Volume 3 Issue 22…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… June 9, 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. The DISH 8 2000

Gunnar Myrdal (1898-1987)

A Swedish economist, sociologist and public official, Gunnar Myrdal and F.A. von Hayek won the 1974 Nobel Prize in economics. From 1947-57, he served as executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe. As head of a Carnegie Corp. study of African Americans (1938-42), he collaborated on An American Dilemma (1944, new ed. 1962), which maintained that the U.S. racial problem was inextricably entwined with the democratic functioning of American society.

He wrote, "I draw the conclusion that the common idea that America is an immensely rich and affluent country is very much an exaggeration. American affluence is heavily mortgaged. America carries a tremendous burden of debt to its poor people. That this debt must be paid is not only a wish of the do-gooders. Not paying it implies a risk for the social order and for the democracy as we have known it."

Disgruntled wants to know: Is it simply ignorance that makes hypocrites believe there is a heaven and they will enter its pearly gates, rather than burn in hell with the other heathens?

Disgruntled feels: the more replications, the greater the validation.

Disgruntled says: "Diversity" is the new code word that replaces "minority" within the context of the affirmative action vernacular. It will serve to minimize the implications of the chasm of inequality in the new millennium.

Phantom Scribbler

A Diabolical Scheme

"Behind every great fortune there is a crime. " - Honore de Balzac (1799-1850)

The War on Drugs is synonymous with the "fighting fire with fire" philosophy used by the Park Service in torching New Mexico. Starting a fire to prevent one, the Service set New Mexico aflame. A deadly prescription, like alcohol prohibition, the war on drugs costs trillions of dollars and untold suffering, as we torch the lives of our children.

This prescription for ending drug use, especially marijuana is a diabolical scheme. The conflagration ruins young lives, especially black children short-changed with prison, in addition to the health consequences of drug use. Efforts to control it are not aimed at preventing drug use. It is time the federal government ended Clinton's drug Prohibition.

Look for former President Bill Clinton and cronies in farming to corner the market on America's cash crop. Replacing tobacco, the prospect is more lucrative than Carter's peanuts or the Kennedy's corner on the liquor business during alcohol Prohibition. Demand Clinton end his war against America now. Legalize marijuana and cease the hypocrisy about the money being made off America's new cash crop. Call it hemp, as our great forefather George Washington did and end the senseless persecution of a generation.

On the Race Initiative

by Dot

The President's Initiative on Race replicates our research on black inequality. While, it regurgitates the symptoms of the chasm, called institutionalized racism for lack of a better term to describe them, i.e., racial profiling, poverty, criminalization of blacks, income disparities, employment and housing discrimination, predatory lending, etc., the Initiative's report provides no measure to address the problem.

Generally, it is difficult, if not impossible, to develop realistic solutions to a problem, when its cause has not been identified. It is obvious the President's Initiative failed to identify the problem. Hence, its report recommends we "examine income inequality." It suggests the President "initiate discussions among senior policymakers and congressional leaders, as well as among leaders in the private sector, on the existence of long term patterns of income inequality. These discussions would flesh out potential means to reduce these patterns that so notably limit the country's ability to reduce systematic poverty and racial disadvantage." Smith's paradigm states that America's Constitution drives the economic inequality between black and white Americans. Rather than deal with this fundamental cause of income inequality, the President's Initiative introduced every "minority" group in America into its analysis. This is a classic obfuscation to minimize tactic; it is why there is no mention of the massacres and lynching of black Americans or recommendation to pay reparations. Blacks are just one group on a laundry list of others discriminated against in America. Yet, blacks are the only ones enslaved by law. Like Native Americans, slaves' descendants occupy a special position. Slave labor built this nation; today their descendants live in the worst conditions. The economic value of black human capital of 3/5ths white is as true today as when the founding fathers penned the Constitution.

Beyond programs and projects listed as "best practices," there is no remedy in the President's Initiative, as is evident by its recommendation to start a conversation on income inequality. Where were the team's economic advisers hiding while we discussed America's most troubling problem - the valuation of people of color codified in the Constitution and the hearts and minds of Americans. We know the consequences of discrimination, it is time to deal with the cause and change the Constitution. (To obtain your copy of the report, visit the site below. Acrobat Reader is required to open the document online. Http://www.whitehouse.gov/Initiatives/OneAmerica/cevent.html.)

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. " - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Mistreatment of Animals

Details of animal cruelty in the production of meat and meat by-products is provided by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) at www.peta-online.org. PETA suggests that we remove animal fat and cholesterol from our diets. It recommends vegetables. For easy, tasty, and free vegetarian recipes call PETA's toll-free hotline 1-888-VEG-FOOD.

