Volume 7 Issue 7…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…February 20, 2004

OWI: WWII Propaganda (1942-1943)

In January 1941, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945) promised, "In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential freedoms," i.e., freedom of speech and worship, and freedom from want and fear. Obviously, these freedoms were to be enjoyed at some future date following the war. Almost immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor throughout WWII, the Office of Censorship sought to control media. The government was not as concerned about vital information falling into enemy hands as it was information disseminated to the public that could damage its opinion of the war effort.

Under Associated Press executive Byron Price, newspapers followed Office of Censorship rules and censored themselves. The Office of Censorship was just one of numerous federal agencies created under the war mobilization effort collectively known as the Victory Program. Overlapping functions and conflict among them led to the creation of the Office of War Information (OWI). Ostensibly established "in recognition of the right of the American people and of all other peoples opposing the Axis aggressors to be truthfully informed about the common war effort," Executive Order 9182 signed June 13, 1942, created the OWI to sell the war.

Appointed OWI's first director, news commentator Elmer Davis led the agency's efforts to shape public perception of the war at home and abroad. On July 10, 1942, Davis issued Regulation No. 1. It pledged a "continuation of the open door policy...in the dealings of the government with the press and radio and other news media, an end to the conflicting statements which confuse the public mind, and the promise to tell the truth about the nation's war effort. This is a people's war and to win it the people should know as much about it as they can." To that end, OWI issued elaborate guidelines to insure conformity of media content. While it was initially viewed as "liberal," by the end of World War II the OWI had a heavy hand in all public media messages, including movies.

Even before the war's end, OWI aroused congressional misgivings. Conservatives objected to several OWI pamphlets: one on the dangers of inflation, another on Negroes in the war, and another on the need for high taxes. A fourth pamphlet, intended only for overseas distribution, a cartoon biography of Roosevelt, especially worried anti-administration congressmen. They feared the OWI might promote Roosevelt's New Deal policies and his 1944 candidacy. In 1943, Congress cut funds for the domestic branch of the OWI so drastically that it had to stop producing propaganda.

Overseas, the OWI carried on a program employing 8,400 persons by V-E Day. Through Voice of America broadcasts, which began in 1941, and various other propaganda efforts, it presented an idealistic view of American war aims and aspirations for a peaceful postwar world. As the personification of this idealism, by the end of the war, President Roosevelt was more of a hero overseas than at home. (Sources: www.history.acusd.edu, www.history.sandiego.edu, www.americanhistory.si.edu and American History: A Survey, Current, Williams and Friedel)

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro finally got over his Valentine's Day blues on discovering a "secret admirer." On Friday the 13th, he came home from school aglow with the certainty of his new found love seeping from every pore. When asked about the change in disposition, there was an outpouring of information. As he left to go outside to play, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro warned, "Now you can't tell anyone!"

By John Burl Smith

While simultaneously attacking constitutional expressions of free speech and press, conservatives claim their states' rights views protect the Constitution. Under George Bush's Justice Department, Attorney General John Aschroft has become an activist for limiting free speech via the Internet. Using an overly broad definition of "spam" provided by the new anti-spam law, conservatives, like Aschroft, are shutting down dissent in cyberspace. A story in USA Today (2-12-04) Spam rage drives some e-mailers to extremes by Jon Swartz shows the forming battle lines.

Presented from the outraged victim's perspective, Swartz makes no distinction between types of e-mails and so-called spam. Based on the exploits of exotic individuals' extreme episodes, Swartz argues "any unwanted" e-mail is spam. Like a drive-by shooting, he sprays all e-mailers with innuendoes of being unscrupulous slimy bottom feeders preying on defenseless children and deluging unsuspecting consumers seeking sells.

His attack blurred the line between commercial e-mails and informational e-mail services, such as e-magazines and newsletters. Swartz's article dismisses the idea that shutting down such sites threatens freedom of press and speech. No regard is given those who want to receive their postings. Swartz makes it seem as if spammers lurk behind every click of the mouse, therefore consumers need protection. Ashcroft and his conservative supporters claim preventing e-mags and newsletters from being sent to anyone is the best solution, even though freedom of speech and press is guaranteed by the Constitution.

Free speech begins with choice and choice lies with e-mail consumers. One can delete any unwanted information before or after opening it. Dissenting speech provokes strong reactions on both sides of an issue, which is why Americans fight so hard to protect it. For many startup and small businesses the Internet is the last vestige of the "Wild Wild West" frontier where rugged individualism or entrepreneurship can reap dividends. Bush administration spam policy casts it in the role of "cattle barons" fighting homesteaders over the range.

