Volume 7 Issue 19…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…May 14, 2004

High School Castes

By Derek J. Barbee

As we grow up, there's things we're told,

Of right, of wrong of rules of equality,

We're told not to judge,

We're told not to segregate,

No racism, no sexism, no nothing at all,

But then you get into High School.

Freshmen enter, looking up to their peers,

Instead they receive a slap in the face,

Sophomores begin to realize the war,

They notice how one grade thinks better of itself,

Juniors begin to fight the war,

Heatedly contesting those above them,

Seniors believe they own the war,

And that's the final word.

The same thing happens with houses,

Avoid hating specific races,

Mix and work alongside them,

See you're not different after all,

Instead you can learn to hate people you know,

Make them stand for an enemy.

It's all in fun,

It's all educational,

Competition is healthy,

Come on, get into the spirit.

About Me: Derek J. Barbee is very active in the local poetry community of Healdsburg, CA. A winner of multiple poetry slams, his work focuses on the emotions and obstacles that he dealt with through high school and college as an average human being in a rapidly changing world. He is currently training to become a professional actor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. For more about this young artist/actor, visit his web site at

www.sonic.net/~barbees/derek/phase1.html

Apache's Free Form X-Change (FFX)

Last Sunday night (5-9-04) a new era for spoken word and the Atlanta vibe began. The premier spoken word venue in the ATL -- the Apache's Free Form X-Change (FFX) -- began a collaboration with Yohannes Sharriff one of the premier poets in the vibe. Cracking the poetry scene after dropping his first book T.H.I.N.C. (Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness): The Chrysalis of Evolution, Yohannes began performing at the Pattie Hut Café in 1997. This new project with FFX will try to recapture some of that old flavor and add some cutting edge ideas to give it a new twist.

FFX, a Mighty I Am production, has established a loyal following that expects the best spoken word showcase in the South to challenge artists to exceed expectations. Joining FFX as its host, Yohannes hopes to add his experience to an already successful venue in a way that will increase opportunities for everyone. Asked for his perspective after Sunday night's show, Yohannes said, "The crowd was fantastic. It feels great to work with people who have confidence in you and your ability to deliver quality week after week. We are trying to reawaken that beat we loss when they took away our drums. FFX is our way of finding new and different ways to tell our story and entertain at the same time."

If you have never seen Yohannes perform or are an old fan, Sunday nights at the Apache, 64 Third Street, for FFX is the spot to experience the best in ATL Vibe! Freedom Speaks is Sunday's featured artist. Also ladies' night, ladies get in free before 9:30 PM. Otherwise, it is $7 @ the door. For more information, email Yohannes at yohasha@yahoo.com or call 404-226-5417.

The "Southern Manifesto" (1956)

"Their strategy is relatively simple. Mobilize political power to discourage any school board or any judge from moving against segregation. Create obstacles to make it difficult or dangerous for any Negro to carry the issue before a judge. If these moves fail, persuade the judge not to issue an injunction, and if he does issue one, persuade him that it need not call for any actual desegregation. If all this fails, then find ways to circumvent the injunction." (Jack W. Peltason, Fifty-Eight Lonely Men: Southern Federal Judges and School Desegregation, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1961, pg. 42)

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court handed down its landmark ruling in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, outlawing racial segregation in public schools. A death knell to the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy v Ferguson (1896), the Court declared that the separate public educational facilities maintained in more than a dozen states and the District of Columbia unconstitutional, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, because they were inherently unequal.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs, Thurgood Marshall and his staff of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) lawyers, petitioned the Court to set a date no later than 1956 as the deadline to end segregation. In its 1955 implementation decision, the Court, in what has become known as Brown II, established guidelines for the judicial supervision of desegregation efforts, but provided no deadlines. Recognizing that local school authorities had the primary responsibility of carrying out integration, Brown II allowed local school boards to develop plans that called for incremental steps toward desegregation so long as they proceeded with "all deliberate speed, " a euphemism that became synonymous with stalling.

Outraged over the Court's decision, southerners pledged massive resistance to the implementation of the Brown ruling. In March 1956, 19 Senators, representing eleven states, and 77 members of the House of Representatives signed the Southern Manifesto, which charged the Supreme Court with "a clear abuse of judicial power" in the school desegregation cases. Signatories of the manifesto, which included the entire Georgia delegation, saw the decision in Brown as an unconstitutional encroachment "upon the reserved rights of the States and the people."

