The DISH
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Volume 9 Issue 22…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…June
2, 2006
Bit
of History
Abram
L. Harris, Jr. (1899-1963)
A descendent of slaves freed prior to the Civil War, Abram Lincoln Harris, Jr.
was born on January 17, 1899 in Richmond, Virginia. He received a B.S. from
Virginia Union University (1922), an M.A. in economics from the University of
Pittsburgh (1924) and a Ph.D. from Columbia (1931).
Harris taught briefly at West Virginia State and worked for the Minneapolis
Urban League before starting his long academic career at Howard (1927-45),
where from (1936-45) he headed the economics department. From (1946-63), Harris
taught at the University of Chicago.
Harris' books include The Black Worker, the Negro & the Labor Movement
(1931) and The Negro as Capitalist (1936). In The Black
Worker, his most famous work, Harris collaborated with Jewish political
scientist Sterling Spero. A radical thinker, Harris' work explored the problems
involved in attaining social and economic equality for black Americans. He
advocated using a class paradigm when analyzing black American subjugation and
felt black involvement with an industrial labor movement provided the most
potent path for improving the black socioeconomic and political condition.
With ideas for improving black life outside the mainstream, Harris often
clashed with older black intellectuals that insisted on a strict racial
framework when addressing the second-class status of blacks. Harris
collaborated with colleagues Ralph Bunche, E. Franklin Frazier, Sterling Brown
and Emmet Dorsey in attacking old values and outlooks on race. W.E.B. Du Bois
dubbed this small cadre of radical black intellectuals the "Young
Turks."
These young thinkers rejected the concept of race as illegitimate in both
science and politics. They argued that the Negro was not a race, rather simply
a unique group in America because of slavery and its aftermath.
In 1935, Harris helped author a report that suggested the NAACP take a more
active stance on race relations. Called the Harris Report, the work prompted
the civil rights organization to focus more on the class aspect of the black
struggle for equality rather than race relations.
After relocating to the University of Chicago (1945), Harris' works included The
Social Philosophy of Karl Marx-Ethics (1948) and Economics and Social
Reform (1958). He did little on the question of race; he seemed more concerned about
totalitarianism in the Soviet Union.
In 1961, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and earned an LL.D. from Virginia
Union University. Harris died in November 1963. (Sources: www.aaregistry.com, www.bartleby.com
and http://faculty.washington.edu)
Incarceration
Nation
The
USA is the world's richest nation. In contrast to its immense wealth and power,
it has the dubious distinction of having the world's largest prison population.
Nearly 60% of local jail inmates are minorities. Nationwide, almost 4 % of
black men versus 0.7% of white men are incarcerated.
According
to statistics published by the US Justice Department (www.ojp.usdoj.gov), 2,186,230 persons were
incarcerated as of June 2005. The number of federal, state and local prison
inmates rose 2.6 percent from mid-2004 to mid-2005. On average, more than a
thousand persons were added to the inmate population each week over this
period.
Property
crime, which includes burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft, made up more
than three-quarters of all US crime. During the economic boom of the late
1990's, property crimes actually declined. Since stabilizing in 2002, property
crimes began their current upward trend.
Often property crimes are acts of desperation. The existence of a high property
crime rate suggests not all households experienced the nation's
"good" economy.
Fun
with Dick and Jane (2005)
It
is the year 2000, and Dick Harper (Jim Carrey) is a successful mid-level
employee at Globodyne Corp., a consolidator of media properties. His wife Jane
(Téa Leoni) works for a travel agency.
Their
two-income family has a Hispanic housekeeper-babysitter for their young son
Billy (Aaron Michael Drozin), and a dog. As the movie opens, immigrant workers
are seen landscaping the lawn of the Harper's cookie-cutter suburban home. The
setting is typical contemporary mid-America.
Dick
is promoted to vice-president of communications and tells his wife to quit her
job so she can spend more time with their son. As his first official duty, Dick
appears on a financial talk show to discuss his company's quarterly earnings.
Dick is bombarded by the show's host with questions for which he has no
answers. Globodyne's stock drops from more than $100 dollars a share to
worthless as Dick tries to explain why the corporation's CEO, Jack McCallister
(Alec Baldwin), has unloaded 80% of his stock holdings. What follows is
reminiscent of the Enron accounting and bankruptcy scandal.
Billed
as a comedy, the movie certainly has some funny moments. However, being broke
is not funny. With their savings and pension tied up in Globodyne's worthless
stock, the couple is forced to quickly get new jobs to keep the family
financially afloat. Only, Globodyne's implosion has decimated the local
economy; there are no jobs at their former career levels available. And, the
few low paying jobs they land quickly terminate in disaster.
With
no money and foreclosure and eviction from their home imminent, the couple
turns to crime to put food on the table, pay the utility bills and retrieve
their pawned possessions.
Directed
by Dean Parisot, Fun with Dick and Jane is well worth the cost of a movie
rental. Best of all, it has a happy ending.
