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Volume 10 Issue 8…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…February 23, 2007
Intuit's Vibe
Is It For Freedom?
By Sara Thomsen
Rulers of the nations as you fuss and fight
Over who owns this or that and who has the right
To design, build, sell and store and fire
All the bombs and
guns to defend your holy empire
There are children hungry, children sick and dying
There are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers crying
They're only pawns in your play of power and corruption
Slowly starve them, your
new weapon of mass destruction
And prove to me, America, that you care
And prove to me, America, you're aware
Who's dying for your freedom in this land
Who pays the cost for
the liberties you demand
Is it for freedom, or our comfort and convenience
Is it to profit for big business we pledge our allegiance
Are we prisoners in the land of the brave and the bold?
Held by indifference
or hearts grown hard and cold
Children of the world, you have the right
To sing and dance, run and play, let your dreams take flight
As the innocent die you rulers carry the shame
And if we stand idly
by we share in the blame
And oh, America, do we care
Oh, America, are we aware
Who's dying for our comfort in this land?
Who pays the cost for the convenience we demand?
Children of the world, you have the right
To sing and dance, run and play, let your dreams take flight
Child Poverty in Perspective
On Valentine's Day, the UNICEF Innocenti Research Center released Report Card
7: Child Poverty in Perspective, which focuses on the well-being of children
and young people in 21 of the world's most advanced economies. The report
examined six criteria, i.e., material welfare, health and safety, education,
peer and family relationships, behaviors and risks, and young people's
subjective sense of well-being.
According to the report, all countries exhibited some weaknesses. However, small North-European countries, including the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, which are largely homogenous, ranked at the top half of the Innocenti's child well-being table.
The report found no strong or consistent relationship between per capita GDP and child well-being. For example, the United States and Britain ranked at the bottom of the survey, despite high levels of overall wealth. Their low rankings are due largely to their "greater economic inequality and poor levels of public support for families." Unlike their smaller European counterparts, these countries have large diverse populations, outgrowths of slavery, immigration and colonialism. Oddly, in launching its global war on terror, the US identified certain socioeconomic and political conditions that contribute to the growth of terrorism, such as poverty, inequality, lack of opportunity, etc.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which
entered into force September 2, 1990, called on all countries to invest in its
children "to the maximum extent of available resources." According to
Innocenti Director Marta Santos Pais, "A country cannot be said to be
doing the best it can for its children if other countries at a similar stage of
economic development are doing much better - and that's what the league tables
are designed to show." For
more, including a copy of the complete report, log on to www.unicef.org.
Nat Dee
Never give up on any child, because the very one you give up on might be
the one who will help change the world!
Nathanial Dowd Gaston Williams was born October 19, 1907 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Raised on world renowned Beale Street, he celebrated and loved its rich legacy
throughout his life. A consummate learner, Williams acquired several degrees
from universities that included Columbia and Northwestern. Editor of the
"New York State Contender" (1928), he returned to Memphis (1931) to
join the staff of the "Memphis World." He moved to the
"Tri-State Defender" in 1952.
First blossoming in 1930, his love affair with black students at Booker T. Washington High School spanned 42 years. Dilating their world, he challenged students to not allow segregation to write them off. Instilling in them a sense of history, Williams continually projected a future with them determining its direction. His major themes were pride and dignity, the sparks that will light the way to a better future. From 1930 to the 1950s, almost all black students taking history in Memphis were taught by him or one of his former students.
Beale Street was a hard knot life, nothing came easy, so education did not end at the school house door for Mr. Williams. Describing him as loving, generous, dedicated, imaginative and innovative would be to highlight his more obvious qualities. Inside, perpetual energy drove a boundless spirit. He sponsored activities that stressed self-help for youth - paper routes, door-to-door sales and neighborhood clean-up and fix-up projects. Refusing to give up on any child, Williams worked with street kids that were in and out of trouble with juvenile authorities. He organized a basketball team for boys called the South Memphis Cagers.
Adopting a city of children, he demanded that participants in his activities attend school daily. Forerunner of today's school breakfast program, Williams fed breakfast to a group of kids to ensure they went to school. Hungry children do not learn as well as full ones, he would say.
Always trying to motivate young people, in addition to teaching, writing a newspaper column and youth activities, Williams emceed an amateur night at the Palace Theater, much like the Apollo Theater in New York City. Knowledge of life in the mid-South, past and present, made him highly sought after, which provided him access to all levels of society.
The white owners of a radio station on the brink of bankruptcy became desperate and bucked segregation when Bert Ferguson selected Williams to become the South's first black dee-jay. When Ferguson made a revolutionary change to a "colored" format, WDIA was born.
