Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use
Vol. 11 Issue 16…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…April 20, 2008
Intuit's Vibe
Ella's Song
By Bernice Johnson
Reagon
Refrain:
We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom
Cannot rest until it
comes
Verses:
Until the killing of Black men,
Black mothers' sons
Is as important as the killing of White men,
White mothers' sons
And that which touches us most
Is that I had a chance to work with people
Passing on to others
That which was passed
on to me
To me young people come first,
They have the courage where we fail
And if I can shed some light
As they carry us
through the gale
The older I get the better I know
That the secret of my going on
Is when the reins are in the hand of the young
Who dare to run
against the storm
Not needing to clutch for power,
Not needing the light just to shine on me
I need to be just one in the number
As we stand against
tyranny
Struggling myself don't mean a whole lot
I come to realize
That teaching others to stand up and fight
Is the only way my
struggle survives
I'm a woman who speaks in a voice
And I must be heard
At times I can be quite difficult,
I'll bow to no man's word
Ohio KKK Troopers
In the state of Ohio, where nearly one in ten residents receive food stamps, some state troopers celebrated the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday by dressing up in homemade Ku Klux Klan (KKK) costumes while on duty. An investigative report of the incident indicates the troopers discussed the holiday, but the report provided no specifics as to what was said. There are no black troopers among the 13-members assigned to the Sandusky, Ohio post.
A photograph of one Ohio KKK-garbed trooper made its way to the Internet. Photographs of Trooper Craig Franklin, a 12-year Ohio Highway Patrol veteran, dressed in his homemade KKK outfit were taken on January 20. Several of these pictures and a letter were sent anonymously to the Administrative Investigative Unit (AIU). An investigation was initiated. At a March 24 hearing, the three troopers involved in the incident characterized it as a joke.
Sergeant Eric Wlodarsky, Franklin and a third trooper were reprimanded for the incident. Wlodarsky was demoted to trooper, reassigned to another post and required to take diversity training. Franklin was placed on a five-day unpaid suspension and required to take diversity training. The third trooper, who received the photograph via a text message, was given a one-day suspension for failure to report the incident and forwarding the photo to a subordinate.
Unfortunately, this is all too typical in a society that pretends racial discrimination is a thing of the past. These troopers are not teenagers that do not understand their history. These are adult males that occupy positions of authority in law enforcement acting out their prejudices.
Ella Josephine Baker (1903-1986)
"The major job was getting people to understand that they had
something within their power that they could use, and it could only be used if
they understood what was happening and how group action could counter
violence…" - Ella Baker
Ella Josephine Baker was born on December 13, 1903 in Norfolk, Virginia. She was raised by Georgiana and Blake Baker. The family moved to Littleton, North Carolina, her mother's hometown, when she was eight. Growing up, Baker's grandmother told her about the misery of slavery, the humiliation and indignities which spawned many slave revolts. Her own indignity was being beaten for refusing to marry a man chosen for her by her slave master. Steeped in the plight of black people, Ella felt a deep desire for social justice and the necessity of radical action.
Baker attended Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she challenged
school policies on behalf of students. Graduating valedictorian in 1927, she
moved to New York City, where she became a social activist. Her first efforts
were with the Young Negroes' Cooperative League, which sought to develop black
economic power through collective planning.
Early in life, Ella's hope for liberation drove her strategy of activism. Her goal was to set the masses in motion by organizing black people and teaching them to formulate their own questions, define their own problems, and find their own solutions. Baker worked for the Worker's Education Project of the Works Progress Administration, where she taught consumer education, labor and African history. She immersed herself in the cultural and political milieu of Harlem in the 1930s.
Baker left an indelible mark on everyone and every organization with which she worked. In 1941, Baker began working with the NAACP as a field secretary. From 1943 until 1946, she served as director of branches. Inspired by the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott in 1955, Baker co-founded In Friendship, an organization that raised money to fight Jim Crow Laws in the South.
After traveling through the Deep South working with the NAACP, Baker moved to Atlanta in 1957 to get closer to the problems facing slave descendants. There she organized a voter registration campaign called the Crusade for Citizenship. Next, she helped organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and was instrumental in bringing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on board to head the new organization.
