Volume 3 Issue 49…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… December 15, 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. The DISH © 2000

by William E. Burghardt DuBois

The dangerously clear logic of the Negro's position will more and more loudly assert itself in that day when increasing wealth and more intricate social organization preclude the South from being, as it so largely is, simply an armed camp for intimidating black folk. Such waste of energy cannot be spared if the South is to catch up with civilization. And, as the black third of the land grows in thrift and skill, unless skillfully guided in its larger philosophy, it must more and more brood over the red past and the creeping, crooked present, until it grasps a gospel of revolt and revenge and throws its new-found energies athwart the current of advance.

Even today the masses of the Negroes see all too clearly the anomalies of their position and the moral crookedness of yours. You may marshal strong indictments against them, but their counter cries, lacking though they may be in formal logic, have burning truths within them, which you may not wholly ignore, O Southern Gentlemen! If you deplore their presence here, they ask, Who brought us? When you cry, Deliver us from the vision of intermarriage, they answer that legal marriage is infinitely better than systematic concubinage and prostitution. And, if in just fury you accuse their vagabonds of violating women, they also in fury quite as just reply: The wrong which your gentlemen have done against helpless black women in defiance of your own laws is written on the foreheads of two millions of mulattoes, and written in ineffaceable blood. And finally, when you fasten crime upon this race as its peculiar trait, they answer that slavery was the arch-crime, and lynching and lawlessness its twin abortion; that color and race are not crimes, and yet they it is which in this land receive most unceasing condemnation, North, East, South and West.

About Me: W. E. B. Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts (1868). In 1903, while teaching at Atlanta University, he wrote The Souls of Black Folk. At that time, the problem of race relations was largely, though by no means entirely, a regional one, since the vast majority of Negro Americans were still concentrated in the South. A scientist and man of letters, DuBois railed against America's hypocrisy. (Source: American History; Current, Williams & Freidel)

On Sunday (12-10-00), The Runaway, a made for television movie produced by the Hallmark Hall of Fame caught the attention of some DISH focus group members. It examined black and white relations in the rural south in the early 20^th century. Social issues raised in The Runaway mirror those faced by Georgia's women of Walton County during the 1950s. Basically, white women knew their husbands, sons and significant others were raping black women with impunity, yet they said nothing. Mimicking the infamous Walton County incident, black men who dared complain in The Runaway were lynched. There is much more to the movie, which includes a friendship between young white and black boys "destined to make a difference." The focus group recommends it, so check for reruns in your local television listing.

by John Burl Smith

George W. Bush, Jr. and Republicans castigated Vice President Albert Gore claiming his lack of principles made him unrecognizable from moment to moment. Today as their stolen election hangs by a chad, they demand frantically that Gore become a man of principles and concede.

One hundred thirty-five years after the Civil War and several amendments (13^th, 14^th and 15^th ) to the United States Constitution, the value of black human capital remains in doubt. Before the U. S. Supreme Court, George W. Bush, Jr.'s lawyers argued in favor of America's great paradox: the 3/5ths Compromise and "equal protection." If as strict constructionist judges claim, the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th Amendments are unconstitutional, therefore blacks are still bound by the 3/5ths Compromise, how can they grant Bush relief under "equal protection" by not counting votes? For the Vice President to concede and offer support would signal that he agrees Bush has the right to rob voters of their right to make the choice of who leads the country.

The rational epoch ushered in the rule of law. Its founder, Socrates, taught that by examining one's beliefs about truth, one can determine whether or not one's motives serve the greater good of society. His uncompromising commitment to truth while searching to "know thyself" distinguishes him from other great thinkers. Struggling to acquire self-knowledge is humanity's essential purpose according to Socrates. This quest set young Athenians' minds ablaze with curiosity, igniting their rejection of the status quo. Condemned as an anarchist, Socrates was forbidden to teach. In a final act of defiance to show some fates are worst than death, Socrates consumed hemlock. He believed conceding to injustice places a greater value on life than on truth and empowers tyrants to cage one's spirit.

Heat's white glare tempers steel, but to know this truth, one must face the fire. Slavery's oppression has locked blacks in an epic struggle for survival extending back 400 years. A man of the century, Umar al-Mukhtar also showed the supreme level of commitment. Fighting fascism for twenty years in the Italo-Sanusi War, Bedouins suffered a fate worst than Jews in Germany, while a Christian world watched in deafening silence. The Lion of the Desert, al-Mukhtar faced the noose, rather than concede one grain of Saharan sand. He challenged young Bedouins to resist no matter what the cost. Umar al-Mukhtar wrote his own epitaph, "We never have to agree with the tyrant's desire to oppress us. They have the power, why is our agreement necessary." Today those young Bedouins are elder statesmen in Libya, rather than Italian subjects.

