Volume 5 Issue 33…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…August 23, 2002

In 1984, my family purchased timeshares at St. Augustine Beach and Tennis Resort in Florida and Tybrisa on Tybee Island, Georgia. Essentially, timeshare management companies promised to cut vacation costs in half. Marketed as real property, timeshares were a real estate growth industry during the 1980s. The lure of experiencing luxurious vacation accommodations for pennies a day anywhere in the world, along with free stays and other prizes hoodwinked thousands; all one needed was a credit card.

Timeshares are predominately located along the Sunbelt in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolinas. Owner boards of directors were supposed to protect our investments and hold down cost. St. Augustine's conservative board did not even allow telephones in units in 1986. About 1999, supported by handpicked board members, the management company began aggressively adding hundreds of dollars in extra charges to annual assessment fees. Although owners are held responsible, St. Augustine did not permit electronic voting on proposed changes. Travel by seniors and middle to lower-income families to meetings is too expensive for most urban timeshare owners. Consequently, like nursing homes, the board and management company ride roughshod over powerless owners.

Specifically, we are requesting an official investigation of the cozy relationship between St. Augustine Beach & Tennis Resort Association Board, its management company and their collection agency, which charges 35% on outstanding balances for maintenance fees it collects. Exorbitant, 35% is excessive with interest rates at a forty-year low. It is apparent such incestuous relationships, which exist industry wide, are designed to bamboozle seniors and others out of property through late payment fees.

Today, all white management staffs and all white boards conspire to drive black owners out using maintenance fees and extra charges. Historically, such tactics were used to take land away from black farmers. Therefore, elderly owners, without the benefit of education and/or resources, are unaware of their rights or unable to exercise them, simply give up property to cover these extra fees. Sir, we are requesting an official class action investigation of the operation and practices of timeshares across America and the kinds of options and compensation given board members.

Board members should be held personally responsible for the pain and suffering caused due to the loss of resources and retirement dreams gone bust. The tragedy is that retirement dreams of taking grand kids to beaches and mountains for quality time, as we did our children, is now a nightmare gobbling up our income and savings, like the stock market swallowed 401(k) plans. The absurdity is the same "invisible hand" that robbed blacks after the Civil War is mugging black timeshare owners in 2002. The feeding frenzy needs to end!

Totally unregulated, timeshares are the Enrons, WorldComs, Imclones and Global Crossings of 2002. Greed run amok, management companies run by the Kenny Boys, Jeffery Skillings, Jack Grubmans, Bernie Ebbers, Gary Winnicks and Samuel Waksals of the world are currently bilking thousands of mostly elderly citizens who live on fixed incomes out of billions each year. End this travesty before more Americans are hurt! John 2002

Comments from the Bat Cave

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is the last real hero. On Tuesday, he accompanied his grandma to the polling place to vote when so many young black folk think the process is a joke. As we walked, I asked what he had to say. The Dark One/Ninja/Zorro smiled and remarked, "The candy lady's house is on the way."

Bit of History

"I think America concedes that true American music has sprung from the Negro. When we take these things that are our own, and develop them until they are finer things, that's pure culture. You've got to appreciate the things that come from the art of the Negro and from the heart of the man farthest down." (W.C. Handy)

The son of former slaves, William Christopher Handy was born November 16, 1873 in Florence, Alabama. Son and grandson of African Methodist Episcopal ministers, like so many black musicians, Handy was first exposed to music at church. Throughout his life, he had a strong affinity for black spirituals. As a teenager, he taught school, but quit for better pay in a factory. At the age of twenty, he formed a quartet to play at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Over the objection of his father, Handy embarked on a musical career. He taught music at Alabama A&M in Huntsville, but left to join Mahara's Minstrels (1896). In 1903, he moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi where he directed the Colored Knights of Pythias, a group that performed for blacks and whites. He moved to Memphis (1909), where he published "Mr. Crump," a political song about the city's infamous mayor.

In 1912, Handy changed the lyrics of "Mr. Crump" and published it as "The Memphis Blues." With its publication, he standardized a unique, original form of American music. Viewed as the other side of spirituals, Handy once described his music as "the sound of a sinner on revival day." Until he wrote it down and called it "the blues," Handy's soulful sound was the devil's music.

From 1913-1918, he and his partner Harry Pace operated Pace & Handy Music Co. on Beale Street, which published many popular tunes. Among those that brought the black publishing firm worldwide acclaim were "St. Louis Blues," "Yellow Dog Blues" (1914) and "Beale Street Blues" (1916). Handy moved to New York City in the 1920s.

