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Volume 3 Issue 39… Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… October 6, 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

by John Burl Smith

Haralson County in rural North Georgia is ground zero in this week's battle over Confederate symbols and the racist heritage they represent. A continuing saga played out using children as surrogates, white parents are teaching their children to adopt their slave master mind-set. They deny having any racial intent. However, intelligent adults know the Confederacy was founded on slavery, which is about as racial as one can get.

For the sake of clarity, following the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka outlawing "separate but equal," Georgia's legislature sent an unmistakable message of defiance to the world by adding the stars and bars to its state flag. As the legislature, Haralson County Schools were segregated. Forced to integrate, Haralson County High followed the legislature's lead and painted a huge Confederate flag on the outside wall of its gymnasium to show commitment to their southern slave master heritage.

Students then, they are the parents now lying to their children about the flag and lynching, which is what it represents to those who know its brutish history. Blacks are less than 1% of the student body and the faculty and coaches are white. In 2000, black kids are in the same predicament as their parents and grandparents. Daily black children are forced to decide between demanding their rights or accepting racist assaults in order to keep a job, enjoy a privilege or gain access to some service. This incident is not about a flag; it is about training children to think as slaves and slave masters. As masters, they learn to take more than they deserve, while forcing others to settle for less than what they are rightfully due solely on the basis of color.

This "double think" maintains the "southern plantation style of management." Lynching is the lesson white kids at Haralson High just finished teaching black students. Taught racial hatred in high school Christian clubs, sororities, fraternities, in churches and at dinner tables, white students learn their lesson well. They mimic their parents' prejudices, like genetically modified corn. Hatred does not grow wild. The seed must be planted and cultivated. Moreover, it must be provided environments in which to flourish. Haralson County High School is but one of many seedbeds of American institutionalized racism. John 2000

Thank God for C-Span and the Internet, we sometimes get to see the eccentric. Failing to catch the entire program, I surfed the Net and found more on RockyMountionNews.Com. Ryan Alessi's article does not do the event justice. Worth every minute, look for the Senate Foreign Relations Worldwide Slavery Hearings, and observe a metamorphosis!

Chaired by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), the committee heard our young expound on Sudanese slavery. Reading from prepared texts, their words tore at the heartstrings of those present even the chairman. At the conclusion of their statements urging Congress to act to end slavery, the young people received a standing ovation. Tears blurred the vision of many, including the elderly Senator.

Son of the South, Helms proclaimed to the group, "I love who you are, what you stand for and what you're trying to do." Such compassion, pray it signals this diehard old racist can have a change of heart. A Helms metamorphosis would confirm the THINC notion that the human is a work in progress. Even Helms qualifies, so change is possible. But, I reserve the right to be skeptical about this old fart!

On September 26, 2000, Dr. Daniel H. Weinberg, Chief, Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, U.S. Census Bureau, held a press conference to discuss the economy's performance. Following is his analysis of the 1999 income and poverty estimates: "Increases in income and declines in poverty were widespread in 1999. Between 1998 and 1999, median household income adjusted for inflation increased 2.7 percent, to $40,800, the highest we have ever measured. For the first time, households in the U.S. have sustained five consecutive annual statistically significant increases in their real median income. In addition, the poverty rate fell for the third consecutive year, from 12.7 percent in 1998 to 11.8 percent in 1999, the lowest poverty rate since 1979. The number of poor dropped significantly also -- from 34.5 million poor in 1998 to 32.3 million poor in 1999. Finally, household income inequality did not change from 1998 to 1999." http://www.census.gov/Press-Releasewww/2000/cb00-158.html.

 V.O.M.I.T.T. Economic Analysis

Voice Of Minorities In The Trenches (V.O.M.I.T.T) monitors America's chasm of inequality. Its annual report validates The DISH's economic analysis, which shows the three-fifths compromise controls outcomes in American society. The latest census data provide more proof. For 1999, median family incomes for black and white Americans were 27,900 and 44,400, respectively, for a relative value of 62.8% or roughly three-fifths, which makes the law flawless. (Source: http://www.census.gove/hhes/www/img/incpov99) The 1999 relative value of black to white median family income falls within the narrow range of .5 to .65 in which it has fluctuated throughout American history.

