The DISH

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Vol. 12 Issue 13…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…March 29, 2009

Venue for an Artist

Pieces of a Man

By Gil Scott-Heron

Here I am, after so many years

Hounded by hatred and trapped by fear

I'm in a box,

I've got no place to go

If I follow my mind,

I know I'll slaughter my own.

Help me I'm the prisoner, won't you hear my plea

I need somebody, yeah, to listen to me

I beg you, brothers and sisters,

I'm counting on you (yeah).

Black babies in the womb are shackled and bound

Chained by the caveman who keeps beauty down

Smacked on the ass when they're squalling and wet

Heir to a spineless man who never forgets

Never forgets that he's a prisoner,

Can't you hear my plea?

Cause I need somebody,

Lord knows, to listen to me

I'm a stranger to my son

Who wonders why his daddy runs.

On my way to work in the morning

When I don't give a damn

Can't nobody see just who in hell I am?

Hemmed in by a suit, yes all choked up in a tie

Ain't no wonder some times near morning

I hear my woman cry

She knows her man is a prisoner,

Won't you hear my plea

Yeah, cause I need somebody,

W-o-o-o, to listen to me

My woman she don't say

But she hates to see her man chained this way

Yeah, help me, I'm the prisoner

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm the prisoner

Bit of History

Gil Scott-Heron

Born April 1, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois, Gil Scott-Heron spent his early childhood in Jackson, Tennessee in the home of his maternal grandmother Lillie Scott after his parents' divorce. His mother, a college graduate and librarian, Bobbie Scott-Heron, sang with the New York Oratorial Society. His father, Giles "Gil" Heron of Jamaican descent, nicknamed "The Black Arrow," was a soccer player who, in the 1950s, became the first black athlete to play for Glasgow's Celtic Football Club.

By age 13, Scott-Heron had written his first book of poetry. Unfortunately, about the same time his grandmother died and he moved to the Bronx in New York City to live with his mother. Scott-Heron enrolled in DeWitt Clinton High School. However, one of his teachers, a Fieldston School graduate, showed one of his writings to the head of the school's English department, Scott-Heron transferred to Fieldston under a full scholarship.

Following high school, Scott-Heron attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where he met Brian Jackson with whom he formed the band Black & Blues and later collaborated extensively. Scott-Heron spent two years at Lincoln before taking a year off to complete his novels, The Vulture and The Nigger Factory. Published in 1970, The Vulture was well received.

Instead of returning to complete his degree at Lincoln University, Scott-Heron returned to New York City, settling in Chelsea, Manhattan, a multi-racial and multi-cultural community. While he never received his undergraduate degree, Scott-Heron has a Masters in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Influenced by a poem written by his mentor Bob Thiele and produced under the Flying Dutchman Records label, "Small Talk at 125th and Lennox" was released in 1970. The fifteen (15) tracks of his debut album feature poetic, spoken word and addresses a variety of socioeconomic and political issues, including the superficiality of television and mass consumerism, the hypocrisy of some would-be black revolutionaries, white middle-class ignorance of the difficulties faced by inner-city residents and homophobia. It contains "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," a black American cult favorite.

Scott-Heron's second LP, 1971's Pieces of a Man, expanded his range, featuring songs such as the title track and "Lady Day and John Coltrane." The following year he released Free Will, the last album he produced under the Flying Dutchman label.

In 1975, Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson recorded Winter in America for Strata East, then moved to Arista Records in 1975. His work under Clive Davis' new label included "Johannesburg," which reached number 29 on the R&B charts (1975), Midnight Band: The First Minute of a New Day, It's Your World (1976) and The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron (1979). He also had a hit single with "Angel Dust", which peaked at #15 on the R&B charts (1978). During the 1980's, Scott-Heron produced Reflections (1981) and Moving Target (1982)

Dropped by Arista in 1985, Scott-Heron quit recording. In 1993, he released "Spirits," an album with "Message to the Messengers," a plea for the new generation of rappers to speak for change rather than perpetuate the current social situation, and to be more articulate and artistic. Known in many circles as "the Godfather of rap," Scott-Heron is widely considered one of the genre's founding fathers. Given the political consciousness that lies at the heart of his work, Scott-Heron can also be called a founder of political rap.