Gradually, Handy lost his sight during the 1930s, but he continued to write, perform, arrange and publish what has become known as the cornerstones of pure American music. He wrote some 40 songs he called "the blues" and compiled three books - "Blues Anthology" (1926), "Treasury of the Blues" (1949) and his autobiography, "Father of the Blues" (1941). In 1931, Memphis honored him by creating W.C. Handy Park on Beale Street. He died in New York on March 28, 1958.

An inductee in the Alabama Music Hall of Fame (1987), Handy's hometown of Florence hosts an annual music festival in his honor. His restored birthplace is a museum and tourist attraction. (Sources: http://www.alamhof.org/handywc.htm and http://www.wchandyfest.com/history/handybio.htm

I've seen the lights of gay Broadway,

Old Market Street down by the Frisco Bay,

I've strolled the Prado, I've gambled on the Bourse;

The seven wonders of the world I've seen,

And many are the places I have been,

Take my advice, folks, and see Beale Street first!

You'll see pretty browns in beautiful gowns,

You'll see tailor-mades and hand-me-downs,

You'll meet honest men, and pick-pockets skilled,

You'll find that business never ceases

'til somebody gets killed!

If Beale Street could talk, if Beale Street could talk,

Married men would have to take their beds and walk,

Except one or two who never drink booze,

And the blind man on the corner singing

"Beale Street Blues!"

I'd rather be there than any place I know,

I'd rather be there than any place I know,

It's gonna take a sergeant for to make me go!

I'm goin' to the river, maybe by and by,

Yes, I'm goin' to the river, maybe by and by,

Because the river's wet,

And Beale Street's done gone dry!

About Me: This song is for "the colored thoroughfare in Memphis, where you could find the best and worst of the Negro life." Walking down Beale on night, the sound of a piano pulled Handy into a cheap café. There he found a dog-tired black man who told Handy he had to play from seven at night until seven in the morning. His life inspired Handy to write "Beale Street Blues."

News You Use

Last week, President George W. Bush held an economic summit in Waco, Texas made up of a cross-section of people who support his conservative policies. Understandably, some people questioned the location, still others wondered about the usefulness of suggestions that would surely emanate from such a monolithic gathering. As expected, the mantra of tax cuts, i.e., ending the estate tax and double taxation of dividends, lowering the capital gains rate and a government guaranteed insurance bill were music to the ears of wealthy Americans and large corporations.

Much like the tax cut Bush jawboned down the economy to justify, none of these things, if implemented, will provide the shot in the arm the US economy so desperately needs. Why? These suggestions will not significantly increase consumer spending. Here are three suggestions that did not make the 6 o'clock news coverage of Bush's economic summit: (1) lower credit card interest rates, (2) reduce the spread between mortgage interest rates and the bank interest paid on savings accounts and (3) cut the Social Security tax.

Most credit card companies, which are owned by banks and insurance companies, are charging double-digit interest and/or realizing a spread of more than five percentage points between the rates banks pay on saving accounts and the interest charged on credit card debt. It amounts to usury, the unconscionable rate charged borrowers for the use of money. This practice should end by law, if necessary. Lowering credit card interest will put more money in the hands of consumers. Likewise, a reduction in the spread between the interest rate paid on savings accounts and the mortgage interest rate will make housing more affordable, and increase disposable income for homeowners that refinance to reduce monthly mortgage payments. Both measures will increase disposable income and consumer spending.

Because consumer spending drives America's economic engine, a reduction in the Social Security tax on wages will instantly give the economy a boost. Wage earners that spend most, if not all, of their weekly earnings to survive, will have more to spend. This increased spending or increased demand will raise prices inducing producers to increase the supply of goods and services, which will require the hiring of more workers. In theory, at least, these three suggestions make more sense than tax cuts for the rich and fast track trade promotion authority, which will send jobs overseas.

Write your elected representatives and demand the implementation of policies that put more money in the pockets of the average American, rather than rich folks and large corporations.

Disgruntled wants to know: To commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Elvis Presley's drug overdose and subsequent death, American media saturated the airwaves with tributes to "the king" of American music. For many blacks watching this spectacle, the musical credit given Elvis' contribution to the art form seemed blown out of proportion. Like Eminem, who imitates black rap artists, Elvis stole the moves and sounds of black Beale Street musicians. Turning black art, which whites found objectionable, into a gold mine, Elvis became famous sounding like black men. What makes the way Elvis rotates his pelvis worth more attention?

Disgruntled feels: Robbed! The racial discrimination class action lawsuit filed by black farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and settled out of court during the Clinton Administration was heralded as a great accomplishment and good deal for black farmers. The settlement did little to stop the loss of black-owned farmland or repair the damage caused by more than a century of flagrant discrimination. Just as minority homeowners continue to lose property to predatory lenders in the private sector, government agencies' neglect failed to prevent their theft of helped, like the USDA, to rob blacks of their economic assets.

