Volume 5 Issue 39…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…October 4, 2002

In blackface, civil rights and affirmative action reflect conditions forced upon black people. Slave descendants' responses are the results of more than 400 years of bondage compounded by America's refusal to pay reparations. After the Civil War, the 3/5 Compromise (Article 1 Section 2 of US Constitution) remained intact. Augmented by lynching, segregation and discrimination, whites disenfranchised blacks and maintained us in a perpetual second class status.

Against these odds, and without resources, many slave descendants pulled themselves up from the depths of poverty. No other group arriving on America's shores had to face such mountainous obstacles or meet such challenges to succeed. Today in 2002, the bar (3/5 Compromise) across America's golden door still blocks black access to opportunity as it did in the 1950s.

The current controversies over content and characters in blacks artistic expressions involving rap artist Ludacris, the comic strip Boondocks and the movie Barbershop are red herrings. It is now, as it always has been about MONEY and keeping blacks in their place. As with rock n' roll, movie making is part of the in blackface tradition of vaudeville which supports the 3/5 Compromise/segregationists mind-set in the USA.

In the 1940 and '50's, movies, like An Imitation of Life and Pinky, were decried as blaspheme, even though they accurately depicted the tragic dilemma for some children born to black and white couples. Curtis Mayfield's soundtrack and the movie Superfly popularized a genre of 1960's films that dramatized the black man's struggle to break free of "the man." Results oriented, blacks identified with the fictional story line and emulated the ideal.

Whites were incensed and a hue and cry went up about "black exploitation" movies. Newspapers, radio and TV commentators attacked everything about black movies. No credit was given blacks for figuring out a means of breaking the bar that kept them out of movie making. No matter how raunchy, whites can make movies about people doing any and everything (Monster Ball), but no one dares call them "white exploitation."

Obvious as crowning Elvis King, whites oppose blacks making money doing anything. It does not matter whether it is Barbershop or "head shops," whites marginalize blacks out of business. If it is something a black man or woman developed and put their efforts behind, until it is successful, whites will not accept it until they control it or make the most money from it. Return to Atlanta Vibe Home Page More Essays by John Burl Smith

Siblings Venus and Serena Williams are the world's best in tennis based on their 2002 WTA rankings. Beginning the year just barely in the top ten, Serena rose to number one by amassing a 50-4 match record and winning three grand slams (The French, Wimbledon and US Open). Closing an amazingly sensational and phenomenal year, she has 1000 points more than the world's number two, her sister Venus.

Easily, The DISH's Athlete of the Year, no American tennis player has ever accomplished Serena's feat. Yet, the media are conspicuously silent about the Williams sisters' accomplishment. Clearly the most positive event involving black people, from President George W. Bush down, everyone is silent. Representing the best America has to offer on any level, why are Venus and Serena being black balled in mainstream media? It is the 3/5 Compromise stupid!

In blackface, had Richard Williams befriended and turned a piece of "trailer park trash" into a Venus or Serena, whites would love him. It would be an Academy Award winning movie called A Miracle Worker. Kudos!

Leadership Style

Point man on every number ten mission from Udorn, Thailand to Saigon, I returned to the United States and joined disabled veterans protesting the Vietnam War. Opposed to George W. Bush's policies, foreign and domestic, I support Poets for Peace's War of Words. Dedicated to dialogue, rather than military action, we bomb with explosive truths. Our goal is to expose US hypocrisy and greed by rallying artists in the Diaspora to speak out against war on the Iraqi people.

The point of leadership is to direct available energies and resources into their most productive channels. Identifying those channels and clearly articulating the advantages of one set of alternatives over another is the responsibility of leadership. Intuition, feelings and beliefs guide the responses of personalized leadership. Webster defines intuition as "quick and ready insight derived through the power or a faculty that attains direct knowledge or cognition without evidence or conclusions inferred from objective observations." This accurately describes Bush's leadership style and decision-making.

The children's fable -The Emperor's New Clothes - warns of dangers awaiting societies led by such shallow characters. History reveals that such leaders obscure truth behind emotionalism, innuendoes, allusions, appeals to authority, and nationalistic passions. Reality theory predicts that such leaders are usually unmasked by the most basic rationale. In The Emperor's New Clothes, a child recognizes and blurts out, "He's naked!"

It was not that Germans were blinded or enthralled by Adolf Hitler's charm and dynamism; he simply appealed to their greed and hatred. Hitler made it seem natural to despise differences and his obligation, as the nation's leader, to wipe out anything or anyone exhibiting differences. Feeling obligated to agree with such leaders, people are made to believe there is something wrong with them, if they express their fears or question national policies and actions.

