The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro says black people have to get on the bus. The Dark One/Ninja/Zorro thinks everybody needs a seat! Bat Cave

On Death Penalty Revisited

by Dot Smith

The dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. is heinous; such an act could only be committed by someone mentally unbalanced. Yet, our legal system considers such men sane. Called a hate crime by the state of Texas, some Byrd family members and proponents of capital punishment would like for those found guilty to receive the death penalty.

Byrd's horrible murder is tragic, but killing others will not bring him back, nor give us solace. The death penalty is simply wrong. The DISH does not support it. If killing is bad, an evil, then collective murder is equally vile.

At the dawn of a new millennium, the death penalty makes us look backwards. Our reliance on barbarism to deter crime is a moral sin. Sadly in this instance, thanks to the media, we make Byrd's killer a poster boy for racial hatred.

Is the world a better place for killing Byrd's murderers? Hardly! The DISH believes we are all diminished for engaging in group-cruelty. DISHing It Up Hot!

Disgruntled says: Allow me to say it again: The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice. I love black men!

Disgruntled feels: Too blessed to be stressed!

Disgruntled wants to know: How does the U.S. government reconcile the hypocrisy inherent in its foreign policy? Disgruntled

By John Burl Smith

T.H.I.N.C.'s first principle: "Approach life as a sphere of education," begins the search, prompting the reflection, "Who am I and why am I here?" Motivated to answer questions, humans draw on intuition, curiosity, imagination and creativity to meet challenges and solve problems. T.H.I.N.C. provides a reference point for those trying to construct a survival plan.

On this introspective journey, Yohannes presents a mental mine field strewn with the usual hazards facing most nineteen years old, poor uneducated black men. He allows the reader to enter a place where frustration grows into desperation shaped by the circumstances impacting his world. Never taking school seriously, Georgia Southern University's white world proved to be a rude awakening for Yohannes.

A ghostly reminder of his great great-grandfather Rev. Burl Lee's words, discrimination stalked the campus like the "grim reaper." He would say, "The lesson learned is not always the one being taught, so mind what you let get in your head." This admonition served Yohannes well on his journey from "Segregated Citizenship" Lesson 1 to "T.H.I.N.C.: The Nexus of Synthesis" Lesson 4.

The discovery of knowledge is a student's evolution. One must learn in order to teach. Then teach in order to know. This feed back loop is the circle of knowledge Yohannes discovers. It is the only path leading to a clearer reflection of one's true spirit. Who discovers knowledge? Answer: Those who seek it. T.H.I.N.C. is a beginning. Other Essays by John Burl Smith

The Atlanta Vibe hip hops with Winds of Change Productions, in its presentation of "Pieces of Inspirations." On Friday, March 12,1999 at 8:00 P.M., Yohannes will support some up and coming poets like David Ali, RaShun Jackson and Muminah Henderson as they blow up The Herndon Plaza Auditorium, 100 Auburn Avenue. These young brothers and sisters will host a reception for families at 7:30 P.M.. Join us in celebrating creativity. Atlanta Vibe T.H.I.N.C.

By John Burl Smith

Vice-president Al Gore, a leading proponent of reducing the size of government, opened a window of opportunity last week. Huddling with Georgia Governor Roy Barnes on regional transportation, sprawl, and other quality of life issues, Gore discussed his "Livability Agenda." The DISH applauds the vice-president's efforts to "reinvent government." The DISH hopes such a commitment includes correcting historical inequities.

Sprawl is the product of Richard Nixon and "Revenue Sharing" block grants, combined with "benign neglect" of the Reagan and Bush tax cut era. Using the "Chasm of Inequality" paradigm, it is clear; sprawl was financed by depriving inner-cities of resources.

Segregationists denied blacks equal rights by controlling economic development in their communities. Myriad boards, commissions, authorities and councils allocated resources aiding this process and reinforcing white male dominance. Relics of this system, such as the Atlanta Regional Commission, are left in place in Gov. Barnes' new transportation scheme. Retaining such relics, as these boards and the rebel state flag, serves only to exemplify divisions. Georgia Democrats hope reinventing government will eliminate duplications, unnecessary staffing, salaries and good old boy control networks.

White male dominance and chauvinism are the two-headed monster ravishing American society. The United States Supreme Court, like boards and commissions, reflects a testosterone mentality. The over representation of the white male leaves little room for other views in policy or laws. All other groups are marginalized, preserving racism and reinforcing white male dominance. The vice-president has hit upon a means of reconfiguring the channels for allocating resources. Introducing proportional representation on boards and commissions affords a window of opportunity to equalize resource allocation.

Where I Live

by Yohannes Sharriff Smith

("...I'm trying to get over! I'm trying to get over!")

Oreo Jackson here your man on the scene for WICU TV. Tweet-Tweet... (Voorroom...crash...pow pow...

Screeching sirens and helicopters)

"Tyrone, git in dis houz, Boy!"