Again in February 1960, Baker jumped into the thick of things, when a group of black college students from North Carolina A&T University held the first sit-in at the F. W. Woolworth's five and dime store in Greensboro, North Carolina. Leaving SCLC, Baker aided the student activists by organizing a meeting at Shaw University for student leaders. Acceding to Baker's urging, attendees adopted the Gandhian theory of nonviolent direct action and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was born. A shot across the bow of southern racism, SNCC organized Freedom Rides through the South in 1961, followed by Freedom Summer in 1964. Primarily, those efforts were designed to focus national attention on Mississippi's racism while registering black voters.
Having worked closely with black sharecroppers and others throughout the South, Baker played a key role, along side Fannie Lou Hamer and Aaron Henry, in organizing the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) in 1964. The MFDP opposed the all-white Mississippi Democratic Party and challenged their right to be seated at the National Democratic Party convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey that year. They challenged Democrats to affirm the rights of African Americans to participate in party elections in the South. Although the MFDP delegation was not seated, they forced rule changes that allowed minorities and woman to be delegates at the National Convention and the Democratic Party to support black leaders in Mississippi.
Ella Josephine Baker was a very outspoken woman with a strong belief in egalitarian ideals. She stressed the importance of young people and women's need for a voice in American politics. Baker reminded comfortable elitist blacks that they were not immune to abuses, that in order to protect their rights they must stand up for the rights of the most vulnerable members of the community. Her most famous quote "strong people don't need strong leaders," is said to be a statement to Dr. King opposing the belief of most civil rights leaders in one charismatic leader at the helm of movements for social change.
The quintessential black activist, Baker put the liberation of slave descendants ahead of personal glory and professional attainments. She was at the center of every important movement from the 1930s until her death on December 13, 1986. Without such audacious, unselfish and dedicated leaders, we would not have come this far in our struggle to overcome bond slavery. (Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org, www.ibiblio.org/sncc/baker.html, and www.americanswhotellthetruth.org)
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
By John Burl Smith
Named for the civil rights movement's unsung champion of students, sharecroppers and everyday people, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights was co-founded by Van Jones in 1996. Inauspiciously, it began with one full-time staff person, one computer and an office that was literally a closet donated by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.
Today, the Ella Baker Center has 24 full-time staffers, including 6 attorneys and an MBA. It is funded by more than 40 foundations and hundreds of individual donors. It has more than 12,000 e-mail subscribers from all 50 states as a part of its outreach.
The Ella Baker Center is a strategy and action center that works for justice, opportunity and peace in urban America. Based in Oakland, California, it promotes positive alternatives to violence and incarceration through four cutting-edge approaches or campaigns. It defines the problem as despair and hopelessness produced by decades of disinvestment in urban centers. The problem is compounded for the poor and communities of color by racist policing and over-incarceration, which create an even greater gap between the haves and have-nots. This cycle has accelerated violence in all communities, but especially in poor and minority areas, and young people bear the brunt of it.
Ella Baker Center offers smart solutions and uplifting alternatives to violence and incarceration. The need is to break the cycle of violence by reinvesting in youth, communities and cities. The safest neighborhoods aren't the ones with the most prisons and the most police. They're the ones with the best schools, cleanest environment, and most opportunities for young people and working people. That's what the Ella Baker Center is trying to create for urban America: justice in the system, opportunity in cities, and peace on our streets.
Those three ideas -- justice, peace and opportunity -- guide the Ella Baker Center's four initiatives:
(1) Books Not Bars: Reform of California's abusive and costly youth prison system.
(2) Green-Collar Jobs Campaign: Create opportunities in the "green" economy for the poor and communities of color.
(3) Bay Area Police Watch: Support victims and survivors of police abuse and their families.
(4) Silence the Violence: Uplift young people and address Bay Area violence with a mix of social activism and street culture.
