2023
June
A bit of positivity as we near Juneteenth - An update on Christian Cooper including his recent New York Times essay; comments on the essay; and more ... including some great things happening for Chris this month!
But let us not forget. His life could just as easily have been been extinguished during that Central Park encounter, like the lives of so many other people of color in similar situations. As Cooper, himself, wrote in the Washington Post, "I think it's a mistake to focus on this one individual. The important thing the incident highlights is the long-standing, deep-seated racial bias against us black and brown folk that permeates the United States.”
What we can Learn from Christian Cooper
New York Times, May 26, 2023
(Read Cooper essay by clicking graphic on the right)
Most of us were first introduced to Christian Cooper, a 50ish African American, on May 25, Memorial Day weekend 2020, as his confrontation with a 50ish white woman was unfolding in the Ramble of New York’s Central Park, an area set aside for New Yorkers to reconnect with nature undisturbed by the cacophony of the city; where large green signs (posted by the Central Park Conservancy) instruct dog lovers to keep their dogs on leash.
Biking from his lower Eastside apartment uptown to the park, he was anticipating the joy of a quiet morning witnessing, as he had for decades, the annual spring bird migration, only to be disturbed by a woman's loud, strident calling after an unleashed dog, shattering the tranquility and startling the birds recovering from their migratory miles.
He reminded the woman of the rules, asking her to “please leash her pup”.
She refused, and elevated their exchange to an explosive level with a call to the police reporting “an African American man is threatening my life”.
We know the rest of the story, and Christian Cooper does not repeat it - any of it.
Instead, he generously shares how he came to his love of nature - its beauty and peace; its regenerative solitude; and how he re-experiences it every spring with the enthusiasm of his youth. Three years have passed since the encounter in Central Park. Cooper has not forgotten, but he is not allowing it to sabotage his life.
Rather, he encourages his readers, particularly those in the Black and brown communities, to join in his refuge from the threats and violence of their daily lives. In doing so, he not only exemplifies how time and again people of color fight back against the unravelling of their lives as was happening to George Floyd the very same Memorial Day in Minneapolis, but also how for centuries the personal fortitude of Black and brown Americans have kept the American ship upright through storms so frequently generated by privileged white Americans.
Memorial Day asks us to respect those who died in violence protecting America. Christian Cooper asks us to honor those who have protected America without violence.
... Ralph Freidin
In September, 2020. PBS Nova aired an animated feature called The Joys and Challenges of Birding While Black. In it, Chris Cooper recounts his Central Park encounter, offers his perspective on diversity in the outdoors, and ends on a hopeful note. Watch below:
(3:54)
Also in September, 2020, Chris Cooper released a graphic novel for DC Comics inspired by his encounter in the Central Park Ramble. Read the New York Times review below:
To be released June 13, 2023
Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper
Click on the graphic below to learn more about Cooper's upcoming book
As part of the book's release, Cooper will appear at NYC's 92nd Street Y on Tuesday, July 12 at 7:00 PM. The interview will be live and also available online. Tickets are available HERE.
For more in Christian Cooper's future, check out In Good Company: A Birding Life with Christian Cooper (4:16) Click HERE to watch.
Premiers on Nat Geo Wild, Saturday, June 17, 2023 @ 10pm
"Extraordinary Birder, with Christian Cooper"
In the initial episode, Cooper kayaks though caves, hikes over waterfalls, and treks into the rainforest to discover the rare and colorful birds of Puerto Rico.
On June 24, he meets peregrine falcon chicks, gives a pigeon a footbath and releases a streetsmart kestrel in his hometown, New York City.
Episodes will follow in Hawaii, Palm Springs, Washington DC, and Alabama.
View the trailer below!
(0:31)
May
(4:40)
Historian David Blight shares a discovery he made about the first Memorial Day
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
Released May 16, 2023
Click on the graphic of Dr. King to read the New York Times review of the recently released biography.
Below are recordings of two recent interviews with author Jonathan Eig:
At Brookline Booksmith, on May 19, Eig is in conversation with Randall Kennedy
(59:46)
At Beth Am Synagogue in Baltimore, on May 22nd, hosted by Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg, in conversation with Bishop Donte Hickman, Sr.
(1:22:42)
...and here's a recent piece by Jonathan Eig for TIME
May 17, 2023
March / April
Update on the College Board's
AP African American Studies Course
(Scroll down to February shares for previous status)
Boston Globe, April 3, 2023, Click BELOW
New York Times, April 23, 2023, Click RIGHT
A look into how AP African-American Studies is taught at a Cambridge school - The Boston Globe.pdf
The Washington Post, April 26
If you aren't able to access the Post, HERE is a PDF.
60 Years Ago
Harry Belafonte, and others: a serious discussion in a moment of possibility...
So sad to listen, having lived through the subsequent 60 years.
August 28, 1963
Charles Blow on Harry Belafonte
The New York Times April 25, 2023
Thank you Harry Belafonte for this song (and a time) we all remember!
"In 1986, the American Music Awards named "We Are the World" "Song of the Year", and honored organizer Harry Belafonte with the Award of Appreciation.
February
Black History Month 2023
Celebrating Black History Month as Black history is being erased - The Boston Globe.pdfBlack History Month this year can't just be about celebrations and capitalism.
The challenge - and that burden is not for Black people to bear alone - is to save this crucial American history from being eroded book by book, law by law, and state by state.
...Renee Graham
The Detroit News 2/11/2023
More shocking stories from Florida HERE
We're all observing the fierce attacks on the inclusion of comprehensive (and honest) Black history in public school K-12 classes, even stretching into higher education. Here are just a few of the many articles, video clips, and other media appearing in the past few weeks.
Click on the graphic above for a perfect example of the ongoing gross misinformation, false narratives, and attempts at erasure. (0:47)
This piece (6/3/2021) was recently reprinted on Medium as a reminder of the role of The 1619 Project.
Listen to Ta-Nehisi Coates ...
February 2, 2023
(17:29)
Differing views on the newly revised College Board AP African American Studies framework
The New Yorker February 3, 2023
by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
From the New York Times, Sunday, February 19, a must-read!
... and an interesting, somewhat related, essay by Skip Gates from Literary Hub, January 31, 2023,
January
...beginning with the unveiling of "The Embrace" in the Boston Common and an interview with the artist, Hank Willis Thomas, and followed by a powerful short story by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson. This month's shares also include a piece by Clint Smith that was prompted by the Tyler Adams press conference at the World Cup and, finally, a step back into the 19th century to explore the largest slave auction in US history and its legacy.
Check out the additions to Hidden History : 2023 - People We Should Know or Know Better (HERE)!
Click the graphic below for a link to Thomas's website where you can view other works, read his bio (HERE) and see recent news about him.
About the author:
Jocelyn Nicole Johnson's writing has appeared in Guernica, the Guardian, Kewli, Joyland, Prime Number Magazine, and elsewhere. In 2021, she published her debut collection, My Monticello, five short stories and the title novella.
Her short story, Control Negro, was anthologized in Best American Short Stories, 2018, edited by Roxane Gay and read live by LeVar Burton as part of PRI's Selected Shorts series.
A veteran public-school art teacher, Johnson lives and writes in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In this piece, Clint Smith considers the dilemma faced by Tyler Adams, captain of the US National Soccer Team, and other Black athletes who have preceded him, as they struggle to represent themselves and this country on the world stage.
1852 oil painting depicting the scene of a slave market
" The Weeping Time" 1857
Click on the graphic (left) to read about the largest sale of human beings in US history.
Click below for a follow-up after 150 years.
