Volume 5 Issue 18…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…May 10, 2002

by Yohannes Sharriff Smith

Float gently on cool waters.

Feel the warm sun caress your face.

Inhale the magic of life.

Devour each sensation.

Embrace beauty and truth.

The open mind is the passport for this voyage.

Born March 8, 1841 in Boston, Massachusetts, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was named for his father, the famous American writer and physician. An abolitionist at the outset of the Civil War, Holmes dropped out of college and enlisted. Wounded three times, Holmes barely survived the war. Albert Alschuler, in an interview on his Law Without Values: The Life, Work and Legacy of Justice Holmes, found that Holmes belittled his abolitionism as well as all other isms. His war experience and Social Darwinism led him to see life as a struggle in which might makes right, a philosophy that guided his judicial opinions and scholarly writings. After the war, he entered Harvard Law School. While co-editor of the "American Law Review," a commercial legal periodical, Holmes wrote "The Common Law" (1881). A professor of law at Harvard, Holmes (1882) was appointed to and served on the Massachusetts Supreme Court for 20 years. Pres. Theodore Roosevelt appointed him to the US Supreme Court (1902); he served 30 years. Holmes died in 1935.

Holmes' most famous and often cited opinions involve free speech and eugenics or selective breeding and social engineering. In Schenck v. United States (1919), the court denied the petition of John Schenck, a young man arrested for distributing pamphlets arguing against the legality of the draft. Holmes' opinion held:

The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing panic...The question in every case is whether the words are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. It is a question of proximity and degree...When a nation is at war many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight and that no Court could regard them as being protected by any constitutional right.

Holmes' principle of "clear and present danger" became one of the rare justifications for the restraint of free speech. In the 1930s and 1940s, Holmes' opinion became the basis for prosecuting individuals the government considered politically subversive.

A staunch advocate of eugenics, Holmes wrote the majority opinion that upheld the constitutionality of involuntary sterilization in Buck v. Bell (1927). Carrie Buck was sent to the Virginia State Colony of Epileptics and Feeble-Minded where John Bell, superintendent of the Colony, determined she should be sterilized under Virginia's 1924 statute enabling sterilizations " for the protection and health of the state." Holmes' opinion held it was within the state's power, under the 14^th Amendment, to sterilize state-supported inmates found to be afflicted with hereditary insanity or imbecility. (Sources: http://pages.prodigy.net/aesir/holmes.htm www.crimetheory.com and http://chronicle.uchicago.edu)

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is learning to be independent. When asked for comments, bursting with pride in his achievement, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro enthusiastically replied, "I can make my own noodles."

Hood Notes

Calling it "a shameful effort" that must never be repeated, Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner issued an apology for the state's program of forced sterilizations, which were conducted from 1924 to 1979 on more than 7,000 men, women and children. Nationwide, more than 60,000 people in 30 states were sterilized under a program of involuntary sterilizations sanctioned by the Supreme Court in Buck v. Bell (1927). Carrie Buck, a white 18-year old unwed mother, was the first person to be forcibly sterilized under Virginia's 1924 statute permitting the state to engage in social engineering.

In crafting the majority opinion upholding Buck's salpingectomy or surgical sterilization, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. wrote: Carrie Buck is the probable potential parent of socially inadequate offspring, likewise afflicted, that she may be sexually sterilized without detriment to her general health, and that her welfare and that of society will be promoted by her sterilization...we have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11. Three generations of imbeciles are enough.

With the Supreme Court's blessing, eugenics statutes allowed state governments to target "almost any human shortcoming believed to be hereditary, including mental illness, mental retardation, epilepsy, alcoholism and criminal behavior." Coming on the 75^th anniversary of the Buck decision, Warner's apology did not mention victims' compensation. Virginia does not anticipate any legal claims from surviving victims, which include Raymond W. Hudlow, a decorated WWII hero. At age 16, Hudlow was a runaway. For his crime, the state performed a vasectomy. Virginia is the only state that has apologized for its forced sterilizations. (Sources: http://www2.law.cornell.edu and www.nytimes.com)

In the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann filed the first class action reparation lawsuit against Fleetboston Financial Corporation, Aetna Inc., CSX and their predecessors, successors and/or assigns. The Farmer-Paellmann lawsuit is the culmination of extensive research through voluminous records to identify how the above named private enterprises directly benefited from the enslavement of African people. This suit represents the first attempt to use America's judicial system to force entities that received direct economic benefits from slavery to pay reparations to slave descendants. More such efforts are slated to come as the reparation movement continues to gain momentum.

