The DISH

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Vol. 11 Issue 50…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…December 14, 2008

Charity, the Poor and Human Rights

By John Burl Smith

That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes and sell the refuse of the wheat for profit......Amos Chapter 8 verse 6

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted on December 10, 1948. Across the globe men and women are working to secure the rights to live in dignity, follow their consciences, speak their minds without fear, choose those who govern them, as well as hold their leaders accountable and obtain equal justice under the law. If the great promise of Human Rights is to be fulfilled, the international community - and especially the world's democracies -- cannot allow certain people in the world to be condemned to live lives without dignity or under tyranny. As long as people are deprived of their rights, those who enjoy the blessings of liberty, must support the universal cause of freedom, and courageously champion it.

Today (12-10-09) the world celebrates Human Rights Day and George W. Bush marked the occasion with these word: "Freedom can be resisted, and freedom can be delayed, but freedom cannot be denied. For a while, tyrants may rule, but in the long run, those who sacrifice for dignity and democracy will prevail, as the Havels and the Mandelas did before them. Too often, today's defenders of freedom are denounced and persecuted by their governments. Yet, with historic hindsight, these heroes and heroines will be recognized for who they are - impatient patriots who inspire their fellow citizens, whose examples give hope to people everywhere who press for the freedoms set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Surveying Bush's eight years in the White House, coupled with his claim to be a Christian, this reporter considers his statement in light of 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. Specifically, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." Bush speaks movingly about abstract principles of freedom, democracy and human rights, but his actions tell a completely different story. Declaring the "War on Terror," Bush made it impossible for local freedom fighters to "follow their consciences, speak their minds without fear, choose those who govern them, as well as hold their leaders accountable" and overthrow them to obtain equal justice under the law without being condemned as "terrorists."

One need not look at Third World dictatorships or banana republics to see gross violations of human rights to which Bush eluded. Just ten blocks from the White House one can find children who go to bed hungry each night, homeless families living on the streets and mentally ill individuals without access to healthcare. These are truly denials of dignity and violations of human rights.

Bush is proud of claiming that America is the freest and richest nation in the world, yet America has more poverty, homelessness and hunger per capita than many Third World nations. America tortures prisoners and has a prison population that exceeds 2 million people. Moreover, America has executed and it has more people awaiting execution than the rest of the world combined. This barbaric form of punishment is one of the most egregious violations of human rights for civilized people. While he extols the virtues of human rights, freedom and democracy, Bush has done more to undermine those concepts than anyone.

The central focus of United States (US) foreign policy is world domination; domestically, it struggles to deal with its worst economic crisis ever. "For what does it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Obviously, avaricious financiers and unscrupulous businessmen are sucking the soul of the US dry of compassion. Becoming a nation of takers under Ronald Reagan, like Adolf Hitler and Jews, America's poor became the target of scorn -- deserving only contempt and ridicule. Mercy and compassion became a damnable vice shared only by "liberals." Concern for the welfare of others was labeled communism, which coddles those too lazy to work. Charity is for the weak!

December is also the month the world celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, the prince of peace, which Bush conveniently overlooked, fighting two wars of choice. This is a time most associated with charity because of the gift of love the world received in the person of Christ. Jesus Christ gave to the world a concept of love that forms the basis of human rights. "Love ye one another as I have loved you." True charity is the giving of one's self, selfless concern for those less fortunate. America has lost its sense of charity and greed has become its god. Now Americans worship "more." It does not matter who they take it from or whether it is needed. The only thing Americans do not want more of is charity, but it is the one thing we need most.

Bit of History

James Leonard Farmer, Jr. (1920-1999)

This ruling group could force the liquidation of all Negro institutions and businesses; it could expel or annihilate him, while the most he could do would be to curse and pray but to writhe and bear it. Men who make the laws are not made for the laws." Dr. James L. Farmer, Sr.

James Leonard Farmer, Jr. was born on January 12, 1920 in Marshall, Texas to Parl Marion and James L. Farmer, Sr. He was wedged between two siblings Helen and Nathaniel. James Sr. was the son of slaves and the family was very poor. Although born in deep poverty and during Jim Crow subjugation, the elder Farmer was a remarkable man. Attending Cookman Institute in Daytona, Florida, which was founded by educator Mary McCleod Bethune, the elder Farmer's grades earned him a scholarship of $100 a year at Boston University. He walked more than 1,200 miles to begin his undergraduate studies in 1909. Upon receiving his doctorate degree in 1918, Farmer Sr. was the first black in Texan to hold such a distinction and was one of only twenty-five African Americans in the United States to hold doctorates during the 1920s.

