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Vol. 8 No. 52…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…December 30, 2005
Benjamin Banneker
(1731-1806)
Born free on November 9, 1731 in Baltimore County,
Maryland, Benjamin Banneker was the son of an African slave named Robert, who
purchased his freedom, and Mary Banneky, the daughter of an Englishwoman and a
free African slave. Banneker lived
on his father's farm and briefly attended a nearby Quaker country school. He demonstrated an early aptitude for
mathematics and mechanics, but worked as a tobacco planter for most of his
life.
Banneker befriended his
well-to-do neighbors, the Ellicotts. Like Banneker, George Ellicott was a
mathematician and amateur astronomer. In the early 1750's, Banneker borrowed a
pocket watch from one of the Ellicott brothers, took it apart and made a
drawing of each component, reassembled and returned the watch to its owner,
fully functioning. Using his
drawing, Banneker built a wood clock, the first ever built in America. Banneker’s clock kept precise time for
decades.
In 1788, George Ellicott lent
Banneker books on astronomy, a telescope and drafting instruments. Banneker taught himself astronomy; he
computed tables of the locations of celestial bodies and nearly accurately
predicted the 1789 solar eclipse.
In 1791, George Washington
commissioned Maj. Andrew Ellicott and French engineer Pierre L'Enfant to plan
the construction of the nation's capital.
Ellicott invited Banneker to assist. When L'Enfant quit, taking his plans with him, Banneker
reproduced the intricate plans from memory.
In April 1791, Banneker published
his first almanac, which included information on medicines and medical
treatment, and listed tides, astronomical information and eclipses. He sent Secretary of State Thomas
Jefferson a copy and enclosed a letter urging the slave owner to help end
slavery and the absurd notion of racial superiority. Banneker’s last known almanacs appeared for the year 1797;
he prepared ephemeredes for each year until 1804. He also published a treatise on bees and computed the cycle
of the 17-year locust.
A lifelong bachelor, Banneker
sold and rented some of his land; he gave the remainder to the Ellicotts in
exchange for a small pension. Benjamin Banneker -- author, scientist,
mathematician, farmer, astronomer, publisher and urban planner-- died on Sunday,
October 9, 1806 at the age of 74.
On the day of his burial, his house and its contents (including his
wooden clock) caught fire and burned to the ground. In the 1990s, the actual
site of Banneker's home was determined.
In 1980, the U.S. Postal Service issued a postage stamp in his
honor. (Sources: , , and )
Black History Poem…By Celly Torrez
Black, white, red, blue, loving is all you should do
All those beatings and whippings weren't necessary
Calling us nigger and other derogatory words wasn't cool
Kicking us wasn't fun or your terrible guns
Hitting women like men
Illing when they weren't willing
Sleeping with them, you had no right
To take another person’s body and abuse it
Over and over again, you heard our cries
Raping our women and selling our children
You all will go to hell
Moments and centuries later, this hate still exists
Our ancestors’ terrible stories still lay in our heads
Now in ‘97 we stand strong
Together united, we won't fall!
History isn't just 28 days, but 256!
If we all keep it that way,
So learn about you, me, everybody.
By John Burl Smith
Morgan Freeman is one of my
favorite actors. My appreciation
of his enormous talent began with his days on Sesame Street. Not a regular 60
Minutes viewer, I missed his recent interview (12-16-05). Consequently, it is
very difficult to know the context and specific statements he made about Black
History Month based on snippets gleaned for newsprint.
Generally, I agree that most
blacks deplore the fact that in 2005 the racial designation “black” is still
used like the prefixes “Mr.” or “Mrs.” This is especially
galling when used to draw distinctions between those in the same crafts or
professions. Specifically,
commentators say or papers print black actor, black athlete or black leader; no
one ever says or writes white actor, white athlete or white leader.
If one really desires to get at
the real problem to which Mr. Freeman eluded, i.e., racism in America, one
needs only read Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution. The 3/5 Compromise makes the
Constitution a racist document. The all-white “Founding Fathers” included it in
order to establish the value of blacks-- slaves-- at 3/5 of a white man. Never having been repealed, even after
ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th
Amendments, it provided the legal basis for whites to implement their belief that
blacks contribute and deserve less than whites.
The 3/5 Compromise is the
constitutional justification for Plessy vs Ferguson, Jim Crow segregation,
black and white signs, and the history of discrimination and disparate
treatment blacks endure. It is
expressed today by misuses and abuses in employment, education, the criminal
and juvenile justice systems, as well as, in a host of social and financial
institutions. In fact, Carter G.
Woodson began Negro, then Black History Week, now Black History Month in
response to whites’ insistence that blacks contributed nothing of value to US
history.