Finally, last week Democratic Party Tin Men and Cowardly Lions led by Scare Crows found the heart and courage of a child to admit, "He's naked!" Striped bare of legitimacy as a democratically elected leader back when the United States' Supreme Court stopped the counting of legally cast ballots by citizens who actually went to the polls, Bush governs as though he won by majority vote of the people. A man who hid out in the National Guard to avoid going to Vietnam, Bush is rabid to send poor American children in harms way. Without cover in this matter, Bush challenged the motives of those who laid life and limbs on the line so he could duck frontline duty and steal the Presidency.

Clearly, standing before the world at the United Nations wearing only a mask, Bush is holding the world hostage with the threat of war. War is the only alternative, only if Americans accept Bush's claim, that he is a warrior, clothed in the robe of peace. In other words, he is a sheep in wolf's clothing. Other Essays by John Burl Smith

Bit of History

In democratic societies, it is assumed citizens have the right to vote. While the United States is regarded as the world's foremost democracy, the right of blacks to vote and have that vote counted in determining the nation's political leadership remains in question. Given the Florida Election 2000 debacle, purged voter rolls across the country, rising black imprisonment and other examples of institutionalized racism, the question of whether blacks ever enjoyed citizenship is a valid one.

Adopted in 1870, the 15^th Amendment to the United States' Constitution gave citizens of the US the right to vote. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Section 2 of the amendment gave Congress the power to enact laws to enforce this right. Black protests in the wake of rampant racism prompted Congress to pass and President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the 1965 Voting Rights Act to give the 15^th Amendment some teeth. Essentially, white Americans did not see blacks as citizens. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan extended the Voting Rights Act for another 25 years; it expires in 2007.

On or before the act's expiration, Congress will debate its extension. Contrary to urban legend, blacks will not lose a right they have never fully enjoyed should Congress fail to renew the legislation. If one examines the language of the Constitution and the body of court decisions dating back to Dred Scott, blacks have never enjoyed the status of first class citizenship. "Strict construction" of the US Constitution leaves the nation's first slave law and basis of the Electoral College - Article 1 Section 2 - intact, making blacks 3/5 citizens.

On September 24, 2002, Dr. Daniel H. Weinberg, Chief of the Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division at the Census Bureau briefed the media on 2001 income and poverty estimates. Copies of the report, its statistical data and assumptions can be obtained from the Census Bureau web site at www.census.gov.

The briefing centered on three major indicators: income, poverty and income inequality. In 2001, median household income fell 2.2 percent to $42,200. After declining four consecutive years, the number of people living in poverty increased by 1.3 million. While income inequality did not change from 2000, the share of aggregate income going to households in the lowest quintile decreased 1.1 percent to 3.5 percent.

The 2001 poverty and income report shows the stable gap or chasm that exists in good and bad times between black and white families. For 2001, black and white (non-Hispanic) household incomes were $29,500 and $46,300, respectively. The resulting .637 ratio of black to white family income mimics the 3/5 white value assigned black human capital (labor) when the nation ratified its Constitution (1789). Basically, this black to white income inequality is law, which is the most cogent argument for black reparations. The Census Bureau report confirms the ongoing theft of the productivity and potential wealth that should accrue to black workers.

Hood Notes

The US Constitution's 13^th Amendment, i.e., "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction," did not abolish slavery. It identified conditions under which the state could hold its subjects in bondage.

With mandatory minimum sentencing laws, three- strike rules and the infamous "war on drugs," more than 2 million people are in US prisons. Many of those incarcerated were found guilty of non-violent offenses. An examination of this population shows that black men are disproportionately represented relative to their numbers in the general population. Indeed, while white people like Noelle Bush, daughter of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, can smoke crack and use other illegal drugs, never serve a day in prison. Blacks are imprisoned years for similar offenses. Farmed like cash crops, blacks are about six times more likely than whites to serve time in prison. A growth industry, prisons are the economic lifeline for many rural communities. With one in every 14 black men housed in rural facilities, which are staffed by white guards, rural prisons provide full employment and a stream of federal tax dollars and investment for these communities. Rural prisons provide one of the clearest examples of ongoing neo-slavery.

With more black men currently in prison than college, the situation offers little hope for closing the economic gap created by the original enslavement of black people. The age-old marginalization of black people will continue for another generation.

Disgruntled feels: Helpless! Sad, but fact, being black, I mainly vote for Democrats. Spineless in the face of the coup that made George W. Bush president, Democrats are silent. With white men running both major political parties, there is no loyal opposition. This predicament leaves people like me wondering about the political process, and hence this feeling of helplessness!

