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Vol. 13 Issue 12…Dedicated to the Dialogue
on Race…March 21, 2010
Intuit's Vibe
Stand !
By Sly and the Family
Stone
In the end you'll still be you
One that's done all the things you set out to do
Stand
There's a cross for you to bear
Things to go through if you're going anywhere
Stand
For the things you know are right
It's the truth that the truth makes them so uptight
Stand
All the things you want are real
You have you to complete and there is no deal
Stand. stand, stand
Stand
You've been sitting much too long
There's a permanent crease in your right and wrong
Stand
There's a midget standing tall
And the giant beside him about to fall
Stand. stand, stand
Stand
They will try to make you crawl
And they know what you're saying makes sense and all
Stand
Don't you know that you are free
Well at least in your
mind if you want to be
Everybody
Stand, stand, stand
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (1828- 1914)
Born on September 8, 1828 in
Brewer, 
pass
the entrance examination at
Graduating in 1852, he studied at the Bangor Theological Seminary before
returning to Bowdoin to teach in 1855. He became a professor of rhetoric and
eventually taught every subject with the exceptions of science and math.
Chamberlain was appointed Professor of Modern Languages in 1861, after becoming
fluent in eight languages: Latin, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Arabic,
Hebrew and Syriac.
Chamberlain's forefathers were military men, serving in the American Revolution
War and War of 1812. The Civil War stirred Chamberlain's desire to follow in
their footsteps, but the administration at Bowdoin felt he was too valuable as
a teacher. He requested and received a leave of absence to study languages in
Europe, then promptly volunteered for the
Chamberlain became a lieutenant colonel in the 20th
Following a promotion to brigade
commander, Chamberlain made another valiant stand at the battle of
A proven fighter, Chamberlain was
given command of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of the V Corps upon his
return to duty. He continued his courageous exploits on the
Chamberlain left the army after
the war ended and returned to
Chamberlain married Fanny Adams, his childhood sweetheart (1855). Of the
couple's five children, three died in infancy. Fanny's sight deteriorated with
age, so Chamberlain took up the cause of the visually impaired and founded the
Maine Institution of the Blind in 1905, the year Fanny died. On February 24,
1914, due to complications from his wounds, the "Lion of Little Round
Top" died at the age of 85 in
Chamberlain has lived on in drink
and song, book and legend. Through popular media, Chamberlain has been
immortalized by such artists as lyricist Steve Earle on his album The Mountain in the song
Dixieland. Writer Michael Shaara won a Pulitzer Prize for his portrayal of
Chamberlain in The Killer Angels,
as well as the movie based on that novel. Actor Jeff Daniels gave a griping
performance as Chamberlain in
Chamberlain's life and heroics
stand as shining examples of how true dedication to an ideal larger than one's
self can inspire and motivate others to make greater contributions. (Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org and http://militaryhistory.about.com)
By John Burl Smith
Born during the time when giants
walked amongst men, changing things seemed hopeless to a mere mortal. They were
always the first to step up when the community needed help. They took a stand
to defend people when trouble threatened. Having giants around made it easier
for people to stand back and depend on them to take care of problems, provide
leadership and face the wrath of a hostile majority.
Their stand gave the weak
courage, resolve and inspiration, even when the earth shook with each step and
death was an imminent possibility. Walking in their massive shadows and huge
footsteps, ordinary individuals felt they could somehow measure up to their
giant stature. The hope of standing shoulder to shoulder with their towering
image helped ordinary mortals rise to those lofty heights where only heroes
reside.
However in reality, these were
not physical giants, they were ordinary individuals like everyone else, but
through some unknown inner process, they found the will and power to go far
beyond what was expected or demanded of mere mortals. History provides some
startling examples of the role these amazing personalities played in sustaining
slave descendants trying to survive in
While castigated by many and reviled by most, writers, orators and activists,
such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown, William
Wilberforce, Jacques Pierre Brissot, Abby Kelley Foster, Susan B. Anthony,
Charles Henry and John Mercer Langston, loomed large over the abolition of
slavery. Their agitation planted seeds that grew like "red woods,"
and "a rail splitter," who fell many a tree, set his ax at the root
of the growing evil of slavery. With the stroke of a pen, like Paul Bunyan's
mighty ax, Abraham Lincoln cut slavery's life line to preserve the
The fight to save the
Emancipation was truly a giant
step for a divided nation, but Southern whites drew the color line and hanging
blacks became a sign of the times. Mob rule and lynching were the law of the
land and a new breed of giants stepped up to lend a hand. Ida B. Wells, W. E.
B. Du Bois, A. Phillip Randolph, Thurgood Marshall, Adam Clayton Powell and
many others walked through "the valley of the shadow of death"
against the evils of segregation. Pushed down on their knees, forced to
"bow and scrap," relegated to the chasm of inequality and pushed to
the back of the bus, blacks revered those Herculean champions, which were a
disappearing breed.