Unemployment
By
Eliot Khalil Wilson
I've come to
be among the headline lazy,
the
soft-working, the much-made-of unemployed,
comfortable
sitting, reading my "What Now" pamphlet
here, with the
un-ransomed and all the paneling
in this
jaundiced office between the Collision Center
and the Dollar
General, all the working day.
And just where
are these big pimping welfare burghers?
The ones I
hear so much about?
Just metal
chairs of people here, a water fountain,
Ford gum
machine like a parking meter.
Above the
counter,
a
honey-brown Breck-girl Jesus with Aryan eyes,
next to posters defining the crime of
fraud
and the
minimum wage.
The temporary
tire of charity gets you this far.
The Mexican
man to the left of me is next,
and these must
be his government daughters.
His forearms,
deep cut and clawed to patchwork,
say he's
worked grabbing and lifting
chickens in
the live-kill rooms of the Tyson plant
his knuckles,
raw, rubbed a permanent pink.
They call him
back and over the partition I hear,
loud enough to
hear,
Estuvo
despedido. No se por que.
In anger, he
returned to his chair, gathered his things.
Then, Quiero
chicle, said the youngest child,
pointing to
the gum machine.
And none of us
reached for purse or pocket,
but how many
started to,
shifted even,
then thought better of it.
That was
something sweet we all had, something sweeter?
—when the
father went for
what had to be
a painful dime—
then the sight
of the emerald-cut gum,
red and green,
held out to them like jewels.
That was the
Christ-fed five thousand then.
But there are
thirty-two million people in this room.
About Me: Assistant professor of English at St.
Olaf College, Eliot Khalil Wilson’s work has been published in dozens of
literary magazines. His first collection of poems, The Saint of Letting Small
Fish Go, won the 2002 Cleveland State Poetry Prize.
The Milwaukee Maulers
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
The
case of three Milwaukee, Wisconsin ex-cops has ended in a verdict of acquittal.
The case stems from the brutal beating of a young black man, Frank Jude, who
ventured to the home of one of the accused, where the alleged theft of a badge
occurred.
According
to several witnesses, three then-off-duty cops, Andrew Spengler, Daniel
Masarik, and Jon Bartlett, brutally beat Jude in the street in front of
Spengler's house.
The
beating has incensed the community, for not only was Mr. Jude beaten, and
repeatedly kicked in the face, but he was viciously kicked in the groin, and
something sharp was shoved into his ears by the cops. This Wisconsin whipping
was witnessed and occasionally joined in by scores of cops (for Spengler was
holding a party at the time, attended by at least a dozen off-duty cops).
What
was most remarkable about the trial, however, wasn't even the brutal beating or
subsequent torture of Jude. What was remarkable was the train of cops who took
the stand, perhaps a dozen or more, most of whom swore an oath that they didn't
see a single punch, nor kick of the man. Mr. Jude's pants and jacket were literally
cut away from his body, yet when cops took the stand, all but two said they saw
no such thing.
Now,
an all-white jury has returned with a not-guilty verdict. Why should we even be
surprised?
Why do we continue, after so very many examples, to expect justice, and
equality from courts erected on an edifice of injustice?
In
what must have been an historic event, the prosecutor made a *Batson* objection
during jury selection, after several potential black jurors were removed from
the panel. Apparently, that was the key ingredient the cops' lawyers needed to
win an acquittals-- an all-white jury, which would bless their brutalities in
the name of 'keeping the natives at bay.'
In
the year 2006, we have seen a virtual replay of the Rodney King verdict, this
time in the nation's East North-central region. Mr. Jude was beaten almost to
death, and an all-white jury essentially proclaimed, 'good job.' What does that
tell you about American justice? What does this tell you about a jury of peers?
The tragic truth is that this could've happened anywhere in America. And,
without the slightest doubt, it will happen again!
So
common is this phenomenon that one needs only mention names, ones indelibly
stamped in consciousness, for they reflect the plague of police violence, and
in most cases, the failure of the State to punish such state violence. Some of
those names are: Jonny Gammage; Archie Elliot; Rudy Buchanan; Delbert Africa;
Malice Green; Esequiel Hernandez, Jr.; Ivory McQueen; Amadou Diallo .... etc.
These are just a smidgen of the names that could be listed here. Interestingly,
it is hardly necessary for us to mention more than the name itself. The names
have become a kind of shorthand, a code for a social process that is an
epidemic of state violence and terror. Indeed, its ubiquity proves, it is the
very function of the cops; 'protect and serve' is for others! Charges against
these vicious marauders are so rare, that it becomes big news.
The
verdicts from Milwaukee will echo around the country, silent assurances that
that's the way the job should be done. And the jury of the blind will proudly
pat each other on the back, safe and secure in the illusion of whiteness, until
their loved one, their child, their mother, is 'tuned up' by those sworn to
'serve and protect.' Then, only then, will they look back and learn with
horror, that in the swollen, blood-gorged eyes of Mr. Jude lies a mirror of
their hidden self. Then they will learn the folly of their deeds.
