Volume 5 Issue 45…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…November 15, 2002

Soho Cinema

By Audre Lorde

The woman who lives at 830 Broadway

walks her infants at twilight through

the neighborhood streets warehoused fashionably ugly

200-dollars silk blouses where hammers once hung.

Between the cafes and loading docks,

chemicals bloom like wild roses in the gutter.

Her child in the tattersall pram with an anti-nuclear

sticker takes it all in as possible in an urban parlor.

Does she promise her daughter a life on this island

easier safer than the ones they rush home

to peruse 26 stories up over a bay that is dying

the complex double-cross of this moment's culture?

When the six o'clock news is over,

does the child pat her mother's wet cheeks?

Does she cradle her daughter against her

and weep for what she has seen?

Beside the bed under which they are lying

death stinks in the mattress,

her son bayoneted to the door in Santiago de Chile,

a corolla of tsetse flies crusting her daughters nose

army hippos fire into the mourners across Blecker Street

blood on her Escoffier knives

blood welling in her garbage disposal

her baby's blood obscuring the screen

their next decade in living color wired from pole to pole

When the six o'clock news is over,

does she weep for what she has seen?

Or does she will her orange rebozo with Soho magenta fringe

to a Vieques campesina six children and no land left

after the mortars and the Navy sailing into the sunset.

About Me: Audre Lorde bravely documented her 14-year battle against cancer in "The Cancer Journals" and in her book of essays "A Burst of Light." In the latter, she wrote: ''The struggle with cancer now informs all my days, but it is only another face of that continuing battle for self-determination and survival that black women fight daily, often in triumph.'' She struggled against disease and a medical establishment that was frequently indifferent to cultural differences and insensitive to women's health issues. She stood in defiance to societal rules that said that she should hide the fact that she had breast cancer. Audre Lorde died in St Croix, Virgin Islands on November 17, 1992. Her spirit fights on. Other Featured Artists

Asbestos Disease

Silicate minerals that occur naturally, asbestos fibers are strong, fire and heat resistant and so thin and flexible they are easily woven into cloth. From brakes to insulation, countless products contain asbestos.

Airborne, asbestos fibers pose a threat to human health. In the US, previous exposure to asbestos fibers is the only known cause of mesothelioma, a cancer of the cells that make up the lining outside the lungs and inside the ribs (pleura), or around the abdominal organs (peritoneum). Like the tobacco industry, asbestos manufacturers knew more than seventy years ago that asbestos exposure caused cancer. In the mid-1960s, workers were given inadequate warnings. Today, they are not always informed when working around asbestos or advised about the risk of contracting mesothelioma.

If you or a loved one worked or lived around asbestos, become informed and get medical advice. You may consider filing a lawsuit if you have this disease. For more data on mesothelioma and legal remedies, see http://www.mesothelioma-facts.com/whatis.shtml or visit other sites that provide information on this topic. More News You Use

By John Burl Smith

Led by Rev. Hosea Williams, the "Poor People's Campaign" galvanized blacks following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dismissed as irrelevant during the 1968 election, blacks held a political convention in Gray, IN to draft a platform and select a presidential candidate. Black leaders agreed to support US Rep. Shirley Chisholm as the Democratic Party's nominee. Determined to stop this effort, the Democratic Party pledged greater minority participation and passed new rules for selecting delegates to their conventions.

Unfortunately, Democratic Party bosses had no intention of conceding any power to blacks. Early on, no one took Chisholm's candidacy seriously. However, as Sen. George McGovern chased everyone from the field except her, blacks were inspired and returned to the Democratic Party in droves to support Chisholm. Gaining momentum as she rode the 'Chisholm Trail,' the Poor People's Campaign raised the specter of blacks taking control of the Democratic Party; frightened whites left the party by the back door to become Republicans.

Desperate to kill Chisholm's momentum, McGovern made a deal to select her as his Vice President. Fearful of the power that blacks would gain, McGovern reneged and chose a white man recovering from depression -Thomas Eagleton - as his running mate. His indecision and betrayal handed Richard Nixon victory in 1972 and opened the floodgates for Republicans to come out of the closet and run for office as Democrats. Opportunistic white interlopers began decrying the Democratic Party as "too liberal" (too black).

Convening a mini-convention in Kansas City, Missouri in 1974, the Democratic Party took back its new delegate selection process instituted after its devastating 1968 loss. Reorganized to put conservatives back in charge, a new crop of white boys pushed blacks to the back of the Democratic Party's bus.

Ironically, overwhelming black support allowed Democrats to control the Senate and House of Representatives, while white Dixiecrats helped Nixon dominate the national agenda. Adding insult to injury, black leaders, who remained loyal, like Rev. Williams, Rep. Barbara Jordan, Augustus Hawkins and Louis Stokes, had to get behind party switching white Republicans, like Roy Barnes. Today's Democrat debacle is rooted in the 1972 election catastrophe. Supporting Richard Nixon, Dixiecrats and "blue dogs" made the Democratic Party irrelevant to black people.

