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Volume 3 Issue 37… Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… September 22, 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 © 2000

Genocide Down Under

Australians for Reconciliation- a coalition of Aborigines and whites- are protesting Prime Minister John Howard’s government’s genocidal policies toward indigenous people at the 2000 Olympics Games. The Sea of Hands, an artistic design in Sydney’s Centennial Park is made of thousands of colorful plastic hand cutouts. They symbolize the 40,000 years Aborigines painted their hands and pressed them against cave walls to mark their trek through time. A population of 19 million, the movie Quigley Down Under shows why it dropped precipitously to 380,000 during 212 years of colonialism. Some 260,000 people signed hand cutouts for the two-day protest of street demonstrations, which include a human chain near the Sydney Airport.

Like people of color around the world, Aborigines experience extremely high levels of poverty, illiteracy, infant mortality, malnutrition and incarceration. Similar to slaves’ descendants, they are victims of a hostile living environment, which include lack of access to vital health and social services, economic and community development, educational and employment opportunities, etc. A holocaust far worse than what Jews experienced in Nazi Germany, with HIV/AIDS and the incarceration of fertile young black males, has yielded a zero population replacement rate.

Robbed of all but the least desirable land in the Northwest Territory, the UN is barred from investigating human rights violations. Aborigines are beaten, jailed and killed for "walking while black" in the outback. Even if an Aborigine’s arrest is a first offense, they are automatically given jail time. Other than American blacks, no other people suffer such mandatory sentencing and synonymously, Aborigines are on the same fast track to extinction as "Miss Wadron’s red colobus." To Aborigine Elder Lowitjia O’Donohue, "We have a mean-spirited Prime Minister and government that can’t find it in their hearts to say sorry and accept the history of this country. This sets back the process of reconciliation. This country needs healing."

I love the film editing, score, plot and special effects of the movie The Matrix. While its insightful peek at slavery must be applauded, the made for television movie The Lottery does a better job of bringing home the diabolical nature of the gentleman’s agreement that made slavery a reality. Apropos, the movie is set in a small prosperous New England town. Its founding fathers believed the lottery was the source of the township’s prosperity.

A pact with the devil, the annual stoning to death of a citizen in the town’s square is the gentlemen’s agreement. All must participate in the lynching; even children are given stones to crush the bones of the lottery winner chosen from among their ranks of friends, family and neighbors. Once begun, at some point, the stoning reaches a fever pitch as elders and children get caught up in the bloodletting. Against their defenseless victim, the town’s action is not the sort of deed for which noble and mighty warriors hope to enter Valhalla.

The township in Lottery symbolizes America, where the citizens agreed to institutionalize slavery. Their willingness to brutalize, marginalize or otherwise mistreat some of its members to ensure their prosperity is ‘the national shame, the problem we all live with.’ The Lottery is highly recommended; it shows how people sell their souls to satisfy a dubious agreement they believe promotes a prosperous existence.

By John Burl Smith

Racial discrimination lawsuits by black federal employees alleging hostile work environments in the U. S. Secret Service, USDA, EPA, IRS and USPS illustrate the pervasive nature of institutionalized racism. Across the spectrum, Black employees are victims of disparate treatment. They are denied training and opportunities for promotions. Moreover, blacks are not considered for top management career paths. They are not offered choice temporary assignments and are not provided information about such opportunities.

Employees victimized by racial discrimination in federal agencies who complain are harassed and abused by supervisors. Managers use the disciplinary process to retaliate against and intimidate employees. Most blacks that do not withdraw their complaints get fired. The United State Justice Department opposes those of us who make it to court. Simultaneously, the Civil Rights Division of the U. S. Justice Department is in court daily against private sector employers for the same kind of racial discrimination practiced by federal agencies. More important, the federal agencies have the unlimited resources of the government to defend their hostile work environment.

Barry Goldwater developed the strategy that reversed the impact of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Richard Nixon laid the foundation by appointing judges who strictly constructed Article I Section 2 ( 3/5th Compromise.) Completing the process, Reagan/Bush redrew the color line in America and Bill Clinton has walked that line for eight years. Under Reagan/Bush, civil rights investigations of federal agencies were effectively shut down. In-house Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) offices began to hide racial discrimination to cover up the hostile work environment in federal agencies.

