Volume 6 Issue 19…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…May 16, 2003

By crystal cartier

So much injustice has taken place

in this wicked world to every race

Women have been abused and mistreated

Entire cultures have been raped and defeated

So many folks have suffered and died

Over and over HIStory has lied

Painting heroic portraits of ugly tyrants

imperialists, slave traders, businessmen, and pirates

Yet, when we seek the truth they rant

You people want too much!

Nothing bad was done by my own touch!

Just cause I'm white doesn't mean I'm rich

I'm struggling too... 'cause Life's a bitch!

Get over it and stop complaining!

We owe you nothing is what I'm saying!

I will not be made to pay

for the sins of my fathers or transgressions of others

Why can't we just all get along like sisters and brothers?

Whites on top and blacks on the bottom

I didn't make the rules!

But hell why bother?

If it ain't broke I say why fix it?

The white race is doomed due to race mixin'!

Are whites so wrong to try to fight back?

To preserve a world that works

for whites but destroys blacks?

Do you honestly expect us to hand mud men the keys

to riches purloined by royal thieves?

Besides it's a little late to try to be fair.

All this fussin' and fighting is getting us nowhere.

So settle down and be happy with your lots in life.

No more bad attitudes, criminal behavior or racial strife.

You must all try to overcome your limitations

inferior breeding, genetic flaws

and a lack of morals and education.

Don't be upsetting my innocent children

with your hard luck stories

Hard working white folks deserve their glory!

Besides, things are the way they are for a good reason.

REMEMBER....for everything

there is a time and a season

How dare you try to make me feel guilty for your trials!

White folks are comfortable living in a state of denial.

About Me: Crystal Cartier is one of the most prolific writers on the Internet. In addition to being a poet, she is the author of a new novel "Curse of the Vendetta," which is available wherever books are sold or on her website www.crystalcartier.com. A songwriter, her music can be heard at www.cdbaby.com/ccartier. Apropos, her motto is, "If I can help someone as I journey through life, then my living will not be in vain." Venue for an Artist Homepage

FCC and Media Monopoly

On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is scheduled to rule on sweeping changes to US media. Removing current restrictions on ownership could make it possible for one company to control all media outlets - print, radio and television - in a given market. This would mean a company, such as Clear Channel, which owns FOX News, could control all media in a local market. Such a monopoly or single viewpoint controlling all the news spells disaster for the diversity of opinions necessarily aired in a democracy.

Register your opinion of the proposed changes with the FCC at www.fcc.gov or join the Move On campaign to stop media monopoly. Visit www.moveon.org/stopthefcc for more information or call, fax or email your elected representative and voice your opinion about the proposed FCC rule changes. News You Use Homepage

To the Kidds

By John Burl Smith

Last week (5-4-03) in a discussion on ''Sports Final'' with WBZ-TV's Bob Lobel, columnist Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe and frequent guest on ESPN's ''Around the Horn,'' ESPN's ''SportsPlus,'' ''ESPN's The Sports Reporters'' and ESPN Radio said, ''I got theories with this woman, this Joumana Kidd, who wants to be a star, wants to be a TV star. She wants face time on camera. The great way to get face time is to bring the cute, precocious kid (TJ). Oh, great. I'd like to smack her.'' Calling Joumana a ''quasi-exhibitionist,'' he said she uses TJ as ''a prop.'' Ryan was referring to the wife of the New Jersey Nets' basketball star Jason Kidd. Drawing only a suspension of one month without pay and barred from radio or TV, Ryan apologized, claiming his remarks were hyperbolic.

A big hit at courtside, 4-year-old TJ entertains fans and media talking heads, while watching his father's court performance. Joumana is a correspondent on the TV show ''Extra,'' which provides her with face time in her own right. Obviously, Ryan does not have a family, therefore he is unfamiliar with the kind of needs and actions that hold them together or the picture of a happy black family brought out some hooded desire. Globe editor Martin Baron called Ryan's comments "clearly egregious and a violation of standards at The Boston Globe." However, most fair-minded people agree with Nets coach Byron Scott, who said, "Ryan should be out of a job.'' And you know, had the target of his derogatory comments been a white woman, he would have been fired on the spot.

