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Happy Holidays
For more than a year I have been sending informal updates about my public writing and speaking. This month I am launching a more formal newsletter so that I can share my continuing work.
Your support, criticism and feedback are very important to me. I hope that this new format will make it easier to keep up our lively discussions about race, politics, gender, religion, and the contemporary issues facing our nation.
Here is some of my latest work.
Melissa |
Recent
Writings
Psalm137
12/01/2009
 I was in a pew at Trinity United Church of Christ in
Chicago, Illinois, on September 16, 2001. Although I was never
a member of this now infamous congregation, I did attend Trinity
regularly during the seven years I lived and worked in Chicago.
September
16, 2001 was the first Sunday after the 9/11 terrorist attacks
in New York City and Washington, DC. On that Sunday Reverend
Jeremiah Wright preached a sermon whose often-distorted excerpts
became fodder for attack on candidate Barack Obama. Most people
in America remember it as the "Chickens Coming Home to Roost" sermon.
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NY
Marriage Equality Vote
12/03/2009
 On December 2, the New York Senate passionately debated marriage
equality. It was a compelling display of legal, moral, and political
reasoning. Compared with the anemic, corporate-sponsored ramblings
of U.S. Senate during the health care cloture discussion, the
New York senate looked like the Continental Congress yesterday.
On the same day of this debate, my niece sent to me the draft
of her personal essay for college admission. In it she discusses
her experiences of being harassed and threatened as a gay teen.
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I'm
Dreaming of a Black Christmas
12/13/2009
 On Sunday night I indulged two of my favorite obsessions, the
Christmas holidays and sentimental Americana, by watching Oprah
Winfrey's special "Christmas at the White House."
This
televised tour of the decorated White House immediately evoked
my holiday musings from last year. In the month after Obama's
election I felt like a kid at Christmas, with visions of a black
president dancing in my head.
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Bad
Black Mothers
11/24/2009
 Bad black mothers are everywhere these days. With Michelle Obama
in the White House, consciously and conspicuously serving as
mom-in-chief, I expected (even somewhat dreaded) a resurgence
of Claire Huxtable images of black motherhood: effortless glamour,
professional success, measured wit, firm guidance, loving partnership,
and the calm reassurance that American women can, in fact, have
it all.
Instead the news is currently dominated by horrifying
images of African American mothers.
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Recent
Media Appearances
Rachel
Maddow – Guess I'm a Racist
Rachel Maddow talks about a bizzare new anti-healthcare
ad campaign with Princeton University's Melissa
Harris-Lacewell.
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Rachel
Maddow – Uganda Anti-Gay Bill
Rachel Maddow and a Friday night panel discuss the American
legislators with ties to an anti-homosexuality bill introduced
in Uganda.
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Rachel
Maddow – Health Care Reform
How is health reform faring in the Senate?
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December 2009 -
About Melissa
Melissa Harris-Lacewell is Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University. She is the author of the award-winning book, Barbershops,
Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought. And she is currently at work on a new book: Sister
Citizen: A Text For Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong
Wasn't Enough.
Learn More...
More Media Mentions
New Orleans Still Waits for Change from Obama
Did Obama Deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?
Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC
Follow
Me On...
 
Contact
Melissa General Inquiries
info@melissaharrislacewell.com
Speaking Engagements and Public Appearances
Lynne Murphy, Media Relations Specialist
harrislacewellmedia@yahoo.com |
