Volume 4 Issue 5…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… February 9, 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

"A Rose in Spanish Harlem," is a hauntingly surreal melody nourishing the Atlanta Vibe Repertory Company. Like flowers growing up through concrete, the vibe has given birth to some determined young black artists. Shut out of the official Atlanta arts scene, our wonderfully beautiful black children refuse to allow their lack of access to public art funding deny their dreams. The African House of Poetry (AHOP) is the seedbed for some very rare breeds and is facilitating pollination with species some in our society consider mere weeds.

More than poetry, ESP - Experimental Spoken-word Performance - is an exciting new education-based fusion of poetry, blues, soul, hip hop, jazz and other Afro contemporary motifs being cultivated by Yohannes Sharriff Smith at his Wednesday blow out. Last week, the venue featured a discussion of slavery and lynching's roles in maintaining division between black women and men. This theme is the source of much pain for young black artists. Yohannes believes, "unless we as a people revisit that pain and validate our right to feel as we do about something that happened to us, we will never be free to explore new emotional experiences of love, caring, sharing and trust."

As the song indicates, black children are educated to feel they have no value as individuals. ESP and the Atlanta Vibe are an awakening in the black community, which defies the negative stereotypes and attempts to stigmatize young blacks as criminals only fit for jail cells. Young blacks hanging in the vibe are not followers; they accept the challenge of leadership today. They have dreams that will not allow them to become "Raisins in the Sun." Check out ESP at AHOP on Wednesday nights @ 9 P.M. Join the experiment. AHOP is located at 840 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd across from the West End Mall. For more information call 404-752-6030 or visit www.a-hop.com.

Disgruntled feels: If Al Gore 'invented' the Internet, then techies of the world wide web will use it to correct the presidential selection.

Disgruntled says: Republicans argued aggressively to count all military and absentee ballots, even those with technical problems, some of which raised questions of legality. Yet, they vehemently opposed counting machine and chad-challenged ballots in heavily black areas.

Disgruntled wants to know: For his first 100 days, Bush is enjoying a honeymoon; Democrats are acting bipartisan, some, like Zell Miller and John Breaux, are chummy. The economy slid into recession as ordered and Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan backs tax cuts. Will organized religion deal with the devil and succumb to money with Bush's faith-based initiative?

Comments from the Bat Cave

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro promised to have comments for this week to celebrate his uncle's birthday. When asked for his remarks, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro replied, "I'll make him my sidekick."

14^th Amendment Section 2

"Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But, when the right to vote at any election for the choice of Electors for the President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and Judicial officer of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and a citizen of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participants in rebellion, or other crimes, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the Proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizen twenty-one years of age in such State."

by John Burl Smith

Run Children Run: The choices facing our children in the new millennium have become even more difficult with the passage of the law to change the Georgia State flag. A symbol like "black and white signs" Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Compromise is alive and well in Georgia 2001. This law not only keeps the Confederate battle emblem a part of the State's flag, it brings back the slave master as an official symbol of the State. Gov. Roy Barnes's first act under the new law was to re-hang Robert E. Lee's portrait at the Capitol.

Run Children Run's plea to black children is that they take up the challenge of leadership today; your future is in your hands. Black elected officials who voted for the flag bill, sold you back into slavery, as Joseph's brothers sold him to escape his dream of the future. Now, you must do as Joseph did and find a means to survive in Pharaoh's house.

Let us be very clear about the problem you face. It is the Matrix - the 3/5ths Compromise - that has extended institutionalized racism into every aspect of American life. The political socioeconomic structure conforms to Willie Lynch's goal to "keep black children slaves for another hundred years." The 14^th Amendment was supposed to repeal the 3/5ths Compromise, instead it classified another group as slaves - those who commit crimes. Run Children Run rails against the number of black men and women incarcerated in American prisons.

