Filmmaker Dash Harris is the brainchild behind the ‘Negro’ docu-series which examines, through a series of interviews, what it means to be black and Latino within the Americas. Dash Harris is blurring the color lines and shedding a much needed light on the experiences of peoples of African descent around the world. Her docu-series Negro explores the interplay between race, color, and self-identification among Latinos in the Americas. By delving into the history of Afro-Latinos and giving them a platform to share their stories, Harris questions the structures that are in place to label people and attempts to shatter them.
Black and Afro-Latinxs have been doing their own organizing for generations, but in this current iteration, have shown extreme solidarity with U.S. Black people because it is our struggle as well – Dash Harris
Negro exposes the racism present in Latin American, challenges the lack of information that many people posses about blackness, as it pertains to countries outside of the United States, and directly challenges the idea that “beauty” and “white” are interchangeable concepts. Ultimately, by interviewing people of African descent in many different countries, including Panama and the Dominican Republic, Harris is able to get a large view of the identity crisis that Afro-Latinos deal with.
Our society has made it easy to categorize people broadly without understanding the history and roots of different ancestries. It’s become common to assume that how “black” you are is directly related to the amount of melanin in your skin. Instead of educating ourselves about our history and how complex and beautiful it is, we group people together and assume that we all have the same backgrounds. Conversely, while our differences have separated us and created a color complex between us, our similarities have commonly been forgotten. Most, if not all, of us are of African descent, whether we know it or not. As it was beautifully stated in Negro, if we get to a place where we see ourselves in each other, some of the hate will be dismissed.
I could not sleep last night, so I stayed up and created a video about my love for God. As you may know, I have studied spirituality for many years and I even created a blog and radio show about it. The only problem I had was that I did all of these wonderful things away from christianity. I let the influence of other religions and ideas take over my walk with Christ. I never thought I would be this kind of person. I have a loving heart and I want happiness for everyone, so how in the world did I allow myself to be pulled away from Christ? Thinking about it scares me. It shows me that it can happen to anyone. The devil can appear loving and good natured, and he can trick you into believing he is the way to happiness.
Over time I started to doubt Christianity, because of the actions of others. I was judging God because of the sins of man. How foolish was I to think like this? I never completely walked away, but I was trying to merge all of my beliefs into one unified religion for myself. I was taking the good of everything and using them to find God…but was I really finding God?
I started watching videos online about death and sin, it really made me take a good look at how I was living. Everyday I started praying again, I even started reading my bible more often. One day I looked back at my bookshelf and I noticed that I had 100s of books on everything else, but Christ. This showed me how far away I drifted, but Jesus never left me. Jesus is still here. God if you can read this, forgive me for taking so long to hear your voice. Forgive me for my sins and thank you for loving us unconditionally. So this leads me to the video I made above lol (finally). God gives us all gifts, and I plan on using my artistic abilities to spread the word of God. If you are reading this, God bless you and continue in the fight for your soul. This new age spirituality looks and sounds so beautiful, but it’s a mirage. Don’t be fooled, stick to the teachings of the lord. Start today, don’t wait.
Aug. 15, 2018 | Felix Contreras — Some folks around the NPR Music office said they felt an almost spiritual connection to Erykah Badu during her visit to the Tiny Desk. And that was before she and her band even played a single note. It came from the waft of earthly scents that followed in her wake, to the flowing dreads and clothes that hung on her like robes.
After her self-introduction, which included a rundown of her spiritual and creative aliases, Badu rolled into one of her earliest musical calling cards, “Rimshot.” It’s an ode to the sound the percussionist makes when a drumstick is struck against the metal edge of the snare drum. On this performance, as on her 1997 album Baduizm, it becomes a device to play with time — stretching it, stopping it, suspending it. Propelled by jazz chords on the piano and the steady pulse of the acoustic bass, the playful performance unfolded in the tradition of the best bebop.
But the panoramic song “Green Eyes” is the centerpiece of Badu’s Tiny Desk performance. It’s wide-ranging in scope and musical arrangement and brilliantly executed by the jazz and hip-hop musicians in her backing band. The story of heartbreak is striking enough, but her interpretation showcases her formidable vocal skills. By the time it was over, we were all just as emotionally and spiritually spent as she was from the experience.
Erykah Badu is an artist for the ages. To old-school jazz fans like myself, names like Nina Simone, Betty Carter and Shirley Horn come to mind as much as Billie Holiday because of Badu’s singular approach to a lyric. They all cut their own creative path and left behind a legacy that you can identify with just one note. Erykah Badu is on that same path, and one day her name will be mentioned along with the other Elders who share her spirit of musical adventure.
