Volume 6 Issue 21…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…May 30, 2003

By John Burl Smith

Amidst the symbolism of a battle between good and evil, right-wing conservatives have turned Christianity into the battle emblem of American white supremacy. Using the courts to stage high profile fights over the separation of church and state, conservative Republicans project environmental issues, trial lawyers, Roe v Wade, immigration and affirmative action as the enemies of Christianity. According to George W. Bush's nominee for the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, Bill Pryor, "God has chosen us to save our country and our court for our children." An outspoken darling of the religious right, Pryor is infamous for putting a copy of the Ten Commandments on his courthouse wall and filing "friend-of-the-court" briefs in opposition to civil, women's, consumer and environmental rights. As an Appeals Court judge, he will lead Bush's charge to reinforce white supremacy.

Reminiscent of George Wallace standing in the "school house door," Pryor's nomination is a clear signal that "due process and equal protection" for blacks are dead. Pryor has urged repeal of Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which "guarantees minority access to the polls." The Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v Gore, which denied blacks "due process and equal protection" by stopping the counting of legally cast ballots in the name of insuring those rights for Bush, stood the Constitution on its head. The court reaffirmed Judge Roger B. Taney's Dred Scott opinion that "a black man has no rights, a white man is bound to respect."

The result of election 2000 is also clear. Black people, women and immigrants out-voted conservative white supremacists. It took every white person alive and dead for Bush to get his total and still that was not enough. Consequently, after fraudulently taking the White House, conservatives are committed to preventing a president elected by blacks and their allies from taking office. Political hit men and talking heads, like nominee Pryor, paint anyone who speaks out against Bush and his redneck revolution as un-American.

The only way to stop Bush in 2004 is to make his defeat symbolize the liberation of America from the Supreme Court's decision that put Bush in the White House. Everyone who voted against Bush in 2000 must make a commitment to not only do it again but to recruit at least one non-voter to cast a ballot against Bush in 2004. It will double the total votes against Bush in every state. That will not just be symbolism; it will be a victory for democracy. The goal is regime change! Other Essays by John Burl Smith

Disgruntled says: Contrary to all the "news" coverage devoted to Jayson Blair and his lack of a moral compass, US mainstream media lacked credibility long before Blair pulled his stunt. Moreover, blaming affirmative action confirms global opinion about the depths of US morass.

Disgruntled wants to know: A 1974 US National Security Memorandum detailed efforts in thirteen developing nations aimed at massive birth control and sterilizations. In Brazil, the sterilization project targeted women of African descent. Given US population control history and evidence that HIV/AIDS is a US lab creation specifically designed with blacks in mind, who thinks $15 billion will be spent combating AIDS in Africa?

Disgruntled feels: Fishy! In the US, winning is everything! Strength is admirable; power is craved! So, when US Treasury Secretary John Snow claimed a weak dollar is a "good thing," some of us thought it sounded fishy. Then, we decided it must be part of some esoteric global strategy, like calling for regime change in Iran because it harbors Al-Qaida and has weapons of mass destruction. In reality, the US wants to consolidate its geopolitical stranglehold on Middle East resources. More Disgruntled Moments

By Countee Cullen (1903-1946)

My father is a quiet man
With sober, steady ways;
For simile, a folded fan;
His nights are like his days.

My mother's life is puritan,
No hint of cavalier,
A pool so calm you're sure it can
Have little depth to fear.

And yet my father's eyes can boast
How full his life has been;
There haunts them yet the languid ghost
Of some still sacred sin.

And though my mother chants of God,
And of the mystic river,
I've seen a bit of checkered sod
Set all her flesh aquiver.

Why should he deem it pure mischance
A son of his is fain
To do a naked tribal dance
Each time he hears the rain?

Why should she think it devil's art
That all my songs should be
Of love and lovers, broken heart,
And wild sweet agony?

Who plants a seed begets a bud,
Extract of that same root;
Why marvel at the hectic blood
That flushes this wild fruit?

