Volume 6 Issue 18…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…May 9, 2003

By Nguyen Thi Lan

Mother, I love you more

When I walk out and see the World

Children suffer from the lack

Of education, of food, of clothing

Of everything.

All mothers' hearts must bleed

To see such sad things

All mothers surely wish

Better changes for children.

Mother, I love you more

Because I know for sure

You bear all hardships.

All your life you sacrifice.

You never went to school but educate me well.

You save for rainy days so

I pass no time lacking food.

You wisely train me how to behave.

You work early and stay up late

While I am sound asleep

Your love for me runs so deep.

I learn from you of how to care

How to give love and how to share.

A candy, a smile, a book

A helping hand, a thoughtful look.

Whole heart, whole soul

To poor children everywhere.

On Mother's Day

I join in prayer

For all Mothers on Earth

All the best wishes Mothers deserve

A better life for all the World.

About Me: Husband and father of three, Nguyen Thi Lan works for World Vision International on two projects-- Children With Difficulty Moving (CWDM) and Let Them Walk Again (LTWA). Thi Lan comes from a poor Vietnamese family. His mother worked hard to raise 10 children. This poem is dedicated to her and all devoted and loving mothers everywhere. Venue for an Artist Homepage

World Vision Vietnam

In the face of growing opposition against the Vietnam War, President Richard Nixon turned to television to change public opinion. In a November 3, 1969 speech, he said the "silent majority" agreed with him that a "precipitate withdrawal" would be "disastrous for the future of peace." Vice President Spiro Agnew denounced peace demonstrators as an "effete corps of impudent snobs" and reprimanded the media for daring to question the Nixon policy.

Massive bombing campaigns replaced Nixon's policy of gradual US troop withdrawals. Millions of Vietnamese civilians were killed, maimed and deprived of shelter and livelihood as a result of American action, which included napalm bombing, population transfer, village destruction, crop burning and forest defoliation.

At the outset of the conflict, Vietnam was the "Rice Bowl" of the world. When US bombing raids ended, the country could barely feed itself. Its rice paddies were riddled with land mines that maimed and killed many more Vietnamese men, women and children. World Vision Vietnam, a division of World Vision International, assists land mine victims and other children with disabilities. Nguyen Thi Lan's two projects - CWDM and LTWA - operate in some of the poorest provinces in Vietnam. Help is always needed! For more about the work of World Vision International in Vietnam and other countries, visit www.worldvison.org. News You Use Homepage

Vietnam and the Vietnam War

The legendary country called Van Lang became part of Nam Viet, a kingdom in Southern China in the 3rd century BC. Destroyed by the Chinese empire in 111 BC, the regions inhabited by the Vietnamese became a province of China. Chinese ruled lasted for more than 1,000 years. The Vietnamese overthrew the Chinese and achieved independence in 939 AD.

The country prospered. In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was split into a northern and southern half. The regime established after a 1773 revolution was defeated in a 30-year civil war led by a prince of the southern ruling house who was aided by France. From 1802, united Vietnam was ruled by the Nguyen dynasty.

European contact began in the 16th century. Catholic missionaries from Portugal, Italy and France came in the 17th century. Conflict between the missionaries and Vietnamese monarchy was the pretext for French intervention in the 1840s. The country came under French control in 1883. Led by the old mandarins and scholars, who had been leaders of ancient Vietnam, a long period of Vietnamese resistance followed. Pacification was more or less completed after 20 years.

The country was organized for French exploitation under the governorship of Paul Doumer in 1897-1902. About 10 years later, Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos) became France's richest colony. From 1902, Vietnamese resisted colonial occupation. Frequent uprisings led to sharp repression and an increase of nationalist aspiration.

In 1940, Japan occupied Vietnam. In 1941, the Communists succeeded under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, in getting exiled nationalist groups in China to join in forming the Viet Minh. With Chinese and other allied support, the Viet Minh took power.

In December 1946, war broke out between the Viet Minh and the French. The French were unable to win the war in Indochina because they lacked support of the Vietnamese people. The French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu, which was captured by the Viet Minh on May 7, 1954. The Geneva Conference divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel between the Communists (North) and the Nationalists (South). France signed an armistice on July 21, 1954, marking the end of the war and the realization of Vietnamese independence.

Ngo Dinh Diem, the South Vietnamese premier, canceled national elections and declared the South independent in 1956. The Viet Nam Cong San (Vietnamese Communists), or Vietcong, was then formed to oppose his increasingly corrupt regime. The Vietcong were equipped and trained by North Vietnam, with Chinese backing and included North Vietnamese troops especially in the later stages of the war. The Vietcong fought a ferocious guerrilla campaign that led Diem to call in US support forces under the US-South Vietnamese military and economic aid treaty of 1961.

