The DISH
Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use
Vol. 11 Issue 47…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…November 23, 2008
Part of a Paradigm
Shift
By John Burl Smith
The election of Barack Obama as
President of the
Demanding we change tactics, Dr. King challenged us to develop a new psychology
to plan our actions and a new philosophy to explain those actions. He explained
the need for a new paradigm this way, "The SCLC is basically a southern
movement; we tried to expand the civil rights movement into northern cities but
were unsuccessful. Black power is spreading to cities all across the country,
and like the anti-war movement, I want to bring civil rights and black power
together to form a new movement based on the "Poor People's
Campaign." The Invaders joined Dr. King's coalition; I accepted his
challenge to develop a new paradigm as a personal goal.
Retrospectively, following Dr.
King's assassination, many viewed the subsequent period as a time of
hopelessness, characterized by in-fighting among black leaders. "Where do
black people go from here?" became the question that paralyzed black
leadership. A few leaders, Rev. Hosea Williams in particular, tried to hold the
splintering movement together. Rather than grab a large piece for himself, Rev.
Williams stood in the eye of the storm. He became the anchor of Dr. King's dream
for the future -- the "Poor People's Campaign". Unfortunately, at its
conclusion, it was obvious things had changed, as the old SCLC coalition
fractured under the weight of personal ambitions.
With that as a backdrop, J. Edgar
Hoover unleashed his Co-Intel-Pro hit squads to "infiltrate and discredit
black power and civil rights groups."
Today, most people do not
remember, if they were aware at all, what happened to those of us that
struggled to hold the black movement together while faced with the government's
unrelenting assault. The government, through the news media, pushed the lie
that there was a fight between "black militants, who were trying to
destroy the black community and civil rights leaders, who were trying to save
it." The media portrayed black power advocates as a bunch of "crazy
niggers" high on drugs.
However, some of us accepted Dr.
King's call for a new paradigm as the only solution for black survival. The
Invaders were no different from other groups, in that, we splintered as some
went to jail; others joined the system while still others died at the hands of
police. In 1970, I began building a community based political movement at the
state legislative level that helped elect young blacks like Harold E. Ford,
Sr., Lois DeBerry, Albert King, Derrick "Teddy" Withers and many
others. Although the black community gained in elected officials, it did not
benefit substantially from the representation.
Convinced that the black
liberation movement died with Dr. King, the paradigm shift continued, as black
people went from "I'm black and I'm proud" to "Good Times."
Motivated by a new mind-set, I returned to school. Dr. King's challenge, to
develop a "new paradigm," became my raison d’être. It was
obvious to me that the perceptions of black people had changed from that of the
late 1960s and '70s, even though their condition, relative to whites, had not.
Our challenge was to figure out the basis of the persistent economic gap
between blacks and whites, then build a strategy that clearly documented and
explained it. In 1980, Dot M. Smith introduced her "Chasm of Inequality
Analysis," which identified the 3/5 Compromise in the US Constitution as
the source of the longstanding economic gap between black and white Americans.
We needed to help black people
understand the significance of her findings. Whites have always attributed
economic disparities between blacks and whites to variables, such as education,
environmental factors and heredity. Controlling for such factors, while
measuring employment levels and median family income statistics supplied by the
US Department of Labor, Smith's chasm analysis revealed that the ratio of black
to white median family income fluctuated along a stable interval (.5 to .65),
which matches the 3/5 Compromise. Hence, the relative gap in employment and
income between blacks and whites has remained the same since slavery and has
not fluctuated randomly to reflect increases in levels of education or
improvements in environmental factors.
Again retrospectively, during the
forty years between the death of Dr. King and the election of Barack Obama, my
wife, Dot, and I made the transition from street activists and began publishing
an international e-magazine, The DISH (Dot's Information Service Hotline), to
communicate our research. The DISH was first published in January 1998. Dedicated
to "the dialogue on race, it tells the story of slave descendants. We are
pioneers in the effort to develop Internet networks for new researchers; Dot is
an economist and I am a psychologist. The DISH gives us the ability to reach
thousands of people with just one click of the mouse.
