Volume 4 Issue 42…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…October 26, 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

Charlotte L. Forten, the child of a distinguished Negro family, worked long toward the abolition of slavery. Her father, a wealthy Philadelphia merchant, sent her to school in Salem, Massachusetts, where she lived with Abolitionists. She witnessed the capture of the fugitive slave Anthony Burns. After the Civil War, she became a teacher and participated in the federal government's Sea Island program instructing former slaves the rudiments of citizenship.

Below are passages from her journal. First published in 1953, it provides a vivid account of her daily struggle to live by Christian principles of love and tolerance in the face of overwhelming prejudice exhibited by whites toward her race.

May 26, 1854: Had a conversation with Miss Shepard (grammar school principal in Salem) about slavery; she is, as I thought, thoroughly opposed to it, but does not agree with me in thinking that the churches and ministers are generally supporters of the infamous system; I believe it firmly.

Mr. Barnes, one of the most prominent of the Philadelphia clergy, who does not profess to be an Abolitionist, has declared his belief that "the American church is the bulwark of slavery."

Words cannot express all that I feel, all that is felt by the friends of freedom, when thinking of this great obstacle to the removal of slavery from our land. Alas! That it should be so.

June 2, 1854: Our worst fears are realized. The decision was against poor Burns (Anthony Burns, arrested in Boston under the Fugitive Slave Act), and he has been sent back to a bondage worse, a thousand times worse, than death. With what scorn must that government be regarded which cowardly assembles thousands of soldiers to satisfy the demands of slaveholders; to deprive of his freedom a man, created in God's own image, whose sole offense is the color of his skin! And, if resistance is offered to this outrage, these soldiers are to shoot down American citizens without mercy; and this by the express orders of a government which proudly boasts of being the freest in the world; this on the very soil where the Revolution of 1776 began. I can write no more. A cloud seems hanging over me, over all our persecuted race, which nothing can dispel. (Sources: The Negro in American History: Volume III: Slaves and Masters 1567-1854; Journal of Charlotte L. Forten. R.A. Billington, ed., 1953)

U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney's (D-GA) letter to Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal, regarding the $10 million New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani spurned, stirred up a lot of dust. McKinney basically wrote the truth in exercising her "freedom of speech." Oddly, she said far more damning things about American policies leading up to and during the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) than what is contained in this letter.

On WCAR, McKinney received very little press, positive or negative, because the US wanted to keep the conference completely under wraps. If anything, the current much ado about nothing points up the dichotomy and highlights the level of ignorance or myopia on the part of Americans when it comes to US policy, both foreign and domestic. McKinney has simply made Americans see the ugly they ignore until it busted them in the face. All the fuss over her letter confirms she was on point - dead center! Hit dogs holler whenever they are forced to acknowledge the truth! Kudos Cynthia!

by Malik

Convey McVeigh

CNN martyr for militia millennium style

'Cause he blast corporate textile?

Please! I'm the real time bomb!

And, I'm still ticking... itching for a scratch.

I'm itching for some scratch!

Sometimes, it feels as if I can't scratch surface.

I surface in the wildest spots like parking lots

of mini marts way past midnight

and hitchhike with cats that's scared

I ain't gonna pay my fee. Gas tank way past E

Hey --can we stop for gas?

Through the plexiglass he can't even hear me.

Hey yo----we empty! And, so are my words...

See he hadn't heard that we kill for dollar bills

and Similac and vials of crack and Cadillac rims

and blow buildings to smithereens

and sold bullet-proof zuit suits for collard greens

and mean mugs me shrug--it ain't my style.

Yet, I am executed for survival and

I am supposed to accept that I am extinct.

Daily on the brink of insanity

'cause I can't kill nothing and won't a thing die.

Cops lie like life is worthless.

They serve us with life sentences to die a thousand deaths.

Kill 168 die just one.

My God and my gun..my life on the run.

I shot the sheriff, cause he shot first.

From academy story well rehearsed,

remember Bensonhurst and doped up Rodney King.

Damn that I can't get along. No hymns to sing

I need a break from the same ole song and dance...

No cress in my pants...no noose 'round my neck

Do I have to kill for respect

'cause you think I lack intellect?

Talking about I can't get my check til after 3.

I'm a time bomb and I'm still ticking,

itching for a scratch of the surface

I wrote this for auction block niggas,

who figure how to live on their feet

and eat concrete before they buy into this bull.

I spit this for candy thieves and those who disbelieve

this make believe and for those that die everyday

'round my way from lethal injection.

No news crews just poured brew

and my momma's heart is dying

but her soul still finds a Hallelujah!

Hell naw, he played y'all with all that

turn the other cheek.

