The DISH
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Volume 7 Issue 20…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…May 21, 2004
An Essay on Man: Epistle II (Excerpt)
By Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.
Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much:
Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd, or disabus'd;
Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!
Go, wondrous creature! mount where science guides,
Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides;
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old time, and regulate the sun;
Go, soar with Plato to th' empyreal sphere,
To the first good, first perfect, and first fair;
Or tread the mazy round his follow'rs trod,
And quitting sense call imitating God;
As Eastern priests in giddy circles run,
And turn their heads to imitate the sun.
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule--
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool!
Superior beings, when of late they saw
A mortal Man unfold all Nature's law,
Admir'd such wisdom in an earthly shape,
And showed a Newton as we show an Ape.
Could he, whose rules the rapid comet bind,
Describe or fix one movement of his mind?
Who saw its fires here rise, and there descend,
Explain his own beginning, or his end?
Alas what wonder! Man's superior part
Uncheck'd may rise, and climb from art to art;
But when his own great work is but begun,
What Reason weaves, by Passion is undone.
Trace science then, with modesty thy guide;
First strip off all her equipage of pride;
Deduct what is but vanity, or dress,
Or learning's luxury, or idleness;
Or tricks to show the stretch of human brain,
Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain;
Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrescent parts
Of all our Vices have created Arts;
Then see how little the remaining sum,
Which serv'd the past, and must the times to come!
About Me:
A hunchback, less than five feet tall, and Catholic, Pope was barred from England's Protestant universities. Men today frequently quote Pope without realizing his satirical pen is the source. "A little learning is a dangerous thing," "Damn with faint praise," and "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," are a few of his pearls of wisdom. From Pope's Rape of the Lock: Fools! Who into the notion fall, That vice or virtue there is none at all. If white and black blend, soften, and unite A thousand ways, is there no black or white? For more, see www.island-of-freedom.com/POPE.HTM.
The Dark Knight-Batman/Ninja/Zorro is in a mood for a prolonged vacation and celebration. Friday marks the end of another successful school year. When queried for comments, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro enthusiastically replied, "Let the games begin!"
Kenneth Bancroft Clark
Chronic social injustices... "corrode and damage the human personality, thereby robbing it of its effectiveness, of its creativity, if not its actual humanity...Human beings who are forced to live under ghetto conditions and whose daily experience tells them that almost nowhere in society are they respected and granted ordinary dignity and courtesy accorded to others, will, as a matter of course, begin to doubt their self-worth." (Dark Ghetto, 1965)
Born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1914, educator and psychologist Kenneth B. Clark began his education in Harlem public schools. He received his B.A. degree from Howard University (1935) and his Ph.D. from Columbia (1940). Clark taught psychology at Howard (1937-38) and Hampton Institute (1940-41). Over the period 1938-1941, Clark worked as a research associate with Ralph Bunche and Gunnar Myrdal on the noted Carnegie study that led to An American Dilemma. In 1942, he became the first black American to hold a permanent professorship at the City College of New York, a position he held until 1975.
A member of the New York State Board of Regents (1966-86), Clark authored a 1950 report on racial discrimination cited in the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954). Used to illustrate the harmful effects of segregation on blacks, Clark's now-famous "dolls experiment" involved a group of black children that were shown two dolls, one black and one white, and asked to choose which doll they found the prettiest and would most like to play with. The children described the black dolls as ugly, dirty, or bad and chose the white doll. Just as the doll experiment brought home the negative self-image of young children, Dr. Clark found this negative perception of black physical traits in the preoccupation with hair straighteners and skin bleaches among blacks.
Following Brown, Dr. Clark frequently addressed issues of race in America. In an article written by Warren Brown, "Prejudice and Pride: The Wall Between Black and White on Campus," Dallas Times Herald, November 20, 1977, Dr. Clark noted, "These students are being trained to take their racial views with them into society. They're being trained to carry on a segregated society. Rather than trying to learn to counter the status quo, they're being trained to keep it going."
