Volume 4 Issue 7…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race… February 23, 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

by Yohannes Sharriff Smith

"I'll stand up next to a mountain and chop it down with the edge of my hand."

I spit voodoo on economics cause I can't afford to buy a career.

So, instead, I build one vessel for the supreme architect of creation.

Spoken word artists articulate the cultivation of a nation, while spin-doctors operate on mainstream media to save the serial killer creature from the Bushes.

Gary Graham couldn't plea or flee the unjust execution, when S&L scandals are handled with amnesia...

When camera angles suddenly star spangle and fade to black.

Eyes focused on CIA and secret service agents pistol-whipping CNN behind the presidential motorcade.

Why in this information age, only a few anchors sink deep enough to touch the plight of the Black farmer.

And, of course, I'm one of those voodoo spitting aware Aquarian agrarian minded authors of my own life as sovereign in my own garden of thought.

Shaman offering seeds at the ancestral table,

I sing praises to alter the spell of poverty.

Acknowledging blessings are abundant, we are confronted with the illusion of no welfare.

Programmed by television to sitcom, we hunger for a sponsor to shelter us from the financial flood watering down freedom.

So, how do we commercial break and still avoid our voting power being revoked by the Electoral College, when we never colonicized the auction blockage.

When knowledge of self is still held hostage in a silent war, top-secret stock option plot to recession my progress.

They keep trying to feed me rebel flags wrapped sausage, but I refuse to eat garbage.

"I'll stand up next to a mountain..." I spit voodoo cause this new millennium plantation training left...left...left...right...left us sore, sour and soaking for hours, in a shower of debt up to our necks until the next 4^th of July.

You lie when my need to be free is caught beneath the undertow of Yuletide.

Damn, just last night Hosea died.

But, I spit voodoo and leadership positions won't stay vacant like unexamined lives.

My need to change will never die.

Waving a sign of the times on an I-20 west off ramp, panhandling a cup of love,

I spit blood, sweat and voodoo.

While planning out the independent production of ten-dollar CD's and books, scribes gather in healing circles.

Vertically risen hands interwoven like strands of bamboo rope supporting the hope for flowers to grow within the wounded remains of the raped.

Wake up and smell the bouquet! Gift wrapped in chaos, there is fire beneath the waves.

Purified by flame, my thoughts refreshed like baby's first breath. My mother wept blessed with a second glimpse at infinite possibility.

Her round belly, pregnant with the son light of me.

"I'll stand up next to a mountain and chop it down with the edge of my hand..."

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro awoke in fine form on President's Day. Refreshed and with no school, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro hugged his grandma and said, "I love you! My heart is filled with love."

Disgruntled says: Since its water smells like shit, you would THINC improving its water quality would be high on everybody's list. If it is not, Atlanta water quality will continue to be in the toilet.

Disgruntled wants to know: Allowing civilians at the controls of nuclear submarines is political patronage run amok. Investigated and criticized for allowing his political patrons to sleep over in the White House Lincoln bedroom, former Pres. Bill Clinton's patronage was a cheap thrill, and he got roasted. Surely, mainstream media will bury Bush for political patronage that kills. Or, will they continue giving Dubya a bye?

Disgruntled feels: After the Florida debacle and the infamous Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision, Election 2000 is a shotgun wedding. There is no honeymoon in a forced union.

by John Burl Smith

A "$ 700,000 marketing study " to change the Metropolitan Area Rapid Transit Authority's (MARTA) name in the AJC (2-11-01) featured Board Chairman Bill Mosley telling little black Sambo jokes. A resident for only twelve years, Mosley has risen through the good ol' boy ranks by adopting redneck attitudes. Led by Roy Barnes, Cobb, Clayton, Douglas and Gwinnett Counties have fought MARTA since its creation in 1971.

Retelling several so-called "ethnic jokes" he heard at his country club, Mosley justifies the name change. "MARTA's acronym is the subject of racial jokes in the white communities around Atlanta. You know what MARTA really stands for, Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta." Mosley goes on, "People in the suburbs think MARTA is a black transit dependent system. It's too tarnished to ever attract Atlanta's suburbs (whites), some see the logo as a symbol of urban intrusion." This article is deceptive, demeaning and laden with Mosley's stereotypical biases, not to mention inaccuracies.