Standing on the shoulders of giants like David Walker, Nat Turner, Sojourner True and Marcus Garvey, but rank and file with contemporaries such as Paul Robeson, Malcolm X, Mary McLeod Bethune and W. E. B. Du Bois, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a millennium man to slave descendants. From the mountaintop, he showed young blacks that living one day standing as a man is more rewarding than surviving a hundred years on your knees. Dr. King forced the world to recognize all human beings have value. Refusing to concede to segregation, he faced death in Memphis refusing to drink the hemlock of politics.

A national leader, the Vice President shares the same dilemma as Dr. King, al-Mukhtar and Socrates. Over 50 million voters accepted him as a man of principles and are waiting to see who is right. America witnessed the great paradox tearing at the Supreme Court. The Vice President must stand for "equal protection" or concede to the 3/5ths Compromise! John 2000

Disgruntled says: When the Supreme Court stopped the manual vote count, we lost all hope for a fair and just resolution. With the Court effectively running out the clock to crown Bush, America lost the right to call itself a democracy. A politicized court chose the nation's president, a situation that leaves Americans without a safe harbor against the tyranny of Bush-backers' money.

Disgruntled feels: Disgusted! Republican Senator John McCain squandered all claims to being a straight shooter. Parroting the party line, he is no Jedi Knight fighting for the people; McCain is Darth Vader, a surrogate of the Emperor- ruler of the Evil Empire.

Disgruntled wants to know: For the sake of the country, Bush should do the right thing and demand a full, fair and accurate count of all legally cast ballots. A man of principle, Bush claims to be a born-again Christian; he said he would bring integrity back to the White House. How can he when, without a count, he runs the risk of being another his Fraudulency?

Without Sanctuary

On Wednesday (12-8-00), Atlanta's Auburn Avenue Research Library held a forum on Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America. Apparently, the prospect of people seeing the pictures on which the book by Jim Allen is based is creating a great deal of controversy in metro Atlanta - the heart of the South, where much of the lynching occurred throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Writing for Creative Loafing, in Strange Fruit (12/09/00), Bill Sasser succinctly describes the exhibit and book, as "a collection of postcards and photographs documenting an epidemic of vigilante violence and racial killings. Long a taboo subject intertwined with the original sin of slavery, America's penchant for lynching was exposed by jazz great Billie Holiday in her Depression-era rendition of "Strange Fruit," a song named "Best of the Century" by Time Magazine in December of 1999."

The exhibit is on loan to Emory University, which is seeking public comments on how, where and if it should display the exhibit. Predominantly black, Wednesday's forum participants favored its display. Indeed, many viewed it as a valuable history lesson.

In concurring with that majority, every effort should be made to make this accessible to the greatest possible audience, which includes white people who oppose prominently displaying the exhibit. They want the evidence to remain hidden. Not only should it come to the Auburn Avenue Research Library, but it should also find venues serving majority white audiences at the Woodruff Art Center and other metro galleries.

If you have not expressed your opinion about this important exhibit, do so today. If improving race relations is the social good we seek, then this exhibit must be viewed as a history lesson, a source of education and enlightenment. What was done in the dark will come to light, and what acts committed in daylight must remain in plain sight for all to see. Democracy requires an educated electorate.

When the postcards and photographs, which make up this exhibit were produced, lynching was a favorite social pastime (picnic) for countless Americans. Entire families gathered to participate in the human carnage. Ask your parents and grandparents; they may have attended some lynchings or know of some of its victims. To heal the breach, we must at least talk about it, examine its causes and consequences and teach our children what not to do, if they want to improve race relations for the good of our society.

Without question, Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote. A DISH poll of Gore voters found the majority, 93%, feel certain he won Florida. Until the votes are counted, these Gore supporters assume Voter News Service (VNS) called the exit polls right election night. VNS' reputation has been impeccable. As the source of election returns for the major television networks, candidates have given concession speeches and claimed victory based on VNS' numbers. Certainly, the validity and reliability of their exit polls were never called into question prior to the 2000 presidential election. After the election night debacle, outside observers wondered if VNS' exit polls expressed the will of the people. Insiders believe it captured the will of the people coming out of the polls across Florida.

