Volume 4 Issue 19…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… May 18, 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

United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt coined the term 'United Nations (UN).' The name was first used during World War II on January 1, 1942 in the Declaration by United Nations in which 26 countries pledged their governments' support to fight the Axis Powers, which included Italy, Japan and Nazi Germany.

The UN Charter was drawn up by delegates from 50 countries at the Conference on International Organization held April 25 - June 26, 1945 in San Francisco, California. Conference participants considered proposals that had been hammered out at the August-October 1944 Dumbarton Oaks meeting between China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. On June 26, 1945, all 50 national representatives signed the UN Charter. Later, Poland signed it, becoming one of the original 51 members.

In the midst of world deliberations to form an international governmental body, the United States developed the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. On August 6, 1945, a US B-29 aircraft dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing 80,000 people (American estimates) or 200,000 (Japanese figures). Despite the horrendous devastation at Hiroshima, the US air force dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. The Japanese government signaled defeat and signed the articles of surrender September 2, 1945 aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

On the heels of this holocaust, the United Nations officially came into existence October 24, 1945, when its Charter was ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and most other signatories. Today, the UN has come to symbolize the best hope for world peace (UN Extract).

A slave descendant, Congressman John Lewis is often quoted by the media. Most recently, he returned, with the press in tow, to the scene of his 1960's Freedom Rides. Freedom Riders were blacks, whites and Jews who challenged Jim Crow segregation. Lewis said, "I feel blessed to have played a small role in this journey toward ending racial discrimination in the South." Either he forgot to mention or the press failed to report this journey is far from over. Some folks wonder what is wrong with Lewis; he seems blind to today's racism. But, maybe Lewis is not deaf, dumb and blind. It may be that the one-mind media are making him Virginia Slim.

Virginia Slims is a brand of cigarette (carcinogen) marketed to women. Its ad campaign - "You've come a long way baby"- used old black and white pictures of women sneaking a smoke juxtaposed against colored photos of women openly engaged in the cancer causing habit to show how far women have progressed. Press coverage of Lewis' journeys back to the black and white signs of Jim Crow segregation (American apartheid) does the same thing. Pointing out how far we have come, Lewis talks about sitting up front on the bus, staying in hotels and eating in restaurants. For Lewis, these overt signs say, "We have come a long way!" But, like Virginia Slims, he forgets to mention or the media fail to report that institutionalized racism is a cancer, which eats away at America's social fabric.

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is a loving person. When asked for his weekly comments on Monday, he rose to the challenge to THINC, rather than to disappoint his grandmother. Smiling, he hugged her and said, "Now, that's my comment; I gave you a hug!"

Disgruntled says: I refuse to engage in a battle of the wits with an unarmed opponent!

Disgruntled wants to know: The United States violates the human rights standards it imposes on other nations. Will the UN examine US rights violations?

Disgruntled feels: Fundamentally opposed to nuclear energy, since we lack the technology to dispose of its deadly by-products, weapons of mass destruction and Monica Kaufman's new blonde-weave hairdo. World and self-destructive, all these things send the wrong messages to our impressionable children.

by John Burl Smith

Without reservations, slave descendants and Native Americans condemn the United States' for its human rights record. Like showers in German concentration camps, institutionalized racism proves America's human rights record does not comply with the lofty standards it demands of other countries. Victims of American slavery and Manifest Destiny charge America with legalized genocide perpetrated under Article I Section II (3/5ths Compromise) of the US Constitution.

Dot M. Smith's research, published in T.H.I.N.C. (Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness): The Chrysalis of Evolution by Yohannes Sharriff Smith, identifies this Constitutional hypocrisy as the root of American inequality. Smith's diagrams depict the stable difference between black and white families' median incomes that has existed since the US Labor Department began keeping records. This stable disparity or chasm of inequality mirrors the 3/5ths value assigned blacks in the U S Constitution.

Smith's research shows irrefutably that slavery never ended because the value of black human capital relative to whites never changed. Therefore, America's claims of freedom, justice and equality are all lies. The biggest lie is that citizens have "free speech and there is freedom of the press." Check this out, to silence all opposition to George W. Bush, Jr.'s Nazi coup d'etat, AT&T shut down The DISH's website and padlocked three years of intellectual property. Today, getting the word out is like "hacking into the Matrix to broadcast a pirate signal." T.H.I.N.C. about it! John 2001

by Dot

In my American collegiate dictionary

Black is nothing pretty.

