Volume 5 Issue 12…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…March 29, 2002

by Yohannes Sharriff Smith

As a child, he amazed me. He knew everything.

As a boy, he annoyed me. He knew everything.

Now, as a man, he astonishes me.

He knows everything.

He is the only man I know

who can break down

the psychology of human behavior

while driving 80 in a 55.

He totally understands women,

but claims he has yet to figure them out.

He can expertly coach any sport,

after watching it on television once.

He knows enough about everything

to answer questions about anything.

He is the only man I know

who knows me better than myself,

but still insists upon asking for an explanation

of my behavior.

Then, when I lie, with love, he tells me the truth.

Father of capitalism, Adam Smith (1723-1790), the moral philosopher, who wrote An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), had a profound impact on America. Smith's major policy conclusions that found favor among America's founding fathers are the government should follow a laissez faire policy and the distribution of income should be unequal. Smith's economic and political ideologies not only shaped American society, but also greatly influenced its foreign policy; America has promoted Smith's views in underdeveloped nations. (Source: History of Economic Theory: Scope, Method, and Content; Harry Landreth)

Webster defines law as a "binding custom or practice; a prescribed or formally recognized rule of conduct or action enforced by a controlling authority; it is the whole body of such customs, practices or rules." America's founders legalized customs, traditions and practices when they convened in 1787 to draft the U.S. Constitution that replaced the Articles of Confederation. Slavery was one such practice the founders made legal.

Representing the nation's property interests, fifty-five men gathered in Philadelphia to draft the U.S. Constitution. Fearing the "turbulence and follies" of democracy or "mob rule," they rejected the democratic values of the Declaration of Independence (1776).

To resolve differences between large and small, slave and free states over taxation and representation in Congress, the Great or 3/5 Compromise was adopted July 16, 1787. It gave each state two members in the Senate. Representation in the House was determined by adding the whole number of free persons and three-fifths of all other persons, i.e., slaves. The three-fifths formula was based on the assumption that a slave's labor was less productive and hence contributed less than a free man's to creating the wealth of a nation.

Laissez faire and unequal incomes aided the rise of business tycoons or robber barons. Their success and ruthless disregard for the public welfare were personified by Cornelius (Commodore) Vanderbilt who asked, "Can't I do what I want with my own?" and by his often-quoted son William: "The public be damned." Men of their ilk welded tremendous power. Through campaign contributions, they got what they wanted from government. Lords of business, these men were products of their time and reflected prevailing mores in American society. American tycoons accepted social Darwinism or survival of the fittest, which perfectly complimented Smith's capitalism. (Source: American History: A Survey, 4^th ed., Current, Williams and Freidel)

By Mumia Abu-Jamal

When George II (or is it III?) was enthroned in the White House by the Gang of Five of the Supreme Court, as a kind of American Emperor, a thought came to mind, chillingly: There will be a war. It came with such clarity that it was surprising.

Why? A couple of reasons. First, George II is the darling of big corporate interests, and such interests always profit from war. If there are armed conflicts in Sierra Leone, or in Kashmir, or in Colombia, you can bet your bottom dollar that 70 percent of the weapons used in these struggles are American-manufactured. How could it be otherwise, when the U.S. is the world's largest arms merchant? Second, George II learned an important lesson from his father: Nothing spurs a president's popularity like war.

What does this have to do with the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) or the growing specter of globalism? The global economic structure is undergirded by the globalist- capitalist-military structure. Interconnected, one cannot exist without the other. Consider the words of writer Thomas Friedman: "The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist-McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell-Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps." (New York Times Magazine, March 28, 1999).

And, what could be more secretive than the WTO, a powerful, undemocratic international multi-state, corporate entity that sets the rules governing the lives of billions? How about the World Economic Forum (WEF), the body that claims it brought the WTO into existence, and one of the world's engines of the corporate globalist movement? These are the forces behind the war, the vicious attacks on anti-globalists in Genoa, and the equally vicious slurs in the corporate media against the anti-globalist movement.

War, ultimately, is fought for the wealthy, with the working class and poor doing the lion's share of the fighting and dying. It has nothing to do with patriotism, for the rich and super-rich know no nationality higher than capital. Think of these things when you hear the siren's song of globalism; it is but a call for more war, more poverty, more exploitation and more death. I urge you to resist it.

