Volume 4 Issue 1…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… January 12, 2001

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 Yohannes Sharriff Smith

Everybody needs a Black Angel.

Sweet epiphany,

Angle your head just a li'l to the left.

Let the light capture each finely etched stroke of genius.

Sitting in a small café watching God at play; she held the muse, drawing life from a gloomy palette.

Hauntingly beautiful melody caressing...

My senses overwhelmed...flooding

Flowing over into art...movement

Formless, like God or ecstasy...Orgasmic! Organic!

Mother motion surges through my being.

It's a Black Angel humming Sade in a small café, sipping a cup of De ja' vu

It's a Black Angel finding self-expression.

Familiar is the paint of night.

She dances naked in a moonlit forest

Frosty breath whirls mystery across Black ice.

Not afraid to fall for we fly. My Black Angel…

Delicate hand and eye made thee curiously soft.

Like pink blooming in cobalt blue, you tempt my wanting

Deeper meaning seduces my sleep.

I dream of art and Black Angels.

Ghostly reflections linger in smoke like ice in my soul. Shivering...spine tingling...

Feeling fingertips shape and mold, like jazz pushing into my flesh...

Rushing through my head.

A violin soulfully crying. I am moved.

Webster defines stigmata as "bodily marks or pains resembling the wounds of the crucified Christ." Only the deeply religious are believed to ever be afflicted with such suffering. To the contrary, in the movie Stigmata, our heroine, Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette) does not believe in God, yet she is afflicted with the wounds suffered by Christ during his crucifixion. Starring Arquette, Gabriel Bryne and Jonathan Price, Stigmata explores the Church's efforts to keep hidden the most significant Christian document - the gospel of Jesus Christ in his words delivered to his disciples at the Last Supper. Those of little faith within the church believe this doctrine will destroy the authority exercised by organized religion over the lives of common people.

Stigmata reaffirms the wisdom of my mother's teachings about the 'Kingdom of God'. She, who loved Jesus, believed nothing stood between him and her or between he, you and me. She believed and accepted his teaching: "The Kingdom of God is inside you and all around you, not in the buildings of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood, and I am there; lift a stone and you will find me."

Stigmata makes it clear that Jesus' gospel is what organized religion does not want you to know, because it empowers you. Ironically, the very institution that is supposed to be based on Christ's teachings shuns this basic tenet. In Stigmata, organized religion's operatives murder to silence the messenger of Jesus Christ. Hypocritically, the church plays the same kind of role organized religion played in supporting slavery in America. Throughout its history, the church has acted in ways that contradicted Jesus Christ's teachings. Check out Stigmata; it delivers a powerful message about individual responsibility in the Kingdom of God.

Showing more backbone than the one they voted for as President, who promised to fight, fight, fight, Alcee Hastings and the gentle ladies of the Congressional Black Caucus manifested Yohannes Smith's THINC philosophy. These individuals showed they believe in one-person, one-vote democracy as a human value worth fighting to secure and protect. A handful among the 538 congressional members, these courageous few gave us the crowning moment in our historic struggle for black Americans to be treated as whole persons with full rights of citizenry, including voting to elect our president. Kudos to Alcee and the ladies; they defied the odds and stood for equality among Americans. Making the black community proud, they promised no justice no peace.

For a heart-wrenching moment, we thought none of our elected representatives would speak; they would all go along to get along and play Booker T. Washington. However, U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) vowed to challenge the certification of Florida's twenty-five (25) Electoral College votes for President-select George W. Bush, Jr. And, he had the distinguished company of approximately sixteen others, mostly gentle black ladies. For the first time in history, blacks challenged the 3/5ths Compromise on the floor of Congress. Specifically, they opposed the practice of legally not counting 2/5ths of black votes in certain southern states, such as Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina.

Ironically chaired by outgoing VP Al Gore, the 1:00 P.M. meeting on Saturday, January 6, 2001 of the joint session of the 107^th Congress would normally be a mundane affair. However, this day Alcee and the gentle ladies made history. Joining Hastings and the gentle ladies - Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Cynthia McKinney, et al - was Jesse Jackson, Jr., John Lewis and one white representative. Their efforts failed when not one of the 100 non-black Senators, including liberal Democrats Ted Kennedy and Hilary Rodham-Clinton, would sign their challenge to Bush's debacle in Florida.

Kudos to Alcee and the gentle ladies! We appreciate your efforts and stand solidly behind you. Black elected officials and blue-dog Democrats that are going along to get along are hereby placed on notice. We intend to rid the black community of all the Booker T.s and white Demo-Republicans.

