Volume 5 Issue 2…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…January 18, 2002

by John Burl Smith

During the run-up to the UN World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia, Racial Discrimination and Related Intolerance (WCAR), held 31 August-7 September 2001 in Durban, South Africa, Poets for Peace, a consortium of Atlanta Vibe artists, declared a "war of words" to educate the public about WCAR at its August 16, 2001 International Speak Out against racism. Unfortunately, other purveyors of spoken word advanced to the rear. Preferring circumlocution to direct assault on racism, powder puff samurai linguists sought refuge in verbosity, rather than veracity by forcefully attacking white supremacy, the root of Western racism.

Battling for dominance, pugilistic dialecticians faced linguistic dragoons in the mountainous heartland of phraseology. Kamikaze red barons, manning B-52s, stood ready to carpet-bomb syllogistic shoguns in defense of 9-11. Verbal fisticuffs flew the instant the American Dialect Society voted "9-11 and its equivalents" Word of the Year. Before the first syllabic quip fell from their linguistic lips, dueling lexicographers launched laser-guided colloquies. Verbiage veterans at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, authors of the "List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness" exploded, like buzz bombs over London. Viewed with terror, 9-11 topped their list of banished words. Drawn to the threshold of WWIII by frustrated parlance privateers over whether 9-11 memorializes or trivializes the tragedy, a traumatized world is pushed to the brink by jousting wordsmiths.

Post 9-11, Poets for Peace flashed distress signals on behalf of Afghani children, future collateral damage in the "war on terrorism." Our hope was that loquacious gladiators would spill syllables, agitate adverbially, vitiate with verbs, dither a ditto or accent the exclamatory point - America banished "casualties" and "reparations." Neither word can be spoken in "polite" company. Epitomizing tragedy, 9-11, casualties and reparations are appropriate references. For instance, 'reparations' was "word of the year" when it came to Jews and the millions that died in German ovens. Conversely, even though it does not appear on any official threat list, when associated with millions of African slave deaths and the lynching of their descendant - victims of institutionalized racism - reparations is racially profiled.

If just one purveyor of spoken word or phonetic crusader for bombastic justice would tilt for equal application of reparations in all genocidal situations, they could wield Excalibur. However, in the meantime, Poets for Peace will continue to rail against hypocrisy, scream racism and blast away at the mindless silence on the senseless deaths of innocent children and their families and merciless destruction of places like Palestine and Afghanistan; all endured for American imperialism. John 2002

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is proud as a peacock of his Afro. When asked for his comments, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro declared, "Now, I'm going to get me some women" - spoken words of a real rooster.

Disgruntled feels: Confused! Georgia dogwood trees, which flower in the spring, tried to bloom this winter. Much like healthy men fainting, winter dogwood blooms are rare sights. Moreover, while Southern girls might swoon, self-respecting men remain upright. A real conundrum, Dubya blamed a 'pretzel' for his blackout. The White House physician is mum on his account. On high alert for fallout, White House insiders say, when "Kenny Boy" cried, "If I go to jail, I will carry good company," Dubya and others fell off the wagon. Overtaxed, the White House brain trust might blame winter dogwood blooms for 'healthy' men passing out!

Disgruntled wants to know: Principles of Economics 101 say, the US would not avoid the Asian contagion and world recession. Like Enron hid its debt to show a profit, US consumer debt kept up appearances. Needing sluggish conditions to justify corporate welfare policies, Bush jawboned down confidence. If it is all about the economy stupid, shouldn't we toast Bush's prowess?

Disgruntled says: Word of the year 2001 generated quite a controversy. Courtesy of New York Artist Robert Lederman, "Enron-gate" is our nomination for word of the year Y2K2! Odds are on the Enron debacle making Watergate look like a stroll in the park.

Malcolm Little became Malcolm X after joining the Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1952. His words and talent as a public speaker helped to fire the movement for freedom and equality among black Americans after WWII. Leaving the NOI in 1964, he became El Hajj Malik Shabazz and organized the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and later the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Prior to his 1965 assassination in New York, he tried to bring the USA before the International Court of Justice on charges of human rights violations.

The following is an excerpt taken from his December 31, 1964 address to 37 teenagers from McComb, Mississippi, who had come to New York under the auspices of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. El Hajj's speech addresses the absurdity of a nonviolent philosophy in the face of brutality. He urged young people to gather information and think, rather than mindlessly act like a herd of cattle.

