Movements Mainstreamed, Or Just Another Day In America?

A new movement that is not completely a movement (didja hear about the “Occupy” reality show yet? πŸ™‚ ) has luminaries that are not completely leaders. “Democracy Now!” profiled in Monday’s New York Times. West profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered” yesterday.Β  <a href="”>West and Michael Moore on “Democracy Now!” for the hour yesterday. Okay, legitimate (elite) public recognition for legitimate work. (Perhaps the mainstream will pay a little more attention now.)Β  But for people and institutions that are supposed to be “grassroots,” itΒ  feels a little too elitist and chummy around these parts, with these (anti?) establishment folks being both sincere and playing their part–as in prescribed role. Perhaps this is just the nature of American society–particularly if you graduated Harvard, as Goodman and West did (and I guess in Goodman’s case, we could argue whether Radcliffe was or wasn’t Harvard when she attended πŸ™‚ ), and worked for the white leftist elite, the way Michael Moore did. What about the grassroots co-host Juan Gonzalez, you might ask? Well, thanks to the Ford Foundation (and “Democracy Now!”‘s significant exposure, I might add), he’s on a book tour. Again, maybe this is just America. Cue Don King–or Tom Hayden. πŸ˜‰

re: "Like It Is" (1968-2011): Goodbye, Farewell, Amen

I especially liked when Herb Boyd and Betty Dopson read from “Black Is The Color of My TV Tube.” As an undergraduate, I had that book glued to my body the way many students kept “The Autobiography” in their knapsacks. Bill Cosby said pretty much everything I would have said if I had been on this last show.