Volume 5 Issue 21…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…May 31, 2002

Ice-cold passion and a bitter breath

Adorned the bed

Of the youth and Death-

Youth, the young soldier

Who went to the wars

And embraced white Death,

the vilest of whores.

Now we spread roses over your tomb -

We who sent you

To your doom.

Now we make soft speeches

And sob soft cries

And throw soft flowers

And utter soft lies.

We would mould you in metal

And carve you in stone,

Not daring to make statue

Of your dead flesh and bone,

Not daring to mention

The bitter breath

Nor the ice-cold passion

Of your love-night with Death.

We make soft speeches

We sob soft cries

We throw soft flowers,

And utter soft lies.

And you who were young

When you went to the wars

Have lost your youth now

With the vilest of whores.

Born November 6, 1835 in Verona, Italy, university professor and criminologist Cesare Lombroso became world renowned for his studies and theories in the field of criminal behavior. Lombroso proposed physical characteristics, such as jaw size and skull shape, predicted an innate tendency of individuals toward sociopathy and criminal behavior. Though Lombroso's theory of criminal behavior has been scientifically discredited, he is considered the father of scientific studies of the criminal mind or criminal anthropology.

Inspired by the theory of evolution and study of genetics, Lombroso proposed that certain criminals exhibited physical evidence of earlier, more primitive stages of human evolution. Lombroso referred to these anomalies as stigmata, which could be expressed in terms of abnormal formations of the skull, jaw and other body parts. These associations were later shown to be inconsistent, and theories based on environmental causes of criminality became prominent. Most modern criminologists insist there is no scientific basis for Lombroso's conclusions. Despite the absence of scientific evidence to support his theories, Lombroso was highly influential among some criminologists and jurists in Europe, Brazil and America. His books include L'Uomo Delinquente (The Criminal Man 1876) and Le Crime, Causes et Remedes (Crime, Causes and Remedies 1899). (Sources: Encyclopedia American and www.epub.org.br/cm/n01/frenolog/lombroso.htm)

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is overboard that school is out for summer. On Saturday, he went to the movies with his brother and grandfather. When asked for his comments, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro declared, "Summer vacation is family fun time."

Poets for Peace

Colonialism and slavery victimized people of color the world over. These economic/religious systems condemned millions to lives characterized by poverty, ignorance and desperation. Descendants in this Diaspora continue to suffer as death, disease and destruction stalk their lives like nocturnal beasts of prey.

Poets for Peace, an international collective, links those committed to keeping victims' memories alive through "stolen lives' projects." Artists use passion, beauty and empathy as counterpoints to desperation, death and destruction. The Street Painters of Sri Lanka have a unique way of honoring lives lost and those who disappear without a trace. They memorialize victims in pictorial poems painted on roadways where these tragedies occur. Most deaths are due to suicide bombers recruited from among the Tamil minority.

Governments today use terms, such as WTO, IMF and "War on Terrorism" to disguise tactics of genocide and racism. Fighting for independence, young Tamileelams face bleak futures confined to squalid government reservations. Devoid of education, employment opportunities and political expression, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) condemned Sri Lanka's refugee program as concentration camps.

Labeled terrorists by the government, Tamil Tigers use their bodies as weapons of last resort. They target those exercising power on all levels; 64,500 have died since 1983. Railing against those who profit from the misery of poor and helpless people, artists create lasting reminders that humans feed the military-industrial complex. Each mural Street Painters creates is a unique attempt to kindle a sense of oneness among those touched by "stolen lives." Street Painters of Sri Lanka hope humanity will realize such carnage is the "death penalty" for our specie. Collectively, we say, "enough already." John 2002

News You Use

Early death penalty proponents cited six reasons to support capital punishment. It acted as a deterrent, i.e., the execution of one person warned potential criminals. The worst crimes deserved the extreme measure as a form of retribution. Because of pardons, life imprisonment could result in a prisoner's release. The death penalty cost less per inmate than life in prison. Adherents of Lombroso's theory saw criminals as misfits and the death penalty necessary to remove them from our midst. And, finally, some death penalty advocates believed executions were necessary to prevent lynchings.

During the 1900's, there were numerous lynchings in which citizens took "the law in their own hands." States with the highest lynching rates were primarily in the South and West. The book Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America by James Allen and John Littlefield is based on photographs and postcards of lynchings across America. Some of the images from the book are on display at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site at 450 Auburn Avenue, NE in Atlanta, Georgia. The exhibition is free; it runs May 1 - December31, 2002. For more info, call 404-331-5190.