After the assassination of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968), the real history of black people vanished and
magically in its place appeared a color blind society. The US became the land of OZ. Slavery
never happened. Segregation was
something done by bad white people, who all disappeared with the black and
white signs of the color line. Discrimination became something that happened
only in the minds of black people.
Realistically, only an uneducated
individual would believe that even though blacks’ tax dollars supported
all-white universities, like the Universities of Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas,
etc., blacks preferred attending private under-funded schools, such as Morris
Brown, Lane, Fisk, and LeMoyne. I
am sure Mr. Freeman will agree that blacks did not ride in the back of the bus
because it was more comfortable.
Segregation was the law-- state and federal.
Black History Month reflects the
fact that black people were deprived of freedom, justice and equality to
benefit whites. Using laws to create a hostile and disparate environment for
blacks, like Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa, makes the US a racist
society. Racism, not the word black, was the problem then, racism is the
problem today. Racism will be the
problem until whites, at a minimum, change the US Constitution to repeal the
3/5 Compromise and replace it with language and backed by actions that
guarantee all citizens equality, justice and the right of access to all US
institutions.
Conyers: Constitution
in Crisis
In July, US Rep. John Conyers
(D-Michigan), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and more
than 120 members of Congress submitted a letter to George W. Bush asking him
about the accuracy of the Downing Street Memo, which alleged cherry-picking of
intelligence in creating the dossier for war against Iraq. Bush ignored the letter, which
contained the more than 500,000 signatures collected with the assistance of
AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition.
Now, Rep. Conyers is proposing
Congress hold Bush and Dick Cheney accountable for their actions, which include
misleading Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war
in Iraq, misstating and manipulating intelligence information to justify the
war, countenancing torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of persons
in Iraq, permitting inappropriate
retaliation against critics of his administration, failing to adequately
account for specific misstatements he made regarding the war, and failing to
comply with Executive Order 12958, which seeks to promote openness in
government. Conyers is calling on
Congress to establish a select committee to censure Bush and Dick Cheney and
make recommendations for possible impeachment.
The Conyers document –Constitution in Crisis– can be read in its entirety at .
Why We Owe Them
By Carol Chehade
"Stop living in the past and
move on after slavery!" This is what we often tell African Americans. Well
we certainly forced them to move on. We moved on to Black Codes, Jim Crow,
lynching, de facto segregation. We moved on to White knights hiding behind ghosts
of themselves while religiously lighting crosses in praise of a Satan they were
fooled into thinking was God. We moved on to the cities of Tulsa, St. Louis and
Rosewood, where we, apparently, were unaffected by the burned and seared flesh
of Black people. We moved on to laws that upheld racial oppression over and
over again. We moved on to the many Black men placed on death row because they
fit the description. We moved on and made sure that Emmitt Till would not be
the last fourteen-year-old Black child whose unrecognizable corpse was the
price paid for supposedly whistling at a White woman. We moved on to exclude
African Americans from rights of democracy by blocking avenues to employment,
education, housing, and civil rights. In the final decade of the last century
the slow, consistent racial apocalypse started showing signs of even more
things to come when a Black man's head was seen rolling behind a pick up truck
in Jasper, Texas. By the time we racially profiled our way from Texas to New
York we find a city plagued with plungers and forty-one bullets. Every time
Black people have tried leaving the shackles of slavery behind, we find that we
were the ones that couldn't stop living in the past.
How dare our own racial arrogance
say that reparations are too much of an apology for the Black lives we've
tormented. How dare we simultaneously declare that the statue of limitations
has expired for African Americans yet is limitless for other people in the
world whom are non-Black. Half of the nations in this world are in the midst of
fighting long and hard battles to get justice for things that happened in the
past. Some of these battles have roots that go back further than the birth of
the United States. African Americans' quest for justice is looked down upon in
comparison to ethnic groups like Jews and Palestinians. Black people would be
ridiculed as unrealistic and outlandish if they were to ask for a piece of land
like the Jews and Palestinians have done and are doing. Unlike the Jews and
Palestinians, at least African Americans are asking rather than forcing us
through the barrel of a gun to take responsibility.
The international stage has taken
issues of reparations much more seriously than we have. The Jews received
statehood as a form of reparations for their brothers and sisters who were
exterminated. Coincidentally, many
Jews who immigrated to Israel and benefitted from reparations were not even
close to the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Dachau. Although millions of
those whom the reparations were intended for died, that didn't mean that their
death equaled an expired statue of limitations for their descendants who were
left to deal with the psychological consequences and the nagging fear of what it
means to be hunted down and collectively violated because of ethnicity. Jews
even went on to win further reparations through lawsuits against corporations
such as banks.
Again, these demands for justice
were instigated by a generation of Jews that never even lived in Germany, let
alone been there during the Holocaust. The Jewish experience serves as a prime
example as to why reparations for African Americans are not unrealistic and
outlandish.