It was with "amazing
grace" that a woman in
It was a time when winning a fight was not the measure. Sometimes, it is the
stand one is willing to take during a battle and not the prospect for victory
that determines the outcome of the fight. It is necessary at times to send a
message of resolve or the willingness to stand with only one's sword for
support that can turn defeat into victory. It is possible to loose every
battle, yet win the war. President Lincoln faced just such a dilemma in the
early days of the Civil War. He knew soldiers could not win, when generals were
afraid to fight.
Today, African Americana do not have giants to make a stand on their behalf.
Yet, looking back at the deprivation of the past, while continuing to endure
massive poverty, the survival of slave descendants is witness to our stand
against incredible odds. African Americans are in the same position as Mr.
Lincoln in 1862. Black leaders have been in retreat since November 2, 2008,
having lost every battle up to this point in a war that is not over. Without a
serious fight, they have conceded every gain made over the last 40 years,
except the right to vote. Presently, they are looking to a President that made
giant promises but has delivered only minuscule results. If black leaders do
not make a stand and use the power the black community represents wisely, our
future will mirror our past.
President Barack Obama has spoken
laudably of Pres. Lincoln's stand, would Mr. Lincoln be as proud of Pres.
Obama's stand in regards to slave descendants?
Stand Up While You Read This!
By Olivia Judson
It doesn't matter if you go
running every morning, or you're a regular at the gym. If you spend most of the
rest of the day sitting - in your car, your office chair, on your sofa at home
- you are putting yourself at increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart
disease, a variety of cancers and an early death. In other words, irrespective
of whether you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you.
That, at least, is the conclusion
of several recent studies. Indeed, if you consider only healthy people who
exercise regularly, those who sit the most during the rest of the day have
larger waists and worse profiles of blood pressure and blood sugar than those
who sit less. Among people who sit in front of the television for more than
three hours each day, those who exercise are as fat as those who don't: sitting
a lot appears to offset some of the benefits of jogging a lot.
So what's wrong with sitting? The answer seems to have two parts. The first is
that sitting is one of the most passive things you can do. You burn more energy
by chewing gum or fidgeting than you do sitting still in a chair. Compared to
sitting, standing in one place is hard work. To stand, you have to tense your
leg muscles, and engage the muscles of your back and shoulders; while standing,
you often shift from leg to leg. All of this burns energy.
For many people, weight gain is a matter of slow creep - two pounds this year,
three pounds next year. You can gain this much if, each day, you eat just 30
calories more than you burn. Thirty calories is hardly anything. It's a couple
of mouthfuls of banana, or a few potato chips. Thus, a little more time on your
feet today and tomorrow can easily make the difference between remaining lean
and getting fat.
You may think you have no choice about how much you sit. But this isn't true.
Suppose you sleep for eight hours each day, and exercise for one. That still
leaves 15 hours of activities. Even if you exercise, most of the energy you
burn will be burnt during these 15 hours, so weight gain is often the
cumulative effect of a series of small decisions: Do you take the stairs or the
elevator? Do you e-mail your colleague down the hall, or get up and go and see
her? When you get home, do you potter about in the garden or sit in front of
the television? Do you walk to the corner store, or drive?
Just to underscore the point that you do have a choice: a study of junior
doctors doing the same job, the same week, on identical wards found that some
individuals walked four times farther than others at work each day. (No one in
the study was overweight; but the "long- distance" doctors were
thinner than the "short- distance" doctors.)
So part of the problem with sitting a lot is that you don't use as much energy
as those who spend more time on their feet. This makes it easier to gain
weight, and makes you more prone to the health problems that fatness often
brings.
But it looks as though there's a more sinister aspect to sitting, too. Several
strands of evidence suggest that there's a "physiology of
inactivity": that when you spend long periods sitting, your body actually
does things that are bad for you.
For more on this article and the
health studies on the consequences of spending less time sitting, see
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/stand-up-while-you-read-this/?scp=4&sq=olivia%20judson.
Sleep Differences among Ethnic Groups
On March 8, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) released its 2010 Sleep in America poll, which
reveals significant differences in the sleep habits and attitudes of Asians,
Blacks/African-Americans, Hispanics and Whites. This year's poll findings were
released as part of the 13th annual National Sleep Awareness Week campaign that
culminates with the change to Daylight Saving Time.
The 2010 Sleep in America poll was
conducted by WB&A Market Research, using a random sample of 1,007 adults
between the ages of 25-60 who identified themselves as White,
Black/African-American, Asian or Hispanic, the group definitions used by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Census Bureau. It
should be noted that the Sleep
in America Poll Task Force did consider economic factors in
analyzing the data. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points at the 95%
confidence level.
