"Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use"

Volume 1 Issue 13….Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… April 10, 1998

by Dot

When America's founding fathers embraced the Great Compromise (1787), the nation institutionalized slavery and bastardized the democratic precepts on which the republic was founded. This Compromise suspended black human and economic rights of self-determination. Dubbed the 3/5ths Compromise because blacks were assigned an economic value equal to 60% a white man, this dubious agreement legalized black human capital enslavement. Neither Civil War, Constitutional Amendments, Supreme Court rulings, riots, a nonviolent Civil Rights movement, nor the advent of enlightenment dismantled mechanisms installed to achieve the prescribed ratio. Because none of these efforts eradicated racism, it influences America's contemporary economy. Today's blatant bias warrants national attention, yet even ex-presidents tiptoe around the political hot potato. Clinton traveled abroad to initiate the dialogue. It's a national disgrace that a new millennium dawns, and Americans still cannot intelligently discuss race. As leader of the "free" world, America's domestic hypocrisy raises moral and ethical questions of geopolitical significance. Moreover, blacks are still second class citizens valued at 3/5ths white Americans.

Dating back to1947, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) demographic data makes possible the comparison of white and black economic welfare. Over approximately forty (40) years, the median black to white family income ratio fluctuated in a very narrow range from 50 to 65%. Based on incomes of $34,935 and $56,197 for black and white families, respectively, that ratio stood at 63% in 1996. Throughout this period, the relative economic welfare of blacks increased less than 5% from the 60% specified in the 1787 Compromise. Over the same time span, the ratio declined nearly 10% in some years. For example, in 1959, the ratio was only 52%. Though painting an ugly picture, these numbers are pleasant compared to mean family income ratios. In examining these for families in the lowest fifth or poorest percentile, the mean family income ratio for 1996 was 44%, i.e. $5,651 and $13,097 for black and white mean family incomes, respectively.

What does all this mean? From an economic welfare perspective, the empirical evidence indicates economic enslavement continues unabated. In relative economic terms, blacks are basically on an economic treadmill, moving neither forwards nor backwards, in effect standing still. Pragmatically, it is unrealistic, even asinine really to assume blacks could narrow the economic welfare gap created by institutionalized slavery. This is especially true given the climate in which this advancement must occur, a climate characterized by notions of white supremacy, resistance to change, and black control over nothing. With tax revenues funding public and private roadblocks to black advancement, like Sovereignty Commissions, the system dispenses disparate treatment, guaranteeing an inequitable income distribution. Hence, relatively speaking, the economic position of blacks changed little despite slavery's abolition.

The vast array of empirical evidence cries out for remedies. DISH again recommends the solution advanced by new generation poet and author Yohannes Sharriff Smith. Smith's work, T.H.I.N.C. (Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness): The Chrysalis of Evolution, (Intuit Publishing Co., 1997) utilizes personal experiences to delineate aspects of the race dilemma. Through his poetic muse and on point prose, Smith paints stark examples of racism and discrimination. Along with his refreshing dose of reality, Smith provides modern terminology to describe conditions characterizing the economic gap between blacks and whites. Smith introduces linear secularism and conditioned subordinate psychology to describe the neo-slave mind-set of those victimized and the superior attitude of those who benefit from a system based on disparate treatment. Calling the gap the Chasm of Inequality, Smith recommends reparations as the only logical remedy for the income inequity created by American slavery. More important than his call for reparations, Smith advances a model for examining the welfare implications of public policy.

DISH applauds the recent mainstream media recognition of slavery as an unresolved issue in the annals of American history. Acknowledging the need for reparations is a critical first step to any realistic race dialogue that seeks an honorable resolution. Posed at the precipice of a new millennium, America sits atop a ticking time bomb bound to blow while whites deny the need for discussion. Any other enlightened society would have repented and repaid its debt voluntarily for committing crimes against mankind more heinous than the Nazi genocide of German Jews. Yet, blacks are still abused. In subliminal hypocrisy, whites pretend racial prejudice does not exit, while claiming some general entitlement disproportionately benefiting whites paid the debt. Asinine, whites pretend any percentage decrease in the economic welfare gap, made possible through public policy, unfairly hurts them. Hence, conservatives demand the country abandon any affirmative remedies for past, let alone today's racial discrimination.

