62 percent of those with doctoral degrees are married. There’s a similar pattern in Atlanta. So much for having to choose between a diploma (or four) and a husband.” (The Root)

The Impossible, Inevitable Redemption of Michael Vick “it is still estimated that tens of thousands engage in dogfighting—which is notoriously more prevalent in urban areas, where it has been part of African-American culture for decades. Vick, well versed in his talking points on this matter, hesitates to make this a race issue. And yet: ‘Yeah, you got the family dog and the white picket fence, and you just think that’s all there is. Some of us had to grow up in poverty-stricken urban neighborhoods, and we just had to adapt to our environment. I know that it’s wrong. But people act like it’s some crazy thing they never heard of. They don’t know.” (GQ)

Flash Mob Robberies Continue “In the latest incident, 10 women stormed the Shop Express convenience store along Benning Road in northeast Washington at about 3:15 a.m. Thursday. They loaded up on food, drinks and snacks at different parts of the store. Some of the women were carrying bags to hold some of the items. Then they all rushed out of the store at the same time without paying. ” (NBC Washington)