James L. Farmer, Jr. said he first became aware of racism at age 4 in Holly Springs, Mississippi, where his father was on the faculty of Rust College. He asked his mother to buy him a soft drink but she said the drug store did not serve blacks. As a boy and a "faculty brat," Farmer was shielded from the worst aspects of racism. He spent most of his time on black college campuses and their home was filled with books. His father talked frequently about the ideas in those books, which assisted James in finishing high school at age 14. He entered Wiley College in Marshall, Texas in 1934 and joined their award winning debate team.

Farmer enrolled in Howard University's School of Religion in 1938. "I didn't see how I could honestly preach the Gospel of Christ in a church that practiced discrimination," he told his father when he decided not to pursue the ministry. A pacifist during World War II, Farmer worked as an organizer in the South for the Upholsterer's International Union and later for the State, County and Municipal Employees Union.

One afternoon in 1942, on the South Side of Chicago, Farmer and a white friend, George Houser, stopped for coffee and doughnuts in a Jack Spratt's Coffee Shop. After being refused service, Farmer, Houser and a few others staged a successful sit-in demonstration there. It was the first direct action of their organization, the Committee on Racial Equality, which later became the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Within a few years, CORE had more than 60,000 members in more than 70 chapters coast to coast.

Following the United States Supreme Court's ruling, which was virtually ignored in the South, declaring "segregated seating of interstate bus passengers unconstitutional," CORE and another civil rights group, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, held a Freedom Ride in 1947. The integrated group went into North Carolina to call attention to the injustice of segregation. They were arrested and sentenced to work on a chain gang.

It would be 1961 before CORE tried to desegregate accommodations in the South again. Their next efforts were called "freedom rides." Whites assaulted them for using restrooms and lunchrooms in bus terminals in Virginia and the Carolinas. Later, in Anniston, Alabama, the door of their bus was held shut while the KKK threw firebombs inside. Escaping freedom riders were stoned and beaten. A mob attacked riders in Birmingham, and William Barbee was paralyzed for life. Also, they were savagely attacked again in Montgomery, Alabama.

Undaunted, the small band of young black and white freedom riders from CORE and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) continued from Montgomery to Jackson, Mississippi. Upon arrival, Farmer was arrested in Jackson for disturbing the peace and spent 40 days in jail. Although freedom riders faced ferocious opposition from whites supporting segregation in the South, they aroused the conscience of many whites both in America and abroad. The courage of CORE volunteers captured the imagination of the country and many blacks joined the civil rights struggle. The freedom riders' saga ended (1961-63) when Bobby Kennedy had the Interstate Commerce Commission issue an order that became a federal law, banning segregation in interstate travel. Farmer often said, "That was my proudest achievement."

Farmer risked his life on many other occasions organizing demonstrations. Once in 1963, Louisiana state troopers searched door to door for Farmer in Plaquemine, where he was organizing protests. "I was meant to die that night," Farmer once said. "They were kicking open doors, beating up blacks in the streets, interrogating them with electric cattle prods." Farmer "played dead" in the back of a hearse as a funeral home director hustled him out of town.

Along with Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Farmer became a member of the "BIG 4" black leaders that organized the 1963 March on Washington. Changing his tactics somewhat in the late1960's, Farmer taught at Lincoln University, a black institution in Oxford, Pa., advised the State of New Jersey on problems of illiteracy, and, in 1968, backed by Republicans in Brooklyn's 12th Congressional District, ran for Congress against Democrat Shirley Chisholm and lost. That same year, he backed Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey in his run for the Presidency. In 1969, Farmer accepted an invitation from President Richard M. Nixon to become an Assistant Secretary in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Some militant civil rights advocates attacked Farmer for supporting Republicans and joining Nixon's cabinet. However, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young refrained from criticizing Farmer because they agreed with him that blacks needed such involvement if they were to have an impact on shaping race policy nationally.

