"Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use"

Volume 2 Issue 41 …Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race …October 22, 1999

The DISH is based on themes from T.H.I.N.C. (Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness): The Chrysalis of Evolution. It is recommended reading by the President's Initiative on Race. Call (404) 244-6023 or e-mail us for your copy.

by Yohannes Sharriff Smith

In a vicious twisting tornado,

Questions of tomorrow constantly storm my mind.

As the empty secular nothingness

Socializes violence and mass confusion,

TV raises children robbed of happiness.

I feel helpless. These tortured images

Invade my dreams of meditative states,

Where concentrated aches illustrate

How manipulated, distorted, contorted

And constipated this world is.

While eyes wide open narrow to close,

The globe shows nothing.

Moving with selective vision,

Society chooses to remain

Blind to our dangerous situation

(Rent is past due!) Decades past,

The Great Mother posted the eviction notice.

The sky is falling, and the soul is dying

This is not a future prediction,

The nightmare unfolds with each blink. T.H.I.N.C.

What has to be done to save such a lost nation?

Western culture is prostituting foreign bodies,

Who farm my community like cotton.

Now immigrants lease stolen land,

Continuing the cycle of share-cropping

The currency of slave labors

Saviors in holy text are pimped to deceive the believer,

Enslavement is a class of preachers

Theology misleads the masses with subservience,

Programming death as the reward for a hellish life

Blasphemy, the miracle is in the living

From the pulpit, pawns of dead presidents

Teach a new lesson; a new religion of prejudice

Economics is replacing Caucasian overseers

With Indian and Asian merchants.

Aryan cave dwellers campaign

Feelings of alienated inadequacy,

Penetrating the cradle of man,

Crusading missionaries yearned to steal the beauty

Insufficient melanin lacks. Ignorant of this fact,

Recessive Homo sapiens rape and pillage

The first civilization. These backward primates

Believe they are Greek mythology,

Able to desecrate Mother's temple with impunity.

The commercial appeal of "in the dollar we trust,"

Consumes the world in Babylon's plastic pestilence.

Shallow acting, brainwashed Africans

So confused about the color black,

Blue eyes and blonde hair have become the fashion.

This dehumanizing wash is bleaching melanin

At a frightening rate.

The social instinct to assimilate is Bullshit!!

It motivates darker persuasions to emasculate

Their natural complexions. Poisonous concepts

And contaminated images assault the universe

Of this aware citizen. In a sick continuum.

So, as stress gains momentum, I inhale

Burning muse like oxygen plunges into deeper clarity.

Perhaps what the world needs is a gun

From a weed filled leaf. Maybe then,

The NRA would be a good thing.

This prophet often ponders will his tombstone read

Death by Philosophy? Intuit's Weekly Vibe

Les Nubians Hip Hops ATL!

Culturally, an explosive fusion of ancient French-Cameroon roots and African American slave descendants rocked ATL's Variety Playhouse last Thursday night October 14, 1999. Fans packed the sold-out international hip-hop "big bang," which featured Les Nubians with Seek and Olu lighting the fireworks. Riding the crest of their dynamite smash CD, Princesses Nubiennes, Les Nubians receive raves, while touring the U S. Tantalizing audiences with their funky jazzy British soul, rhythmically dipped in a coquettish French joie de vivre, these dynamite sisters blew the doors off the joint with their fervidly exhilarating sounds.

Cementing this cultural connection, Les Nubians spotlighted the Atlanta Vibe's raising star Yohannes Sharriff Smith as their special guess. Fired up by his spellbinding performance at the Grand Marnier Speak Eazy Poetry Slam and selection as the Critic's Choice best spoken word artist by Creative Loafing, Yohannes sizzled as he melted into Les Nubians love-groove by jamming "The Art of Red, " a selection from his upcoming book Shadow Box. Mesmerizing the wall-to-wall crowd, Yohannes forged an international love affair with a slow burn. CJ lia, the smaller of the two beautiful sisters, consummated the connection when she told the screaming crowd, "If I could live any place in America I wished, I would choose Atlanta." Les Nubians are the bomb! Atlanta Vibes

Disgruntled says: At one time, black babies were torn from their mothers' breasts and sold for pennies at auction, today, they are most likely to be imprisoned for petty offenses, be killed by cops and other hateful Americans, commit suicide or receive the death penalty. Few black babies live to receive Social Security.

Disgruntled wants to know: Why does the local press avoid covering the hottest art form and entertainment on the Atlanta scene?

