Volume 4 Issue 24…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… June 22, 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 John Burl Smith

My diminishing visual acuity caused a pause as I struggled to keep close objects in focus. Deaf in one ear since childhood, losing my sight triggered something approaching a panic attack. Feeling I had so much more to contribute to life, my thoughts turned to transplants. Musingly, what if some parent felt the same, and upon their child's untimely demise, they gave their beloved child's eyes to me? Through her eyes, she and I could continue the fight to bring America before the International Court of Justice on charges of genocide, cruel and inhumane treatment (the death penalty) and denial of self-determination by refusing to provide slave descendants reparations.

My anxiety escalated to full-blown panic. I wondered what if I accepted their child's eyes? Eyes are the windows to our souls. If it is possible to see darkness and evil in a person, you will see it in their eyes. Suddenly, I was looking at the world through very young eyes. Will they recognize the obvious truths that these older eyes find familiar? From behind younger eyes, will I see less of what is needed and more of what I want? These were sobering reflections, but the eye-opener was the vision of a child's face. I felt something soft and warm, like a kiss, brush my cheek. Instantly, I saw through those eyes, a child sold by her parents to bounty hunters in the organ transplant business. I saw organs-for-profit marketers financed by insurance companies building a new millennium slave market.

These old fading eyes have looked upon beauty. I have seen my children grow and my grandchildren come. Saw Dot, as a young girl with the prettiest legs I ever saw, and watched my love grow for her over the years. Truly blessed, these eyes have seen a boy mature into manhood. Now, I must learn to see with my mind. John 2001

On an aimless channel search, I came upon sportscasters dogging Allen Iverson because he did not fit the 'marketable' black image. Iverson, a gifted basketball player, has lots of heart. Without him, chances are great the Philadelphia 76ers would not have made it to the NBA playoffs. This fact aside, the sportscasters surmised he would not get the level of endorsement enjoyed by Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, athletes that personify the 'clean-cut' image that attracts advertising dollars. They suggested Iverson get rid of the tattoos and change his hairdo to land more endorsements.

Fact is, Iverson is a strong black man, and no marketing dollars are put into a strong black male image. To be marketable, blacks must suppress their blackness. Tiger Woods minimized his black African roots by drowning them in America's melting pot. His father is black, but his mother is Asian, so Tiger is Amer-Asian. He saw no advantage in being black American. Woods recalls being called a 'little nigger.' No doubt, his agent told him he could make a mint as a black golfer. Black marketing is easy money for Tiger. Blacks have adopted him. He is the Mohammed Ali of golf in the hood.

Over the weekend, Woods defended his US Open championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma; it was rough from start to finish. But still, Tiger managed to break another record - best ever finish by a defending champion at the US Open. Two things are noteworthy about Tiger. One, he is a marketing dream; witness the $50 million dollar deal he cut with Disney on the eve of the USA Open. Two, even he is human. Getting over jet lag and the party thrown to celebrate the Disney deal was difficult. Either Woods forgot to practice on the greens at the difficult par-70 golf course at Southern Hills, or the spirits of Greenwood delivered a message.

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is restless. The dog days of summer are upon us. When asked what he wanted most, Batman/White Ninja/Zorro replied, "A freeze cup and the air-conditioner."

Disgruntled says: According to the Oklahoma Race Riot Commission's report, at least 200 to 300 people died. This death toll far exceeds the body count in the Oklahoma City bombing. The claim that Timothy McVeigh committed the worst act of terrorism in US history is a one-mind media exaggeration.

Disgruntled feels: Disgusted! Worse than one-mind media lies and blind allegiance, Negro Ward Connerly is on a mission to end the collection of economic statistics used to illustrate the chasm of inequality.

Disgruntled wants to know: Controlled by Democrats, it took Oklahoma 76 years before looking into the 1921 Tulsa race riot. If this is a norm, does that mean we will have to wait until 2044 before we learn what happened to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the other victims of Co-Intel-Pro?

In 1997, Oklahoma's General Assembly created a commission to investigate the 1921 Tulsa race riot. The incident that started the murderous melee occurred on May 30, 1921. Dick Rowland, a young black man, rode the elevator in the Drexel Building at Third and Main. Sarah Page, the white elevator operator, claimed he grabbed her arm. Accounts of the incident circulated among the city's white community. Police arrested Rowland. On May 31, the Tulsa Tribune published an exaggerated version of the incident. Whites marched on the jail to lynch Rowland. For the next 24-hours, armed white mobs looted and burned black homes and businesses and killed black men, women and children.

