The DISH

Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use

Vol. 11 Issue 51…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…December 21, 2008

Intuit's Vibe

From Harlem Gallery

By Melvin B. Tolson

Strange but true is the story

of the sea-turtle and the shark

the instinctive drive of the weak to survive

in the oceanic dark.

Driven,

riven

by hunger

from abyss to shoal,

sometimes the shark swallows

the sea-turtle whole.

"The sly reptilian marine

withdraws

into the shell

of his undersea craft,

his leathery head and the rapacious claws

that can rip

a rhinoceros' hide

or strip

a crocodile to fare-thee-well;

now,

inside the shark,

the sea-turtle begins the churning seesaws

of his descent into pelagic hell;

then....then,

with ravenous jaws

that can cut sheet steel scrap,

the sea-turtle gnaws...

his way in a way that appalls -

...and gnaws...and gnaws...

his way to freedom,

beyond the vomiting dark,

beyond the stomach walls

of the shark."

Bit of History

Melvin Beaunorus Tolson (1898 - 1966)

My little walnut-hued mother . . . was a descendant from antebellum fugitives who hid themselves on the islands in the Mark Twain country and in the glooms of the Ozarks, from which they raided at midnight the slave plantations along the Missouri and the Mississippi. Out of the melting-pot of this clan came gun-toting preachers and hallelujahing badmen whose legends grew whiskers in the dead yellow hills......... Melvin B. Tolson

Born in Moberly, Missouri on February 6, 1898, Melvin Beaunorus Tolson was the son of a Methodist minister and an Afro-Creek mother, Alonzo and Lera (Hurt) Tolson. His family moved between various churches in the Missouri and Iowa area until finally settling in the Kansas City area. Tolson demonstrated an early interest in poetry, publishing his first poem, "The Wreck of the Titanic," in an Iowa newspaper in 1912. He continued to write poetry throughout high school. He graduated from Lincoln High School in 1919 and enrolled in Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee the following year.

After his freshman year at Fisk, Tolson transferred to Lincoln University, Oxford, Pennsylvania (1920-1923). Before graduating, he married Ruth Southall on January 29, 1922; they had four children. Tolson started his teaching career at Wiley College, Marshall, Texas in 1924, where he taught English and speech for the next twenty-three years. During these years, he continued to write poetry, developed an interest in drama and produced several stage plays. Also, he coached the nationally renowned award-winning debate team. This period of Tolson's life was recreated in the movie The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington.

A gifted raconteur and orator, Tolson received a Rockefeller fellowship and pursued a master's degree in comparative literature at Columbia University, New York City in the early 1930s. While there he became associated with many Harlem Renaissance figures and began writing the poetry that comprised, A Gallery of Harlem Portraits which he completed in 1935, but was unable to find a publisher (it was published posthumously in 1979). Following the publication of several of Tolson's poems in the Modern Monthly and the Modern Quarterly in the late 1930s, he wrote "Dark Symphony" for a poetry contest sponsored by the American Negro Exposition held in Chicago in 1940 and won first prize. The Atlantic Monthly published his prize-winning poem in September 1941, which was later set to music by Earl Robinson and performed by Paul Robeson.

The publication of Tolson's work attracted the attention of the Washington Tribune which commissioned him to write a column called "Caviar and Cabbage," a series devoted largely to black life in America. The articles (1937 - 1944) were compiled and published (posthumously) as a book of the same title in 1982. Further good fortune came Tolson's way with the publication of Rendezvous with America (1944) a collection of poems. Tolson, a man of impressive intellect, created poetry that was characterized as "funny, witty, humoristic, slapstick, rude, cruel, bitter, and hilarious."

One side of Melvin B. Tolson's life, shrouded in mystery, involved his efforts to help organize the Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU). A broad-based protest movement that sought strength in numbers and unity, the STFU was made up of black and white sharecroppers who had been driven off their land during the Great Depression and forced to work as day laborers. Although he never said, many believe that threats from the Ku Klux Klan because of his involvement with the STFU endangered his family, so Tolson left Wiley College and Texas.

Tolson became a professor of English and drama at Langston University in Oklahoma (where he also served three terms as Mayor (1954 -1960). He was a dramatist and director of the Dust Bowl Theater at Langston. Renowned Harlem Renaissance poet and writer, Langston Hughes said of him, "He's no 'highbrow.' Students revere him and love him. Kids from the cotton fields like him. Cow punchers understand him. He's a great talker."