A segregated workplace with black and white lunchrooms and restrooms as late as the mid-1970s, like slavery then segregation, the signs came down but the hostile work environment remained. Everyone from the president down supported vice president Al Gore’s "reinventing government" which downsized thousands of blacks who came into government through affirmative action. To hide the broken lives, federal agencies stopped enforcing discrimination guidelines. According to Bobby Doctor, Regional Director of the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights, and Ozell Sutton, Regional Director, U. S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service in Atlanta, "there is no budget to fight racial discrimination in the federal government. And without troops in the field investigating, we are just complaint warehouses. We are no different, there is racial discrimination in our divisions as well."  John 2000

Grandiosity?

By Edda R. Pittman

My employment experience with the United States Postal Service (USPS) is a long story; I will try to keep it brief. I have not worked since October; my boss says I assaulted him. I am his secretary. I work in the headquarters operation; it is not your local post office. Inspection says no assault occurred and recommended no discipline. However, a fitness for duty examination scheduled PRIOR to this alleged assault returned results that said I was unfit for duty due to grandiosity and a lack of empathy for my supervisor and fellow employees.

A possible reason for scheduling the exam is my request for reasonable accommodations (February 1999). I have a medical condition that qualifies me for such consideration. I think the specific objectionable behavior I exhibited was humming, a likely coping mechanism developed in response to three years of almost daily harassment. I received the examination results by certified mail on Xmas Eve with a request to submit a leave form - sick or annual- or receive leave without pay, if I did not respond. I chose leave without pay.

Grandiosity is a symptom, not a known medical disorder. Shrink says I'm not displaying pathological tendencies, but is reluctant to put that in a letter. While USPS has requested such, I think to provide it, some doctor must "lie" for me and thus jeopardize his license. I have not been paid since Christmas and will be age-eligible for retirement (without any questions) on 01-21-01 after 37+ years. Recently, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor that is benign and am battling venous insufficiency - swollen ankles, but I fight on. It matters not whether the cat is black or white, so long as the mice get caught! (Nigerian Proverb) EddaRPittman@compuserve.com.

Ringmaster Tim Russert’s Off-Broadway production The Hillary Clinton/Rick Lazio New York Senate Campaign Debate was very heavy on theatrics. A "powder puff dandy," Lazio’s scene swearing off "soft money" was a recasting of Elmer Gantry challenging sinners in a saloon to "take the pledge." However, his attempt at upstaging Hillary by thrusting his paper at her to sign was unmistakably Saturday Matinee down at the old sawmill. Dastardly Dan has trapped "Sweet Sue" and lashed her to a log. With pearly whites showing, while cracking his whip with one hand and twisting this handlebar mustache with the other, Dan demands, "Sign it, sign it! If you don’t sign your ranch over, I will cut you to bits." Although nickelodeons and cliffhangers are long gone, like the poor, Dastardly Dans will always be with us!

The AFD Campaign on Corporate Globalization/Positive Alternatives, The S11 Alliance, The Stolen Lives Project and an amalgam of trade unions blockaded the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Asia-Pacific summit in Melbourne, Australia. Praising the determination of 10,000 protesters, some of which slept overnight in Antarctic conditions at the site, David Glanz declared victory. The number of protesters was put at 20,000 by Community Radio 3CR, which compared police tactics to those at the Richmond Secondary College clash in 1963. Attempting to wedge protesters, police deployed horses and twenty-deep phalanxes. Pauline Spencer's legal observation team reported multiple instances of serious police violence and abuse. Also joining protesters were the Victorian Trades Hall Council, ACTU and thousands of construction trade and manufacturing unions rallying for labor rights.

Cincinnati, Ohio is the next site for progressive opposition to globalization. The TransAtlantic Business Dialogue of US/EU corporate CEO's will meet November 16-18 to extend NAFTA to Europe. As our Australian sisters and brothers, Americans must do their part to fight corporate greed, exploitation and oppression. Cincinnati is the next battleground to save the planet! For more, see http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org or http://www.S11.org

By Shiriki Unganisha shiriki@gvi.net

The saying "truth crushed to the earth shall rise" is so true today. Witness the revelations of corruption by the U.S. government. For centuries people have denounced the U.S. death penalty. It does not deter crime, is racist in its application and innocent people have been executed. In Chicago a few years ago, a conference on the death penalty focused on the conviction of innocent people. Twenty-eight (28) innocent people shared their horrific experiences on death row. African Americans have always said, "we are terrorized by agents of the government," such as the KKK, police and the criminal justice system in general. Ironically, the KKK is not on the government's list of "hate groups;" it holds a charter, like the Boy Scouts of America. A legal organization, the KKK is protected by the government. We all know the murderous history of this "hate group." Yet, a political organization such as the Black Panther Party is labeled the nation's greatest threat to internal security.

