Volume 5 Issue 4…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…February 1, 2002

by John Burl Smith

Four legged creatures descending from trees, then ascending on two as Homo sapiens, humanity struggles against brutality, slavery, hatred and bigotry -dark evils that possess the spirit or mind. From time to time, humanity's collective energies are sufficient to elevate Homo sapiens to a new level of clarity about our purpose on this planet. Lurches against entrenched evil and its minions have always been driven back, as military and economic power aligned against enlightenment. Passing the laser scanner of history over human existence, events and innovations such as the printing press, Reformation, crusades, slavery, navigation and atomic power forced humans to rethink our relationships with each other, other nations and the planet.

People of color suffer most when the powerful dominates the world. The raise of Western civilization placed men who believed in white supremacy -the slave masters - in control. Longing to possess the power of life and death gave white men a "God" complex. Warmongers worshiping military and atomic power, death has become their trademark. Appeasing their desperate drive to become "God," whites (Western civilization) claim, through death, they create life.

Historically, such dark times call forth the best minds. For instance, as human lurches go, the Civil Rights movement in America, Pan-Africanism in Africa and Vietnamese struggles in the Far East were such recent events. Conversely, events, such as the collapse of the Soviet Union, became portals through which would-be conquerors, like Egyptian Pharaohs, Alexander the Great, Nebuchadnezzar, Caesar, Hannibal, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Adolf Hitler and now George W. Bush, emerged to terrorize the world. This does not mean Russia was a paragon of freedom and democracy, but it kept America's military-industrial complex at bay.

Questions dog conquerors like Bush. When is there enough killing? Does America go on killing as long as people would rather blow themselves up than live under Israeli occupation? Scenes of Buddhists burning themselves to death in Saigon boggled the mind. Unleashed upon the world, America is like a mad dog roaming the village. As America selects its victims at will, their neighbors and other residents pretend not to notice the ravished, sick and dying in their midst. Inured of the system, like Enron's employees, ignorance is bliss.

African and Arab leaders in the Diaspora are like scientists, who continue performing the same failed experiments, each time expecting different results. People of color must understand, world bodies such as the UN, IMF, World Bank, WTO, NATO, etc., are dedicated to maintaining white power and the survival of Western civilization. Today, Christianity and Western civilization are again arrayed against the Muslim world.

Suleiman (1496-1566) saw the world with new eyes. In his state of mind, people were members of the human family. From that perspective, if sheep rely on wolves and jackals for shepherds, no matter how beautiful their wool, they will always be dinner. Suleiman was clear, becoming like your enemy will not improve you, rather it places you on their level of attack. The Diaspora must develop a new psychology to base actions and a new philosophy to explain those actions. The next great lurch awaits the Diaspora! John 2002

Comments from the Bat Cave

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is learning to plan ahead for the things he feels are important. He will jettison excess baggage. When asked for his weekly comments, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro revealed, "I will see you on Wednesday, and I plan to spend the night on Thursday. TyChi can't come because he is a crybaby."

An Indian word meaning "River of Death," Yazoo is the name of a deep sluggish stream in the state of Mississippi. It is formed by the junction of the Yalobusha and Tallahatchie rivers. The Yazoo is more than 180 miles long and flows through some of the most fertile regions in the United States. Yazoo is also the name of an Indian tribe that once inhabited this region. Most Americans have never heard of the Yazoo people.

At the end of the first quarter of the eighteenth century, there were no white inhabitants between the Savannah and Alatamaha rivers. Several Indian nations called the fertile region home, among them were the Choctaw, Creek, Natchez, Tonica, Yamacraw and Yamasee or Savannah and Yazoo.

Driven to extinction by war in defense of their homeland and disease introduced to the hemisphere by white settlers, English, French and Spanish, the Yazoos were some of the first victims of bio-terrorism in the Americas. They lived along the lower Yazoo River in close association with several other extinct tribes, the most important of which was the Tonica. Little is known about the Yazoo; their language seems to have been similar to the Tonica, though different. Like the Chickasaw, during the colonial period, before the forced evacuation of native Americans to Western reservations along the "Trail of Tears," the Yazoos were influenced by English traders from the Carolinas. Other tribes allied themselves with the French and Spanish, which led to armed conflict among native Americans, classic divide and conquer. All three Western nations sent missionaries to the Americas to "bring enlightenment to the savages." In the end, after a number of wars and a series of treaties that were unilaterally abrogated, the Indians lost their land and were driven to extinction.