"One of the first things I think young people, especially nowadays, should learn is how to see for yourself and listen for yourself and think for yourself. Then you can come to an intelligent decision for yourself. If you form the habit of going by what you hear others say about someone, or going by what others think about someone, instead of searching that thing out for yourself and see for yourself, you will be walking west when you think you're going east, and you will be walking east when you think you're going west. This generation, especially of our people, has a burden, more so than any other time in history. The most important thing we can learn to do today is think for ourselves.

It's good to keep wide-open ears and listen to what every body else has to say, but when you come to make a decision, you have to weigh all of what you've heard on its own, and place it where it belongs and come to a decision for yourself; you'll never regret it. But if you form the habit of taking what someone else says about a thing without checking it out for yourself, you'll find that other people will have you hating your friends and loving your enemies. This is one of the things that our people are beginning to learn today - that it is very important to think out a situation for yourself. If you don't do it, you'll always be maneuvered into a situation where you are never fighting your actual enemies, where you will find yourself fighting your own self." (Source: Adler, Van Doren & Ducas, The Negro in American History -1928-1968)

Mailbox

Email: hakimida@aol.com In response to the article on reparations and the International Court of Justice (Vol. 4 No 52), it is important to remember that cases brought before the International Court must be brought by a United Nations Member State, AND, the respondent has to agree to the venue. You can see it is unlikely the US will agree. So, while this is an appropriate place to argue reparations, it has drawbacks.

The major problem with African Americans at the UN is the absence of a category. Indigenous Peoples have a collective identity under international law because they fought for it. It has been a long fight; they are still on the battlefield, but have won a specific UN rights declaration, giving them the right of self-determination, the return of land, and some monetary reparations. Likewise, minorities have a specific declaration, and ways to identify themselves as group members. Slave descendants do not fit either category.

Yet, reparations are due slave descendants that are denied their human rights, which are protected by law. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is quite a beautiful document. Wish it was fulfilled.

Email criticalman@earthlink.net Sahara Communications, a Baltimore company hired to create a television commercial promoting Morgan State, caused a brief uproar on campus with its letter inviting students to appear in the ad. The letter specified that the company wanted only students with straight, processed or short hair - no dreadlocks and no head wraps, and for men, no cornrows and no braids.

Email icim@bellsouth.net to Yohannes, my son, and the poets and poetry hosts on the e-list at poetryhosts@yahoogroups.com immediately prior to a mutual agreement to sever the relationship. "I thought you might be interested. Are you on this list? You should join and read the shit 'poets,' especially poetry hosts, say about spoken word and all the things that term represents, like rap, hip hop, etc., and especially what some of them call 'guerilla poetry.' They are slowly getting around to what I told them in the beginning. Poetry is enjoying a level of popularity unknown in recorded history. Its popularity has little to do with the classical or academic form of the art, which is cloned in the works of most of the commentators on this list. Poetry's popularity is being driven by what is happening on the grassroots' level...it is the conscious drumbeat for freedom started by THINC that drives this creative awakening. So, my son, the people claiming the loudest to be poets miss the point entirely, because they are not a conscious part of the struggle for freedom. At any rate, I am sure you will find them occasionally amusing. Then again, you may not. Love ya! Dot

A loosely formed coalition of organizations and individuals coalesced to press the issues of the Atlantic slave trade and the plight of slave descendants. At the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), this group succeeded in getting the UN and world's attention. Their success was due in large part to the dialogue on race prior to the conference. This dialogue made it possible for international entities to identify common sources of racism and reach consensus on eradication.

Dubbed the Durban Declaration, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights report on WCAR condemns the Atlantic slave trade as a human rights violation and acknowledges slave descendants as current victims of racism. If honored, the Declaration can lead the way in eradicating current forms of socioeconomic and political slavery. If implemented, recommendations in the Programme of Action could be a first step in leveling the playing field for victims of racism.

Assuring compliance among UN member states is a big challenge. UN member states, like the USA, may not voluntarily honor these documents. Compliance is the high hurdle slave descendants must overcome to benefit from the work begun by Malcolm X and continued by the WCAR coalition. To realize freedom and equality for slave descendants, we must do as El Hajj recommended, gather information and think.

It is important that we understand these documents and our most cogent arguments for reparations. Gone are the days when we were limited to pulling heartstrings to plead our case. We have empirical evidence that slavery, as originally enshrined in the US Constitution, is still reflected in outcomes in America's market for goods and services. If you do not understand the modern-day slavery of black Americans, click on the Reparations link at www.thedish.ws. Understand why you are a slave, read the chasm research, the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and THINC.

