Volume 3 Issue 24…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… June 23, 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

Intuit's Vibe

Falling

by Yohannes Sharriff Smith

Cruising high above reality,

We stand on the edge of evermore

To know the truth of what she only whispered before,

We leap into mother's breath.

Soaring eagles all aglow with the beauty of life,

Emanating from every pore.

Violently speeding earthward,

We rushing thundering masses try to reach...

No… embrace heaven.

Action junkies drink adrenaline,

Feeding on the electric juice of life

Flowing through their coursing veins.

Blinding lightening, flash with each climatic sensation,

Evoking passionate screams from overwhelmed senses.

But, the deafening sound is swallowed whole by the roaring tempest.

Yet, windswept curiosities litter skies, searching for self,

Piercing the mysteries of her euphoric depths.

In this air, free hearts fly with the force of hummingbird wings.

As we approach oblivion,

The dancers in this aerial ballet use body to control motion,

Expressing the purity of death's inspiration.

The chariot is our spotlight,

As we perform for him on this ethereal stage.

In the infinite now,

We are as Shakespeare's words, timeless.

(Reprinted from THINC (Teaching Humanity in New Consciousness): The Chrysalis of Evolution © 1997 ISBN

Rising Local Taxes

Given "all politics is local," the situation in DeKalb County is most disturbing. DeKalb County Commissioner Elaine Boyer complained about her property reappraisal and filed an appeal. She asked for a millage rollback, and the commission passed a .50 mill decrease and fired the county assessors. The lower rate is for commercial property owners, such as Boyer, and those who do not receive the 100% homestead exemption provided under HOST (Homestead Option Sales Tax). Homeowners that live on their property and receive the exemption pay only the school portion of the property tax. The rollback provides no relief for most property owners; commissioners blame the school board for not rolling back its millage. School board officials blame the commission. Bottom line is DeKalb property taxes increased for the third consecutive year since HOST took effect.

DeKalb tax increases take place without fanfare since homeowners receive little notice. The county publishes its legal notices in the Champion, the official county organ, which has limited distribution. The DISH asked DeKalb's attorney general to identify the party or parties responsible for setting the school millage rate. Is it the school board or the county commission? When we get the facts and a legal cite, we will let you know whom to hold responsible for rising local taxes.

By John Burl Smith

Turnout 75 %: the Richard L. Kirksey, Jr. Memorial Foundation's Genocide Chronicles monitor society's negative impact on children in general, and slaves' descendants in particular. Studying preventable child injuries, Dr. Fred Rivera of the David and Lucille Packard Foundation found, "despite a plethora of strategies demonstrating their effectiveness, the will to implement them lag far behind, while accidental injuries kill more children than homicide, suicide, congenital defects, cancer, heart and respiratory illness and HIV combined." He feels, "People are fatalistic about accidents, feeling they are acts of God and can't be predicted or prevented. There needs to be a mind shift, then simple prevention strategies such as car seats, bike tracts and helmets, smoke detractors, less access to cigarettes and guns, speed bumps and playgrounds with safe equipment could prevent 31 percent of needless childhood deaths." (See Genocide Chronicles online)

Access to health care is just as much a risk factor for black children as accidental deaths. According to Stanford University researchers, who conducted a very comprehensive comparison of 7,000 youth ranging in ages 6 to 24 from different ethnic groups for cardiovascular disease risk factors, "Black and Hispanic children as young as 9 years of age are acquiring heart disease risk factors. Excess weight, high blood pressure, fat-rich diets, excessive consumption of meat treated with growth and other hormones are factors showing up earlier in black and Hispanic youth than in white children."

Although their recommendations were straight-forward, "more exercise, less junk food, less smoking, less consumption of meat, poultry and dairy products," schools are eliminating recess, gym, band and creative arts for more time in front of computers. Moreover, government lunch programs load children up with all the foods these researchers say they should avoid.

Calling its findings, "Black and white drug offenders get radically different treatment in the American justice system, a national scandal," the head of Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org, Ken Roth released a report supporting the mounting evidence of racial disparities in America's criminal justice system. This scathing critique concluded, "The nation's war on drugs unfairly targets African Americans, who are far more likely to be imprisoned for drug offenses than whites even though whites use far more illegal drugs than blacks." Placed at 12 percent of America's population, blacks comprised 62 percent of the drug offenders sent to state prisons nationally in 1996. Overall black men are 13 times more likely to go to prison than white men according to information collected from 37 states by the U.S. Justice Department. In some states, blacks are imprisoned on drug convictions 57 times greater than whites. Georgia's rate for locking up black men is 77 times that of whites.

