The DISH
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Vol. 11 Issue 28…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…July 13, 2008
I See Hope!
By John Gary Williams
I see hope and its coming down the highway.
I see hope and its coming down our way,
I say sweet chariot, baptism; sweet chariot, baptism.
You know light is just seconds away from darkness
And a headache is just an aspirin away from cure.
Time is gonna soon bring peace
And we can wade in the waters of freedom,
Cause I see hope and its coming down the highway.
I see hope yeah, yeah, yeah;
And its coming down our way.
No more wars, hope,
No more hatred in the land.
I see peace, love, happiness, and understanding.
I see hope yeah,
yeah, yeah, I see hope!!
About
Me: John Gary is a recording artist from the glory days with Stax
Records. He achieved fame as lead singer for The Mad Lads. John was drafted and
sent to Vietnam just as the group broke into the Top 100. Returning to Memphis
in 1967, he resumed his recording career. But, with black power and Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, John Gary joined The Invaders. The recording
industry closed its doors on John and his music. Today, some forty years later,
John Gary is still performing and recording music. John doesn't regret fighting
for black liberation. He recorded I See
Hope to encourage young blacks not to give up the struggle. Keep
hope alive!
By John Burl Smith
My son Yohannes, who is intrigued
by the music of the "old school" funk group Slave, wondered why groups from that era
enjoy popularity. Considering the question, I ventured this hypothesis,
"Their music is from a time when black people expressed their greatest
sense of freedom." Prior to 1968, whites dictated blacks' perception of
themselves. Going back to the arrival of the first slaves in North American
(1619), whites defined everything about slaves. Consequently, slaves were
forced to conform to the image of nonhuman beast of burden.
Deprived of any sense of humanity, whites attributed only animalistic
characteristics and motivates to slaves. Names, language, family, customs,
religion, mental capacity and any other concept that signified humanness were controlled
by whites. The ultimate symbol of white power, as it related to slaves, was the
degradation of being bred and sold like horses and cattle.
Roots by Alex Haley (1976) presents a very limited view of
how slaves were imprinted with the white man's persona of blacks. Extending
approximately 150 years, this dehumanization process used house slaves to teach
field slaves what whites expected. This put a white man inside every black
person's head. Over the next 85 years following emancipation, the white man
inside blacks' heads was reinforced by legal Jim Crow segregation. Like a song
of inferiority, the brainwashing slaves received was so thorough that "Sam
Bo" became their residual self image. This "house nigger" imprinting
was passed on from generation to generation like a black person's genome.
Trapped in this socioeconomic slavery, blacks were unable to get that white man
out of their heads and shake this field nigger persona. However, for a brief
moment in time, blacks made a desperate lunge for freedom, and for the span of
about twelve years (1968-1980), the world was caught up in their struggle.
Unable to break the economic shackles of servitude prior to the 1960s, a window
opened briefly allowing the winds of change to blow across America.
Collectively, efforts of those like Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey,
Ida B. Wells, Elijah Mohammed and organizations like SCLC and the NAACP brought
the struggle to a focal point in the late 1950s. Energized by Malcolm X and Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., black radicals like Stokley Carmichael and H. Rap
Brown incited groups like SNCC, the Black Panthers and the Invaders to develop
a black self concept. Once the theme "black power" was uttered, the
spark was so powerful it electrocuted the white man inside the head of the
speakers.
True blackness was amplified in the scream of James Brown, echoed though the
guttural groans of Otis Redding and in the demand for respect by Aretha
Franklin. Like a heartbeat of thunderous rhythm blowing through the ghetto,
young blacks were empowered by Say it Loud,
I'm Black and I'm Proud,
while People Get Ready
liberated their minds for the task ahead. Chastened by Inner City Blues, blacks defied tradition
and religion, determining for themselves who they were. The pulse of the black
power movement, black music completely rejected Eurocentric culture. The
Memphis sound funked up the music scene with soul, pushing a black beat that
threw everything into question. Like a tailwind blowing through that brief
window of hope, blackness was in.
Briefly, before anyone knew what to expect, it was hip to be black. Even whites
wanted to be black, not like today with hip hop; whites tried to transform
themselves physically. They got perms to make their hair frizzy and nappy, so
it would look like an Afro. Black speech and behavior became things to emulate.
Blackness became the definition of "cool" and whites wanted to be
cool. Only the descendants of "house slaves" wanted to be white.
These middle class minded blacks were the major beneficiaries of black power,
but opposed it. Forced to adopt the symbols of the movement to maintain
leadership, they dawned Afros and disguised their dream of being white with
color blind rhetoric.
