The DISH
Unbossed and unbought
news and information you can use
Vol. 13 No. 48…Dedicated to the
Dialogue on Race…November 29, 2010
Venue for an Artist
By Margaret Juliet
Bailey
Caribbeans love the
Southern States of the
They are beautiful and charming in their own way.
Their lush places are constant reminders of home,
but, visitors don't feel free to roam,
They tend to scrutinize foreigners harshly,
Simply because they act unrehearsed and haphazardly,
their deviation tends to get on their last nerves,
They associate certain vices with behavior patterns,
or learning curves,
before the scrutinized know it,
they may have earned a neon label,
making them seem incapable or "persona non grata",
maybe even as being unstable,
constantly monitored as if they were polluted water,
Southerners pride themselves on puritanical beliefs,
but not all people who seem different are drug addicts or thieves,
Southern hospitality is admired and revered,
but they need to loosen up and show that they care,
being indifferent and judgmental only harbors hate,
who wants to be laden
down with all that weight?
About
Me: A
By John Burl Smith
The decision of slave owners in
the Southern United States to go to war, rather than give up a socioeconomic
and 
political
way of life built on slavery, cause the deaths of over a million people
(soldier and civilian alike) during the Civil War and the years that followed.
Today, revisionist historians are recasting the justification for the Civil War
to make that rebellion seem like an act of patriotism that superseded the
allegiance to the
Today, those who run Southern state governments doggedly cling to the myth of
the "Lost Cause" and are trying to pull the wool over the public's
eyes with claims of celebrating heritage and honoring Confederate rebels as a
means of studying history. This stealth revision to transform traitors into
heroes has gone from proudly defending the rights of slave masters to
describing the blood spilled to preserve slavery as "a war of
independence." This chicanery is to hide the fact that states' rights is
still about preserving white supremacy, not limiting the reach of "federal"
power.
These dabblers have reduced the once proud "rebel yell" to a cat's
meow, emanating from Gov. Robert McDonnell's infamous Confederate History Month
Proclamation (2010) in
American History Professor and
Director of the
Moreover, the vast southwest territory annexed after the Mexican War (1840s)
and the Louisiana Purchase territories from
According to Dr. Blight, the fight over this question destroyed the Whigs and
Democrats two-party system and gave birth to the Republican Party, which
elected Abraham Lincoln (1860) to address the westward expansion of slavery. Economic
competition and westward expansion were driven by the differing views over
slavery and proved to be irreconcilable on the part of southerners, who saw no
way to maintain their antebellum way of life without slavery.
Prof. Blight found support for
his thesis in the very words Southern states used to justify secession. "
Dr. Blight believes Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, provided the
clearest and most damning statement of why the South declared war,
"Southerners had been 'driven' to secession and war for the 'protection of
the rights of owners of slaves' with interests of such overwhelming magnitude
imperiled" by "Northerners who would surround the South, and render
property in slaves so insecure as to be comparatively worthless."
President Davis declared they "defended slavery as an institution in which
'a superior race' had transformed 'brutal savages into docile, intelligent, and
civilized agricultural laborers."
On its face the argument over
whether slavery caused the Civil War seems trivial today. Obviously,
re-enslaving African Americans in a system of forced bondage is not palatable, so
the trick is to couch efforts to preserve white supremacy through the myth of
the "Lost Cause," states' rights, a war for independence and other
latter day rhetoric that preserves the dream of re-subjugating slave
descendants as was done during segregation.
The "noble cause" as
portrayed by D.W. Griffith helped to create a climate of fear among slave
descendants and hatred among whites. Back then, the Ku Klux Klan claimed to be
defending white privilege, white women and the Christian way of life. Today, it
is the Tea Party, which is led by folksy talking females, spouting glib
statements against "federal intrusion" in local affairs while
declaring the state knows best. It was this kind of states' rights talk that
led to state enforced segregation, the revival of the KKK (1890) and the use of
lynching to drive slave descendants back into a state just above bond slavery.