International organizations are condemning America for human rights violations against blacks. The Richard L. Kirksey, Jr. Memorial Foundation presented similar findings to the United Nations in 1997. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights found, "African American and Hispanics are treated more harshly than whites at every level of the criminal justice system." Following that report, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency stated, "blacks and Hispanic youth are more likely to be arrested, prosecuted, held in jail without bail and sentenced to longer prison terms than whites." Accidental, health related or at the hands of the criminal justice system, black youth are dying at an alarming rate. Evidence indicates American genocide is the reason. John 2000

Hip Hopping Father's Day

Savoring some much-needed downtime, Yohannes and I shared father's day. We spoke of 1997, before "the mad bomber of truth," when T.H.I.N.C. was only an acronym and organizing his dream into a business, Intuit Creative Ideas Manifested, Inc. (ICIM) was just a gleam in his mind's eye. Yohannes talked at length about his experiences. " The Vibe has changed since '97 at the Pattie Hut. There were lots of handlers on the spoken word scene hawking the Art. Where are they now? Players constantly change, but the artists remain. The difference for me is my book, company, performances, website and The DISH provide venues through which to deliver the message. As far back as the 1997 National Slam Championship, I realized this was not about winning titles or being a star. T.H.I.N.C. is about a way of living. It is a means of changing the way we see ourselves and the world we live in. Promoters do not make that happen. If the message is in the art, people will get it and I will get mine."

Disgruntled feels: Apropos, an Atlanta law firm bought Norman Rockwell's painting "The problem we all live with," which depicts Ruby Bridges being escorted to school by federal marshals to begin school desegregation.

Disgruntled wants to know: Atlanta wasted empowerment zone funds. Like Billy Payne and Andy Young who profited from the '96 Olympic games, city officials cannot explain what happened. Is empowerment zones Clinton/Gore patronage?

Disgruntled says: If George W. Bush possessed a smidgen of compassion, then Karla Faye Tucker would still be living.

Chamber of Commerce "Soft Approach"

In response to the international boycott of states that display confederate symbols, which include Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina, Georgia's Chamber of Commerce called on its members to take a "soft approach" on the state's flag. That approach is a euphemism for holding the line on displaying southern heritage symbols. This position begs the question: what distinguishes northern attitudes from southern ones?

In the south, slave-master mindsets are more distinctive. When you hear elderly blacks say "yes ma'am" to Bobbie Batista on CNN Talkback Live, you know what I mean by servile black. In the south, whites see blacks as subservient, and they expect a show of deference. Ipso facto, some people are trying to force children to say sir and ma'am, expressions that are part and parcel of southern heritage, which is based on the Willie Lynch philosophy for making a slave.

Mostly white men, the members of Georgia's chamber of commerce exhibit the master mindset. Heading up companies that resemble southern plantations, these John Rocker-types are committed to keeping their southern heritage or way of doing things intact. Hence, the "soft approach" is recommended for addressing the confederate symbol adorning Georgia's state flag.

Kidnapped and packed on cargo ships like sardines in tin cans, Africans were forced into the service of the white man. Brutalized into submission, winning a service award is no big deal for black Americans. After all, service is the black man's raison d' L tre for being in America. So, when the AJC printed a story about doorman James R. Jones being inducted into the Atlanta Hospitality Hall of Fame, it made Jones at 85 years-old appear the stereotypical "at-your-service" Negro. Blah on the media, which only see blacks as servants or criminals!

Federal Slave Import Tax (1787)

In failing to reconcile slavery with the Declaration of Independence, America's founding fathers embraced hypocrisy. In the 1787 constitutional convention, southerners sought assurances the legislature would not levy export duties on their crops, interfere with the slave trade or make commercial agreements which would hurt southern growers. These assurances or " southern concessions" guaranteed the south slaves to satisfy southern plantations' demand. In addition to codifying slavery in Article 1 Section 2, the founding fathers taxed slave imports. The founders assured the government got a share of the profits.

Article 1 Section 9: "The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight (1808), but a tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person."