After the Civil War, southern Republicans were mostly newly freed slaves, who lacked formal education, which pretty much left them to the "tender mercy" of whites. Under Reconstruction, blacks became politically conscious, and in some states with majority black populations, such as South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana, they held their own political conventions. The 1867 "colored convention" in Alabama announced: "We claim exactly the same rights, privileges and immunities as are enjoyed by white men - we ask nothing more and will be content with nothing less."

Under Reconstruction, blacks were delegates to state conventions that drafted new southern state constitutions. In the reconstructed South, blacks were elected to practically every kind of public office. From 1869 to 1901, twenty were U.S. Representatives. Two went to the U. S. Senate, both from Mississippi. Hiram R. Revels, an ordained minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, took the Senate seat (1870) that Jefferson Davis once held. Blanche K. Bruce, who escaped slavery in Virginia, in 1874, became the only black elected to a full term in the Senate until the election of Edward Brooke of Massachusetts in 1966.

Disgruntled wants to know: Basically, we knew Gore and Dubya were cut from the same cloth. Blacks voted for Al Gore as a lesser of two evils. In the middle of efforts to prevent a Bush coup d'etat, Gore reneged on his promise to fight, fight, fight. Gore is a quitter, not a fighter. Not to be trusted, how dare Gore show his face any place telling blacks to be calm and go along to get along with a president-select that did not want their votes counted?

Disgruntled says: If her silence on Saturday is any indication, the First Lady - Senator-elect, Hilary Rodham-Clinton may waffle on her promise to fight to amend the Constitution to abolish the Electoral College. Regardless, we must continue the fight to repeal Article 1 Section 2 - the backbone of American voter inequality.

Disgruntled feels: As a New Year's resolution, we need to shoo the Booker T.'s from the pulpits with their wacked sermons. Then, we must vote out of office all those white Demo-Republicans.

The Hoods Come off

by John Burl Smith

For now we see through a glass, darkly: but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (Corinthians 13:12)

For young, blacks, the future is now. Run Children Run is an appeal for them to take up the challenge of leadership today. They cannot afford to wait for another election cycle. By then, it may be too late. Election 2000 showed blacks that we are still covered by the 3/5ths Compromise. Therefore, we are still not counted as human beings under the Constitution. Are we intelligent enough to understand that we are reliving what happened to our great grandparents after Election 1876?

Looking into a watery pool, homo sapiens asked: Who am I and why am I here? Shackled to an insufferable hell known as America, we were told the answers lie in the gospel of Jesus Christ, who taught "the Kingdom of God is within you and all around you." His gospel speaks about the sanctity of the individual and how the spirit of the universe dwells within each of us. His is a gospel for the here and now, not rewards in the hereafter. Only through recognizing the humanity of all people can one hope to claim their own humanness. Children, we have evolved spiritually as humans to where we are now groping for answers about self and purpose.

The objective in assassinating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was to deprive blacks in America of a coherent direction. Many have tried to claim his mantra but have refused to drink from the bitter cup awaiting the one who takes his seat at the table. Paul said, in 1^st Corinthians 11: 13 &14, some claiming his legacy are not to be trusted. On Sunday 12-31-00 Paul's admonition regarding Judas goats became prophesy. Rev. Andrew Young one of Dr. King's heirs from 1968, speaking from the pulpit of the First Congregational Church in Atlanta declared, "I buy into all those so-called Southern values of the Confederacy. It also stands for the values of courage, truth, integrity, everything but slavery."

Rev. Young's support of the Confederacy comes as those blacks, who supported Roy Barnes for Governor try to convince blacks not to continue the fight to remove the Confederate battle emblem from Georgia's state flag. A knife in the back of the Georgia Groundswell's international boycott against Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina for displaying Confederate symbols, his endorsement from the pulpit is reminiscent of Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Compromise. Washington's infamous sellout (1895) accepted the 3/5ths Compromise, "separate but equal" and segregation as law.

Disenfranchising blacks in Florida served notice that America is committed to re-segregation. Deserted by every white Democrat Senator, black U.S. representatives stood alone in the fight to count votes the Republican and Supreme Court's coup d´ etat blocked from inclusion, foreshadowing a dark future for democracy. The question for young blacks is, are you going to follow the Andrew Young's back to segregation or realize we have the votes to defeat them all, if we change the Constitution to guarantee our votes count? Run Children Run! John 2001

The DISH (Vol. 3 No 14) admonished Marty King, III, President of SCLC and then point-man for Gov. Roy Barnes on GRTA, for leading black people to the slaughter on the MARTA sales tax and theft of South DeKalb's train. Missing in action on reapportioning representative districts, economic development, arts funding, the Georgia groundswell and its international economic boycott of Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina for displaying Confederate symbols, Marty has labored mightily to claim his father's legacy. He declared "if the Georgia legislature does not act to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state's flag, I will lead the fight by organizing a summer camp to train students in mass action to pressure Barnes and the legislature to change it." Moreover, if the state did not change it by the end of the 2001 session, "I will join the international economic boycott of Georgia."