Cruising the financial district hoping to cash in on some good cheer, Deep Cover Operative (DCO), Peep City Barnabas heard a pitch coming from a dark alley. Promising a tip better than the daily double, surprisingly, the voice belonged to a former dot. com whiz kid whose virtual business went belly up when the dot boom went dot bust. With his office with a view padlocked in litigation, dot kid was under real pressure to raise some dot cash. Needing partners to get in on the newest dot game in town, he was fronting for some really big highrollers pushing a new Enron spin-off called Odd-Man-Out.com. Sounding like a high stakes off-track betting scheme, the pitchman could not give dot names at this point, but he promised that was only because everyone feared bidding the stock up too quickly.

According to Barnabas' source, Odd-Man-Out is being bankrolled with a betting pool Las Vegas would kill for. The pot fades Vice President Dick Cheney not being on the Republican presidential ticket in 2004 with a quiniela for picking his replacement. Licensed as an energy venture capital hedge fund, Odd-Man-Out restricts players to the hundred-thousand-dollar window.

Whiz kid's problem is takers have moved in so quickly that odds for the VP making 2004 are only running 7 to 5 with several wannabes drawing even money. Dot whiz kid's coup d´grace for the new Enron ride to the top was to remind Peep City how much money Bush/Cheney raised for 2000. With the ante already at a million and the odds maker operating out of the White House basement, dot dollars will roll on Wall Street, like tumbleweeds across Midland, Texas.

by Yohannes Sharriff Smith

Refreshing is the atmosphere,

leaving the mind cool and clear.

Confusion free creation

floating in ripe thoughts of poetic inspiration.

New is the earth,

like the dawn still chasing

dark and cold from its midst.

Snow melts into babbling streams;

frigid fluid sleepily flows to froth and complain against rocks.

Dense is the mountain green,

growing thick with moisture,

nursing needs of spring's nature.

Moving into higher elevations,

pause to reflect upon this moment of earthy silence.

Far from the deaf immigrants.

Listen to music in the wind.

America hear your native children chant.

Experience where misty clouds live

silver capped peaks.

These time worn natural sculptures

stand a majestic quiet.

So rugged and imposing,

the fearsome horizon strains

bearing the immense breath

of Father's early monuments to Mother's greatness.

The view demands total attention

without the slightest division.

Catch a glimpse of a bird's tenebrous figure,

soaring across the rolling motion

of an ominous gray sky.

At heights unknown...Stop!

Inhale the Creator's utter genius.

Then, turn to see the valley

open into a glorious panorama

of artful hue and terrestrial magic,

crafted by her magnificent hands.

In a speechless attempt to capture the moment,

"HEAVEN" only came close.

(Reprinted from THINC, 1997)

by Dot

On 4 January 2002, the American Dialect Society (http://www.americandialect.org/) selected 9-11 as word of the year. Before the hijacked aircraft attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the numbers 9-11 formed a date understood only in North America.

According to Dr. Wayne Glowka, an English professor at Georgia College and State University and head of the Dialect Society's new words committee, "9-11 is going to be like the 4th of July or Pearl Harbor." Glowka credits the media with being a primary conduit for new words. Presumably, this is the case for 9-11, because readers are left with the impression that media giant CNN coined the term chosen for this year.

The DISH would like to take exception to this assumption. A review of The DISH archives shows that mere days after the 9-11 tragedy, "On 9-11" appeared in DISHing It Up Hot! (The DISH Vol. 4 No 37). Published September 21, 2001, "On 9-11" is a DISH original. And, until evidence to the contrary is presented, The DISH is the most likely media source of the word of the year for 2001. The DISH was not mentioned in any of the news reports covering the 2001 word of the year selection or ensuing controversy.

At The DISH, we are not surprised about the oversight or purposeful omission. After all, this is not the first time a turn of phrase created in our house ended up in the mainstream, and we received no credit for its creation. An excellent example is "a work in progress" (AWIP), which is now mainstream. Everybody claims to be a work in progress, but no one knows from whence the phrase came. Hello! For the record, it came from THINC (Teaching Humanity in New Conscious).

Recently, I wrote about oceans and mountains. Marveling at their size and beauty, I took solace in their presence, thinking something better than greedy men controls things. Months later, I am disheartened to see how swiftly men reduce mountains to rubble with atomic weapons and render seas cesspools with toxic refuse. We are told this carnage protects our way of life from the 'bad guys,' brings 'freedom' to the oppressed and insures 'liberty' and 'justice;' all words by which men live and die. Invariably, with men at war, the first casualty is 'truth.' Skewered by propaganda, unlike the war of words in which people lie, in real wars people die.

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