The DISH
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Volume 6 Issue 6…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…February 14, 2003
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)
"Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it." - Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom (1913)
The son of a Presbyterian minister and strong southern sympathizer, Woodrow Wilson was born (1856) in Staunton, Virginia. After graduation from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) and the University of Virginia Law School, Wilson earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins and entered academia. A conservative professor of political science, he rapidly advanced to president of Princeton (1902-1910). Governor of New Jersey (1911-1913), Wilson ran for US President on a platform of New Freedom, which stressed individualism and states' rights.
The 28th president, Wilson received 435 of the 531 Electoral College votes, but only 42 percent of the popular vote. His two terms (1913-1920) produced the Underwood Act, which lowered tariffs and imposed the first graduated federal income tax, Federal Reserve Act (1913), Federal Trade Act (1914), Clayton Antitrust Act (1914), Federal Farm Loan Act, Keating-Owen Act and Federal Highway Act (1916). A racist, Wilson condoned Southern Jim Crow practices that discriminated against black Americans; he also opposed universal suffrage.
A secular evangelist, Wilson campaigned against dollar diplomacy and disavowed any imperialist intent. Yet, the US occupation of Nicaragua continued, and Wilson initiated interventions in Santo Domingo, Haiti and Mexico, where Americans owned more than half of Mexico's oil, two-thirds of its railroads and three-fourths of its mines and smelters. Popular in the US, but hated at home, Mexican dictator Porifio Diaz aided foreigners in amassing huge profits, while suppressing civil liberties and keeping the masses of Mexicans in peonage.
By the time Wilson came to office, Diaz had been overthrown (1910) by a democratic reform leader, who was in turn assassinated. Wilson refused to recognize his successor Victoriano Huerta. He favored the unpopular Venustiano Carranza. Wilson's long and muddled intervention in Mexico, which gave rise to the Mexican hero Francisco ("Pancho") Villa, aroused a level of hostility among the Mexican people that did not dissipate for years. Wilson withdrew US troops from Mexico after the US entered WWI (1917) to make the world "safe for democracy."
After the Germans signed the Armistice in November 1918, Wilson went to Paris to try to build an enduring peace. He later presented the Versailles Treaty, containing the Covenant of the League of Nations, to the US Senate. However, Republicans defeated the Versailles Treaty by seven votes. Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. He died February 3, 1924. (Sources: http://www.whitehouse.gov, Encyclopedia Americana and American History: A Survey). Bit of History
Lift Every Voice and Sing
Hosted by Yohannes and featuring Atlanta's finest: Christine Horn, Jahi Kearse, Brodie, JJason Blackwell, E.X. Vortex, Jodi Merriday, Hyrisk, LaTonya Peoples, Mavinus, Eugene IV and Azure Macklin, Lift Every Voice and Sing is a celebration of African American music. Sponsored in part by Chocolate Jeanie Records, Tower Records, ASCAP Saycon Sengbloh, Atlanta Institute of Music, X-Hunters and presented by Absolut Vodka, the show is February 21, 2003 at the Apache Café, 64 3rd Street (directly behind the Varsity parking lot). Doors open at 9 PM. The show starts at 10 PM Lift Every Voice is the perfect Black History Month celebration. For more information, call 404-876-5436. Atlanta Vibe
Valentine's in the Middle of Black History
By Yohannes Sharriff Smith
February fourteenth.....
Five days after my date of birth,
WALK-ing the smog-alert
Hovering over the jagged edges of this lonely city
Too busy to hate/hurts my blistered feet.
I recognize the presence of rose peddlers
Balloon sellers and fellas breaking the bank teller.
But, I can't afford to front; so, I tell her next month.
Threatening clouds haunt
the melancholy sky and slowly steal the struggling sun.
I'm screaming pass me the baton
So, I can run in this millennium rat race marathon.
Mis-educated Black male with a case pending trial,
But for now out on bond
Broke as hell and bills due with no income.
Some...times I feel like an island
Standing at the concrete edge.
"I gotta find me an angel..."
My Great Grand Mother rests
Weary bones at the bus stop.
Standing Woman...Warrior..
Weary from sharecropping, cooking, cleaning,
And caring for Caucasian children
in a home that doesn't belong to her.
This southern slave ship shit has me pissed.
This rat infested city
Filled with Defiant spirits screaming Reparations!
Sinking seas of concrete people
Patiently awaiting the sign...Revolution!
STOP...SLAVE...WALK...RUN...
FREE...SLAVE...DON'T WALK-
The corner so cool thru
Picasso blue rush hour traffic...
Revolution! Christ is here!...Enter Saints and Sinners-
Black Jesus living in a cardboard box.