During Liberia's centennial, Pres. William V. S. Tubman named Tolson poet laureate of Liberia in 1947. Although his work, especially his early poetry, had not received much critical attention, his Libretto for the Republic of Liberia (1953) prompted critics such as Allen Tate to write, "For the first time, a Negro poet has assimilated completely the full poetic language of his time and the language of the Anglo-American poetic tradition." This long, learned poem stands in the tradition of T. S. Eliot.

Tolson taught at Langston until his retirement in 1964. Following his retirement, he was appointed to a two-year term at Tuskegee Institute, where he was Avalon Poet in 1965. On May 25, 1966, he received the annual poetry award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Tolson's final work was the Harlem Gallery, a long poem published in 1965. The poem consists of several sections, each beginning with a letter of the Greek alphabet. It concentrates on African American life and is a drastic departure from his first works. Tolson's poetry from his year in New York was collected and published posthumously by Robert M. Farnsworth as, A Gallery of Harlem Portraits in 1979. Tolson died following cancer surgery in Dallas, Texas, on August 29, 1966. (Sources: www.english.uiuc.edu, www.marshallnewsmessenger.com, www.enotes.com)

DISHing It Up Hot!

On al-Zeidi's Shoes!

By Dot

"This is a farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." Those words shouted in Arabic were accompanied by the size ten shoes of Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi tossed at the head of George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad. In the Arabic culture, "showing the sole of one's shoe to someone is a sign of extreme disrespect, and throwing your shoes is even worse."

Al-Zeidi's shoe toss sparked protests and demonstrations across the region in his support. Newspapers across the Arab world printed front-page photos of Bush ducking the flying shoes; satellite TV stations repeatedly aired the incident. Thousands have added the video to websites, including Facebook. In a show of solidarity and support, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets demanding al-Zeidi's release and an end to his torture.

While Bush publicly brushed off the incident as a non-event, his Iraqi henchmen and US advisors stationed in Iraq are applying the screws to al-Zeidi for throwing his shoes. According to one report, al-Zeidi has been hospitalized following a severe beating at the hands of Iraqi interrogators determined to learn if there were others involved in the incident. Apparently, al-Zeidi has remained silent and/or this was a solitary endeavor. In any event, he is now an international hero.

The Al-Zeidi shoe toss has prompted others to begin campaigns to show their disrespect for the outgoing Bush administration. Lori R. Price, managing editor of Citizens for Legitimate Government, is encouraging readers to send or deliver shoes to the White House, since the American people, thanks to a worthless Congress, have been unable to give Bush the boot!

If you are unable to send or do not wish to deliver a shoe, you can toss one at the face of Bush in cyberspace at www.sockandawe.com. Thousands of others have already virtually smacked him up side the head, including yours truly. Thanks al-Zeidi for your courage and inspiration!

3/5 Compromised by TV Networks

By John Burl Smith

Citing statistic from its report called, "Out of Focus, Out of Sync," the NAACP threatened network TV stations with the possibility of a boycott over the lack of minorities on and off screen. "The NAACP is calling for a task force including the heads of the networks, diversity executives and minority groups to update their agreements." Demanding "tangible progress," the NAACP ran up the boycott flag over abysmal prospects for improvement during the coming seasons.

Back in 1999 the lack of minorities in new prime time shows featuring persons of color in a leading role, the broadcast networks came under fire and triggered threats of boycotts. That confrontation inspired an agreement with the NAACP and other minority groups in which the networks pledged to achieve greater progress in casting and hiring of minorities.

Although the NAACP's study addressed hiring practices throughout the industry, which is woefully inadequate, most of its data zeroed in on network TV. In fact, the study released 12-18-08 raises fears that networks are backsliding on progress made earlier this decade, and that the economic downturn will only make it more difficult for minorities to get jobs on and off screen.

Pointing directly at "nepotism and cronyism" as chief culprits, the report stated, "There is anecdotal evidence that the recent Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike and the economic concerns that it is engendering have only entrenched members of the various guilds, aiding their ability to take care of friends and family." This 3/5 Compromise second class treatment is what has locked slave descendants out of sharing the benefits of the "American dream" since Emancipation, and the statistics bear this out.

The study showed that "The number of minorities in regular or recurring roles on scripted series decreased on CBS, Fox and NBC in the 2006-07 season compared to peaks several seasons earlier. Only ABC showed gains, from 74 parts cast with minority performers in 2002-03 to 116 in 2006-07." It also concludes that "There has been a 'virtual disappearance of black programming' since the merger of UPN and the WB, which included shows like "Moesha" and "The Parkers," into the CW. The only minority 'lead' in a new show on a major network for the 2008-09 TV season is 'Cleveland Brown,' an African-American animated character voiced by a white person," the report states. There are "serious shortages of minority faces" on network prime time television.

