In it's Venue for an Artist, The DISH features young and old artists from around the world. Artists include the famous and up-and-coming. There are poets, comedians, writers, playwrights and story-tellers. This page provides links to a few of those who have made contributions to the only international on-line weekly dedicated to the dialogue on Race- The DISH

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About Me: This song is from Bob Marley's album "Survival." Marley's most political album, it debuted at a time of increased political conflict in Africa. The US leg of the "Survival" tour opened at Harlem's Apollo Theater in New York. During Black History Month, Rastafarians will celebrate the life of this gifted musician. For more about events celebrating Marley's gift of music and consciousness, see http://www.bobmarley.com.

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About Me: Stanton hosts the Digital Underground at www.NewBlackCity.com on Sundays from 12 Noon to 2 PM Eastern. According to Stanton, "The Digital Underground facilitates the mental decolonization process; we never insult your intelligence. Free your mind, the rest will follow." An accomplished writer, Stanton's essays on contemporary issues appear in many newspapers and magazines serving the black community. Contact Stanton at jrswriter@comcast.net.

§ § Issue 5 § §

By brew@thedailybrew.com

Issue 7

§ § Hip-Hopping a Six Spot § §

By John Burl Smith

About Me: The DISH echos her father's sentiments. It is an honor to tell the world of such a treasure. Jamia has been singing since the age of 2. An exceptional reader, she loves to sing, dance and act. She has performed on Showtime at the Apollo, appeared on Tonight with Jay Leno and shared the stage with a host of noted artists. Jamia Simone Nash is a rare talent. For more about this little songbird, log onto the World Wide Web; the keywords are Jamia Simone Nash.

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Issue 8

§ § Facing West from California's Shores § §

By Walt Whitman

About Me: US poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892) knew John O'Sullivan; his first short stories were published in the Democratic Review. Whitman supported the Free-Soil Party, which opposed the expansion of slavery and Southern influence. Yet, Whitman embraced manifest destiny and envisioned the US encompassing Central America and the Caribbean. Whitman wrote in a newspaper article, "'manifest destiny' certainly points to the speedy annexation of Cuba by the United States." (Source: Quoted in David S. Reynolds, Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography (New York: Knopf, 1995), 136)

§ § Issue 9 § §

Written by Abel Meeropol

Performed by Billie Holiday

About Me: Jazz critic Leonard Feather called "Strange Fruit," with its haunting lyrics about a lynching, "a significant protest in words and music, the first unmuted cry against racism." Abel Meeropol, a white Jewish teacher in a New York City high school, wrote it. Known for her solemn ballads and heart-wrenching blues, Billie Holiday reluctantly debuted it before a stunned crowd at Cafe Society, New York City's only integrated club. Her performance sparked a much needed debate about lynching and the repressive policies of Jim Crow segregation. The searing lyrics often upset club patrons and it became a weapon in continuing anti-lynching campaigns. In a 1971 interview Meeropol commented: "I wrote 'Strange Fruit' because I hate lynching, and I hate injustice, and I hate the people who perpetuate it." Used in 1972 Paramount film 'Lady Sings The Blues," Holiday recorded "Strange Fruit" on April 20, 1939.

§§ Issue 10 §§

The People's Artist

By John Burl Smith

About Me: "I knew from the time I was very young that I wanted to be an artist." These are the words of Elizabeth Catlett, an 87-year-old sculptor and printmaker. Preempted almost fifty years ago, Catlett is recognized as one of the most important black artists of the twentieth century. Ranked with Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence, this ex-patriot rose above American obscurity to find success and acceptance in Mexico. Purposely, reflecting the plight of black and Mexican woman, the artistic value of Catlett's work was suppressed.

§§ Issue 11 §§

By Robert Frost

 About Me: Frost, Robert (1874-1963) was born in California. Named after Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate army during the Civil War (1861-1865), Frost drew inspiration from the New England countryside. The above poem deals with an everyday quandary. Whether it is to stand on principle or not, or a less complex decision involving dual routes to a physical destination, we often must choose between mutually exclusive paths. A 19th century bard, Frost's poetry is as relevant for today as it was when written.

§§ Issue 12 §§

Performed by Marvin Gaye

 About Me: Written by Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye and Renaldo Benson, this is the title song from Marvin Gaye's landmark album, What's Going On. By far his most successful album, the 1971 recording revolutionized soul music by freeing it from the limitation of simple love ballads to include a wide spectrum of topics, including the formerly taboo realm of political commentary. To match the shift in subject matter, Gaye created a new musical style that continues to influence performers. Recorded at the height of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, What's Going On gave voice to the socioeconomic and political concerns of a generation.

§§ Issue 13 §§

by The Last Poets

About Me: From the group's album Chastisement (1972), the complete text of E Pluribus Unum is available at www.thedish.ws under Venue for an Artist.

§§ Issue 14 §§

By William Ernest Henley (1849-1903)

About Me: English poet, critic and journalist, W. E. Henley edited several popular magazines, wrote poetry and collaborated with Robert Louis Stevenson on four plays. Invictus is a pledge to fight the unfortunate circumstance of change, which in his case was illness; it is required reading for students of English literature.