First, MARTA is "a black dependent system." Predominately black DeKalb and Fulton Counties are the only residences who are obligated to pay MARTA's one-cent sales tax, which makes them its owners. Those suburban counties Mosley wants to spend $ 700, 000 studying are not obligated to pay one penny to support MARTA. Were it not for blacks in DeKalb and Fulton Counties who voted to tax themselves in 1971, there would not be a "tarnished logo" to change. Mosley, like most whites outside Atlanta, defines MARTA in terms of the needs of white commuters. They feel blacks should be happy to pay the cost of whites commuting to fill all the best jobs.

Sinisterly, hidden behind Mosley's "blackface" routine is the real reason for changing MARTA's name. Roy Barnes, through GRTA (Georgia Regional Transportation Authority), took over MARTA claiming it was needed as a regional system of buses and trains. The truth is Barnes needs to cover his tracks after the great train robbery in DeKalb County and plans to loot MARTA's coffers. A federal lawsuit challenging GRTA's takeover of MARTA as unconstitutional has been filed. It contends the state of Georgia violated "due process" and "equal protection" by not giving DeKalb and Fulton Counties any say in the matter and GRTA's refusal to compensate residences for expropriating their public utility. Presenting this hijacking as simply a logo change ignores the ownership factor; once MARTA's name disappears, DeKalb and Fulton's ownership disappears.

MARTA is the only mass transit system in the South. Therefore, it is the only southern system capable of receiving federal mass transit funds, which is why Roy Barnes sees MARTA as a cash cow. The GRTA scheme was designed to get control of MARTA's bankroll. Lying to the public, Barnes is using MARTA money to pay for bus systems in Clayton and Gwinnett. Along with Cobb, which is being allowed to set up its own bus system, these counties have voted repeatedly not to tax themselves to pay for mass transit. Through GRTA, Barnes is forcing DeKalb and Fulton to pay other counties' cost by extending the one-cent MARTA tax until 2047. This is not about a name change; it is about DeKalb and Fulton Counties getting short-changed. The great train robbery is a stickup, and whites like Mosley and Barnes are trying to cover their tracks with racial slurs and name changes. (Vol. 5 No 34) John 2001

Black Entertainment Television (BET) talk show host Tavis Smiley and radio personality Tom Joyner are to be commended for their efforts to get out the vote for Election 2000. Their efforts to register and encourage black voter participation are credited with the massive black voter turnout November 7, 2000. Record numbers of black people voted, primarily for the Democratic Party candidate, former Vice President Al Gore.

In the wake of the debacle, which amounted to a stolen election, Smiley and Joyner collaborated to bring some of the best black minds in the country together to identify a black agenda to address the multitude of negatives, which characterizes the black human condition. Kudos to Tavis and Tom for their most recent symposium. Their obvious search for answers in sponsoring this event helped highlight the need for a conscious black education. After Florida, we need realistic solutions to better the black human condition.

Thanks to C-Span, Tavis Smiley and Tom Joyner, we heard blacks speak about the black human condition and entertain ways to improve it. They addressed racial profiling the digital divide, disparities in income and education, etc., but no one defined the problem. Hence, no one articulated a viable solution.

The C-Span program drove home the need to educate black people about the problem so they can envision and embrace an agenda that addresses it, rather than espouse pseudo-solutions that are little more than bandages over a festering wound.

In problem solving, the first step is to define the problem. The black man's status in America is the result of law and economics. Changing our legal status is the only worthwhile agenda for this century; it is time the 'black intelligentsia' embraced it or ceased passing themselves off as intelligentsia speaking to black people's interests. People the problem is institutionalized racism. To stamp it out requires a change in the mindset of the country. Changing the law to repeal Article 1 Section 2 will aid this process. A constitutional amendment will provide the catharsis for change. However, like passing some "hate crime" legislation, simply changing the law will not change our condition, but combined with reparations, a change in the law would bring about a revolution in the mindset of Americans, both black and white. This new consciousness is required to make real change in the black human condition. It is time the people who claim to be black leaders and spokespersons embrace an agenda that recognizes the problem and seeks to end institutionalized racism and compensate its victims.

How does the police justify killing a skinny 40-year-old, 5'4" tall, 128 lbs. black woman? According to John Quigley of the Atlanta Police Public Affairs Unit, a police officer has the right to go one step higher in force when facing a threat. If the suspect is armed with a weapon, such as a knife, the police officer can step up the force and use his gun. In the case of Jacqueline Echols, the brick or rock she wielded was met with the deadly force of a gun, and the police seem to think the officer acted appropriately. Shot twice in the stomach, the police department, based on Quigley's statement, support's Officer Larry Bennett's use of deadly force against this woman. Officer Bennett felt threatened. A black man, Bennett's injury was 'minor' according to the incident report. This murder will not receive much scrutiny by the media of anyone else because it is assumed race or bias plays no role in this killing. This incident is just like the death last year of John Frank Brown and countless others. It is just another lynching that is accepted because the victim and the police officer committing the murder are black. We assume no bias.