About Me: An activist and writer, Chehade’s new book is Big Little White Lies: Our Attempt to
White-Out America. Her essay ‘Why
We Owe Them’ can be read in its entirety at .
Cultural
Consciousness Collective
Spearheaded by Ijahknowah and
3-2-1 Productions, the Cultural Consciousness Collective (CCC) combines
creative arts, economics, politics, health and healing to build an
entertainment venue for the entire family. As part of the Kwanzaa calendar, the CCC presents Cultural Exposition
2005 on Saturday, December 31, 2005 at the Return to Royalty Banquet Hall
located in the Soul Vegetarian Complex at 879 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd.
The event features speakers, book
signings, merchandising and some of Atlanta’s best performing artists,
including vocalist Messenjah Selah, Jason Lyric, Akbar, storyteller Puppeteer,
Black Sis and spoken word and recording artist Yohannes Sharriff. This is a family event that will
enlighten and elevate the mind.
So, come out, bring the family and join this cultural revolution. Doors open at 4:30 PM and performances
start at 5 PM. Contact Ijahknowah
@ 678-887-9126 for additional information.
Disgruntled says: The only time some of us are reminded of the contributions of
blacks is during Black History Month.
Competing with President and Valentine’s Days, some public schools do
plan special programs and encourage students to write brief biographies of
black people to celebrate their historic contributions to US society. Like so many others, Banneker is not
included in public school history textbooks. This glaring omission necessitates this ad hoc effort to
educate black children about their ancestors and others about the role blacks
played in creating this nation.
Yet, when one really sagaciously contemplates this situation, relegating
black history to the shortest month of the year is really an insult, rather
than a compliment.
Disgruntled feels: Impeachable! Looking intently into the camera lens,
George W. Bush did not wag his finger and declare, “I did not have sex with
that woman.” Instead, Bush stated he ordered the National Security Agency (NSA)
to conduct warrantless surveillance on US citizens in violation of their Fourth
Amendment rights. Moreover, Bush
told the public he would not hesitate to bypass the legal process and do it
again, if he deemed it necessary “to protect Americans” in his capacity as
commander-in-chief. Bush
sounded downright regal. He is
above the law, and he has the right to violate it, because he knows what is
best. It is amazing! What is even
more amazing is, there is no public outcry from the men that touted the “rule
of law” in drafting the bill of particulars to impeach Bill Clinton for lying
about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Bush’s actions, which we have dubbed spygate, obviously violate legal
procedures established to protect against unreasonable searches and
seizures. This is a real
impeachable offense.
Disgruntled wants to know: It is sheer genius that never ceases to
amaze, and the Bush administration has perfected the technique. When the Bush administration is in
trouble, they shamelessly drag out Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice. Think about it! Who better to send out to defend
flagrant violations of human and civil rights, such as torture and warrantless
wiretaps, than a member of an historically oppressed group?
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Phone Calls
Email Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report...By Eric
Lichtblau and James Risen...The National Security Agency has traced and
analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into
and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that
President Bush approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence
of terrorist activity, according to current and former government
officials. The volume of
information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks, without
court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged,
the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly into some of the
American telecommunication system's main arteries.
Email Indicted Officials Consider Suing Pro-Israel Lobby...By ORI
NIR...Steve Rosen, former director of foreign policy at the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee, and Keith Weissman, AIPAC's former Iran analyst, are
facing trial for allegedly receiving classified information and relaying it to
foreign diplomats and the press. Rosen
and Weissman are considering suing AIPAC over its stopping payments of legal
fees to their attorneys.
Email Former Enron Accountant
Strikes Plea Deal HOUSTON (AP) -- Enron's former chief accounting officer,
Richard Causey pled guilty Wednesday to one or more of the 34 criminal charges
pending against him. Causey, 45, agreed to testify against his former bosses,
Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling, in exchange
for a shorter prison sentence.
Email "Willful disregard of
law is potentially an impeachable offense. It is at least as impeachable as
having a sexual escapade under the Oval Office desk and lying about it later.
The members of the House Judiciary Committee who staged the impeachment of
President Clinton ought to be as outraged at this situation. They ought to
investigate it, consider it carefully and report either a bill that would
change the wiretap laws to suit the president or a bill of impeachment."
Email This week New Orleans police surrounded a knife-welding black man with guns drawn. Portions of the incident were caught on tape. Clearly agitated, Anthony Hayes, 38, refused to drop his weapon, a 3-inch knife that police considers a deadly weapon. Out of view of cameras, three policemen opened fire, hitting Hayes nine times, when he allegedly lunged at one of the officers. Hayes’ death looks like another suicide by police.
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