Disgruntled wants to know: The U.S. Civil Rights Commission investigated Election 2000. Its report cited numerous violations. Nothing was done! The NAACP settled its lawsuits quietly out of court. More than a year after the Supreme Court coup, which put Bush in office, the Department of Justice threatens to sue. Their announced intent comes on the heels of allegations the Bush administration failed to heed 9-11 warnings. Does this portend dissension over revelations that Gore won?

Disgruntled says: Calling Fidel Castro of Cuba a "tyrant and dictator," Bush demanded democratic elections and the release of all political prisoners before the U.S. will consider normalizing relations with the island nation. Pakistan held its national elections with a single name on the ballot; Bush did not comment because Pervez Musharraf is a lackey in the oil war of terrorism. America has hundreds of political prisoners, such as the MOVE family of John Africa. These Co-Intel-Pro-ed blacks languish in prisons on trumped-up offenses. Bush does not plan to free them. It is hubris and hypocrisy to demand of others what one refuses to do at home.

Disgruntled feels: Marginalized! In rural communities across America, entrepreneurs continue to develop schemes that make people commodities. The usual victims of private prisons, which provide jobs, federal tax dollars and economic viability these areas enjoy, are black. Prison enterprises keep the 3/5 compromise intact.

Humans, particularly Americans, have developed lifestyles diametrically opposed to a sustainable environment. Characterized by a thinning ozone, this degradation is manifested in residual waste and toxic build up in the air, soil and water. From the beginning, Europeans saw the Western Hemisphere as something to tame, subdue and exploit. Native people and their lands' bounty existed for European benefit and gratification. Most assuredly, Europeans were made in God's image, and like gods, they have sought to remake the world in their image.

As a profit motive, the pursuit of comfort and pleasure drives American's psyche. Their mind-set supports desires for quick, easy and cheap solutions to problems. "Anything to make a buck," coupled with a throw-a-way attitude towards life and earth's environment, cast politicians as carnival hustlers extolling the wondrous virtues of businesses like Enron, WorldCom, Halliburton Oil and the Carlyle Group.

An article, On Eugenics by Dot (The DISH Vol. 5 No 19) looked at this mindless phenomenon in Clayton County, Georgia. Claiming to make "residents comfortable being outside," officials have sprayed for mosquitoes since 1985. The comfort of making profits washes away commonsense and cleanses consciences of any toxic impact from Malathion and Permanone pesticides, which are known carcinogens.

Comforting thoughts of pleasure motivate American choices of jobs, homes, cars, conveniences, clothes, etc. Forfeiting long term benefits for immediate gratification, Americans consume massive amounts of energy. Oblivious to future horrors for our children, they rely on nuclear power as a quick fix. However, spent fuel, a waste storage problem with a half-life beyond ten generations, makes Yucca Mountain one huge "Teapot Dome." Are you comfortable with that?

Proclaimed a Christian nation, American churches no longer recognize the symbolism of Christ's birth in a stable devoid of creature comforts. Christians today are comforted by government promises of compassionate conservatism and "faith-based initiatives." A quick and easy means of blotting out the problem of poor people, Paul's admonition 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 is not politically correct. There is no pleasure in "Giving unto Caesar what is Caesar's;" Christians are very comfortable accepting government payments to perform acts of charity.

Although it is comforting to tell Americans what they want to hear, it is an elixir for fools and a road map to oblivion. Like equity refinancing, it feels great picking up the money but interest rates never go down. Consequently, that comfortable dream world in the suburbs is now a nightmare eating you out of "house and home." Desiring such comforts makes it easy to ignore the symbolism of Christ's crucifixion recapitulating Cain and Able, man's first inhumanity. American Christians support the "death penalty" and regard God's earth as a garbage dump. Is this comforting? John 2002

Since 1990, seven nations violated international human rights treaties that prohibit execution for crimes committed before age eighteen. Of these, i.e., the Congo, Nigeria, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United States and Yemen, the U.S. has executed the most youthful offenders. Historically, two-thirds of them were black. Since 1900, as lynching declined, 75% were black.

Nearly 90% of US inmates executed were convicted of killing whites; people of color make up more than 50% of homicide victims. In 1997, most of those executed in Alabama were black. Half of the death row inmates in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Delaware, Mississippi and Virginia were black. More than two-thirds of those on death rows in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Louisiana are black. In federal and military prisons, more than three-fourths of those awaiting execution are black. Sixty percent of death row inmates in California and Texas are black, Latino, Asian and Native American. Ninety percent of the people federal prosecutors seek to execute are black or Latino.