White people are not being killed in this fashion. Had this been a white woman, Larry Bennett would have done everything possible, including using his fists and training to subdue this woman before using his gun. Fact of the matter is, Bennett would probably have used a brick on himself before shooting a white person. Imagine a black police officer killing a white woman like this? It is unheard of in the annals of American history, but it is acceptable practice for Atlanta's black police to kill black people. No questions asked, and no answer given. This is the worst kind of racial profiling, when black cops devalue the lives of black people and provide them a lower standard of police protection. Rather than safeguarding their lives, the police can take them and know no questions will be asked at the office.

To justify an expensive ad campaign ostensibly designed to improve its image, MARTA's board is badmouthing it. Board members freely use racial slurs, such as redneck and the n-word to advance their arguments to justify a $700,000-expenditure.

California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante used the n-word during a black history month program; he said it came out accidentally and apologized profusely. Black folks use the n-word freely. At one time, it was an endearment. Young blacks rapped about "homey you my nigger." The n-word is not a slur when blacks pull the trigger. When blacks say nigger, no apology is necessary; it is not hate; go figure! Who knows how a nigger thinks anyway? Bottom line, we use the n-word all the time and it does not create a major incident.

Otherwise, the n-word and other racial slurs get attention. Had Bustamante not said nigger, he would not be mentioned here or in the daily newspaper. Also, had the word not been used to signify a hateful racial slur, Bustamante would not be apologizing for saying it. Bustamante accidently repeated what he uses in private social club moments, a slur, so he apologized for it.

'Redneck' is a racial slur akin to the n-word; it is a derogatory reference to whites of the lowest economic class. At one time, this group, which is closest in economic status to blacks, worked alongside slaves to eke out a subsistence wage. Back then, redneck literally meant a red neck. White folks that worked in the sun got sunburned, hence the red neck. This was before high fashion and tanning to look healthier. Only low class people worked in the sun. Rednecks were used by the power structure as the buffer to equal opportunity. These whites were incited to resent any perceived gains made by blacks, rather than recognizing the reality that we are all slaves. Instead, we have racial slurs to taunt each other. It is divide-and-conquer, a ploy to maintain the status quo. Concerned about the fare, rednecks and niggers, who rely on MARTA for transportation, are not talking about changing its name or fixing its image. Neither, it seems, are they the ones using racial slurs.

by John Burl Smith

Gwinnett County Juvenile Court Judge Robert Rodatus ordered a seven-year-old boy confined for allegedly threatening classmates and having a knife. Rodatus refused to provide the public an explanation. Media feeding frenzies surrounding school shootings and isolated homicides portray the young as "short criminals" according to Judge B. Thomas Leahy, chairman of the National Coalition for Juvenile Justice. The attitude change from rehabilitation of troubled children to their punishment is driven by the "prison-for-profit industry." Young blacks are the most likely targets of "body" demands to satisfy Wall Street.

Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), a bellwether stock, dropped precipitously from a high of $ 44 at The DISH's first report in 1998 to a low of 18 cents a share last December. CCA's $ 45 million McRae Correctional Facility stands empty without any state prisoners. It is this demand that drives judges to jail 7 year-old babies as criminals. One of 40 children under age ten locked up in Georgia, such children are usually from poor black families without economic resources, legal representation or political clout like George W. Bush, Jr.'s family to keep them out of jail.

Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children, Norman Adams called the child's jailing, "morally reprehensible." "Totally unconscionable," raged Georgia Alliance for Children president, Rick McDevitt. Mental health services in Georgia do not have programs to house and care for such youthful offenders according to Cynthia Wainscott of the National Mental Health Association of Georgia. Department of Juvenile Justice Commissioner Orlando Martinez admits "We're becoming the mental health system for adolescents in Georgia." Consequently, 7-year-old babies are criminalized because Georgia is using black babies to fill private prisons.

Roy Barnes and the State of Georgia are currently under a Federal Court order to improve care of youthful offenders, but they still refused to spend money to educate and rehabilitate the children they choose to lock up. Criminalizing babies create a permanent under class to feed the "prison for profit industry." Criminal records were used to disenfranchise blacks during Election 2000. Run Children Run pleads with young black people to run for political office so that you can change the 3/5ths Compromise. The Founders designed the laws to keep you second class. The 14^th Amendment made criminals a class of slaves and valued them less than citizens. Only you can change your future! John 2001

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