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Volume 3 Issue 4… Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… February 4, 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. All rights reserved The DISH © 2000

by Yohannes Sharriff Smith

Behold the night, crafty in composition,

Smooth is its complexion, as it moves without form.

What truths lie deep in your mysterious comfort?

Who finds home in your dark nature?

The ghost of unspoken phrases

And unsuppressed desires run rampant,

Lighting viciously under your thick cloak.

The door to secrets never to be caressed by the day,

Key on the westward falling star.

So, they may rise from their slumber

And feed among the shadows.

(Re-printed from THINC: The Chrysalis of Evolution)

Disgruntled wants to know: How come Atlanta area kids missed 4 school days based on a forecast of snow to come?

Disgruntled says: Former State Rep. Ralph David Abernathy, III's 4-year prison sentence is a fitting dichotomy between the punishment given to white and African American criminals. A "black of consequence," Abernathy now knows he is just more black fodder for a lucrative criminal justice system. Had he been white committing his white-collar crimes, the judge would have been lenient, giving him a fine, probation and sentencing him to community service. This should be a wake up call to all "blacks of consequence." You too are slaves! Welcome to the real world Dave!

Disgruntled feels: like I been Y2K-ed again, victim of another snow job by CNN via the weatherman!

The plant Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) contains nicotine, which is a drug. Its leaves are used to make cigars, snuff, cigarettes, etc. A cash crop in early U.S. history, tobacco was used in religious rites and as an appetite suppressant during famines. As addictive as alcohol, cocaine and morphine, health statistics show nicotine is also dangerous.

Like the drug nicotine, caffeine is readily available. It is found in coffee and soft drinks, such as Coke, which are "delivery systems" for this drug. Even children are heard ordering "burger, fries and a Coke." Caffeinated products are sold in grocery stores and most restaurants, and there is no outcry.

Tobacco and alcohol are regulated, only adults are supposed to be able to buy cigars and cognac. Neither the use of caffeine, nicotine nor alcohol is a crime. What makes the use of one drug criminal behavior and another popularly accepted? What is the difference between drinking Coke that once contained cocaine instead of caffeine, using tobacco and drinking a shot of cognac and smoking marijuana? Is drug use a crime or an excuse to imprison certain people?

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro missed four days of school. With plenty of time to T.H.I.N.C., the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro said, "I love my whole family. I say, NEVER SHUT UP!"

by Junious Ricardo Stanton

"It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds,'" M.L. King Jr. August, 28, 1963

In commemorating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we must not allow others to distract or divert the essence of what he stood for or recast his life's work into something trivial, mundane and meaningless. Outrage over Rosa Park's arrest and prosecution proved the catalyst of a movement to overcome American apartheid. The Montgomery Improvement Association called on Dr. King to lead the nonviolent movement. For 386 days black folks walked, car pooled, stayed home, lost their jobs, suffered reprisals and withstood intimidation and violence in a show of solidarity and cohesiveness that shook the very foundations of white supremacy, stirred blacks out of their lethargy and complacency and fired our imaginations.

By the 1963 March on Washington, King was a recognized "leader." To the more than 100,000 who trekked to D.C. amidst controversy, in-fighting and attempts by whites to undermine and silence the more militant faction, Dr. King declared, "We have come to our nation's capital to cash a check, a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. So we have come to cash this check-a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice...We refuse to believe the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check...."

The media relentlessly replays the "I have a dream" portion of King's speech. However, the meat of his message goes unaddressed and unresolved. What if anything does this mean to us in 2000? We must not forget the promissory note. If America never pays, we owe our ancestors, ourselves, our progeny and God to envision a better world, stand up for justice and be our truest and noblest selves. We must come together like they did in Montgomery and galvanize our resources to make a difference. Actualizing our potential is the only way we will ever know freedom or be free at last.

About Me: See next week's Bits of History, which is the remainder of this week's essay. We will include a brief bio on Junious Ricardo Stanton for all those who do not know him already.

by John Burl Smith

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Poor People's Campaign," created new political awareness. However, party politics in 1972 left New York Rep. Shirley Chisholm battered but unbowed. A "catalyst for change," in 1972, her platform for President was the "Black Agenda." The Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana developed a strategy to gain greater representation at the 1972 Democratic convention. Black leaders urged Rep. Chisholm to push a black agenda as her platform.

