Table of Contents

There are 16 chapters in this issue

About BlackCommentator.com

Cover Story: Factory Deaths are Piling Up and the Solution is to Rein in Corporate America - Solidarity America - By John Funiciello - BC Columnist

iEvade - Animated Political Cartoon By Mark Fiore, San Francisco CA

President Barack Obama: Remove Assata Shakur from the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists" List - A Petition

Remembering a Local Case Against Racial Discrimination - A View from the Battlefield By Jamala Rogers, BC Editorial Board

BC Editorial Board member Julian Bond Calls Tea Party Groups ‘Taliban wing of American politics’ - Watch MSNBC Video

Closing Guantanamo - Political Cartoon By Zapiro, South Africa

Emulating Malcolm X - The African World - By Bill Fletcher, Jr. - BC Editorial Board

Putting the Brakes on Philly’s Death Penalty - The Color of Law By David A. Love, JD, BC Executive Editor

Peace And Justice – Haiti - Art By Shepard Fairey, Los Angeles CA

Tom Joyner’s Homophobic Message To Black Community - Inclusion By The Reverend Irene Monroe, BC Editorial Board

Louisiana Public School Funding - BC Political Cartoon By Chuck Siler

Mythology, Lies, and the 'American' Way of Violence - Keeping it Real By Larry Pinkney, BC Editorial Board

African Liberation Day, 2013: Part II - Worrill’s World - By Dr. Conrad W. Worrill, PhD - BC Columnist

Quote to Ponder: "I believe that there will be ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those who do the oppressing…" - El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)

Play - Art By Ray Ferrer - Urban Wall Art & Murals, New York NY

This is an eBook version of BlackCommentator.com - An independent weekly internet magazine dedicated to the movement for economic justice, social justice and peace.

BC Provides commentary, analysis and investigations on issues affecting African Americans and the African world.

BC was established April 5, 2002 and is published weekly on Thursday.

Executive Editor: David A. Love, JD - Managing Editor: Nancy Littlefield, MBA - Publisher: Peter Gamble

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board

Members of the BCEditorial Board represent African Americans and the African world. Theyare dedicated activists, thinkers and writers. The BC Editorial Board includes the following in alphabetical order by last name:

Lola Adesioye, Carl Bloice,Julian Bond, Rose Brewer PhD, Horace Campbell PhD, Imani Countess,Lenore Jean Daniels PhD, Bill Fletcher Jr., James Jennings PhD, BadiliJones, Martin Kilson PhD, Sharon Kyle JD, David A. Love JD, JulianneMalveaux PhD, Manning Marable PhD, Syreeta McFadden, The Reverend IreneMonroe, Leith Mullings PhD, Jacqui Patterson, Larry Pinkney, StevenPitts PhD, Barbara Ransby PhD, Jamala Rogers, Ethel Long-Scott, Amy V.Simmons, William L. (Bill) Strickland, Chuck Turner, Nathaniel Turner,Ron Walters PhD, Emira Woods, Jeanne Woods JD.

May 16, 2013 - Issue 517

It’s tough enough to make American workplaces safe and healthy, despite that some laws have been passed over the past 50 years to make them so, but there is no control over how Corporate America functions in the factories in developing countries.

A case in point is the deaths of 1,100 garment workers in a Bangladeshi factory, in a building that some in that country have speculated was built out of the oversight of local or regional government authorities whose job it is to see that the buildings will not fall down and kill people by the hundreds.

There has been a series of such workplace disasters in developing countries over the past several years, the worst just in the last few months in Rana Plaza, just outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 24. How is that possible? It is well to have a look at how capitalists in developing countries view their workers and express their view in the minimum wage. Although Bangladesh is the second-largest producer of garments in the world, it has the lowest wage, about $38 a month. Even in Bangladesh, that is not even a subsistence wage. The per capita income of the country in 2010 was $1,700 (U.S.), so the minimum wage in the garment industry is a little more than one-quarter of the per capita income.

When cracks appeared in the building, workers reportedly were told to go to work in the eight-story structure or face firing. Most of them went to work. Workers have demanded the death penalty for the building’s owner, Mohammad Sohel Rana, his father and other individuals who were engineers on the building project. The charges involve death by negligence, according to BBC News reports. Many have said the deaths rose to the level of murder, far beyond negligence or negligent homicide.

Few of the corporate types involved in the long chain of the textile industry from Bangladeshi clothing factories, to the retail mall stores of the U.S. and Great Britain, want to hear any association of the collapse with the word “murder.” It has been the contention for a long time that the giant retailers of America bore the ultimate responsibility for the deplorable working conditions in the poor countries where their goods were made. It has taken nearly three decades for that knowledge to seep through the American body politic.

Campaigns started in the early 1980s to bring awareness of the conditions and the starvation wages came from a variety of sources: unions, student groups, religious organizations, and others. It was a slow process. Getting the word out most often takes some money, even to hire part-time staff for a non-profit group that is trying to help those who are suffering every kind of deprivation to make clothing, shoes, and other goods for the citizens of the rich countries. These groups have no money and Corporate America has an endless supply of money and it has the communications industry behind it.

It is some 30 years on and people are beginning to wake up and, despite themselves, they are beginning to see the human cost of their (relatively) low-cost goods. If it weren’t for the students and the religious groups, that knowledge might not be as clear as it is today. The sacrifice of more than 1,100 workers brings the issue into sharper focus and the chain of responsibility really cannot be denied. Some big companies have been quick to say that they will sign an international agreement that is expected to make a big difference in the lives of Bangladeshi workers. The agreement would be binding and included in the first few days such companies as H&M (a Swedish firm), Primark of the U.K., and C&A of the Netherlands. It would include inspections for safety of the buildings and the work process and, presumably, would include the health and welfare of the workers.

