Volume 6 Issue 47…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…November 28, 2003

(To Charles S. Johnson)

By Countee Cullen (1903-1946)

We shall not always plant while others reap

The golden increment of bursting fruit,

Not always countenance, abject and mute,

That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap;

Not everlastingly while others sleep

Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute,

Not always bend to some more subtle brute;

We were not made eternally to weep.

The night whose sable breast relieves the stark,

White stars is no less lovely being dark,

And there are buds that cannot bloom at al

In light, but crumble, piteous, and fall;

So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds,

And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds.

About Me: One of the Harlem Renaissance's most prolific poets, Cullen received his undergraduate degree from New York University and MA from Harvard. During his brief career, Cullen lyrically addressed a broad range of human experiences and emotions.

On Atlanta Sewer Repairs and Cost of Living

By Dot

According to a recent Census Bureau report, record numbers of blacks are returning to the South. Between 1975 and 1980, blacks began returning to Dixie, reversing a trend that began in the early 20th century when blacks left the region to escape poor economic conditions and Jim Crow segregation. Atlanta, Georgia is the number one black destination.

Mayor Shirley Franklin hopes to keep blacks coming to Atlanta. To accommodate the population growth, Atlanta must mend its infrastructure. Presently, Atlanta is under court orders to repair its sewer system or face more fines, environmental risks, including sewage overflows into area waterways, sewer tap moratoriums, which will halt economic development, and a federal takeover of the city's water and sewer system.

Mayor Franklin's $3 billion plan, which pays for repairs and repays an expensive 40-year sewer bond passed during Bill Campbell's administration, calls for a one-cent sales tax increase and/or higher water and sewage fees and state and federal assistance. For now, no help has come from the state or federal government, even though Atlanta is the state's capital and economic hub of the region. Atlanta's city council has refused to consider increasing the sales tax, which is already high for the region since it includes the one-cent MARTA tax. As one councilwoman pointed out, the sales tax is the most regressive route to fund improvements; it places an unfair burden on poor, predominantly, black Atlantans.

Left with only user fees to pay for the repairs, Franklin proposes a series of massive increases. If the Atlanta City Council and Fulton County Commission agree, city water and sewer service fees will rise 45 percent after January 1, 2004. Without state or federal government funds to help defray the cost, the city will hike fees another 45 percent in 2005, followed by 11 percent increases in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Mayor Franklin believes the City Council must approve the rate increase and/or the sales tax hike in order to win state and federal financial assistance. Since delaying the improvements is not an option, the city must raise fees to satisfy the court's orders. Increases of the proposed magnitude will significantly raise the cost of living in Atlanta, discourage economic development and stem the flow of newcomers to the city.

Otis Blackwell (1932-2002)

Otis Blackwell was born February 16, 1932 in Brooklyn, New York. He learned to play the piano as a child and grew up listening to rhythm and blues (R&B) and country music. Blackwell worked as a penny-a-day floor sweeper at a Brooklyn theater and later as a clothes presser to support himself. He dreamed of being a singer. As a teenager, he won a talent contest at Harlem's Apollo Theater. His victory led to a recording contract with Joe Davis' Jay-Dee label. In the 1940s, Blackwell performed in New York City jazz clubs, where he met another aspiring singer/songwriter, Doc Pomus, who encouraged and helped him early in his career

Blackwell's first recording, his own composition, "Daddy Rollin' Stone" was released by Jay-Dee in 1953. A favorite in Jamaica, it was recorded by Derek Martin and was later a hit for The Who. During the 1950s, Blackwell also recorded rock 'n' roll for RCA Records and Groove. He never enjoyed much in the way of success as a singer, but many of the songs he wrote became hits. According to Blackwell, he "was thrown into" the role of songwriter when asked to write songs while recording for a small New York company.

Blackwell's big break came on Christmas Eve in 1955; he sold six songs for $150. Elvis Presley picked up one demo that featured Blackwell on piano. The song, "Don't Be Cruel," became number one in 1956, as did Blackwell's "All Shook Up," which was inspired by a shaken bottle of Pepsi Cola. While Presley is listed as a co-writer on both songs, the King of Rock 'n' Roll played no role in their composition. Other Blackwell songs performed by Presley include "One Broken Heart For Sale" and "Return To Sender" (1962).

Because Blackwell made demos of his songs before being recorded by others, some music historians believe Presley adopted Blackwell's vocal style and mannerisms. Moreover, Blackwell made demos of songs he did not write, but were later recorded by Presley. Presley, who died in 1977, never met Blackwell.

A prolific songwriter, Blackwell wrote hundreds of songs that became hits for a long list of recording artists, including Little Willie John ("Fever,"1956), which became a hit for Peggy Lee, Dee Clark ("Hey Little Girl" and "Just Keep It Up", 1959), Jimmy Jones ("Handy Man", 1960), Cliff Richard ("Nine Times Out Of Ten', 1960) and Jerry Lee Lewis ("Breathless" and "Great Balls Of Fire" 1958). Blackwell also wrote songs under the pseudonym John Davenport.