Hoping to counter censorship implications, Swartz portrays outraged anti-spammers as heroic figures, but their outlandish tactics betray his intent. Placing "unwanted e-mails" in the category with spam, the Bush administration betrayed its intent to give Internet service providers (ISP) the power of "life and death" over information service e-mailers. Swartz's story unequivocally supports anti-spam activists, while ISPs are free to violate their free speech rights. Justice Department policies encourage ISPs to arbitrarily and capriciously shut down E-zine web sites using only unsubstantiated complaints as the justification.

The bottom line here is ISPs have taken a pro-active role in policing the Internet for dissenting political content. Based on their individual criteria, which is subject to change at any moment and without notice, ISPs can terminate an e-mailer's Internet access. This smacks of the "Stamp Act," which sought to control colonial speech, like "17th century spam," OWI efforts to censure content and burning books in Nazi Germany.

Disgruntled wants to know: In his interview with Tim Russert on Meet the Press, George W. Bush stated, "See, free societies are societies that don't develop weapons of mass terror and don't blackmail the world." This assertion is about as far from the truth as the notion of free speech and assembly and freedom of the press under the Ashcroft enforced Patriot Act. Other than Russia, countries that possess nuclear weapons claim to be free societies. And, except for Israel, they are signatories of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Hypocritically, the US is not pressuring Israel to come under the treaty's umbrella and submit to weapons inspections. Moreover, why does the US ignore its conventions by developing and deploying weapons of mass destruction?

Disgruntled says: It is crystal clear the American public will never know how the White House cherry-picked intelligence to construct its case for war against Iraq. First, the Bush administration limited the investigation into the alleged WMD intelligence failure by excluding any examination of how information was used. Second, Bush, who is ultimately responsible for using the information and rushing to war, appointed the intelligence probe members, some of whom have questionable pasts and current neo-conservative and GOP connections. Now, the White House has sealed their financial records. This has all the earmarks of a cover-up, but mainstream media are again missing in action, assuring the public remains ignorant.

Disgruntled feels: Censored! As anti-war protests grew during the Vietnam conflict, the government tried to conceal casualty statistics. A number of news organizations have run stories suggesting that the number of US soldiers that have died in Iraq and Afghanistan could be more than double the official death toll. With a sophisticated propaganda apparatus controlling content, media imbeds engage in self-censorship, a blackout regarding the filming of returning flag-draped coffins and a selected chief executive that does not attend funerals, the American public are victims of propaganda and censorship.

Superstar (Slap the S**t out of You)

By Yohannes Sharriff

I don't work to be a superstar

I already are what I am

So I just do my art

And this is my new love poem

Never did it for the name, fame or acclaim

Never spit for pussy, props or position

Pimp slapped dictionary though

Cause she was holding out on scratch

Paper claimed she loved the way I dialect

So now I'm expecting my first born butterfly

Beautiful, daddy will be home soon

So take care of your momma

For me and karma slang sacks of lexicon in the back of yin yang

Before underground poets knew fame

Before innovation and creativity was sacrificed

On the altar of stagnation

As an offering to the god of greed and hypocrisy

Before punch lines and hooks

Before groupies and cliques

I made thesaurus my bottom bitch

And, I don't give a damn what you think

The truth gives you wings.

Willie Mae's grandson is wielding the ink

Spilling from the quill on the brink of Pulitzer

Yeah partner, my style's known

So much love poured in every poem

They have a life of their own

Home grown southern comfort country cut her gutter

Hustle something out of nothing

Puddle of Muddy Waters

Oh how my cup runneth over

The color of Sun House blues, gangsta yet relevant

Like Straight out of Compton

Coming from Decatur via Memphis

Here to reinstate the thug in poetry

Lovingly slapping the s**t out of the so-called spoken word fraudulent minions of mediocrity

