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Volume 3 Issue 40… Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… October 13, 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

The Watergate Hearings revealed certain undisputed facts about President Richard Nixon and the men around him, who were part of CREEP (the Committee for the Re-Election of the President). Concerned about the Defense Department study of the Vietnam War leaked to the press and published as "The Pentagon Papers" in 1971, Nixon set up a special group of White House employees called "the plumbers." To plug leaks, they tapped the telephones of newsmen and members of Henry Kissinger's staff.

Nixon ordered the plumbers to discredit Daniel Ellsberg, the man responsible for leaking the Pentagon Papers. With White House funding, plumbers broke into the Los Angeles office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. Eager to punish Ellsberg, while he was on trial in federal court, Nixon told John Ehrlichman, his domestic policy chief and head of the plumbers, to approach the trial judge and find out if he would be interested in a promotion to the post of FBI director. The judge dismissed the case.

Four of the burglars in the psychiatrist’s office break-in participated in the Watergate break-in with CREEP financing. After their arrests, CREEP members and other officials hastily destroyed government records. Nixon told H.R. Halderman, his White House aide, and Ehrlichman to meet with top CIA officials about the burglaries. The CIA director concluded the White House was trying to "use" the agency to slow down a FBI probe and cover up CREEP activities.

In addition to the Watergate burglary, CREEP agents perpetrated a variety of "dirty tricks" before and during the campaign, the worst of them having been intended to destroy the reputation of Nixon’s strongest potential rival, Senator Edmund Muskie, and thereby prevent his getting the Democratic nomination.

A Nixon campaign worker remarked, "I have often thought we had too much money." Part of the money came from corporations that were making unlawful contributions, part of it from persons or groups who were receiving specific government favors. The Justice Department compromised an antitrust suit against the International Telephone and Telegraph Company after ITT had agreed to contribute. The President raised price supports for milk after dairymen’s organizations promised large payments. Attorney General John Mitchell and Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans interceded with the Securities and Exchange Commission on behalf of Robert Vesco, a disreputable financier who made a contribution. Mitchell and Stans were indicted, but were eventually acquitted. President Nixon resigned before he could be impeached. Gerald R. Ford was immediately sworn in August 9, 1974 as President; he named multimillion Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President. Ford pardoned Nixon, and he tapped George Bush, Sr. as head of the CIA. (Source: Current, Williams & Freidel, American History: A Survey). CREEP Part 1

Disgruntled says: Atlanta City Council Chairman and Mayoral Candidate Robb Pitts suggested the city sell the names of major public facilities, such as Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, to make some money. Because so many locals support the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy that adorns Georgia’s State Flag, we should rename Hartsfield C.I.A. (Confederate International Airport). That way, people who fly in will know our heritage and the kind of reception they are likely to get in our busy city.

Disgruntled feels: The love affair between blacks and Clinton is peculiar. Alabama slaves’ descendants voted for George Wallace. Even when he was an avowed racist, there were some blacks singing his praises, clapping to his campaign stump rhetoric. These blind love affairs can be explained when one understand that slaves, lynched people, loved their masters.

Disgruntled wants to know: So you have access to the Internet! You can logon to one of those online grocery stores or fancy specialty shops for a late night snack. Empowered, you have a modem, wear a suit, drive a SUV and press you hair bone straight, so why won’t Pizza Hut deliver in your black neighborhood?

by John Burl Smith

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) was conceived during the racial conflict of the 1960s. Surrounded by counties that have always fought to destroy it, but supported by blacks who desperately needed its service, MARTA developed into the only public transit system in Georgia entitled to receive federal funds for rail transportation. A question of fairness lies at the heart of the present struggle to control MARTA - a public utility. "Who should pay for public transportation that benefits everyone?"

Currently, residents in DeKalb and Fulton Counties are the only ones paying the one-cent sales tax that funds MARTA. Moreover, Gov. Roy Barnes, supported by the legislature, extended the tax obligation until 2047 as part of the state’s regional transportation plan. He designed the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) to take control of all federal transportation money coming to MARTA and Georgia.

A board member representing DeKalb, MARTA Chairman Bill Mosley typifies Barnes’ "robber baron" concept, "board members can not be charged with just doing the county’s business." Mosley supports Barnes’ MARTA takeover, which removes decision-making away from citizens. Neither MARTA nor GRTA members are elected by direct vote, but both can do what amounts to taxing citizens and penalizing local government without either having any direct say in the matter. This tyranny has been forced upon DeKalb and Fulton residents by the state without considerations of "due process" and "equal protection."