NSF's Sleep in America poll found that more than
three-fourths of respondents from each ethnic group agree that poor sleep is
associated with health problems (76-83%). The poll also shows that all groups
report disturbingly similar experiences missing work or family functions
because they were too sleepy (19-24%). Among married people or couples living
together, all ethnic groups report being too tired for sex frequently (21- 26%
of the time).
Blacks/African-Americans report
the busiest bedtime routines. They are the most likely to report performing
activities in the hour before going to bed every night or almost every night,
specifically watching TV (75%) and/or praying or doing another religious
practice (71%). Blacks/African-Americans and Hispanics (10% each) are ten times
more likely to report having sex every night than Asians (1%) and 2.5 times
more likely than Whites (4%).
Blacks/African-Americans report
losing sleep every night over personal financial concerns (12%) and employment
concerns (10%) at a higher rate than Whites (6% and 7%) or Asians (1% and 4%).
Hispanics are almost equally concerned each night about these two issues (11%
and 9%, respectively). Overall, at least one-third of Hispanics (38%) and
Blacks/African-Americans (33%) report that these concerns disturb their sleep
at least a few nights a week, compared to about one-fourth of Whites (28%)
and/or Asians (25%).
While Blacks/African-Americans report the least amount of sleep, they also say
they need less sleep. Blacks/African-Americans report getting the least amount
of sleep on workdays/weekdays (6 hours and 14 minutes). Interestingly, they
also say that they need only 7 hours and 5 minutes of sleep each night to
perform at their best during the day, which is significantly less sleep than
Asians and Hispanics (7 hours and 29 minutes each).
Whites are the most likely to report sleeping with their pets and/or their
significant other/spouse. Among those married or partnered, Whites are much
more likely (14%) than the other ethnic groups (2% each) to say they usually
sleep with a pet. Among those married or partnered, 90% of Whites report that
they sleep with their significant other compared to 84% of
Blacks/African-Americans, 76% of Hispanics and 67% of Asians. Interestingly,
among all respondents, Whites are the least likely to say they sleep alone (21%
versus 41% Blacks/African-Americans, 37% Asians and 31% Hispanics.)
Among those married or partnered respondents with children, Asians (28%) and
Hispanics (22%) are the most likely to report that they sleep in the same room
with their children (compared to 15% of Blacks/African-Americans and 8% of
Whites).
For the most comprehensive source
of information on sleep health, visit the National Sleep Foundation's website, www.sleepfoundation.org, where you can also
read the complete Summary of Findings and highlights from this year's Sleep in America poll and
polls from prior years.
Caucus Keeps Complaints Quiet (Excerpts)
By Michael Leahy
A year ago, members of the
Congressional Black Caucus openly wept at Barack Obama's inauguration. Slowly,
that euphoria has given way to frustration that his administration has not done
more for black
For many, it is the surprise of a political lifetime that they find themselves
wrestling with such quandaries. Alternately puzzled and disgruntled, CBC
members say key people in the Obama administration have taken them for granted,
in the belief that black members of Congress have no stomach for a fight with
the country's first black president.
"We concluded they were just
kind of listening to us and that then they would go back [to their offices] and
conclude that we would do nothing," Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.), the vice
chairman of the CBC, said of one dispute. "Because they had concluded
there's a black president in the White House and that, to some degree, the
Black Caucus, you know, was constrained in expressing its desires. After a while,
we said, 'Hey, we see what's going on and it's nothing.' "
On Thursday, CBC members
participated in a rare one-hour policy meeting with Obama at the White House to
discuss their concerns, most notably their disappointment over a jobs bill that
they regard as largely a package of tax breaks for employers, noticeably bereft
of job-training programs, new infrastructure projects and summer employment
opportunities for youth. Such issues are vital to the CBC, many of whose
members represent districts with high levels of unemployment.
In interviews with aides and
members afterward, Obama was described as receptive to their message, even
though he did not make any large-scale commitments. A White House official
issued a statement that ignored any tensions with CBC members and stressed the
administration's goals: "President Obama is working to develop inclusive
policies, whether in health care, education or the economy, that will have a
broad impact on the American people, and Thursday's meeting with the Congressional
Black Caucus was a productive effort toward reaching that goal."
Not withstanding Thursday's kind
words, the CBC's list of complaints with the White House runs from policy to
personal. Despite the caucus's entreaties, the administration has not provided
targeted help to black communities and other struggling areas suffering from
disproportionately high unemployment. Many caucus members say they feel largely
ignored by key White House advisers. Their communication with Obama himself is
minimal to nonexistent.