Set List
“Rimshot”
“Green Eyes”
Musicians
Erykah Badu (lead vocals), RC Williams (Keys), Braylon Lacy (bass), Cleon Edwards (Drums), Frank Moka (Percussion), Kenneth Whalum (Sax), Keyon Harrold (Trumpet), Dwayne Kerr (Flute)
Credits
Producers: Abby O’Neill, Morgan Noelle Smith; Creative Director: Bob Boilen; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Noelle Smith, Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Khun Minn Ohn, CJ Riculan; Production Assistants: Catherine Zhang, Téa Mottolese; Photo: Morgan Noelle Smith/NPR.
When the topic of the Moorish influence in Europe is being discussed, one of the first questions that arises is, what race were they?
As early as the Middle Ages, “Moors were commonly viewed as being mostly black or very swarthy, and hence the word is often used for negro,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Author and historian Chancellor Williams said “the original Moors, like the original Egyptians, were black Africans.” The 16th century English playwright William Shakespeare used the word Moor as a synonym for African. His contemporary Christopher Marlowe also used African and Moor interchangeably. Arab writers further buttress the black identity of the Moors. The powerful Moorish Emperor Yusuf ben-Tachfin is described by an Arab chronicler as “a brown man with wooly hair.” Black soldiers, specifically identified as Moors, were actively recruited by Rome, and served in Britain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. St. Maurice, patron saint of medieval Europe, was only one of many black soldiers and officers under the employ of the Roman Empire. Although generations of Spanish rulers have tried to expunge this era from the historical record, recent archeology and scholarship now shed fresh light on the Moors who flourished in Al-Andalus for more than 700 years – from 711 AD until 1492. The Moorish advances in mathematics, astronomy, art, and agriculture helped propel Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance.
Universal Education The Moors brought enormous learning to Spain that over centuries would percolate through the rest of Europe. The intellectual achievements of the Moors in Spain had a lasting effect; education was universal in Moorish Spain, while in Christian Europe, 99 percent of the population was illiterate, and even kings could neither read nor write. At a time when Europe had only two universities, the Moors had seventeen, located in Almeria, Cordova, Granada, Juen, Malaga, Seville, and Toledo. In the 10th and 11th centuries, public libraries in Europe were non-existent, while Moorish Spain could boast of more than 70, including one in Cordova that housed hundreds of thousands of manuscripts. Universities in Paris and Oxford were established after visits by scholars to Moorish Spain. It was this system of education, taken to Europe by the Moors, that seeded the European Renaissance and brought the continent out of the 1,000 years of intellectual and physical gloom of the Middle Ages.
Fashion and Hygiene
Abu l-Hasan Ali Ibn Nafi – who was also known as Ziryab (black singing bird in Arabic) and Pájaro Negro (blackbird) in Spanish- was a polymath, with knowledge in astronomy, geography, meteorology, botanics, cosmetics, culinary art and fashion. He is known for starting a vogue by changing clothes according to the weather and season. He also suggested different clothing for mornings, afternoons and evenings. He created a deodorant to eliminate bad odors, promoted morning and evening baths, and emphasized maintaining personal hygiene. Ziryab is believed to have invented an early toothpaste, which he popularized throughout Islamic Iberia – primarily in Spain. He made fashionable shaving among men and set new haircut trends. Royalty used to wash their hair with rosewater, but Ziryab introduced salt and fragrant oils to improve the hair’s condition.
Cuisine
Ziryab was also an arbiter of culinary fashion and taste, and revolutionized the local cuisine by introducing new fruit and vegetables such as asparagus, and by initiating the three-course meal served on leathern tablecloths. He insisted that meals should be served in three separate courses consisting of soup, the main course, and dessert. He also introduced the use of crystal as a container for drinks, which was more effective than metal. Prior to his time, food was served plainly on platters on bare tables, as was the case with the Romans. In general, the Moors introduced many new crops including the orange, lemon, peach, apricot, fig, sugar cane, dates, ginger and pomegranate as well as saffron, cotton, silk and rice, all of which remain prominent in Spain today.
Urban Utilities: Street lights, Hospitals and Public Baths In the 10th Century, Cordoba was not just the capital of Al Andalus (Moorish Spain) but also one of the most important cities in the world, rivaling Baghdad and Constantinople. It boasted a population of 500,000 (200,000 more than now) and had street lighting, fifty hospitals with running water, three hundred public baths, five hundred mosques and seventy libraries – one of which held over 500,000 books. The Moorish achievement in hydraulic engineering was outstanding. They constructed an aqueduct, that conveyed water from the mountains to the city through lead pipes. All of this, at a time when London had a largely illiterate population of around 20,000 and had forgotten the technical advances of the Romans some 600 hundred years before. Paved and lighted streets did not appear in London or Paris for hundreds of years later.