If there is a shortcoming to the Farmer-Paellmann suit, it does not name the United States Government as a principal defendant. Clearly, slavery was a legal system. And, in their defense, these corporations are more than likely to raise the fact that they engaged in a legal enterprise. Nonetheless, kudos to Farmer-Paellmann for blazing the trail for others to follow!

As the reparation debate heats up, findings in a report conducted by the state of California show that insuring slaves was a common practice in the old South. The report identified eight insurance companies that found more than 600 policies once carried on slaves belonging to more than 400 slaveholders throughout the South. Forty-three of the slaves named in those policies lived in Georgia, primarily Augusta and Savannah.

Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine ordered an investigation to determine if slave insurance was a widespread practice in Georgia. He is ordering Georgia-based companies and out-of-state insurers doing business in the state to research their records for slave policies. The discovery of slave insurance policies, written by well-known companies based in non-slave states, such as New York Life, and advertised in newspapers across the country show the system of slavery permeated every strata of American society. Americans from all walks of life benefited from slavery. Descendants of those enslaved are owed reparations.

by Alexis de Tocqueville

An absolute and immense democracy is not all that we find in America; the inhabitants ... may be considered from more than one point of view.

The human beings who are scattered over this space do not form, as in Europe, so many branches of the same stock. Three races, naturally distinct, and, I might almost say, hostile to each other, are discoverable among them at the first glance.

Among these widely differing families of men, the first that attracts attention, the superior in intelligence, in power, and in enjoyment, is the white, or European, the MAN pre-eminently so called, below him appear the Negro and the Indian. These two unhappy races have nothing in common, neither birth, nor features, nor language, nor habits. Their only resemblance lies in their misfortunes. Both of them occupy an equally inferior position in the country they inhabit; both suffer from tyranny; and if their wrongs are not the same, they originate from the same authors.

The Negro has no family: woman is merely the temporary companion of his pleasures, and his children are on an equality with himself from the moment of their birth. Am I to call it a proof of God's mercy, or a visitation of his wrath, that man, in certain states, appears to be insensible to his extreme wretchedness and almost obtains a depraved taste for the cause of his misfortunes? The Negro, plunged in this abyss of evils, scarcely feels his own calamitous situation. Violence made him a slave, and the habit of servitude gives him the thoughts and desires of a slave, he admires his tyrants more than he hates them, and finds his joy... his pride in the servile imitation of those who oppress him. His understanding is degraded to the level of his soul.

The Negro enters upon slavery as soon as he is born, nay, he may have been purchased in the womb, and have begun his slavery before he began his existence. Equally devoid of wants and of enjoyment, and useless to himself, he learns, with his first notions of existence, that he is the property of another, who has an interest in preserving his life, and that the care of it does not devolve upon himself; even the power of thought appears to him a useless gift of Providence, and he quietly enjoys all the privileges of his debasement.

The Negro makes a thousand fruitless efforts to insinuate himself among men who repulse him; he conforms to the tastes of his oppressors, adopts their opinions, and hopes by imitating them to form a part of their community. Having been told from infancy that his race is naturally inferior to that of the whites, he assents to the proposition and is ashamed of his own nature. In each of his features he discovers a trace of slavery, and if it were in his power, he would willingly rid himself of everything that makes him what he is.

The Negro, who earnestly desires to mingle his race with that of the European, cannot do so; while the Indian, who might succeed to a certain extent, disdains to make the attempt. The servility of the one dooms him to slavery, the pride of the other to death.

About Me: Alexis de Tocqueville traversed America in 1831-1832. The above passage is from Chapter 18 of his Democracy in America (1835-1840). At the time he wrote his two-volume study of American democracy, the French nobleman was only twenty-six. His observations were so astute that even today Democracy in America is the subject of much academic study and scholarly debate. (Source: Http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC)

Disgruntled feels: Oily! Under Dubya, the US is an imperialistic schoolyard bully! Throwing rocks and hiding its hands, the US has taken unpopular stands on everything from arms sales to the World Conference on Racism. An oily glutton, to feed its insatiable appetite, the US is engaged in a war of terrorism. Dubya opposes a global tribunal to prosecute war criminals, because the US and its allies have committed human rights offenses.