Several CBC members and aides
talk derisively of an oft-quoted Obama phrase: that a "rising tide"
for
Many in the 42-member CBC
passionately disagree. African Americans and Latinos "bear the brunt of
this economic recession," said Maxine Waters (
Several prominent caucus members
have expressed doubts about the interest of administration officials in African
American issues, referring to figures including Treasury Secretary Timothy F.
Geithner, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and senior adviser David
Axelrod. They "haven't had much involvement with minority communities in
their careers, said Rep. Donald M. Payne (N.J.). "They've been in suites
and boardrooms."
The most important discussions between CBC members and administration officials
have been prompted by the threat of political crises. But CBC members
acknowledge the paradox they face. How can you express criticism of the
administration without eventually confronting the man at the top? Some say any
public airing of their disagreements with Obama runs the risk of politically
damaging the president and ultimately slowing the advancement of other African
Americans.
Others argue that the president has spent too much time trying to appease
Republicans. "His detractors and political opponents want to try to cast
him in the role of being some sort of partisan for African American
issues," Rep. Keith Ellison (
Disgruntled feels: Ridiculous! According to
Moody's Investors Service, the
Disgruntled
wants to know: Some conservative estimates indicate that at least 3
million people are not included in the official
Disgruntled
says: This week, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn), who chairs the Senate
Banking Committee, unveiled his draft legislation to overhaul financial
regulation in an effort to prevent another financial crisis. Surprisingly, Dodd
stood alone at the press conference to announce the measure. Neither a Democrat
nor a Republican shared the podium. By some standards, the proposed legislation
does not go far enough to rein in the excesses that led to the financial
crisis. However, given that the financial sector, with its vast resources and
powerful lobby, controls
Mailbox: E-Mails,
Faxes and Telephone Calls
Email www.foxnews.com
Tea Party Leader, GOP Condemn Racial Slurs Hurled at Black
Lawmakers...Republican National Chairman Michael Steele and one of the
organizers of Saturday's Tea Party rally strongly condemned the racial slurs
that some black lawmakers alleged were yelled at them by some health care
protesters as they headed for a procedural vote at Capitol Hill. Steele
rejected the notion that the incident may make any association with the Tea
Party Movement a danger. "It's not a danger," Steele told NBC's
"Meet the Press." "It's not a reflection of the movement, of the
Republican Party when you have idiots our there saying stupid things. We don't
support that. You can have this debate without attacking." The incident
occurred Saturday after thousands of Tea Partiers descended upon Capitol Hill
to rally against Sunday's major vote on health care reform. Some of the
protesters targeted a handful of black members of Congress and one gay lawmaker
as they walked from the House office buildings to the Capitol to make a
procedural vote. Reps. John Lewis, D-Ga, and Andre Carson, D-Ind., both members
of the Congressional Black Caucus, said that a group of protesters hollered at
them and called them the N-word.
Email www.upi.com ...Teen charged with racial slur at
Wal-Mart -- A 16-year-old boy has been charged with a bias crime for telling
black customers to leave a South Jersey Wal-Mart, police said Saturday.
Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton and Washington Township Police Chief
Rafael Muniz said at a news conference the teen was arrested Friday night and
released to his parents, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. They said he lives
in
Email www.globe-democrat.com ...Cardinals
to celebrate African-American Heritage Day…By Alvin Reid...The St. Louis
Cardinals will celebrate African-American Heritage Day on Saturday, April 17 in
conjunction with a 3:10 p.m. game against the New York Mets. Pavilion reserved
box tickets are $35 for adults and $20 for children, and include a 90-minute
pre-game buffet, pre-game entertainment and a "meet-and-greet" with
former OR current players. Unless something changes in the next two weeks, fans
that attend African-American Heritage Day will not see an African-American
player, coach or front-office decision maker. The Cardinals currently are
0-for-all of these. With Joe Thurston now a member of the Atlanta Braves and
former batting instructor Hal McRae dismissed to make way for Mark McGwire, the
Cardinals are among few Major League Baseball teams with no black presence on
the field or in its coaching ranks. Who cares? I care.
Email cmull67520@aol.com...Subject:
Revolution, what does it mean? To you! Revolution, What does it Mean? "If
we accept revolution, we must accept all that it implies: Repression,
counter-terrorism, days filled with work, nervous strain, prison, funerals. Our
present job as soldiers is to protect our political people at their work and
enforce the increasing demands that the people, as a political result, will
make upon power. The soldier is the counter-terrorist, the bodyguard, the first
of a military vanguard. The distance between him and the class enemy is a free
fire zone. He has to be the baddest and strongest of our kind: Calm, sure,
self-possessed, completely familiar with the facts that the things that stand
between black men and violent death are the fast break, quick drew, and snap
shot. Terrible Jonathans teethed on the barrel of the political tool, hardened
against the concrete of the most uncivilized jungles of the planet -