Volume 4 Issue 17…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… May 4, 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 © 2001

by Crystal Cartier

Suffering through many meetings, I have been ignored when I raised unpopular issues. Sitting on the Denver Cable TV board when the new franchise agreement was negotiated with AT&T, I learned that such boards are merely placebos for the general public to give the impression that we actually have a voice in the decisions made by city councils, mayors and other elected and appointed officials. As you have so astutely pointed out, few of the dollars earmarked for the arts and black communities ever reach individual artists or worthy grassroots organizations. Too often, the politically correct, high brow, self-righteous decision-makers are easily irritated by tenacious artists perceived as radical free thinkers. Hence, a grant applicant must schmooze, network and otherwise impress the gatekeepers to gain serious consideration for the paltry dollars awarded to token Black artists.

In board meetings or public forums, I no longer politely hold my peace and passively go along with the status quo, which ignores the plight of my people. If Blacks make up 12% of the population, why not give us at least 12% of the funding for the Arts? Private, corporate and government grant foundations, endowments and private patrons fund Euro-classical arts to the tune of millions each year. A mere 12% of that money could dramatically improve the economic development of many struggling black artists.

As a black adult writer, recording artist and songwriter, I am so frustrated by the lack of tangible resources and opportunities available to me that I am often tempted to simply give up. Limited by equipment and to our personal incomes over the last six years, my husband and I have produced some 600 hours of community TV programming. Loans and grants for the high tech equipment to produce quality programs are fantasy for most black artists and producers. So, we struggle on scrapping together whatever we can. Criticized for poor quality, yet we are too driven to simply give up. I continue to share all that I have, knowing that my reward lies ultimately in giving.

I am grateful God has allowed us to achieve our current successes to share with our family and those who have believed in us. I have faith that God is working it all out. So, like you, I ask, when are we supposed to get around to improving the funding situation for black artists, writers, producers and performers? Where is the grassroots social and economic development in our communities? How do we get successful black artists to become supportive patrons of new struggling artists/fresh blood?

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is a showy creature who craves attention, love and acceptance. When asked about his weekly comments, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro said, "Grandma, I just want them to like me. Is that too much to ask of people?"

Disgruntled says: To rid itself of the Native American, the United States government drove the buffalo to the brink of extinction. Being the staple of Native American existence, after the bison so went the Indians. Israel is doing the same thing by destroying olive groves and orange orchards, the Palestinian economic base of survival. History books can call it Manifest Destiny II.

Disgruntled wants to know: The Georgia state flag compromise called for a portrait of Confederate General Robert E. Lee to be placed in a prominent position on a wall in the state's capitol building. Do the black state legislators who voted to hang it bow whenever they pass the traitor's portrait in the state rotunda?

Disgruntled feels: Shafted! After conducting hearings on election reform, where they were informed about the problem, U.S. Reps. Cynthia McKinney and John Lewis refuse to propose legislation to fix a bankrupt system. They spend political capital supporting useless measures that will not abolish the Electoral College or establish one-person one-vote democracy!

by Robert Lederman

CIA declassified Nazi files. The Internet has hundreds of links to articles on the CIA-Nazi connection that are directly relevant to the Bush family, the Manhattan Institute (New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and G.W. Bush's favorite think tank), eugenics and related issues. While most of these articles, like the Boston Globe piece on the Bush-Nazi connection are notable for their degree of understatement, there is no escaping the implications they unveil.

Certain elements within the U.S. government and big business had vast stakes in the Nazi movement. As the war ended, they imported thousands of former Nazis to the U.S. where their influence is now at an all time high. The government is now openly admitting that these Nazis were brought here for scientific research and to "fight Communism". What all these articles fail to mention is that much of what they call "fighting Communism" was directed here at home and had little if anything to do with Communism. The high-tech police state we are increasingly finding ourselves enmeshed in is a transplant from Nazi Germany. It is no surprise that we have the grandson of Hitler's American money launderer, Prescott Bush, as President.

Here in New York City where one of the current point men for this agenda is Mayor Giuliani, we are seeing this Nazi-like agenda played out every day in hundreds of different ways. Seemingly diverse issues from racial profiling and nerve gasses invented by the Nazis that are being used to spray the entire population to the Mayor's current fervor for art censorship are extensions of the events that transpired in Europe from 1933-1945.