Disgruntled wants to know: The US farm bill is pure 'pork.' Subsidies for big businesses, such as ADM and Enron, are a sick joke. Bush advocates market-driven solutions, then hands out welfare checks to his friends Kenny Boy and other big money donors. The farm bill's beneficiary is big agribusiness in the red states Bush won in 2000. So, are farm subsidies campaign party favors?

Disgruntled says: For esoteric 'security' reasons that escape most people, America forms alliances with unsavory nations. The world sought an end to South African apartheid; America prolonged it by supporting its 'democratic' ally. For years, the UN has tried to get Israel to withdraw its troops from Palestinian territory. Israel is the only 'democracy' in the region, so the US bankrolls its military and supports its illegal occupation.

Ward Connerly is dastardly DAN--dumb ass nigger! Pardon the crude acronym, but there is no better combination of words to describe the slime DAN oozes. Ward is a California DAN; every state has at least one.

When foul things for blacks happen, like cops killing unarmed men, the establishment pulls out DAN. Faking 'moral authority,' he/she urges blacks to 'remain calm.' Or, when something inanely tacky is being shoved down the collective throat of the black community, the establishment backs a DAN to show blacks how to open wide to swallow pond scum. DANs like Connerly, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Clarence Thomas man the plunger pushing it deeper down our throats! Other DANs praise their handiwork.

In his latest move, dastardly DAN Connerly, who backed ending affirmation action, is pushing a referendum to cease collecting race and ethnic data. His anonymous backers have spent millions of dollars to collect signatures to get the referendum on the ballot. If it passes, the data needed to quantify the chasm of inequality with cease to exist. DAN Connerly's reason for spearheading this referendum: "If we stop collecting the data, then we can de-emphasis our differences."

A good example of what DAN Connerly's backers want to hide is found in the newly released Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) unemployment rate figures. Seasonally adjusted, the national unemployment rate for April rose to a seven year high of 6.0%. This is only part of the story. The unemployment rate is a measure of those actively seeking employment, which is the major source of income or economic welfare for Americans. As if dictated by law, a stable relationship exists between black and white unemployment rates.

The overall white unemployment rate for April was 5.3%; the rates for white men, women and teens were 4.8, 4.6 and 12.5%, respectively. The black unemployment rate was 11.2%; the rates for black men, women and teens were 9.3, 10.2 and 33.5%, respectively. In good and bad times, the unemployment rate for blacks is about 2.1 times white unemployment. This inequality and the income inequality it mirrors have existed since the founding of America. It is this kind of empirical economic data dastardly DAN's backers want to hide to hamper demands by blacks for reparations.

Email mmbrown@patriot.net Dining out, White House resident George Bush and vice-resident Dick Cheney are enjoying a celebration lunch at a fancy Washington restaurant. Their waitress, who is young and very attractive, approaches their table to take the orders. She asks Cheney what he wants, and he replies, "I'll have the heart-healthy salad. "Very good, sir," she respectfully replies. Turning to Bush, the waitress asks, "What do you want, Mr. President?" Bush answers, "How about a quickie?" Taken aback, the waitress slaps him and says, "I'm shocked and disappointed in you. I thought you were bringing in a new administration that was committed to high principles and morality. I'm sorry I voted for you." With that, the waitress departed in a huff. Cheney then leans over to Bush, and says, "Mr. President, I believe that's pronounced 'quiche.' "

Email mathias@hawaii.edu Dear Ms. Smith, I don't know what good fortune got me on your mailing list some time back, but it's about time I expressed my appreciation for The DISH. I particularly like the "Bit of History" section. I hated history when I was in public school, so I need all the help I can get to fill in the gaps. Another favorite is "Comments from the Bat Cave." I hope The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro knows that a ribbon for sportsmanship is about the most meaningful one he could get in sports. Thanks again to you, and to my secret benefactor who subscribed me.

Email: alarkam@webtv.net I earned a BA in Government from Harvard College in 1971. I was one of about 50 black students who took over the administration building and pressured the university to create an Afro-American Studies Department. The facts and evidence show that thirty years after my graduation Harvard is still a fortress of institutionalized racism. President Lawrence Summers' treatment of black scholars is just the tip of the iceberg.

For centuries, Harvard extracted massive profits and power from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, slavery and the forced assimilation of blacks. If Harvard wants to prove it has turned over a new leaf, it should donate portions of its $19 billion endowment to reparations for blacks and the re-vitalization of decaying inner city schools. In addition, the Carr Center for Human Rights, a part of the Kennedy School of Government, should host conferences and lectures on the international legal battle for reparations for all African-Americans.

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