Susan X Jane, Principal of Navigators Consulting, has over 30 years of experience exploring race and representation in both the public and private sectors. Susan is a transracial adoptee—a Black woman raised in a White family and community—an experience that created an early focus on the way race shapes our concept of ourselves and each other.
Susan has worked to address race and racism as a community organizer, nonprofit program developer, professor of communications, and consultant to corporations and impact-focused institutions. As Principal of Navigators Consulting, she draws on decades of experience to work with organizations in the public and private sectors.
To any who seeks to build a better world, she offers her skills as a teacher, coach, and strategic partner to help create diverse and inclusive environments where the humanity of all is respected and protected.
The Sochi Olympic USA Team cardigan….as a miniature sculpture.Ralph Lauren took a very bold patriotic stance to this years Olympic uniforms for the USA Olympic team.Opinion is rather divided on this item with some feeling it is too garish ,while others see it as an instant classic….whatever your opinion it has to be said that this item screams out “USA”! Soon to be released in Ralph Lauren stores…
I’m so glad that Ralph Lauren had the Olympic uniforms made right here in the USA this time, but what does this $500 sweater say about us? Would you wear this?
Russia’s laws and practices against gay citizens have been well documented leading up to the games, exposing harsh practices and the need for change. Google welcomed the games with this doodle, which included language directly from the Olympic charter reminding us all the intended spirit of the games. Here’s to hoping that the pressure to provide equal rights will last longer than the games.
This doodle from Google graces the search page, with the thumbnail on all it’s pages on the opening day of the Sochi Olympics
Boston Globe writer wowed us with his balanced expression of bigotry and world geography mastery with this tweet that he sent during the Opening ceremony in Sochi referring to the Boston Marathon bombers . So much wrong in just 140 characters.
Is is really fair to blame all of Russia and the other country they were from, Kyrgyzstan, or did you just mean Russia?
It’s official: racist murderer acquitted vigilante George Zimmerman will be stepping into the ring to fight rapper DMX in a “celebrity” fight. Adding insult to outrage, the announcement comes on what would have been the 19th birthday of Trayvon Martin, the child Zimmerman shot and killed February 26, 2012.
UPDATE BELOW
Despite the primal draw of vengeance, I’d be wrong to not point out what the problem is with this upcoming event and the conversation sure to surround it.
The Glorification of George Zimmerman
Since his acquittal for killing Trayvone Martin, Zimmerman has had a hard time staying out of the spotlight. Most recently he sold–and is being sued over– a painting copied from an AP journalist’s photo. Coupled with his upcoming fight, we can guess he needs the cash, though he denies he will keep any prize money earned in the fight. More seriously he was involved in several incidents resulting in law enforcement intervention, including threatening his girlfriend and his father with a weapon in separate incidents. Plainly stated, this is a man who has killed one person, and has threatened to kill several others. He has multiple less serious interactions with law enforcement including domestic violence, threats and assault–if you can call those allegations less serious. This is a troubled and violent person strongly attached to weapons that make him feel powerful. In no way should we as a culture elevate this man’s visibility or credibility by labeling him a celebrity.
Acquitted vigilante killer Bernard Goetz
But the problem is that we are the kind of culture that has elevated the visibility of the violent and deranged. Serial killers, vigilantes and those acquitted in the courts but not in the court of public opinion all have found fame and attention. Zimmerman joins others like O.J. Simpson, New York vigilante Bernard Goetz and Casey Anthony who disgust us even as we keep watching. That Zimmerman keeps sucking up air time is an uncomfortable reminder of the undesirable state of our celebrity culture.
Racist Dialogue
The murder of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his killer is yet another wound opened in the long battle for racial justice and equity in America. Even as a parade of stand-your-ground and police brutality cases cross the news ticker, loud chatter in other circles is lined up on the side against racial understanding, complaining of reverse racism and black domination. Have no doubt that the men in the ring are fighting proxy in the bigger battle between staunch racists and the people of color who stand, still unjustly, as the target of their hate.
Fighters James Jeffries and Jack Johnson
Like the Great White Hope’s fight with master fighter Jack Johnson, boxing often pits pugilists of different races against each other, symbolically fighting the race war that heats up today’s dialogue on social networks and in too many living rooms and streets across America. Despite a steady insistence by the lawyers that the Zimmerman case wasn’t about race, the court of public opinion recognized no such fantasy. The divisions split open during Zimmerman’s trial have festered in the meantime. Allowing another public fight, and the guarantee of the nastiest of exchanges between races over its outcome is sure to aggravate an already hostile racial climate at a time when we need more unity, not less.