This is not conspiracy theory or rehashing the past; it is current news reporting for those willing to look at the facts. See my website for numerous articles and links at http://baltech.org/lederman/. For even more on the Bush connection to Nazism, click on http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20010427/ts/nazi010427_1.html

Venue for an Artist

by Nadine Stair

I'd like to make more mistakes next time.

I would limber up.

I would be sillier than I have been on this trip.

I would take fewer things seriously.

I would take more chances.

I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.

I would eat more ice cream and less beans.

I would perhaps have more actual troubles,

but I'd have fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I'm one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day.

Oh, I've had my moments

And, if I had it to do over again,

I'd have more of them.

In fact, I'd try to have nothing else.

Just moments, one after another,

Instead of living so many years ahead of each day.

I've been one of those persons

Who never goes anywhere without a thermometer,

A hot water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute.

If I had it to do over again,

I would travel lighter than I have in the past.

If I had my life to live over,

I would start barefoot earlier in the spring

And stay that way later in the fall.

I would go to more dances,

I would ride more merry-go-rounds.

I would pick more daisies.

About Me: When written sometime prior to 1995, Nadine Stair was 85 years young. She lived in Louisville, Kentucky. Wherever she rests today, we thank her for these words of wisdom.

If the pigs are not killing our kids outright in the streets of America, they are locking them up in prisons, most for non-violent offenses. Following is a plea from Sterling Sheppard, an incarcerated brother whose call for action must be heard, if we are to stop the injustice.

After contacting numerous papers, very few have taken the opportunity to investigate our claim. The biggest crime in the last 50 years is taking place right under the public's nose. People refuse to believe that people are being held in Hitler-style jails. Before 1993, in the state of Texas, many people were held in prison with long sentences for things like possessing crack rock, some had life sentences for driving while drunk, some got 50 years for attempting to steal. But in 1993, Texas lawmakers repealed all these petty crimes to non-prison offenses, some were changed to fines. But the Texas criminal system refuses to release these people, knowing that the laws that placed them there have been abolished. We're asking all to help us fight this injustice. This is worse than slavery. When America abolished slavery, theoretically, they released all slaves and no one was forced to continue working for free. Texas is forcing people to be held in prison for 10 to 20 years before even considering their release. This is illegal, but these sorry media people refuse to speak. Please help us get help!

by Dot

It has been a while, but last week, I walked to Gresham Park with TyChi, my two years old grandson. Sometimes, we get so caught up in the day to day struggle of existing that we forget how lucky we are to just be living. Watching Ty discover the beauty and wonder of Mother Nature made me more appreciative of those little things we rarely think about, such as blue skies and butterflies, dandelions or a warm breeze scented with Magnolia. When was the last time you stopped to smell the roses, spread a dandelion's seeds on the breeze, climbed a tree just because, seriously studied the geometry of a blade of grass or marveled at cloud formations?

At two, Ty is busy discovering nature. For him, it is all so new, everything is interesting, even slimy earthworms, ants and decaying leaves warrant Ty's investigation. He digs in the dirt as though panning for gold, searching for whatever he has never seen before. Watching him at play, which looks more like work, sometimes I catch myself before standing in the way of his next discovery. My efforts to shield him from learning the truth, which sometimes hurt, only delays the inevitable. Ty is persistent, and sometimes he just never seems to forget the things you wish he would not inspect. I may stop him today, but tomorrow he will try to learn that postponed lesson. So, I stand at arms length mostly to make sure the lesson is not fatal, when he tries to tackle trees too big or some other bit of life too much for Ty at two to handle. Otherwise, Ty is forever on a mission of discovery; I watch him and rediscover the wonder of it all too.

News You Use

Some time ago, The DISH reported about a mother's testimonial on The Oprah Winfrey Show about her toddler's bout with chronic ear infections. A number of our readers took the mother's advice. My daughter took that mother's advice also and saved my grandchild a great deal of agony and myself untold hours of misery, sleepless nights, doctor visits and the expense of medical bills, especially prescriptions for antibiotics.

As a grandparent of a toddler who suffered with serious ear infections, I know the best advice a pediatrician can give is to cease giving children diary products, such as milk and cheese. But, I also know they will not, because it will mean fewer doctor visits and prescriptions, which translate into a lower profit for them. While the pediatricians will not do it, do yourself and your child a favor! Say no to tubes in your child's eardrums, a prescription for chronic ear infections some pediatricians advocate. Do not buy into the endless regime of antibiotics either.