Farmer spent his latter years writing his memoir, "Lay Bare the Heart" (1985). He received the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, from President Bill Clinton in a White House ceremony Jan. 15 1996. On Friday, July 9, 1999 at age 79, a powerful voice for freedom, justice and equality fell silent as James L. Farmer, Jr. passed from the scene. (Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org, www.marshallnewsmessenger.com, www.core-online.org and www.medaloffreedom.com).

News You Use

The Great Debaters

By John Burl Smith

James Farmer, Jr. described Marshall, Texas, as "the last city to surrender after the Civil War;" this characterization sets the backdrop for the movie The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington (2007). Although the movie portrays a period in the life of Melvin B. Tolson, it illuminates a fateful period in the lives of the first full generation of slave descendants whose parents were never slaves. A fact lost on most historians that wrote about the progress of black people during that period, so the many strides they made were ignored. Consequently, the powerful influence education exerted on slave descendants shaping their character as they struggled to find relevance, dignity and a sense of personal worth cannot be overstated.

An excellent directorial effort by Denzel Washington in only his second film, The Great Debaters realistically captures the mood and ambience of the period. Denzel also plays the lead role of Professor Melvin B. Tolson, "a complicated man." The story provides only a glimpse into the lives of some of the very powerful and dynamic personalities of that time and their students who raised the bar for blacks even higher as leaders in their own right in the mid 1900s. Tolson, Harlem Renaissance poet, educator, columnist, Trade Unionist and politician, is the coach of the debate team at Wiley College, which gains national fame during the 1930s. Tolson is a mysterious character, living a double life that threatens to cost his life as the plot unfolds.

A true fighter in every sense of the word, Tolson sees debating as a "battle where words are your weapons." The surface story revolves around the recruiting, training and motivating of the students selected to be members of the debate team, while individual and group dynamics drive the action from underneath. The episodic nature of the story projects aspects of the time period like counter points to the personal events engulfing the characters.

Racism, segregation and lynching hang over the story like a noose, as well as nestle around its edges like a fog in a darken swamp. This theme propels Dr. James Farmer, Sr. (Forest Whitaker), a mild mannered minster to exert his powerful influence at a crucial point in the story. His son, James Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), a member of the debate team, witnesses a very embarrassing incident between his father and a poor white farmer that blurs his perspective on his father. Stumbling upon a lynching on a deserted country road late one night traveling to a debate and having to run for their lives, coupled with a confrontation his father has with Sheriff Dozier (John Heard) clarify matters for James Jr., who is just a teenager.

The double life of Prof. Tolson and the romantic intrigue of Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett) and Henry Lowe (Nate Parker) threaten to tear the debate team apart. Hopes and dreams come down to one last opportunity, a debate against Harvard University. A successful outcome hinges on their willingness to subdue their egos and rely on their training, as well as their ability to muster the necessary fortitude to persevere.

The Great Debaters abound in heroics because it is about the evils of a system and the struggle of individuals to change it, not just survive it. Through this film it is possible to see how the generational philosophy of advancement by black people yielded great dividends in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, some of our most productive periods. Each of the debaters went on to make significant contributions as leaders during those years. Most notable among the group is James L. Farmer, Jr., who founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

The Great Debaters is a excellent family movie. It reflects all the qualities Americans claim to hold so dear. Set in the 1930s during the "Great Depression," a time much like today, where the socioeconomic and political pressures are much the same on families, it is a clear example of why all Americans must embrace President-elect Barack Obama's pledge to not only change the system but the outcomes for those at the bottom. There should not be a "great debate" about that.

Intuit's Vibe

Christmas: The Gifts (Unedited)

By Kenneth W. McCardell

Christmas; what a merry day! A hopeful time of year…

This season comes with perks galore and now the season's here.

Life's atmosphere all seems to change as fall comes to a close.

In the backs of people's minds are presents topped with bows.

Once Thanksgiving goes away Christmas marches in.

And people sleep in parking lots like they were cozy inns.

Then it begins - the shopping-sprees, the cash exchanging hands.

Financial analysts debate consumer's new demands.

And hands stay busy; cutting, wrapping, taping on the fly.

Then it's to the store again with more still there to buy.

But cold December skies will often bring a lot of snow.

Drivers get conservative; the traffic pace is slow.