Disgruntled feels:
Outrageous! In a second autopsy, Dr. Michael Baden, who has helped investigate
hundreds of deaths of prison inmates and suspects in police custody, said
Martin Lee Anderson, a healthy 14 year-old when he entered a Panama City boot
camp, died from a lack of oxygen. Caught on videotape, boot camp guards held
ammonia under Anderson's nose, put a hand over his mouth and restrained him.
Dr. Charles Siebert, the Bay County medical examiner that conducted the first
autopsy, listed the cause of death as "sickle-cell trait." It is
outrageous that the culprits in this child's death have not been arrest and
charged with murder!
Disgruntled says:
On Tuesday, George Bush announced the resignation of US Treasury Secretary John
Snow. For weeks, there has been rampant speculation about the cabinet change;
the only surprise was the person named - Henry Paulson - to replace Snow. Bush
praised Paulson for his ability to convey economic news. In reality, no matter
how adroit Paulson may be at explaining economic conditions, he, like Snow,
will never be able to instill public confidence in a "good" economy
that has left millions of Americans behind, desperate enough to commit crimes
to survive.
Disgruntled wants to know: On last week, a Texas jury found former Enron executives
Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling guilty of the fraudulent businesses practices that
brought down Enron and ruined the lives of tens of thousands of its employees
and stockholders. In the years since the Enron collapse, the Bush
administration has tried to downplay the Lay-Bush connection. However, Lay
helped write Bush administration energy policy, contributed much money and
resources, including corporate jets to Bush elections for governor of Texas and
president. Now that Lay is likely to serve time in jail, will he play his game
chip and call on Bush for a presidential pardon?
On Economic Welfare Loss
By Dot
For
the vast majority of US households and individuals, economic welfare means
gainful employment, i.e., a job. Historically, economic welfare loss or
unemployment has been concentrated among the nation's racial and ethnic
minorities.
In
1982, I authored a well-researched paper, which was presented and subsequently
published by the Mid-South Academy of Economists, on the historic pattern of
economic welfare loss. (Those interested can read the paper online at www.thedish.org/1982chasm.htm)
Essentially,
the data shows that in good and bad economic times, black people - adults and
teenagers - experience unemployment rates at least twice as high as their white
counterparts. Moreover, this disparity in unemployment rates is not completely
explained by factors that normally influence employment, such as education,
experience, age, sex, location, mobility, etc.
After
accounting for these factors, an unexplained residual remains. For lack of a
better term, I call it institutionalized racism. Race or color, if we must call
it sometime else to be scientifically factual, cannot be dismissed as a factor
in creating the historic pattern of unemployment.
Given
this historic pattern of unemployment, there exists a disturbing black-white
median family income ratio that mimics the infamous three-fifths compromise of
Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution, which codified slavery. Some will
dismiss this statement and claim later amendments to the Constitution repealed
Article 1 Section 2. To those people, I suggest a closer reading of the
document. In particular, I point to the existence of the Electoral College, an
institution established on the Great Compromise. Then, there is historic data
that shows black-white median family income ratio has always, since the data
has been collected, fluctuated along a narrow band between .5 and .65.
Predictably,
whenever this ratio has threatened to exceed three-fifths, the nation, through
its Electoral College, selected a "conservative" president that
promised to restore "traditional family values." Bottom line, when it
comes to economic welfare loss, the US has chosen to concentrate its misery
among people of color, particularly the descendants of the slaves on whose
backs this nation built its wealth. This historic and ongoing social injustice
breeds crime, moral turpitude and corruption. In the long run, the society
loses when there is a pattern of economic welfare loss.
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls
Email
Terrys@ga.net ..From Robert Kiyosaki's May
16 financial investment article: "According to the U.S. Treasury
Department, America's first 42 Presidents, from George Washington (1789) to
Bill Clinton (2000), borrowed a combined total of $1.01 trillion from foreign
governments and financial institutions. From 2000 to 2006, the Bush White House
has borrowed $1.05 trillion alone. Yes, that means we have borrowed in the last
5 years what we had previously borrowed in the first 211 years of our
country."
Email
http://news.yahoo.com ...Seven former
National Century execs indicted...By Dan Wilchins...A federal grand jury has
indicted the former chief executive and six others at National Century
Financial Enterprises, a bankrupt health-care finance company, for engineering
a $3 billion fraud, prosecutors said on Monday. The 60-count indictment accuses
the defendants, including former Chief Executive Lance Poulsen, of lying to
investors about how their funds would be used. The charges include conspiracy,
fraud and promotion of money laundering.
Email jim6263@cwnet.com ...Bush's My Lai..By Robert Parry..The new U.S. atrocity in Iraq, the alleged murder of two dozen Iraqis by revenge-seeking Marines in the city of Haditha, appears likely to follow the course of other Iraq war-crimes cases, such as the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib -- some low- or mid-level soldiers will be court-martialed and marched off to prison. George W. Bush will offer some bromides about how the punishment shows that the US honors the rule of law and how the punishment is further proof of America's civilized behavior when compared with the enemy's barbarity.
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