The historic income inequality must be addressed. V.O.M.I.T.T.'s report found, "its implications do not bode well for the U.S. in light of the upcoming International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination." U.S. officials are feverishly working to keep people ignorant of the role laws play in maintaining inequality. In its initial report to the United Nations on the elimination of racial discrimination, there is no mention of Article 1 Section 2 of the Constitution. Astute U.N. observers know that when "strictly interpreted," it is the law of the land. America must explain to the international community how it will end the institutionalized racism its current census data confirm.

by John Burl Smith

Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it is a maxim unweathered by time. The central questions motivating T.H.I.N.C.ers are "Who am I and why am I here?" A philosophical autobiographical sketch in poetic muse, T.H.I.N.C. (Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness): Chrysalis of Evolution by Yohannes Sharriff Smith tells of his journey toward consciousness. Viewing history from this perspective, the last 400 years humanity repeated the same cycle. At the dawn of the 19^th century, the industrial revolution came of age; greed was in vogue. The "have-not" masses banged at the doors of the "haves" demanding to pass within. People moved from farms to factories; they crowded into cities with poor living conditions, where sweatshops, factories, mills and mines were today's Silicon Valley.

Civil War in America made arms manufactures a new industrial power. Accordingly, as in Europe, death and destruction became pillars of economic prosperity. The first global arms race culminated in WWI. Munition companies did such a booming business, they financed a sequel WWII. Leaving office in 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against a growing menace, "the military industrial complex." To profit from its history, humanity must rid itself of the mentality that accepts killing and maiming thousands in wars like Kosovo reasonable tradeoffs. Otherwise, people will only replace one Slobodan Milosevic with another high-tech Hitler with his finger on the nuclear trigger.

The main difference between the 1900's and now is technology. Presently, Bill Gates, Scott McNealy and Ted Turner are "robber barons," as J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were in their day. Rather than slaves to "Trust," we are under bondage to the WTO, IMF and World Bank. Accounting for changes in technology, slavery as it is inscribed in Article 1 Section 2 of the Constitution is the base of America's economy. Moreover, the Civil War, rather than freeing blacks, actually enslaved everyone else without wealth. Slavery never ended. The only way we know we are free is that everyone keeps saying we are. Relatively speaking nothing has changed. T.H.I.N.C. about it! John 2000

 Déjà vu Fugitive Slave Laws

by John Burl Smith

"The Times and Wen Ho Lee" was an astounding admission by the New York Times. It followed an amazing series of events involving the "iron triangle," the United States Department of Justice, the FBI and the media. A bizarre article, which detailed what the Times called at one point, "the worst case of spying since the Rosenbergs," America's most prestigious newspaper inferred Dr. Lee deserved the same fate as those infamous Jews. If Dr. Lee had been before the same type of Judge as the Rosenbergs, America would have railroaded another minority to the electric chair.

Lost in all this is the biting reality, blacks in America are continually victimized by the "rush to judgement" and outright lynching, no matter what type of Judge sits on the bench. In the late 1960's, FBI Director J. Edger Hoover used the Fugitive Slave Laws to create a program called Co-InTel-Pro (Counter Intelligence Program). Troublesome slaves, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights workers were considered habitual runaways. That designation allowed slave catchers to hunt slaves down and kill them on the spot. A known racist, Hoover personally supervised efforts to destroy or discredit Dr. King.

After the assassination of Dr. King, FBI agents targeted individuals and groups that advocated black power. Designated "the greatest threat to internal security ever," black power advocates were hunted down like Dr. King. Agents tapped telephones, conducted surveillance, infiltrated groups, planted evidence, trumped up charges, lied in court and hired informants to lie in court to support such criminal charges. They concocted schemes to entrap individuals they claimed were masterminds or killed those they could not out smart.

Unlike Dr. Lee, judges presiding over lawsuits involving blacks adhered to fugitive slave law. They do not examine inconsistencies in Justice Department cases nor do they challenge the veracity of witnesses, even when defense attorneys raise such issues. Chicago police murdered Mark Clark and Fred Hampton. Emblematic of David Walker, even after it was proven FBI agents planned the raid to assassinate the two Black Panthers, the media continued with the cover up. The iron triangle freely circulated stories most knew to be false. Everyone cooperated; the establishment wanted the Black Power movement destroyed. Just as Dr. Lee's prosecution, it was all about race.

Today Congress reacts with pious indignation, but it had a pivotal role in turning the dogs lose. It authorized funding for Co-InTel-Pro and has refused to look into the FBI's use of Fugitive Slave Laws to prevent blacks from organizing to gain basic human rights. Black citizens were falsely imprisoned and murdered for exercising the freedoms of association, assembly, and speech.