With elected representatives openly opposed to the Court's ruling, white citizens across the nation succeeded in frustrating public school integration. Political candidates pledged to preserve states' rights and segregated education. In open defiance of the Court decision in Brown, some southern state legislatures passed measures to display Confederate symbols of white heritage. On the national level, federal programs from urban renewal to urban revitalization, which were ostensibly enacted to aid decaying inner cities, actually worked to facilitate white flight to avoid school busing and public school integration.

After fifty years, the Brown decision and its "all deliberate speed" edict have done little to end public school segregation. According to reports published by a number of think tanks including the Harvard University civil rights project, American schools continue to be segregated by race. In its opposition to public school integration, the Southern Manifesto has proven to be far more successful in maintaining segregation than the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v Board of Education has been in ending it. (Sources: Law and Social Change: Civil Rights Laws and Their Consequences, Harrell Rodgers, Jr. and Charles Bullock, III, 1972; www.buzzle.com and www.people.fas.harvard.edu )

An Editorial Note

By Dot

On last week, a mail server glitch caused multiple copies of The DISH to be sent to our readers. We apologize for the inconvenience. According to our administrator, the problem has been fixed.

As usual, some of our readers took receipt of multiple copies of the newsletter in stride, others good-naturedly notified us with humorous statements or simply said, "Houston, we have a problem!" Others complained and demanded removal from the list!

Over its more than six years, The DISH, which is a work in progress, has experienced its share of problems and grown in the process. Many of you witnessed firsthand those growing pains; some of you helped to solve them. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your understanding, patience and assistance. After all, it is you, our readers, who make The DISH worth doing. Thank you!

Toombs' Segregated Proms

Georgia recently made news (www.cnn.com) for segregated proms. A longstanding practice in public schools in the rural South, white and black students hold separate spring dances. This year Latino students at Toombs High School in Lyons, Georgia held their own function, setting a record for proms held at one school.

Students could attend either function, but some students did not feel welcome at the "white" prom based on racist comments allegedly made by a member of its organizing committee. Like their parents, white students see nothing racist in separate proms; "it's always been like that." Denial aside, last year black students beat a white student whose truck bore a Rebel flag bumper sticker. The school board banned clothing with the flag and/or the display of other controversial symbols.

Ironically, Toombs High, a microcosms of the larger society, reflects the majority population's values. The student body is 12, 31 and 56 percent Latino, black and white, respectively. As more Latinos move into the area, drawn by employment in its agricultural industry, that ratio will change as will racial tension.

Black and Latino parents believe the school's principal Ralph Hardy, a black man, could take a more active role in bringing together the student body and community. While he claims racism is not a serious problem at the school, he has expressed concern about separate proms, which are not school-sponsored functions. Like too many others, Hardy is convinced that tradition and history will not allow an integrated prom right now. More important, when asked if he planned to do something to change the situation, Hardy responded: "I think I'm going to leave it alone" (www.ajc.com/metro/). Blacks and Latinos characterize Hardy's attitude as "passing the buck." They see little hope for change as long as school administrators and community leaders are unwilling to challenge the status quo. Three proms may become a Toombs tradition.

Boycott Buying-While-Black

More than a decade ago, blacks called for a boycott of Winn-Dixie grocery stores. Although this was not mentioned in its most recent announcement of store closings, Winn-Dixie stores experienced a drop in business as blacks chose somewhere else to shop.

Refusing to abide racist customer service and job discrimination, blacks boycotted Denny's and Cracker Barrel and more recently Georgia-based Waffle House.

While no official boycott has been called, black students at Georgetown Day School were followed and subjected to searches by Best Buy's employees. Black students were barred from entering its Tenleytown store, located on Wisconsin Avenue, NW, while white students were admitted. After the disparate treatment appeared in the Washington Post, the company issued an apology.

Disgruntled feels: Overlooked! In the wake of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, a number of Democrats and editorial boards have called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Few demand that the commander-in-chief take responsibility. Rather than the buck stopping with CEO George W. Bush, a female private is the poster child for the Iraqi detainee abuse. Just as the media overlooked the role played by Israel in the torture techniques used, the White House resident is overlooked as the ultimate source of utter contempt for Geneva conventions and the rule of law, which created the climate that fostered the brutality.

Disgruntled says: Conservative radio shock-jock Rush Limbaugh dismissed the fuss over the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse by US guards as a college prank no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation. Some may find it difficult to characterize sodomy, rape and murder as pranks or dismiss these acts as "blowing some steam off." Although, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) aided by average white Americans, including law enforcement officials, committed similar acts against blacks that went unpunished, including the lynching of teenager Emmett Till and thousands more.