Last week (11-5-02), George Bush repeated the process. "Blue dog" Democrats, who are attacking the party as "too liberal," are showing their true colors by becoming Republicans. The paradoxical dilemma for Democrats is the same as it was in 1968, 80, and 88: "How to remain a white boys' party, while holding together its liberal voting base of blacks, minorities, immigrants and women? "Blue dogs," Dixiecrats and Republicans wearing Democratic clothing are totally intimidated by the Republican label of "liberal."

The choice for Democrats is either to embrace its liberal base or accept being an irrelevant political club. Most white men claim membership in the Democratic Party to either block blacks from gaining political power or because they cannot get power as Republicans. The problem now for Democrats is that blacks refuse to bet on their pea and shell game. The failure of white Democratic Senators to join the Congressional Black Caucus in mounting a challenge to Florida's Electoral College votes in Election 2000 showed the world what Democrats think of black people and their votes. White Democrats and Republicans agreed to enforce the 3/5 Compromise by strictly constructing the Constitution. Other Essays by John Burl Smith

Comments from the Bat Cave

The Dark Knight - Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is a Renaissance Man, who tries his hand at poetry. He wrote a beautiful poem called "I Wonder," in which he ponders being a snake. It ends, " I feel funny...Maybe he is wondering how it feels to be like a man." The Dark One/Ninja/Zorro is only nine, but he feels things deeply and clearly he is willing to view life from more than one perspective. Back to the Bat Cave

Disgruntled wants to know: I saw the WTA World Championship match between USA player Serena Williams and Belgian Kim Clijsters. All the line calls and umpire overrules favored Clijsters. Played in the USA, one would assume the crowd would pull for Serena. This was not the case, and that tired lie about USA crowds pulling for the underdog does not wash. Ranked the number one tennis player in the world, Serena does not enjoy all the perks normally associated with that status. Are so many wrong line calls, chair umpire overrules, rude fans, hate mail, lack of White House invites and other slights because she is black?

Disgruntled says: Just about every week in some hamlet across the US, a black man dies in police custody and/or while trying to avoid capture. Whether found bound and gagged in a jail cell or shot during an arrest, the coroners' reports call these deaths suicides. One of the most recent occurred in Georgia. DeKalb officers arrested a man wanted on charges of aggravated stalking and misdemeanor battery for allegedly beating his ex-wife. According to police, the man pulled a gun from an officer's holster. In the ensuing melee, the arresting officers squeezed off several shots. However, the coroner's report claims the fatal round came when the suspect pulled the officer's trigger. Be on the lookout! Homicides by police popularized as suicide are lynchings.

Disgruntled feels: Thankful! US Attorney General Ashcroft is a devout "Christian." An uptight member of the religious right, he cannot bear the sight of a statue's bare breasts. A zealot, to prosecute a juvenile, he obscenely sought a state judicial system that executes teenage offenders. Some will dismiss my opposition to the death penalty as bleeding heart liberalism. But, I thank my creator for a smidgen of compassion and the good sense to avoid hypocritical right-wing conservatism. More Disgruntled Moments

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Third president of the USA, Thomas Jefferson is the nation's most famous apostle of democracy. One of its greatest "liberal" thinkers, Jefferson is also one of the USA's most famous advocates of "strict construction" of the Constitution. Born April 13, 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia to one of the most prominent colonial families, Jefferson was a slave owner and believed in the system of slavery that built the wealth of this nation.

Trained in small private institutions, Jefferson attended William and Mary College at Williamsburg. He left, but remained an ardent student throughout his life. Many scholars, foreign and domestic, numbered among his friends and associates with whom he corresponded.

An expert violinist, a good singer and dancer, proficient in outdoor sports, and an excellent horseman, Jefferson enjoyed the privilege of the scion of the wealthy. After leaving college, he entered the law offices of George Wythe, and in 1767, he was admitted to the bar. In 1774, he abandoned the practice with a poor opinion of lawyers - "whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour."

On January 1, 1772, he married Martha Wayles Skelton (1749-1782), a childless widow. Of the six children born to the couple, only two daughters survived infancy. Financial troubles dogged his final years. Threatened with bankruptcy, a national subscription in 1826 of $16,500 enabled him to die in peace, but months later his furniture, silver, pictures and Monticello, which is today a national memorial, were sold to pay his debts.

Jefferson died July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - the same day as John Adams. For his tomb, he chose the epitaph: "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia." Advocating strict construction of the Constitution, which legalized slavery, the Republican's tomb should have read, "He died a slave owner." Other Bits of History

Phantom Scribbler

Free of Demo-Rats

The scene was surreal. Reminiscent of a George Wallace newsreel, Sonny Perdue basked in the sunshine of success. Before a sea of campaign workers and supporters waving Confederate flags or the retired Georgia banner, which prominently displays the St. Andrews cross, Perdue proclaimed, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we're free at last." Turning the civil rights slogan on its head in much the same way as the Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore upended the 14th Amendment, Republicans are free to turn back the clock on social and economic issues affecting blacks.