Finally escaping "Good Times," middle class minded blacks became the
"Huxtables," who wanted nothing to do with blackness. These blacks
wanted to integrate, move into white communities, and attend white schools and
churches. Readily giving up the hope affirmative action, they saw it as unfair
to white folks. They were so busy giving up their blackness they never realized
they were giving up their soul.
The "Huxtables" wanted
disco, funk was too ghetto and James Brown was too loud. Bell bottoms and fly
collars were too black. The "Huxtables" wore straight leg pants,
buttoned down collars and plain colors. Being black ceased being cool; Afros
changed to Geri-curls, and with the resulting hair loss, blacks lost their
soul. The "Huxtables'" ultimate aspiration was "to be of service
to whites."
Today, hope in blackness lives on only in what is called "old
school." What was gained in
the exchange of giving up the hope reflected by soul and funk? Was it better
neighborhoods, schools, jobs, relationships, opportunities? No. Giving up so
much for so little, we lost stable families, communities, caring teachers,
black owned businesses and a sense of who we are as a people. Slave's music not only remind us of who
we were, but who we have become. It rejects the pain of the past and despair of
the present by giving hope for the future.
Zanesville, Ohio
In 1797, Ebenezer Zane and his son-in-law, John McIntire, settled in the Indian
Territory at the point where Zane's Trace meets the Muskingum River. The town
was named after the early settler. At the junction of the Licking and Muskingum
Rivers, Zane built a ferry service for people traveling along the frontier road
known as Zane's Trace. By the War of 1812, the town had approximately 1,400
people. It became the Muskingum County seat in 1804.
In 1810, Zanesville replaced
Chillicothe as Ohio's capital in an attempt by the Democratic-Republicans to
solidify their control over eastern Ohio. The capital returned to Chillicothe
in 1812, the year the new state capital was established in Columbus, where the
Ohio General Assembly met for the first time in 1816.
Zanesville's Y-shaped bridge,
which is located downtown, spans the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum
Rivers. The only bridge of its type in the world; it has been rebuilt numerous
times since the 1850s. An aviation landmark for many years, Amelia Earhart was
quoted as saying "Zanesville is the easiest recognized city from the air
because of the Y- Bridge." The Muskingum River Parkway and its
160-year-old navigation system were designated a National Historic Civil
Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in July 2001.
Zanesville's Main Street is U.S.
Route 40. The city became an important commercial center. Its pottery industry,
which capitalized on the region's plentiful clay, became the most important
industry in the city in the second half of 19th century. Samuel A. Weller
became the community's most important manufacturer in 1890, when he began
production in Zanesville. Weller's early products included tableware, cuspidors
and flowerpots. By 1905, more than five hundred workers were employed in his
plant. By the 1910s, Weller was the world's largest pottery manufacturer.
While the practice of hand
painting pottery largely gave way to faster machines before WWI, Weller
continued to use hand painting until the 1930s. In 1948, production at Weller's
came to a halt due to the Great Depression. Pottery manufacturing remains a
vital part of Zanesville's economy today. In 2003, many of its residents were
employed in various pottery establishments. Other businesses in the community
include Volvo Trucks and Custom Vans of Zanesville.
According to Census 2000, Zanesville's population was 25,586, with 10,572
households, and 6,438 families. Zanesville's racial makeup was 85.48% White,
10.76% African American, 0.40% Native American, 0.23% Asian, 0.02% Pacific
Islander, 0.42% from other races, and 2.70% from two or more races. Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 0.79% of the population. The median household income
was $26,642, and the median family income was $31,932. With a per capita income
of $15,192, nearly one fifth of families and more than a quarter of the
population live below the national poverty level.
A descendant of the Zane family,
novelist Zane Grey was born in the city. (Sources: www.ohiohistorycentral.org, www.zanesville.com/sites.htm, and www.ohiohistory.org)
Coal Run Water
Built on a former coal mine, Coal Run is a predominantly black neighborhood
near Zanesville in rural Ohio. On Thursday, Coal Run residents were awarded
nearly $11 million by a federal jury, which found local authorities had denied
them public water service for decades due to racial discrimination.
In 2003, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of 67 residents after an Ohio Civil
Rights Commission investigation, which concluded the residents were victims of
racial discrimination. Plaintiffs' attorneys successfully argued that the
decision not to pipe water to Coal Run was racially motivated, painting a
picture of a community with a history of segregation. Court testimony and
documentation showed residents of Coal Run Road were denied water for decades
while nearby white neighbors were provided public water service.