Urban centers emerged as the chore of Rep. Chisholm's national effort. Networks of civil rights groups blazed the "Chisholm Trail." Zigzagging across America, Shirley became the sole George McGovern challenger. Pushing the black agenda, Shirley forced McGovern to talk about poverty, inequality, injustice, open-housing and full and fair employment. By convention time, Chisholm was poised to become the only woman ever nominated to be President of the United States of America. However, aided by Andrew Young and Coretta Scott King, McGovern wedged a split in Black Caucus support for the Black Agenda.

Innuendos of impropriety and professional indiscretion assailed Shirley. Rumors she had pulled out of the race for party unity chipped away delegates. Deserted, struggling to hold two hundred votes together, Shirley Chisholm faced defeat. Exemplifying true leadership, Rep. Chisholm circled the wagons. Her presidential campaign had come down to trench warfare. The same people that begged her to be their catalyst now betrayed her. A bitter lesson about trust and loyalty, Rep. Shirley Chisholm showed her commitment to the power of ideas. Battered but unbowed, Shirley Chisholm rallied her troops holding enough votes to step into history as the only African American nominated to be President of the United States of America by either party.

News You Use

by Dot Smith

Along with its mainstream acceptance as an economic tool for analyzing and recommending public policy, Smith's chasm of inequality paradigm is also the victim of misuse by opportunistic politicians. Local and national evidence of misuse mounts. We must not lose sight of its intended purpose as a tool to correct historic African American economic exploitation. Smith's paradigm gives us a simple tool for looking at income and welfare disparities. On the national level, it is a road map for formulating claims for African American reparations and more. At the local level, it can be used to examine and recommend government tax and spend policies to improve overall welfare.

So, beware of chasm spinners who exploit and misuse this tool to fool the people. President Clinton recently pledged to spend more federal tax dollars ostensibly aimed at closing the earnings gap between men and women, while ignoring the more significant gap between the wages commanded by black and white labor. Much like affirmative action, Clinton's efforts will help white women receive more opportunities and better wages. Recognize the "slick" spin given everything from the weather to how well the economy is performing. Smith's paradigm is no exception. Clinton spins it, but he is silent on the institutionalized racism it was advanced to expose and help eradicate, the same institutionalized racism he promised to discuss when he embraced Smith's paradigm and the dialogue on race.

Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes used the paradigm analysis on a number of issues from spending the state's share of the tobacco settlement money to public education reform. Like Clinton, Barnes focused on a subset of the chasm of inequality. Choosing an urban-rural gap scenario to create new boards and commissions, which he heads, Barnes funnels tax dollars to his rural south Georgia cronies and other special interests. His One Georgia Initiative, which pits urban against rural interests, does nothing to bridge the traditional chasm of inequality. Barnes' education reform will do little to positively impact learning. Georgia's children needing the most help will not receive it. Barnes scheme will not bring equal educational opportunity to these children. Hence, Barnes' reform will not improve Georgia public education or student test scores. To positively affect the "real chasm," we should spend more of every dollar ear-marked for education on schools and on children considered "failing." Each dollar spent on the neediest will do more to improve overall education. Barnes, Clinton and others misuse the paradigm to promote the status quo, which is intricately bound up in their own narrow self-interest; these are the worst kind of public servants. Learn to recognize the spinners who misuse the paradigm. Know the lies they weave to hide the ugly truth about the real chasm of inequality. (Reparations)

State representative Tyrone Brooks (D) offered some insight into Governor Roy Barnes' past, relative to Lester Maddox. According to Brooks, based on AJC info, while still a college student, Roy left the Democratic Party to become a Republican, because he could not support the racist Lester Maddox as governor. At some point between then and now, Barnes came back to the Democratic Party, making him a true Dixiecrat. With a huge black population, which votes predominantly Democratic, Barnes knows it is difficult to win a statewide election without black support. A classic Dixiecrat, Barnes may not have sat as a disciple on the right hand of Maddox, but he otherwise acquiesced in what Maddox did to maintain the status quo for those black voters he now desperately needs to stay in office. Barnes is just lifting the page from Maddox's book on handling a "nigger town" like Atlanta.

