Volume 7 Issue 28…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…July 16, 2004

By John Burl Smith

Warmongers and right-wing conservatives sheepishly say, 9-11 changed USA fundamental values from freedom, liberty, justice and equality to the need for an autocratic, militaristic, faith-based approach to survival. Preaching the gospel of "9-11 and the war on terror," Republicans and war profiteers of every political persuasion painted the world black with apocalyptic analyses of an imminent attack by Saddam Hussein's Iraq prior to the US-led invasion. Invoking "fire and brimstone" images made real by 9-11, fear of what could happen justified an aggressive war of choice based on vague threats contained in fictitious information.

This "9-11 world" is the catchphrase used to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Without debate, George W. Bush unilaterally decreed preemption was the salvation of the world. Departing radically from America's diplomatic legacy, Bush's "shock and awe" strike-first policy killed thousands unnecessarily. Bush's rush to war, before his imminent threat or WMD claims could be verified, demonstrates the perilous pitfalls of preemption and the danger of intentional fallacy.

Those who accept the 9-11 rationale and try to put a good face on the death and destruction resulting from preemption legitimize it. Any supposed positive impact, like "the world is a better place without Saddam in power," is incidental and does not justify hidden agendas. The world must never accept any nation's right to establish a scale that values some lives over others. Accepting Bush's right to act unilaterally gives the USA imperial power to force the rest of the world to live by its capricious whims and arbitrary dictates.

A horribly inane use of the US' awesome power is targeted assassinations in Iraq and Palestine. Compassionate conservatives, who fight to protect life in the womb, support preemptively dropping bombs and launching missiles into homes with children inside. "The house was used by terrorists" becomes the justification for killing whole families under preemption. Guilt or innocence of people in targeted homes is irrelevant; they fall on the low end of the scale in the war on terror.

Even more disturbing is the fact that the US Senate Intelligence Committee's report notes, given all the intelligence in the world, information emphatically claiming to show Iraq had stockpiles of WMD was false. So, given the possibility of faulty intelligence and inept analysis, how can one trust shady tipsters in Baghdad enough to justify bombing homes filled with the children and women Bush claims he wanted to liberate?

Stripped bare, the neo-con "faith-based" dogma of preemption is nothing more than old-fashioned 18^th century imperialism. Then, war was a way of life and society was organized around killing. Observing Bush over the years, one thing has become abundantly clear; he is never so animated as when talking about killing. Discussing death seems to bring Bush alive as nothing else. His boyish charms give way to fiery zealotry in urging others to face death. Moreover, he is never so generous as when he offers the lives of others' sons and daughters to secure his imperial dreams.

Exchanging the United States' revolutionary values of liberty, freedom, justice and equality for Bush's post 9-11 preemption values of power, dominance, restriction and greed, Americans will be forced to adopt an attitude of "kill them before they kill us." Poor families that vote for Bush will be agreeing to supply their sons and daughters to die in the place of those in the upper income brackets that benefited from Bush's tax cuts. Contributing our children to the endless war on terror is the way poor parents show their patriotism. Survivors of 9-11, what do you tell grandchildren to ease the pain of losing a parent? "Saddam is no longer in power?" What child would agree that getting rid of Saddam was worth sacrificing a parent?

Charles Spurgeon Johnson (1893-1956)

Sociologist Charles S. Johnson was born on July 24, 1893 in Bristol, Virginia. He attended Wayland Academy and received his undergraduate degree from Virginia Union University in Richmond. Johnson studied sociology at the University of Chicago and worked with the Chicago Urban League. During WWI, he enlisted and served as a non-commissioned officer in France.

After WWI, he returned to Chicago to complete his studies. The Chicago race riot of July 1919 occurred shortly after his return. Johnson studied the riot and presented a plan to examine its causes. The governor accepted his proposal and appointed him to Chicago's Commission on Race Relations, where Johnson worked from 1919-1921. The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot, the commission's landmark study, was published in 1922.

In 1921, Johnson moved to New York, where he worked as the National Urban League's director of research and investigations. He founded and edited the League's magazine, Opportunity: a Journal of Negro Life (1923-28), a periodical designed to stimulate pride in black achievements and show there was hope for the black future. As editor of Opportunity, he attracted, encouraged and supported the young black writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Opportunity's annual prizes recognized their achievements.