In failing to provide water service to the residents of Coal Run, the jury in
the US District Court case found the city, county and water authority violated
state and federal civil rights laws. It awarded plaintiffs between $15,000 to
$300,000, depending on length of residency in the Coal Run neighborhood. The award covers monetary losses and pain
and suffering. From 1956, when water lines were first laid in the area, to
2003, when Coal Run got public water, residents either dug wells, hauled water
for cisterns or collected rain water to drink, cook and bathe.
The city and county denied all charges of racial discrimination, noting that
many residents in the lightly populated county do not have public water. The
city of Zanesville and the county commission plan to appeal.
Is Lewis' Time Over?
"To every thing there is a season, and
a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill,
and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to
weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast
away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a
time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to
keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to
keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time
of war, and a time of peace. Ecclesiastes 3
Former civil rights activist and current US Representative John Lewis (D-GA)
first went to Washington in 1987. For 16 years, he has never faced a serious
primary challenge. On Tuesday, the 5th District congressman has two
challengers, a young minister and a state legislator. Even though Rev. Markel
Hutchins (33) and State Rep. "Able" Mable Thomas (50) are betting
that Lewis' early endorsement of Senator Hillary Clinton for president will
hurt his chances for an election victory in a district that overwhelmingly
voted for Senator Barack Obama, political observers think it is unlikely that
voters in the majority black district, which covers Atlanta and the metro area
in Fulton, Clayton and DeKalb counties, will abandon Lewis next week. Yet, like
all incumbents, Democrats and Republicans, Lewis does run the risk of voter
anger with a "do-nothing" Congress.
With that said, based on campaign funds raised, Lewis is in no danger of being
unseated. He has amassed nearly a million dollars in contributions, while his
opponents have raised less than $10,000 combined, according to financial
statements filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Rep. Lewis does not believe it is
his time to leave. He is determined to remain in office According to The
Associated Press, Lewis, age 68, told his young opponents, "I've been
about change. I am change. If it was not for the changes that I, along with
many of my colleagues, created, they probably would not have an opportunity to
be running for Congress or anything else."
As spokesman for the family of Kathryn Johnston, the 92-year-old woman gunned
down by Atlanta police in a 2006 drug raid, Hutchins, one of the youngest
congressional candidates in the country, gained national attention. Thomas, a
presidential delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention, was elected
to the state legislature at age 28; she unsuccessfully challenged Lewis in
1993. Thomas returned to the state legislature in 2004.
Since there is no Republican opposition for the general election, the winner of
the 5th District primary will head to Washington in January.
To learn more about the
candidates online, see Markel Hutchins for Congress at www.markelhutchins.com, John Lewis for
Congress at www.johnlewisforcongress.com
and "Able" Mable Thomas for Congress at www.ablemablethomas.com.
Phantom Scribbler
Time Will Soon Tell!!!
By LAPD77
The email message below does not offer much in the way of hope; however, it
does touch on many of the warnings that have found their way into my mailbox
over the past year or so. It took a circuitous route but finally arrived thanks
to drocksouljah@aol.com, who has kept
me informed for many years on what's going on in the hood, especially in the
entertainment business.
Since the message did not
identify the author and all the content could not be independently verified, we
are providing it to you as a Phantom Scribbler. Originally posted by LAPD77, it
came with the subject line ---More info for what it's worth! Time will soon
tell!
"Hi all! This might be the last thing I post on here but I need to warn
you all. I have been with LAPD for a while and have learned a lot of things.
One of them is to be a little more independent. Don't put 100 % faith in other
humans to take care of you. And yes that means the government too.
Well because things have gotten so bad in LA (Officers being shot at up 39 % in
2007) I decided to move to Idaho. And I love it by the way. Anyway what I'm
going to say might shock you or even scare you, but please understand that fear
does nothing but make things worse kinda like stress. So instead of worrying do
something to fix it. Remember there's no problems only solutions.
This morning I got a call from my uncle who is very high up in the military and
he told me to leave the city now. I hardly ever talk to him so he was unaware
that I had already left LA. But he seemed very concerned but refused to tell me
why. After about 20 minutes he told me the very basics. The first thing he said
was to buy as much canned food and water as possible. The second was to stock
up on ammo. I have already stocked up on ammo because I knew it would become
very expensive later and in LA there was a 1 year wait for .223 bullets for my
AR15.
But I was still very confused as to why he's calling out of the blue and telling
me these things. Well what he said next is something the American people aren't
supposed to know. He told me that there is an actual plan as to when the
economy will completely crash. As of right now he said it will happen in the
middle of Sept. of this year. Also he said that our Government will crash in
Feb. of 2009. He said that Mexico and Canada will merge with us and that a new
dollar called the Amero is going to replace the dollar.