Ironically, one of the greatest
weaknesses of the black power movement was its inability to communicate quickly
and efficiently. Huge rallies were necessary to reach large numbers of black
people because the national media refused to tell our story. The national media
was closed to discussions about slavery, the 3/5 Compromise, roots of black
poverty, disparities in employment, education, health care, criminal justice,
etc... When we began posting The DISH, national news outlets did not have
online pages and blogs. E-zines and newsletters like The DISH gave the world
alternative sources of information and gave activists power in the marketplace
of ideas. As a result of pioneering efforts like The DISH, President-elect Obama
had a foundation on which to build his online outreach effort. He did not have
to reinvent the wheel.
Synonymous to President elect
Obama's election which vindicated thousands of people who believed in the hope
of black people, we have gone from a time when we were politically powerless
and totally ignorant of the basis of discrimination and disparate treatment.
Today we have identified the 3/5 Compromise as the legal basis of the poverty
gap between blacks and whites. This knowledge completes the paradigm shift. The
question is what does having a black president and knowing the truth about the
3/5 Compromise mean for our children?
The Written Legacy of Rev. Hosea L. Williams
By John Burl Smith
For many, Rev. Hosea Williams was
a man of many faces, talents and professions. Better known as a disciple of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., for whom he filled the indispensable role of advance
man, Hosea never wavered. Unbossed and unbought, Hosea supported Dr. Ralph
David Abernathy against those who wanted to take the movement "from the
streets to the boardrooms" during the turbulent split of SCLC following
the "Poor People's Campaign."
It was during this period that Rev. Williams emerged from the shadow of Dr.
King and became a leader in his own right. He led demonstrations and boycotts
throughout
Although Rev. Williams passed away in 2000, his legacy lives on in several
ways. Last Sunday, November 16, 2008, the Auburn Avenue Research Library on
African-American Culture and History became the depository of the writings and
artifacts of Rev. Hosea L. Williams. Donated by the Williams family foundation,
the collection includes books, journals, magazines, newspapers, microforms,
files, compact disc and audio/visual tapes. The collection contains some 47,000
books, 57,000 microforms and 5,000 bound periodicals. Researchers can
personally visit the collection or access it via several online databases.
The living legacy of Rev.
Williams is the Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless (HFTH) operation which is a
year round undertaking. Special projects are conducted on major holidays, such
as Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. On such occasions, the Ted Turner foundation
donates facilities at Turner Field to accommodate the thousands of people who
are given meals, showers, grooming, clothes, health, dental screening etc.
The foundation is always in need
of donations and other support, because "feeding the hungry is work that
is eternal." If you would like to volunteer or donate funds or resources
to help feed, clothe and shelter the homeless, visit www.hoseafeedthehungry.com.
Post-Election Racism
By Dot
While mainstream media have tried
to lull us asleep with tales of a post-racial
The incident in question occurred after the November 4 election. A busload of
second and third grade students chanted "assassinate Obama!" In
general, children reflect and amplify the biases and prejudices of those
closest to them.
The Southern Poverty Law Center,
which monitors hate crimes, and metropolitan police departments across the
nation have documented hundreds of racist incidents since the election. Alleged
crimes reported to police cover the spectrum from vague threats of physical
violence and vandalism of public and private property to an attack with a bat
in which the white assailants shouted "Obama!"
Those engaging in incidences that
are dimming the post-racial euphoria span the age spectrum from the very young
to adults. The incidences include, but are not limited to, racist graffiti,
black figures hung in effigy, burning crosses and acts of vandalism.
These incidences merely highlight
the absurdity of those declaring this nation has put aside its racist past and
moved into the daylight of racial equality and harmony, where individuals are
judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. As
these racist incidents so poignantly illustrate, even with the election of a
black man, this nation has a long way still to travel before it realizes Dr.