Disgruntled feels: a kinship with Les Nubians. More Disgruntled Moments

by John Burl Smith

Turnout 75% Participants: Environmental Conscious is the fourth principle of T.H.I.N.C. It addresses Relational Reverence, the "awareness and maintenance of humanities symbiotic relationship with earth." Relational Reverence answers the questions "Who am I and why am I here?" Elevating humanity's perspective above the brutish desire to dominate and lord over, T.H.I.N.C. connects humanity through its essential need to communicate.

Humans in the new millennium must clearly define "Why we are here." With much difficulty, humanity has come to understand its nature as a species, but has not come to grips with its intrinsic connection to the overall environment. Beginning with Greeks, mankind as conqueror became the model. Christianity fostered the idea man was separate and apart from nature. Believing they occupied a special place and connection to God, men wanted to subdue the universe. Today humanity's choice is to "subdue" or "live with" other creatures in an interdependent world.

As in the days of the Greek and Romans, the same attitude drives socioeconomic and political thought and action. Republican rejection of the Non-Proliferation Test Ban Treaty represents this mentality. Their Richard Nixon inspired role reversal, casts Campaign 2000 as the most important election since 1860. Hammering the death knell of slavery, Republicans captured the moral high ground. Now, Americans must decide whether they will begin a new millennium still committed to "separate but equal," or live within the bounds of freedom, justice and equality.

America's current drive to use the nuclear threat is fueled by the fear that whites cannot sustain their numbers into the next millennium and will no longer control Western Civilization. For conservative Republicans, this prospect is so abhorrent that destroying the world is a viable option.

Environmental Conscious individuals take exactly the opposite view. "We are multi-dimensional entities.....Only by honoring our eternal bond with Mother earth permit wants and desires to facilitate honest communications. Considering our complexity, patience and compassion are necessities." Longevity is the goal of every species. As the only viable survival strategy for Homo sapiens, Environmental Conscious can help humanity rise above race and ethnic strife; the idea is to be fruitful and multiply. Essays by Mr. Smith

Gore's Reinvention

In a recent focus group, The DISH found Gore's African American support "tepid," a feeling echoed by most participants. The prospect of a Gore presidency is just not exciting to these people who voted both times for Clinton, who was seen as an alternative to conservative Republicans bent on turning back the clock on African American advances over the last thirty years. The overriding sentiment of the group, "we must do better than Clinton, if we are to make the kinds of changes needed to close the gap between the haves and have-nots, especially black and white Americans."

Gore does not possess the vision needed for the new millennium. 53% of the women and 47% of the men in the focus group found Gore's record disheartening, particularly since his government reinvention and downsizing displaced thousands of black workers. One participant commented, "I hope Gore's campaign reinvention does for him what government reinvention and downsizing did for black Americans; we lost jobs and income to streamline a government over-burdened by business subsidies Gore refuses to address. We hope he reaps full credit for something he invented with a downsized vote."

Though Texas Governor George Bush seems to have the Republican Party's nomination sewn up, based solely on his fund-raising prowess, a contest in the general election that pits former Senator Bill Bradley and John McCain (R-AZ) would signal a much needed change, according to the predominantly black focus group. McCain received a favorable rating among these traditional Democratic voters; he is viewed as honest, a man who speaks straightforward on the issues, not wishy-washy like so many in his party. McCain did not dodge military service or equivocate about his youthful indiscretions; he is one of a few members of Congress opposed to pork barrel spending and wants to reform campaign financing. More Politics2000

The cutting edge originality and captivating power of Afropean hip-hop developed by two French/Cameroon sisters blew up the Atlanta Vibe. Les Nubians torched Variety Playhouse. HJ lJ ne and CJ lia Faussart, founders of the group, draw their musical influence from such diverse groups as Public Enemy, Arrested Development, The Fugees, Soul II Soul and Des'ree. Building on French rappers MC Solaar and Mel' Groove, Les Nubian's debut album is flavored with classic soul, contemporary R&B with the stylistic nuance of African music icons like Miriam Makeba, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Lema and Youssou N'Dour.

Beginning their career as an a cappella group, these charismatic young sisters were inspired by jazz great Abby Lincoln to "do it." Their concept album Princesses Nubiennes combined African roots with jazzy funk, a hint of British soul and cool French rhythms.