In addition to the recording artists mentioned above, Blackwell wrote more than 1,000 songs that were recorded by performers such as Ray Charles, Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry, Billy Joel, The Who, James Taylor, Otis Redding and Kris Kristofferson. Blackwell was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Foundation Hall of Fame in 1986. In 1992, Blackwell received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation.

One of the greatest songwriters of the rock 'n' roll era, Blackwell was credited with writing songs that sold more than 185 million copies. He recorded R&B material for numerous labels including Atlantic Records, MGM Records and Epic. Otis Blackwell died on May 6, 2002 in Nashville, Tennessee after a lengthy illness. (Sources: www.tennessean.com and www.vh1.com)

Paper Trail

Following the Election 2000 Florida debacle, states pushed and got electronic voting machines. The CEO of the company that manufactures machines that will be used by many states, Diebold, has indicated he is dedicated to assuring George W. Bush's reelection.

Beyond dirty politics and the absence of ethics, scientists have identified problems associated with this voting method. Some of the problems are the reliability of chips used in electronic voting machines, the system's vulnerability to hackers, viruses and breakdowns. The non-machine concerns involve voter roll purges and the absence of verification or a paper trail.

California is addressing verification by requiring that electronic voting machines print out paper receipts. Last week, California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley announced that all electronic voting machines must provide paper receipts by 2006. Shelley also introduced stricter requirements for testing and auditing of the software used to record and tabulate votes.

Scientists and voting rights activists, who have been warning about the problems posed by paperless voting systems, see this as a move in the right direction. However, the time line for correcting the problems places any proposed remedies beyond 2004, leaving the door open for another debacle that could mean four more years of George W. Bush in the Oval Office. Activists are urged to pursue local and state remedies that prevents four more years of the Bush junta.

Response to Email on MARTA

By John Burl Smith

Email: I'm a member of a group working on public transportation issues in Atlanta, and I want to reach John Burl Smith...he seems like someone who might be helpful to our group. Citizens for Progressive Transit (www.cpt-atlanta.org). Rebecca!

Rebecca, it is truly gratifying to know The DISH's efforts to educate the community about the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) are appreciated. MARTA is vital to inner-city dwellers since many jobs are located in sprawling communities surrounding Atlanta. Those, like you, struggling to find solutions to transportation problems must be willing to address equity, taxation without representation and property rights issues. I urge CPT members to visit www.theDISH.org, click on MARTA Tax Sucks.com for background information on my MARTA perspective.

After years of research, I filed a lawsuit in federal court (1:00. MI- 0298) (11-30-00) on behalf of DeKalb and Fulton County residents. Specifically, residents of these counties became owners of MARTA, a public utility, via local referendum in 1971. They agreed to pay a one-cent sales tax to support MARTA operations. The State of Georgia is constitutionally prohibited from funding MARTA's operating budget and the legislature has never appropriated funds for MARTA.

However, former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes and the state legislature passed SB57 in 1999, which created the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA), which took over MARTA as its regional transportation hub. Acquiring MARTA, the only rapid transit system in the South, the state acquired a dedicated source of public transportation revenue without paying a cent for it. MARTA gave GRTA access to federal matching funds for rapid transit. Now, Georgia can incur debts at MARTA's expense and dominate rapid transit policy. To add insult to injury, the legislature extended the MARTA tax levied on DeKalb and Fulton Counties, without referendum, to 2047.

My lawsuit challenged the State of Georgia's illegal MARTA takeover as capricious, arbitrary and discriminatory. Gov. Barnes' actions violated the Fifth Amendment "due process," Eighth Amendment "cruel and unusual" and Fourteenth Amendment "equal protection" rights of DeKalb and Fulton citizens. This takeover allows the state and surrounding counties, which voted against the one-cent MARTA tax, to reap benefits only DeKalb and Fulton citizens are entitled. Amounting to "taxation without representation," the state's actions are "cruel and unusual" because it seized citizens' property without compensation to benefit those who voted not to support public transportation.

This unfair situation permeates MARTA, like segregation colored the South. Black and white signs were the outward expression of an ugly spirit that motivated everyone's actions. Rebecca, if CPT supported this or a similar lawsuit, the State of Georgia would be forced to address compensation, routing, expansion, air quality, and other environmental issues.

Disgruntled says: Fearful of its democratic messiness, George W. Bush canceled an address before Parliament during his visit to Great Britain. Instead, the "Toxic Texan" gave well-crafted speeches before well-vetted audiences, without questions, a procedure followed wherever he travels in America. Missing from all "his head of state" addresses was evidence to support the justifications cited for the precipitous invasion of Iraq.