As with the 3/5ths Compromise, the 14^th Amendment brought Election 2000 into stark relief against a backdrop of smoke and mirrors. It showed clearly how criminal charges and jail time are used to deny blacks the right to vote. Simultaneously, President-select George W. Bush, Jr. was given 14^th Amendment "equal protection" rights against counting black people's votes under a law that was passed specifically to protect blacks against disenfranchisement. John 2001

by John Burl Smith

"Killing Big Mo" was a blah on black Georgia legislators, politicians like Maynard Jackson, Marty King, III and preachers like Andrew Young, who worked to kill the momentum of the Georgia Groundswell's international boycott of Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina for officially displaying Confederate symbols. These Booker T. Washington Uncle Tom "Mo" killers labored mightily last year to keep Georgia's Confederate State flag bill from coming to a vote. Having lost that battle for the hearts and minds of true Americans, this year, as in South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi used neo-Booker T's to push through a law that not only keeps the Confederate battle emblem flying, but it brings the slave masters back.

These "Mo" killing neo-Booker T's are happy in the slave master's house and are dedicated to keeping black children slaves on his plantation. Election 2000 showed blacks the futility of electing white Democrats in hopes of getting representation, they vote like other white people. White politicians are working to limit black access to the political process in the name of "Election Reform." This is why the flag law in Georgia is so relevant. Like when whites "took down black and white signs," black so-called leaders like Maynard Jackson, Rev. Andrew Young and Marty King, III are helping Gov. Roy Barnes to fool black children in order to kill the momentum of the Georgia Groundswell. The Democratic Party and Maynard Jackson will try to kill black momentum to change the Constitution and repeal the 3/5ths Compromise. We do not need any "Mo" killers! John 2001

By John Burl Smith

Following the "Voting Rights Act of 1965," blacks were in the same position as today. By 1970 they realized white Dixiecrats were not going to support civil rights legislation designed to bring about equality, commonly known as integration. Blacks began talking about holding their own "Black Political Convention" to elect their own slate of delegates to the Democratic Convention in Miami Beach, FL. At first the Democratic Party supported the move because they believed blacks would never get together, at best, they would only increase black turnout, which would help white Democrats. However under the brilliant leadership of Richard Hatcher, Mayor of Gary Indiana and then Congressman Walter Faunteroy, a strong coalition developed around Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm of New York for President.

Once on the "Chisholm Trail," blacks begin to experience a powerful force pent up in the black Community. They started to believe that if we stayed together, we could change the Democratic Party. George McGovern's inability to put Shirley away in early primaries, embolden blacks and struck fear in the hearts of white Democrats in the North and South. First black politicians like Maynard Jackson and Andrew young began to charge Shirley's candidacy would split black votes and weaken the party for the fight in November. Then, they demanded Shirley release her delegates from the Black Political Convention to vote as they pleased. In classic smoke-filled-backroom political style, the McGovern and Rep. Shirley Chisholm's forces meet and Shirley thought she had a deal which would bring the party together. McGovern pledged to select Shirley Chisholm as his running mate for Vice President.

Unfortunately, it was not until the convention in Miami Beach that Shirley realized Jackson and Young had sold her out because McGovern had no intention of selecting her as Vice President. They made the deal to "kill big mo," as the last shoe dropped at the Black Political Convention's caucus meeting the Sunday before the convention began. The rules prohibited candidates from speaking to the caucus but Young and Coretta Scott King escorted McGovern into the meeting and demanded he be allowed to speak, even though Shirley's supporters objected vociferously. Promising Democratic money for voter registration drives and Young and King's help, McGovern convinced the black caucus to release Shirley's delegates to vote their conscience. This killed Shirley's momentum. "Mo" killers stopped black America's chance to build an independent political base outside of the Democratic Party. John 2001

From: ARTISTpres@aol.com: "We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don't want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members." -From Margaret Sanger's 12/19/39 letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble, Milton, Massachusetts. Original source: Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, North Hampton, Massachusetts. Also described in Linda Gordon's Woman's Body, Woman's Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America, Grossman Publishers, 1976.

Email: EJOHNSON@legis.state.ga.us:Thank you for contacting me regarding the change in the state flag. The new state flag was passed by the Senate on January 30, 2001, by a vote of 34 to 22. I voted against it. The Governor signed the bill the next day and the new flag was raised over the Capitol on February 1. Sadly, the old flag was removed without ceremony.

The issue was whether the people of Georgia wanted a new public symbol of our great state or not. In a proper setting, this decision should have involved a two step process. First, should we change the flag? And, if so, what should it look like?