Beyond animal cruelty, there are environmental and health factors that should be considered. At http://www.milksucks.com/index2.html, dairy and meat productions are labeled 'disastrous' for the environment; the cow produce more waste than two dozen people, without toilets, sewers, or treatment plants. From Pennsylvania to California, cow manure is poisoning vast expanses of underground water, rivers and streams.

Dairy products contain no fiber or complex carbohydrates and are laden with saturated fat and cholesterol. Contaminated with cow's blood and pus, pesticides, hormones and antibiotics, dairy products are linked to allergies, constipation, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, opposed feeding cow's milk to children, saying it can cause anemia, allergies, and insulin-dependent diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease, America's number one cause of death.

In addition to disease, changes in men's breast sizes may be a clue to how cruelty to animals affects humans. When men need breast reduction surgery to look like men, the use of hormones in the production of milk is a realistic suspect. Remember the movie "I Love Trouble?" The answer to why men have breasts and women breast cancer may lie with Monsanto, the manufacturer of the hormone used on cows to increase milk production. Art, as in movies, often mimics reality.

Open letter to: Becky Kelly, Director

DeKalb County Park and Recreation

By John Burl Smith

A grandparent, now helping to care for a nineteen-month old grandson, and his charge went to the park to enjoy a beautiful morning. Like most nineteen-month old toddlers, he picks up everything, and if it is not taken away quickly, into his mouth it goes. Grumbling while picking up the trash that park-goers had discarded, I realized there were no trash receptacles in any of the holders in the play area. Instantly, images of the Gresham community twenty years ago rushed to mind. My family moved to Gresham when whites were in the majority and neighborhood parks were centers of community life. Gresham is one of the oldest parks and recreation centers in DeKalb; in the past, it was considered one of the best. Today, however, DeKalb County has allowed it, along with the rest of the community, to decline to some marginal status. Although, Gresham Park's tax base has increased, the amount of tax revenue allocated for community upkeep and improvements has continually declined. For me, this obvious taxation without benefit reached the letter writing stage this morning.

Looking around, there were trash receptacles for the parking lot, but that said nothing about its general appearance. There were no visible parking lanes, along with the fact its "well worn" look screamed "resurfacing." Matched by a real need for grounds keeping, Gresham does not reflect the pride DeKalb previously held for this community. The last improvements nearly ten years ago have fallen far behind most of the ten other centers in DeKalb. Center Director Wannetter Castleberry and her staff made repeated requests for needed improvements and additions to bring Gresham up to par with other centers. Adding injury to insult, newly developed areas, where residents are just beginning to pay taxes, receive given state-of-the-art recreation centers, while Gresham is passed over year after year.

A few suggested improvements, which have never been acted upon are presented here. First, the playground area is not accessible to wheelchairs and other aids for the less mobile. This includes swings, slides, jungle gyms and the general walking surface. Secondly, toddlers, like my grandson, must compete with the larger children and there are no swings with seats and harnesses for the very young. Bordered by two streets, and sitting on the crest of a hill, no retention railing to prevent young children from running into the street makes for a very dangerous play area. New baseball fields constructed about five years ago have left the old ones idle. Residents have repeatedly requested tennis courts and outdoor basketball courts for these areas, but the fields stand idle. A HOST of streets are without curbs and sidewalks, but we have many elderly residents, so a park with a walking and running pad would be a very welcomed addition. Surrounding the old ball fields is a woody picnic area where the shelters are dilapidated and overgrown with weeds. In times past, families enjoyed weekend gatherings and held family reunions there.

As previously stated, twenty years ago this was all very picturesque and had it received the same level of funding and upkeep as Mason Mill, it would still be so. Here is a present day contrast. Mason Mill was landscaped with 500 trees in the last budget; Gresham was given five. Proportionally, this is not even a 3/5ths Compromise. Gresham residents pay the same level of taxes as every DeKalb citizen. We demand the same level of service for that tax money. This letter is just the first step in a general mobilization effort to get county government to respond to our needs. We expect issues raised in this correspondence to be addressed in a timely fashion and Gresham Park awaits your prompt response. Respectfully, John Burl Smith John 2000

Poetry has evolved into what urban contemporaries call "spoken word." Reaching previously unheard of levels of popularity with young people, it is the chief form of entertainment for most. A part of the hip-hop scene, but unlike rap, spoken word is an educational tool, as well as, artistic expression for many performers hanging in the Vibe. The ATL Vibe is a seed bed of emerging artists leading the struggle to throw off the shackles of Booker T. Washington's compromise with Willie Lynch.