But the most scary thing is what he told me he's been doing for the past couple
of years. He's been overseeing the construction of Prison Camps being built all
throughout America. He said a Private company called Halliburton is building
them. He told me that 1 camp in Alaska can hold 2 million people and there's
almost 1000 camps in the USA (not including those underground). He also said
these will be used when Martial Law is declared.
There's some more things, but I promised him I would never repeat them. But
just knowing that this could even be possible makes me say to myself ,"
why not buy an extra 20 or 30 bucks of food I can store" each time I go
shopping. I had about 2 weeks worth because in California you never know when
that next big earthquake can hit, not to mention the last year and a half we
have been training on how to handle food riots in LA. (The first step in the
LAPD process is to stand back and observe). Crazy huh?
Well use common sense and get what you can because once everyone wakes up it
will be too late. Last, but not least, I believe him because he is the same one
that told me beforehand not to fly in Aug. and Sept. of 2001. Do I have to go
on? Take care everyone and GOD Bless!!!"
Disgruntled says: Former US Senator Phil Gramm, the man
that lends presumptive Republican nominee Senator John McCain economic
gravitas, said this week that we have become a nation of whiners. For Gramm and
people of his ilk, the economy is not as bad as our complaints suggest. Gramm
thinks it is a case of "mental recession;" the poor economic conditions
we are complaining about are all in our heads. If one believed Gramm, there is
no problem with rising home foreclosures, the dollar is not losing value, gas
and food prices are not escalating as home prices decline, jobs are not being
lost and real wages are not falling. We have nothing to whine about, so get
over the notion of a recession and enjoy these good economic times. The problem
with that is, we will have to be real nut cases to fake the good economic times
only the wealthy and those well off, like Gramm, can enjoy when so many things
are already bad and/or deteriorating on the ground.
Disgruntled
feels: Outraged! In passing the revised Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA), Congress again ignored the wishes of the people and
gave the Bush administration what it wanted, which is mainly not to be held
accountable for its past warrantless wiretapping of American phone
conversations and future violations of the 4th amendment to the US Constitution
and immunity for the telecom industry that enabled its criminal actions. This
alone is reason to be outraged at the behavior of a compliant Congress, which
has done nothing to be rewarded with incumbency. Outraged voters across the
nation ought to toss the bums out! Neither Democrats nor Republicans should be
allowed to feel safe from voters' wrath!
Disgruntled
wants to know: When former President Bill Clinton tacked to the right
and embraced the Republicans' Contract with America, there was a chorus of
criticism from the left of center, especially blacks. In fact, everything he or
any other elected or appointed official did that we did not like, we raised our
voices to express our displeasure. Even the media got in on the act, especially
when it was a Democrat. Of course, to a great extent, the media did not air
many grievances against George W. Bush; it was as if he could not be touched;
he was above reproach. In retrospect, it was a colossal error to give Bush a
bye; the media and the public should have been willing to fully scrutinize the
future president that turned out to be the worst in the nation's history. Now,
we have the first black to be a presumptive nominee of a major political party,
and everybody, including the media, cannot say anything negative about Senator
Barack Obama. It is as though he is an affirmative action candidate or some
such crap. We have to give him plenty of slack because he is black. Are we
falling into another trap?
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and
Telephone Calls
Email Freedom_of_Information@yahoogroups.com
...Key US mortgage lender goes bust...IndyMac is the fifth US bank to fail so
far this year...One of the largest US mortgage lenders, the California-based IndyMac
Bank, has collapsed amid a growing credit crisis. Federal regulators seized the
bank's assets, fearing it might not be able to meet withdrawals by depositors.
It is the second-largest financial institution to fail in US history,
regulators say. The failure came on a day when shares in the two biggest US
home loan institutions - Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae - fell at one stage by
almost 50%. IndyMac had been struggling to raise funds and stay in business in
one of the states worst hit by the US housing market slump. The bank's primary
regulator, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), said depositors had
withdrawn more than $1.3bn in the past 11 days.
Email www.naturalnews.com ...Today the
American Medical Association, after more than 100 years of blatant
discrimination against black doctors, admitted it encouraged racist membership
policies designed to keep black doctors out of conventional medicine. The
"rich white man's" world of medicine still operates today, by the
way, and it's just as evil, corrupt and racist as it ever was. Read my feature
article today to learn the disturbing truth about the A.M.A. and the ongoing
racism of conventional medicine.