Newly elected DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones takes office following Gov. Barnes use of GRTA to aid Cobb and Douglas Counties’ development by stealing the train paid for with DeKalb County’s MARTA taxes. Having made a political career fighting MARTA’s extension into Cobb County, and without Constitutional authority to claim MARTA, Barnes through GRTA has placed DeKalb’s economic development on the back burner. Counties surrounding DeKalb and Fulton that supported Barnes efforts to stop MARTA are being rewarded. Now, with billions of dollars earmarked for transportation coming to the state because of MARTA, Barnes has taken control of the local utility. Cobb and Douglas are being provided rail service, while MARTA pays for local bus systems for Canton in Cobb and Clayton Counties.

Jones has joined Fulton County Chairman Mike Kenn, who has led the fight to address the inequities of the MARTA tax. First, it unconstitutionally taxes the citizens of Fulton and DeKalb Counties to support a regional utility. Citizens did not vote on a referendum to be taxed until 2047. Next, the state’s takeover of MARTA happened without a vote by the citizens primarily responsible for its existence and support. Finally, the membership of Clayton and Cobb Counties on MARTA’s board as voting members is unacceptable. These counties have repeatedly refused to join MARTA, why should they get to decide MARTA policies? This is over-representation, just the opposite of what the citizens in majority black DeKalb County are getting, which is taxation without representation.

GRTA does not demand surrounding counties pay the MARTA sales tax. Gov. Barnes refuses to discuss compensating DeKalb and Fulton’s taxpayers for their lopsided investment in MARTA when others refused to be involved with public transportation. Adding injury to insult, the justification for creating GRTA was to bring a regional approach to solving air quality and traffic problems in the thirteen counties surrounding DeKalb and Fulton Counties. However, GRTA’s only substantial action has been to take control of MARTA’s purse strings, even though the state did not give MARTA a penny before or after the takeover. John 2000

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens probes the maxim, "one mimics one’s teachers." Mysteriously provided the opportunity to become a gentleman, Pip goes off to school to be taught to be someone by men who did not know him. Returning home confused, his mis-education nearly spells disaster for everyone. Next month CEO-elect Vernon Jones will be off to Harvard University to study at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. With his education being financed by supporters (AJC 10-5-00), Jones said "I'm not going to take a Mayberry approach to running the second largest county in Georgia."

Certainly no character in a giggle re-run, George Berry senior vice president of Cousins Properties is one of those footing the bills for Jones. Berry is a high-powered developer making mad cheddar from Atlanta developments like East Lake Country Club. Once a segregated Golf Course, it combined with the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) to condemn and evict low-income residents from East Lake Meadows Apartments. Cousins purchased the property from AHA for peanuts and built upscale condos as part of East Atlanta gentrification. Already owing for campaign contributions, will Jones return from school bring DeKalb a changed man? Once educated like Pip, will he forget where he came from and who put him in his chair, as most black politicians? Education is great. One is supposed to get smarter. Consequently, a fool knows, "He who lies down with dogs, rises up with fleas."

First, people of color are lynched in America. Psychologists understand what I mean when I say they do not always speak to their best interests. Second, in the Diaspora, there are as many different points of view as there are skin shades, which range from vanilla with almost no color to the darkest ebony hue. Black America is no monolith is certainly true when it comes to skin color and the subject of reparations. A victim of diversity, reparation views among people of color range from the "absurd and out of the question" to "inevitable because I work to honor my ancestors."

If the truth is told, some black folks' ancestors did not experience slavery. During slavery and Jim Crow segregation, some blacks received better treatment. Some are so downtrodden, they dare not complain. They are convinced, "ain't nothing gone change." Then too, not every person of color in America is a slave descendant, at least, not completely. Slave descendants who know their history believe reparations are needed to make our people whole and honor our ancestors. We believe reparations are owed all descendants of those who came to America via the Middle Passage.

There are blacks whose ancestry is African, but their ancestors came voluntarily to America, so their heritage is not buried in its slavery. Retired General Colin Powell is an excellent example. Then, there are the masters' offspring, like the children of Thomas Jefferson. Shielded from the harsh realities of enslavement, there are many Americans with black blood pretending to be white because they are light enough to get away with it. They do not have to accept or fight for reparations, neither should their thoughts on the subject control the conversation. The color line in America is not much different from the apartheid practiced in South Africa. Unlike black South Africans, American slave descendants demand reparations.