Ever wondered why possession of a firearm puts so many brothers in prison? Unless you are a white man, possession of a gun in the USA is considered criminal activity; you are not covered by the 2^nd Amendment, the NRA (National Rifle Association) defends the rights of whites to pack a piece, even stacked on racks in the back of the family pickup truck. Don't you get caught packing and expect them to come to your defense. African Americans caught with guns become caged assets of the criminal justice system, a system heavily supported by Democrats and Republicans. (A brother doing hard time for packing and thinking right-on NRA and for believing in the 2^nd Amendment!)

The MARTA DeKalb Story?

By John Burl Smith

A forward-looking concept, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) envisioned transportation as one continuous network connecting counties surrounding Atlanta. Business and commercial hubs financed by state, county and city, MARTA would reduce reliance on automobiles. Unfortunately, Cobb, Gwinnett, Clayton and Rockdale Counties used race to oppose MARTA. It came to symbolize forced integration.

Then a young Republican fighting integration with sprawl, Roy Barnes sent MARTA's vision down in flames everywhere but Fulton and DeKalb Counties. Building his reputation, Barnes supported opposition defeated MARTA's extension to Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton Counties.

A reversal of fortunes, now Democrat Barnes recognized the real value of MARTA and designed the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) to consume it. Environmental conditions have made mass transit a must for metro Atlanta in the new millennium. Barnes cronies on MARTA's board are robbing DeKalb and East Atlanta of years of investing in MARTA.

Case in point: As signatories, South DeKalb citizens were promised a rail line as part of Phase II construction. 1999 was to be the year they got their line. Barnes' election, the northern arc and GRTA moved DeKalb and East Atlanta to the back of the bus. Gobbling up MARTA, GRTA has not only allowed Barnes to take over, he has changed its priorities from serving the needs of riders to serving the needs of business. Denying DeKalb's I-20 rail line, he asserts "There is not enough business in South DeKalb to justify a rail line." While Barnes fought MARTA, DeKalb citizens paid the bill.

Championing the needs of business, Barnes' MARTA board is going to reward Cobb and Clayton County for supporting his opposition to MARTA all those years. He proposes taking the money for DeKalb's I-20 line to build a west rail line to the Cobb and Clayton County lines to aid their business development. They are shanghaiing DeKalb and East Atlanta's rightful return on their tax dollars. Barnes has always helped Cobb and Clayton business development at the expense of blacks in DeKalb and Atlanta. This is more taxation without representation. Where is Robb Pitts, the McKinney machine and others who are supposed to represent DeKalb and Atlanta's interests? John 2000

Is KFC serving chicken or some featherless, beakless, footless organism? KFC's official statement regarding this question is "the chicken used at KFC is purchased from the same suppliers that provide chicken for the supermarkets where you shop."

Though it is increasingly more difficult to avoid, since meat and meat by-products are used in so many processed foods, I avoid the meat and dairy sections of the market altogether. KFC's position is similar to the beef industry's response when asked what USDA approved really means. USDA means hormone-treated. There are no labels on meat sold in the U.S. other than USDA approved. Since it is all hormone-treated, there is no need for your local supermarket to tell you an animal's feed lot contained growth hormones or that the meat is otherwise bio-engineered. It simply meets USDA standards. Meat eaters were neither advised nor given a choice about hormone-treated meat. More important, no one knows the long-term health consequences of consuming hormone-treated meat. Meat consumers may want to look beyond the USDA standard message. But, I believe the folks at KFC. Problem is, KFC could still be serving man-made organisms.

A white knight this time last year, President Clinton was fighting racism's demonic forces. Synonymous to his new markets and African initiatives, Clinton's race initiative offered great promise. However, it floundered taking a smoke break with Monica Lewinsky, who appeared as an over-dressed walk-on. Speaking of "walking the walk," she really neutered him!

Begging the question, "Is a lame duck, the same as a neutered hound?" Grrrrrrr!!!

Ok ok ok, The White House returned NCOBRA's Christmas gift - a case of balls. Ohhhhh! Check this out. Why does Clinton' s pants have two flies? One to put his balls in. Hummm, one more, after this! Clinton is retiring his billiard stick. No balls! Ouchhh! Did you hear why Clinton takes Buddy walking. He will have SOMETHING with balls! Ha, ha, ha, ha!!!!

I.C.I.M. Boycotted people, places & things: Death penalty, Bush babies, institutionalized racism, Cyphers that sell us out, South Carolina, confederate flag, Newt Gingrich, Jesse Helms, Trent Lott and other weapons of mass destruction.

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