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Volume 3 Issue 16…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… April 28, 2000

Note: The DISH is based on themes from T.H.I.N.C. (Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness): The Chrysalis of Evolution. According to the President's Initiative on Race, "The issues that this book brings to the forefront are important in our efforts to achieve the goals set forth by the President for the Initiative. This work will serve as a solid resource for us as we begin to examine these critical issues." For your copy of T.H.I.N.C., The DISH or to submit comments, contact ICIM, Inc. at (404) 244-6023 or email us at icim@bellsouth.net. All rights reserved ©The DISH 2000.

by Dot

I am sick and tired

Of black mothers crying

Their children are crucified.

Our leaders lie to justify the lynching.

I am sick and tired

Of endless persecution.

The young die like rats poisoned.

Our taxes finance their extermination.

I am sick and tired

Of our second-class role,

The caged ass -constitutionally required!

Our status exacts a heavy toll.

I am sick and tired

Of living in a legal state of inequality!

The innocent and unarmed are murdered

Our children are killed with impunity.

I am sick and tired

Of hearing about cops' gunfire!

Too many die for what may be intended.

Our children fodder the funeral pyre.

I am sick and tired

Of weeping for a people that suffers

Their fate is to be minimized.

Our young pledge allegiance to their slayers!

News You Use

House Niggers 104: Black Spokespersons

Otherwise promoted in the media as black spokespersons, whether Y2K Toms, black preachers or mindless self-haters, as a group they are garden-variety house niggers. Conscious blacks are not seen in mainstream media. Be aware of the lies woven to make you believe blacks have overcome and the noble principles of the Declaration of Independence are reflected in the Constitution. Cynthia Tucker of the AJC wrote some such garbage in April 2000.

We debunked this fallacy in the campaign dogma of presidential candidate Alan Keyes. Where is he? More important, why no public debate on race issues? House niggers obscure or otherwise avoid the truth. When asked if he agreed with Hilary Clinton's characterization of Amadou Diallo's death as murder, Kwesi Mfume, head of the NAACP, equivocated. House niggers help keep us in the back of the bus; they educate each generation to accept the lumps that come with a second class status. Why listen to them?

Ironically, these Negroes get masqueraded before the media as our spokespersons. Individual responsibility makes this group an oxymoron, since we speak for ourselves. Generally, those seen in mainstream media do not see the forest for the vegetation. Too often, they see blacks as unwanted weeds marring otherwise beautiful scenery.

These narrow-minded house niggers do not speak for the black majority. We know which way is up and how to add one plus one. More important, we connect the dots and identify media house niggers preaching acceptance of the status quo to make a few nickels.

A CHILD = A MAN

Mumia Abu-Jamal

When is a child not a child? When he is black. The spectacle of Nathaniel Abraham, in a courtroom, his life in the hands of 12 strangers, is a stunning indictment of the American "justice" system, where youth is no mitigator.

A troubled youth, he was less an individual than an opportunity for some political animal to make his mark, not on a young life, but on one's future career.

In a compromise verdict, the jury acquitted the boy of weapons charges, while convicting him of 2nd Degree Murder, a charge that may banish him to the netherworld of America's prison complex for the rest of his life. America, which preaches to the world of its "human rights," is the world's leader in incarceration rates. It has one of the most repressive prison systems in the West, and is becoming more repressive for juveniles. A juvenile is just a commodity, a body to be caged, not a person in need, a youth to be rescued, or a life to be transformed.

Nathaniel Abraham was such a one. Charged in the accidental shooting of a Detroit neighbor, the state mobilized its anti-life forces to capitalize on the case, and to secure careers. After decades of fierce and unprincipled demonization by the elite media, the lives of black, Hispanic and poor youth, once exposed to the "tender mercies" of the system, are in direst jeopardy. It is in this spirit that a boy like Nathaniel became more than a boy; he was, and is, projected as a dark symbol of social pathology; with little or no hope of his renewal.

If there is some constant in the psyche of the young, it is that they are in a constant state of growth and development. Their essential nature is that they change; that is, perhaps, what they do best! But Nathaniel Abraham, a little boy of 11 at the time of the shooting, and a little boy of 13 at the time of his trial, will not be allowed to really change, for legally he is adult, and any change is irrelevant.

At the very least, Nathaniel will be held in Michigan confinement until he is 21 years of age-10 years. At most, he will be caged forever, frozen like a small museum exhibit in a block of time. No matter how long he lives, what he may achieve, or who he later becomes, as a man, he will be a symbol, a relic that denies his essential reality as a living growing being.