In 1927, Johnson became head of the social research department at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. At Fisk, established in 1867 and restricted to black students, Johnson popularized his "community self-survey" research technique, which facilitated the gathering of data and interpretations from blacks and whites. Given numerous awards and appointments for his scholarship, including the 1930 William E. Harmon Gold Medal for distinguished service, Johnson became the first black trustee of the Julius Rosenwald Fund (1934) and first black vice-president of the American Sociological Society (1937).

Under Johnson, Fisk became a center for race relations research. His numerous books and articles include The Negro in American Civilization (1930), The Negro College Graduate (1936) and Patterns of Negro Segregation (1943). In Growing Up in the Black Belt (1941), he showed U.S. race relations was not a true caste system since it was neither universally accepted nor religion based. Fisk created its Institute of Race Relations in 1944 and appointed Johnson to head it.

An internationally recognized scholar, Johnson helped reorganize the Japanese educational system after WWII. In 1946, the Fisk board of trustees selected Johnson to become the university's first black president, a post he held until 1956. He died on October 27, 1956 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Sources: www.tnstate.edu, www.britannica.com, and www.aaregistry.com)

By Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history with your bitter twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

Cause I walk like I've got oil wells pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns, with certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high, still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops, weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard,

Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise,

That I dance like I've got diamonds at the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame I rise.

Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise.

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise.

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise.

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise...I rise...I rise...

Innocent Tease or Intentional Put Down

On July 1, 2004, 6-year-old Isis D'Luciano attended the story hour at the Santa Barbara Central Library. California Education Secretary Richard Riordan, a former Los Angeles mayor, also attended the event, which highlighted a summer reading program.

Seated on the floor beside Riordan, the youngster proudly inquired, "Did you know that my name actually means an Egyptian goddess?" Known to commit the occasional verbal blunder, an unthinking Riordan responded, "It means stupid, dirty girl."

Of course, the kids giggled. Isis repeated her name was that of an Egyptian goddess. Perhaps recognizing his error, Riordan said, "Hey, that's nifty."

Riordan issued a public statement shortly after the incident saying he "teased" her and "immediately apologized...for misunderstanding." Amid growing demands for Riordan's resignation, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office reiterated his confidence in and commitment to retaining the embattled secretary.

Typical of the racial divide, on learning of the incident, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the California Coalition for Racial Equality, League of United Latin American Citizens and California Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) led the chorus demanding that Riordan resign. In the heat of the moment, Dymally demanded, "Would he have done that to a white girl?"

On learning Isis is white, Dymally, who is black, canceled a hastily arranged press conference. His furor over Riordan's remarks dissolved into platitudes and a planned pow-pow with the education secretary.

Obviously, Trinity Lila, Isis' mother, the civil rights groups and other concerned citizens see Dymally's actions as hypocritical. And, while, Isis' mother is not demanding Riordan's resignation, she believes, as do the NAACP and others, that, whether an innocent tease or an intentional put down, Riordan's abusive language and lack of respect for a child make him uniquely unqualified to guide state education policy.

Letter to Mr. Cosby: My Name's Not Crap

By Kiah Thomas

Mr. Cosby, you may think my name is "crap," but it actually means "seasons beginning" in Kiswahili. I was born on December 20th, the end of fall and the beginning of winter. My parents bought a book of names before I was born and read it over and over until they found one they liked. At school, some of my friend's names are: Shameka, Makeeba, Shaquana and Kashia; none of us is in jail. I don't know what all my friends' names mean, but I know they don't mean failure. We go to middle school, get decent grades and live pretty normal lives.

When I read the remarks you made, I wondered whether Shaniqua was sitting in the audience that night, and what she felt when she heard you mention her name. I wonder if she went to school the next day feeling proud to have been able to attend a gala event to celebrate a historic occasion like the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, whether she felt like she had been kicked in the stomach, or whether she just blew off the whole thing as just another old man talking too much.

My parents talk to me a lot about what goes on in the world. Mostly, they try to get me to understand that sometimes there's more to a person than what meets the eye and that I shouldn't make assumptions. I hope that when I am ready to send in my resume for a job, that the person reading it will judge me by my qualifications and not the spelling of my name. I think that someone should not stereotype a child by their name and definitely not tease them because it is different. One of my grandfathers' names is Rolumus. My dad said that it was supposed to be Romulus, but my great-grandparents couldn't spell. That happened a lot with black people who were freed slaves. You have a simple and common name. I have an aunt and uncle named Bill and Camille and they are white. I also know that some of your children have unusual names and I think that's great. You and your wife made the decision to give them different names and no one is going to hold that against you and hopefully not against your kids either.