In an upset of the ages, Perdue, who switched from the Democratic to Republican Party a few years ago, handily defeated the arrogant incumbent Roy Barnes, a party-switcher in the other direction. This lack of party loyalty among white men might explain why George W. Bush got Georgia's Electoral College votes in the Election 2000 while blacks still stood in long lines across the state waiting to cast their ballots.

Let the sun in! More Demo-rats switched to the Republican Party, showing their true colors and giving Republicans parity or a majority in the state legislature. Their defection ends the pretense that Georgia Demo-rats passed laws that represented the best interest of all the state's citizens. We know blacks got taxation without representation under Barnes and the Demo-rats. Now, we can only wonder what Sonny Perdue will do! Phantom Scribblers' Homepage

Hood Notes

Racial Basis for Asbestos Lawsuits

By Erin Texeira

Owens-Corning, long a target of lawsuits over charges that asbestos in its products sickened thousands of workers, asked a judge in 1999 to make it harder for blacks in Baltimore to take the company to court.

Citing medical evidence that blacks have a different lung capacity than whites, lawyers for the insulation manufacturer wanted to require blacks to show they have worse scores on lung tests than whites as a result of asbestos exposure before they qualify for a trial.

Specifically, the company named a dozen blacks it wanted barred from pursuing their lawsuit. Had these men been white, they would have had no problem having their cases heard, given their tests' results.

Physicians have argued convincingly on both sides of the issue: The American Medical Association supports race considerations in determining lung function, but pulmonary doctors, asbestos experts and medical anthropologists denounce such considerations. The mere suggestion has outraged many blacks, doctors and asbestos experts who say it smacks of racism. Hood Notes' Homepage

Politics Y2K2

GOP Agenda Green Light

Political pundits proclaim Election 2002 a victory for the Grand Old Party (GOP) that is tantamount to a mandate for George W. Bush's agenda. Republicans control the White House, Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, and given there is no credible opposition among Democrats in sight, the pundits might be right.

If the Republican agenda is vested in the pre 9-11 vision articulated by George W. Bush's presidential campaign and inaugural address, then important planks are tort reform, privatizing Social Security, reducing the size of government, tax cuts to stimulate the economy, improving public education and strict construction as the litmus test for his judicial nominations.

Only since 9-11 has terrorism become a GOP agenda item. Given the US is a mature capitalistic economy, one can easily see why its national security interest includes controlling the world's oil reserves. Targets in the war on terrorism simply conform to that objective. However, before the war on terrorism and its oily implications, there were the GOP agenda items of tort reform and strict construction judges.

On tort reform, stated objectives include limitations on the number of lawsuits filed and money amounts awarded for damages, which limit corporate liability. The GOP, which likes to denigrate trial lawyers, wants to handcuff citizens while giving big business a free hand in destroying the environment and jeopardizing public health. Strict construction judges, like those that declared counting votes could hurt George W. Bush, will rule in favor of corporations like Halliburton and Owens-Corning. If the GOP agenda succeeds, theses entities will avoid responsibility for compromising the health of workers exposed to asbestos and other carcinogens.

GOP tort reform and strict construction judges give businesses the Green Light to pursue profits with impunity while fouling the environment and threatening public welfare. If the GOP succeeds in achieving these agenda items, US citizens will be poorer for it. Politics Y2K2

Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes & Phone Calls

Email wdivinelove@aol.com Federal judge Eugene M. Bogen, rules with authority in the Northern District of Mississippi, which seems far removed from the rest of the civilized world. Maybe, that is the reason for its inhumane treatment of black folks. The war on drugs, racial profiling, police brutality, lynchings, justifiable homicides by law enforcement officials have instilled fear in the hearts of honest God-fearing people. In any courtroom in Mississippi, you will find it filled with black youth without legal counsel. The hopelessness is Hell on Earth! The penalty of being borne black in Mississippi is to pay the debts of your ancestors that died from the plantation owner's whip!

Email criticalman@earthlink.net "It doesn't take a genius to figure out, that today's characters in the American political scene, are little more than chattering, babbling clowns, utilizing riddles, enigmas and mysteries, to play out deceptive acts under false pretenses - and getting you to believe in what they are doing! The labels make no difference, whether it is Republican or Democrat. Both are equally evil, equally deceptive and dishonest, and equally participating in the destruction of the USA and its citizens. It doesn't take a lot of research to soon learn, that the Democrats and Republicans have long been bedfellows, while trying to maintain the illusion of being totally at odds with each other." Russell R. Bingman More Mailbox

THINC  || 2002 Issues || The DISH