As we slowly pan the ghetto landscape,

Witness Barney and Big Bird hustling crack,

While sharing a forty and a spliff, Elmo tickles me,

Sliding in the cut, pimping a pink Cadillac.

He and Snaggle Puss run the child pornography ring.

Tweet-Tweet...The nooky monster is on the corner

With his bag of tricks..Tweet-tweet.

It ain't all sweet.

Lamb Chop tricking for Smurf berries.

Where I live...Sunshine peaks through cloudy daze.

And, "I'm trying to get over!" Tweet-Tweet.

Who's to blame?

Choking on the smog and a total eclipse.

Riot! Warning... signs blinking Armageddon!

DON'T WALK on mind fields,

Flourescent kids play hip-hop scotch

Two shots straight...(pow pow!)

Through the classroom.

Straight through my trailer park education.

"I'm trying to get over!" Where I live.

Foes fall like crows haunt my corn rows.

In the shadows, patty cake plays

Hide and go get with the Grim Reaper.

Where I live...

Flowers, ease down the ghetto brick road.

Where I live...the best pimp I know is a preacher

Where I live...crack heads beg for spare change

You can have my last dime

But can you spare the time to change your mind?

Where I live..

.Sometimes it's hard as hell to look in the mirror, 'cause that finely etched reflection

Of my homeless pain is snuggled

In the doorway of some downtown building

Just trying to find a warm spot

To get through the cold night. Where I live,

Churches and liquor stores stand on every corner,

Like penitentiary guard towers.

"I'm signing, dying, striving, climbing, crying, crawling,

Fighting and biting... trying to get over!"

"For the love of money..."

Spending my time incarcerated in poverty

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame St.?

Sell your soul!!! Tap dance baby...

Table dance baby. Let Daddy see you shine.

Where I live... Tires screeching,

Grinding, peeling off like un-melanined skin,

Ebola issues eating through muscle tissue

Down to the gristle like bills due...

Unemployed with no food. Where I live...

Off the hook, like a side of beef at a B-B Que....

It's ill....The grill catching narcoleptic pedestrians.

I got the juice; damn a pursuit! I'm OFF THE ROOF.

Geronimo!!! "I'm trying to get over" Where I live...Intuit

by LaTonya S. McNeail

If you are a user, it'll all come out. You users of people, no one can distinguish who you really are right now. But, that will change when your selfish actions give you away. If you allow them, people users become like scavengers that pick the remains of the prey, or like blood sucking leeches living off you. If you allow them, they will always use you to cater to their needs. When the shoe is on the other foot, will the user say no to you? Yes, they've done it before. Check out the users in your life, and give them the door. Hood Notes

Key Black History Lessons

Even sanitized, our history is filled with slave uprisings. We were never broken. But, we were beaten into submission. The conditioning that made slavery possible did not disappear with emancipation. Today, Americans still carry psychological baggage. In particular, African Americans suffer from slavery's psychological devastation; it resonates in conversations among black women. When they talk about black men, the undertone turns meanspirited.

Male bashing among black gals gabbing about black men is routine. These conversations show Willie Lynch's conditioning still keeps the black male and female separated. "I don't need a broke man. I'm broke. I can do badly by myself. He's got to have a job and must make more than me. I got to take care of me and mine. No j-o-b, a black man can't talk to me." Does it sound familiar?

Love, respect and working together to achieve something, etc., these things rarely enter their conversations. Slavery did a superb job of making certain African Americans remain divided at the core, too dysfunctional to ever be free. To break this psychological stranglehold and reverse the conditioning, one needs to know of its existence. This means learning more about our history and absorbing its lessons.

"Ancient Rome would envy us if my program was implemented. As our boat sailed south on the James River, I saw enough to know that your problem is not unique. While Rome used cords of wood as crosses for standing human bodies along its old highways, in great numbers, you are here using the tree and the rope on occasion.

I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree a couple of miles back. You are losing valuable stock by hangings, you are having uprisings, slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in the fields, you suffer occasional fires, your animals are killed

Gentlemen....I have a fool proof method for controlling your Black slaves. I guarantee everyone of you that if installed correctly, it will control the slaves for at least 300 years. My method is simple; any member of your family or any overseer can use it."

"When it comes to breaking the uncivilized nigger....take the meanest and most restless nigger, strip him of his clothes in front of the remaining niggers...tar and feather him, tie each leg to a different horse faced in opposite directions, set him a fire and beat both horses to pull him apart. The next step is to take a bullwhip and beat the remaining nigger male to the point of death in front of the female. Don't kill him,...put the fear of God in him... he can be useful for future breeding.

Breaking the female nigger....test her in every way, because she is the most important factor for good economic. If she shows any sign of resistance, use the bullwhip to extract that last bit of bitch out of her. Take care not to kill her. When in complete submission, she will train her offspring in the early years to submit to labor when they become of age.

By her being left alone, unprotected, with male image destroyed, the ordeal caused her to move from her psychological dependent state to a frozen independent state." (Know your history. Visit a library.)

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