I speak this for those that don't bomb buildings

but bomb verse and curse every other verse

and fight with instinct against those that rehearse my demise. We ride and die......

And, my execution is not watched on close circuit.

You can catch it on MTV somewhere between TRL and the ten spot.

I rock spots for those that hate cops

and cop peace from fellow time bombs in rent controlled apartments.

Time is ticking' and I'm itching'

but I still lack the scratch to buy CNN

coverage of my trials and tribulations.

I'm so far past demonstrations and sit-ins and

hoe-downs, it's time for showdowns

and niggas need to show out.

Thinkers and schemers, dreamers who understand

this planned out attack on everything I hold dear

like----freedom and I don't care if you blow up

Oklahoma or kingdom come 'cause you the one that created this atmosphere of terror,

then you want to act as if you don't

know who he bought the bomb from.

Thought the time wouldn't come for your

young to up and turn and reciprocate the

lessons learned you pulled

everyday I've been alive, and I'm a live wire

on the end of a time bomb

itching-----itching for something to jump off

and explode cause I'm executed daily for survival

and you make sure I can't do without no scratch

death match........game point........

Disgruntled feels: Tricked! A relative of Tricky Dick - Richard Nixon, G.W. has mastered the art of saying one thing and doing another. Unlike Nixon, he has mainstream media in his hip pocket running propaganda!

Disgruntled wants to know: Dubya set a precedent when he jawboned down the economy. Now that recession is upon us, he claims this was the goal of the suicide hijackers. First, those evildoers tried to destroy American freedom, now its Western civilization and in particular the United States' economy. Shouldn't Dubya reward them for accomplishing his dubious goal?

Disgruntled says: As quiet as it is kept, Al Gore won election 2000 by a substantial margin. Had America been a Third World country, the West, including the US, would have sent in troops demanding "a free and democratic election." Bush's selection places the US in the same league as other rogue nations.

by John Burl Smith

Since his death June 12, 1998, I often recall conversations with the best basketball player "Walnut Grove" ever produced, Herbert "Cut-Lov" McNeail. In the mid 1960s, "Cut-Lov" lifted George Washington Carver High School's sights and taught South Memphis to compete successfully against whites, even when the deck is stacked against us. He demonstrated the value of a true leader at the point. "Cut" would say to me, "There is no secret about what makes a great point guard. The problem is finding players with the ability to master skills needed to prevent the opposition from forcing them to pick up their dribble. The ball controls the game. If you give up your dribble, all you can do is shoot or pass from where you are. But, if your dribble is alive, you are in charge. At the point, a player's greatest assets are adaptability and creativity."

Charles Darwin established adaptability and creativity as the most important qualities driving human domination of the earth. These indisputably Homo sapiens characteristics account for human survival in all regions of the globe, regardless of conditions. The pattern of survival for Neanderthals is just the opposite. Neanderthals remained huddled in Europe for millennia. Developing a brutish social order based on survival of the fittest, warring and killing were the foundation of their culture. It was the means of social mobility, economic prosperity, and political power. Merging of the two divergent social orders enabled the compassion of the Homo sapiens soul to civilize and subdue the dog-eat-dog mentality of Neanderthals.

When the United States Supreme Court stopped the counting of legal votes and made G. W. Bush President, they unleashed a terrible spirit upon the world. It was as if "Damian Thorn," Satan's son, won, giving free reign to the Neanderthal's canine survival instincts. Looking over man's development, history shows Neanderthals' constantly warring progeny -Europeans- was the most bloodthirsty, until America dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. No other cultures have produced such massive carnage and destruction.

Due to their conservative nature, Neanderthals do not adapt readily in situations that require creativity. Whites fight change as a natural response mechanism of their limited Neanderthal mental capacity. "Cut-Lov" compared Neanderthals' relative inability to adapt and be creative to the dribble station to station and a shot from the perimeter style of basketball played by white boys prior to civil rights and black power. This lack of creativity and adaptability is clearly reflected in humans dominated by Neanderthals genes. Most are Bush supporters and today's conservatives, who defend the death penalty, war and institutionalized racism.

"Cut's" take on "point men and keeping one's dribble alive" goes to the heart of the lack of leadership in the Diaspora. We had the ball coming out of WCAR but gave up our dribble after 9-11. During US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearings to limit First Amendment rights, again black caucus members gave up their dribble at the first sign of pressure over Co-InTel-Pro from Bush and conservatives. Slave descendants in the Diaspora are still searching for a real point person, who will continually press our case for reparations, even though the deck is stacked against us. John 2001

On October 18, 2001, DeKalb County Commissioner Lou Walker (7-Dist) held a meeting at St. Phillips AME Church to provide senior citizens and low income DeKalb County residents with information to help them avoid the problems many experienced last winter with high natural gas heating bills.