While the Creeks and Yazoos allied with the English, establishment of the English colony called Georgia engendered land disputes. Georgia was settled by debtors released from English prisons. The expedition's leader, James Oglethorpe, a member of Parliament, chose Yamacraw Bluff on the Savannah River, about 10 miles from the sea, where Gov. Moore of South Carolina had planted a small tribe of Creek Indians 30 years before, as owners of this land. After establishing a militia and erecting a fort on Indian soil, Oglethorpe convinced aging chief To-mo-chi-chi of "the great power, wealth and wisdom of the English people, and of the advantages the Indians might derive by the cultivation of friendly relations between the two races. He expressed a hope that as the Indians had a superabundance of land, they would freely resign a portion of it to those who had come over the sea for their instruction and benefit." (Sources: Georgia History at http://www.publicbookshelf.org and Yazoo History at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15732d.htm).

Intuit's Vibe

by Yohannes Sharriff Smith

Red wine eyes in misty conversation,

passing emotions amongst the tribe

and feel the connection in a surreal laugh.

Words seem to mean so much here.

They carry a magical weight,

ringing sober and clear in the open mind.

Now, we cipher showcasing our lyrical talent

in harmonic poetry from Generation X.

A hidden message in every line,

the metaphoric shine from each point keeps us warm

and makes us THINC.

(Reprinted from Brand X)

Disgruntled says: Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is oily slick. His agreement with the city to turn his papers over to his nonprofit corporation is a neat trick, which prevents public scrutiny of his mistakes. If Giuliani gets away with hiding this evidence, it is no different from Andersen and Enron shredding documents.

Disgruntled feels: Outraged! And saddened.... Eddie Macklin, a young black man, was killed by cops in Miami on Martin Luther King Day. Hypocrites, some politicians say King's dream is reality, yet blacks remain victims of institutionalized racism singled out for police brutality.

Disgruntled wants to know: On Enron, Bush officials acknowledged that the United States government works closely with businesses, especially the big ones, so close in fact, it is difficult to discern where one leaves off and the other begins. Even religion is big business receiving millions of dollars in government assistance. With so much warmongering from the Bush Administration, Americans must ask, how many people do will sacrifice on the altar of corporate profit margins?

by John Burl Smith

Bailing out on Poets for Peace and ducking out to avoid introducing Dot M. Smith's Chasm of Inequality Analysis at the UN World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia, Racial Discrimination and Other Intolerance (WCAR), U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) may have more holes in her dike than fingers to plug them. Characterized by local media as a political lightweight, who is an emotional, ineffectual loud mouth, McKinney is scrambling for cover. Withering under a deluge of negative publicity regarding her statements in support of reparations and Palestinian statehood, condemning the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and America's Counter Intelligence Program (Co-InTel-Pro) at WCAR and suggesting the spurned $10 million gift to New York by a Saudi Prince be used to help the poor, Cynthia may be drowning in her blues.

Storm clouds brewed in her backyard last week, as the humidity shot up when State Judge Denise Majette announced her intentions to challenge McKinney for the Democratic nomination in 2002. Under the new redistricting plan, McKinney's 4^th Congressional District is DeKalb County.

Without primary opposition in 2000, McKinney breezed to victory under cloudless skies, washing Republican Sonny Warren away like a spring shower. Negative accounts of her travails in court pour like rain on a tin roof these days and are the only sound bites voters hear about Congresswoman McKinney.

Desperate for positive press and to avoid lightening strikes, McKinney tried to sandbag the flood by raising South DeKalb's hopes of getting MARTA rail service. A washout on the matter while the creek still could have been forded, she has been missing in action since declaring, "I will not spend any political capital" fighting to keep South DeKalb's train. Even though they do not pay MARTA's one-cent sales tax, Gov. Roy Barnes ordered MARTA to take South DeKalb's train and give it to Cobb and Douglas Counties, "because South DeKalb can wait; Cobb and Douglas Counties need development now." Then and now, locked in coalition with an Emory-Atlanta-South DeKalb route, Cynthia fails to see storm clouds on the horizon. Her plan is not a direct link to downtown. Therefore, South DeKalb residents rejected it as inadequate two years ago. South DeKalb residents proposed then and still support, a rail line that runs East down I-20 to Lithonia and Stonecrest Mall. Obviously, Cynthia does not care that a MARTA train would provide South DeKalb residents with greater access to jobs, while opening up the whole South end for economic development.

Under fire from all quarters and drowning in her blues, McKinney is trying to give the impression she is serious about getting South DeKalb a train. Realizing her vulnerability on the South end, she is dancing a jig and chanting melodies she hopes will stop the rain. Elected the first black woman to Congress from Georgia in 1992, McKinney hopes Judge Majette will not take a strong stand on an I-20 MARTA train. Such a position would give an all-clear to the Judge, because it will show she is truly independent, willing to fight Gov. Barnes, the state, GRTA, MARTA or other boards and commissions to get equal representation for South DeKalb County citizens. John 2002

News You Use

by Jared Feuer

A 1967 memo from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover identified the purpose of Co-Intel-Pro. "This new counterintelligence endeavor is to expose, disrupt, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of black nationalist, hate-type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, members, and supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence and civil disorder."