Since 2001, Scott-Heron has been sentenced twice to prison for drug possession and parole violation. He also appeared on the Blazing Arrow album by Blackalicious, made a number of live appearances and continues to work on a new album. Canongate Books are planning to publish an autobiography by Scott-Heron in January, 2011. This is to be previewed via a website due to be launched on April 1, 2009. Mark T. Watson, a student of Scott-Heron's work, dedicated a collection of poetry to him titled Ordinary Guy that contained a foreword by Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets. The book was published in the UK in 2004 by Fore-Word Press Ltd. Scott-Heron recorded one of the poems in Watson's book Black & Blue released in 2008 as part of the album Rhythms of the Diaspora by Malik & the OG's on the record label CPR Recordings. (Sources: www.aaregistry.com and http://en.wikipedia.org)

Politics Y2K9

Racial Disparities and Health Outcomes

By John Burl Smith

Currently, the Obama Administration is attempting to overhaul America's healthcare system, thereby guaranteeing access to most, if not all its citizens. The research reviewed here reveals a systemic problem with healthcare even when black Americans have access. The ongoing impact of racism in the allocation and provision of service to African Americans has not been addressed by the President or any of his staff. Hopefully, this review will prompt the administration and Congress to add concerns revealed here to the debate.

Dr. John Z. Ayanian reviewed a group of studies that tracked healthcare patterns and outcomes that point to a troubling conclusion that racial minorities, as a group, are not getting the same care or level of positive health outcomes as the Caucasian population (10-24-06). Two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) suggest that racial minorities are less likely to get surgeries done at skilled, high-volume hospitals, and that African-American participants uniformly do worse in Medicare HMOs, regardless of the health plan's quality rating. Another study cited by the Post concluded that African-American women are less likely to survive breast cancer than Caucasian women.

These differences are pervasive and persist across preventative care to surgical treatment. Not only are U.S. minorities less likely to receive basic tests for common conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, they are also less likely to receive procedures such as appendectomies and heart bypass surgery. Research to determine the causes of these disparities is ongoing, but many studies point to racial factors, such as behavioral differences fueled by cultural perceptions. In addition, low-income blacks tend to live in areas where the public health systems are strained.

According to http://healthaffairs.org, even when hospitals with better outcomes are closer, African-American heart attack victims, who live in racially segregated areas, are more likely to be admitted to hospitals with higher-than-average mortality rates, a new study reveals. This study looked at hospital admissions for Medicare enrollees for acute myocardial infarctions in 118 healthcare markets from 2000 to 2005 and concluded that blacks were 35 percent more likely than whites to be admitted to hospitals classified as "high mortality," meaning hospitals where relatively high percentages of heart attack patients died.

Moreover, researchers found that blacks in segregated areas were more likely than whites to be admitted to high-mortality hospitals even when they were closer to hospitals with better survival rates. This struck researchers as particularly noteworthy given that patients suffering from heart attacks are more typically directed to the closest hospital available.

Black heart attack patients have worse outcomes than their white counterparts in large part because of preexisting chronic health conditions and socioeconomic factors, according to a study published in the March issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The study, authored by John Spertus of the Mid-America Heart Institute and colleagues, analyzed data from a registry of 1,849 heart attack survivors, 28% of whom were black. According to researchers, 19.9% of black patients died within two years of a heart attack, compared with 9.3% for whites. Blacks also had higher rates of severe chest pain at 28%, compared with 17.8% among whites, and had lower quality of life scores. Blacks also were less likely than whites to undergo a procedure to unblock clogged coronary arteries.

There were no differences in genetics or treatment, and most of the disparities can be attributed to "patient characteristics present before admission," according to the study. Black patients had significantly higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and chronic heart and kidney failure. They also had lower health insurance coverage rates, lower incomes and were less likely to be married. According to researchers, there were indications that hospital quality partly contributed to the disparities.

A 20-year study conducted by U.C. San Francisco researchers demonstrated alarmingly disproportionate results between whites and blacks when it comes to developing heart failure by age 50. Subjects were 5,115 18-to-30-year-olds living in Oakland, Birmingham, Chicago, and Minneapolis during the 1980s. The pool comprised 52 percent blacks and 55 percent women. Surprisingly, 27 developed heart failure by the time they were in their mid-40s, with an average age of 39. Of those, 26 were black. So, while the roughly 1 percent rate of heart failure for blacks in the study may seem low -- it is 20 times higher than the rate for whites.