Powerful businessmen ran the country like it was their business and state
governments were their "lap dogs."
Then as now, the idea was to get
people to accept what seemed to be insignificant little lies regarding small
things about which they knew the truth. Once that became acceptable, people did
not know where to start fighting when the really big lies were told. The battle
over the true cause of the Civil War Prof. Blight and others like him are
fighting is important because today we know the truth. Tomorrow's children will
be unsure, but more importantly, their children will not even care. Read your
history before the truth about it is rewritten.
The
Lafourche
in the northwestern part of the parish. In 1887, when sugar cane cutters tried
to organize a union in St. Mary, Terrebonne, and Lafourche Parishes in
At the time, most cane cutters
were paid $13 per month in script, basically a voucher that could only be
redeemed at the company store, where the markup of goods greatly exceeded their
retail value. Workers were perpetually in debt to the company store. Even this
meager pay for back-breaking labor was considered distasteful by Alexander F.
Pugh, a large sugar planter near
On behalf of the approximately
10,000 black and white workers, roughly 1,000 whites, the Knights of Labor
presented the simple list of demands, i.e., the elimination of script, a small
increase in daily wages, and payment every two weeks, to the planter aristocracy,
which ruled
The Knights of Labor scheduled a
strike for November 1, 1887 during the crucial cane harvest season. Cane
workers refused to work or vacate their cabins, which were plantation-owned.
Alarmed by the potential loss and presence of outsiders, planters called on the
governor for assistance. Governor McEnery (1881-1888), a plantation owner,
ordered the state militia to the embattled region.
The militia worked with local judges in evicting strikers from plantations and
providing protection for "scabs" sent in to replace striking workers.
Problems arose when white scabs were fired upon in Terrebonne parish. Strikers,
who were forced off plantations, were believed to be involved in firing into
sugar mills in Lafourche parish.
Pickets, white civilians for
Striker´s and their family
members were rounded up by vigilantes. Many were told to "run for their lives,"
before being summarily executed. On the morning of November 23, 1887 anywhere
between 30 to 300 black strikers were killed. A company of militiamen known as
the Shreveport Guards is considered to have taken part in the massacre.
Another attempt to organize sugar cane workers in southeast
Rastafarianism: One Man's Religion
Rastafarians, who believe that
Haile Selassie, the son of Ras Makonnen, was a direct descendant of King David,
the 225th ruler in an unbroken line of Ethiopian 
Kings
from the time of Solomon and
Selassie fought against racism,
poverty, miseducation and violence. He died in 1975 at the age of 83; there is
no true record of how he died.
Rastafarians, often called Rastas, use their own bible known as the Holy Piby,
which was banned in
Rastafarians, who express
themselves through diet, hairstyle, and a simple lifestyle, want to live in
harmony with the natural world. The Rasta word, Ital stands for a natural,
organic purity. The Ital way of life is against artificial lifestyles,
especially those from the western world.
Living naturally means growing
their food and eating only Ital food. Some Rastas live the ways of Jah (God)
and
In the mid-1970s, Rastafarianism changed with the start of reggae music; the
most famous singer was Bob Marley. Selassie wore a Lion of Judah ring that was
given to Marley at the time of Selassie's death. The ring disappeared after
Marley's death.
The Ethiopian flag is red, yellow and green. Clothing is often worn with these
colors. Rastafarians also regard themselves as 'I', believing that Jah is in
each person. It is a Rastafarian term of oneness. I and I are the oneness of
two people.
Rastafarians believe that God is a spirit and that this spirit was manifested
in King H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie I. Rastafarians believe that Jesus was a
direct descendant of King David and was black. Rastafarians believe that the
Ethiopian Solomonic Dynasty is a direct representation of King David.