By then simply known as Nat Dee, Williams signed on for the first time on October 25, 1948 at 4:00 P.M.; radio has never been the same. Eagerly accepting the challenge, he proceeded to lay the foundation for what has become urban contemporary radio. First building on his own talents and knowledge of what worked musically and promotionally, Nat Dee expanded WDIA's staff and programming.
His first show, "Tan Town Jamboree," had the same theme, Beale Street Blues, for 24 years. "Well, yes-siree, it's Nat Dee on the Jamboree, coming at thee on seventy-three (on the dial), WDIA. Now, whatchubet," was followed by robust laughter. By 1950, hearing that roar, everybody in the Mississippi Delta knew it had to be 4 o'clock.
Nat Dee brought other black dee-jays to WDIA, including "B.B." King who debuted live advertising for Pepticon health tonic in 1949. Others, like A.C. Williams, Ford Nelson, Theo "Bless My Bones" Wade, Martha Jean Steinberg, Rufus Thomas and "Hot Rod" Hulbert, followed. Every recording artist or radio personality airing over an urban contemporary station, owe their existence to the legacy of the "granddaddy" of black radio, Nat Dee.
Nat Dee began the tradition of community service that black radio stations practiced at one time. WDIA's most famous innovation was its annual "GoodwiIl and Starlite Revues." These live shows, which began in 1949, featured performances by famous rhythm-and-blues and gospel singers for the benefit of needy black children. Nat Dee directed the proceeds, sponsoring WDIA's little league baseball, the Goodwill Home for orphans and food for needy families. (Sources: http://rockradioscrapbook.ca/natd.html, "Wheelin on Beale" by Louis Cantor and www.am1070wdia.com)
By John Burl Smith
Over a lifetime I have known many people. Few were considered close associates
and only a very small cadre could be considered friends. Ironically, one cannot
identify a friend, like a true lover, at first sight; it is only the living
that reveals the person behind the eyes and lies. Wading through the muck of
close relationships, I learned "The next best thing to having a friend is
to be a friend."
The best example of a friend I can give is Richard L. Kisksey, Jr., the creator of Big Brothers and Big Sisters Jr. Achievers (1973) of Memphis, Tennessee. Watching the US Senate Select Committee hearings that led to Richard Nixon's resignation, I vented my frustrations regarding poverty, discrimination, disparate treatment and lack of opportunity for blacks in Memphis. During my tirade, I also described programs I thought would begin to attack those problems.
The leader of the Invaders during the Memphis sanitation strike (1967-68), I had recently finished serving a five-year sentence for those activities. For their organizing help during the strike, the Invaders were promised financial support to implement several of the programs I described to Richard. However, while I was incarcerated, all the money went to 'community leaders.' I am not certain if this was what he had planned or if he made the suggestion because he thought it was what I needed, nonetheless Richard declared he would start a program for kids.
Richard Kirksey was raised by his grandparents and unwed mother. His family was very poor. Life was hard for blacks during the reign of E. H. Crump's political machine. Crump gained and maintained power by controlling black votes. Gambling, whisky and prostitution in the black community kept Crump in power and blacks in poverty. Much in the mode of James Brown, hustling, dancing and singing in brothels and gambling houses, as well as, on the street, kept many kids like Richard alive.
During the late 1950s, Richard was a South Memphis Cagers, the basketball club for black boys started by "Nat Dee" Williams. Initially, Richard wanted to revive the Cagers as Big Brothers and Big Sisters Jr. Achievers. He soon realized our program had to be more diverse because young girls were increasingly important. Richard insisted, If we can save just a few black children from some of the pain and hardships we faced, no matter what the cost, it would be worth it to the children.
For the children who depended on Big Brothers and Big Sisters Jr. Achievers, Richard became a miracle worker in the way he kept his promises. Prejudice and discrimination limited Richard's audacious attempts to afford children life changing experiences. Without government or institutional support, Big Brothers and Big Sisters Jr. Achievers provided many children their first real encounter with politics, and as adults, some became elected officials. We carried over one hundred children on excursions to events like the Tennessee Governor's Inaugural 1976 and to places like Pinecrest (1974), a private resort, and Booker T. Washington State Park in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee (1976) for week long camping trips.
Along the way, Richard personified all the important characteristic of a man, friend and leader. One never knows what is in the baggage another carries. During my life, I have met very few people, who at some point did not try to shift some of their load onto someone else. Richard L. Kirksey, Jr. shouldered his and some of the world's burdens in such a way that most of us never recognized it at the time. He never let my trepidations about the prospects for success weaken his resolve, even during the bleakest times.
It may not have been on the grand scale imagined,
but of the children we touched, they did have life changing experiences.