Caged by a biased market for human capital and possessing no wealth, American blacks cannot effectively compete, either domestically or internationally. Blacks are marginalized by the caprices of an unequal playing field. Economically emasculated, blacks languish in a position of Catch 22. To survive, blacks pay more for everything through higher than normal insurance rates for coverage mandated by law, higher gasoline and grocery prices in black neighborhoods, maximum interest rates charged by banks and other financial institutions, including insurance and mortgage companies, pawn shops and credit unions, etc. And, in exchange, blacks receive smaller quantities, inferior quality, and less service. Conversely, blacks receive neither the extra perks nor respect normally associated with paying more. The system is designed to keep blacks stuck in the Chasm of Inequality. Therein lies the rub. Handicapped for being black, owning less to start, blacks pay more for everything to end up owning even less or just treading, making the accumulation of wealth impossible, and ensuring a cycle of poverty.

In both the private and public sectors, blacks are discriminated against. Enslaved by temporary agencies, discriminated against on part-time, minimum wage and even better paying jobs, blacks receive less pay. Like second class citizen elsewhere, blacks are the last hired and the first fired. Blacks pay taxes but their interests are not represented. Being black means paying higher insurance rates, receiving less Social Security because blacks generally expire before they retire, getting larger and more frequent fines, sentences and fees assessed in civil and criminal proceedings, and being stopped more often by cops handing out traffic citations. An amalgam of such taxing mechanisms limit disposable income and prevent any accumulation of wealth. If more needs to be siphoned off to maintain the agreed compromise percentage, new more restrictive regulations and rules are passed and enforced in the black community. If anything is accumulated, such as a car or house, then the system finds a way to repossess, place a lien on it or otherwise diminish its value. This is contemporary black slavery.

Hypocrites and those practicing denial will suggest otherwise. By ignoring inequities and the empirical evidence, they will claim the opposite - blacks enjoy full citizenship. The system's apologists discount any adverse impact of slavery on contemporary black economic conditions. With no credible scientific basis to make such an argument, hypocrites and the ignorant will dismiss credible scientific evidence, including statistics compiled by the government. DISH assumes the government's numbers don't lie. They simply paint an ugly picture of American equality and democracy. Moreover, the data supports an important component of the Smith economic welfare paradigm, i.e., the 3/5ths Compromise is alive and well and continues to guide the distribution of contemporary national economic welfare.

Kudos Korner

This week's kudos corner is dedicated to Mike Luckovich, Atlanta-Journal Constitution political cartoonist, for aptly portraying the Catch 22 position of the Atlanta community in his 4/6/98 cartoon of Mayor Campbell stuffing his pockets at the taxpayers' expense and the community's detriment. Thanks Mike!

Nit Pick

Changed Freaknik

to some old simple sick shit

fit for some white hick!

by Yohannes Sharriff Smith

Quick! I am loaded.

Click! I am a bullet pulling out of the chamber.

Hot heat hitting gray asphalt.

Busy confusion city urban rush hour taxi ride,

Pedestrians look for a bullet train late for work.

I hurt something awful like broken black glass realities.

Echoes of scattering shards

Ghetto middle passage neo-slave lashes scare my eyes.

As I ride...run to my home...to the hungry streets of Memphis.

My flesh is of this suffering dripping from the gutters as heavenly nectar.

Soul stirring pain rains over rotting wood leaning from too many years of not enough love.

The Blues of Beale still play but to survive it needs a white face.

The Blues still play in songs of the babies surviving on refinery smoke.

Mike almost died behind bars from diabetes.

Denied medical treatment, but he was lucky.

Saundra died. The preacher's eulogy was saturated with unrequited lust for her.

The same face that shined and played happy spring games, now fades in a winter too early.