And then without them knowing the people, stuck in cars,

Commence their choir-singing with their ample repertoires.

It might just start with humming but usually pretty soon

Chestnuts over open fires will make the drivers croon.

They might be out of tune but no one really cares.

Some will sing so loud that they catch a lot of stares.

And everywhere around are red and white and green.

They seem a perfect background for that precious manger scene.

But what's it mean, this holiday? Why does Christmas come?

Is it for the mistle-toe or maybe sugar plums?

Some folks cherish Christmas since the snow builds up in drifts.

Others treasure Christmas and it's all because the gifts.

The faithful lift their eyes. They know what this day's for.

It signifies the birth of Christ, Our Lord and guarantor.

But stores get all the grand attention; all the money too…

And when these gifts are all wrapped up whom do they go to?

Please do not give a gift to me; my birthday's in July.

And many children walk around with so much less than I.

People buying presents should maybe give a second thought.

Do grown-ups really need to get the gifts that they've been bought?

Momma always taught me that it's always best to share.

If you have the things you need it's truly only fair.

Millionaire or lower-class it doesn't mean a thing.

You only spare what you afford and do it for the King.

By bringing just a teeny smile to one angelic face

Christmas love can make a mark that nothing can replace.

Embrace the folks less fortunate; they need a Santa too.

And Christmas love has many shapes, it even looks like you.

DISHing It Up Hot!

On X-Mas '08

By Dot Smith

Pardon the intrusion as I clumsily attempt to inject some reason into the season of excess I call X-Mas.

With good reason, I am prone to depression during this season. While I could conveniently attribute my mental state to an impoverished childhood in which the fat white guy in the tight red suit habitually failed to come down my family's non-existent chimney, I will not. Nor, will I attribute my state of depression to the deaths of family members and loved ones that occurred during the holiday season. Instead, I blame the absence of relevance to the birth of Christ, supposedly the real reason Christians claim to celebrate the season.

And, for that reason, I call this season X-Mas, because we go to extremes in the mad dash to manifest a commercial dream. Programmed mindless consumers, beginning the day after Thanksgiving, we "kill," literally and figuratively, to give or get that "special" something. X-Mas in the US is exemplified by greed, excess, spending on credit and a waste of scarce resources, when others are dying from a lack of basic nourishment.

I weep tears of sadness, rather than joy, that "we" of this "Christian nation" care so little about the real meaning of Christmas.

Hood Notes

Voyages

Earlier this month (December 5-6, 2008), Emory University in Atlanta, GA launched Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, a free interactive web-based resource that provides information on almost 35,000 slave trade voyages across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the New World between the 16^th and 19^th centuries. The database can be accessed at www.slavevoyages.org.

Funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, "Voyages" expands the 1999 CD-ROM "The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade," which included more than 27,000 slave trade voyages. The updated resource is the work of David Eltis, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of History at Emory, Martin Halbert, director of digital innovations for Emory Libraries, and a team of graduate students and other scholars. Of the expanded interactive "Voyages," Eltis says, "We were able to fill in gaps in the existing data set. It's been both widened and lengthened….We have African names for about 67,000 captives that got off slave vessels in the 19^th century." The data is so extensive simply because the slave trade was a business; people were itemized like products on a store's shelf.

Two years in the making and two hundred years after the constitutionally mandated end of US slave importation, "Voyages" is an invaluable resource for scholars and teachers. For teachers in grades K-12 and beyond, there are lesson plans and other educational material to enhance classroom instruction.

For Henry Louis Gates, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and writer/producer of the PBS documentary "African American Lives," the interactive database sheds an important light on the hidden history of 12.5 million slaves. According to Gates, "The greatest mystery in the history of the West, I believe, has always been the Africans who were enslaved and shipped to the New World. Their ancestries, their identities, their stories were lost in the ships that carried them across the Atlantic. The multi-decade and collaborative project that brought us "Voyages" has done more to reverse the Middle Passage than any other single act of scholarship possibly could." (Sources: www.theatlantavoice.com and www.voyages.org)

Disgruntled feels: Enslaved! The saga of Jonathan Mayo exemplifies the meaning of modern day slavery in America. Mayo, just three credits shy of graduating from Morehouse College and with no prior criminal record was sentenced in 1992 to two life sentences for armed robbery, two 20-year sentences for aggravated assault and 20 years of probation for burglary. According to the two young men that confessed to committing the crimes, an armed robbery at gunpoint in which no one was hurt and no valuables stolen, Mayo played no role in committing these offenses; they lied as state witnesses to get reduced 20-year sentences. Now, out of prison, they have come forward and apologized for having lied on Mayo. Still, Mayo is in jail for crimes he apparently did not commit. White men that have killed people have received less jail time than this enslaved black man.