Medicine
The “father of modern surgery,” Abu al-Quasim (Al Zahrawi), was a Moor who was born in Cordoba. During a practice that lasted fifty years, he developed a range of innovative and precise surgical instruments, while writing a text book that was to be a cornerstone of Western medical training for the next 500 years.
Human Flight
The Moors’ scientific curiosity extended to flight when polymath Ibn Firnas made the first scientific attempt to fly in a controlled manner, in 875 A.D. His attempt evidently worked, although the landing was less successful.
Advance Agriculture Techniques Under the Moors, Spain was introduced to new food crops such as rice, hard wheat, cotton, oranges, lemons, sugar and cotton. More importantly, along with these foodstuffs came an intimate knowledge of irrigation and cultivation of crops. The Moors also taught the Europeans how to store grain for up to 100 years and built underground grain silos.
Paper Making
Paper making was brought to Spain by the Moors, allowing the growth of libraries and, thereby, the accurate preservation and dispersal of knowledge – with Xativa, in Valencia, having the first paper factory in Europe. Through the Moorish conquest of southern Spain, paper making first reached the Moorish parts of Spain in the 12th century. A paper mill is recorded at Fez in Morocco in 1100, and the first paper mill on the Spanish mainland is recorded at Xàtiva in 1151.
Here are some photos I took in New Orleans. I forgot to add them with the others. My fiancé also took a few photos, I will post those at the bottom. She did pretty good. She is finally starting to trust her camera. Photography is very frustrating when you can’t grab that perfect picture when you want it. You have to figure out which lenses are the best for the look you are trying to capture, and when is the best time of day to shoot. There are so many things that can affect the photos you create. I like to capture people smiling. I like to see them happy. I don’t really need a weird pose, just be normal. It doesn’t even have to be the best image quality, some people may disagree but I like the memories and if it comes out crazy looking who cares. Do what makes you happy.
UH OH, it’s Fat Tuesday and we are here down in New Orleans for the ZULU parade. The crowd is going fucking crazy for coconuts and beads. The bands are playing loud and the kids are out here excited to catch anything that comes off of each float that passes by. I noticed that everybody made sure all of the kids received something, no matter how big or small, They all got a gift. The culture down here is so rich and beautiful. I can see myself moving here one day. The only thing that scares me are the floods and from what I saw in Spike Lee’s documentary on hurricane Katrina…I’ll keep my ass up north where its dry. Anyway, I took some photos to share with you all. I took my handy Canon 80D with me and I put that work in. ENJOY!!!
Hole in the Head: A Life Revealed tells the extraordinary life story of Vertus Hardiman. It is a highly moving and vivid motion picture about the triumph of the human spirit. Additionally, the documentary exemplifies how the lives of two individuals were changed forever through an incredible friendship. After singing next to each other in a church choir for over twenty years, Vertus finally reveals to Wilbert a tragic and horrific secret he was forced to conceal under a wig for seventy years. This sparked a journey of the heart, which occurred while unmasking Vertus’ lifelong suffering. Human experimentation was a known reality throughout the early to mid-twentieth century in the United States. Often, people were used as human guinea pigs during these practices without their knowledge or consent.
This film portrays the hidden but factual story of Vertus Hardiman, who at the age of five became the victim of such a medical experiment. The event left Vertus with a severe physical deformity, but did little to damage his virtuous character. In fact, Vertus endured his condition without anger or bitterness towards the perpetrators of the experiment. Encouraged by his friend’s determination to share his story, Vertus set out with Wilbert to retrace what happened in 1927. You have the opportunity to follow their journey and witness an enthralling story of love and forgiveness. Allstate Insurance pitchman Dennis Haysbert narrates the feature length documentary. The film is directed by Brett Leonard, a renowned Hollywood director who is among the most talented of his time
“To use human beings as guinea pigs for testing, particularly based on the color of their skin, is utterly abhorrent to God and good-willed men and women everywhere. Vertus Welborn bore the effects of this tragedy for nearly his entire life, yet his faith and love shone through his eyes. He was living proof of the inherent goodness of men and women. In his death his story lives on and inspires us all.” – Desmond Tutu
“What a brilliant story of friendship and compassion. It’s brave and extraordinary and touched me deeply. For this reason, I have become a spokesperson for this amazing experience. I will never forget the lessons presented by the film and book.” – Blair Underwood Actor, Director, and Producer
“This story is shocking, unbelievable, and true. The book and film are masterpieces that should be viewed by all due to their tremendous educational value.” –Leroy Baca Sheriff, Los Angeles County (Ret.)
“I am very proud of this story and my role as narrator. It is my hope that the lessons of Vertus Hardiman will resonate in the hearts and minds of our viewers. Enter this phenomenal documentary and be amazed.” – Dennis Haysbert Film Narrator