The process should have included the people of Georgia and their elected representatives. The so-called 'compromise' was a unilateral negotiation between Governor Barnes and economic terrorists. A secret, backroom deal between the Governor and Rev. Jesse Jackson produced our new flag and then it was rammed down our throats in a surprise attack. It was the wrong way. It was the wrong flag!

From: larry@omega.im.wsp.zgora.pl: Unfortunately, the same scenario holds in Europe with their erasure of blackness. The situation is much worse in western and eastern Europe.

benjimagreth@blackplanet.com

Thanks for your support towards our efforts against the Sinterklaas celebration. Most Black groups here in Amsterdam have teamed up and threatened to disrupt festivities near us. Sinterklaas was low profile this year, and I am happy to say we pressured 40 schools in the Southeast, where most of the Black people live, to cease the way they celebrate Sinterklaas.

At present, we have something else going down here. A monument in remembrance of slavery is the issue and the Dutch government is trying to sneak around US! Are you KIDDING? No I am not. The Dutch Minister of Urban Policies, Ruud van Boxtel, has been appointed to oversee the establishment of a monument in remembrance of slavery.

As is standard practice, the Dutch government is not talking with us, but deciding for us what, how and where regarding this monument. We do not accept this. Our Ancestors must get the respect they deserve, and we must be respected. Our voices and ideas must be heard about this. Everyone reading this is encouraged to express your concerns about how we are treated.

We are not begging for a monument, which is clear, otherwise it would not be materializing. We have demanded this with our massive presence at the celebration of the end of slavery. We demand to be a controlling factor within the decision-making concerning this monument, which does not only represent us the Surinamese and the Antillese but also Africans in the Carribean and South and North America. Let this man know what this monument means to you as we are all connected to each other.

Do not forget the Dutch played a major role in the slave trade, the biggest slave forts Elmina and Gorree were controlled by the Dutch for more than 200 years. So think about that, THEY might have been the ones that brought your family to where you are NOW, my family. Tell this minister how you feel. We want a center to educate our children about slavery and the Dutch school system so they know why we are here. Express yourself about this monument. The site is http://www.ministervanboxtel.nl look for discussie (discussion). Let's make a fist, sisters and brothers and make sure this monument is about dignity and respect for our Ancestors and not about the Dutch government EGOTRIPS!

News from the Vatican reports that the Pope's menu no longer includes beef. At least one confirmed case of mad cow disease was found among Italian herds. American cattle has been "immune" from this disease, at least we have been led to believe beef is safe.

Last week's Eye on America segment of CBS' Evening News with Dan Rather examined chronic wasting disease (CWD). CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy or TSE. Similar to scrapie, a disease that for centuries has periodically devastated domestic sheep herds, and "mad cow" disease, which is wreaking havoc with the European beef industry, CWD is also linked to human mad cow called Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease. Infected brain-tissue shows a sponge-like degeneration. Scientists can only test for the disease by analyzing the brain tissue of dead animals.

CBS' examination of CWD should give hunters who eat wild deer and other animals reason to pause before devouring Bambi. According to Hal Herring at http://www.hcn.org/1999/sep27/dir/Western_Disease_is.html, "Nobody knows where this disease comes from; it may have existed forever in shortgrass prairies and alfalfa fields of north-central Colorado and southeast Wyoming. It is not known how it passes among its victims. What is certain is that the whitetails, mule deer and elk that contract it inevitably die after a prolonged period of suffering - staggering, listlessness, progressive emaciation. Called chronic wasting disease, as opposed to mad cow, CDW first appeared in captive mule deer at a Colorado Department of Wildlife research lab near Fort Collins in 1967. An ugly regional phenomenon, only about 100 cases has been documented since 1981. Though still rare, the disease is spreading.

In the past two years, CWD has spread to the game-farm industry, where elk and deer are ranched for meat, velvet antlers and captive trophy shoots. The brisk interstate commerce in elk breeding stock and bull elk sold for the trophy shoots has brought the disease to game farms in Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Saskatchewan, Canada."

ICIM Boycotted People, Places and Things: Death penalty, racial profiling, AT&T, Confederate symbols, meat, milk, the Bush theft in Florida, Georgia's MARTA taxation without representation, Tom DeLay, Trent Lott and other weapons of mass destruction.

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