Right after the collapse of the Rana building, officials indicated that the minimum wage might be raised, possibly to near double what it is now. What is interesting about that is that doubling the minimum wage would bring it to just above the minimum level that is said to be required for workers to live decently; that is, $64 a month. Why did it take the deaths of more than 1,100 workers, most of them women, to raise the minimum wage?

The next question is: What about the other dozen or more low-wage countries where the workers are treated as badly as in Bangladesh? And, what about their wages? The customers of the corporations that retail the goods have to take responsibility. They need to demand that their country’s corporations stop acting like the plunderers they have been around the world. “Out of sight, out of mind” has been the basic philosophy of operation of their enterprises in Bangladesh and elsewhere. They have acted with impunity, because their U.S. customers had no idea how their goods were being produced. Now, however, they are learning…slowly, but they are learning.

It will take too long for the American people to reach a critical mass, to demand that corporations do the right thing. Something stronger is needed. Recall that, back in 1998, Michael Jordan reportedly received $45 million from Nike for endorsing the brand’s “Air Jordan” basketball shoes. That amount, it was reported at the time, was more than all of the workers in a Nike factory in Indonesia made in a year. When he was confronted with that fact, Jordan replied that he did not want to get involved in the politics or economics of the trade, but that he would trust that Nike would, in the end, “do the right thing.”

Short of that critical mass of American customers, perhaps it is time to introduce legislation that will rectify the crimes of Corporate America. If it takes a law to force the transnational corporations to treat their workers right in other countries, then such a law should be introduced and adopted. A cynic might say that Corporate America has virtually ignored the laws in the U.S. that protect workers’ health and safety. And, they have driven the average wage down and fought every effort to raise the minimum wage. And, they have conducted an all-out war against workers and unions, so that American workers cannot even represent themselves in the workplace, so how can we expect them to treat foreign workers any better?

Even considering all of that, it is time for politicians to prohibit corporations from going into other countries with a depraved indifference to the human destruction they cause. In so many ways, it is war by another name. They leave pain and suffering and poverty with all its ills in their wake. Is there a politician courageous enough to draw up such a bill? It is true that corporations do not go into poorer countries with guns blazing; they don’t have to, because it’s all done with the legalisms of contracts with the elites of the countries and it’s all done with the backing of the “free trade” agreements negotiated by the governments, above and beyond the power of the people to protect themselves, their communities, their cultures, and their countries.

Long ago, Woody Guthrie, the legendary American folk singer and union organizer and advocate, said it in a lyric: “Some rob you with a six gun, and some with a fountain pen.” Corporate America and its counterparts in the other rich countries need no six guns or other armaments. They just need “free trade” agreements (that could be backed up with arms, if needed), and they need to be free of morals and common decency. After all, their company officials always say, “We don’t have any control over the hiring or wage policies or working conditions in other countries. We just contract with local companies. Our hands are clean.”

Although it is rare that American companies in their own country suffer any consequences for ignoring the health and safety of the workers and the nearby communities, there are still laws on the books that are supposed to address such willful negligence. Few CEOs ever go to jail for their crimes, because there is always “plausible deniability,” just as in the case of the big name brand clothing that was being produced in Dhaka, where the building fell onto 1,100 workers.

If there is ever such a law addressing the behavior of American corporations in other countries, it must be simple, stating that the companies shall adhere to all of the same standards that would apply on American ground. This should be a concern of all of the people, since the vast majority of Americans are workers and no one can expect corporations or the government to do anything, until they are forced to do so by continuing pressure from the people. Corporations for many decades have gone into other countries as representatives of the U.S., whether that is their intention or not, and they have behaved badly. And always, there has been the subtle threat (sometimes not so subtle) of the use of force of one kind or another.

President George W. Bush, after the attacks of 9/11, apparently trying to understand why anyone would perpetrate such a spectacular attack, said, “They hate us for our freedom.” Then and now, he could be assured that they most certainly do not hate us for our freedom.

BlackCommentator.com Columnist, John Funiciello, is a long-time former newspaper reporter and labor organizer, who lives in the Mohawk Valley of New York State. In addition to labor work, he is organizing family farmers as they struggle to stay on the land under enormous pressure from factory food producers and land developers. Click here to contact Mr. Funiciello.

May 16, 2013 -Issue 517

view the animation

Pulitzer Prize-winner, Mark Fiore, who the Wall Street Journal has called “the undisputed guru of the form,” creates animated political cartoons in San Francisco, where his work has been featured on the San Francisco Chronicle’s web site, SFGate.com, for over ten years. His work also appears on Newsweek.com, Slate.com, CBSNews.com, MotherJones.com and NPR’s web site. Fiore’s political animation has appeared on CNN, Frontline, Bill Moyers Journal, Salon.com and cable and broadcast outlets across the globe.

