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Volume 3 Issue 30… Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… August 4, 2000

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 © 2000

Intuit's Vibe

7-25-00: for Nicole and Citon

by Yohannes Sharriff Smith

She distilled life into words.

With casual body language, unassuming eyes pry the unspoken from my pent up soul.

Old friends of recent meeting explode with laughter.

And, we travel without moving.

Unseasonably laid back weather grooved like needles in vinyl.

The soundtrack of my life plays Inner Visions on late night Boulevard street corners.

We hum the words.

Dance Ethiopian culture scripted in blood, sweat and mood.

Blue sky she asked of my green palette.

I painted golden sun, then blew the ocean's reflection into the cosmos.

Love be her lemonade cool, caramel summer nights that blow to soften cinnamon ice cream.

Indian food and music...Refreshing is the smell...

Pleasing to the senses. Juice upon my tongue...taste buds sings Carribean sweet rhythms.

Flickering candles create mating shadows on the tables.

I blink to picture this Steve Wonder-ful-ly expressive moment.

"Isn't she lovely?"

Hood Notes

UGA's TSI by Sharron Hannon

UGA's admission practice, since 1996, has involved a three-stage process, with academic criteria a driving component throughout. Most students -some 85 percent of any incoming class-are offered admission solely on the basis of an academic index that is determined primarily by looking at standardized test scores and grades in core curricula. The next 10 to 15 percent of the freshman class is determined using what the admissions office calls a "total student index (TSI), which is determined by adding to the academic index additional points (ranging from .1 to 1) for a number of factors. Those factors include not only race and gender (.5 for being "non-white" or male), but also, for example, whether a prospective student is a Georgia resident, the child of an alumnus (legacies), or the first in family to attend college. For more, email Sharron@uga.edu

Disruntled says: Common occurrences in this "hostile environment," law enforcement officials lynch blacks in 2000 just as they did throughout the 1900s. Like the last millennium, 'black leaders' act like Chicken Little running around preaching servility, with "be calm, we will overcome" or "hush your mouth, somebody might hear."

Disgruntled feels: It defies logic for a judge to fall asleep during a hearing and wake up a fully trained physician capable of making a medical diagnosis!

Disgruntled wants to know: An Omaha policeman shot and killed a black unarmed suspected. At his trial for manslaughter, his fellow officers lined up to pat him on the back. What message did their actions send to this policeman? Could it have been job well done?

Venue for an Artist

Henrik Johan Ibsen (1828-1906)

Born ahead of his time in Skien, Norway, Henrik Johan Ibsen crafted works of art that pricked society’s conscience. He wrote Peer Gynt (1867) and A Doll’s House (1879). The consummate social critic, his play Ghosts (1881) dealt with the "sins of the father." Ibsen’s Ghosts answer criticism of A Doll’s House for its perceived "attack on the institution of marriage."

The wife in A Doll’s House leaves a less than "ideal" marriage, but in Ghosts she stays in a failed arrangement. Her young son, a virgin still, reveals in the opening scene his inherited syphilis. A whore and pillar of society who cared little about his child or his marriage, the father was driven mad and died from the disease. Ibsen’s plays reflected the times in which he lived; though, he was well ahead of it in making societal ills subjects for his art. He pushed the envelope and produced brilliant works. Ibsen’s art forced society to examine its "ideals." In doing so, he served art and the society well.

It is sad that contemporary artists do not possess Ibsen’s passion, insight and dedication to art. Over a decade, Kenny Leon, Atlanta Alliance Theater’s artistic director, gave the city forgettable productions that fell short of Ibsen’s standard of art that imitates life. Of his tenure, the AJC writes, "commerce and art is a tricky mix, but Leon has managed to serve both masters well." Leon failed art as he tried not to offend white Atlanta "patrons of the arts." (Source: Encyclopedia Americana)

On education, Horace Mann (1848) said it best. "Nothing but universal education can counterwork this tendency of the domination of capital and the servility of labor. If one class possesses all the wealth and the education, while the residue of society is ignorant and poor, it matters not by what name the relation between them may be called: the latter, in fact and in truth, will be the servile dependents and subjects to the former." Massachusetts’ first board of education secretary, an education reformer with a purpose, "Mann lengthened the school year, doubled teachers’ salaries, enriched the curriculum and improved teacher training and teaching methods." (American History: A Survey, Current, R.N., Williams, T.H. & Freidel, F. 4^th ed. A.A. Knopf)

Traditionally, rather than universal education, America limited black access. The University of Georgia (UGA) admitted its first blacks in 1961. Judge Avant Edenfied's ruling against UGA's use of race in admissions is the latest litigation on affirmative action.