Disgruntled
says: For human beings, children are lots of trouble. They cause real problems. Humans nurture their offsprings longer
than any creature we know. However,
our only imperative is to procreate and prepare the next generation to do the
same. Seeing that first step, hearing
that first word and reveling in the joy and pride seen in others with children
are worth the effort. The next
generation will evaluate the world we leave them. It is their judgement that
will become our story. Ruling the
world, if we fail to advance the next generation beyond where we were when they
entered this world, we will have failed to do the one thing that really
mattered.
Disgruntled wants
to know: For weeks, the British press has been abuzz over the
possibility that 22-year-old Prince Harry, a member of the British elite, could
be deployed to Iraq along with his regiment. A brave soldier, Harry vowed he
would not remain behind while his military comrades lay their lives on the
line. Just in time to prevent the possibility of premature death being visited
upon a royal, the third in line to the British throne, Prime Minister Tony
Blair announced on Wednesday the planned withdrawal of British troops from
Iraq. Blair and Bush spinmeisters are busy at work weaving a tale of success in
Basra. In reality, can't you just hear Harry's grandmother, the Queen, reading
Blair the riot act as she royally demanded something be done to prevent her
grandson from being placed in harm's way, even though Great Britain has sent
children as young as seventeen years old into the Mesopotamia meat grinder?
Disgruntled feels:
Outraged! Building 18 at Walter Reed, where convalescing Iraqi war
veterans reside, 'often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are
everywhere: mold, holes, mice droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets,
cheap mattresses.' As long as US troops fight to liberate Iraq's oil for the
profit of the US-military/industrial complex, they enjoy lip-service called
"support." Thanks to the investigative reporting of the Washington
Post, we now know what many military families have known all along, i.e., that
the support the warmongers profess to provide does not extend to the injured
stateside. All US citizens should be outraged and demand the nation genuinely
support these young people by bringing them home now, rather than later.
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Phone Calls
Email lynnsue@yahoo.com Some 18,000 children die every day because of hunger and malnutrition and 850 million people go to bed every night with empty stomachs. This is a shameful fact -- a terrible indictment of the world in 2007, and it's an issue that needs to be solved. James Morris - Executive Director -- UN World Food Program. Morris, former president of Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment, is stepping down as executive director in April. He said that while the percentage of people who are hungry and malnourished has decreased from a fifth of the world's population to a sixth of the population, the actual number of hungry people is growing by about 5 million people a year because of the rising population. He called on students and young people, faith-based groups, the business community and governments to join forces in a global movement to alleviate and eliminate hunger -- especially among children......"it's the most important, significant, humanitarian, political, or economic investment the world can make in its future."
Email www.chron.com...An internal investigation by the Texas Youth Commission accused high-ranking officials at an isolated state juvenile prison of molesting young male inmates. The West Texas State School, located between Midland and Pecos in rural Pyote, houses 250 male inmates. Reports say many prison staffers there complained about the abuse to their immediate bosses and to officials in Austin, but for more than a year, no one in charge did anything to stop it. No one has been prosecuted in the case. Some say similar problems afflict many prisons run by the Texas Youth Commission. The report released to the newspaper said the abuse stemmed from a culture in which prison officials could abuse their power, punish children who tried to complain about them and reward those who gave them sexual favors. The investigation found that the men kept the inmates silent by threatening to lengthen their sentences.
Email judith.hawkins@twor.ac.nz ...Global child porn ring uncovered in Austria...At least 2360 people in 77 countries are suspected of trying to download videos of young children being sexually abused and even raped, according to authorities who intercepted the illicit material on a web server in Austria. The FBI was investigating about 600 of the suspects in the United States, Austrian Interior Minister Guenther Platter said. German authorities were following leads on another 400 people, France was looking into more than 100 others, and 23 suspects were Austrians, he said. Platter said the videos included images that showed "the worst kind of child sexual abuse."
Email www.telegraph.co.uk... A generation of very young girls is being psychologically damaged by inappropriate sexy clothing, toys and images in the media that are corrupting childhood, leading psychologists warned. They say marketing takes unfair advantage of children's desire for affection and the need to conform, leading to eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. Their report echoes a warning by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams and follows a United Nations study last week saying that British and US children were the unhappiest and unhealthiest in the developed world. The American Psychological Associations report says inappropriate marketing is leading to the sexualization of children by a consumer society. Apart from clothing for five and six year olds, with old-fashioned frilly frocks replaced by mini skirts, plunging necklines & sequined crop tops, the report specifically criticises "Bratz dolls." These outsell Barbie dolls in Britain by two to one and come dressed in miniskirts, fishnet stockings and feather boas. Disney's Little Mermaid or Pocahontas which have more cleavage, fewer clothes and are depicted as sexier than characters of yesteryear are also picked out.
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