Such a report citing such glaring disparities is an irony that stands in sharp relief to this historic moment as the first African-American president prepares to take office. "The NAACP hopes that the incoming Obama administration will put more pressure on the networks and focus more attention on minority hiring." The DISH raised these issues (Part of a Paradigm Shift Vol. 11 No 47) also in hopes that the Obama administration will make equity and parity priorities. It is obvious blacks are the "last hired and first fired" and suffer the greatest welfare loss as well as economic power during any downturn. Past administrations have always obscured this fact. Moreover, the fact that gains lost by slave descendants during such downturns are never made up, means blacks fall farther behind. Hopefully, with a black president, these facts will be acknowledged and addressed.

Hood Notes

Alicia Keys and The Secret Life of Bees!

By John Burl Smith

Offering a smooth blend of old school soul and rhythm & blues with 11 Grammy awards, as well as more than 20 million albums sold worldwide, music in the "key of Alicia" has shown the kind of selling power few recording artists exhibit today. A complete diversion from her rump-shaking contemporaries, Alicia Keys is an old school throwback in the mold of Lena Horne, Diana Washington, and Ella Fitzgerald.

A real trend setter, Alicia is following in the footsteps of trailblazers Dorothy Danridge and Diann Carroll, who made seamless transitions from recording to movies in the 1950s and 60s. Keys debut in "Smokin' Aces," (2007) as a dark villain, surprisingly drew raves. Even as such an off beat character, her performance showed tremendous potential and garnered her a completely different role with greater depth in the new Gina Prince-Bythewood film The Secret Life of Bees (October 2008). Keys plays June Boatwright, one of three sisters, who, along with August Boatwright played by Queen Latifah and May Boatwright played by Sophie Okonedo, run a struggling start-up honey business. The storyline of the beekeeping sisters living in the rural American south in the1960s cannot be deduced from the title. Bees are a metaphor for the everyday struggles inherent in surviving in an uncaring hostile world, while being hardwired with the demands of the specie.

Keys reveals a soft slightly sensuous side in her portrayal of a strong fiercely independent woman at the crossroads of life. The honey business is what women in general are all about and the hive metaphor of the house in which these women live give rise to the secret sweetness women bring to life. Commenting on being a woman Keys said, "First, it's the most beautiful thing on the planet to be. Secondly, it's difficult being a woman because we carry a lot on our shoulders and we're very, very strong. Sometimes we make it look really easy, but it isn't. I think another thing we do is hold things inside because we have to keep on pushing. Keep going for our family, our kids, for the ones that we love, you know? Sometimes it weighs heavily on us. But we're resilient and definitely the most beautiful creatures. I love being a woman...."

It may seem The Secret Life of Bees is a "chick flick," without anything to say to men. However, guys must remember "drones" can't make honey, so without women doing their thing, there isn't any sweetness in life. Following a lusty laugh, Alicia gives her take on the subject, "It's time to tell more interesting stories about the many variations of women. I think 'The Secret Life of Bees" is a story to which a lot of men can relate. In fact, all the men I spoke to were like, 'I'll tell you what. I thought it was a 'chick flick,' but I really loved it.' They can see in these women their mothers, their sisters and lovers. They can see it's not really about color and gender. It's about finding your place in this world and I think that's something that everyone can relate to. It's a story about the human condition. We can all relate to love, family, defeat and fear. And, we can all relate to inspiration, hope and faith. These are all themes reflected in the movie."

Alicia didn't leave her music behind in "The Secret Life of Bees;" the end credits song "Doncha Know (Sky is Blue), is vintage Keys. Success has not gone to Alicia's head because she never fails to mention her passionate advocacy as global ambassador for "Keep A Child Alive," a non-profit organization that provides life-saving AIDS medicines directly to children and families living with HIV/AIDS in Africa. Keys says, "Everyone should get into this fight."

The Secret Life of Bees stands as a counter point to what the NAACP reports on the TV and movie industry. It shows that blacks and other minorities possess the talent, skills and expertise to produce entertaining projects if they are given access and financing. Continuing to use the old excuses and black stereotypes to deny opportunity perpetuates the 3/5 compromise. The TV and movie industry has to do as voters for president did in electing Barack Obama -- be willing to move beyond race and discrimination to a place where talent and skills are the criteria. (Source: www.examiner.com)

Venue for an Artist

Blighted Christmas: This year give the truth

By Melinda Pillsbury-Foster

This year Americans are confronting a melting economy, the massing of troops within our own borders, aimed at us. We are losing our homes to foreclosure and the Chinese are coming over with the faux dollars issued by the FED to buy them up. The shock waves of reality are hitting even those who normally lose themselves in football.