In September, 2001, Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government abuse and corruption, learned George Bush, the father, works for the bin Laden family through The Carlyle Group. (WSJ, 8/28/01). Judicial Watch's Larry Klayman stated, "This conflict of interest has now turned into a scandal. The idea of the President's father, an ex-president himself, doing business with a company under investigation by the FBI in the terror attacks of September 11 is horrible. President Bush should not ask, but demand, that his father pull out of the Carlyle Group." (info@judicialwatch.org ) Rather than demand his father leave Carlyle, the media have been silenced.

The Carlyle Group is a private firm. Founded in 1987, its employees, senior advisers and managing directors read like who's who in capitalism. Chaired in the U.S. by Frank Carlucci and in Europe by John Major, its founders include William E. Conway, Jr., Daniel A. D'Aniello and David M. Rubenstein. James A. Baker, III of Election 2000 fame is senior counselor, and Arthur Levitt is the senior advisor. Beginning with a modest $5 million, the firm has invested more than $6.4 billion in 233 transactions with an aggregate value of more than $18 billion. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the firm has more than 435 investors in 55 countries.

The Carlyle Group's principle business interests include aerospace, defense, consumer and industrial products, energy, healthcare, information technology, real estate, telecommunications and media. Carlyle has 24 offices in the U.S. Europe, Asia, Japan, Russia and the Middle East, yet it employs a mere 500 people. (www.thecarlylegroup.com)

Comments from the Bat Cave

The Dark Knight - Batman/White Ninja/Zorro knows about personal responsibility and agrees he must proceed peacefully in life and show some compassion. His most important daily duty is to learn something new. On the side of compassion, he must show kindness to his younger brother. When asked for his comments on Monday, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro stated, "I missed school today, and I am stuck at home with this crybaby."

A congressional advisory commission appointed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the National Academies' Institute of Medicine issued its findings last week (3-20-02). This voluminous investigation examined the quality of healthcare provided whites, blacks and other minorities after they entered the healthcare system. Access was not an issue. These researchers concluded "blacks and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower quality healthcare than whites, even when insurance status, income, age, and severity of conditions are comparable." Moreover, the committee emphasized that "differences in treating heart disease, cancer, and HIV infection contributes significantly to higher death rates among minorities."

Stating their conclusions was Dr. Alan Nelson, a retired physician, former president of the American Medical Association (AMA), and current special adviser to the chief executive officer of the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine. "Blacks are less likely to be given appropriate cardiac medications, undergo bypass surgery and receive kidney dialysis or transplants." This investigation revealed significant racial differences in determining "who receives appropriate cancer diagnostic tests and treatments." Most distressing, "minorities were less likely to receive the most sophisticated treatments for HIV infection, which could forestall the onset of AIDS." By contrast, "minorities are more likely to receive certain less-desirable procedures, such as lower limb amputations for diabetes and other conditions."

Presenting clear evidence that "bias, prejudice and stereotyping by healthcare providers are major determinants of disparities in the quality of healthcare minorities receive," this report replicates Dot M. Smith's 1981 groundbreaking discovery of the "chasm of inequality." Unequivocally, documenting that healthcare providers respond to their "expectations regarding a patient's age, gender, socioeconomic status, race or ethnicity when evaluating their conditions, even when insured at the same level," supports Smith's conclusions about institutionalized racism. The corollary is "blacks are less likely to have a positive relationship with their primary care provider" regardless of their condition.

These researchers found the "racial gap" Smith described over twenty years ago as the most significant determinant of outcomes in America's marketplace for goods and services. Joining justice, representation, education, employment, predatory lending practices, environmental racism, taxation policies, transportation funding and a myriad of other socioeconomic and political outcomes in the chasm of inequality, healthcare reflects the legalized custom of racism in America.

Unlike Smith, these researchers do not tie the "racial healthcare gap" to the law: the U.S. Constitution. Smith's research placed this gap on an interval between .5 and .65 for blacks relative to whites. More specifically, this gap mirrors the income inequality codified in Article 1 Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution (3/5 Compromise). Smith's work operationalizes American racism in terms of the width of the gap. The wider the gap, the greater the impact of racism. Academicians refuse to acknowledge any evidence or procedures that do not originate within their "ivory towers." Consequently, until an insider, such as Doris Kearns-Goodwin, publishes Dot M. Smith's work under their name, the "chasm of inequality," as a paradigm for interpreting the impact of the 3/5 Compromise over time, like this healthcare study's result, will not be discussed! (http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10260.html) John 2002

Disgruntled feels: 1984! Like big brother, the Bush administration is dismantling civil liberty. It recently announced changes to federal rules that made medical records confidential. While the government can operate in secret, nothing is private for the people, including their medical history. American soldiers are fighting for Afghani 'freedom,' but our basic human right to privacy at home is in serious jeopardy! It feels like 1984!