The Opponent
When fight promoter Damon Feldman opened up his inbox for people interested in going toe to toe with Zimmerman, he got over 10,000 applications. Earlier in the week, rapper The Game came out and announced that he would fight Zimmerman. Despite saying he would fight anyone, Zimmerman punked out declined Game’s offer and instead called out Kanye West, then settled on DMX. While DMX has showed he’s a tough dog, his battles with the law, drugs and himself have left him less than ring-ready. Instead of the glorious avenger, DMX is cast by the promoters as another black male here to bolster George Zimmerman’s damaged ego. The tale of the tape shows the fight will allow Zimmerman to continue his m.o. of trying to stack the deck. Typical.
match up of potential opponents
The serious and sad heart of this story beat in the chest of Trayvon Martin. Too often in our popular culture what matters most, what we need to heal, untangle or unite is trampled by spectacle. Maybe like you, I would also love to see some kind of justice, no matter how base. But before you click that pay per view order button, let’s both remember that there is no justice at the end of fists full of dollars. Each of us has to choose to feed the beast of frenzy or find other ways to find the justice we seek.
UPDATE: The Zimmerman DMX fight has been cancelled. All the outrage matters–keep thinking and talking about issues like these, and of course reading smntks!
Coca Cola aired an ad during the Super Bowl featuring a multicultural group of actors singing American the Beautiful in a variety of languages. Crazy, right? Except more than 25% of Americans can speak another language. Hold on, though! In a tweet from hell, Max schools us all on the official language in these here parts.
Today Facebook turns 10 years old–not old enough to vote, drink, drive a car, or engage in consensual shenanigans. But Facebook is old enough to have more than 1 billion users world-wide. Think about it: how hard must it be to get a billion of anything, let alone regular users?
For each the pleasures that Facebook has afforded us there is the story of a consequence of the social media site, and of social networking in general. Sure you can connect with far away friends you may have lost touch with–or read smntks which you love now– but all of your personal relationships are being leveraged to make money that you get no part in, plus your creepy ex is stalking your photo albums.
Despite today’s fond birthday wishes and general fluff pieces on Mark Zuckerberg, it hasn’t always been an easy decade for the creator or his social Frankenstein. From repeated privacy issues, and online harassment not to mention a questionable IPO, Facebook has weathered some slings and arrows with all their outrageous fortune.
For us as end users, its hard to deny that Facebook has extended the breadth of our interpersonal circle. We’re connected, right now, across the globe. Pause…that’s amazing. What’s more, we have come to believe that being widely connected is an important part of our personal life, and that sharing who we are across a huge network of people is an important task that has wider implications than pleasure. We can make change, support others, learn, share, and engage with a huge community of humanity.
A map of global internet use
As you gaze lovingly into the candles on Facebook’s cake tonight, consider this question for yourself: how has Facebook changed your personal relationships? Look at both what you are given by the hand of social media, and also what it has supplanted, replaced, or made obsolete. Is the texture of your friendships richer because of it, or have you traded, in some cases, breadth for depth, time for triviality? Chances are, it’s a bit a both.
Social networking is not something that can be destroyed or done away with, any more than the inventions of the technology that printed books, or birthed television. But like every new medium, we must consider how this baby grows. We must think about boundaries for healthy development, and building strong relationships born of the best of who we are rather than the lowest common denominator .
So happy birthday, Facebook. Here’s wishing that you grow into a fine young social network that we can all be proud of.
February is Black History month. Here at smntks we have a special devotion to examining race and media, so it won’t be hard to fill up February with some media analysis–past, present and future–of media representations of people of African decent.
While mainstream media didn’t shy away from representing Black people this year, it’s hard to say the representation was always good, accurate, or reflective of the African Diaspora in America. There were some stand outs–like 12 Years a Slave–and some not so outstanding moments–twerking anyone?
What we can say is that 2013 didn’t give up very many nuanced and thoughtful representations of the experience of being Black in America today. The contemporary representations of Blacks we did see tended to put them at either end of the socioeconomic spectrum: rich successful and fabulous, or broke down and hoodtacular.
In the middle lays a swath of African Americans nearly unknown to the mainstream viewing audience: middle class blacks. By varying estimates the Black middle class accounts for 45 to 55% of the total Black population. Media representations of the Black middle class are hard to find, and rarer still are documentaries produced by and featuring members of the Black middle class.
PBS POV series presents American Promise this week, the story of one family and the challenges and joys of the family’s two boys. Set your DVR and see this rarest of birds in American media–young Black middle class boys and the educated, involved intelligent parents who care for them. Check here for local listings.
Miley Cyrus resurfaces again this month on the cover of W magazine. No doubt she had a … transformative year last year–and laughed all the way to the bank. Her newest photo shoot has her wearing even less than usual, as if that was even possible. Am I the only one that is having a hard time recognizing her in these photos?
Are you sure that’s her? For a star who assures us she is so into being herself, she certainly doesn’t look like any version of Miley we’ve seen so far. And those haters? Can’t stop, won’t stop her:
“Anyone that hates on you is always below you, because they’re just jealous of what you have.”
Susan X Jane 