For defying the stereotypes and exemplifying a cohesive black family unit, kudos to the Kidds! Jason defies the stereotypical black "deadbeat dad." With Joumana and TJ waiting when he steps out of the locker room, Jason and his family go home together. Unlike many players who stop off at bars or clubs, sometimes getting caught up with "hookers," freaky fans and drugs, Jason will be home to tuck little TJ in and kiss his wife goodnight. Maybe, it was such images that infuriated Ryan. Once, as was the case here with black women in Walton County, Georgia, when such passions were aroused, white men took black women and lynched black men that objected. Today, like spoiled kids, they can only throw temper tantrums. Kudos to the Kidds! More Kudos! Other Essays by John Burl Smith

US Immigration and Naturalization (1790-1950)

Beginning with the passage of its first piece of immigration and naturalization legislation through the 1950s, color (race) played a defining role in determining who could become a United States citizen. Court rulings and legislation assured those granted citizenship fit the definition of "white." The court decisions, which date from the early 1800s to the 1940s, determined which nationalities were "white" or qualified as Caucasian either on the basis of common law, congressional intent or with the establishment of legal precedent.

On March 26, 1790, Congress passed its first naturalization act, which explicitly restricted citizenship to free white persons. Legislation passed in 1795 and 1802 changed residency requirements and mandated alien record keeping, but the primary requirement remained skin color. Throughout the 1800s, Congress passed legislation to prohibit citizenship for Chinese immigrants and Asians. In the early 1900s, the Gentleman's Agreement with Japan restricted Japanese immigration. California's Alien Land Law (1913) prohibited "aliens ineligible for citizenship," primarily Chinese and Japanese, from owning property in that state. It became the model for similar acts in other states.

In the case of Ozawa v. United States (1922), the US Supreme Court ruled against the naturalization of a Japan-born applicant that had resided in the US most of his life. The court circumvented the issue of color by defining 'white' as 'Caucasian.' In its landmark decision in the United States v. Bhaghat Singh Thind (1923), the Supreme Court ruled against South Indian immigrant Bhaghat Singh Thind, who attempted to gain citizenship by arguing that he was Caucasian. The Supreme Court changed its definition again to the more common meaning of the term 'white'. In the Thind ruling, the Court separated desirable immigrants, European whites, from the undesirable ones, in this case Asian Indians.

US history of immigration and naturalization law shows a clear preference for whites or those classed as Caucasians. While the laws gradually changed to allow the naturalization of people from nations all over the world, there remain prejudices against people of color. The most glaring example today is found in the treatment accorded Haitian and Cuban immigrants. (Sources: www.umass.edu/complit/aclanet/USMigrat.html and www.archives.state.co.us/natinfo.htm) History Homepage

By John Burl Smith

The PBS series, Race - The Power of an Illusion concluded on Friday (May 9, 2003). A landmark for researchers hoping to make useful statements about present conditions of slave descendants throughout the Diaspora, this documentary is a clear indictment of the US government for the huge number of blacks living in poverty today. Basically, it explored the US government's use of skin color as the basis for allocating resources and reinforcing white supremacy.

Researchers pointed a finger at policies of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) that mandated segregated housing. They showed how bank redlining of urban communities withdrew economic resources and restricted the flow of capital into predominately black neighborhoods. This PBS special showed that funds taken from black areas were redirected to build exclusive white suburbs. Massive poverty resulted in urban areas stripped of their tax base. US government policy made black communities economic risks and white areas preferred for economic development.

Providing information obtained from government records and antidotal accounts is a valuable contribution to fighting racism, inequality and injustice. However, this documentary failed to provide an empirical method to prove the poverty blacks endure today is the results of US government actions. It did not present a definition or formula that shows the relative difference between the socioeconomic and political welfare loss suffered by blacks relative to whites is a function of law. Without a function that mathematically demonstrates such an affect, any conclusions drawn from antidotal accounts and records amount to interpretation and personal opinion.

Research published by Dot M. Smith in 1982, Recession and Unemployment: A Retrospective Analysis of the Economic Welfare Loss introduced a function that proves the PBS documentary's thesis. Dubbed the "chasm analysis," this powerful adjunct proves that racial discrimination in America is a stable, verifiable and quantifiable function of law. Using government income and employment data, Smith identified a stable difference in the median family incomes of blacks relative to whites that goes back to 1947, the start of record keeping. Smith's analysis shows this income difference mirrors the 3/5 Compromise of Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution, the legal definition of slavery.

Evidence presented in the PBS series replicates Smith's 1982 findings. Together, these researchers have quantified the stable gap that resulted from US government policies, namely slavery, segregation and white supremacy, which allocated socioeconomic resources based solely on skin color (race). Smith's chasm analysis provides researchers with a valuable model for verifying the relative welfare loss slave descendants have experienced as a function of law, the 3/5 Compromise. Essays by John Burl Smith

Annual Malcolm X-Day

Monday, May 19, 2003 marks the 78th birthday of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X). Groups around the country plan to hold ceremonies in observation of the historic day. In New York, the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) will celebrate the day with its annual pilgrimage to Malcolm X's burial site. This year is the group's 38th pilgrimage since Malcolm's 1965 assassination.