For them, an amalgam of things on November 7, 2000 caused so many votes to be thrown out that there was no way VNS could have calculated those variables into its projections; no one could forecast the election outcome of such a tainted process. So, why is VNS not defending its reputation? More important, why did the media toss out VNS' projections? Some members of Congress have threatened to conduct investigations into VNS and the networks' indecision on election night. We urge them to proceed immediately.

Despite the doubt cast by the uncertainly over the outcome in Florida, in many respects, this was a normal election. As we now know, millions of legally cast ballots are thrown out in every election. Everyday Americans were amazed to learn chad happens. They were shocked to find chad disenfranchisement is an accepted part of the "democratic" political process. Not only is there no sense of urgency to count all ballots legally cast, voters in heavily Democratic counties find their ballots ruled of "questionable legality." We now know that "heavily Democratic" is code for black.

Oddly, the outcry to change an obviously flawed system is muted. VNS and the media have a duty to inform the electorate, if America is to become a democracy. Every vote must count! VNS must defend its data and the media have an obligation to report it.

To overcome VNS' numbers, which measured the "will of the people," the Bushes laid siege to the Florida election. Expensive experts converged on every angle that could produce a win for Dubya. His team of lawyers argued the same issues as counsel for the plaintiff and defendant. Despite the machinations of the best professionals money can buy, Team Bush made a tactical error in not using different attorneys to argue its conflicting cases for and against counting ballots.

Attorney Barry Richard, the silver-headed counsel for the plaintiff/defense, turned the equality principle of democracy in the "rule of law" on its head. In a stunning display of hypocrisy, Barry presented a bad example for our children, especially those old enough to understand what telling the truth and following rules mean. Mouths agape, they watched as this respected legal professional talked out of both sides of his mouth on the same day in the same courtroom. It was amazing!

Richard's performance said a lot about the man he represents. He showed the world how truly hypocritical this compassionate conservative born again Christian is willing to be to eke out a victory in Florida. Bush says Jesus changed his heart. We wonder, really? Philosophically for strict construction of the Constitution, Bush's legal team fought against counting every vote. His lawyers referred to votes cast by those in heavily democratic areas in terms of questionable legality, a term not applied to votes in predominantly white areas and absentee ballots that heavily favored a Bush presidency.

Calling himself a compassionate conservative, George W. Bush, Jr. tried to distance himself from radical Republicans, like Newt Gingrich, Bob Barr, Tom DeLay and Trent Lott, to make himself more palatable to the American electorate. However, this same lot, which orchestrated the attempted overthrow of Clinton's reelection worked feverishly behind the scenes; these radicals did everything possible to secure the presidency, including plunging the country into constitutional crisis.

Those who know how Florida ballots got booked as evidence, in an ongoing voter rights investigation of fraud and corruption, know who really tried to steal this election. Black Americans turned away, intimidated and abused at the polls know the truth. Using biased "opinion polls," the non-existent "liberal media" are trying to convince Americans that to continue examining what happened in Florida will harm the country. There is a rush to leave the truth buried in the Sunshine State.

Notice those in a hurry are the same radical Republicans who wanted to follow the rule of law and impeach Clinton. When Clinton's presidency was on the block, these men were concerned with neither cost nor clock. These radicals spared no expense and consumed countless hours trying to overthrow Clinton's presidency. They claimed to respect the rule of law; it was of utmost importance. Now, the rule of law for democracy - one-person one-vote, which Americans thought existed, is in question. Radical Republicans do not believe in equality. Therefore, votes in predominantly Democratic precincts - code for black votes - can remain uncounted. They can and will lie about the absence of democracy, but it is hard to do so in plain sight before an international audience. Doing so, they run the risk of being seen for their rank hypocrisy.

by Dot

A DISH reader expressed concern that the newsletter seemed "filled with hate and anger toward whites, Republicans and anyone that is not black." Furthermore, they opined that "every letter mentions slavery." For the record, we do not hate white people.

Every issue mentions slavery because it is the past, which shapes current socioeconomic and political condition of America. The DISH is dedicated to the dialogue on race; it employs a scientific method in its analysis of race relations. It is impossible to discuss race relations without exploring slavery, segregation and the socioeconomic and political chasm of inequality that exits today between black and white Americans.

We cannot hate white people; we have nieces, nephews, cousins and sundry other relatives who appear to be white, some even pass. Simply put, we do not hate white people, because they are part of our family.

In saying that, let us be clear; it is the attitude or mindset of white supremacy, the hypocritical philosophy that made slavery possible by tilting democracy on its head that we cannot stomach; it is an abomination.

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