Disgruntled wants to know: The USA is a nation of laws; Americans follow the rule of law. As the latest study of ethnic disparities in healthcare shows, discrimination in the medical field is widespread and pervasive. Does law supercede the Hippocratic Oath?

Disgruntled says: People, plants and animals are being redesigned, reinvented or bio-engineered. Scientists announced a successful experiment to grow fish in a petri dish as part of plans to grow meat without animals for protein in deep space travel. It is a franken world!

The International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Monterrey, Mexico March 18 - 22, 2002, brought together international leaders to address the challenges of financing development and alleviating poverty. Conferees resolved to eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic growth and promote development in the context of a more inclusive and equitable global economic system. (See http://www.un.org/ffd/pressrel/22c.htm.)

In addressing the conference, U.S. President George Bush pledged an increase in U.S. aid to underdeveloped nations. Acknowledging "developed nations have a duty not only to share our wealth, but to encourage sources that produce wealth: economic freedom, political liberty, the rule of law and human rights," increased U.S. aid will be tied to legal, political and economic reforms. According to Bush, "These new funds will go into a new Millennium Challenge Account, devoted to projects in nations that govern justly, invest in their people and encourage economic freedom."

Dr. Fidel Castro, President of the Republic of Cuba, also addressed the conference. Following are excerpts of his speech: "Excellencies: Not everyone here will share my thoughts. Still, I will respectfully say what I think. The existing world economic order constitutes a system of plundering and exploitation like no other in history. Thus, the peoples believe less and less in statements and promises. The prestige of the international financial institutions rates less than zero.

The world economy is today a huge casino. Recent analyses indicate that for every dollar that goes into trade, over one hundred end up in speculative operations completely disconnected from the real economy. As a result of this economic order, over 75 percent of the world population live in underdevelopment; extreme poverty has already reached 1.2 billion people in the Third World. So, far from narrowing, the gap is widening. The revenue of the richest nations that in 1960 was 37 times larger than that of the poorest is now 74 times larger. The situation has reached such extremes that the assets of the three wealthiest persons in the world amount to the GDP of the 48 poorest countries combined.

The number of people actually starving was 826 million in the year 2001. There are at the moment 854 million illiterate adults, while 325 million children do not attend school. There are 2 billion people who have no access to low-cost medications and 2.4 billion lack the basic sanitation conditions. No less than 1.1 million children under the age of 5 perish every year from preventable causes while half a million go blind for lack of vitamin A. The life span of the population in the developed world is 30 years higher than that of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa. A true genocide!

The poor countries should not be blamed for this tragedy. They neither conquered nor plundered entire continents for centuries; they did not establish colonialism, or reestablished slavery, and, modern imperialism is not of their making. Actually, they have been its victims. Therefore, the main responsibility for financing their development lies with those states that, for obvious historical reasons, enjoy today the benefits of those atrocities." For the complete statements of Bush and others see http://www.un.org/ffd/statements/.

by Dot

A father, whose children are rarely seen with him, and a leader not elected by the people, George Bush identified three nations as an 'axis of evil.' Without explanation, he said Iraq, North Korea and Iran threaten U.S. interests. Bush officials, media pundits and priests in pulpits pray for war, rather than peace, this Easter.

In the birthplace of Christ, Israeli assassinations, in retaliation for Palestinian suicide bombings, are calmly carried out with U.S. financial and moral support. VP Dick Cheney traveled East to garner support among Muslims for war against Iraq. His message was clear: we must "get rid" of Saddam Hussein. If successful, it would not be the first American-backed assassination. Salvador Allende of Chile and Patrice Lumumba of the Congo are among those killed for U.S. business reasons. Evidence uncovered by the Church Committee showed the CIA plotted to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro.

A nation of self-proclaimed Christians, U.S. leaders - the fathers/wise men of this nation - act like the soulless Catholic priests that prey on innocent children. As we celebrate Easter, these warmongers feverishly plan more killing; war is the science of business profits. Weapons on their drawing boards include nuclear bunker busters bigger than those leveling Afghani mountains. For business, US leaders risk human annihilation! Where is the Prince of Peace's voice of reason this Easter?

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