The Center uses a mix of tactics -- grassroots organizing, direct action, media advocacy, public education, policy reform and legal service - to accomplish its mission. These approaches have earned the Ella Baker Center a reputation for tenacity and innovation as a mature human rights agency. No longer the new kid on the block, it is lighting candles for justice, peace and opportunity. These four exciting initiatives no longer just document, challenge and expose human rights abuses in the criminal justice system. Today, it is revitalizing urban America by working for justice in the system, opportunity in cities and peace on our streets. For more about the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights log on to http://ellabakercenter.org.
On Dot!
By Dot
Some months ago, in response to a reader's query about our change in production schedule, I revealed my struggle with cancer. There has been an outpouring of well wishes and offers of prayers for a speedy recovery. Some of you even made donations in response to my request for financial assistance. To all of you for your prayers and contributions, monetary and non-monetary, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you again.
I have truly been blessed; my maker must have more in store for me to do. My most recent CT scan showed no abnormalities. For the past nine weeks, I have been pain and drug free. With the drug-induced fog gone, I can focus on matters beyond personal health concerns. While I am still not 100 percent, I am so much better that I recently undertook another project for the welfare of my family.
We have been unable to resume our old production schedule, but we are working on that as well. Keep the prayers and well wishes coming. I know they have been working! Thank you!
Reflections from King Week in Memphis
By John Burl Smith
Forty years ago, on April 4, 1968 at approximately 3 PM, Charles Cabbage and I sat with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his Lorraine Motel room discussing his plan for the Invaders to become the Poor People's Campaign's recruitment force. Paradoxically, most historians, biographers, and even his own staffers, although they acknowledge this meeting took place, never accepted Dr. King's radical proposal. And, therein lies the rub for a number of reasons.
First, Charles and I were not recognized by King's aides as leaders. Not preachers, we were outside of Dr. King cadre of confidants. Immediately after Dr. King's assassination, civil rights leaders, the FBI and media spread vicious lies blaming the Invaders for the disturbance during the march on March 28, 1968 and insinuated we were somehow involved in Dr. King's assassination.
Next, Dr. King's statements regarding some members of his staff, J. Edgar Hoover and his plans for the Poor People's Campaign did not reflect favorably on some who were vying for leadership, the US government, as well as, the image most whites wanted to maintain regarding Dr. King. For instance, two of the most prominent civil rights icon and many that have made a career of lionizing their actions immediately following the assassination were threatening to desert Dr. King.
The fact that Charles and I were the last two people to hold a strategy meeting with Dr. King and that the plans he shared with us had not been revealed to any of his staffers underscore Dr. King's change in direction and further explain their need to discredit us. Moreover, no one wanted it known that the last two people to strategize with Dr. King were two black power advocates from the Invaders. Such an admission would have projected Charles and I into the spotlight as leaders.
Nevertheless, that meeting is well documented; the only thing in question is what was said. This year during the fortieth observance of that horrible event, the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, the National Civil Rights Museum and the University of Memphis created several venues which allowed the Invaders to share what was said during their meeting with Dr. King. First, Dr. King made it clear that J. Edgar Hoover was out to get him. Also, he admitted that factions within SCLC were embroiled in infighting. Contrary to what played out following his assassination, Dr. King named Rev. Jessie Jackson and Rev. Andrew Young as the two who were threatening to leave SCLC, if he did not drop plans for the Poor People's Campaign.
The surprise for us was that Dr. King wanted to use the Invaders as a hedge against the imminent split within SCLC to keep the Poor People's Campaign on track. But more importantly, he wanted the Invaders to spearhead his effort to unite civil rights and black power into one movement. That radical move would have made the Poor People's Campaign the most powerful movement by poor people in US history.
It is clear that after forty years those identified most with Dr. King's dream must move beyond reciting his 1963 "I Have A Dream" speech and move to make the Poor People's Campaign the dream reborn. During that meeting in his room at the Lorraine, Dr. King charged the Invaders with the responsibility of helping to bring poor blacks, whites, Native Americans, Hispanics and others together to challenge the US government to end poverty, injustice, discrimination, racism and war.
Those who claimed they inherited the dream have failed to live up to and deliver on that promise. Moreover, they came to Memphis and refused to march with the AFSCME and the Beloved Community; then, they held a separate march, which perpetuates disunity in the movement. They exploited Dr. King's memory for personal gain and to advance their political agenda. This kind of division must end in 2008.