A bitter frost. Lines...step on a crack...

Nursery rhymes...step on a crack ..lines dig well worn grooves into hard black faces.

Strange fruit sun ripen...Children find home in this game.

Too old to know childhood

Too old to know youth still in the womb Rob...Dear Lord...

I see sunshine in their eyes...

I see the great promise

What can be, if only...

Sirens scream drowning thought in ghetto shattered glass realities.

Poetry Month one year ago, I was introduced to the Atlanta poetry scene by, Yohannes Sharriff Smith, the author of T.H.I.N.C. (Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness): The Chrysalis of Evolution. Yohannes, a business major and owner of Intuit Creative Ideas Manifested Inc., (ICIM), returned to Atlanta a poet, planning to go on the road performing. He invited me to the Pattie Hut in Rio Mall to experience his vibe. It was truly a remarkable encounter. For the first time since the sixties, this reporter witnessed young black men and women expressing their heritage with eloquence and passion. I experienced a true conversion.

Today, a tour of the Atlanta poetry scene begins with an open mic at Mecca on Peachtree, hosted by the Mighty I Am Project. It is one of the longest running venues. I caught Yohannes after his performance. What is your response to Poetry Month? " It's probability a good thing for those who need a reason to feel the muse, but we live the vibe. This is not about becoming stars. Nobody supports us. We support each other. All during the sixties our leaders said, we had to stick together, help each other, and buy from those who buy from us! Where is everybody?" Does this make you feel like giving up? "Hell No! This is all we have. Ever since slavery, this has been it. We need reparations. Young folks are going to have to do it themselves."

After Mecca, it's decision time. Do I jump over to Level 2, an African American Art Gallery on Marietta Street, which offers a show style venue? This montage is billed as an upscale poetry scene limited to invitations or auditions; Sonya Hamilton presents this artsy set. Or, do I check out TreeTop Records on Sweet Auburn Avenue; it serves up a lively walk-up reggae set offering nitty gritty soul. The rap is definitely as spicy as the Jamaican food sold in the restaurant next door.

Instead, I hang a sharp right down Spring Street, just past the Varsity. Hooking hard, we turn into Ying Yang's just before the witching hour. A very quaint intimate little place with a late night venue. This is when the creatures come out, and the hard core purveyors of the spoken word take the mic. This scene has an unregulated hierarchy with only one code, "You have to be better than good to take the mic." "Neo Poet" Derwin Jones of Cartersville makes the trip to Atlanta weekly. This reporter wondered if it was worth the late drive back. " Oh yeah! You know driving back after a night at the spot, giving love, sharing each other's vibe, taking the mic, and working on your craft, I am high. I have all of that love to keep me company on the ride back." Do you think Atlanta appreciates what young black performers are doing, in light of the fact, you guys get no financing, and club owners get the door for providing the space." Man, Atlanta is a real disappointment, the city funds the Chastain Museum. I have been all around the country performing, and Atlanta has the liveliest poetry scene anywhere, but Atlanta doesn't know it. The real problem is, there are no white kids hanging in the vibe whose folks got money. Anytime rich kids do something like this the city, the media, and everybody else thinks it's great. But not when the kids are black, poor and minority."

This object lesson is designed to show the American dream is alive for some young African Americans, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. What they have put together would be remarkable, if these kids had majored in drama, writing, literature, or acting. However, these beautiful, talented and imaginative young people are teaching each other. This is the spirit, which cannot be enslaved! @$#? = %+#$*

Mailbox: "It's as simple as the nose on most folks face, Michael Jackson don't count. White folks just get treated better. Ain't no sense in them pretending them thieving white kids are being treated to the one strike you out crap used to lock our kids and menfolk up!" V. C.-Palmetto.

"Niggas burning alive!" Unknown e-mail.

"Keep the faxes coming honey. We need to know who is stealing our money!" C. Cummings-Jonesboro

Back   ||  ICIM Home   ||  THINC  ||  The DISH || Reparations