Click here to contact Mark

May 16, 2013 - Issue 517

Sign this petition

Dear President Obama:

We write to urge you to overrule the FBI’s decision to put Assata Shakur, aka Joanne Chesimard, on the “Most Wanted Terrorists List, with $1 Million FBI Reward Offered for Information Leading to Her Capture and Return,” as phrased by the FBI’s May 2, 2013 announcement. This $1 million combines with the $1 million bounty already offered by New Jersey. We know of no support for the claims by the FBI in making that announcement that Ms. Shakur has used her asylum in Cuba to "promote" "terrorist ideology” and espouse "terrorism." We ask that the FBI be directed to publicly produce documentation to support these claims, and that until and unless this is done, its officials be directed to withdraw these assertions. The FBI’s accompanying actions should also be immediately withdrawn for the following additional reasons.

President Obama, commenting on the Boston Marathon bombings last month, you declared "Anytime bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror."This is consistent with the generally accepted view of terrorism as "the calculated use of violence or threat of violence against civilians for the purpose of intimidation or coercion or changing government policy." There is no evidence that Ms. Shakur has taken part in any violence or threats of violence against civilians to intimidate or coerce changes in government policies. Going back 40 years, the May 1973 incident,which led to her only criminal convictions, was initiated by the New Jersey State Police. They pulled the vehicle she was in off the highway based on an allegedly defective tail light. This type of police action was consistent with tactics used to harass Black people generally, particularly Black males; and, sometimes provoke incidents particularly against members of Black militant organizations during that period. The loss of life on both sides ensuing from that stop was clearly regrettable; and, we do not intend to retry here her controversial trial and conviction before an all white jury. We know that there were serious questions of fairness sufficient to draw international attention and for Ms. Shakur to be granted political asylum in Cuba nearly 35 years ago, although Cuba has returned some others wanted by U.S authorities.

We believe putting Ms. Shakur’s name on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorist List,” and increasing the $1 million bounty to a total of $2 million, 40 years after the fact, only makes sense in light of recent press reports regarding your administration’s consideration to take Cuba off the U.S. list of nations that allegedly sponsor terrorism – a designation which is so unfounded that it has become an embarrassment to our country. Opponents of steps towards normalization with Cuba have seized on this aged and disputed case in what we view as a transparent attempt to recast this history into today’s fears, using Assata Shakur as a pawn in their political maneuvering.

The FBI’s participation in this political maneuvering by joining with New Jersey to offer a $2 million bounty is a dangerous act, encouraging someone to try to kidnap her, breaking Cuban law as well as being a violation of International Law. Should the offer be taken seriously by someone, the foreseeable result would be bloodshed, if not also a major international incident.

The FBI’s stated rationale for these actions is also regrettable and dangerous because it equates radical beliefs favoring fundamental social and economic change, with “terrorism.” These serve to intimidate and chill others who dare to speak out against United States’ domestic and international policies. In this regard, these actions directly undermine the protections given all citizens under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Finally, this decision continues to racialize the United States criminal punishment system, a system that since the enslavement of African peoples has targeted Africans and African Americans for harsher punishments than those given particularly to similarly situated whites. The accusation of terrorism has fallen prey to this continuing travesty of making the color of “crime,” now the color of“terrorism,” black. One needs only recall the early reports of who was suspected of the Boston Marathon bombing to support this conclusion: the first reports were of a darker-skinned male, possiblyAfrican American. This message scrolled continuously on CNN for a number of hours and then “African American male” was deleted, leaving darker skinned male. But the alleged perpetrators were far from “darker skinned.”

In conclusion, we ask that you stand behind the statements made byAttorney General Holder when he became the Attorney General in 2009 in addressing assistant United States attorneys and make these statements applicable to the FBI: “Your job is in every case, every decision you make, to do the right thing. Anybody who asks you to do something other than that is to be ignored.” The FBI’srecent actions are far from the “right thing” for this country and we urge you to reverse them.

Sign this petition

May 16, 2013 - Issue 517

We can’t sit on our laurels when our enemies are working 24-7.

When an organizer is going to the mat for justice, he or she never knows the final destination of that struggle. May 14 is the 40th anniversary of Green vs. McDonnell Douglas. What started off as a local struggle by venerable activist, Percy Green, became a landmark case in the fight against racial discrimination in employment. Green’s name will be forever connected with McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Corporation).

Under the leadership of Percy Green, the organization ACTION busted loose jobs for black folks during the 60s and 70s in St. Louis, especially for black men. Utility companies like Laclede Gas and corporations like Southwestern Bell (now AT&T) often went into siege mode when ACTION put them on “the list.”

ACTION used aggressive and creative tactics in the 1960s to knock down the racist doors that led to more employment. What the group called guerilla theater included sit-ins, stick-ins, paint-ins, chain-ins, walk-ins and whatever was necessary to make their point. For those who were around during this time, these are vivid memories.

Most people in Green’s hometown of St. Louis are unaware of Green’s tangle with one of the world’s biggest and most powerful multinationals. They remember other, more daring feats like Green and fellow ACTION member, Richard Daly, climbing the St. Louis Arch in 1964 to protest the lack of minority contractors on the job. The construction was summarily halted and black workers were hired to complete the historic monument that pierces the St. Louis downtown skyline.

It is probably those in the legal arena who are most aware of Green vs McDonnell Douglas as it is a case that is likely to turn up in a law school syllabus for mandatory study and gets written about in law review publications.

Green filed a discrimination suit against the company in 1964 after he was laid off, allegedly due to workforce reduction. Green declared the layoff was retaliatory because McDonnell Douglas had been the target of ACTION for not hiring more black workers. When the company opened up Green’s former job and he applied for it, he was denied. Now the company’s motives were clear and Green declared them unfair and racist. He filed suit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1964.

