Vol. 2 No 50….. Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race….. December 24, 1999

The Confederate flag and battle emblem further divide the United States and create major controversy within our nation 135 years after the Civil War. Many people believe Georgia's flag design is offensive, and it should be changed to remove this battle emblem. When adopted by a state or nation, a flag is supposed to be inclusive; it should symbolize every citizen, and Georgia's flag does not. Moreover, for the past thirty-seven years, Georgia citizens have been asking the state legislature to remove the emblem, because it recalls painful memories of slavery and segregation for so many. Georgia's flag or any other bearing the Confederate emblem conveys a message of racism, treason and institutionalized racism to more than a few. Therefore, Georgia's state flag should be changed.

About Me: Featured in our Kudos last week, Crystal Clemons is a 10^th grader at Centennial High, where "a few students wear confederate flags on their T-shirts. This project has been an eye-opening experience for Crystal, who aspires to be an attorney. Her long-term objective is the middle seat on the United States Supreme Court. Having researched the lives of Rosa Parks, the Little Rock Nine, Thurgood Marshall, etc, Crystal knows it will not be easy, but she is determined. For now, she is contemplating a speaking tour to convince Governor Roy Barnes and the state legislature to change the state's flag. Other Artists in the Venue

Nightjohn is a book/movie written by Gary Paulsen. He describes how he came to write Nightjohn and provides this week's Bits of Black History. "While researching a book on Sally Hemings, the slave girl owned by Thomas Jefferson, I got hold of the slave chronicles and its interviews of ex-slaves in the '20s and '30s in America. Just in dialect-some of it's hard to read. Written the way they talked, it was beautiful. I sat in my basement reading these things crying every night. One of the things I ran into several times was the slaves' attempt to learn to read. For slaves, it was a capital offense to learn to read; they could be killed. Usually, they were not killed right away because they were too valuable to the slave owner. So, owners would cut a thumb off, or sometimes a toe; sometimes, the front half of the foot would be chopped off. Men were castrated and always whipped, but that did not stop them. They would hide in the schools-they called them pit schools, which were made using a ditch, gully or hole and covering it with brush so no light could shine through. At night, they would go to pit school, using torches for light. They tried to teach each other to read and were successful in many places. Most owners were terrified of slaves learning to read, because they knew they would want to be free."

Nightjohn is recommended viewing/reading for the entire family. Directed by Charles Burnett and produced by David Manson, the movie stars Carl Lumley as Nightjohn, Beau Bridges as the slave owner and introduces Alison Jones as "Sarny," the young slave girl Nightjohn teaches to read. For more on this powerful book/movie and how it can be used as a valuable teaching tool, see http://www.randomhouse.com/teachersbdd/nigh/html. Other Bits of Black History

The DISH would like to take this opportunity to thank Rev. Hosea Williams, one of our greatest freedom fighters. Still a work in progress, Rev. Williams has helped so many people over the years. Here at The DISH, we are especially thankful to him, because he inspired the motto, which guides the message we deliver weekly - "Unbossed and unbought news and information you use." Thank you Rev. Williams! At an early age, the Rev. was in the struggle for freedom and civil rights. In 1965, he led protests against Alonzo Herndon's barbershop. (Herndon, Atlanta's black millionaire, ran his shop for whites only). As a young man, Rev. Williams worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, organizing the grassroots elements of the civil rights movement. As testimony to his contribution to the struggle for freedom, equality and human dignity, his program to feed the homeless and hungry is chaired this year by our governor. From feeding a few hundred at Thanksgiving in 1970, it now feeds, clothes, provides showers, medical services and more to more than one hundred thousand on Thanksgiving and Christmas. More important, throughout the year, his doors are open to Atlanta's poor and homeless.

Kudos for all you do and have done to advance the struggle. To our unsung grassroots warrior, though some blacks and whites call you a militant - troublemaker - to be dismissed and ignored, we know you are really a Nightjohn! Other Kudos and Blahs

Disgruntled wants to know: Our Founding Fathers believed Great Britain was wrong in its taxation of the thirteen colonies and rebelled. Isn't it time we objected to the burdensome taxation without representation imposed on African Americans?

Disgruntled says: Although Atlanta has a predominantly African American population, the daily newspaper is steeped in Southern traditions, which make blacks second class citizens. With such commitment, it should remove Atlanta from its name and call the rag the Confederate Constitution!