Amidst the copper wire, wrapped in plastic,
Encased in glass and behind steel bars...
Churches standing on poverty with security
Guarding empty cars in parking lots,
Protected by electrified fences after dark...
-Enter Saints and Sinners-
Gothic stone sculptured as statuesque
Anglo muses weeping acid rain.
Standing sentinels with drunken Cupid's
Aim resting on a broken wing.
The crucifix awakens, whispering.. hypocrisy!
So, I kneel to pray? Christ is here!
BEWARE of GUARD DOGma!
Laminated religion...you can't touch the scripture.
A plastic wonderland where to feel you need a pill.
You need to kill the pain your numb pain needs to feel
Kill/peel back a cap addicted to fear. Christ is here!
-Enter Saints and Sinners-
Through the work...Slave...Through the hurt...
Slave through the dirt...
Through the clay of flesh,
City angels sing a gospel...Hallelujah!
Christ is here! So, I check the time...
Trying to find the rhyme, my reason trying to refine
...Rewind...remind...ME...
Who is trying to find the rhyme. Damn, what's that line?
My thoughts drift into the abyss of my mind.
Damn, what's that line,
the existence of love and my heart's empty chime?
Valentine's emotional bind
In the middle of Black History... Mystery/My-story. Intuit's Vibe
Redlining and Predatory Lending
The California Department of Corporations filed a $38 million lawsuit against Wells Fargo, the nation's largest mortgage lender, for overcharging its customers. California law prohibits interest charges more than one-day before a mortgage is officially recorded. By starting the interest charges sooner, Wells Fargo realized between $100 to $300 per customer. In addition, California claims Wells Fargo understated finance charges by failing to include settlement fees in total charges, a violation of the Truth in Lending Act. In addition to filing the lawsuit, California is threatening to revoke Wells Fargo's mortgage-lending license.
A class action suit filed in the Southern District of U.S. Federal Court in West Palm Beach, Florida, accused Englewood-based cable provider AT&T Broadband of "redlining," or not providing service -- in this case high-speed broadband -- in minority neighborhoods and overcharging in other areas. The lawsuit claims "only 1 percent of eligible African American households have access to high-speed broadband Internet service as opposed to 100 percent of eligible white households." Redlining and predatory lending disproportionately impact black Americans. News You Use
Minority Report (2002)
In August 2002, Delaware police compiled a database of individuals they believe are likely to engage in future criminal activity. Primarily from poor, high crime neighborhoods, most of them are young black men with no criminal history. Yet, their pictures, names and addresses are part of a potential crime database.
Reminiscent of the racist "black codes" enforced during Jim Crow segregation, police jump from squad cars, briefly detain them for loitering and take their pictures. Called "jump-out squads," these units were created to arrest drug dealers. The American Civil Liberties Union and defense attorneys say the database and the method used to build it are unconstitutional; state and federal prosecutors claim it is legal.
Arresting suspects before they commit an offense is remarkably similar to the science fiction movie Minority Report (2002). Directed by Steven Spielberg, Minority Report stars Tom Cruise as top Pre-Crime cop Chief John Anderton. It is year 2054. Thanks to the pre-cogs, a group of three people that share brain waves and can see the future, murder has been eliminated. In this futuristic thriller, pre-crime cops arrest the "guilty" and the criminal justice system punishes them based on what the precogs say they will do in the future.
The plot thickens when the precogs predict Anderton will commit murder. To clear his name, Anderton must recover a minority report, which contains a different scenario of the events seen by the precogs.
Minority Report is a great sci-fi rental. It is well worth the expenditure for its examination of ulterior motives. It is especially relevant for today when the world's most powerful country has suspended its Bill of Rights and is prepared to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iraq that could ignite WW III. The US claims Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction in violation of UN Resolutions and it wants to change the regime. Like Minority Report, the motives, timing of the accusations and the need for war are not what they seem. Hood Notes
The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro found himself in trouble. His teacher accused him of disrupting the class and gave him a punishment assignment. When queried about the incident, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro exclaimed, "I am innocent; the other guy did it!" Back to Bat Cave
Patriot Act: Security vs. Liberty
According to Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790), "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Sagacious, Franklin's admonition is apropos given the Patriot Act. Enacted in the wake of the Supreme Court coup that installed George W. Bush as president and the conveniently timed 9-11 attack, which captured public attention, the Patriot Act restricts individual liberty.
There has been no investigation of 9-11. The attack could have been a CIA covert operation or other inside job designed to raise funds and/or redirect public focus from the Bush coup to national security. In any event, legal aliens and US citizens have been stripped of fundamental rights guaranteed under international law and the United States' Constitution.
