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Volume 10 Issue 9…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…March 2, 2007
Bit of History
Percy Ellis Sutton
Born November 24, 1920 in San Antonio, Texas, Percy Ellis Sutton is the
youngest of 15 children. Supporting himself by working on odd jobs, Sutton
attended Prairie View A and M, Tuskegee Institute and Hampton Institute, all
historically black colleges. A man of consummate courage, talent and tenacity,
Sutton learned to fly, and earned money at county fairs as a stunt pilot.
Sutton moved to New York during World War II and enlisted in the Army Air
Corps. A Tuskegee Airman, Sutton won combat stars as an intelligence officer
with the 332nd Fighter Group's Black 99th Pursuit Squadron.
After his honorable discharge from the military, Captain Sutton enrolled in the
Brooklyn College Law School, earning his law degree in 1950. For 40 years,
Sutton practiced law in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands. At one time, Sutton
represented Malcolm X and worked with the NAACP in the fight for civil rights.
A Freedom Rider during the height of the civil rights struggle of the 1960's,
Sutton was among those arrested and jailed.
Sutton turned to politics, serving in the New York Legislature. He ran for
Manhattan Borough President in 1966, winning 80 percent of the vote. The
following year, he convened the first Caucus of Black Elected and Appointed
Officials at the University of Chicago. For 11 years, he was the highest
elected black in the state of New York.
A successful businessman, in 1971, Sutton co-founded the Inner City
Broadcasting Corporation, home to urban music stations WBLS and WLIB, the first
black-owned station in New York City. In 2006, the company celebrated its 35th
anniversary. Sutton also purchased the Apollo Theater in Harlem and produced
the successful It's Showtime at the Apollo.
In 1995, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown selected Sutton to join a
delegation of US business people to represent the US at the G-7 meeting on
Telecommunications and High Technology. For his community service and success
in politics and business, Sutton has received many awards and honors, including
the NAACP's Spingarn Medal, ADL American Heritage Award and more than
fourteen (14) honorary degrees from US colleges and universities.
Although Sutton is officially retired, he continues to share his many talents
in business and politics. The parents of two children, three grandchildren and
one great grandchild, Sutton and his wife, Leatrice, currently reside in New
York City. (Sources: www.aaregistry.com, www.trumpetfoundation.org and www.adl.org/)
Why Eng Hates Blacks
In the February 23rd edition of Asian Week, columnist Kenneth Eng
wrote a provocative piece that lists "reasons why we should discriminate
against blacks." Like Tim Hardaway's homophobic diatribe, there have been
calls for the paper to apologize and cut its ties with Eng.
Eng, an Asian-American, called blacks weak-willed, the only race enslaved for
300 years, and he wrote blacks are easily coerced, since they embraced
Christianity, the religion forced on them by their slave masters. Blacks just
don't get it for a number of reasons, including engaging in a vigorous debate
on the side in favor of slavery and their under-representation in high school
advance placement courses.
Asian-Americans are ranked at the top of the US socioeconomic ladder,
especially in education and income per capita. On the backs of blacks that
frequent their restaurants and other business enterprises, this group has done
well in America. Eng's opinions of blacks come as no surprise. Racist attitudes
like Eng's are tightly woven into the American social fabric and expressed
daily in countless transactions that negatively impact black life in America.
By John Burl Smith
Currently, the demand on 2008 US presidential candidates is to develop
relevant, applicable, progressive and succinct statements of policy. Even when
there is agreement on priorities, mixed messages can result when there are lots
of voices with varying opinions. Historically, the media have used such variety
to claim "blacks can't agree," then deny coverage of issues important
to blacks. They demand black unanimity, while whites invariably exhibit no such
cohesion.
Agreement is not our problem. The truth is our best arguments are based
entirely on words. We express what we believe is responsible for the
discrimination, disparate treatment, and other pernicious effects of slavery
and segregation on black people. Whites talk of discrimination and disparate
treatment much like the "invisible hand" that supposedly regulates
markets under pure competition in capitalism. Seen as some great
"unknowable," institutionalized racism is responded to as though it
is a benign incidental happening, not the total life determining factor it is
for black America.
Today, Dot M. Smith's chasm analysis of the disparities between US blacks and
whites gives us a number that measures the impact of the 3/5 Compromise of
Article I Section II of the US Constitution, which made slavery legal and
institutionalized US racism. Unlike words, numbers are empirical, always
indicative of some condition that is verifiable. Numbers do not exist in a
vacuum. Changing words may alter the description, but that will not alter the
reality numbers reflects. Numbers always represent a set of facts that can not
simply be dismissed because one does not like the tally. You can not just shoot
a number and kill its significance.
For instance, Smith's analysis shows that median family income for blacks
relative to whites has fluctuated between .5 and .65. The gap in income is the
clearest example of institutionalized racism (discrimination and disparate
treatment) because the 3/5 value (.6) mandated in the US Constitution matches
this interval. Blacks have long argued that this was the case, but all we had were
words to make our case. Whites contend discrimination is not a systemic
condition. Yet, given the fact that Smith measured a stable and consistent
situation that is relatively the same as it was in 1865, ipso facto, the
discrimination blacks continue to endure is not random.