A civil rights leader, Dr. Clark founded the Northside Center for Child Development and Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited (HARYOU, 1962). Recipient of numerous awards, including the College Board Medal for distinguished service to education and the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest, he served as president of the Society for Psychological Studies on Social Issues (1959-60) and American Psychological Association (1970-1971). His works include Prejudice and Your Child (1955), Dark Ghetto (1965), A Possible Reality (1972), and Pathos of Power (1975). (Sources: www.infoplease.com, www.uic.edu/orgs/kbc/drkbc.html and www.encyclopedia.com/html/c/clark-k1b1.asp)
Free Form X-Change (FFX)
An enthusiastic crowd filled the Apache for "Ladies' Night" at Free Forum X-Change. Held every 3rd Sunday of the month, our mission is to celebrate the numerous wonders of women. Hosted by Nairobi, an Atlanta spoken word diva, we challenged every artist to share inspired thoughts about women before performing. FFX showered the ladies with love and gratitude.
Exhibiting raw emotion, Shanti left us spellbound with sultry, sometimes haunting vocals. Accompanied by Shola on congos and simplified plucks of her bass guitar, Shanti gave us an intimately soulful self-portrait. Beyond spitting hot hooks and catchphrases, Freedom Speaks commanded undivided attention as the second featured artist. Proving she is one of the ALT's hottest vocalists, she disseminated pertinent information with a fiery edge.
After the show, Yohannes gave much love to all the poets, MCs and vocalists that graciously shared their artistry. He ended the evening by saying, "Its so rewarding to watch the vibe grow as the next generation steps forward. The longevity of the ATL vibe depends on the solidity of our foundation. We must support and challenge one another to innovate, stay focused and be productive. FFX welcomes the dreamers and builders."
Sunday nights at the Apache, 64 Third Street in downtown Atlanta, mean FFX, the best hip-hop venue in the South. Next Sunday's featured act is West Coast Connect. Do not miss the opportunity to experience this group of talented spoken word artists. For more info, email yohasha@yahoo.com or call 404-226-5417.
By John Burl Smith
The 50th anniversary commemorating the decision in Brown v Board of Education (1954) which outlawed "separate-but-equal" and mandated an end to legal white/black discrimination drew comments from every quarter. Having no personal memories of this terror-ridden time, young Americans are baffled by leaders who say they abhor what happened to blacks, but disregard contemporary institutionalized racism. Policy decisions prevented Brown v Board of Education from providing black and poor minority children with equal funds, access and opportunities to be educated, even though the federal courts mandated equality.
A case study of Brown on the ground, T.H.I.N.C. (Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness): The Chrysalis of Evolution, a book by Yohannes Sharriff Smith, illustrates the dilemma Brown v Board was supposed to remedy. A student at Georgia Southern University (GSU) during the 1990s, Yohannes experienced the same relative existence as blacks when the school was a plantation. The battle plan for undermining Brown, the Southern Manifesto, advocated policies that openly defied the law and demanded judges strictly construct Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution (the 3/5 Compromise). Southern state governments prevented blacks from achieving equality.
More than a book of poetry, Yohannes brings all these forces together in T.H.I.N.C. GSU began Yohannes' spiritual and intellectual awakening in America's less than democratic society. After surviving GSU, he cast T.H.I.N.C. as a lifeline for conscious holistic students struggling to survive in this hostile hip- hop world. Believing racist responses reflected an identity crisis, Yohannes based T.H.I.N.C. on five positive ideas, which helped him answer the questions "Who am I and why am I here?"
A microcosm of higher education in America, Yohannes experiences at GSU point out the obvious success of the Southern Manifesto, rather than the triumph of Brown. The evidence is clear. Blacks in places like Prince Edward County, Virginia paid taxes that financed education for whites, while whites closed black schools. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, whites turned a school financed and built by blacks into one for whites and refused to allow blacks to attend. All over the South, whites used blacks' tax dollar to establish and finance private white schools that continued segregation; many of these schools exist today.
Adding insult to injury, even though everyone recognizes the horror and terror of slavery, the inequalities and humiliations of segregation, as well as, the benign neglect and soft bigotry of low expectations embodied in "No Child Left Behind," white leaders still insist that blacks do not deserve any compensation or reparations. George W. Bush apologized for torture in Abu Graib, but refuses to even discuss claims by blacks against the US for documented terror, torture, lynchings, police killings, discrimination and institutionalized racism. The lesson of Brown and T.H.I.N.C. is that blacks must demand maximum freedom, justice and equality in order to get the bare minimum in America.