Buses and cars will assemble at the Harlem State Office Building on 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd at 9:00 AM and proceed to Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, NY at 10:00 AM. The ceremony will last approximately one hour and will return to Harlem to take part in several activities and rallies sponsored by many organizations throughout the day.

The O.A.A.U. initiated the pilgrimage after the 1965 burial of Malcolm X to honor and show respect for the fallen leader, as well as to educate future generations about his efforts to liberate African minds and bodies.

Participants are asked to dress appropriately for the weather, bring liquids and a light snack, pay close attention to the young and elderly in attendance, respect the cemetery grounds and follow proper road rules.

For further information contact: Professor James Small at (212) 926-9062, Fax (212) 694-1886 or email Rmabry@ndsny.org for bus and travel directions. Hood Notes Homepage

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is looking forward to the final days of school. Already, he is making plans for summer camp and other ways to spend the lazy days of summer ahead. When queried for comments, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro responded, "I can't wait to jump into a cool pool." Back to the Bat Cave

Journalistic Integrity?

A by-product of the great "XYZ Affair" and the undeclared war with France (1798-1800), the Alien and Sedition Acts permitted the deportation of foreigners deemed dangerous. While the acts discouraged immigration and encouraged many aliens to leave, no one was actually deported by the John Adams administration. However, about two dozen men were arrested; ten of them were convicted. Most were Republican newspaper editors whose writings, though not seditious, displeased the President. Hardly seditious, one of the editors wished that, when a salute was fired in the President's honor, the waddling of the cannon had "struck him in the rear bulge of the breeches."

Reporters and editors back then were not afraid to call a spade a spade. Unlike now, editors understood the value of a free press. Even presidents were frequent targets of journalistic criticism. Of course, during the Bill Clinton Administration, the media had a field day with an array of investigations from his policies to those pesky personal peccadilloes.

Now, with mainstream media owned by corporate America, which funded the campaign of an administration that is well-liked by the business community, editorial staffs pretend putrid propaganda is real journalism, "fair and balanced." Investigative reporting is an oxymoron. Print media and radio and television shock jocks are cheerleaders for the military-industrial complex and its cowboy mentality, which basically says, "you are either with us or agin us."

As the prestige of US media has declined worldwide, Jayson Blair, the New York Times reporter that recently resigned over fabricated sources and news stories, has become the poster boy for the absence of journalistic integrity. Of all the obvious hyperbole that permeates US media, it would boil down to a black man taking a hit for an entire shady industry.

A similar fate befell Jose Conseco, the baseball player that has become the poster boy for athletes that use hormones to enhance performance. In a sport where hormones are widely used, Conseco is singled out. Yet, Mark McGwire is known for using hormones to improve his batting average. But, as Conseco says, McGwire is the all-American white guy. So, like Teflon, nothing negative sticks on him. Instead, an athlete of color, like the black reporter, symbolizes the negative habits of an entire industry.

There is no excusing Blair's dishonesty, but his fabricated stories alone are not enough to call into question an entire industry's integrity. And, clearly, journalistic integrity remains a question mark as long as US media refuse to publish criticism of its president. Phantom Scribbler Homepage

Disgruntled wants to know: Less than a year ago, Charles Heston, the actor of Ben Hur fame and president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), announced he had Alzheimer. At a recent NRA gathering, Heston could barely walk or talk, though he managed to hold the signature rifle aloft. A hunter, Heston probably bagged a few bucks and shared the kill with his follow woodsmen. Unfortunately, US deer and elk suffer with chronic wasting disease (CWD), another name for mad cow. Could Alzheimer be a form of mad cow?

Disgruntled says: It does not take a crystal ball to see there is nothing new in the "road map" to Middle East peace. After reading its text, its chief components can be found in failed accords and United Nations' resolutions since 1947. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Zionist lobby are working overtime to hamper its implementation. It is clear Israel will never give up Jerusalem as its capital or relinquish an inch of the occupied territory. So, this is a "road map" to nowhere.

Disgruntled feels: Denial! As the international food fight heats up, Americans need to examine the reasons why nobody else willingly accepts genetically modified foods of hormone-treated meat. While a lack of exercise is part of the reason so many Americans are fat, it is not the sole culprit. Fattening cows quickly for market with growth hormones must be looked at. It is the height of reckless denial to pretend those hormones that saturate animal fat stop working when we eat it. More Disgruntled Moments

Email www.internationalanswer.org Activists and organizers from around the country will attend the May 17-18 National Conference Against War, Colonial Occupation and Imperialism in New York City at 40 Irving Place between 16th and 17th Streets. Workshops for activists and organizers will analyze, assess, evaluate and develop strategies to address the Bush administration's ultra-militaristic foreign policy as well as its assault on civil rights and civil liberties at home. More Mailbox

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