It is time to take Dr. King's dream to a new level of consciousness. Civil rights leaders and the Invaders must join efforts like "The Dream Reborn" which was sponsored (April 4-6, 2008 in Memphis) by groups like the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Green For All, Jobs with Justice, the Hip Hop Caucus, The Gathering for Justice and many others. These groups are redefining the dream with a futuristic perspective rather than each year going back to dredge up the anguish of lost, the blood spilled and pain endured. Leadership is finding ways to change perspective when there seems to be no way to extricate the group or organization from an untenable position or the ability to see beyond the limitations of a bollixed up strategy.
Disgruntled wants to know: Like fuel,
the cost of food is skyrocketing. Ironically, the Bush administration pretends
inflation is not an issue, while it provides incentives for grain producers to
convert food to energy. Some critics have called this practice a sin, since
people in poorer nations are starving. The recent deadly food fight in Haiti
underscores the plight people in poor nations are facing. And, the problem is likely
to get worse over the short run, since nothing is being done to improve the
situation. Even here in the US, a growing number of families are finding it
increasingly difficult to put food on the table. A series of recent news
articles have highlighted their plight and the funding difficulties encountered
by food pantries and other organizations that help the hungry and homeless, as
well as the growing number of families that rely on the federal food stamp
program. As the candidates to replace Bush bicker over trivia, ignoring bread
and butter issues, one wonders when will they devote serious attention to those
things that matter most to human survival?
Disgruntled
feels: Retrograde! One would think, given that it claims to be a
Christian nation, capital punishment would not be tolerated; public disapproval
from all those Christians would silence the proponents of state sanctioned
killing. Moreover, given some have been freed by DNA testing, one would think
the death penalty would be avoided simply because it is too easy to kill an
innocent person. Yet, here we are, a modern civilized society that clings to
capital punishment, much like those among us that worship at the altar of guns
and bombs as if they provide the ultimate protection, while believing God is on
our side. In there somewhere is a contradiction. This week the US Supreme Court
cleared the way for states to resume lethal injections. With the lifting of the
seven-month moratorium on the lethal practice, the nation has taken a step
backwards.
Disgruntled says: I knew something was wrong during Sunday's closing eighteen holes at Augusta. Tiger Woods was simply not playing the kind of golf this fan has come to expect at a major tournament, especially the Masters. As it turned out, Tiger came in second shooting par. On Monday, we learned that Tiger underwent knee surgery and is expected to be out of commission for at least a month. It is sad but true, I only watch golf when Tiger is on the prowl. Otherwise, golf is as dull as watching grass grow.
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes & Telephone Calls
Email 1bigtree@comcast.net..."This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death......these are the times for real choices and not false ones. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its' own folly. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but /we must all protest ./.."Excerpts from "Beyond Vietnam": A Time To Break Silence" delivered by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., at New York's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967.
Email www.nysun.com ...A new U.N. Human Rights Council official assigned to monitor Israel [Richard Falk, Milbank professor of international law emeritus at Princeton University] is calling for an official commission to study the *role neoconservatives may have played in the 9-11 terrorist attacks.* The narrative that the 2001 attacks were a "false flag" operation is a recurring theme in the literature challenging the consensus conspiracy theory that 19 al-Qaeda hijackers flew jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. *False flag refers to espionage or covert actions taken by one government made to seem like the work of another.* The false flag thesis has it that the Bush administration is somehow responsible for the September 11 attacks as a pretext for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Email www.msn.com ...Institutional Investor's Alpha reported Wednesday the top 50 hedge fund managers earned a combined $29 billion in 2007. Five managers earned more than $1 billion. One contributor to the enormous amounts of money hedge fund managers are making is the unraveling of the traditional "2 and 20" method of compensation. For years, funds typically charged 2 percent of the amount invested plus 20 percent of the profits. One manager -- John Paulson of Paulson & Co. -- earned $3.7 billion last year, which management consultant Peter Cohan pointed out means Paulson in 2007 made 30 times in one hour what the median family made all year. Driven in part by fees hedge fund managers are making, income inequality in 2007 was at the highest level since 1928, the year before the Great Depression began.