Georgia Public Service (PSC) Commissioner David Burgess announced the creation of a $10 million fund to assist seniors with winter gas bills. In addition, he identified some existing programs, such as HEAT and Project SHARE that assist low income residents with winter heating bills. Combining programs available, some Georgia households could qualify for up to $650 in winter heating assistance. For more information on these programs, call Lou Walker at 404-371-3053.

The Governor's Task Force on Deregulation will consider legislation in light of numerous problems last winter with natural gas billing. Burgess referred those with questions about disconnections and rate structures to the PSC website at www.psc.state.ga.us.

by John Burl Smith

Running into unexpected opposition at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference, G. W. Bush decided to run home a day earlier than planned. Expecting to hip hop the Pacific rim with a ten day fast break, Bush began with a couple of ego bruising face offs with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Indonesian foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda.

Springing a half court trap on Bush, they conveyed the anger and frustration of the Muslim world regarding civilian casualties in Afghanistan, Muslim's insistence resolution of the Middle East conflict is an important prerequisite toward eradicating terrorism and their opposition to globalization. Blind-siding Bush on free trade, Mohamad told him "There are far too many prepared to tell lies. It is now clear beyond any doubt that in the process of globalization there are big winners and big losers. Dismantling barriers would serve only to make rich countries richer and poor countries poorer. "

Defending his so-called "war on terrorism," Bush sounded as if he was talking about himself when describing those being bombed in Afghanistan. "Those who hate all civilization and culture and progress, those who embrace death to cause the death of the innocent, cannot be ignored, cannot be appeased." With his usual eloquence, Bush stated clearly his true desires in Afghanistan, and apparently, those at the APEC conference got his point, which is why his trip was cut to two days and an overnight fly back. Bush's hasty exit reminded Americans of his infamous "chicken with its head cut off fly about" following the WTC and Pentagon disaster on 9-11. John 2001

by Paul Scott

I remember Grandma walking around the house singing, "Heav'n, Heav'n ev'ry body talkin' `bout Heav'n ain't going to Heav'n" every time some white man had "gotten her pressure up." She always gave a sarcastic grin as the final verse rolled off her lips in the form of a soulful hum.

These songs have served as an inspiration for Blacks since slavery. While it is easy to write them off as "tired ole `negro' spirituals," they are reminders that our enslaved ancestors knew the religion of the oppressor could never be the religion of the oppressed. This is very important for Blacks to remember in times of "national turmoil" when descendants of the enslaved and descendants of the enslavers are asked to stand side by side and sing "Kumbya" as they pray for "the nation."

Though some say "religion" has no color and cuts across all socioeconomic lines, Blacks know better. European Christianity has been used to enslave and exploit Blacks since the first white missionary set foot in Africa. Our history is filled with white men who saw no contradiction between hanging a Black man on Saturday night and singing in the church choir on Sunday morning.

While it is fairly easy to discuss the differences between different spiritual belief systems, whether it be Judaism, Christianity, Islam etc., it is problematic to discuss the theological differences within "Christianity." Though all Christians claim to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Christianity practiced by those of an African consciousness and the religion practiced by Europeans are polar opposites of the religious spectrum.

Blacks have always seen the Messiah as someone who is on the side of the poor and oppressed: the Prince of Peace. Europeans have seen Him as the defender of colonialism, capitalism and all things "white." Someone who will forgive all of their "sins" (slavery, exploitation, etc.). This is why they painted an obviously Black man white. European Christianity is white supremacy.

The TRUTH and a LIE cannot coexist. The Black Messiah, who will lead you to FREEDOM, is in a battle with the White Jesus that will lead you back to the plantation. We must never lose sight of the struggles that Blacks faced yesterday, are facing today and unless we decide to make a change, will face tomorrow.

Our prayer is for FREEDOM, JUSTICE, HARMONY and Universal PEACE. We look forward to the day when the world will be at peace, while the European looks forward to the time when there will be no opposition to his rule. As it has been said by others, "the white man's Heaven is the Black man's Hell."

Our ancestors sang "nobody knows the trouble I've seen" and "It's been a long time coming, but a change is going to come." Hard times are nothing new for Blacks, as since slavery, we have had to live under the constant threat of being persecuted by the forces of white supremacy. But, we learned to mourn, pray for strength and keep on moving toward FREEDOM.

About Me: Minister Paul Scott is the founder of the New Righteous Movement based in Durham, NC. Email comments to: operationmedia@yahoo.com

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