On Thursday, September 28, 2000, I attended the annual Grandparent's Tea at Clifton Elementary School. Principal Tracy Moore believes grandparents can and do play an important role in the development of her students. As principal of this magnet school for more than two decades, Moore is dedicated to the children and the community. She works diligently to ensure Clifton receives its share of programs to advance the educational opportunities available to Georgia school children. She deserves kudos for her hard work and dedication.

Kudos to all the young people who regaled the grandparents with poetry and music. Bursting with talent, the youngest members of the student body- kindergartners- paid tribute to grandparents with a song that touched this grandparent's heart. Older students recited poems they wrote thanking grandparents for all they do to make their lives special.

Members of the staff and faculty that made this event happen also deserve kudos, and the children, who were well behaved and appreciative. Kudos all around!

Is Atlanta too busy to hate? To tell the truth, the real story about Atlanta is just the opposite. The city's public relations ad campaign is aimed at covering up an ugly reality. Like CNN covering and coloring the world in ten-minute intervals, Atlanta's campaign is a scripted presentation to hide the real story of a city too busy.

Welcome to the Mecca! The Confederate symbol in the Georgia State flag is revered by locals, including the governor. As a symbol of heritage, it is a dead giveaway that something is not quite right with Atlanta's slogan. Being too busy to hate does not square with flaunting racist symbols. Colored people are lynched daily. "Put into their place," a practice as commonplace as outlets of the popular Atlanta restaurant Waffle House restaurant, it happens so frequently black folks hardly notice when some basic right gets violated. Brutalizing black people is commonplace in the Mecca.

One sure sign of hate is the number of people found murdered, missing, hit and run over and killed in police custody. It is alarming. If Atlanta is too busy to hate, how do you explain all the violence? City Hall is on lock-down and will not answer questions. The Mayor- Bill Campbell, a black man - is busy preaching in local churches about how the FBI is waging a hate campaign against him. White folks are complaining about "all them black bodies seen partying in Buckhead," Atlanta's upscale party scene. There is hate all over the place.

Hate and violence go hand-in-hand, they are hallmarks of a hostile environment. There is plenty in Atlanta. Buckhead is just one of the places where it happens. In poor areas of the city, it is not news, unless the media wants to use it to make black folks look stupid, pandering to the stereotypes about blacks being ignorant and criminal.

For years, Buckhead patrons were predominantly white. Recently, with the growth of the music scene in the Mecca, Buckhead has become the place to see and be seen, if your are up-and-coming or on the way down. So, famous persons and those unknown flock to Buckhead. The latest crop of wannabees cruise. They seem to say, "We are here; we come to party. So, what if we can’t afford it. This is America. We can see and be seen on the streets of our country." And, they crowd the streets jamming to their car stereos. Armed with instant car parties, cruisers do the Freaknik nightly on Peachtree through the heart of Buckhead. How appropriate for a city that provides no venues where black youth are welcomed.

Not surprising, proposed solutions involve violating their rights by giving police the right to ticket for everything from "loud" stereos to cruising. This is racial profiling. The law makes it a crime to drive down the street; it is too vague and leaves it to police to decide what is "loud." Rules used to frustrate Freaknik-goers are being used to discourage certain people from going to Buckhead. It seems the city too busy to hate is having a hard time bucking its hateful traditions.

About the same time that Haralson County High School painted a huge Confederate flag on the outside of the school's gymnasium, the Woodruff Arts Center was born. For the past 30 years, the Center and the heritage the Confederate flag represents have helped to establish the values and views reflected in funding for local art appreciation and education in Georgia. Named after Atlanta-based Coca-Cola magnate Robert W. Woodruff, the center is the premiere visual and performing arts center in the South; it is rated among the top art centers in the country. Today the Woodruff Center includes the Alliance Theatre Company, High Museum of Art, Atlanta College of Art, 14th Street Playhouse and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The center is purchasing land in remote Habersham, a rural area, to build another state-of-the-arts facility. Question is, when will the local arts' community provide incubators and venues that serve the needs of black children? Talent abounds in our schools, universities and the untapped talent that is so evident in the spoken word community?

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro was surprised at school by a visit from his grandmother. Granny said, "Surprise!" Looking very serious, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro responded, "Grandma, you should tell me when you are coming, it could be too much of a shock for someone."

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