When the world witnessed the brutal beating of Rodney King, some white citizens justified King's beating by saying he caused it by not following the instructions of the wolf pack to lie still while they brutalized him. In early July, caught on video again, rogue cops beat Thomas Jones, a black man, and those in power once again justified police brutality. As the truth rises, it reveals corruption within the U.S. criminal justice system, such as the Rampart Division scandal, widespread prosecutorial misconduct and the brutality of prison guards across the country.

Question is, WHY NOW? When corruption is suppressed, sooner or later the truth will rise; this is what we are witnessing here in the U.S. today. WHY NOW? I believe the good forces of the universe are allowing us to see in no uncertain terms how wicked this system is. Once truth is revealed, the people have a responsibility to rise and crush this evil and wicked system, because the corruption will not cease, even when daily exposed. WHY NOW? Because it is time. The creator prepares us for what must come. If we continue to allow a handful of super rich individuals to control the lives of the majority, then the people deserve what they get!

Disgruntled wants to know: Clinton's presidency is ending, but he is busy. He signed legislation to fund Columbia's drug war and established ties with drug exporting countries. What are the parallels between Jimmy Carter's quest to corner the peanut market and Clinton's efforts to become king of the drug industry?

Disgruntled says: To escape the radical right, Clinton ditched the race dialogue. Imitating him, Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell used affirmative action to deflect attention away from possible wrongdoing in his administration.

Disgruntled feels: Out of Atlanta, the city too busy to hate, CNN colors the world. It uses paints that reflect John Rocker's mentor - Ted Turner.

Bits of History

According to Current, Williams and Freidel, the great migration to war plants during WWII stripped the agricultural South of many underprivileged whites and blacks. This exodus led to the rumor among outraged white housewives that departing Negro domestics had formed "Eleanor Clubs," named after Mrs. Roosevelt, to "get a white woman in every kitchen by 1943."

In the North, it led to explosive tension when Negroes, enjoying their new freedom, were jostled in crowded streetcars against indignant whites. A serious riot, in which twenty-five blacks and nine whites were killed, shook Detroit in June 1943. New York narrowly averted a similar disaster. At the very time when the United States was fighting a war against the racist doctrines of Adolf Hitler, many whites became resentful over the perceived gains Negroes were making.

In June 1941, after the head of the Pullman porters' union, A. Philip Randolph, threatened a march on Washington, President Roosevelt established the Fair Employment Practices Committee. It worked during the war against discrimination in employment. By 1944, two million Negroes worked in the war industry, as barriers to Negro economic opportunities were cracked. Though Negroes in the North were relegated to the most menial and lowest paid positions in wartime America, their economic condition was improved relative to their southern brethren. (American History: A Survey, 4^th ed. Current, R.N., Williams, T.H. & Freidel, F.)

By Dot

On Saturday (9/16/00), the THINC focus group gathered to watch C-Span's coverage of and comment on President Clinton's final address before the nation's most influential minority group, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). Culminating a week of activities in the nation's capitol, the Saturday night dinner is the piece de resistance. Leading up to this gala event, Tom Joyner and Tavis Smiley staged a "get out the vote" and "set a black agenda 2000 (BATT)" radio program for which they received an award and CBC members led discussions about racial profiling and reparations.

Clinton is known to be long-winded, so the focus group found his unusually brief remarks out of character, especially before an audience that is called adoring in mainstream media. Even Clinton gave credence to an apparent love affair between himself and black America when quoting Toni Morrison; she called him "the first black president." He credited blacks with saving his presidential backside. Ironically, for the second year in a row, the President's brief remarks before the faithful did not mention his Initiative on Race.

Opening up the subject is to acknowledge America's human rights violations. Clinton revels in his white superiority; he is committed to maintaining the gentlemen's agreement. His race initiative's findings replicate socioeconomic studies introduced by THINC. These studies recommend amending the Constitution to end white supremacy and reparations for its victims. Clinton fears these changes will affect his prosperity.

Overwhelmingly, the THINC focus group members wondered why the CBC applauded Clinton for telling them he accepts his heritage and will do nothing to change it. To cement his commitment to the status quo, on Sunday the President attended a groundbreaking ceremony in Philadelphia for a museum to tell the Constitution's history. His notable quote, "We revere the Constitution because it is at the core of who we are," says it all. A nation of laws, Americans follow the rule of law, and the rule is the 3/5ths of Article1 Section 2.

Comments from the Bat Cave

The Dark Knight/Batman/White Ninja Zorro is never verbose. When shown the space grandma saved for his comments, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro said, "I love you!"

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