Every child knows it is a color

A pigment or dye, some know it is reason to die.

Black is the dark-skinned races, Negroid and Moors.

Gloomy and wicked, black carries a death sentence.

Need I say more?

Mimicking their parents, Utah children stare for hours

At black-skinned strangers. Black means danger!

Without pigmentation, white is pure and innocent.

It implies favorable and fortunate.

Unlike black, red and yellow, white-skin gets respect and receives privilege.

Blacks are gunned down

For wearing skin tinted brown

Mulatto or caramel colored like molasses,

Melanin is a curse on the lower classes.

Stereotyped criminals at birth,

Blacks show up, cops got itchy trigger fingers.

Like Native Americans,

Good blacks are dead or caged on reservations.

Disbursed to prisons, blacks labor for free.

America's justice system is the grandson of slavery.

Black is beautiful somewhere, but not in the American vocabulary.

Atlanta Vibe
Soul Food or Fast Food: The Play

A special Mother's Day treat, I went to see the play Soul Food or Fast Food. Written and directed by Last4ever and produced in conjunction with The Live Poet's Society and Eddie Oliver, the play was highly entertaining. Each act showcased an array of local talent as the play creatively wove through various relationships to artistically explore "why some people spend more time planning their weddings than they do their lives."

Featuring Yohannes, one of Atlanta's hottest performance artists, Soul Food or Fast Food is a definite keeper, worthy of backing for future performances. Even the intermission, featuring the soulful vocals, keyboard and electric guitar of Adonis, entertained the diverse audience. With music by John Goode and a cast of talented young people singing, dancing and performing spoken word, this virgin voyage of playwright Last4Ever is forever a roaring success.

By: James Clingman

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, I watched it move through various stages of evolution from segregation, "whites only" restaurants and parks, to urban renewal, which destroyed several Black neighborhoods. I saw its population dwindle from more than 500,000 to less than 370,000. I watched Cincinnati move easily through national recessions maintaining unemployment rates below the national average. In 1993, it was rated the Most Livable City in America.

If you did not know better, you would think Cincinnati is great. I know better. This microcosm of America is far from well. It is sick, very sick, and it is on the verge of succumbing to its illness. Police have killed at least 15 Black men since 1995. The latest killing occurred April 7, 2001. A white policeman shot Timothy Thomas in the chest. His offense was outstanding warrants for traffic violations, which included not wearing a seat belt and other misdemeanors.

Blacks comprise nearly 50% of the population, but that statistic makes little difference vis-à-vis criminal, economic, social and environmental justice. Do not buy into Cincinnati's marketing campaigns for the 2012 Olympic games, the National Underground Railroad Museum and the two stadiums built with taxpayer dollars that provided few economic opportunities for Black people. Cincinnati is not some place you want to be.

After the 15th black killed, many say we can vote our way out of this mess. Others recommend another expensive commission. Some say police need diversity training. I say boycott Cincinnati. If we withhold our dollars from the businesses that depend on us as consumers, the CEO's of those companies will be the ones protesting at City Hall. When that happens, you had better believe things will change, the most important of which will be the killing of Black men. Pass this on to everyone you know. We must let the world know what is going on here in Cincinnati, Ohio.

About Me: Visit my site http://www.blackonomics.com and get a bio and other information. You can also read other articles that I have written. While there, check out my newest book. If you have specific questions about me and/or this article or anything else I have written, email me at j_cling@fuse.net.

by Dot

In 1969, members of the United Nations (UN) that included the United States of America (USA) passed the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Each pledged to end racial discrimination and make restitution to its victims.

The USA submitted its Initial Report to document its progress at the end of 2000. In citing its rich civil rights history and current efforts to achieve the goals of the UN human rights declaration, the USA acknowledged historic human rights abuses against natives, slaves and their descendants. Recalling the Dred Scott case, the USA did not explain that Scott challenged Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution, as did Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and the Voting Rights Act (1964). None of the strict construction cases/law cited the infamous 3/5ths Compromise Article or mentioned white supremacy/slavery as the law being challenged.