Disgruntled wants to know: Taking a page from Bolivia's book, citizens in the republic of Georgia rid their country of a crook. They demanded the resignation of Eduard A. Shevardnadze following flawed elections. When the crook refused, the massive demonstrations grew more vocal and physical. If a former communist bloc country and a Third World nation can do it, why can't citizens of the USA get rid of the Bush junta?

Disgruntled feels: Conned! When the telephone services giant WorldCom filed for bankruptcy, one of the biggest in history, lay people assumed the world could breathe a little easier, a world class con was out of business. Unfortunately, MCI is WorldCom, and the phone services giant is still screwing users. From New York to Georgia, MCI enjoys contracts to provide telephone service for prisoners. The families and friends of prisoners must pay exorbitant collect call fees to communicate with their incarcerated loved ones, even when the calls are made locally. State officials, if Georgia is a microcosm, enjoy a kickback for robbing the state's poorest citizens. It is time to stop being conned! Say NO to MCI!

Run Out the South

By John Burl Smith

Socioeconomic and political power in the South has always resided with white men. Equally divided among Democrats and Republicans, Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution gave slave owners a political advantage. Known as the Great Compromise, this section created the Electoral College, provided for the taxation of slaves as property and valued them as 3/5 of the white man who owned them for purposes of political representation. The constitution made slaves and their descendants' votes in white men's pockets. Regardless of the party in power, the 3/5 Compromise was the law of the land, and Plessy v Ferguson embodied the legal justification for Jim Crow segregation.

Lynching blacks, southern "New Deal" Democrats used Jim Crow laws to maintain defacto slavery. The quest for freedom during the 1960's civil rights and black power movement buckled segregation. Breaking down racial barriers, black Democrats made Dixiecrats, like Strom Thurmond, turn Republican. Unable to seize power as Republicans, other Dixiecrats remained Democrats to control and block black progress. As black and white signs came down, the Republican southern strategy kept racists attitudes up.

Today, Dixiecrats command national political and socioeconomic power. Flexing their muscles, they have run Democrats out of the South. Resembling scallywags and carpetbaggers hightailing it North as Reconstruction ended, Democrats wimped out fighting institutionalized racism and reversed discrimination. Chased out of Dixie by Confederate flag wavers, Democrats abandoned black voters to appease Dixiecrats. Taking blacks for granted, Dixiecrats Zell Miller and Roy Barnes conceded Georgia to Bush before the 2000 primary. In 2002, Democrats out-Republican Republicans depressed black voter turnout, ensuring Senator Max Cleland and Barnes' defeat. In Mississippi and Kentucky gubernatorial elections, northern Democrats were told to "keep out."

White men agree on the 3/5 Compromise. If Democrats do not speak out, the Dixiecrat/Republican southern strategy of ignoring blacks and discounting or not counting their votes succeed. Rather than exposing the 3/5 Compromise as the legal basis for putting Bush in office, Democrats turned tails and stuck their heads in the sand. Siding with the court in Bush v Gore, Democrats reaffirmed the nation's commitment to the 3/5 Compromise and Plessy v. Ferguson.

After running Democrats out of the South, "blue dogs" and Dixiecrats dominate the party machinery. Determined to undercut black grassroots support, which put Bill Clinton in office, they disparaged voter registration drives and party building at the local level as wastes of resources. They killed funds for door-to-door and street campaigns, as well as poll day operations, the backbone of black political organization; these activities maintained Democrats in power for decades. Tarred by Dixiecrats as "too liberal," Democrats are afraid to identify with their most loyal supporters. After lynching blacks, Dixiecrats are campaigning to white men at the expense of millions of black voters. A seriously weakened Democratic Party pretends not to notice the black corpse hanging in their midst.

Email www.finalcall.com The most underreported story coming out of California is the extent to which Proposition 54, Ward Connerly's so-called Racial Privacy Initiative, was roundly rejected by voters. Not only was the ballot initiative turned down by voters of all races--the total against the ill-conceived measure exceeded the ballots cast for Arnold Schwarzengger by more than one million votes.

Email http://capwiz.com Upon signing the $87 billion emergency supplemental bill to fund military and reconstruction costs in Iraq. Bush released a statement announcing that the Inspector General in Iraq, "shall refrain from initiating, carrying out or completing an audit or investigation or from issuing a subpoena which requires access to sensitive operation plans" due to reasons of national security. Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) expressed outrage with Bush's decision, "It is yet another example of the administration's penchant for ducking public scrutiny in the name of national security."

Email www.bbc.co.uk International lawyers and anti-war campaigners reacted with astonishment after influential Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal. In a startling break with the official White House and Downing Street lines, Mr. Perle told an audience in London: "I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing." George W. Bush has consistently argued that the war was legal either because of UN Security Council resolutions or as an act of self-defense.

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