What happened Marty? No summer camp nor plans to pressure Barnes and the Democratic controlled legislature to remove the Confederate battle emblem has materialized. Furthermore, Marty has said nothing about supporting the international economic boycott. Election 2000 showed that 35 years of voting for whites have not been sufficient to guarantee our votes count. Since, it is clear all of our votes do not count (3/5ths Compromise), the question is do we have free speech? Marty and leaders like Rep. Calvin Smyre, who will not allow a bill to change the Georgia flag out of his committee, like Andrew Young, are working to help Roy Barnes get re-elected by trying to convince black children to accept segregation all over again. Blah, blah, blah!

Gunned down by assassins before he could assume the elective office of county sheriff, Derwin Brown wanted to reform DeKalb's law enforcement. While the sheriff is the county's chief elected law enforcement official, he does not run the police. Brown wanted to change this, because he felt the people's highest elected law enforcement official should control county law enforcement. Brown believed voters charged him with the responsibility to reform law enforcement.

While the media talk about Brown wanting to reform DeKalb's jail, the bigger story is the specifics of Brown's plan to change DeKalb County law enforcement. When asked in November about racial profiling, Brown said, "It will not be tolerated in a Brown administration." He pledged to make law enforcement more responsive to the needs of the community. Brown wanted to do away with the good ole boy system, which defines current county law enforcement. DeKalb is a majority black county, yet law enforcement is controlled by a white guy who has been in office 44 years; Brown planned to reform the top levels DeKalb law enforcement.

DISHing It Up Hot!

by Dot

Public Service Commission (PSC) employee Jamaal Eddings took my gas complaint According to SCANA, Eddings gave them the go-ahead to charge the deposit and reconnect fee to my account to resume my gas service, after I clearly expressed a desire to change gas provider. Is it collusion when the PSC, Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) and SCANA force consumers to pay arbitrary fees? Can PSC employees obligate consumers for these non-gas items? How can this be called a free market? When Eddings did not return repeated phone calls, these and other questions plagued me.

First, I do not have $250 to give SCANA! Second, SCANA, AGL and the PSC were informed of this in November. After Eddings did not return repeated calls, I called PSC commissioners Bob Durden, Bobby Baker, David Burgess and Stan Wise, as well as Eddings' supervisor Bernard Cameron. Within hours, Eddings and SCANA called. Eddings claims he did not okay anything, while the SCANA representative tried to convince me I agreed to pay the deposit and reconnect fee.

The PSC aids gas providers in artificially restricting consumer choice. Indeed, the relationship between the PSC, AGL and SCANA is incestuous. The PSC should be promoting a competitive environment by protecting consumers' rights and providing a consumer safety net against predatory monopolistic practices. Instead, Georgia's PSC functions as an arm of AGL and natural gas providers, a relationship that looks, acts and smells like collusion.

"Politics make strange bedfellows;" witness Democrat and Republican collusion in presidential selection 2000. Repeating the 1876 debacle, this time the agreement rolls back perceived gains made by blacks since the 1960's. Hoods off, we see there is not a dime's worth of difference between Democrats and Republicans. More important, the spooks of consequence that go along to get along are again preaching "be calm." Their dubious leadership partially explains why blacks run in place in the race to better their socioeconomic and political condition. This is the Booker T./Atlanta Playbook. Andy Young is its most famous spokesman.

Remember John Rocker? We remember Andy Young and Hank Aaron hugged him and said we do not care that Rocker said he hated everyone, except white people, in an interview with Sports Illustrated. In the classic Booker T. tradition made infamous by black millionaire Alonzo Herndon following the Atlanta race riot of 1906, Young and Aaron were the spooks of consequence used to hoodwink the black community. Basically, they said, "Be calm! What John said is nothing; there are more important issues requiring our attention, like racial profiling and education."

What could be more important than the institutionalized racism that defines American society? A young man, Rocker got his core values - how he views and treats others - from home, church and family. Racism is a social disease that is passed from one generation to the next. Rocker's white supremacy value system is the glue that binds American institutionalized racism.

Rocker personifies the mindset that put the Confederate battle emblem in Georgia's state flag. The emblem symbols southern heritage based on white supremacy. Showing such a preference violates equal protection. Andy Young should re-THINC his position on Georgia's flag and join the groundswell or become the first Booker T. we shoo from the pulpit.

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