A republic built on laws, the US refuses to pay reparations for constitutional slavery. After the Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore, the purge of black voters from Florida's voting rolls, and the operation of America's criminal justice system, the US cannot claim the 13^th, 14^th or subsequent constitutional amendments ended economic slavery. Current economic analysis show slavery's offspring, institutionalized racism, still determines the value of black human capital.

To justify not paying reparations, the US's Initial Report cites slave descendants' 'access to American courts.' Unlike the past, blacks can sue those who discriminate against them. Riddled with legalese, the laws present insurmountable hurdles for average slave descendants. Without a competent attorney, which mean money, few succeed in bringing those who discriminate against them to court, much less secure reparations. Judges have the discretion of appointing attorneys for pauper litigants; few exercise that discretion. Nothing is done to assist slave descendants suing those who discriminate against them. Worthless, this access is not an acceptable substitute for reparations.

To read the US' Initial Report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, see the State Department's website at http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/cerd_report/cerd_index.html. Draw your own conclusions.

America has never allowed slave descendants to tell their story before international forums, such as the UN Human Rights Commission. To hide its hypocrisy, the U S State Department has muzzled black Americans. Remember Paul Roberson? In 1998, on behalf of children and for the Richard L. Kirksey, Jr. Memorial Foundation, Yohannes addressed slave descendants' plight in a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He asked Annan's assistance in bringing the US before the International Court of Justice to answer charges of genocide, cruel and inhumane punishment, as well as, denial of slave descendants right of self-determination.

On April 18, 2001, Poets for Peace joined the Secretary-General's call for an international Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry. Slave descendants wholeheartedly support the U N's decision to kick America off the Human Rights Commission. We hope this tap on the shoulder will awaken America to the necessity of addressing charges raised in Yohannes' appeal. The UN's action focuses attention on America's atrocious human rights record and its refusal to accept responsibility for crimes it committed against blacks and Native people under legal slavery, Manifest Destiny and segregation. Moreover, America's reprehensible denial of reparations to slave descendants compound its continuing efforts to keep blacks as second class citizens under Article I Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.

However, the mortal blow that adds insult to injury is America's criminal justice system. America has criminalized being black like Germany did being Jewish, apartheid did South Africans and Israelis in their reprisals against Palestinian children. Through racial profiling, black children as young as seven years of age are being locked up in American prisons for petty offenses under zero tolerance and the "War on Drugs." America has more children behind bars than all of Europe. Blacks are being shot down on the streets of America, like British livestock suspected of foot and mouth disease. Even the death penalty is applied to blacks in a racist and discriminatory manner.

As part of the U N dialogue, slaves' descendants stretch out our lifelines hoping to connect with an empathetic world community. Calling across space and time, we pray our children's desperate cries will continue to be heard long after this dialogue ends. Who will be the one to answer?

On Crushed Horizons

by Dot

Remember my e-book - Crushed Horizons? This week, I updated and loaded it onto the new web site. For those not familiar with the experience it chronicles, visit the web site at http://www.thedish.ws/ and click on Crushed Horizons on the main menu.

Since the e-book has been offline for sometime, you may be wondering where I am in my lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)? The answer is summary judgement, which is the legal phase after the close of discovery. Discovery is the period for exchange of information. Like the FBI withheld documents in the Oklahoma bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh, the IRS refused to relinquish documents in its possession. I filed two motions to compel; the court ignored them. After I filed a third motion for clarification and after the IRS filed its motion for summary judgement, the judge's secretary telephoned me to set up a conference to discuss my motions. The date suggested was after the 20 days allowed for plaintiff to respond to defendant's summary judgement motion. Notice, if the court grants summary judgement, end of case; a response is crucial. I mentioned this time constraint to the secretary, and she put me on hold to confer with the judge. When she returned to the telephone, she told me the judge would have to review my case and get back with me. More than a month later, the judge has still not set up a conference.

In looking at discrimination cases online, I found the vast majority ended in summary judgement. Having sought justice by suing the IRS, I know access to the courts is an empty gesture for securing reparations from those who blatantly discriminate against us in the workplace. However worthless it may be, I still recommend taking those who discriminate against you to court as opposed to doing nothing or going postal. In some small way, I hope the documents and information provided in my e-book, Crushed Horizons, will be useful as you move through the tedious process of bringing those who violate your human rights to court.

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