Redundantly, The DISH has stated the US government and the
private sector dismissed Smith's numbers summarily as they dismissed our words.
Previously, it seemed they lined our words up and shot them full of holes.
However, Smith's numbers may be riddled, like Swiss cheese, but that will not
kill their significance. Bleeding red ink, Smith's results will still reflect
the debt owed blacks for the centuries whites accrued the .4 (1-.6= .4) that
should have accrued to blacks had institutionalized racism not been a part of
the US Constitution.
Discrimination against blacks is so complete; it seems to operation on
automatic pilot, hardly noticed by the larger society. It takes numbers like
those Smith's research produced to paint the reality in stark relief. Income from employment is how most
Americans achieve economic welfare and eventually create wealth that can be
passed on to the next generation. Failure to close the income gap has resulted
in disparities for blacks in other areas, including education, healthcare, home
ownership etc., which reflect the same gap between blacks and whites that
existed at the height of bond slavery.
In 1954, the national unemployment rate was 5.0. White males and females had
unemployment rates of 4.4 and 5.1, respectively, compared to 9.9 and 8.4 for
black males and females. Median family income in 1954 for whites was $9,970
compared to $5,156 for blacks, a difference of $4,814 and black to white ratio
of .52. By 1996, the numbers changed dramatically to $38,787 for whites and
$23,482 blacks, an income difference of $15,305 and ratio of .61. Median family
incomes continued to raise in1998, $40,912 for whites and $25,351 for blacks
for a difference of $15,561 and a .62 ratio. The numbers for 2004 show whites
earned $56,700, while blacks earned only $35,158, a difference of $21,542 and a
.62 ratio. It should be readily apparent that even though the numbers changed
and blacks earned more money, over time the income blacks earned relative to
whites, the 3/5 Compromise, fluctuated between .5 and .65.
It should be noted that these are not Smith's income numbers. These are numbers
compiled by the US government. One can not argue with a number and shooting it
will not change anything. Candidates hoping to secure the black vote must
develop a policy statement that recognizes these disparities and offer
prescriptions that do not shoot blacks a lot of bullshit hoping to get votes.
Smith's original work "On Economic Welfare Loss" was published in the
Mid-South Journal of Economics (1982) and can be found on the Internet at www.thedish.org/1982chasm.html.
Anti-War Civil
Disobedience
For four years, people across the United States have voted, lobbied, held
vigils and marched in protests calling for an end to the US-led war and
occupation of Iraq. Now, the war threatens to escalate even though a growing
majority of American citizens and individuals worldwide wants to see it end. It
is time to visibly increase nationwide opposition to the Bush administration
blood for oil policy by organizing and participating in more dramatic
nonviolent civil disobedience in cities and towns across the United States.
At this crucial moment, the national anti-war movement is organizing an
escalating campaign of bold nonviolent civil disobedience and other forms of
peaceful resistance. Starting March 16-19, anti-war demonstrations will be held
at Congressional offices and other sites in as many as 100 cities across the
country. Planned actions include die-ins in San Francisco, ringing of church
bells, placing "peace
candles" in the windows of homes across the nation, etc., will escalate in
response to the growing emergency this war represents. The people are calling on
Congress to vote NO on any Iraq war funding and to support the troops by
bringing them home rapidly and safely.
On the evening of March 16th, people
of faith will join Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson of the
World Council of Churches; Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior minister at Ebenezer
Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia; and Celeste Zappala, co-founder of Gold
Star Families for Peace and others to pray for an end to the war beginning at 7
PM at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and then take part in a
candlelight procession to the White House. Hundreds will then participate in
prayerful and peaceful nonviolent civil disobedience, calling for a concrete
plan to end the war.
More information about the evening's events,
workshops, a March 17 march on the Pentagon and other nonviolent events across
the country can be found on the Christian Peace Witness Web site http://go.sojo.net/ct/k7_t3Y61PXlB/
.
On Why?
By Dot
She is precocious and determined in her quest for information. She walked at
ten months, and started speaking in complete sentences before she turned one.
There is no doubt that Toi Chanel is intelligent.
On May 17, the date of the
Supreme Court's landmark school desegregation decision, she will turn three
years old. At nearly a year past those 'terrible twos,' surely "why"
is her favorite word. While what, when, where and how are all in strong contention,
why is uttered dozens of times every day.
Everything she sees, hears, smells and tastes conjures up the need to ask the
question -- why? She discovers a broken toy in a box that belonged to her older
brothers and wants to know why. Why did they break it? On a walk to the park,
she wants to know, why do birds sing? Why is the sky blue? Why does the wind
blow through the trees and her hair. Why does grass grow and flowers bloom, and
why did grandma put away the broom when she just wanted to play with it. Why?
Why? Why is Toi's daily song.
Why do I have two hands, five fingers, two ears and eyes, but only one nose and
mouth? Why? All day long every day, the questions come in rapid succession.