Disgruntled feels: downright millennial! More Disgruntled Moments

By John Burl Smith

U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher's Report on Mental Health (12-13-99) was heartening. However, it failed to recognize racism as a major mental health issue. Akin to "St. Vidus Dance"of the "Dark Ages," racism escapes understanding. Freud's paradigm of "repressed emotions, latent sexual complexes and subconscious forces" place racism on a continuum from mile neurosis to violent psychosis. Its core characteristic, doublethink, generates double-bind decision-making. Simultaneously balancing two contradictory concepts, with equal conviction, is very stressful.

Classically presented in James Orwell's "1984," T.H.I.N.C.(Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness): The Chrysalis of Evolution by Yohannes Sharriff Smith reintroduces doublethink as an aspect of racism. Slavery molded whites' perception of blacks and blacks' perception of themselves. A ying and yang relationship, denial is the "dark side" of these concentric halves. Termed Linear Secularism (LS) and Conditioned Subordinate Psychology (CSP) by Smith, these synergistic mindsets hide the real nature of black and white relationships in America. Perpetual victims in a zero sum game, blacks do not control their fate. Institutionalized racism is the restraining bolt whites use to establish parameters and determine outcomes.

Uniquely American, LS view's African Americans as expendable renewable economic commodities. Slave masters fit the abusive profile. Having owned black people, their ancestors perceived blacks as inferior. Hence, social, economic and political statuses are intrinsically bound to and deeply rooted in that perception. Reflecting dependency, CSP is LS's black counterpart. Punishment and depravation taught slaves to willingly submit to authority. Avoidance instilled a desperate desire to please white people. Psychologically, African Americans draw self-esteem from identifying with goals, values and behaviors of their former masters.

These two mindsets are like tectonic plates sliding pass one another. Analogous to volcanic eruptions along a seismological fault, socioeconomic and political changes exert pressure. The magnitude of repression and subconscious forces exploding into consciousness determines the level of individual rage. Racism in America is an outgrowth of slavery. Consequently, until slavery is understood as a mental phenomenon, America will continue to be victimized by pathological racism. T.H.I.N.C. about it! Essays by Mr. Smith

Academy Award winners Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Anthony Hopkins star in the Jon Turteitaub film Instinct. The 1999 drama poignantly illustrates the concept of the restraining bolt. It is an entertaining film that makes several noteworthy points. Though briefly, it shows the possibility of man's harmonious co-existence with other mammals. Two, it brings home the chilling reality that other species may possess humanity. Most important, it shows how the caged animal ceases to seek freedom even when presented with an open doorway. Much like the restraining bolt used on the robot R2D2 in Star Wars, properly conditioned animals are broken.

The restraining bolt is a mental cage that is far more confining than any physical cell. In one graphic scene, Hopkin's character unlocks an old gorilla's cage to illustrate the restraining bolt concept. The ancient silverback does not move from the corner of his concrete cell, locked in an eternal hell, too fearful to fight. No longer interested in escaping, he is a broken animal. This is the perfect example of how the survival instinct can cause an animal to remain caged even when no lock bars escape. Other Hood Notes

President Clinton intends to do to Arkansas what former President Jimmy Carter has done in Georgia. He plans to bring a version of TAP (The Atlanta Project) to Arkansas. TAP is the Carter Center's program, which links it to every government funded social program. Clinton wants to replicate Carter's success at feeding from the federal trough.

Clinton's covert mission is to fatten his personal coffers, which is what public service has come to symbolize, an opportunity to tap into tax dollars. Like Carter, Clinton's overt mission "is to bring hope of racial and ethnic peace to foreign countries." Hope, like charity, "begins at home and spreads abroad." This truism escapes Clinton and Carter. Hypocrites, both are silent on race in their own country! Other Phantom Scribblers

by Dot Smith

My grandson was born into comfortable poverty, which included a home where there are plenty of books. In fact, the modest residence includes a small library and office. Several computers are connected to provide a local area network throughout the house. Family member read newspapers and magazines daily. As a small child, his parents and grandparents read to him, and he was encouraged to learn. He considers himself intelligent and prides himself on being able to figure out things.

Given all this, you can imagine my surprise when his restraining bolt kicked in. We were doing his homework; it was going along well, when he suddenly began to cry. Tears spilled down his honey-bronzed cheeks. Alarmed, I asked what was the matter? He was unable to tell me why; he was confused by his tearful display and so was I. Quite frankly, it is not his style to blubber; he is Dark Knight, a super hero!