Green’s case was heard in the U.S. District Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, and ultimately before the U.S. Supreme Court. St. Louis civil rights attorney Lou Gilden argued the case before the High Court on March 28, 1973. Warren E. Burger was the Chief Justice. On May 14 of the same year, SCOTUS ruled in favor of Percy Green. The decision was unanimous, 9-0.

The decision was a landmark case because it completely changed the way racial discrimination cases had been viewed. It now put the burden on the employer to prove they had not been discriminatory in their policies. Before this case, plaintiffs had to prove “intent,” which was damn near impossible to do. Since its issuance in 1973, all the federal courts have subsequently adopted the framework set out in this opinion for all claims of employment discrimination that are not based on direct evidence of discriminatory intent.

Green had no idea the case would go all the way to the top or that the case would end up in the history books. While he was motivated to challenge an injustice that started off with his own employment, Green knew that the same racial discrimination was happening to many other black workers at the time. The fight was much bigger than him.

Eric Vickers, another St. Louis civil rights attorney, reminded me that despite the hits it has taken, the case remains a cornerstone of American law.

“The standard set by the court in Percy's case spread like wildfire to be applied to every type of discrimination case in American law.” Vickers goes on to say that “unfortunately, major blows have been struck to the standard set in Percy's case by subsequent conservative supreme court cases, causing the bar to be raised substantially and significantly higher to prove a discrimination case.”

It should be a reminder to all of us in the social justice movement that we must continue to fight if we are to maintain the victories we have won.

At a time when workers’ rights are under assault in this country, it may feel like were going in circles. The United Mineworkers Union had to file a suit against Patriot and Peabody Coal companies when they tried to pull an okey-doke on workers’ benefits under the cloak of bankruptcy. Fast food workers are fighting for livable wages and better working conditions. The Green vs. McDonnell Douglas decision is affirmation that it is important for workers to stand up and for the community to stand with them because we are all beneficiaries of those struggles.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member and Columnist, Jamala Rogers, founder and Chair Emeritus of the Organization for Black Struggle in St. Louis. She is an organizer, trainer and speaker. She is the author of The Best of the Way I See It – A Chronicle of Struggle. Click here to contact Ms. Rogers.

May 16, 2013 - Issue 517

Below is the complete text of the MSNBC report on the interview.

View the MSNBC video

Despite maintaining that the NAACP was unfairly targeted by the Internal Revenue Service in 2004, the civil rights organization’s former chairman now finds the IRS’s special scrutiny of Tea Party groups “entirely legitimate.”

“I don’t think there are any parallels to what we’re seeing today,” said NAACP Chairman Emeritus Julian Bond on MSNBC Tuesday. “Here are a group of people who are admittedly racist, who are overtly political, who’ve tried as best as they can to harm President Obama in every way they can,” Bond said of Tea Party loyalists.

“They are the Taliban wing of American politics, and we all ought to be a little worried about them,” he said.

Bond is no stranger to IRS controversies. In October of 2004, the NAACP was hit with an investigation into whether the civil rights organization qualified as tax-exempt—a status which allows its donors to claim contributions on their income tax returns. Under federal law, tax-exempt nonprofits are required to be politically nonpartisan.

In an audit notice released to the media at the time, the IRS informed the NAACP that the examination was based on remarks made by Bond, then the organization’s chairman, who criticized the Bush administration in a speech made to the group’s July convention.

“We have received information that during your 2004 convention in Philadelphia, your organization distributed statements in opposition of George W. Bush for the office of presidency,” wrote the IRS in its audit notice. “Specifically in a speech made by Chairman Julian Bond, Mr. Bond condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush on education, the economy and the war in Iraq.”

Auditors notified the group that it would be subject to a 10 percent tax for political expenditures as well as additional penalties.

The probe unleashed a firestorm among Democratic lawmakers, who contacted IRS then-Commissioner Mark Everson to remind him that charities had the right to discuss or oppose aspects of the president’s policies. New York Rep. Charlie Rangel even likened the audit to a police state tactic.

The investigation went on for nearly two years before the IRS concluded Bond’s remarks did not violate the group’s tax-exempt status.

While Everson insisted the agency’s examinations were based on tax law, not partisanship, Bond maintains that the investigation was a politically motivated assault meant to undermine the organization’s GOTV apparatus right before the election.

“Of course we were unfairly targeted,” said Bond on MSNBC Tuesday. “The letter the IRS sent to me–I was the chairman of the NAACP at the time–said I had criticized the president of the United States. And I’ve grown up thinking that was my right as an American citizen, that every American citizen had that right.”

Despite feeling unfairly targeted by the IRS, however, Bond now feels little sympathy for Tea Party groups, which were among the conservative organizations singled out by the IRS for special scrutiny when they applied for nonprofit status.

Asked by host Thomas Roberts whether it was “a little harsh” to compare the Tea Party to “the Taliban wing of American politics,” Bond stuck by his original claim.

“The truth may hurt, but it’s the truth,” he said.

-0-

Note from BC: A number individuals who claim to have either heard or read about the MSNBC interview with Mr. Bond contacted him via the BlackCommentator.com Website using the form BC provides. This form can be easily found using Google. The messages to Mr. Bond expressed anger over his remarks. Several argued that “Tea Partiers are not racist” and asserted the proof is due to the fact that some of their best friends in the party are people of color.