About Me: Personifying the diverse talent that became known as the Harlem Renaissance, Countee Cullen was born in New York. Raised in a Methodist parsonage, he started writing poetry at age fourteen. A New York University graduate, his poems were published in magazines from The Crisis to Harper's. He won the Witter Bynner Undergraduate Poetry Prize and other awards for Ballad of the Brown Girl. Harper published Color (1923), his first volume of poetry. He received his master's degree from Harvard, and published Copper Sun (1927). Blacks were highly critical of his second book of poetry because it failed to adequately treat the subject of race. Unlike other Harlem Renaissance artists, Cullen was raised and educated in a primarily white environment. His experiences differed from those of the larger black community, a difference reflected in his art. His works include The Black Christ (1929) and his novel, One Way to Heaven (1932). (Sources: www.math.buffalo.edu and www.nku.edu) Venue for Artists Homepage

Rally Against Police Terrorism

On Sunday, June 25, 2003 Harlem residents and New Yorkers from across the city will gather to protest the death of Alberta Spruill, the Harlem resident and municipal employee who died on May 17^th as a result of a botched drug raid. Acting on information from an unreliable drug informant, the New York Police Department's elite Emergency Service Unit tossed a concussion "grenade" into Spruill's apartment creating a deafening noise and blinding flash. A 57 years-old Coalition of Black Trade Unionists member, she was preparing for work when the police burst in, wrestled her to the floor and handcuffed her, despite pleas of not being able to breathe. Spruill died within two hours!

In response to the "shock and awe" of residents in Harlem and throughout New York, the rally's organizers feel Mayor Michael Bloomberg's apologies and a promised investigation from Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly are too little and too late to address the epidemic of police brutality and misconduct. Within days of Spruill's death, a plainclothes officer shot and killed unarmed African immigrant Ousmane Zango.

Rally organizers and supporters have charged NYPD with using military weaponry in predominately black and Latino neighborhoods. In the process, it has created a "Blue Wall of Terror" against communities of color. Organizers of the rally say police misconduct and brutality, whether by black or white officers, are largely confined to non-white and working class immigrant neighborhoods. Rally supporters further contend that treating Spruill's death as one of NYPD's officers failing to follow procedures does not address the underlying systemic racism prevalent in NYPD. A list of demands will be read at the rally. The rally will feature speakers to be announced. The rally will began at 2:30 PM at 310 West 143rd Street and proceed to 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. For more information, please contact Nellie Bailey at 212-316-2240. News You Use Homepage

Robert C. Byrd: The Dean of Congress

"Truth has a way of asserting itself despite all attempts to obscure it. Distortion only serves to derail it for a time. No matter to what lengths we humans may go to obfuscate facts or delude our fellows, truth has a way of squeezing out through the cracks, eventually. But the danger is that at some point it may no longer matter. The danger is that damage is done before the truth is widely realized. The reality is that, sometimes, it is easier to ignore uncomfortable facts and go along with whatever distortion is currently in vogue. We see a lot of this today in politics. I see a lot of it -- more than I would ever have believed -- right on this Senate Floor. ... And mark my words, the calculated intimidation which we see so often of late by the "powers that be" will only keep the loyal opposition quiet for just so long. Because eventually, like it always does, the truth will emerge. And when it does, this house of cards, built of deceit, will fall. (Remarks by Senator Robert C. Byrd on the reasons given by the Bush Administration for the war against Iraq, May 21, 2003)

Robert Carlyle Byrd was born Nov. 20, 1917. A coal miner's son, he grew up in poverty. He graduated at the top of his high school class, but could not afford college. Byrd worked odd jobs during the 1930s Great Depression and became a shipyard welder during WWII.

Byrd won a seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates (1946), and served in the state House and state Senate until 1953. He ran for Congress in 1952. Despite revelations of a brief membership in the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), Byrd won. In his 1958 bid for the US Senate, Byrd unseated the Republican incumbent.

Senator Byrd earned his law degree (J.D.) from American University (1963) after ten years of night classes. It was the first time a sitting member of Congress earned a law degree. Byrd was awarded his BA in political science from Marshall University in 1994.

Democratic Leader twelve years from January 1977 through December 1988, he served as Senate Majority Leader six years (1977-80, 1987-88) and as Senate Minority Leader six years (1981-86). A member of the Senate Appropriations committee since 1959, on two separate occasions, he served as its chairman. Twice, he was unanimously elected President pro tempore of the Senate. In May 2001, Governor Bob Wise and both Houses of the West Virginia Legislature named him "West Virginian of the 20th Century."

In 1999, Byrd's KKK connection resurfaced in Graham Smith's book "When Jim Crow Met John Bull." Smith found a 1945 letter written by Byrd to the late Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo, a staunch segregationist. Byrd wrote Bilbo he would never fight in integrated armed forces. He wrote, "Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."

With the march of time, Byrd has expressed regret over those remarks and his racist past, including the "no" vote he cast against the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In 2003, when Senate Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott expressed regret that segregationist Strom Thurmond did not succeed in his bid for the presidency, Byrd's racist past received some press coverage.