Disgruntled feels:
Stigmatized! Just as blacks are the last hired first fired, they remain unemployed longer than their white counterparts at every educational and experience level. Blacks also endure educational disparities that are worse than segregation. Black students across the nation are 2.3 times more likely than whites to be classified as "retarded." In nearly every negative socioeconomic and political statistic, blacks are most likely stigmatized as the group it most represents.
Disgruntled wants to know:
Most, if not all, of the school districts that employed busing to achieve school desegregation have ended the dubious practice, which placed the onus on black families -- the victims. Since these districts remain segregated, will whites in these communities end their overt and covert opposition to providing black children a quality education and equally fund predominantly black and white schools?
Lethal "Beauty" Regime
In 2003, Dr. S. Allen Counter, a professor of neurophysiology and neurology at Harvard Medical School, reviewed research on mercury exposure for an international biomedical journal. A n overview of Dr. Counter's findings were published at www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/ (Whitening skin can be deadly, 12/16/03)
Extremely high rates of mercury poisoning, which is known to cause neurological and kidney damage and may also lead to psychiatric disorders, were reported in nations in lower latitudes, such as Mexico and Nigeria and the border states of California, Texas and Arizona. The vast majority of mercury poisoning patients was women. In one medical report, a 3-month-old patient was found to have kidney, eye and blood disease linked to mercury poisoning.
Normally, mercury exposure is associated with the consumption of fish from contaminated waters or working in industrial setting where mercury is present. Yet, clinical interviews revealed all these women used skin-whitening cosmetics that contained mercury, which is readily absorbed through the skin. In the case of the infant, the mother used such cosmetics during pregnancy and later during breast-feeding.
It is unclear whether or not these patients understood the full extent of the health risks associated with skin whitening products. However, it is clear they believe their cultures and European and Euro-American societies in general place greater value on lighter skin shades. The belief is so prevalent that patients in Asian, African and Arab countries use skin-lightening creams on their children, whose developing nervous systems are easily damaged as a result of mercury exposure.
Dr. Counter and others have expressed an urgent need to educate people throughout the world about the health risks associated with the use of mercury-based bleaching creams and soaps. Dr. Counter suggests, "we make an equally strong effort to convince women and men of color that they are beautiful as they are. This task, however, may be as challenging as trying to convince people with light skin that it is unnecessary -- and hazardous to lie out in the sun or go to a salon in pursuit of a tan." While it may prove difficult to change social indoctrination on skin color, safeguarding one life will make the undertaking worth the effort.
On Commemorating Slavery
By Dot
"....America from its founding has suffered from what I call moral schizophrenia. On the one hand, it has a very powerful moral concept. The Declaration of Independence, almost a literalistic egalitarianism -- it's the basis for our founding this new nation. And at the same time, and the same authors, of that powerful moral justification, were slave holders."
(Kenneth B. Clark)In addition to celebrating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and the bicentennial of the first independent black nation, Haiti, the United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2004 the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition.
On January 10, 2004, the UN held the year's opening ceremony in Ghana, the former Gold Coast from which millions of Africans were forced aboard slave ships bound for Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas. While abolition is highlighted, Anti-Slavery International cautioned against assuming slavery ended. Slavery exists in various forms from bonded labor for debt to sexual exploitation. Moreover, the legacies of colonialism, slavery and racism still negatively impact Africa and slaves' descendants throughout the Diaspora.
To commemorate this year, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has planned a series of activities from research studies to establishing slavery and slave trade databases. UNESCO will work to educate the international community about slavery and encourage every nation to include slavery and the slave trade in school textbooks and curricula.
Recognized as crimes against humanity at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), slavery is tragically ignored by industrialized nations that profited from the institution. Ironically, these same nations acknowledged the injustice of the Nazi Holocaust and paid reparations to its Jewish victims. In the case of the US, it paid reparations for a crime it did not commit and still financially assists the state of Israel. Morally schizophrenic, US political leaders refuse to even discuss the nation's known crimes against humanity and reparations for slave descendants necessary to repair the damage resulting from those crimes and ongoing institutionalized racism.
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