All I wanted to say Mr. Cosby is that I truly hope you didn't mean to insult anyone named Shaniqua or Taliqua or Mohammed because I know they are out there. I've watched reruns of your show on Nick at Nite and it seemed to me that if one of your TV kids had made fun of someone's name, that "Cliff Huxtable" would have taught them a lesson. Maybe you were just in a bad mood that night at Constitution Hall. But, I think you owe all of us an apology.

About Me: Kiah Thomas is 13. Her letter, which was edited by her mother, Joan Grangenois-Thomas, was written in response to Cosby's intentional fallacy, i.e., "...with names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail," made by Cosby at the event honoring the 50th anniversary of Brown v Board of Education (May 17, 2004).

Intentionally Fallacious Purge

A Florida State court judge recently declared the state's 2001 statute limiting public access to its purge list unconstitutional. Leon County Circuit Judge Nikki Clark ordered the immediate release of the suspected felons' list. Florida is one of a handful of states that do not allow persons convicted of felonies to vote. Its list of felons is used to determine who will be eligible to cast ballots in November's presidential election.

In the lead-up to Election 2000, thousands of voters, primary black Democrats, were erroneously removed from voter rolls. The state was sued after that election and promised to correct the problems.

Media analyses of the recently released purge list have uncovered flaws on several fronts. One, of the 47,763 suspected felons on the purge list, only 61 are Hispanic. Florida has a large Hispanic community, which tends to vote Republican. Florida election officials claim this discrepancy is due to their use of FBI supplied race criteria for identifying felons. Hispanic is not one of the FBI's five racial variables, i.e., white, unknown, Indian, black and Asian. To make the purge list, Hispanics must match the first names, last names and dates of birth of felons with race listed as "unknown."

Second, still angry over 2000, blacks have charged the state with racial bias in developing and employing its purge list. More than 22,000 of those on the current purge list are black. Too often, without verification, common black first and last names lead to the wrong persons identified as felons and purged.

Since the vast majority, 28,025, of those on the purge list are Democratic voters, the list is seen as politically motivated to again aid Florida Governor Jeb Bush's brother, George W. Beyond what Democrats are calling an intentionally fallacious and biased purge, Florida faces lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of its rule prohibiting manual recounts and demanding its touch-screen voting machines produce printouts. With controversies swirling on so many fronts, Election 2004 takes up where the Florida debacle of 2000 left off.

Disgruntled feels: Intentional fallacy! Coined in the 20^th century to describe the problem inherent in trying to judge an artist's work by assuming his/her purpose or intent in creating it, intentional fallacy fits the 21^st century predilection of politicians and business people to employ phony data or fallacious assumptions to promote questionable policies or protect the market share of potentially harmful products. A case in point is the dismissal of growth hormones used on livestock as a possible cause of premature puberty in humans. More than 4000 scientists have called for an end to the Bush administration's practice of intentional fallacy, which suppresses and distorts scientific knowledge and undermines scientific advisory panels. The Union of Concerned Scientists at www.ucsusa.org/rsi provides recent cases of Bush administration intentional fallacies.

Disgruntled says: Thanks to the collapse of energy giant Enron, there is documentary evidence of the machinations of GOP strongman Tom DeLay (R- Sugar Land, Texas). An Enron email shows DeLay, known as "the Hammer," solicited contributions to finance Texas' redistricting. In exchange for the corporate cash, DeLay helped Enron secure energy deregulation. Strong on conservative 'Christian' values, at least in public, DeLay is under investigation for violating Texas' prohibition on the use of corporate contributions to finance state legislative campaigns. Notwithstanding his belief that God is on his side, so nothing he does is wrong, DeLay has hired several criminal lawyers to save his hide.

Disgruntled wants to know: In a letter to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, a group of congressional Democrats called on the UN to dispatch international election monitors to watch for questionable practices and voter disenfranchisement during the November 2, 2004 presidential election to prevent a repeat of Election 2000. Unfortunately, the UN quickly rejected the request; its policy requires that such requests come directly from the government rather than elected officials. Election 2000 aptly demonstrated the fragility of US democracy. And, with its future in question, can we allow the Bush administration to even contemplate postponing the election because of a potential or actual terrorist incident?

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