At the end of 2000, 37 states and federal prisons held 3,593 prisoners on death row. Blacks are less than 15% of the US population, but were more than 40% of those executed in 2000 and now on death row. (Sources: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ and http://www.ncadp.org)

Email mmbrown@patriot.net A reporter asked Huey P. Long, former governor of Louisiana, in the late 1940's following WWII, "Do you think that fascism will ever reach the shores of America?" After a brief pause, Long responded, "Yes, but it will be labeled Patriotism!"

Email www.thedailybrew.com Some states pay more in federal income taxes than is spent by the federal government in those states. Let's call them "Producer States." Others take in more federal dollars than they pay in federal taxes. Let's call them "Welfare States." Despite rhetoric about a "small federal government," the GOP-controlled House of Representatives and the White House are currently planning a massive spending spree, proposing to spend more than any government in history, much of it borrowed from future generations. How did we get to this sorry state of affairs? A look at how Producer and Welfare States voted in the presidential election offers a clue. Electoral votes from Producer States for Gore 218, Bush 125. Electoral Votes from Welfare States for Gore 49, Bush 146.

Email ghanaunion@aol.com Homicide bomber and former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry was convicted by a jury of nine whites and three blacks of the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Cherry was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the blast that killed four little black girls during the height of American segregation.

Email jcorlew@aiusa.org This month, Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening imposed a moratorium on executions until the state completes a study of whether there is racial bias in the use of the death penalty. Conversely, Texas Gov. Rick Perry refused to stop the execution of Napoleon Beazley. Ignoring pleas from thousands of activists around the world, the Council of Europe, Judge Cynthia Kent (trial judge), 18 Texas legislators and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to grant clemency, Texas killed Beazley Tuesday evening. Pointing out, Texas leads the world in juvenile executions with 8 since 1990, Amnesty International Executive Director William F. Schulz had called on Perry to "banish the barbaric practice of executing juvenile offenders," but all pleas fell on deaf ears. By August, T. J. Jones and Totonto Patterson, two more juvenile offenders, are scheduled for execution.

Phantom Scribbler

The remains of missing intern Chandra Levy were found in a wooded area that had been searched previously. Levy's disappearance and affair with former Congressman Gary Condit consumed television news 24/7 prior to 9-11. Before her internship expired, Levy worked at the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Levy’s friends liken her to Darby Shaw, the law school student in the movie Pelican Brief. Darby discovered the plot behind the assassinations of two Supreme Court Justices, whose deaths paved the way for the president to appoint anti-environmentalists to the court. Like strict construction jurists, these justices were expected to issue a favorable ruling so the president’s biggest contributor, an oilman, could drill in the breeding grounds of the pelican, a bird on the brink of extinction.

What is the Bush-Levy connection? Inquisitive, Levy discovered that U.S./Colombia Medellin Drug Cartel Co-Founder Carlos Lehder, who was extradited to the US, prosecuted and sentenced to a 55-year term in US prison, had disappeared. Levy also learned that Lehder is the private business partner of the Bush Family.

DISHing It Up Hot

The favorite argument of proponents of capital punishment is, "it acts as a deterrent." So, the more spectacular the method used to kill offenders, the more likely it will prevent would-be felons from breaking laws.

Ancient Romans threw criminals to lions. Slaves were tossed into the sea or flung from cliffs. In Siam, criminals were fed to crocodiles. Hebrews stoned, Athenians poisoned and Persians burned criminals. Flaying and impaling was used in the Orient. Skinned alive, the victim's body was placed on a stake. Europeans used drawing and quartering; horses were hitched to the victim's limbs and sent in four directions.

As civilization unfolded, men devised more ways to kill. Burning at the stake and breaking on the rack gave way to hanging, beheading, boiling in hot water or oil and crucifixion. In the Orient, the sword was popular, while garroting gained favor in Spain and some Latin American countries; a metal collar choked the victim, while sharp spikes inside the collar pierced his neck. Some South American nations used firing squads.

Introduced in New York in 1888, electrocution and the gas chamber, in which the condemned are strapped to a chair and die by inhaling poisonous fumes, were used in the US to kill felons. Today, the US primarily kills with lethal injections. Civilized nations have abolished state killing. According to Amnesty International, "In 1999, 85% of the world’s executions were committed in five countries, i.e., the US, China, Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Congo and Iran." For humanity, these uncivilized killers are the real axis of evil.

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