BlackCommentator.comEditorial Board Member Julian Bond - Board Chairman Emeritus, NAACP,the largest and oldest civil rights group in the country. In the 1960s,he co-founded the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, renownedfor its organizing work in the fight against racism. Bond also served20 years in the Georgia Legislature, he holds twenty-five honorarydegrees, is a Distinguished Professor at American University inWashington, DC, and a Professor in history at the University ofVirginia. Contact Mr. Bond.

May 16, 2013 - Issue 517

Jonathan Shapiro is a South African cartoonist, famous as Zapiro, whose work appears in numerous South African publications and has been exhibited internationally on many occasions.

Licensing & Syndication Rights

Zapiro is always keen that his cartoons are published as widely as possible. There are many circumstances where the use of Zapiro cartoons can help you get your message across or increase the sales of your publication. For example:

- syndication for regular use in a newspaper or magazine

- on websites and other promotional materials

- in fan websites dedicated to Zapiro or cartooning in general

- in reports and books to emphasise or illustrate issues

- in printed and online collections of cartoons either by Zapiro or by cartoonists in general.

Whatever your use please only use Zapiro's cartoons for your own website, publication or presentation once you've got his prior consent — they are both his livelihood and his copyright.

Normally permission will be granted quite readily provided that your use doesn't conflict with or misrepresent the message in the cartoon. Sometimes there will be a fee for using the cartoon(s) — particularly for commercial or quasi-commercial purposes.

For further information about licensing Zapiro's cartoons please click here to make a Licensing Enquiry.

May 16, 2013 - Issue 517

On or around May 19th and February 21st, many Black activists reflect upon the life and work of Malcolm X, with the former his birthday and the latter the day that he was assassinated. Two years ago the publication of the late Manning Marable’s biography Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention had been a moment that many of us had hoped would be an opportunity for a larger movement reflection on the life and work of Malcolm X. Instead, a campaign of vilification of Marable ensued accompanied by an almost canonization of Malcolm X by many critics of Marable, neither helping us to get a better understanding of Malcolm’s contributions. Unfortunately it became quite difficult to advance constructive discussions regarding many of the issues raised in the book.

It has become increasingly difficult to engage in meaningful discussions about the life and work of Malcolm X because there is a built-in assumption in so many quarters that anything that suggests that there was anything other than a linear progression in Malcolm X’s development or that he may have engaged in any behavior that went beyond what was contained in the Autobiography, is somehow a challenge to Malcolm’s integrity. In that sense it should not be surprising that attention to the life and work of Malcolm X goes through fits and starts over time, not only because of what the capitalist state wishes us to remember and forget, but because the Malcolm X-image emerges as a saint-like figure becoming more distant from the lives of today’s African Americans.

An alternative approach toward Malcolm’s legacy would be for Black radical activists to engage in discussions with younger activists about how to emulate the best of Malcolm X. This certainly goes beyond his courage, speaking style and a few sound-bites from his oratory, as important as they may be. Instead it must be rooted in an understanding of the transformation of Malcolm X, a process that was linked to both organization and social movements.

Malcolm X’s transformation cannot be understood outside of a recognition that his adoption of a belief system and a commitment to something larger than himself involved a dedication to the building of organization. Regardless of one’s analysis of the Nation of Islam - then or now - the reality is that it provided a stepping stone for numerous black men and women who were caught in the abyss of despair, and demonstrated a path through which they could rebuild their lives and their integrity. It was within an organization - first the Nation of Islam, and later Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization for Afro-American Unity - that Malcolm X became the person we remember.

Yet it did not end there. Emulating Malcolm X must also be based upon a recognition that Malcolm X’s transformations - what Marable calls ‘reinvention’ - continued as Malcolm moved outside of the Nation of Islam. In the last year of his life Malcolm was especially influenced by the anti-imperialist struggles in Africa and other parts of the global South. In fact, Malcolm’s own internationalism expanded exponentially as he saw in anti-imperialist struggles a point of commonality with the African American struggle for justice and liberation. It was this connection that Malcolm sought to institutionalize through the Organization for Afro-American Unity as well as through formal and informal relationships he worked to build with revolutionary leaders in the global South.

This May 19th it is incumbent upon Black radicals to promote the best elements of the transformation of Malcolm. This includes an emphasis not only on personal behavior but on the building of social justice organizations that are actually engaged in struggle. Progressive, if not radical, personal transformation is not an action taken in isolation but instead is one that involves the individual in their interaction with their environment. Building organization for liberation, which was perhaps one of the most striking elements of Malcolm X’s legacy, remains a central feature of actual emulation.

I have never been able to say “happy birthday” to or about a dead person. Instead I would say that May 19th is an important day on which we should remember the invaluable contributions of Malcolm X. It is also a day to emphasize that emulating Malcolm X goes beyond appearance, oratory or militancy: it is about building a lasting struggle for liberation and justice and creating the organizational vehicles through which we can pursue that course.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member and Columnist, Bill Fletcher, Jr., is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfricaForum, and the author of “They’re Bankrupting Us” - And Twenty Other Myths about Unions. He is also the co-author of Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice, which examines the crisis of organized labor in the USA. Click here to contact Mr. Fletcher.

May 16, 2013 - Issue 517

The followings are remarks I gave on May 4 at the kickoff rally of the Philadelphia Moratorium Campaign at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown.

Witness to Innocence is a national organization originally founded as a project of Sister Helen Prejean of the book Dead Man Walking. Our mission is to empower exonerated death row survivors and their loved ones to become leaders in the death penalty abolition movement. We provide a support network for our members, each of whom spent an average of 10 years on death row for a crime they did not commit.