Recognized as the "Dean of Congress," the senior Senator from West Virginia was once known as "Fiddlin' Bob Byrd. He recorded an album called "U.S. Senator Robert Byrd: Mountain Fiddler" (1978). A symbol of courage in the face of overwhelming power, Senator Byrd's web site received 3.7 million visits in March. He is a hero to those US citizens that doubt the wisdom of George W. Bush's policies, including the war on Iraq. He is the solo figure standing in the well of the Senate fighting to restore congressional independence and the balance that has been lost in the US government.

Byrd married his high school sweetheart, the former Erma Ora James, a coal miner's daughter. The couple has two daughters, six grandchildren and three great-granddaughters. (Sources: www.FreeRepublic.com, www.encarta.msn.com, and www.senate.gov/~byrd) History Homepage

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro was recognized at his school's closing ceremonies. Awarded a gold medal for being a star student, he received an honor roll certificate for his academic achievements during the final six-week period. It was his third such honor for this school year. Modest, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro would only say, "I am very glad to be the star in this house." Back to the Bat Cave

By John Burl Smith

Last weekend as the clock ticked on a North Korean nuclear power keg, Afghani citizens were coping with the shift from being oppressed by local warlords to those backed by the US. Desperate Palestinians continued dying, as Iraqis tried to sort out why the world abandoned them to US oppression. Oblivious to it all, the entire western world was transfixed on a woman from Sweden playing golf with men. The weighty question hanging in the balance was, "Would Annika Sorenstam make the cut at the Colonial Open?"

The hyped billed Sorenstam's PGA debut as a test of whether women belonged in golf tournaments with men. Analyzing her every stroke with computer markups, sports talking heads predicted a distracted Annika would fail their "straw man" test.

Kudos to Annika for her valiant efforts under such trying circumstances. In all fairness, there are not many men that could have played better with so much attention focused on their every move. A testament to this fact is the number of men that failed to make the cut with the same score or lower ones without any of the added pressure. No one would dare suggest that those guys should be relegated to the women's tour. A total farce, this event had nothing to do with athletic competition, but everything to do with symbols.

America is big on symbols, like eagles, Confederate flags and Christianity. Women in the home, abortion, access to medical care and choice have been rolled into a big symbol for conservative right-wing Republicans. This symbol makes women's entrance into men golf affirmative action. Consequently, their playing can be portrayed as a civil rights gain for women in general. Even George W. Bush can come out and said, "I'm proud of Annika Sorenstam." Such a statement makes it seem he favors women's rights.

Annika experienced the kind of media manipulation blacks endures on the daily. The media create unrealistic or unfounded expectations, then feed the frenzy with speculation. The question becomes "Can you handle the pressure?" If you produce, you are virtually ignored, like Venus and Serena Williams. If you come up short, then you symbolize their self-fulfilling prophecy, which implies you are not good enough and justifies not admitting or providing more opportunities for others like you. If more women had played, they would have been sprinkled throughout the field. Some may have even played better than Annika and made the cut. Kudos to her for hanging tough! Kudos Homepage Other Essays by John Burl Smith

Hammergate!

After the decennial US census, states are required to redraw congressional districts to reflect population shifts. The Texas legislature could not agree on a map, so a three-judge federal panel drew its districts in 2001. The 2002 elections gave Democrats a two-seat majority in the 32-member Texas congressional delegation.

At the urging of US Rep. Tom DeLay and with the White House's blessing, Texas Republicans created a second map. According to the Congressional Research Service, "No state legislature in at least 50 years has reopened a redistricting case without a court order." To stop such a precedent, Texas Democrats left the state, foiling consideration of the new map. Democrats claim DeLay - nicknamed "The Hammer"- wanted to increase Republicans in Texas' congressional delegation, improve GOP chances of maintaining control of the US House and increase his clout in Washington, DC.

Texas' state troopers were ordered to track down the Democrats, dubbed the "Chicken D's," and bring them back to Austin. With White House adviser Karl Rove in the loop via the telephone, Texas' Department of Public Safety (DPS), which is overseen by three Bush appointees, called the Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center and requested help in finding a missing airplane. The Department of Homeland Security agency tracks aircraft and seagoing vessels. The agency said it was given the impression the plane was missing or in distress with state lawmakers aboard.

DPS ordered all records on the search destroyed. Democrats have called for an investigation. Accusing DeLay of using federal resources for political ends and then covering it up by destroying the evidence, Democrats claim this is a Watergate abuse of power. Easily dubbed "Hammergate," its chief architect has denied any role in efforts to locate missing Democrats.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has refused to release tapes of conversations between the DPS and his department, claiming, "This is now potentially a criminal investigation," which negates the release of evidence. Democrats claim his refusal to release those tapes and the DPS' destruction of related records constitute obstruction of justice. Hammergate! Politics Y2K3 Homepage

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