Why?
Her whys are sometimes downright hilarious and bone-aching exhausting. Yet, I
hope Toi continues to ask her whys until the day she dies. If she does, then I
will know she has been a student for life. Learning is a lifelong process, and
while I silently complain about my granddaughter's incessant whys, I answer her
questions as best I can for her and me, because I am also still learning new
things.
Disgruntled feels: Unapologetic!
The year 2007 is the bicentennial of the end of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade
(1807). In some countries, notably Great Britain, celebrations or
commemorations are planned to mark the monumental occasion. No such plan has
been announced in the USA, one the greatest beneficiaries of those dark days
when black humans were treated as chattel. It seems the US will go out of its way
to avoid any mention of that period or the prominent role it played in raping
Africa and enslaving its people. At early ages, in this "Christian"
nation, we teach our children to apologize when they do or say something
hurtful and/or wrong to another. However, in this instance, the country has
shown it is downright unapologetic for having committed what the enlightened
world now recognizes is a crime against humanity.
Disgruntled wants
to know: Long before CNN's Lou Dobbs began his endless series and wrote
a book about the "War on the Middle Class," some economists analyzing
conditions on the ground complained about the disconnect between the economic
pain being experienced by many families in the "real world" and the
rosy economic picture painted by the numbers published by the Bush White House.
Back then, when he was creating and sustaining his housing bubble to make the
US economy appear healthy, even the guru, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan, said the US could have its cake and eat it too, at least in the
short run. In other words, Bush could provide the wealthiest Americans with
trillions of dollars in tax cuts and simultaneously fight a multi-front war on
credit, which is precisely what Bush did. Now that he is no longer the Fed Chairman
and beholden to the Bush White House, Greenspan can be a bit more candid about
conditions on the ground. His latest prognostications on US economic health,
which sent worldwide stock markets into a tailspin, suggest rough waters may
lie ahead. One wonders, who do we trust, the guru or his successor, Ben
Bernanke, who predicts clear skies ahead?
Disgruntled says: On the issue of obesity
in children and the role the state should play, particularly in the case of
treating childhood obesity as poor parenting/child abuse, why do talking heads
and the healthcare professionals asked to speak on this issue studiously avoid
any mention of how our food is produced. Animals are shot full of growth
hormones to get them to market quickly; these hormones lodge in the flesh that
the morbidly obese eat. In the USA, where there are no labels to inform the
consuming public, fruits and vegetables are genetically modified; these
products have effects on humans we know nothing about. People are Guinea pigs
for corporate profits. Obesity is bigger than poor parenting, which does not
explain why we are getting so sick and why bees and butterflies are
disappearing.
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and
Phone Calls
Email www.commercialappeal.com Cohen
calls for slavery apology...By Bartholomew Sullivan...U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen,
D-Tenn., took to the House floor Tuesday to speak in favor of his bill
sponsoring an apology for 246 years of slavery and 100 years of Jim Crow
discrimination. "This country needs to apologize for the brutal and
inhumane system of slavery and Jim Crow laws," Cohen said in the 90-second
speech. Cohen said Tuesday evening that his bill has already picked up 36
co-sponsors, including Democratic U.S. Reps. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, Charles
Rangell of New York and Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. Cohen commended the
Virginia General Assembly which on Saturday became the first state of the old
Confederacy to express "profound regret" for the "involuntary servitude"
of African-Americans and the "exploitation" of Native Americans. It
stopped short of an apology and far short of calling for reparations. Cohen
said the discrimination faced by African-Americans "ended by law in the
1960s," but that its effects linger. He suggested that both President
Bush, in a speech in Senegal, as well as former President Clinton, have
expressed similar sentiments about the legacy of slavery. No president has
apologized for the nation's role in permitting slavery.
Email www.belleville.com New Research
Documents Increasing Obesity Among Infants...By Judith Graham...Add babies to
the growing ranks of overweight Americans. Harvard Medical School researchers
reported that the percentage of infants significantly overweight rose 73.5
percent over two decades. Though their study indicates just 5.9 percent of the
country's infants fall into that category -- or about 242,000 of the 4.1
million born each year -- the trend could have worrisome implications for the
nation's obesity epidemic. Other research suggests that babies who gain
excessive weight face a higher risk of being overweight in later childhood and
adulthood.
Email candiceyu@yahoo.com Secret
Monsanto Genetically Engineered Potato Study Suppressed for 8 Years...GM
Potatoes are "unfit for human consumption"...Straight to the
Source...A secret feeding study of Monsanto GM potatoes, conducted in 1998 by
the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and
suppressed for 8 years, showed that the potatoes did considerable damage to the
organs of the rats in the study (1) (2). In comparison the rats in the
"control groups" which were fed on normal potatoes or on a non-potato
diet were healthier, and had much less organ and tissue damage. This research,
fully supported by Monsanto through the provision of the GM potatoes, was
conducted at approximately the same time as Arpad Pusztai's research in the
Rowett Institute.
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