Undercover for Civil Rights: Kudos to Mike

Michael Hightower is "the spook who sat by the door." So deep as to be unaware of his role, Hightower exposed Fulton County's affirmative action program. Had Mike's sacrifice not revealed the corruption, we would still be laboring under the impression affirmative action programs actually help blacks, when in fact white women, and vicariously white men, benefit the most. A microcosm of affirmative action programs all over America, every scheme to avoid real assistance to blacks is employed, even bribing black officials to legitimize white-run "minority" businesses.

Kudos to Hightower, only he could go so deep to nab Skandalakis and uncover Southeastern Legal Foundation's (SELF) duplicity. Atlanta political observers hope Hightower's heroism is contagious. They see Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell as the perfect candidate for the next "black of consequence" identified as an undercover operative out to expose corruption. Like Mike, Campbell takes his nickels to serve the "cause of civil rights."

The in-house EEO process operates like poultry farms where the USDA allows self-inspection; the unsavory practices employed by these farms include using diseased meat that should be discarded in chicken nuggets for the school lunch program. The in-house EEO process aids the employer in grinding down employees who complain about job discrimination.

In federal hostile work environments, EEO works to prevent complaints from being filed. To file a complaint, employees must follow the agency's administrative process. If no remedy is found during the informal "let's talk this out" routine, which is designed to allow the employee to vent to prevent a formal complaint. Remember that the employee has 45 days from the alleged violation to file a formal complaint. If the agency's EEO officer refuses to meet with you, within the deadline, contact your congressmen. Most federal agencies respond to threats of political scrutiny.

According to the AJC (6/8/00), Coke is now hiring! Not all laid off employees have been called back to work. Coke critics, including those laid off, contend the layoffs were designed to clean house of potential litigants in a class action discrimination lawsuit filed against the soft drink manufacturer. In the meantime, a second suit filed by four (4) more employees overshadows the presumed settlement agreement being hammered out by lawyers for litigants in the original suit filed by eight (8) current and former employees.

The Coke boycott called to support these brave workers remains in effect. To ensure their demand for equal treatment is successful, just say no to Coca-Cola USA products.

Not a golf fan, I watched a master's stroke and fell in love with the sport. Tiger Woods commanded the long and short game in the U.S. Open. He birded and parred his way into my heart. With nerves of steel, his biceps flexed with just the right amount of bulge to accentuate his masculine physique. Tiger purred and pounced on the opposition with calculation and mystique. His 15-stroke victory looked like a cat eating mice, "child's play." With paw raised like a clinched black power fist, he roared in satisfaction. Kissing his trophy, Tiger was the proverbial cat licking its whiskers in classic feline fashion. Kudos to Tiger's steely determination and dazzle!

On the Face of Georgia Crime

by Dot

Atlanta is awash in scandal. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) appears to believe all the crooks and corrupt officials are black. However, George Greene, who pleaded guilty to bribing Fulton County Commissioner Michael Hightower and Josh Kenyon, former aide to the current Fulton County Chairman Mike Kenn and former chairman Mitch Skandalakis, is white. In several articles, including one accompanying his picture, Greene was called African American.

The AJC paints blacks in a negative light. It calls white black to promote stereotypes. Greene's company is a "minority" contractor, not because he is African American, but because his wife is CEO of his company. White women are "minorities" under affirmative action. Historically, they gained most from affirmative action programs. Leading the charge to expose corruption when the culprits are blacks, the AJC practically executed Ray Lewis, not to mention the treatment accorded others in assuring their lynching in print, if not in reality. Orchestrated by the media, there is selective punishment. Former state senator Diana Harvey Johnson got a prison sentence for engaging in what seems common practice among Georgia officials. Only blacks are prosecuted as criminals. Wayne Garner, Insurance Commissioner Oxendine, Lt. Governor Mark Taylor, state legislators Larry and Charlie Walkers, no relation, and legislators with ties to the state's holocaust museum engaged in activities wherein taxpayers were fleeced to satisfy personal gains. There is no prosecution of white raids on the public treasury, and the AJC is not calling their acts criminals. Only blacks deserve such a label. This conclusion is not playing the race card; it is based on careful observation.

Gung-ho to get a conviction on Ralph David Abernathy, with the AJC's urging, Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker is now missing in action on white corruption. The face of crime crosses the color line in Georgia. And, the faces committing most of the crime are not black contrary to what is printed in the AJC.

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