UGA political scientist Charles Bullock and H.R. Rodgers describe southern resistance as "litigate and legislate to thwart integration." Southern mass resistance called for laws to circumvent Brown. American history is rich with white supremacy political slogans. Georgia Gov. Marvin Griffin pledged, "come Hell or high water races will not be mixed in Georgia." Alabama's George Wallace declared, "I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." (Source: Law and Social Change: Civil Rights Laws and Their Consequences, Bullock, C. and Rodgers, H.R.)

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) is the most famous example of a strict interpretation of the Constitution; it tested Article 1 Section 2. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney declared in the majority opinion, "no Negro could qualify as a citizen." Moreover, "as far as the Constitution was concerned Negroes had no rights that white men were bound to respect." According to Taney, a slaveowner, "slaves were property, and the 5^th Amendment prohibited Congress from taking property without due process of the law." Congress could pass no law depriving persons of their slave property; his ruling delighted southerners.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka also tested Article 1 Section 2. The opinion struck down "separate but equal." Before Brown, virtually every government service was segregated. Discrimination was achieved via state and local government and the business community. "In public buildings, such as courthouses, whites and blacks drank from separate water fountains and urinated into separate toilets...Justice was dispensed in courtrooms in which segregated seating was enforced and white and black witnesses took the oath using different Bibles." (Law and Social Change)

These strict interpretations highlight the importance of judicial appointments. A single judge can change how the Constitution is interpreted, and how its laws are enforced.

News You Use

Reparations 101: Defining Terms

Webster defines reparations as "a repairing or keeping in repairs; it is the act of making amends for a wrong or injury. It is the payment of damages. In international law, it is that amount payable by a defeated nation for damages to or expenditures sustained by another as a result of the defeated nation’s hostilities."

The Chasm is the economic gap between blacks and whites; it has existed since the founding fathers struck the bargain that made the Constitution an economic document. Hallmark of the Great Compromise, our economic system predetermines outcomes based on color. Chasm analysis shows, relatively speaking, black people are 3/5ths whites. (See http://www.thedish.ws/Reparations.html) This stable relationship says universal racism. Institutional support controls for chance. Ironically, the chasm debunks the "invisible hand," cornerstone of the free market theory on which the U.S. economy purports to be based.

Edenfield's Slap!

Kudos to Edenfield for showing us how bogus affirmative action is. A joke on blacks that have fought to make it something real, it benefited white women the most, and vicariously white men. Continual expansion of the category covered -- minorities, women, disability, age and sexual orientation--gutted affirmative action. As a remedy for racial discrimination, diversity does not hold muster! Kudos to Edenfield for pointing it out! Now, we can get down to the serious business of reparations.

Diversity: A Weak Case

UGA President Michael Adams got kudos for his decision to use race as an admissions factor. Judge Edenfied ruled it unconstitutional; it discriminates against whites. It is legal to discriminate against blacks to favor whites. For example, legacies that favor whites are legit, but the affirmative use of race that favors blacks is not. Blacks paid taxes to fund public universities, but were not allowed to attend, while whites earned legacies. Kudos to Adams, but blah on UGA's legal team for arguing the case on the basis of diversity, rather than as a remedy for past discrimination and inequality.

On Closing the Chasm

Responses to the AJC conversation starter–Are Reparations Needed?- remind me of The General’s Daughter, which poignantly examines betrayal. The General’s Daughter invokes the lessons of Ibsen’s powerful play Ghosts. In both, their offspring suffer the most, as the fathers’ sins are revisited on the children. True art in their imitation of life, both works bring into sharp relief the perils of expediency and mindless selfishness. Devoid of compassion, the fathers sacrifice their children to further careers, quests for power or casual sex.

Like the general, these respondents want us to pretend slavery and institutionalized racism are non-events with no lasting harm for which to make amends. Rather than do the right thing - pursue justice and mend the chasm - they demand we forget, pretend it never happened. "Just get over it" is a popular theme.

To bridge the gap, one AJC reader suggested we devise a formula based on the average earnings of Africans and African Americans over time. If it turns out that average earnings in Africa were less, the writer suggested African Americans pay the difference back to the U.S. Treasury. Forgotten is the fact that Europeans raped and continue to exploit Africa’s natural resources. Anyone who knows a bit of history realizes slavery and colonization forever impaired Africa’s development. Now, narrow-minded Americans suggest using its economic condition to determine reparations for blacks victimized in America; it adds insult to the injury.