§§ Issue 15 §§

By Edwin Starr

About Me: Recorded by Motown singer Edwin Starr, War was a number one hit during the height of the Vietnam conflict (1970). The legendary soul singer died this month at his home in England. Starr was 61. Since April is poetry month, War is an excellent choice for the current state of affairs and a fitting tribute to an artist for peace who has gone home, but whose words will live on.

§§ Issue 16 §§

By Nina Simone

About Me: The "high priestess" of soul, the incomparable Ms. Nina Simone was born on February 21, 1933. She died on April 20, 2003 at her home in France. Simone was 70. The out-spoken soul singer left America because of racism. A close friend of Malcolm X and Dr Martin Luther King, she often sang at civil rights marches in the 1960s. Her 1963 Mississippi Goddam voiced her frustration with the slow pace of obtaining equal rights for blacks in America.

§§ Issue 17 §§

Excerpt from "The Color Line in America"

By Frederick Douglass

About Me: After the Civil War and Reconstruction, blacks remained second class citizens. State legislation and Supreme Court decisions neutered the constitutional amendments. Discrimination limited blacks in almost every socioeconomic arena. Frederick Douglass addressed these facts in his speech of September 14, 1883, and called on blacks to strike a blow for their freedom, because 'liberty given is never so precious as liberty sought for and fought for." (Source: Speech by Douglass from Three Addresses on the Relations Subsisting Between the White and Colored People in the United States, Washington, 1886, pp.3-23.)

§§ Issue 18 §§

By Nguyen Thi Lan

About Me: Husband and father of three, Nguyen Thi Lan works for World Vision International on two projects-- Children With Difficulty Moving (CWDM) and Let Them Walk Again (LTWA). Thi Lan comes from a poor Vietnamese family. His mother worked hard to raise 10 children. This poem is dedicated to her and all devoted and loving mothers everywhere.

§§ Issue 19 §§

By crystal cartier

About Me: Crystal Cartier is one of the most prolific writers on the Internet. In addition to being a poet, she is the author of a new novel "Curse of the Vendetta," which is available wherever books are sold or on her website www.crystalcartier.com. A songwriter, her music can be heard at www.cdbaby.com/ccartier. Apropos, her motto is, "If I can help someone as I journey through life, then my living will not be in vain." 

§§ Issue 20 §§

O Captain! My Captain!

by Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

About Me: Walt Whitman was a poet, teacher and journalist. He founded the weekly Long-Islander, and later edited a number of Brooklyn and New York papers. In 1848, he became editor of the New Orleans Crescent. It was in New Orleans that he experienced firsthand the viciousness of slavery. On his return to Brooklyn in the fall of 1848, he founded a "free soil" newspaper, the Brooklyn Freeman.

§§ Issue 21 §§

By Countee Cullen (1903-1946)

About Me: Personifying the diverse talent that became known as the Harlem Renaissance, Countee Cullen was born in New York. Raised in a Methodist parsonage, he started writing poetry at age fourteen. A New York University graduate, his poems were published in magazines from The Crisis to Harper's. He won the Witter Bynner Undergraduate Poetry Prize and other awards for Ballad of the Brown Girl. Harper published Color (1923), his first volume of poetry. He received his master's degree from Harvard, and published Copper Sun (1927). Blacks were highly critical of his second book of poetry because it failed to adequately treat the subject of race. Unlike other Harlem Renaissance artists, Cullen was raised and educated in a primarily white environment. His experiences differed from those of the larger black community, a difference reflected in his art. His works include The Black Christ (1929) and his novel, One Way to Heaven (1932). (Sources: www.math.buffalo.edu and www.nku.edu)

§§ Issue 23 §§

About Me: Author of 25 books of poetry, history, biography, fiction and anthologies, Bontemps was a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance. He served as head librarian at Fisk University (1969 -1972) and curator of the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters at Yale University. (Sources: http://aalbc.com/authors/arna.htm and www.math.buffalo.edu/)

§§ Issue 25 §§

The Lynching and If We Must Die

By Claude McKay

About Me: "The Lynching" and "If We Must Die" are from Claude McKay's Harlem Shadows (1922). The Jamaican-born American became a prominent figure in the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. Known for his poems and novels of black life, first in Jamaica and later in the United States, McKay used traditional forms to express unfamiliar ideas and themes, many of which related to the black experience. (Sources: http://encarta.msn.com and www.poetry-archive.com/m/mckay_claude.html)

§§ Issue 26 §§

What to the Slave is 4th of July?

By Frederick Douglass

About Me: The above are selected excerpts from a July 5, 1852 speech by Frederick Douglass. Born a slave in 1818, when Douglass died in 1895, he was recognized as the foremost black spokesperson of the 19th century. A human rights activist, orator, author, journalist, publisher and social reformer, Douglass has been called the father of the civil rights movement.

Venue for an Artist ……. Volume 4 (2001)

 Venue for an Artist ……. Volume 5 (2002)

§ § The DISH Ó 2003 § §