Attorney General John Ashcroft is considering a plan to relax restrictions on the FBI's ability to spy on domestic organizations, a move that would loosen some of the most fundamental protections against FBI misconduct and threaten constitutionally protected advocacy of unpopular ideas and political dissent.

The domestic spying restrictions were originally imposed in the 1970's after the country learned of the FBI's widespread, unchecked and politically motivated domestic surveillance of such figures as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The FBI's campaign against Dr. King included tactics such as planting bugs in hotel rooms and threats to release the recordings.

Current domestic guidelines provide broad authority to conduct investigations. We must not allow the war on terrorism to expand unchecked government power. Take action. Read more about this and send a FREE FAX to Ashcroft from the ACLU action alert site at http://www.aclu.org/action/spy107.html

According to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X), "If you are the son of a man who had a wealthy estate and you inherit your father's estate, you have to pay off the debts that your father incurred before he died. The only reason that the present generation of white Americans are in a position of economic strength...is because their fathers worked our fathers for over 400 years with no pay...We were sold from plantation to plantation like you sell a horse, or a cow, or a chicken, or a bushel of wheat...All that money...is what gives the present generation of American whites the ability to walk around the earth with their chest out...like they have some kind of economic ingenuity. Your father isn't here to pay. My father isn't here to collect. But I'm here to collect and you're here to pay."

Basically, in the fight for reparations, we stand where our forefathers stood. We own only our labor, which is devalued by law. Our forefathers survived on subsistence wages, and relatively speaking, so do we. Scarred by a hostile environment, we exist in the gap created by the original sin of the founding fathers in discarding democracy to make slavery the law. The original sin is a human rights violation. The fact that it is ongoing is an abomination; it is institutionalized racism, for which America has been found guilty by its own admission. Now, Bush wants to substitute discussions on reparations for doublespeak on freedom. To improve the black human condition, we must secure reparations. Blacks who purport to lead our people must be clear about our demand for restitution!

The 21st Century demands nothing less. This is the era to manifest African Reparations. We look to Malcolm X, one of Africa's greatest sons for inspiration. This February 21, 2002 we carry on the tradition of no longer mourning El Hajj, but taking his /our banner for self-defense, self-determination, Pan-Africanism and Reparations forward. On February 21, 2002, join the People's Republic of Brooklyn for Reparations Now! Email Zimbabwefriends@mail.com for program details.

DISHing It Up Hot!

by Dot

Watch television long enough, you will see a colorful array of 'learned' professors so inured of the system that they lie to put a morally correct face on American foreign and domestic policy. Their duplicity highlights the fact that "we cannot change history; we can only lie about it." In the US, we celebrate black history in February, the shortest month of the year, because the black experience, like the native Americans,' is missing from the sanitized version of history used in the public school curriculum. This duality, reality versus what sounds better, is the duplicity found when and wherever America has geopolitical and economic interests.

Case in point is U.S. duplicity in the Middle East. Based on the official American position, a state for Israelis on the West Bank is just and appropriate. Yet, after more than 50 years, a state for the indigenous Palestinians remains a bone of contention. Homeless at home, Palestinians are labeled 'terrorists,' denied the right of self-determination and marked for assassination.

Under the leadership of aging PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Palestinians are in the same position as American Indians - Yazoo, Tonica, Natchez, Creeks, et al - which are all extinct American indigenous populations. The aging Creek chief To-mo-chi-chi believed the rhetoric of cooperation and coexistence, while colonial settlers displaced his people, labeling acts of defense 'terrorism' and calling them 'savages.'

Today, Israeli soldiers kill rock-throwing Palestinian children, and the U.S. says, "the violence must stop before we can resume peace negotiations." Israeli secret police assassinate Palestinian freedom fighters labeled 'terrorists,' and the U.S. signals tacit approval.

To the contrary, when Palestinian suicide bombers kill Israelis, the U.S. strongly condemns these acts of terror and demands the Palestinian leadership do more to curtail the violence. Surrounded by tanks and under house arrest, Arafat is denounced; Israeli aggression goes unchecked. Applying a double standard, the US gives the Israelis every consideration. Like American colonial settlers, Israelis annex Palestinian lands and build illegal settlements. Palestinians are displaced, denied the right of self-determination and condemned if they do anything to defend their human rights. Palestinians are the world's contemporary Yazoo Indians targeted for extinction.

THINC  || 2002 Issues || The DISH