Flying another heavy support mission Monday June 5, 2000, the "Mad Bomber of Truth," Yohannes Sharriff Smith, Chezon and keyboard player Museki Scales dropped consciousness at the SisterSong Conference. Hosted by Nyrobi, the affair was dedicated to self-empowerment through educating women. On a quick turn around mission, Yohannes and the brothers will blow the doors off Yin Yang Music Café, celebrating women in June at Female Soul Celebration Part 1@Underground Love, Friday June 9, 2000

Butcher's Bill

by Monica Davis

Brothers and Sisters, who pay the butcher's bill, when Blacks clog the morgues and emergency rooms? When Black children bear more Black children, and the fathers are missing in action, who pays the bill? When Black people gun down each other like animals, who pays the bill? When most young Black men have been imprisoned or are currently in prison, who pays the butcher? When Blacks depend on an institutional slave master to be merciful, who PAYS THE PRICE? Blacks pack the prisons just as our ancestors that stood in slave pens. Druggin', dopin', mopin', bangin', and hangin' out in the hood, we kill ourselves left and right, and who pays the butcher's bill?

WE DO!!!! The mainstream media parade Black Homicide and crime statistics on the evening news, like three-headed dogs put on display for entertainment of the vacuous masses. Armed and dangerous mean Black people. Many of us are armed with negativity, dangerous to one another, and living on the edge of madness and self-destruction. Liberals shake their heads and call for more 'programs' to 'help the poor'. More programs for government contractors to get rich on. More programs for the poverty pimps to bleed dry. More programs to put even more chains around our necks. More psychological warfare to turn us into better versions of Pavlov's dogs, drooling at the sound of the institutional bell. Who pays the Butcher's Bill? We do.

About Me: Still in Indiana, I am working on 3 novels, and occasionally contribute to an ethnic newspaper. My column is "Just Thinking". I am looking to branch out and incite, confuse, and mesmerize folks across the nation. Radio, here we come. I run several Internet discussion groups, one specifically for black folks. To sign up, send an email to ListeningTree@onelist.com or email Monica at m.l.davis@usa.net

ICIM Boycotted People, Places and Things: Death penalty proponents- Bush babies of Texas and Florida, other John Rocker-types, which includes Al Gore, Coke, the Confederate Flag, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina, New York city cops that kill, Monsanto, milk, meat, fashions to fool black people, IRS, AVIS, Trent Lott, guns and other weapons of mass destruction.

Say No to Tax on Talking

In 1898, the federal government imposed a "temporary luxury tax" on telephone service to fund the Spanish American War. About 1,500 American homes were affected. Declared in April, the "splendid little war" ended in August. Lasting "just under six months, the war's end did not bring a repeal of the Federal Excise Tax (FET) on telephone service; it exists today.

No longer a luxury, the telephone is a necessity, which makes the tax regressive. A coalition of public interest groups is working to eliminate this tax. Save consumers billions annually! Tell Congress to repeal FET! (For more, see http://notaxontalking.policy.net).

In addition to repealing the telephone tax to reduce the cost of phone service, we need to free those elderly and African Americans who rent telephones. It should be criminal for telephone companies to dupe the uninformed. While hard to believe, people still rent telephones. If you have elderly loved ones, check their bills to ensure they are not renting a phone.

Blah! Blah!

Black Intelligentsia?

For the past three years, we have tried to open a dialogue with them. Either missing in action or nonexistent, black intelligentsia is like Bush's compassionate conservatism, an oxymoron. This is unfortunate, but let us be frank! African Americans remain in economic slavery because we cooperate.

Conditioned subordinate psychology plays itself out as blacks of consequence, i.e., those seen in mainstream media as 'leaders' of blacks, demonstrate how little they know about the black man's dilemma. It is embarrassing to watch them stutter on television!

While our history contains a few heroes, we mainly acquiesced in our enslavement. Conditioned to be our own worst enemies, there is no black intelligentsia to deal with our problem. Those who claim the loudest to be civil rights leaders shy away from the truth. These poverty pimps are not about to state the truth in public for fear of losing corporate sponsors. We witness the success of Willie Lynch's diabolical scheme to make a slave. Inured of the system, we are slaves in 2000. If a black intelligentsia exists, blah!

Back   ||  ICIM Home   ||  THINC  ||  The DISH || 2000 Issues