The renaissance of 98 was quite possibly

Africa before raped

Now, we, who remain faithful at the fringes, stand as pillars

Yet inadvertently supporting some bulls**t nigger

As time is my witness, with all the love following through my Pan African

slap the s**t out of the political rift

Between the gifted voices of our time

And lovers of ancestral manifestation through rhyme

This divide created by the so small minded

So out of love we slap the s**t out of you

Cause we family first

Slap the s**t out of you cause steel sharpen steel

We slap the s**t out of you

With righteous indignation

Cause I peel like rubber Taliban man

Hi-jack your plane of existence with a pair of pliers or pen

For my Atlantis love rep with the conviction of Gandhi on a fast

Or them cats in Israel throwing rocks at tanks

Flanked by the industry rank with conspiracy

Tranquilized by a program jammed in our ear until def jammed poetry

now everybody hooked on tell lie vision

looking for the next hot piece

when all y'all should know

the next hot piece is coming from the street!

yes them same street never

where this murder of crows flock

instead, perched like birds of prey, they watch

ready to feed on the carrion that chaos breed

And I do this out of love

Drawn overseas like water or Madison Square to the road

I ride whether or not CD's sell well

I don't work to be a superstar

I already are what I am

So, I just do my art.

Brazilian Hip-Hop Artists

"US hip hop artists traveling over seas, beware. Just because you are filthy rich and internationally known don't expect a welcome mat." This story entitled "Snoop and Ja Rule Boycotted in Brazil" headlined BET.com last week (2-5-04). It detailed how thousands of conscious hip hop aficionados ignited a movement against "Hip Hop Manifest," a 2-day festival featuring Snoop Dog and Ja Rule.

Back in January 2004, a coalition of Brazilian artists led by the successful and well-respected MC, MV Bill began revolting against promoters. Artists scheduled to open for Snoop and Ja said, "Promoters refuse to reinvest profits in poor Brazilian communities that propelled hip hop into the international spotlight. They are not interested in our issues, or what we rhyme about. I have a moral commitment to uphold the history that created hip hop and I pity the black man who sells our history for a price."

Symbolic of "We are the World," many of Brazil's biggest hip hop stars collaborated and distributed a newsletter on the Internet and radio. According to Bill, "Brazilian hip hoppers are fighting producers, promoters and groups of television industry personalities." They oppose corporate affiliations and a white-owned media industry that is increasingly carving inroads of control and profiting from hip hop's mass appeal. They want to buy legitimacy and validation from the 20 million hoppers in Brazil. Conscious hip hop artists, objected to "Beer sponsors using chic upscale newspapers and television to push steep ticket prices, while refusing to share revenue with the community."

One by one artists pulled their names from the event. Foregoing the "big pay day," Brazilian hip hoppers identified with black consciousness and the marginalized lives of favelas, poor shantytowns with deplorable living conditions in Rio de Janeiro and Florianópolis. Casting a stark contrast against Brazil's festival friendly backdrop presented internationally, L.F., a Sao Paula based MC, said he wanted African American rappers to recognize that "We fight against injustice, and we cannot allow ourselves to be seen simply as idols. Ever since I began creating hip hop my dream was to show black people that we could be free and break the shackles." Kudos! Kudos to the conscious black sisters and brothers in Brazil! Stay down!

Q&A with Yohannes

While preparing for his first leading role as Rayquan in the play The Dance of Fatherhood, which is produced by Janean Hightower and Mimi Williams, Yohannes sat down for a Q&A with The DISH. Yohannes framed his comments with the international perspective reflected by sisters and brothers in Brazil. Seeing events and trends in the Atlanta vibe diverge, he spoke of the challenges of taking it to the next level.

"I came to the vibe in 1997 and it definitely had a different flavor. Collective consciousness and collaborative concepts were the rule. Poets like The Mighty I Am, Nairobi, We One and Dres the Beatnik paced the vibe. Back then, Pattie Hut, Mecca and Yin Yang offered open MIC's that nourished growth and pushed artists to get better. Today, commercialism is the dominant concern of the status quo cliques and gatekeepers trying to control access in the vibe."

What helps an artist follow right path? "Keeping it fresh. Being innovative. Riding the cutting edge. Out there, artists determine their own fate. The people will tell you what works." But how can we keep the art pure or reclaim hip hop? "Never stop creating that is all the reclamation needed. Within our minds we have the ability to imagine the world as we would have it. That is our genius, look at our history. Black people created hip hop, it is ours. But unlike Brazil, black icons in the US are helping whites steal our hip hop heritage. Emblematic of how we were robbed of our wealth by slavery and the 3/5 Compromise, bling bling merchants of gangsterism and sex have taken hip hop to such a low level, blacks are abandoning it, like we did the blues, rock n' roll and soul music's chitlin' circuit."

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