This Christmas give the only thing that can make a difference. America was founded on truths, truths that those in power have endlessly tried to suppress. Those truths show us what happened so we can take action. They don't want that. Our First Amendment has its roots in the common law principle that no one has a right to use their power to suppress the truth. The Zenger Case, heard in New York in 1735 was in the minds of the Founders when the subject was debated. John Peter Zenger was a publisher who printed the truth about the corrupt Royal Governor of New York. He was jailed. Eight months later a jury, exercising their right to determine the validity of law and pass on the facts, freed him.

Know the truth. The Truth will set your mind free to act on the facts.

Christmas, and our futures and those of our children and their children, have been blighted through lies that allow the abuse of power. When you see the monumental scale on which this has been perpetrated you understand. You see what must be done.

While we focus on the stories of just a few the reality is that nearly all of us have been harmed by the grasping deceit and abuse of power by corporations and their partners in government. Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, made himself wealthy by abusing the trust of ordinary people. Credited as the father of PR, he said, "If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway."

In order to promote sales of bacon, for example, he conducted a survey of physicians and reported their recommendation that people eat heavy breakfasts. He sent the results of the survey to 5,000 physicians, along with publicity touting bacon and eggs as a heavy breakfast.

Bernays also drew upon his uncle Sigmund's psychoanalytic ideas for the benefit of commerce in order to promote, by indirection, commodities as diverse as cigarettes, soap and books."

Bernays is responsible for many of the ills of our century and for promoting the ugly assertion, now reaching its full fruition, that in contradiction to the founding principles of our right to the truth that it is proper for government and those whose profits depend on government, for instance corporations, to lie to us.

Bernays bears responsibility for a mind boggling number of manipulations of opinion, including the perception that smoking among women was a strike for freedom. "In the 1920s, working for the American Tobacco Company, he sent a group of young models to march in the New York City parade. He then told the press that a group of women's rights marchers would light "Torches of Freedom". On his signal, the models lit Lucky Strike cigarettes in front of the eager photographers. The New York Times (1 April 1929) printed: "Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of 'Freedom'". This helped to break the taboo against women smoking in public."

The most prevalent correlation between heart attacks in people in early middle age is that of their mothers having smoked during pregnancy. My mother smoked. Of her five children I am the oldest yet living. Earlier this year my brother, who had suffered a heart attack and brain hemorrhage, died after four years of hardship. He was stricken with aphasia, unable to see, speak, or care for himself in his late 50s. My sister Carol died at 36 of a heart attack in 1974. My sister Anne died of a heart attack after suffering brain death in 1994. My younger brother had a triple bypass in his early 40s. I have had two heart attacks.

Carol was the mother of a young son. She had bucked the glass ceiling to achieve success in the corporate world in the 50s and 60s. What else might she had accomplished for herself and those she loved?

Anne was a mathematician, an early programmer who ran a successful business. She had two children but will never know her grandchildren, or they her. She was a force for good in her community.

Charles was a systems analyst in the Governor's Office in California. He had been decorated many times while serving in Vietnam. He went on to a law degree and then to serve his state, trying to stem the ever rising costs that have destroyed the financial integrity of California. His wife and two children lost him far too early and, believe me, they miss his fey sense of humor, his abiding care, and his courage.

Every day I live with the fact I may die before I am able to ensure the continuing care of a disabled son. My younger brother lives with the uncertainty his condition brings to his own family. Our mother smoked all of her life, thanks to Bernays manipulation. If she had known, if smoking had not been misrepresented to her and her generation, that is a choice she would not have made. We are not going to sue, but we will be heard. Smoking and profiting from false advertising is only one relatively minor issue. But consider what it cost our one family.

Lies and deception kill as they enrich the worst among us. Worse, they destroy our ability to see what is true so that we can invest our lives in what will sustain us and bring joy to ourselves, our families and our larger communities. I miss my siblings every day, no matter how long it has been and will until the day I die.

This is just one family, one set of deaths. Multiply that at least a million times. My siblings were all good, decent people, people who loved their families and supported themselves honestly and transparently.

Bernays lived a profitable life at a cost to all of us that is yet to be calculated. But the cost of corporate greed and government corruption that directly enables that greed must be understood, calculated, and an accountability exacted from those who profited. And he was only one man. Multiply that by the number of attorneys, politicians, and corporate greedy who view Bernays techniques as entirely justified.