Disgruntled wants to know: Forced to lie and stand by false assertions made by his boss and others in the Bush administration, Secretary of State Colin Powell has been embarrassed and his reputation sullied. His interview on Larry King Live provides a case in point. Just before a commercial break, King asked Powell would the State Department's annual report on human rights abuse be delayed. Powell responded, "Of course not," only to learn, after the commercial break, just the opposite. So, the question is, will Powell, the good soldier, endure four more years, if Bush wins reelection?

By John Burl Smith

Next week (5/16-23/04) Atlanta, Georgia will become the epicenter of the battle to reestablish an appreciation for hip-hop. Celebrated every third week in May, according to Dee Dee Cocheta, Tia Robinson and Angie Griffin, the three dynamic and creative black women who founded the event, "Hip-Hop Appreciation Week brings various artists, writers, producers, marketers and other interested individuals together to discuss the current state of hip-hop and the need to appreciate, educate and build up the hip-hop nation."

Conscious blacks, upset over the sexism, gangsterism and abdication of personal responsibility some hip-hop expressions present to the young, have simply rejected hip-hop as valueless. It is this confusion the hip-hop confab aims to explore. Organizers hope to present positive messages and images of hip-hop as alternatives to the pessimism and negativism inundating young people. Challenging the negative perception, producers focused on "faith" this year as an important ingredient in taking hip-hop to the next level. The week-long series of events are designed to highlight what is "needed to address many issues facing hip hop."

Issues of white dominance and the stranglehold of large recording companies that dictate content and image can very easily overshadow the importance of hip- hop as a creation of young blacks, who were shut out of mainstream economic life in America. It was not simply a desire to make noise that lead to the development of this powerful and unique expression. It was their desire to use beats and the 5 basic elements to talk about the heroic struggle blacks live, having survived slavery, genocide, discrimination, lynchings and ongoing institutionalized racism, that gave the world hip-hop.

The effectiveness of hip-hop's appeal is evidenced by the millions of young people around the world that identify with that struggle and rely on hip-hop as the source that provides a major portion, if not all, of their information. Those meeting in the ATL next week will be struggling to understand what this really means for the black community.

Searching for an affective approach that accesses the hearts and minds of hip-hoppers, conference events include family friendly "power shops" and other "how-to" venues on a range of "entertainment" career tracks at the Sheraton Buckhead Hotel. Entertainment will be provided by such notables as Jalil of Whodine, Toni Blackman, Comedian Griff, Davey D and Arrested Development among others. The week will include private auditions coordinated by The First Look with KRS-ONE. They are looking for new artists for a tour this summer, and producers believe this will be a great opportunity for artists trying to get to the next level. For more information, log on to www.hhaw.com, email hipitchmedia@aol.com or call 770-907-8665.

Email Cmull67520@aol.com: Roy Veal was stunned gunned and then hung; it has happened here in Oklahoma where several lynchings have taken place in the past several years. A man was hung in Oklahoma City and left for several hours on a lamppost almost in the heart of town. The reason you don't see any body trauma is because stun gunning immobilizes them.

Email cgoodyear@sfchronicle.com San Francisco police shot and killed 29-year-old Cammerin Boyd Wednesday (5-5-04). Police said he repeatedly fired on officers. Boyd, of Oakland, was shot in a parking lot, where a crowd of angry people began shouting at police. Witnesses claimed police fired for no reason as Boyd tried to surrender. A police spokesperson confirmed the victim had "some form of disability" and that officers recovered two prosthetic legs at the scene.

Email www.commondreams.org The extent of the U.S. administration's embarrassment following the publication of photos showing torture and abuse of Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib is evident in the fact that Washington has postponed the release of the State Department's annual report on human rights abuses. The official reasons for the eleventh hour postponement have not been disclosed. The report usually takes aim at virtually every country, most in the developing world, for human rights excesses while excluding U.S. abuses. The question now being asked is: can Washington afford to take a holier-than-thou attitude when it beats up the rest of the world every year in the annual report?

Email markscott@yahoo.com: The Bush administration is set to impose economic sanctions against Syria for allegedly supporting terrorism and failing to prevent militant fighters from entering neighboring Iraq. The sanctions, which could be imposed as early as this week, are being ordered because the administration claims Syria has aggravated tensions in the Middle East by supporting militant groups.

THINC  || 2004 Issues || The DISH