The governor declared martial law, and National Guards arrived to assist firemen in putting out fires, but the white mobs would not allow them to save the black area known as "Little Africa" or "Black Wall Street." During and after the riot, blacks caught on the streets without green cardboard tags countersigned by their employers were arrested. More than 6,000 Tulsans, mostly blacks, were detained at the Convention Hall and the Fairgrounds. Twenty-four hours after it started, more than 800 were wounded, at least 200 to 300 were dead and millions of dollars in property damaged. For an in-depth account of the riot, see Ed Wheeler's essay, "It Happened in Tulsa" at http://tulsatoday.com.

News You Use

by Crystal Cartier CartierX@aol.com

I have taken much flak from friends and family because I warned them about the chemicals used in perms and bleaching products for skin and hair. Channel 4 did what was supposed to be an investigative story on the topic; it turned out to be propaganda serving as a commercial endorsement. What do you expect from corporate media? Oreal, Clairol, Johnson, etc., buy advertising. Cosmetics mean major revenue for advertising agencies and mass media communications. Many jobs hinge on the chemical beauty industry.

Have you ever thought about the effect of a chemical strong enough to strip the pigment from your hair and either straighten it or curl it? What does it do after it is absorbed through your pores and into your blood stream? Many blacks suffer and die of lupus, a degenerative blood disease that strips the pigment from the skin; it used to be a white woman's disease.

During autopsies, coroners and pathologists have confessed that often a green film of perm chemicals is found to be covering the brain. So, I simply warn folks to stop and think about the chemicals that we are using and weigh the pros and cons to make intelligent, well-informed choices. We are all going to die of something eventually. Nothing seems safe anymore. But choose your own poison with your eyes wide open. You decide if the benefits are worth the price on your life.

Furthermore, I suggest that instead of shooting the messenger, Black hairdressers start studying ways to style Black hair naturally without harmful chemicals. It's the wave of the future. Being forewarned is to be forearmed. Sooner or later the truth is going to come out in a big way when things hit epidemic proportions after millions of folks have already died over the years.

Trade Secrets: A Moyers Report looks at the history of the chemical revolution and the companies that drove it. For more on how companies withheld vital information about the risks from workers, the government and the general public, click on http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/.

by Curtis Mullins

Your concern for the family of the late Rev. Martin L. King, Jr. and anger over military intelligence spying on him and his family is understandable. But, he was not the only victim; many more were set up and murdered, and the criminals are still free.

In 1969, I was president of the Parents Association at Public School 305 in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, NY. Dr. Altman, the principal, was a captain in the Army reserves. He claimed to be a "military intelligence officer." Altman tried to frighten parents who wanted to get rid of him.

Albert Shanker's United Federation of Teachers, now the American Federation of Teachers, went out on strike, closing down the schools. Parents reopened them! There were beatings and intimidation of Parents Associations members by police and the Jewish Defense League, which aligned itself with UFT. Some of those beaten were lured to places where they were attacked.

I received a phone call inviting me to a "reunion" for members of the 226th Signal Battalion, the unit I served with in Korea. I asked so many questions the caller hung up. In 1973, I was a witness at the trial of Richard Moore, accused of shooting two New York City policemen. Moore and I were together the night they were shot; I testified on his behalf. As I left the courtroom, I heard footsteps and turned around. Several men were right on top of me; I stood my ground. The one in front backed up, turned around and walked away. The others followed. He was a tall, very light-skinned Negro; the others were white. I'll never forget that face!

An all white jury found Moore guilty. After spending 19 years in prison, FBI freedom of information documents proved the judge, the prosecutor, the DA, the N.Y. City Police and the FBI hid and withheld evidence that would have proven Moore's innocence. He was released in the spring of 1990. I moved to Tulsa, OK in 1979. In late 1980, I was in the kitchen ironing and listening to a group of black news people at an event aired on C-SPAN. Someone introduced the guest speaker, whose voice sounded familiar. I went to the television and was shocked, because the voice belonged to the man who invited me to the "reunion" in 1969, and the face that followed me from the court room to the elevator at Moore's trial in March of 1973.

The voice, of the man I spoke with on the phone, and the face that followed me to the elevator belong to the same man: General Colin Powell. Patrice Lumumba was murdered in Congo; he was set-up by Frank Carlucci, Ronald Reagan's National Security advisor and long time CIA operative. Carlucci brought Colin Powell to Reagan's attention. Did he participate in Fred Hampton and Mark Clark's murders? Was he present when Woody Greene and Anthony White were assassinated in Brooklyn?

The link between military intelligence units that spied on Dr. King and operatives in our community connect directly to local police agent provocateur and informer networks. These units kill and gather personal and private information on people with illegal wire taps of the type Chief Justice William Rehnquist authorized when he worked at the Attorney General's office to gather illegal information on Black Panther leader Fred Hampton. Fred Hampton was assassinated on orders from the National Security Council, during the Nixon administration. Don't spade the surface, dig deep, plow up the earth if you have to, but get down to the truth and record it, before it is too late!