Speaking with The DISH before the concert about how their concept evolved, HJlJne said, "This music is our idea of travel, a kind of journey celebrating all the different kinds of African music in the Diaspora. African chants, griot chants, gospel, blues, jazz, reggae and funk are tributes to the different types of black music, but with a modern touch for the 21^st century." Confiding closely held views about Africans living in France and their goals, she continued, "We wanted to make music that speaks of our history, because in France, there is no music that speaks to it. But not only that, we wanted to use our music to communicate with the whole world. We did not want to just copy R&B, we wanted to do something original that speaks to young people through this new kind of music. We wanted to let people know what we think, and what we stand for." Princesses Nubiennes is in stores now. Pick up one today. Join the cultural revolution! Other Hoodnotes

Venus and Serena Williams, the African American sisters, are well on track to becoming the number one and two female tennis players in the country, indeed the world. Both Venus and Serena have consistently retired the current numbers one and two players in the world, Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport, respectively. Keep racking up the points, ladies! Tennis nuts applaud your efforts and level of gamesmanship. You make us proud! Other Kudos

Jury nullification occurs when a jury renders a verdict based on its convictions, rather than the rule of law. The verdict in the infamous acquittal of accused murderer O.J. Simpson brought charges by angry whites against a majority black jury of nullification. It is being cited in a local case involving former state senator Ralph D. Abernathy, III. Some of his supporters are advocating jury nullification.

According to Professor Julius Marke (Http://www.freedomlaw.com/JryMarke.html), "jury nullification dates back to the trial of William Penn, the Quaker leader." Acting as his own attorney, Penn asked the jurors to act on their conscious and free him on the grounds that humans have a right to believe as they chose. The jury agreed in violation of the law, which forbade all religion except as taught by the Church of England. (Http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/jury080299.htm)Torture did not sway the jurors to change their verdict, thereby establishing the precedent of "juries deciding cases based on their convictions." During Jim Crow segregation, nullification led to the conviction and lynching of numerous innocent black men (See famous black journalist Ida B. Wells' work, which chronicles many lynchings). Other Bits of Black History

The homerun race between sluggers Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa is classic black vs. white. For two seasons, pill-popping iron-pumping McGwire has won the contest. Check out the film! McGwire is tossed phat floaters down the middle, while Sosa faced fast pitches few could hit or balls only fools chase. Sosa is shut out of the competition; white pitchers worked hard to deny him a hit, while serving McGwire gimmes. White guys receive an extra edge, whether a better pitch, contracts, more sponsorships, etc. Eagle-eyed sportscasters never verbalize this advantage; they pretend gimmes are part of something fair and honest. Their double-think mentality justifies stacking the deck in McGwire's favor; it is another kind of nullification; it is the mentality at work that causes the Atlanta Journal Constitution editorial staff to run a picture of Martina Hingis in an article reporting on a tennis match won by Venus Williams! More from Phantom Scribblers

On Mumia and the Death Penalty

by Dot Smith

Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Ridge signed the death warrant, which allows the state to proceed with the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the African American accused of killing a Philadelphia policeman. Mumia is slated to die by lethal injection on December 2. The struggle to free Mumia has become synonymous with the fight to end the death penalty. We must collectively object to it by speaking out. Let your elected representatives know you do not support capital punishment, which is social killing. It is time to stop the violence.

Capital punishment is a sore spot on the national conscious; it makes us hypocrites professing to be Christians. Unlike those who oppose the death penalty on moral grounds, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush supports the death penalty because he thinks it shows compassion; "it prevents people from killing people (and) that's compassion." (AJC, 10/10/99) Anyway you look at it, supporting social killing is a warped position for a Christian who believes killing is wrong. If you do not support the death penalty, let your elected representatives know. Call, write, fax and email them, then get involved and make a difference. Only we can end social killing! Join the Oct. 22^nd rally in Woodruff Park and help stop police brutality and end the death penalty. Other Hot DISHes

Email from Clifton Smith smith@moltech.com " Concerning the boycott of network television stations, lets boycott TV show sponsors thereby severing the supply line until we achieve our objective! Don't know how effective we can be if we don't attack the source of money for the target network shows."

Email: llsisters@mindspring.com "This was a great issue Dot. I miss you guys. It's LACY. John Burl Smith is a fantastic writer. He has a style I am used to reading in magazines like the New Yorker! All of you are soooooo....talented. You say exactly what I am feeling in these articles. I can't remember the last time I have enjoyed the articles in one paper/magazine so much. Thanks for sending them." More from our Mailbox

Back   ||  ICIM Home   ||  THINC  ||  The DISH || 1999 Issues