In 1963, military officers overthrew Diem. After a period of turmoil, Nguyen Van Thieu became president in 1967. In 1965 the US began bombing the North in retaliation for the use of Northern troops in the South. Increasing numbers of US combat troops began to arrive in 1965 and totaled nearly 550,000 by 1968. The large-scale US campaign proved unable to do more than hold back the highly motivated Vietcong.

Vietnamese civilians suffered terribly at the hands of both sides. In 1969, US President Richard M. Nixon announced the "Vietnamization" of the war by building up South Vietnamese forces and withdrawing US troops. The war spread to Cambodia and Laos before a cease-fire signed in January 1976 preceded the total withdrawal of US troops. Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces overran the South; the war effectively ended with the fall of Saigon in May 1975. (Source: Encyclopedia) History Homepage

Is Vieques Free?

In the 1940s, the United States purchased about two-thirds of Vieques, Puerto Rico to create a bombing range. Families and farmers were forced to vacate the area with little compensation. Naval operations began in 1947, along with the protests, which increased in intensity following the 1999 death of a civilian. Protesters claim the bombing damaged the island's fragile ecology, crippled its fishing and tourism economy and harmed the health of the island's 9,300 inhabitants.

US military exercises on the island ended in April in keeping with George Bush's 2001 promise. The US Department of the Interior will assist in transforming the range into a wild life refuge. Vieques' Governor Sila Calderon pledged to ask Congress to put Vieques on the National Priority List for a cleanup.

Vieques' is free from naval bombing, but some protesters remain political prisoners. They believe the land must be returned to Puerto Ricans to be truly free. Politics Homepage

By John Burl Smith

Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution (3/5 Compromise) was designed to keep slaves and their descendant bent- locked down by poverty. Across the South, the cotton ginning system controlled access to markets. Turning cotton fiber into fabric began at the gin. Calculated by weight, cotton production was strictly monitored. Specifically, the only way a black man could get cotton to market was through white men, who brokered for cotton houses in places like Memphis, Tennessee. The relative size of the bit taken from the yearly production of a black man was determined by how much it took to get another crop in the field and feed his family well enough to keep them working.

Slave descendants have always lived the 3/5 Compromise, the foundation of the second class status blacks occupy. That second class status is based solely on color, which makes us easily identifiable and discrimination against us acceptable on all levels of society. As technology mechanized farming, blacks migrated to urban centers, creating huge cheap labor pools. Poor uneducated black city dwellers, like sharecroppers, were squeezed for their last drop of dignity. Responding to a plea for help, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Memphis to assist striking sanitation workers demanding the right to be treated as human beings.

Dr. King's assistance, although desperately needed, upstaged a valiant fight being waged by black men stooped by decades of defacto-slavery. Denied the most basic human considerations, they found the courage to stand up for dignity and proclaim, "I AM A MAN." A concept taken for granted today, Memphis garbage workers were the lowest of the lowly.

Back then, black men collected garbage in number 5 wash tubs, which were carried on their heads or shoulders. The cost of a replacement tub was deducted from their pay, forcing collectors to use tubs until the bottom no longer could be held in place. Leaky tubs allowed water and other liquids to drip on collectors, saturating them with a foul stench. The city refused to provide coverall uniforms for garbage men. Although the whites that supervised collection crews had showers and change facilities, black garbage collectors were not allowed to use them.

Locked at the bottom of the economic ladder, most garbage men rode public transportation to and from work. Those too embarrassed by their smell, walked. Historians consider the assassination of Dr. King the death knell of segregated workplaces because the city recognized black workers' demands. However, deplorable slave wages, atrocious working conditions and their desire for dignity drove black garbage men to say individually, "I AM A MAN." No price is too high to pay for the dignity of being treated like human beings.

Emblematic of sharecroppers, hip-hop artists live the 3/5 Compromise existence of Memphis garbage workers in 1968. Questions of dignity dog artists controlled by recording/entertainment moguls, who have turned their words and beats into economic power. Accordingly, hip-hop artists must go through whites, who determine their 3/5 Compromise share of their creative products.

Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.'s deaths sent the same message as Dr. King's assassination. "Saturated with the stench of drugs, tits, butts and gangsterism poured on them by image makers, hip-hop artists are new millennium garbage men." Tied to record deals, like slaves to plantations, hip-hop artists are owned like their ancestors. But unlike them, hip-hop icons cower before the "master," rather than stand up for dignity and say, I AM A MAN or WOMAN! Other Essays by John Burl Smith

Disgruntled wants to know: Days after publication of the Middle East Road Map, which is supposed to give us a Palestinian state by 2005, Israeli Ambassador to the US Daniel Ayalon appeared on C-Span. In response to comments made by a viewer, he claimed, "Democracies do not do evil." World history is littered with examples of the evil deeds committed by countries claiming to be democracies in the name of bringing freedom to "backward" nations from Afghanistan to Vietnam. One wonders what planet Ayalon resides on?