It is an irony of American history that where once grown black men were seen as boys, now boys, no matter how tender an age, are seen, and treated, as men. The constant feature in this social and historical process is the projection upon the eternal other, of values of worthlessness and powerlessness-a relic of our dark and tragic past that we drag along into the future. James Baldwin noted: It comes as a great shock around the age of 5, 6 or 7 to discover that the flag to which you have pledged allegiance, along with everybody else, has not pledged allegiance to you.

Young Nathaniel Abraham, if denied the natural right to be seen and treated as a child, unwittingly serves as another form of social symbol. He is the canary in a cage, and as he is carried deeper and deeper into the bowels of the earth, he warns us of an impending catastrophe. © MAJ 1999

About Me: Mumia Abu-Jamal's life literally hangs in the balance as this newsletter is put to bed. Convicted of murder in the death of a policeman, the talented journalist is in every sense of the term a political prisoner. Though personally caged by a racist system, Mumia shows the tremendous depth of his humanity in the above article. Internationally recognized as a gifted wordsmith, Mumia's name has become the rallying cry for death penalty opponents around the world. Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! No justice, no peace!

Hip-Hopping Agnes Scott

On Saturday April 29, 2000, Atlanta Vibe hip-hops Agnes Scott College. Located near downtown Decatur, GA, the college will host its Black Student Awards program. The spoken word and jazz tributary to our ancestors features vocalist and spoken word artist Jodi Merriday and Yohannes Sharriff Smith. This program is guaranteed to be a break from the ordinary. Yohannes will perform "This Thing Called Life," excerpts from "A Slave Remembers" and "Ladies First."

The program is from 5:00 - 7:00 PM. Join the staff, faculty and students at Agnes Scott College as they recognize the important accomplishments of black students. Be part of an enlightening experience in music and spoken word. For more information call (678) 428-9260.

by John Burl Smith

Turnout 75% demonstrations and protests in Washington D. C. opposing IMF and World Bank policies, which enslave people of color around the world, showed many Americans are deeply troubled over the state of the world. Their courage and resolve are reminiscent of anti-war days, Jimi Hendrix "Long Hot Summer Night" in the "Red House" doing "Purple Haze" with "Wild Thing" and "Voodoo Child." Then, it was Students for Democratic Society (SDS) Weathermen on the edge. Their media images pushed them toward The Ultimate Experience. Gritty times of anti-establishment heroes, "Billy Jack and Sweet Sweet Back" stoked the fires in young minds. Championing the poor and powerless or defiantly refusing to surrender to greed and power, they reflected America's true spirit. Serving as a voice for protest, if one had a cause, the media showed up. Co-InTel-Pro, not only destroyed Black Power, it killed dissent. To that end, Co-Intel-Pro bought the media and infiltrated white anti-war groups as well.

Winning the "Poor Peoples Champaign," Richard M. Nixon surrendered in "The War on Poverty." Signaling a sharp turn to the right with "law and order," protest was under attack, and the media retreated from its role as free press. By the time Ronald Reagan was elected, the media was a "lap dog" for the government. Today, America uses the media like Russia and China in the 1950s and '60s. Americans get government propaganda instead of news. CNN has pulled the wool over the world's eyes.

In Seattle and Washington D. C., the media increasingly portrayed protesters as violent, even though police were beating people, spraying them with chemicals, and, in general, acting like Nazi storm troopers. Blocking protesters from the meetings, the media told the world, "this demonstrated American democracy at work." Piously, they proclaimed, "Americans have freedom of expression." The only Americans freely expressing themselves are the hoodlums manipulating Elian Gun-zal-ass.

Protesters must not accept being cast as radicals. Those in the streets of Seattle and Washington D. C. were average Americans opposed to discriminatory immigration, trade, economic, and environmental policies. These Americans are the Thomas Paynes, David Walkers, William Lloyd Garrisons, Sojourner Truths and Ida B. Wells among us. Like Georgia's media help politicians disguise their support for the Confederate flag, CNN, FOX, and CNBC talking heads spit whatever the government finances. Supplying news footage, paying producers and writers to add favorable comments or give scripts' certain slants, the government has America living George Orwell's nightmare.

No movie the SDS Weathermen were cast as radicals by the media, and they lived out suicide roles. Dancing on an ever thinning edge, they forgot Dr. Martin Luther King, JR.'s sternest admonition regarding mass action. "One should not plan to stop or shut down meetings, rather mass action is intended to influence the outcome. It relies on the force of humanity to bring about change!" John 2000

From: Tony skil353@clara.co.uk "In a country that tells the world it is the greatest democracy, how sickening to see the images on British television of the demonstration in Washington, DC. Many Britons were shocked to see the state police brutally suppressing a lawful demonstration with tactics that would not have been amiss in the Third Reich. Hail democracy."

