We Out Here: Recognizing The Black Icons Among Us

In an era of hyperbole, where everyone is “amazing” and everything is “epic,” it can be hard to understand and live in the actual meaning of words. It can, though, provide an opportunity to reinterpret and expand on words that already exist — particularly words that have most commonly been assigned to an exclusive set of people. The Merriam-Webster.com definition of “icon” includes “an object of uncritical devotion” and offers the following people as synonyms of the word: Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, the Beatles. If you Google “pop culture icon,” some lists now include Michael Jackson, Bruce Lee, Oprah and, of course, Beyoncé, along with scant few other figures of color. But what if lists started to include Crissle West or Tracy Clayton or Bomani Jones? What if we gave ourselves permission as black creatives in predominantly white spaces to be iconic? Like, say, the world of podcasting? [ more › ]

from Gothamist http://bit.ly/2WLyskg

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When Representative Ilhan Omar recently complained about “the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country,” many noted accurately that she had deployed a trope—dual loyalty—that had been used against Jews for years. But this accusation has a broader history in the United States, having been used against several religious minorities—including Muslims like Omar. Indeed, many battles over religious freedom have revolved around dual-loyalty claims. [ Read: Ilhan Omar just made it harder to have a nuanced debate about Israel ] In the 19th century, many attacks on Catholics stressed that these immigrants were pawns of a foreign power. In the 1830s, Samuel Morse—then a prominent painter and later the inventor of the telegraph—urged Americans to build “walls” and “gates” to keep out Catholic immigrants, who would always be loyal to Rome. Because these Catholic immigrants were decrepit —“halt, and blind, and naked”—they were easy to co...

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