"The cumulative incidence of heart failure before the age of 50 years was 1.1% in black women, 0.9% in black men, 0.08% in white women, and 0% in white men." These results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (3-20-09). "Many of those struck down by heart failure developed red-flag conditions decades before -- such as obesity, chronic kidney disease, and hypertension (75% that developed heart failure had hypertension by age 40). The links between the development of risk factors and the onset of disease one to two decades later was clear," said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo. "Targeting these risk factors for screening and treatment during young adulthood could save lives."

Research after research report tells the same horrible story of blacks receiving inferior healthcare, if they get care at all. Addressing this racial disparity could save thousands of live, not to mention dollar, if blacks receive proper preventive care. (Sources: www.medicalnewstoday.com, www.kaisernetwork.org, www.fiercehealthcare.com, and http://blogs.sfweekly.com)

African Americans, Slavery and Health Outcomes

By John Burl Smith

An article entitled Critical Approach to Stress-related Disorders in African Americans by the Community Mental Health Council (CMHC), Chicago, Illinois-based African-American mental health think tank, discussed what they termed an integrative dynamic approach to stress and is, in part, a response to emergent debates within social science research and practice. It seemed to challenge the contention of some researchers that African Americans are currently experiencing the reverberating psychological effects of slavery and oppression. They suggest researchers should attend more to biopsychosocial, environmental, and cultural factors that are more informative about both exposure and responses to stress, as well as matters of resiliency.

The CHMC contends that "over the past six decades psychologists and psychiatrists have attempted to explain the impact of systematic social, political, and economic marginalization of African Americans" using such a paradigm. Moreover, "some mental health professionals have proclaimed that as a result of slavery and its sequelae, African Americans collectively suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)." The CHMC rejects these historic, psychological approaches as "too simplistic." The Chicago researchers see psychological and physiological questions about slavery's impact as the simple effects of acute and sustained exposure to stress.

For the most part, I agree that past approaches to understanding slavery's impact have been "too simplistic" and that stress is a vital component of many problems black Americans face, but where I differ with these researchers is on dismissing "slavery and its sequelae" as a key component of present day stress levels among blacks. There is a real need to understand the problems caused by slavery and its residual effects that impact blacks today.

First, these researchers fail to establish what they mean by "simplistic." It is far more instructive to identify who is being addressed when referring to slavery. When talking about slaves, the terms slavery and African American are not interchangeable. All Africans in America are not descendants of slaves. Many have ancestors that were never enslaved, while some who were slaves did not experience the harsh conditions others endured, particularly those in the Deep South. And still others, resided in non-slave states (Dred Scott). Such differences become even more acute when one considers that slavery ended for only some blacks in 1863.

More to the point, segregation imposed conditions on some blacks which amounted to slavery without bondage. Consequently, the vast majority of blacks experienced oppression and repression unrelentingly up until the 1970s. Anyone familiar with history knows the Willie Lynch legacy of racism, lynching, terrorism, intimidation and subjection endured by slave descendants in the South during segregation. Their experiences were decidedly different from African Americans or slave descendants who lived in the North. Certainly, compared to whites, all blacks had to learn to cope and live with an inordinate level of stress induced by "slavery and its sequelae," where in the Deep South stress was quantitatively and qualitatively greater.

The point of stress levels in regards to health outcomes is the underlying cause, for without such knowledge stress reduction is impossible. Research has shown that how people think about their ability to control the outcome of stressful experiences has implications for their responses to stress. Individuals who perceive themselves as having little control over the outcome of stressful events employ emotion-focused responses to stress; whereas individuals who believe that they have control over the outcome of stress tend to rely on resolution-oriented or problem solving responses. Slave descendants would be in the former group.

Studies have also asserted that terrorism, torture, and disaster may be analogs to oppression and discrimination in terms of stress. Oppressors achieve their goals by attempting to control the space, time, energies, and freedom of movement of oppressed individuals. Therefore, individuals who are chronically exposed to acts of oppression often adapt a cognitive style that is defensive, tentative, apologetic, and deferential, which produce more stress. Again the docile, dim-witted and compliant persona of slaves and their descendants was obtained by inflicting great pain upon them, thereby convincing them of their lack of control.