Rastafarians believe that they are the original Lost Tribes of Israel that were
once scattered by Babylon until the appearance of His Imperial Majesty Emperor
Haile Selassie I. Rastafarians believe that God will return them to Zion (
Ethiopia), the Promised Land and Heaven on Earth. The White Man took them away
from the Promised Land (Ethiopia/Zion) as slaves to
Rasta Segregation Ends
Many Rastafarians and other
inmates in
The Associated Press reported in June that 48 inmates were being held in
segregation for ignoring the state's grooming policy, which bans beards and
calls for hair to be kept above the shirt collar.
Department of Corrections
spokesman Larry Traylor told AP that 31 inmates were transferred to
"While there remains a need
for consequences when offenders choose not to adhere to VADOC policy, it was
determined that offenders whose only offense is failure to comply with the
grooming policy should be housed and managed separately from the general
population but did not require housing in segregation," Traylor said.
Inmates will not have all the
privileges of the prison's general population, but they are allowed to move
inside their unit, more personal property, and educational and other programs.
Traylor said in June the policy
was needed to prevent inmates from hiding weapons and drugs in their long hair
or beards, and also to keep them from quickly changing their appearance if they
escape. At least 10 Rastafarian inmates, who view growing their hair unbridled,
typically in dreadlocks as a tenet of their religion, have been in isolation
since the policy was enacted in 1999.
Traylor said about 300 inmates
identified themselves as Rastafarians, and only 13 are out of compliance with
the grooming standards. Inmates will continue to have their heads shaved when
they enter prison, Traylor said.
"It should not have taken eleven years, but DOC is finally realizing that
there was never any need to punish these prisoners because of their religious
beliefs," said Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil
Liberties Union of Virginia. The Virginia ACLU represented a group of
Rastafarian and Muslim inmates who unsuccessfully challenged the policy in
2003.
"Being isolated in such a fashion for years, even while inside prison, is
beyond the pale of a civilized society," said Evans Hopkins, a former
prisoner, award-winning writer and close friend to Rastafarian inmate Ivan
Sparks, who died last year while in segregation. "I hope the DOC will
continue to try to work these men back into the general population, and prepare
them for release."
Others who have fought against
the policy for years were not as pleased. "I'm going to remain hopefully
optimistic that this may prove to be better, but I don't quite know yet,"
said Janet Taylor, whose Rastafarian name is "Queen Nzinga."
DeLay's Justice
On Wednesday, a 
campaigns.
Following the verdict, DeLay, who remains free on bond, told reporters outside
the courtroom, "This is an abuse of power. It's a miscarriage of justice,
and I still maintain that I am innocent. The criminalization of politics
undermines our very system and I'm very disappointed in the outcome."
DeLay is tentatively scheduled to be sentenced on December 20 and faces up to
life in prison on the money laundering charge. However, since he is white and
Texan, most pundits believe he will receive probation.
DeLay, who wielded considerable
power when he held the No. 2 job in the House of Representatives, became known
as "the Hammer," for his rigid enforcement of party discipline and
abuse of power. DeLay drew criticism from public interest groups over his ties
with
During the three-week trial, prosecutors argued that DeLay conspired with two
associates, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, to use his Texas-based PAC to send
$190,000 in corporate money to an arm of the Washington-based Republican
National Committee (RNC), which sent the same amount to seven Texas House
candidates. The money helped Republicans take control of the Texas House for
the first time since Reconstruction. The Texas House GOP majority then pushed
through a Delay-engineered congressional redistricting plan that sent more
Texas Republicans to Congress in 2004. Ultimately, the newly redistricted map
aided Republicans in defeating five Democratic incumbents in the 2004 US House
elections, accounting for the entire Republican net gain that year.
DeLay, who faces five years to life in prison on the money laundering charge
and two to 20 years on the conspiracy charge, said that he plans to appeal the
conviction. (Source: www.csmonitor.com)
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Email achimova@iinet.net.au ...Hi Dot...This is a terrific post (Vol. 13
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