King's dream of a color-blind society.
On Knowing!
By Dot
At a very young age, I knew there
was something wrong with the rhetoric "all men are created equal" and
the reality of inequality dominating my existence. Unlike the parents of the
young people in
My parents were sharecroppers when I was born. Uneducated, they did not know
their ancestors were slaves when the nation's founding fathers signed the
Declaration of Independence and wrote the US Constitution. At age eight, I
undertook the thankless task of informing them of our ancestors' sorry state.
At the time, they were struggling to make ends meets, yet wanting to celebrate
the Fourth of July with all the extras they could not afford to buy.
My parents were hardworking people. Contrary to the negative black stereotype,
they were not lazy, and there were no jobs they would not accept to put food on
the table, provide shelter and put clothes on our backs. As a young person, I
assumed our economic condition had to do with their lack of education. My
parents simply did not qualify for higher paying jobs, even though some of
those jobs were held down by individuals without a high school diploma. Later
on, I assumed they lacked experience having been exposed to nothing more than
the most menial labor.
The more education I acquired,
the more that explanation did not coincide with the facts. Desperate for an
explanation, I undertook a research project that examined the economic welfare
loss due to recessions and unemployment. I literally stumbled on the 3/5
compromise. It is the only phenomenon that explains the economic welfare gap
that exits between black and white Americans.
Now, you know too! For more information, including a copy of my original
research, visit www.thedish.org/1982chasm.htm.
Disgruntled wants to know:
This week, George W. Bush traveled to
Disgruntled
says: The US is experiencing its worst financial crisis in more than
seventy years. Some folks liken the morass to conditions that led to the Great
Depression. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson recently dubbed it a "once in
a hundred year event." At any rate, conditions are bad, and the economic
welfare loss is devastating for more than just the poor and middle class. So,
here is the conundrum regarding the tenor of executive leadership during this
obvious crisis. Early in George W. Bush's first term in the Oval Office, he
made a big production of jawboning the economy. It is now evident that he
wanted tax cuts for his cronies. It was the first time in my experience that a
sitting president equated the stock market to the economy and proceeded to
negatively jawbone to get what he wanted. Now that economic conditions,
particularly the financial situation, really require some executive muscle,
Bush's jawbones are wired shut. Ironically, one must admit, his silence is a
good thing, because every time he opens his trap Wall Street turns more
bearish. And, as a leading economic indicator, its pessimism does not bode well
for the future health of the economy.
Disgruntled
feels: Blowback! According to Global
Trends 2025, a new report written by the US National Intelligence
Council (NIC) and published this week, the
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls
Email www.ap.com
Judge orders White House to produce wiretap memos...By Joan Lowy...A judge has
ordered the Justice Department to produce White House memos that provide the
legal basis for the Bush administration's post-Sept. 11 warrantless wiretapping
program. US District Judge Henry Kennedy, Jr. signed an order Friday requiring
the department to produce the memos by the White House legal counsel's office
by Nov. 17. He said he will review the memos in private to determine if any
information can be released publicly without violating attorney-client
privilege or jeopardizing national security. Kennedy issued his order in
response to lawsuits by civil liberties groups in 2005 after reports disclosed
the wiretapping. The department had argued that the memos were protected
attorney-client communications and contain classified information.
Email www.ajc.con
...Slave ship's voyage of shame recalled...By Dan Chapman...One hundred and
fifty years ago this week, long after the Atlantic slave trade had been
outlawed, the Wanderer dropped anchor off the southern tip of this barrier
island with 400 African slaves in its hold. The slaves, mostly boys with tribal
tattoos and sharply filed teeth, suffered from hunger, diarrhea and scurvy
aboard the schooner "alive with cockroaches," an eyewitness
recounted. Dozens had died during the six-week passage across the