Think about what corporate greed has cost you. Then go to Blight Christmas and tell your story; let those who harmed you know what they did. If we are to change the world we need to begin with our own truth. Know the truth. Be heard, and we can change the future for all of us.

About Me: Melinda Pillsbury-Foster is the grand-daughter of Arthur C. Pillsbury, inventor of the first circuit panorama camera; it was his senior project at Stanford in 1896. His senior advisor told him it could not work. AC built it. It worked. Melinda Pillsbuty-Foster has been studying the market and economics through the filter of politics and anthropology for twenty years. She began her studies because it became clear to her that those in positions of power were much like her grandfather's senior advisor. Her political blog is at How the NeoCons Stole Freedom. She is presently working on a book titled, "Off the Grids." She can be found online at http://howtheneoconsstolefreedom.blogspot.com.

Disgruntled wants to know: While the Bernard Madoff swindle may eventually harm some undeserving and innocent victims, he preyed primarily on members of the exclusive country club set. Many enjoy dual US-Israeli citizenship. The charities they generously funded aided the Jewish state. When listed, the names of those impacted that have come forward and revealed how they have been duped by "kind, gentle generous Bernie" reads like who's who among American Jewry. Madoff is like the sea-turtled swallowed by the shark; he has cut a huge hole in the belly of the beast. One wonders will his perfidy, from the perspective of his prey, mean less suffering for the Palestinian victims of Israeli crimes against humanity?

Disgruntled feels: Swindled! Here are the facts. Henry Paulson was CEO of Goldman Sachs until mid-2006. In that august capacity, Paulson earned $35 million in 2005 and $16.4 million in 2006, when he served as CEO for only half a year. Under Paulson's plan to rescue financial markets, Goldman Sachs has received $10 billion. According to news reports, the financial giant has reduced its effective tax rate by 33 percent from $6 billion last year or 34.1 percent of earnings to $14 million this year by moving its profits offshore. Goldman Sachs and the other robber barons that received government bailouts created the credit crisis. It was foolhardy to bail them out. Paulson must have known the outcome of such move, which is why he hides the identify of the institutions that he helped raid the US treasury in the greatest swindle of the new millennium.

Disgruntled says: American consumers are victims of usury, which according to the Bible is a sin.

Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls

Email www.change.gov ...John D. Podesta, Co-Chair, The Obama-Biden Transition Project...Dear John Burl ....Over the coming weeks, thousands of Americans will be leading Health Care Community Discussions -- small local gatherings in which Americans are sharing thoughts and ideas about reforming health care. President-elect Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Daschle are counting on Americans from every walk of life to help identify what's broken and provide ideas for how to fix it. You can help shape that reform by leading your own Health Care Community Discussion anytime between now and December 31st. Secretary-designate Daschle is committed to reforming health care from the ground up, which is why he won't just be reading the results of these discussions -- he'll be attending a few himself. All you have to do is reach out to friends, family, and members of your community and ask them to attend -- and, when it's over, tell us how it went. The Transition's Health Policy Team will gather the results of these discussions to guide its recommendations for the Obama-Biden administration.

Email www.informationclearinghouse.info ...The Best and the Brightest Led America Off a Cliff...By Chris Hedges...The multiple failures that beset the country, from our mismanaged economy to our shredded constitutional rights to our lack of universal health care to our imperial debacles in the Middle East, can be laid at the feet of our elite universities. Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford, along with most other elite schools, do a poor job educating students to think. They focus instead, through the filter of standardized tests, enrichment activities, advanced placement classes, high-priced tutors, swanky private schools and blind deference to all authority, on creating hordes of competent systems managers. The collapse of the country runs in a direct line from the manicured quadrangles and halls in places like Cambridge, Princeton and New Haven to the financial and political centers of power.

Email http://ourfuture.org ...The underlying reason why the right's once vaunted ideas produced such a deep and wide swath of governmental failures is that the wealthy funders of conservative think tanks and advocacy groups wanted more than anything to weaken the government -- lower taxes and less regulation of their businesses were their central motivating aims. But to achieve those goals, the right's institutions needed to develop politically palatable arguments about how their ideas would make everyone, not just big earners, better off. So deregulation would create jobs. Supply-side tax cuts for the rich would trickle down to the masses without increasing deficits. Social Security privatization would make all Americans prosperous in their retirement. Devolving responsibilities like emergency response to the states would produce more efficient government. And so on with school vouchers, health savings accounts, and cutbacks to agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency -- all of which were supposed to be beneficial to the general public.