WTI members speak to audiences throughout the country about their experiences on death row, testify before state legislatures, work with state abolition groups and change hearts and minds in the process. WTI has been involved in successful death penalty repeal efforts in six states over six years. In Maryland, my advocacy director Kirk Bloodsworth and I stood with Gov. Martin O’Malley as he signed the state’s death penalty repeal bill into law. We stood with abolitionists and Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Annapolis who realize the death penalty doesn’t work. The government should not be in the business of killing people, and we oppose executions under any circumstances. Capital punishment is expensive, and discriminates against the poor and people of color. And most of all, innocent people are put to death.

So, why are we here? WTI decided to convene the Philadelphia Moratorium Campaign, a diverse coalition of religious leaders, human rights and civil liberties organizations, prisoners’ rights groups, legal defense organizations, community groups and others.

We are calling on Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams to place a moratorium on death penalty prosecutions in this city. In addition, we are planning a public outreach campaign, in which death row exonerees will go out to the communities in this city, talk to the people and to lawmakers and educate them about the problems with the death penalty.

Once again, why are we here today? We are here because Pennsylvania is a leader in the death penalty. About 200 people are on death row, fourth behind California, Florida and Texas. And although Maryland was the first state south of the Mason-Dixon line to abolish capital punishment, Pennsylvania is worse than many Southern states.

Philly contributes the lion’s share of Pennsylvania’s death row, nearly half. And the vast majority of these people are poor, black and Latino. They couldn’t afford the best justice money can buy.

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams came into office proclaiming it was “a new day” for the death penalty, garnering support from progressives, communities of color and others. Williams is better than his predecessor, Lynn Abraham, to be sure, but under the prosecutor once known as “America’s deadliest D.A.,” the bar was already pitifully low. The bottom line is we are not seeing the progress we expected. When you seek the death penalty in 101 cases as the current D.A. has, yet only one comes back in a conviction, it is time to reevaluate. Something is simply not working here.

But in the end, this is not about personalities, this is about policies. But for exonerated death row survivors, this is personal. For example, Harold Wilson, a Philadelphia native and a member of Witness to Innocence, spent 16 years behind bars - most of it on Pennsylvania death row - for a triple murder he did not commit. The prosecutor in the case, former Assistant D.A. Jack McMahon, illegally struck black jurors because of their race. And McMahon was known for a training video which instructed jurors on the use of race in jury selection.

Certainly, this is personal for Philadelphia resident Kirk Bloodsworth, who spent nine years in the Maryland Penitentiary, two years on death row before DNA evidence cleared his name. And Ronald Kitchen, also a Philadelphia resident and death row survivor, spent 21 years in prison in Illinois, including 13 on death row.

For far too long, elected officials have utilized executions for political gain, and exploited the lives of prisoners as political ping-pong balls. We say put the brakes on the death penalty in Philadelphia. Cool it down so we can study this, and work towards policies that promote human rights and dignity, fairness and justice, not torture chambers.

BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor and Columnist, David A. Love, JD, is the Executive Director of Witness to Innocence, a national nonprofit organization that empowers exonerated death row prisoners and their family members to become effective leaders in the movement to abolish the death penalty. He is, is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. and a contributor to The Huffington Post, the Grio, The Progressive Media Project, McClatchy-Tribune News Service, In These Times and Philadelphia Independent Media Center. He also blogs at davidalove.com, NewsOne, Daily Kos, and Open Salon. Click here to contact Mr. Love.

May 16, 2013 - Issue 517

Purchasing Info

Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ) do relief work and build schools in Haiti. I have worked with them before to fund-raise right after the Haiti earthquake. My new poster for APJ is to raise funds and awareness for building schools needed in Haiti. Please support this great cause.

-Shepard

18 x 24 inch screen print. Signed and numbered edition of 400. $60. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Artists for Peace and Justice. Limit 1 per person/household.

Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ) is a non-profit organization that encourages peace and social justice and addresses issues of poverty around the world. Our immediate goal is to serve the poorest communities in Haiti with programs in education, healthcare and dignity. We are committed to long-term, sustainable development in direct partnership with the Haitian people. Our model is simple: we believe in empowering local communities, fostering economic growth, and the power of education to change a nation.

Shepard Fairey is a contemporary artist, graphic designer, and illustrator. He first became known for his "André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign, in which he appropriated images from the comedic super market tabloid Weekly World News. His work became more widely known in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, specifically his Barack Obama "HOPE" poster. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston calls him one of today's best known and most influential street artists. His work is included in the collections at The Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Click here to contact Mr. Fairey.

May 16, 2013 -Issue 517

On May 1st, Jason Collins, the 7’ 0” center for the Washington Wizards, and a former Boston Celtics, came out. His statement, “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay” made the cover story for the May 6 issue of Sports Illustrated.

On May 2nd, three Morehouse College basketball athletes were accused of raping an 18-year-old Spelman College student. The story didn’t hit the airwaves as the Collins story did.

Many in the African American community were silent on both incidents because they view both as poxes on the community.

But for those who did speak out on what the African American community’s order of preference, focus and concern should be about - Collins’ coming out story versus the Spelman rape - it, sadly, revealed where they stood in terms of valuing and devaluing members in the community.