However, research also indicates that it is not solely exposure to racism that determined health outcomes. Instead, outcomes are mediated by factors such as racial identity, the meaning and centrality of race to the individual, the meanings constructed about the racist event, and the availability of safe outlets for the expression of the level of rage that such events engender. Slaves and their descendants were certainly denied any sense of safety and dared not show any resentment. These findings are crucial because they underscore the reality that exposure to oppressive stress does not lead to a uniform set of psychological or physical health outcomes. Further, these studies indicate that responses to oppression are determined by a variety of factors.

Hence, to consider stress, as it relates to blacks, as a manifestation of only current events without regard for the impact that slavery played in the formation of learning styles, reaction to uncontrollability and affirmations about racist events made by individuals in the environment, ignores enculturation and vicarious learning. Responses to authority - whites, police, cultural taboos, acceptance of one's place, challenging injustice and exercising rights - are stressors related directly to slavery. The coping strategy a black person employs will be more reflective of their slave ancestry than MTV. Most blacks run away from negative thoughts about slavery and feel everyone should just "get over it." Even so-called educated people refuse to take a serious look at the implications of slavery, whether it involves socioeconomic, political or health issues.

DISHing It Up Hot!

On Black State

By Dot

"The election of the first black president does not mean we can all now close up shop and go home." Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League

Nobody in their right mind expected the state of black America to change overnight with the election of a black man to the highest office in the land. After all, like every other politician that has held this elective office, Barack Obama has pledged his allegiance to the donors and special interests that funded his campaign. Wedded to their causes, he continues the colonial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bails out Wall Street to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, plans to boycott the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), because the language in the draft conference report offends Israel and mentions reparations for slavery, and promises to protect Israel at all costs, even though doing so may not be in the United States' long term best interest.

Having said that, the findings of the National Urban League’s annual report on the State of Black America 2009 are not surprising. Indeed it shows, as one might expect, that black Americans are far worse off than their white counterparts, even as both groups suffer from the current economic downturn. Historically, in good and bad economic times, blacks tend to take the brunt of the economic welfare loss; the current recession or depression in the black community has proven to be no different.

Statistics cited in the report include the double digit black unemployment rate. Blacks are still twice as likely to be unemployed as whites. While the real black median household income fell only 1.7 percent and nearly four percent for whites over the period 2001-2007, the poverty rate for blacks increased nearly eight percent, while for whites it rose by around five percent.

Overall, blacks are three times more likely than whites to live in poverty, and six times as likely to be incarcerated. According to Urban League President Marc Morial in issuing the report, "The educational achievement gap is widening. The number of white children enrolled in preschool increased by about three percent, while among black children, it fell by one percent.

In other areas whites are doing better than blacks. For instance, blacks have less access to health care. According to Census Bureau figures, one in five blacks has no health insurance. Another area of concern cited in the report is the higher foreclosure rate for blacks. Many, even some with good credit and stable employment, were steered into risky subprime mortgages, which have led to higher foreclosures rates.

Unlike previous reports, this one has no specific theme; it is intended for President Barack Obama and his administration. According to Stephanie Jones, the report's editor and the executive director of the Urban League's Policy Institute, "We're looking at this year's report as more than a message for the president, but as a road map for the new president. The report provides suggestions on how "to create jobs, to revitalize housing, to give our children the opportunity to thrive ... it's a very strong policy document and can be used throughout the year and beyond."

Here's hoping the president is interested and will use this road map to improve the state of black America.

Hood Notes

Kennesaw Employment Discrimination

"Racial discrimination and harassment are sometimes subtle, and sometimes people are hit over the head with it. We think in this instance, our clients have been hit over the head with it for years." Attorney Edward Buckley

For Gary Redd, the racist comments began on his first day on the job in the Kennesaw, Georgia public works department in 2006. According to Redd, a native of Korea, he was called "wetback," "rice-eater" and "slant-eye" by his boss and co-workers. Fed up with the hostile work environment, Redd quit in 2008. Redd is one of three former and current Kennesaw public works department employees that filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the small Georgia city on March 9.