Legal scholars are aghast at the ease with which Congress allowed Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Bush Administration to subvert the Bill of Rights with passage of the Patriot Act. With only a nod from Bush, any citizen can be declared an enemy combatant and imprisoned. Jailed citizens can be held indefinitely without being charged or tried. US citizens no longer enjoy freedom of association; the government can monitor their affiliations. By claiming to investigate terrorist acts, the government can search and seize their papers and personal effects without probable cause. The Patriot Act eliminates the right to legal representation and restricts the freedom of speech and information.
When Bill Clinton was president, the media frequently showed crowds gathered to greet and protest his appearance. Crowds are not allowed within view of Bush venues. As Congress contemplates Patriot Act II to further reduce our freedom, it is time to revisit Franklin's quotation. The astute know governments that seize power via coups do not relinquish it lightly. Rather than going to war to spread democracy and freedom abroad, we need to review the state of domestic democratic institutions and the state of personal liberty. Phantom Scribbler
Disgruntled wants to know:
Since Senator Trent Lott's faux pas, little has been said about the state of US race relations. Surprisingly, on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, George W. Bush announced his opposition to affirmative action. Then, in a show of unanticipated compassion that warrants closer examination, Bush announced increased HIV/AIDS assistance for Africa in his state of the union address. Given the US invented AIDS and holds the patent on its cure, one must wonder will this promised aid really go to eradicate AIDS in Africa or be diverted to support plans to dominate the continent's natural resources, which include gold and oil?
Disgruntled says:
At the Black History Month State of the Black Church Conference hosted by Tavis Smiley, we were reminded that according to biblical teachings, Jesus Christ was the consummate pacifist. It is unthinkable that He would support the death penalty, be aligned with the schoolyard bully or be a warmonger. Hence, Christ is unlikely to see Bush as his favorite pupil, even though Bush claims Him as his favorite philosopher. Disgruntled
On Fishy Figures!
By Dot
In keeping with expired provisions of the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act (1978), which required the Federal Open Markets Committee to report to Congress bi-annually on the economy and monetary policy, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. In classic Greenspan- speak, he voiced the concern of economist across the globe about the proposed Bush administration tax cut plan and the projected federal budget deficit.
Chairman Greenspan's testimony eloquently dismissed the witchcraft of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Mitch Daniels, who declared "there is no linkage between interest rates and federal budget deficits." Obviously, as long as Greenspan is printing money, the economy is experiencing a classic deflationary gap and confidence in equity markets is non-existent, interest rates will remain low. But, as Greenspan acknowledged, in the long run, budget deficits will be a drag on the economy.
Although plagued by layoffs from Wall Street to Main Street, the Bush administration announced last week a .3 percent decline in the unemployment rate for January from 6.0 to 5.7 percent. This decline should be viewed with the same skepticism reserved for Daniels' pronouncements, Bush's poll numbers and other economic data. All of these figures are fishy.
Oddly, the unemployment data retained their historic racial disparities despite the apparent disconnect between Bush's employment figures and economic reality. Traditionally, black unemployment rates average more than twice the white unemployment rate. Last month's numbers continued this historic trend with black and white unemployment rates at 10.3 and 5.1 percent, respectively. These numbers show that in the throes of the worst economic slump in twenty years, the welfare loss attending the downturn is disproportionately borne by blacks. Even with fishy federal figures, the classic chasm of inequality is fact. DISHing It Up Hot!
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes & Phone Calls
Email nutless@netzero.com The US is poised for war against Ira q because Saddam Hussein may have weapons of mass destruction. One of the US bill of particulars indicate Iraq has violated more than a dozen United Nations' Resolutions. Oddly, Israel has violated four times as many and remains in material breach; it has developed weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, and it has violated the human rights of its Arab citizens and is currently occupying a neighbor's territory in violation of UN resolutions. When will the US and UN apply the same standards imposed on Iraq and launch a preemptive strike to effect regime in Israel?
Email stansan@feca.net A coalition of activists are prepared to call for an international boycott against Georgia should Gov. Sonny Perdue pursue a referendum on Georgia's old Confederate flag before November 2004. The potential boycott will target Georgia business and tourism infrastructure. Blacks were disrespected during the NBA All-Star Weekend in Atlanta. Having been dissed in the Mecca already, it will be easy to get them to support the effort. Perdue is hereby notified that the boycott is already in the pipeline.
Email list@tanzanet.org On the day Bush canceled his trip to Africa, VP Dick Cheney helped giant pharmaceutical companies block a deal to relax global patent laws, which keep the price of drugs beyond the reach of most developing countries. Cheney's role in the Doha negotiations cast a pall over the Bush administration's avowed desire to aid African people. More Mailbox
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