“While too many of us were concentrating on an NBA player’s sexuality despite the fact that most of the population had never heard of him, some much bigger news was transpiring. Four Morehouse athletes were arrested in connection with sexual assaults,” Tom Joyner wrote in his May 3rd op-ed, “Reading, Writing and Rape? Sexual Assaults on Campuses Must End” on his nationally renown website BlackAmericaWeb.com.

While Joyner is nowhere in the league of a Rush Limbaugh or a Rev. Rick Warren in terms of spewing homophobic vitriol, he isn’t also just your run-of-the-mill homophobe. When Joyner speaks, black America is listening. He’s the founder of REACH MEDIA, the largest media platform reaching African Americans in the country and the Caribbean. Joyner reaches as many African American homes as does the Black Church, and he does it more often, and some would say more effectively, too, because he’s the nation’s number 1 syndicated urban radio jock. His jewel “The Tom Joyner Morning Show,” airs weekdays in more than 100 markets and reaches a listenership of over eight million - approximately 1 in 4 African Americans.

While incidents of rape always need to be called out, as Joyner did, and addressed immediately, it shouldn’t be brought to attention at the expense of denigrating another minority group within the same population, as Joyner also did.

But Joyner is not alone in his views concerning Collins’ coming out story and the Spelman rape.
Rather, he points to the ongoing struggle in the African American community with its unresolved homophobia and misogyny that falls on the backs of its women and LGBTQ population, and how the black community, like Joyner, pits one disenfranchised group against another.

Violence against both groups is an ongoing problem whether within the hallowed halls of one of America’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) or on urban streets.

Morehouse College Office Of Communications released a statement that stated in part, “Morehouse has a zero tolerance policy related to violence of any kind. Violence is the very antithesis of the Morehouse ethos and the values of a Morehouse Man.”

Morehouse is lauded as the jewel of black academia. Founded two years after the end of the Civil War by William Jefferson White in the basement of Springfield Baptist Church in Augusta, GA, Morehouse continues to confer degrees on more men of African descent than any institution of higher education in this country.

Morehouse’s recent rape incident points to an ongoing problem on college campuses nationwide, especially among male athletes. And within this rape culture is also violence against its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students as well. (It’s one of the reasons why LGBTQ fear coming out, especially athletes on team sports. i.e. Collins)

And Morehouse has had its share of incidents.

For example, its highly publicized 2002 gay-bashing incident where a student sustained a fractured skull from his classmate, sophomore Aaron Price, and not surprisingly the son of an ultra-conservative minister. Price uncontrollably beat his victim on the head with a baseball bat for allegedly looking at him in the shower.

In the 1980s and 1990s it was more dangerous to be openly gay and bisexual on Morehouse’s campus than it was on the streets in black neighborhoods.

Jafari Sinclaire Allen, a professor at University of Texas was an openly gay student at Morehouse in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He recalls fleeing campus one evening after a forum to address homophobia turned violently homophobic. And throughout the 1990s, Morehouse was listed on the Princeton Review’s top 20 homophobic campuses.

Collins coming out story is good news especially in light of the Spelman rape because both women and LGBTQ people are frequent subjects of violence in our community.

Joyner’s derisive comment about Collins reminds me of the Morehouse sophomore, Aaron Price, bat wielding incident, because Joyner’s remark serves as a reminder of how frequently LGBTQ people of African descent are figuratively as well and physically bashed on the head by members of our community who deliberately want to strike out our existence.

Since its inception in 1867, Morehouse College is noted as the bastion of black male leadership and masculinity. Embodying W. E.B. Dubois’s theory of “The Talented Tenth,” where “exceptional black men” would be the ones to lead the race, Morehouse College has produced unquestionably a pantheon of noted black men; its most famous alumnus Martin Luther King, Jr., graduated from Morehouse in 1948.

And its alums maintain the “Morehouse mystique” for which the college is renowned - “images of strong black men.”

And as strong black men, they need to both stop violating women and beating up on GBTQ men.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member and Columnist, the Rev. Irene Monroe, is a religion columnist, theologian, and public speaker. She is the Coordinator of the African-American Roundtable of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry (CLGS) at the Pacific School of Religion. A native of Brooklyn, Rev. Monroe is a graduate from Wellesley College and Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University, and served as a pastor at an African-American church before coming to Harvard Divinity School for her doctorate as a Ford Fellow. She was recently named to MSNBC’s list of 10 Black Women You Should Know. Reverend Monroe is the author of Let Your Light Shine Like a Rainbow Always: Meditations on Bible Prayers for Not’So’Everyday Moments. As an African-American feminist theologian, she speaks for a sector of society that is frequently invisible. Her website is irenemonroe.com. Click here to contact the Rev. Monroe.

May 16, 2013 -Issue 517

BlackCommentator.com artist/cartoonist Charles E. "Chuck" Siler's works feature a variety of themes ranging from New Orleans' lively and unique jazz scene to its lively and equally unique political scene. He uses his art and political cartoons to comment on life's complexities, warts and beauty marks.

His creations include fine watercolors and acrylics and pen and ink cartoons. His cartoons are featured on a regular basis in The Louisiana Weekly.

A Katrina evacuee, Siler has spoken on New Orleans history across the USA at universities and culural events.

Click here to contact Mr. Siler

May 16, 2013 - Issue 517

“In a composite nation like ours, as before the law, there should be no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no white, no black, but common country, common citizenship, equal rights and a common destiny.”

– Frederick Douglass

“How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?”

- Howard Zinn

As long as the people of this nation continue to be enslaved to mythology and lies, physical and psychological violence will prevail unabated.