Disgruntled says: I have not seen Barbershop, so I cannot offer a critique of the movie. However, given all the publicity the comedy has received, I hope blacks do not rush to the nearest barbershop to get their Afros, braids and dreads cropped.

Disgruntled wants to know: Condie Rice made a surprise appearance at the US Open wearing a suit and tie. She claimed to be a devoted tennis fan and avid player, who just dropped in to enjoy a good match between Serena Williams and one of the fashion feline's snacks. What is really baffling about this is how does Condie, a diehard fan and player, avoid making just as big a public display of congratulating the sassy sibling - her black sister - as she did her very public appearance at the match? More Disgruntled

The Dark Knight- Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is working to improve his mind. While walking home from school contemplating his latest assignment, he stepped in dog dodo. The Dark One/Ninja/Zorro remarked, "One must pay attention to what is on the ground too!" The Bat Cave

Blacks are owed reparations for centuries of stolen labor. However, recent lawsuits filed against private enterprises will not succeed. In fact, they will probably not get past summary judgement. Over the past ten years, blacks have filed thousands of racial discrimination lawsuits against private employers and the federal government. The vast majority of these suits never reach the trial phase because strict construction judges grant these defendants summary judgement.

In the case of reparation lawsuits, these private enterprises, which include banks and insurance companies, can claim they were not in violation of either federal or state laws. Sadly, they would be right, since the Constitution permits racial inequality, and therefore discrimination. I am convinced, neither federal nor state courts will allow these suits to succeed. History tells us the current lawsuits will fail, while bringing attention to our legitimate reparations claims. When we do realize compensation for the centuries of stolen labor, a revolution will have taken place in the laws of this nation and the hearts and minds of its white citizens. More Hot DISHes

Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Phone Calls

Nelson Mandela's quote on how the West wants black leaders to behave: "After slavery and colonialism, comes the desire to draw a line under the past and a veil over its legacy. So long as they are preaching nonviolence in the face of aggression, or racial unity where there has been division, then everyone is happy. But as soon as they step out of that comfort zone, the descent from saint to sinner is a rapid one. The price for a black leader's entry to the international statesman's hall of fame is not just the sum of their good works [plus] either death or half of their adult life behind bars. In order to be deserving of accolades, history must first be rewritten to deprive them of their militancy. It's all right for black people to be nonviolent when they're dealing with white people, but white people don't need to be nonviolent when they're dealing with brown people."

Email soa1@juno.com Dressed in ceremonial robes, federal judge Robert French conducted the court session to return to the Martu Aboriginal tribe control of land - more than four times the size of Belgium. While the Aborigines will be allowed to hunt, gather, fish and use the area's natural resources, they will not own its rich mineral and petroleum deposits.

The Martu were driven off the land in the 1950s, when the British government wanted to use it to test intercontinental ballistic missiles. A 1992 ruling quashed the idea that Australia had been empty until the arrival of European colonizers in the 18th Century. That opened the way for Aborigines to lay legal claims to lands they had traditionally inhabited. They began their fight to be given legal title to the land six years ago. About 400,000 among 19 million Australians, Aborigines are among the poorest sections of society and claim discrimination is widespread against them.

Email Ghanaunion@aol.com Martin Luther King III, son of US civil rights activist Dr Martin Luther King, urged Prime Minister John Howard to show leadership by apologizing to indigenous Australians for past wrongs. During National Reconciliation Week, Mr. King said an apology would be the first real step towards reconciliation. "The good politician plans for the next election but the statesman plans for the next generation," Mr. King said. "True leadership must be statesmanlike which means that you sometimes take positions that may not be popular, you take positions because you know they are the right things to do."

Fboyle@LAW.UIUC.EDU Modeling their effort on the movement that helped topple South African apartheid, students and professors at institutions like the University of California, Harvard, MIT and Princeton are urging their universities to divest stocks of companies doing business in Israel. Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi said she was encouraged by the campaign, because people will begin to question their assumptions. She noted US Jews were among the "people of courage and wisdom" who have signed divestment petitions.

Email ghanaunion@aol.com Lawyers representing South African apartheid victims filed class action lawsuits against Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse and US bank Citibank, US computer giant IBM, and Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank and Commerzbank all of Germany. These institutions provided money, technology and training to prop up the Apartheid State between 1948-1993, even though apartheid had been declared a crime against humanity and in violation of international embargoes. Other likely targets of apartheid lawsuits include oil, electronics, weapons and pharmaceutical companies. Filed in New York, the suits are expected to seek between $50 and $100 billion.

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