Others stated they are not responsible for the sins of their forefathers. They reason, "those who benefited from slavery and segregation and those harmed are gone." Everyone in America over forty with a memory knows the truth. Yet, such shallow reasoning colors America. Alarming, it shows insensitivity, a lack of compassion and a level of ignorance which make citizens of the world’s greatest democracy look stupid. America advocates human rights and imposes sanctions against others. Hypocritically, America demands silence on its gross human rights violations-- even its victims must be quiet.

Americans who say "no" to reparations personify the father in The General’s Daughter. This is the psychological makeup that made slavery possible. Closing the chasm will not be easy. We must learn a bit of history. Http://www.thedish.ws/Reparations.html, our reparations page is a good place to start healing. 

by John Burl Smith

Unable to overturn Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, conservative "strict constructionists" concentrated on undermining it. Bakke v University of California established "reverse discrimination" as a legal claim. Bakke shifted focus from the 14^th Amendment’s "equal protection" and "due process"back to Article 1 Section 2 of the Constitution. Establishing the value of slaves and their descendants as 3/5ths white, it made discrimination based on color legal. Subsequently, Plessy v. Ferguson upheld "separate but equal." State and federal laws barred slave descendants access based on color. Overturning Plessy, Brown outlawed color based discrimination and demanded "all deliberate speed" desegregating public facilities.

Emblematic of American institutions, since 1785, University of Georgia denied slave descendants access to education. Dragged kicking and screaming to the bar of justice, UGA was ordered to desegregate. UGA continued blocking or limiting access based on color, consequently, slave descendants’ enrollment remains at about 5%. Nonetheless, U.S. District Judge Avant Edenfield ruled in favor of three white women, who claimed "reverse discrimination." They alleged UGA’s admittance of blacks with lower scores discriminated against them. Edenfield agreed saying, "UGA’s policy is at odds with recent Supreme Court decisions and involves unconstitutional racial stereotyping."

Edenfield cited Justice Lewis Powell’s, "Diversity in higher education is a compelling state interest and necessary to overcome the lingering effects of past discrimination," to point out UGA did not make such an argument. They based their claim on diversity "an amorphous, unquantifiable and temporarily unlimited goal." UGA should have addressed eradicating past patterns of discrimination based on color as their goal.

This ruling reflects how institutions and strict constructionists avoid the "equal" component of "separate but equal." Following Bakke, institutions changed from "mitigating past discrimination resulting from a lack of access" to "achieving racial balance" and now "achieving diversity." Specifically, institutions broadened membership in the affected class to include others beside slave descendants. Redefining slave descendants as a minority obscured their constitutional claim in favor of diversity. It forced blacks to compete for access against competitors who were never legally denied access based on color. Ipso facto, white girls get a double dip, if they do not qualify as a minority, they can sue claiming "reverse discrimination."

Based on their inability to reverse Brown v Board of Education, strict constructionists built current case law to support "reverse discrimination" using decisions like this and settlements like the one in Piscataway, NJ. Based solely on color, UGA historically barred slave descendants from enrolling until ordered to desegregate. Since race based state and federal laws and actions denied slave descendants access, color should be the sole criteria on which to base remedies.

John 2000

B.C.

Conservative Christians on the far right of the political spectrum, where one respects the sanctity of life and believes in the death penalty, the Bush/Cheney (BC) or Before Christ is a throwback to a earlier time when whites ran on campaign themes of white supremacy.

Designed by elder Bush, B.C. is a caretaker presidency. Junior is the face man, with a better memory than Ronald Reagan. "They covered for Ronnie, so they can do it for sonny," the elder said. A grade B movie script, Reagan’s two terms were fantasy. Though Reagan was a good bit-part actor, Sonny is loosy goosy. With Cheney to anchor him and a paid press to conceal him, even a goose can follow elder’s classic CIA script

Shades of big brother, Cheney gives Bush gravitas. Sonny is such a lightweight that Cheney as his running mate is like Benjamin Franklin flying the kite that led to the discovery of electricity. Cheney even looks like old Ben without his flowing gray mane. Bush promised his choice "will light up the eyes of America." He delivered, and we are still reeling from the shock! Question is, will this modern invention shed any light on what the elder plans to do with the country? A former CIA director, the elder is a master at scripted spontaneity; he thrives on covert operations.

Atlanta Vibe

Yohannes performs for the National Black Arts Festival (NBAF). On Friday, August 4, 2000, the spoken word venue will be held on the Clark Atlanta University campus in Clark’s Convention Hall from 3-5 PM. There is a $5.00 admissions charge to gain access to the campus. The college campus is located in the West End. For more information, please call 404-730-0177.

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