Disgruntled feels: Duped! As the international press explores documents cited by Secretary of State Colin Powell and reiterated by George Bush in laying out the case for attacking Iraq, it is clear the international community was duped. According to some polls, those who supported the war do not care that lies were told to justify the deadly course. With the aggressors apparently victorious, they are willing to let sleeping dogs lie. Of course, had such blatant lies been told by almost anyone else, they would scream impeachment or worse.

Disgruntled says: Morality guru Bill Bennett recently admitted that he is a habitual gambler. A leader of the moral right, Bill plays $500 slots and has lost/won $8 million in the last decade. Bennett and Newt Gingrich were frequent television talk show guests during the Clinton-Lewinsky mess. While lambasting Clinton, Newt was having an adulterous affair with a younger woman, and Bill was gambling. An intensely personal matter, adultery is not illegal, but it destroys many marriages. Just ask Newt! Gambling is legal, but can be destructive to families; many see it as a moral weakness. Invariably, those who judge others and throw stones would do well to check their moral compass. More Disgruntled Moments

Cornelius P. Rhoads Memorial Award

The Board of Directors of the American Association for Cancer Research Inc. (AACR) has decided to remove the late Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoads' name from an award given annually in recognition of the accomplishments of an outstanding young investigator. Rhoads was the first Director of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Center for Cancer Research. The award named in his honor was established in 1979 through the generosity of an anonymous donor.

The Board suspended the AACR-Cornelius P. Rhoads Memorial Award for 2003 pending the outcome of its review of serious allegations concerning Dr. Rhoads. The Board's review was initiated last autumn when allegations were brought to its attention regarding events that occurred in 1931. At that time, Dr. Rhoads was one of a team of Rockefeller Foundation physicians treating anemia patients in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In November 1931, a handwritten letter by Dr. Rhoads to a US friend was found in the hospital where he worked and was read by hospital staff members. The letter contained disparaging and repellent statements about Puerto Ricans, as well as apparent admissions that Dr. Rhoads engaged in medical misconduct.

A special public prosecutor and local medical authorities investigated the episode in early 1932 and found no legal basis for bringing charges against Dr. Rhoads. Dr. Rhoads sought to explain the letter as a "parody" written for his own diversion, an explanation that troubled the authorities and others in Puerto Rico.

The AACR's inquiry was undertaken to enable it to respond to numerous requests last autumn, primarily from concerned persons in Puerto Rico, that Dr. Rhoads' name be removed from the award. Directed by Dr. Jay Katz, an emeritus professor at Yale Law School and a leading authority on bioethics and human experimentation, the inquiry focused on the future of the award named for Dr. Rhoads.

The Board has concluded that statements made by Dr. Rhoads make him an unsuitable exemplar for the young researchers that the AACR's award is meant to recognize. Accordingly, his name will no longer be associated with the award. The award itself will be renamed and will continue to be conferred upon young researchers in the future. With the review process completed and the question before the Board answered, the AACR now looks forward to directing its energies to the goals that the award is intended to serve. Direct any questions on this matter to Warren Froelich, AACR Director of Communications, at (215) 440-9300, extension 198. Hood Notes Homepage

On Jawboning!

By Dot

Because he controls neither monetary nor fiscal policy, the most powerful tool a US president has to influence this mature capitalist economy is jawboning. He is in the same position as parents of adult children. The only thing they can do is talk to sway their offspring.

The Federal Reserve basically controls monetary policy. Congress controls the purse strings and implements fiscal policy. April's unemployment rate climbed to 6%. Despite this continued hemorrhaging of jobs, the Fed stood pat on its 1.25% discount rate. As Congress debates budgets and taxes, the president can jawbone, i.e., talk, which is what George W. Bush did to get Congress to pass his first trillion-dollar tax cut.

For obvious reasons, it is a good idea for the nation's chief executive to be upbeat. Once this big ship turns up or down, it is hard to get it to turn around. But, Bush, to the astonishment of astute observers, jawboned down the economy to justify that huge tax cut. Everybody seems to have forgotten that Bush did that.

Now, if he truly wants the economy to turn around, he needs to take a more positive tact. Talking tax cuts aimed at increasing capital spending when there is excess capacity will not create jobs or spur economic growth. Like the intelligent parents of adults, Bush needs to learn when to jawbone and when to shut up! DISHing It Up Hot! Homepage

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