History

EXPERIENCE, Film, JUSTICE, PLAY, Racial Justice, Sporting

Film Review | Jesse Owens, the Movie “RACE” and the Impact on the 2024 Olympic Games

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Jesse Owens was an African American track athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. His story is significant because, in 1936, Europe was on the brink of World War II. Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, hosted the Berlin Olympics with the intent of showcasing its ideology of Aryan racial superiority. However, the Games became notable for challenging this propaganda. Jesse Owens’ victories directly contradicted Nazi racial theories and highlighted the absurdity of racial discrimination.

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EXPERIENCE, Museums & Art Exhibitions, Music

Exhibit Review | HIP-HOP AMERICA: The Mixtape Exhibit, Grammy Museum, L.A.

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Hip Hop? It’s the very essence of being a renegade, a cultural revolution born from the raw artistic expression  of DJs and MCs back in the day in New York’s park of Sedgwick and Cedar. They were all about bending words, crafting wild sounds with whatever was at hand. The GRAMMY Museum has curated the “Hip Hop America: The Mixtape Exhibit” to  dive into this journey, showcasing how a 50-year legacy of curiosity has pushed not just the music but the whole hip hop culture forward.

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People of Note, PLAY, PONDER, Sporting

Person of Note | The Mack Robinson Legacy: Defying the Odds in Life and at the Olympics

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In 1936 at the Olympic Games, the odds were heavily stacked against Black athletes. Many were questioned about why they would agree to compete in a country that was racist toward them while representing another racist country. Yet, those 18 Black athletes knew that they would defy the status quo. By participating in these Olympic Games, they personified the idea of “taking up space,” and understood the lasting impact their presence would have for generations to come.

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EXPLORE, JOURNEY, Life Stories

Signals from the Homeland

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Currently based in San Diego, am I actually going to visit Paul’s Meat Market in Mamou for boudin balls or chicken leg quarters? Do I really need anything from Alario Brothers Marine Hardware in Golden Meadow? Do I need to know the weather in Morgan City? The answer is definitely no, but these signals from distant stations sonically transport me back to Louisiana.

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EXPERIENCE, Film

Film Review | Till, Starring Danielle Deadwyler and Jalyn Hall

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Being ignorant of Emmett’s experience, I was horrified by the story.  It overfilled my senses with the global collective of the beyond-painful memories of the historical records of oppression and abuses perpetrated by humans.  It easily could have pushed me into a ‘useless emotional state,’ yet I was surprisingly and thankfully impressed by the film’s excellence as an art form.

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