Disgruntled wants to know: Okay, so here is the deal. The government bails out Wall Street to the tune of several hundred billion taxpayer dollars with no strings attached. Congress asks for zero concessions from management and workers of the Wall Street banks and brokers receiving this historic infusion of cash. It is now evident that some of this money is being used to perk up balance sheets and purchase other companies, rather than easing credit. Fast forward a few weeks. The same Congress is demanding unionized automobile industry workers make all kinds of wage and benefits sacrifices before providing any taxpayer loans to the Big Three Automakers. Is all this noise surrounding the automobile industry bailout really about ensuring the end result is a viable automobile sector or is this really about killing off the union and a race to the bottom when it comes to the living standards of blue collar workers?

Disgruntled says: On Thursday, my family attended holiday programs at the elementary and high schools our children attend. I will never understand why the schools all chose the same day and time to hold these annual affairs. It's as if the school administration does not realize that a single household could have children in high, middle and elementary school. At any rate, we divided up - some when to the high school and others attended the elementary school program. I count myself lucky to have been a part of the group that attended the elementary school program. The string section of the school's orchestra and choir performed beautifully. The choir's selections, while mostly tradition, were well-planned around a diversity theme that was all-inclusive. It was a truly joyful occasion. The school should plan more occasions to showcase the students' talents and artistic achievements.

Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls

Email www.reuters.com...Record number of Americans using food stamps: report...By Roberta Rampton.....Food stamps, the main U.S. anti-hunger program which helps the needy buy food, set a record in September as more than 31.5 million Americans used the program -- up 17 percent from a year ago, according to government data. The number of people using food stamps in September surpassed the previous peak of 29.85 million seen in November 2005 when victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma received emergency benefits, said Jean Daniel of the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service. September's tally -- the latest month available -- was also boosted by hurricane and flood aid, Daniel said on Wednesday. But anti-hunger groups said the economic downturn is the main reason behind the higher figures.

Email www.cbsnews.com...Teacher Ties Up Students In Slavery Lesson..White Teacher Binds Hands, Feet Of Two Black Girls....A white social studies teacher attempted to enliven a seventh-grade discussion of slavery by binding the hands and feet of two black girls, prompting outrage from one girl's mother and the local chapter of the NAACP. After the mother complained to Haverstraw Middle School, the superintendent said he was having "conversations with our staff on how to deliver effective lessons." "If a student was upset, then it was a bad idea," said Superintendent Brian Monahan of the North Rockland School District in New York City's northern suburbs. The teacher apologized to the mother who complained and her 13-year-old daughter during a meeting Thursday that also included a representative of the local NAACP. But the mother, Christine Shand of Haverstraw, N.Y. said Friday she thinks the teacher should be removed from the class.

Email www.ajc.com... Vote to move graves riles NAACP...By Megan Matteucci...The Georgia NAACP called for an investigation of the Clayton County Commission on Tuesday (Dec 2, 2008) after the board voted for 311 historic African-American graves to be moved to another cemetery. The Clayton County Commission voted unanimously to issue a permit to College Park recycling company Stephens MDS to relocate the graves to make room to expand a landfill. Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia NAACP accused the five commissioners of a conflict of interest. According to DeBose, all of the commissioners have previously accepted campaign contributions from Stephens.

Email www.nationalmortgagenews.com ...TARP Tally 52 Institutions; $150B in Added Capitol...The Treasury Department, to date, has spent $150 billion of taxpayer money investing in preferred shares of 52 institutions, outgoing secretary Henry Paulson said on Monday (Dec. 1) afternoon. Mr. Paulson noted that hundreds of banks have applied for Troubled Asset Relief Program money, adding that, "We will work through the remaining applications in the coming weeks and months." He said the agency is continuing "to examine potential foreclosure mitigation ideas" that could use TARP funds.