About Me: I am Curtis Mullins. On a conscious level, I have been involved in the struggle since 1967. For the past 30 years, I have conducted empirical research on the neo-colonialist formations in our community. My research includes the intelligence community and their programs, which cause death to the black community.

The Atlanta Vibe

Written and directed by Aqiyl Thomas and Yohannes Sharriff Smith, The Block will debut for Honey Magnolia at Seven Stages on Sunday, June 24, 2001. The Block features work from Yohannes' new book The Red Clay Diary and Aqiyl's CD A Word's Life: A Thin Line Between Hip-Hop and Poetry.

Mark your calendar for the June 24, 2001 performance. Get together with friends and catch Honey Magnolia at Seven Stages' production of The Block: Poetic Asylum. Show starts at 8:00 P.M. For more information call 678-613-7800.

I would like to know your reasoning for sending letters to people like John Ashcroft. Why not focus on getting this information into the hands of the masses? Do you realize that many people are unaware of the material that is in these letters? You speak of Malcolm X and others who took it to the masses and tried to make a difference. Why not do the same?

It frustrates me to see the talent within The DISH wasted writing letters to those not interested in making a difference. It is like field slaves writing letters to the massas begging them to stop abusing their women. What is wrong with this? First, the slave lets the massa know that he can read and write. Second, he lets him know that he is thinking about freedom. Now, he is a target and he probably will be eliminated.

Instead of teaching the rest of the slaves about freedom and how to effectively communicate, he destroys that chance because the massa is watching his every move or is simply going to take him out. Why not just build and teach the youth this knowledge? You write so well. I get sick of this begging the oppressor. Every progressive movement came via self-help and education. Telling Ashcroft and whoever else is not going to solve problems. You ask him to change something that affects people he knows are unaware. Do you really believe he is going to say, "Oh! The DISH sent me a letter, they represent the masses, so I must forget my current mentality and jump to the rescue?" Yeah right! Look at his track record for crying out loud.

Getting out there and doing something about it will make a difference. This email is in no way written to insult you. I just wanted to know why keep asking these people? I just do not overstand, because it seems, to me, you are begging or asking for pity. Convince me that I am wrong. Most of the time I enjoy The DISH.

by John Burl Smith

Truly gratified to receive your comments, I found them well stated. I did not experience any animosity or other negative energy associated with them. However, I would like to address your confusion about my letters and The DISH's participation in the dialogue on race. I have been a part of the movement to achieve freedom, justice and equality for slave descendants since 1967. Prior to that, I was aware black people were discriminated against, but I thought it was bad white people. Over a lifetime of research, Dot and I have proven Article 1 Section 2 of the U. S. Constitution is the problem. I agree most people do not have a clue and that the people whose names appear on my letters probably will not respond. What is germane here is my efforts are motivated by far broader goals.

Talking with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., only moments before his assassination, convinced me that to achieve liberation blacks needed to develop a new philosophy on which to base our actions and a new psychology to plan those actions. A black power advocate and a devotee of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X), I was identified by Co-Intel-Pro a long time ago. Co-Intel-Pro showed, in an armed conflict, whites would gladly wipe black people out. Consequently, we must engage in a war of words. We must educate the world about the fact that slavery never ended.

The DISH is our weapon and T.H.I.N.C. our ammunition. Since 1967, it has been like waking up playing the starring role in "Conspiracy Theory." The government will never admit publicly that Co-Intel-Pro was a government-sponsored assassination program. We, its victims and survivors, owe it to all those who died to keep their memories alive. We must never allow the government to rest comfortably about what it did to black Americans. We must be like ghosts roaming the halls of Congress rattling chains of discontent. As long as we continue to seek justice on their behalf, their deaths were not in vain. Perhaps, the next recipient will be someone with the resolve and ability to act on the information contained in a letter.

To really understand the battle plan, you need to read T.H.I.N.C. (Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness): The Chrysalis of Evolution. T.H.I.N.C.'s mindset clarifies the questions who am I and why am I here? This philosophy views everyone as a work in progress (AWIP). Holistic students T.H.I.N.C.-ers approach all knowledge as part of the human evolutionary process: we grow and progress through our learned experiences. If people like John Ashcroft are not confronted with the truth continually, they become comfortable with their racism, bigotry and stereotypes. If we shut them off or kill them, they will not learn anything nor will we be able to teach others the error of their ways. T.H.I.N.C. about it! John 2001

Back   ||  ICIM Home   ||  THINC  ||  The DISH || 2001 Issues