Emcp@mindspring.com "At a recent debate among the 5 REPUBLICAN candidates for (GA) State Senate seat # 40, ALL respondents felt that the flag needed to be changed. Retiring Senator Mike Egan (R-40) introduced the bill that would have allowed that to occur. Guess who blocked it? Don't forget who worked so hard to get hate crimes a law-blacks. Don't be surprised when it is blacks (and it will be, mark my words) who suffer the most because of it. REPUBLICANS, by and large, were against this ridiculous bill that allows government to pretend to know what is in our minds, and then subjectively penalize whomever they want. Thanks for your newsletter. It makes me think, and I learn from each"

Disgruntled wants to know: G. W. Bush, Jr. has avoided stating his position on the Confederate flag. Does the Presidential contender see it as a matter of heritage and support what it symbolizes?

Disgruntled says: Blacks are trained to accept less. Our leaders fight to maintain our niggardly status.

Disgruntled feels: AUC is Graduate U of niggery!

The Atlanta Compromise

Drafted in 1895 by Booker T. Washington, head of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, the Atlanta Compromise proposed that Negroes cease agitation for equality and focus on achieving economic security. Whites loved Washington's philosophy and financed his efforts. Brutalized or otherwise conditioned by lynching, many blacks accepted Washington's path of least resistance, as if it is possible to have economic security without social equality. Back then a black man was lynched for looking at a white woman. In Atlanta, the Compromise still guides black education; young blacks are taught to accept a second class citizenship. Washington's Atlanta Compromise is the bedrock of the New South's playbook on race relations.

Death Penalty: State Murder

Lethal injections came to Georgia. The state legislature followed Florida's example. In Florida, Governor Jeb Bush demanded and got a bill, whose adoption skirts legal objections to the electric chair as cruel and unusual punishment. Georgia and Florida now have lethal injections as a method for delivering death. Jeb immediately put his new injectors to killing. Like Obi One, who felt a tremor in the force when the Evil Empire's Death Star destroyed Alderon - Princess Leia's home planet, I sensed great evil in Florida and Georgia's adoption of lethal injections. It signalled the killing could begin in earnest.

Those Bush boys are racking-up death stats in a macabre contest. Each execution is a scalp for their trophy collection. This show of machismo is so sick, I keep wondering how Barbara Bush reconciles Christian compassion with her sons' passion for violating the Commandment: "Thou shall not kill." To add insult to injury, this is a "good" Christian family! Holy cow, deliver us to the ungodly for more compassionate humanity!

Tennessee recently executed its first prisoner since the moratorium on capital punishment was lifted. It joins the race among southern states, which lead the nation in executions. Texas is the undisputed leader! With lethal injections and fewer objections to the constitutionality of the electric chair, there is a race to see who kills the most. With the Bush babies well out front, Gore's Tennessee has a huge killing field to cross just to catch G.W. Bush, the frontrunner, let alone take the lead in killing.

"On Mis-Educating Blacks"

by Dot

Past and present "civil rights activists" affiliated with Clark/Atlanta University Center (AUC) and Interdenominational Theological Seminary (ITS) issued "A Second Appeal for Human Rights." This Y2K version mimed the first one, which railed against the black socioeconomic and political condition. Like the first appeal, it does not identify the reason blacks are in this situation. Thus, it did not call for a constitutional amendment. Without a change in the Constitution, the rule of law will always render blacks legally unequal.

Blacks are mis-educated to believe the Declaration of Independence is embodied in the Constitution - the rule of law we follow. Hypocrisy trumped principle when America's founders legalized slavery, which created a huge dichotomy between principle and reality by assigning blacks the value of three-fifths whites. A constitutional inequality, it shaped attitudes about black human capital throughout the economy. The resulting mindset defines America's marketplace today. Thus, we see the 3/5ths Compromise reflected in median family incomes and employment data.

Scientific research supports the above conclusion, yet no honest examination of institutionalized racism is taking place in institutions of higher learning. Instead, there is a Confederate flag debate, spearheaded by high school children. In colleges and universities, blacks are mis-educated to be house niggers. So, this "Second Appeal" does not mention the Constitution, an oversight of glaring proportions, which renders it useless in changing the black man's socioeconomic and political condition. Only a constitutional amendment/revolution will fundamentally alter the status of blacks in America. Either would necessitate a 180-degree change in American mindsets, black and white. This Second Appeal mimics the Atlanta Compromise, and as such it is not worth the paper on which it is written.

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