We talked for a few minutes, giving him time to calm down and me time to T.H.I.N.C. My grandson finally told me that he cried "because of the pain." When I asked where he hurt, he could not identify a particular area where it hurt; he was not sick and had been fine until his tearful outburst. Even now, he seemed perfectly okay, at least physically.

Like a brick, it hit me! I knew exactly what I had just witnessed; it happened before with my children, but I was younger then, far too inexperienced to recognize the problem. Only now do I recognize the restraining bolt. After I assured him learning is not only necessary, but is fun, he blocked out the "pain" and we completed his lesson. He knows to read, write and to do math are just indications of his intelligence. His schoolwork improved significantly. He came home after this episode everyday eager to do his homework with grandma. At the end of two weeks, we experienced another "pain" episode. This time we both knew this minor inconvenience would pass and we would continue until our task was completed. Learning is fun!

I know much must be done to keep my grandson an interested student of life and not a slave to those instinctual restraints that are a part of his heritage. An African American, he will have to overcome so much in himself and the society that he can ill-afford a mediocre start in life. Without a solid education, he will be doomed to the bottom of the chasm of inequality. As his grandma, I sure don't want that! More Hot DISHes

Comments from the Bat Cave

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro "hates" reading. When told it was needed to follow instructions, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro said, "Grandma, you and me can beat anything!"

Back to the Bat Cave

News You Use

Ritalin is the drug commonly prescribed for children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Last week, the National Institute of Mental Health announced a study to examine the impact of long-term Ritalin use, which highlights the perverse nature of our drug policy. More than three million children are already taking this drug, some for years, and what do we know about this substance, methylphenidate, the generic name of Ritalin. Http://www.policyreview.com/apr99/eberstadt.html identifies some of the inconsistencies in America's drug policy, as it relates to Ritalin. In particular, the author describes how America is "where every child from preschool onward can recite the "anti-drug" catechism by heart, while millions of middle and upper middle class children are legally drugged with a substance so similar to cocaine that it takes a chemist to tell the difference." In The Myth of the ADD Child, Thomas Armstrong summarizes the appeal of Ritalin. "Many middle and upper class parents see Ritalin and related drugs almost as "cognitive steroids" that can be used to help their kids focus on their school work better than the next kid." Ritalin rules because it gives its user a competitive edge; that is the American way!

Given the rash of violence on school campuses, parents must look with better eyes on the dangers posed in drugging our young children to keep them silent and focused. We just may be destroying our children. A case in point is provided by an op-ed piece in the AJC (12-18-99) written by Julie Fisher-Sinisgalli, an Atlanta area stay at home mom. Entitled "In cafeteria, mum's the word," she compares lunch at her child's school with the movie One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The children were mum like zombies listening to classical music. She thought such quietude strange when kids love to run around, explore and play; that is what being a kid is all about! Not anymore! Now, we're turning out automatons and ticking time bombs. Other News You Use

Politics 2000

The Circuit Rider, Rev. Burl Lee admonished, "Never bite off more than you can chew, a mouth full is more than anyone can handle." For more than a tidbit on the palate, consumption requires exhaustive intellectual mastication. The wealth of knowledge amassed about learning is lost on American education. Researchers know those actions, which improve learning and those that diminish acquisition. Volumes of studies indicate American education is steeped in racism.

Biting into the Dialogue on Race, President William Jefferson Clinton thought a small nibble would sufficiently placate African Americans politically and assure his legacy. However, "A Funny Thing Happen on the Way to the Forum." Nibbling around the edge, Clinton licked his chops savoring an easy kill. He planned to chaw into race, crunch it a few times and gulp it down, like a thirty-second sound bite. Surprisingly, the more he crunched, the larger the morsel seemed. Taste gone, the wad seems to grow with each attempt to swallow.

Tougher than a $3 steak and twice as deadly, racism in America cannot be munched away with sound bites. Some really big biters have gnawed on this issue and they either spat or choked. Nibblers like Bill Clinton choke on race, because they lack proportionality and perspective. They were educated to see slavery as a problem for white people, or "the white man's burden." Their education avoided any consideration of slavery having residual effects on slave descendant's learning and behavior. Comparable to that $3 steak, slave descendants' bite of America's freedom, justice and equality has proven very hard to chew. Facing a new millennium without reparations, its rhetoric is even harder to swallow. More Politics 2000

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