Thirty years later, Congress will still not ask what happened and why? What most call "racial profiling" is in reality enforcement of fugitive slave laws, and under those laws, incarcerations like Mumia Abu-Jamal's and murders like those of Amadou Diallo, John F. Brown and so many others are legal. Congressional records related to murders of black power advocates remain sealed. This is why the FBI, the U. S. Department of Justice and the media behaved as they did in Wen Ho Lee's case. John 2000

Around 2 A.M on June 17, 1972, police arrested five men for breaking into the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic National Committee to "bug" them and copy documents. Later, two more were arrested, one of them the general counsel for Republican President Richard Nixon's campaign organization, the Committee for the Re-election of the President (CREEP). Nixon stated "no one in the White House staff, no one in this Administration was involved in this very bizarre incident." He added: "This kind of activity, as I have often indicated, has no place whatsoever in our political process." His opponent, George McGovern, tried in vain to make a campaign issue out of the crime.

After the election, the burglars went on trial. The Justice Department prosecutors failed to implicate anyone higher than those arrested, but Federal District Judge John J. Sirica suspected the whole truth had not been told. In sentencing the defendants, Sirica intimated he would reduce their sentences in exchange for the truth. A former CIA agent and a "security coordinator" for CREEP, James W. McCord agreed to testify before a federal grand jury and a Senate investigating committee, which was headed by Senator Sam J. Ervin of North Carolina. McCord led a parade of witnesses before the televised hearings, popularly known as the Watergate Hearings. (Source: American History: A Survey).

Disgruntled feels: Mis-educated about their history, Americans either deny slavery happened or refuse to believe it has current implications for our society.

Disgruntled wants to know: After spending more than 10 years in prison for rape, a black man forgave the white woman who said he stole her "innocence." DNA testing proved he did not leave the semen found at the crime scene. His conviction was based solely on the testimony of this single eyewitness. How can whites swear, on the Bible, a black man did it when they claim all blacks look alike?

Disgruntled says: Neo-enslaved, the black intelligentsia is silent on institutionalized racism. Lynched, they know blacks exist in the underbelly of America- the world's richest nation - but they will say nothing useful about reparations.

Email: wrenchintheworks@hotmail.com "It appears that the forces of global capitalism have made Bono an offer he can't refuse. He is quoted on NPR's Morning Edition for 9/26/00 as referring to World Bank president James Wolfensohn as "the Elvis of world debt relief." GOOD GOD!! Bono even appears to be on a first name basis with Wolfensohn, calling him "Jim" in the interview. IS NOTHING SACRED?

I don't know how they got to him, and at this point the question is meaningless. I propose a boycott of all U2 shows and the purchase of all U2 records, CD's, tapes, etc., until such time as (and I say this with a great deal of sadness and heartbreak) Bono rethinks and renounces his position, and extricates his cranium from his rectum. Pickets at U2 performances are definitely in order. Bono, PLEASE remove your head from you ass - it looks really bad.

Email: snowdoll@speakeasy.org "Since the fantastic action in Seattle, spokespersons for globalization forces, as well as some people on NPR, and corporate media, repeatedly refer to the demonstrators as "the young protestors." This needs to be qualified strongly....it should be made clear to those of the media who would like to give the impression that these global protests are limited to "young people" (this is always said as though "young people" were fools), that this is NOT the case. To believe this would be to discount the farmers, labor unionists, religious leaders --the world needs to know that everyone is represented, EVERYONE is affected by corporate globalization, and an incredible diversity of protestors has been present at all times and continues to be."

Schooled in American electioneering tactics, which means by any means necessary, the saga of the mysterious packet of information on George W. Bush, Jr.'s rehearsal and debate preparation continues. Screaming "dirty tricks," had Al Gore's campaign organization kept it, rather than turning the suspicious material over to the FBI, we would be embroiled in a Watergate-type investigation. It would have been just the thing Republicans needed to turn the polls around in Dubya's favor. Giving the info to the FBI was a stroke of genius; it foiled what could have led to accusations of Democratic dirty campaign tactics. There is no mole in this old CIA bushwhack- they were not supposed to get the smoking gun back.

 News You Use

How to determine reparations? The international community knows it is not a question of should reparations be paid to slave descendants, but when and what form reparations will assume. In its initial report to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/d1cerd.htm, the US admits its black citizens are victims of racism. Article 6 of the Convention calls for reparations. The U.S. submitted more than 50 pages of explanations as exceptions to international law. Nothing in this document exempts America from condemnation as a human rights violator that should pay reparations.

The DISH reparation formula is as follows. Using Social Security records from 1954 to present, slave descendants should receive the difference between their compensation for labor and white median income. While it would be impossible to pay reparations for 400 years of slavery, we can quantify the impact of institutionalized racism on family incomes since 1954.

In addition, there should be some monetary base amount paid to those who have no Social Security work record or who worked so sporadically as to have received compensation lower than some base amount- say $100,000. This base amount can be seen as the '40 acres and a mule' slave descendants were promised but never received.

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