Long time employee and interim sanitation supervisor, Willie Smith claims he has endured racist behavior since he was hired in 1995. In 1996, he complained about nooses hanging from two city trucks. He says the n-word was used regularly by bosses and co-workers, and a "White Only" sign was taped to a bathroom stall. Prior to his retirement in February, the head of the public works department, Woody McFarlin, posted a picture of the old Georgia flag with a slice of watermelon on it. The caption read: "Now, here's a flag that will appeal to ALL Georgians!!!!" McFarlin received a written reprimand in 2002 for posting the flag e-mail.

While Smith reported the racist behavior, nothing was ever done to resolve it. Left with no other alternative, Smith, Redd and Stanley Mitchell, a 22-year public works employee, filed a racial discrimination and harassment lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges a pattern of racist e-mails circulated among city employees, including one titled "Ghetto Wedding" and another linking to a video game called "Border Patrol" in which participants can shoot cartoon stereotypes of Mexicans

Several months ago, the city began an internal investigation into racial harassment charges. The city has fired at least one worker and disciplined at least three others, including maintenance worker Gary Dunagan, who was given a one-day suspension without pay in August for using the n-word to refer to blacks. City councilman John Dowdy, who sent the so-called "Border Patrol" e-mail, resigned effective March 31. Public works employee Robert B. Wilkey was placed on paid administrative leave in February for using racially inappropriate words. Sanitation superintendent Tim Letner, a defendant in the lawsuit, was fired in February.

Among the eight defendants named in the lawsuit is Kennesaw Mayor Mark Mathews. Others include city officials and administrators who had the power to stop the racist behavior. The lawsuit awaits Equal Employment Opportunity Commission approval to proceed. (Source: www.ajc.com)

Disgruntled says: We took offense, and rightly so, to an insensitive and overtly racist New York Post cartoon that likened our new president to the crazed chimp killed by Connecticut cops. While I am certainly not above criticizing President Barack Obama on policy issues, I draw the line on overt and covert acts of racism. Such attacks fuel hatred and should not be tolerated. Clearly, that cartoon harkened back to racist stereotypes of blacks as sub-human creatures; simians were the racists' favorite. A boycott was called by Rev. Al Sharpton over the chimp cartoon and the paper issued several apologizes. Like many of you, the DISH was forwarded an email featuring a book display in the window of a Coral Gables, Florida Barnes and Noble. According to the store's spokesperson, this was a malicious prank; the perpetrator is not affiliated with the book store. The book on monkeys inserted in the display that was supposed to be a tribute to the first family was removed. I suppose, given the history of this country, we must be ever vigilant and not overly sensitive, because there are plenty of mischief makers out there ready and willing to pull our chains.

Disgruntled feels: Superficial! A DISH reader, concerned about a recently issued report on an increase in out of wedlock births, asked us to weigh in on this key statistic's impact on wage disparity between/among racial groups. Unsure exactly where this inquiry was going, the reader said he expected some right wing group to "come swinging by saying something like more self control in the bedroom, not more programs, can have a direct effect on earning potential." To that reader and others, let us be clear. When examining the historical data on employment and income, it is clear that all the disparity in household income cannot be explained away by factors such as education, location, age and martial status. There is always a residual. Thus, among black and white single mothers with similar education, work experience, etc., there is an unexplained gap, which we call institutionalized racism. Until we address, as a nation, institutionalized racism, our conversation on wage disparity is superficial!

Disgruntled wants to know: Dallas Police Officer Robert Powell, who is white, stopped NFL Player Ryan Moats, who is black, on March 18 in a hospital parking lot, after Moats rolled through a red light in route to the hospital so family members, including his wife, could visit her dying mother. The confrontation between Moats and the officer were caught on the patrol car's dashboard camera. Clearly, the officer was being a real authoritarian jerk. Obtained by a television news station, the videotape made national news. The Dallas Police Chief issued a statement of contrition and embarrassment, dismissed the ticket and reassigned the police officer. Compared to what happens when police kill young black men, this outrage over the kinds of overzealous policing that happens in the black community on a daily is unreal. Far be it for me to be insensitive that Moats did not get the opportunity to be at his mother-in-law's side before she died, but when will we see the level of concern and outrage expressed in this case extended to the unarmed young black men killed by police?