Disgruntled says: Following the Texas-style execution of a Mexican citizen, Mexico's President Vicente Fox canceled his planned visit to the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas. Socializing with Bush would be bad form under these circumstances. Indeed, more countries are finding it difficult to understand America. For instance, while the U.S. cuts deals and even blackmails other countries to shield U.S. troops and civilians from the International Criminal Court (ICC), citizens from other countries are denied basic human rights protections afforded them by international law under UN conventions signed by the US. As the world convenes to contemplate sustainable development policies, the US is increasingly being accused of applying double standards and acting like a rogue state.

Phantom Scribbler

A close examination of Counter Intelligence Program (Co-Intel-Pro) documents suggests there were two or more undercover operatives close to slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Their mission was to spy on and discredit him. Whenever Dr. Kings' mo-jo was working, i.e., he had built momentum and was doing things to improve black American lives, the momentum killers - spies and thieves - stepped in to neutralize his efforts. Those closest to Dr. King were preachers; it does not take a genius to surmise the mo killers were members of the same profession.

Those who prospered and gained are the most likely suspects. Only an insider is allowed to thrive! A good example is the ouster of Cynthia McKinney and others from Congress who dared express views, which favor Palestinians. Because Jewish money controls American politics, only pro-Israeli views can be expressed; anything else is anti-Semitic, which makes the person holding such views an enemy of the state.

In the case of blacks trying to gain equal/civil rights, some of the movement's staunchest opponents were black operatives running interference, i.e., mo killers. Mo killers change the subject or the nature of the argument. The 1960s black movement went from gaining black civil rights to protesting the Vietnam War to equal rights for women, the group that ultimately benefitted from its pseudo victory -- affirmative action.

A look at blacks that fared well after Dr. King's death points a damning finger at former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson. Both preachers, they are known momentum killers. When they show up, mo dies with dubious deals cut to favor them or their non-profit set-ups over the people whose interests they were supposed to represent. Remember Jackson and Texaco?

Last week, while blacks mobilized for the reparations' demonstration, Jackson was holding a press conference to announce a march next month. Still other less well-known mo killers were entertaining white folks at an anti-reparations forum. With so many mo killers out in force, it is a good sign of a rise in momentum.

Mailbox: Emails, Faxes and Phone Calls

Email www.nytimes.com Jack Grubman, the telecom analyst who was once among the most powerful figures on Wall Street, resigned from Salomon Smith Barney.

Email gfrchouse@aol.com Former Atlanta mayor and US Ambassador Andrew Young sits on the board of directors of Chevron Corporation! Complain to his Atlanta Office (Young International Development Corp.) about the disgraceful treatment of Nigerian women.

Email blkhrdwrkgwmn@aol.com Nigerian women staging protest demonstrations against Shell and Chevron-Texaco claimed that 15 of the demonstrators were missing; others were injured in their encounter with security guards during the seizure of the Warri operational headquarters. Fed up with the multi-national corporations' theft of their homeland's most valuable natural resource while they exist in abject poverty, the unarmed women are protesting to improve their standard of living, which includes electricity and jobs.

Email blackhawk3248@yahoo.com Let's examine the possible motives behind Bush's apparent obsession for attacking Iraq: It is obvious the man has an agenda, and it all started when he stole the presidency. It could be he's a puppet and somebody else is pulling the strings. Whatever it is, he is going to be the cause of bringing a whole lot of heartache to a whole lot of people. Underneath the howdy-doody face beats the heart of a cold-blooded deceitful man just like his father.

Email crazyhorse@yahoo.com In an article in the New York Times, (US Seeking Pacts in a Bid to Shield Its Peacekeepers, 8-7-02), Christopher Marquis writes the US is trying to cut deals to exempt US solders from the International Criminal Court (ICC). In some cases, it is threatening to cut off military aid, if the agreement not to extradite US soldiers and civilians to the ICC is not signed. Israel hopes to cut similar deals. According to Rafael Barak, the deputy chief of Israel's mission in Washington, his country shares America's concerns. "We are in the same position as the US. Almost everybody in my country is a soldier. Someone can complain against a soldier and say they perpetrated a war crime." Since almost everyone in Israel is a soldier, how can the Israeli claim all those killed in cafes and on buses are innocent civilians? Both cannot be true!

Email www.washington.com Israeli soldiers strapped a bulletproof vest onto a Palestinian teenager and ordered him to approach a house where a Hamas militant was hiding. As he neared the house in the West Bank village of Tubas, 19-year-old Nidal Daraghmed was shot in the back of the head and killed. Israeli troops then flattened the house with bulldozers, killing the Hamas militant, the only person inside.

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