Stop giving your child dairy products, which create mucous. With our toddler, those painful ear infections immediately went away. It has been almost a year since TyChi, my terrible two-year old grandson, had one. And, boy, are we happy. Our quality of life improved tremendously by following this simple advice. Do yourself a favor and stop giving your child dairy and taking the advice of pediatricians more concerned with writing prescriptions and performing operations that improve their bottom line rather than improving your child's health and disposition.

by John Burl Smith

Corn was the nutritional and spiritual center of Native American culture east of the Mississippi River. However, Western Plains Dwellers built their civilization around the buffalo. A hideous crime against humanity like slavery, Manifest Destiny was an American government sponsored program designed to annihilate Native Americans in order to possess the land. The strategy to deprive native people of food was used by Australians against Aborigines, by Israelis against Palestinians in the Middle East and by the American government in liquidating the buffalo.

Once so numerous, slow moving herds stretched from horizon to horizon. Not only the main source of food for Plains Dwellers, the buffalo's entire remains were used as clothing, tools or as ceremonial artifacts. Even its droppings were used as fuel. The buffalo was worshiped as the spirit of wellbeing. Hostilities did not result from whites living on the land. Wars were fought in response to what the government did to facilitate white migration westward. Thousands of hunters were sent West to kill buffaloes. Spawning an industry, a bounty was placed on buffalo hides. Through relentless slaughter, whole herds were exterminated. Skinless rotting carcasses littered the landscape. The stench became the wind for miles around. In less than thirty years, mighty herds were decimated. The buffalo had been driven to the brink of extinction and Native Americans were next.

Late to recognize the awesomely sinister impact of whites, Native Americans were slow to respond to their dwindling food supply. Like HIV/AIDS in Africa, the buffalo and Native people were doomed. Without a ready food source, Native Americans were reduced to trading land for food. Palestinians are in the same position today. Facing an Israeli military onslaught that is destroying their olive and date groves along with their homes, they must concede land to eat. The loss of the buffalo became the basis of Native American enslavement on their own land. Joshua Chapter 7 tells the time God turned his back on Israel for its sin of possessing an accursed thing. To repent for that transgression against the covenant, Israel had to sanctify itself by giving up the stolen possessions and punishing the transgressor.

It is written, nations always pay a price for such crimes as slavery, Manifest Destiny, apartheid, segregation, Israeli settlements and final solutions. The spirit of the buffalo lives on in the fight for freedom, justice and equality for all. What was then heinous slaughter of a being that gave meaning and subsistence to a civilization has become the excepted practice of slaughtering people to possess their land. Black people are new millennium buffaloes being slaughtered because whites have Mexicans to replace them. John 2001

Hood Notes

Shaft!

Samuel L. Jackson is one of my all-time favorite actors. I loved him in The Long Kiss Goodnight with Gina Davis, who played a CIA operative with amnesia. Inconveniently, her memory starts to return in the middle of a CIA fund-raiser.

Over the weekend, I watched the movie Shaft. Though Jackson was good, the movie is unbelievable. Shaft reeks black and Latino stereotypes. True to his craft, Jackson played the black cop extremely well. He quits the police force to pursue a racist killer. As John Shaft, Jackson acted like Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, a white cop! It was unreal. Fact of the matter is black cops today are more like the one portrayed by Charles Dutton in the movie Blind Faith. He wanted to fit in, even if it meant selling his son down the river and losing his family. All he ever wanted was to be ‘accepted’ as part of the status quo. Blind Faith is a sad commentary on race relations in America and so is Shaft.

Shaft is entertaining, though violent; too many people died or were brutalized, so watch the rating for little children. Given so many young blacks are dying at the hands of police in America, the movie is unrealistic. We learned nothing about the young black man brutally murdered, but we did learn that the rich buy justice in America.

Written and directed by Last4ever, Soul Food or Fast Food: The Play is scheduled for one showing only. In conjunction with The Live Poet’s Society and Eddie Oliver, Last4ever’s creative genius explores "why some people spend more time planning their wedding than they do their lives." Featuring Yohannes, one of Atlanta’s hottest performance artists, do not miss out on Soul Food or Fast Food: The Play Saturday, May 12, 2001 at the Clark Atlanta University Student Center. Doors open at 6PM. The show starts at 7PM. For advanced tickets, please call 404-278-1127 or 404-374-3374.

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