Only when the beautiful rainbow of everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in this nation come to recognize and understand that the real terror is the terror of systemic brainwashing and concomitant political, economic, and social slavery will we truly be free of the horrible and constant violence that plagues this nation and people throughout Mother Earth.

Only when we recognize and come to understand that the cries of the Libyan baby, the Ghanian baby, the Palestinian baby, the Somalian baby, the Irish baby, the German baby, the Russian baby, the Chinese baby, the Indigenous Native baby, the Mexican baby, and all the babies of our human family on Mother Earth represent the cries of a “common destiny” for life and freedom, can we actualize [i.e. bring to fruition] the yearning of humanity as a whole to be free of the manipulated 'terror' and the insidious yoke of a national and global blood sucking corporate / military elite that enslaves us all. We belong to each other and to Mother Earth – not the other way around. When a Black, White, Brown, Red, or Yellow baby smiles, so too, should we smile – and when any one of them cries out in pain from the horror of economic deprivation and/or drone missiles and the like, so too, must we cry out in pain and rage. We must recognize our “common destiny” nationally and globally.

The physical and psychological violence suffered by humanity, in reality, emanates from the cynical, avaricious power elite who thrive on propagating lies and myths to keep us divided, unthinking, and collectively powerless. This power elite prattles on and on about eliminating 'terror' when it is they themselves who systemically perpetuate the terror and insanity that afflicts this nation and world. Their corporate-stream media and so-called 'educational' institutions are busy disinforming and miseducating us all. Moreover, the minions of this power elite come in both genders and in all colors and shades. Their objective remains the same: To ensnare and keep us controlled and in a state of de facto 21st century slavery. Yet, it is we everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people who hold the key to our own collective liberation. It is we who hold the key to our liberation – but we must first break free from the systemic novocaine that is incessantly injected into us by the systemic blood suckers who enslave us. I reiterate: It is we who hold the key to our own liberation!

The violence in this nation (and throughout the world) will continue to increase for as long as we everyday people allow ourselves to be enslaved to the corporate-stream 'news' media poison of the systemic slave masters. We must reject utterly their narrative, their lies, myths and distortions. We must reject utterly, the pimping politicians and their corporate-stream 'news' media. We must create our own media and spread to one another our own collective narratives – the narrative of we everyday ordinary people!

You will never agree with every single thing that other ordinary everyday people might say or believe, nor should you. However, we must learn (and quickly) to find our common ground with each other and adhering to fundamental principles built upon that common ground; as we everyday people are all systemically oppressed and we have far more in common with each other than the pimping systemic slave masters would have you know. Understanding this represents the real 'power of the people.'

In this year of 2013, the U.S., in the words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, continues to be “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.” Is it any wonder then that this violence has, in the words of Malcolm X, “come home to roost?!” Of course not. The external and internal violence and subterfuge of the U.S. government has reached epidemic proportions. We therefore should not be surprised that violence and insanity is striking within this nation itself. And it will continue until we collectively liberate ourselves!

The U.S. government's ongoing torture and violence at Guantanamo, and in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, and so many other places is, in fact, coming home to roost and will continue to do so until we ordinary people stop it once and for all! We ordinary people are not powerless in this regard and the choice and responsibility is ours!

Each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. Onward, then, my sisters and brothers. Onward...!!

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member and Columnist, Larry Pinkney, is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil / political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities in opposition to voter suppression, etc., Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil / Lehrer News Hour. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book.) Click here to view Larry’s interview of October 26, 2012. Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.

May 16, 2013 - Issue 517

This is the second of a two part series discussing the origin and development of African Liberation Day. The month of May is very important in the worldwide African Liberation Movement. During this month, throughout the African world Community, African Liberation Day (ALD) is celebrated.

It is important that African Liberation Day be a vehicle to continue to highlight the problems, challenges and the future of African people everywhere. The challenges facing Africa and African people worldwide require that we remain dedicated to the cause of Africa’s redemption and liberation. One way we can continue to showcase that dedication is to actively participate in all of the African Liberation Day activities throughout the world.
The colonial period in Africa, as well as the enslavement of African people who were captured and brought to North America, had a devastating impact on Africa and African people.

African people did not sit idly by. Just as we resisted our slave circumstances in America, African people resisted their colonial condition. Pan African meetings were called to plot strategy to end colonial rule. The Garvey Movement and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) galvanized African people worldwide to embrace the idea of African independence under “One God, One Aim, and One Destiny.” The Garvey period in our history, more than any other era, laid the foundation for what we now call African Liberation Day.

African people began waging a battle to reclaim their lands. This has been a long and bitter struggle. Resistance to white supremacy and colonial domination took many shapes and forms.

The Pan African meetings (1900-1945) provided a mechanism for a small group of African leaders to plan and plot strategy for African freedom. The Garvey Movement of the 1920s brought the idea of African freedom and independence to the masses of our people around the world. “Africa for the Africans – At Home and Abroad,” was a slogan that captured the spirit of African people. This slogan gave a clear understanding of who we are as a people and what we should be struggling for.

It was not until the early 1950s that the first African country gained political independence in the movement to reclaim Africa. That country was Ghana, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, who led the Ghanaian people to their fight against British colonialism. Shortly after this successful defeat of the British, Sekou Toure led the people of Guinea towards their independence from French colonialism. Right on the heels of this victory was the victory of Patrice Lumumba and the people of the Congo, who won the battle, for a brief moment, against Belgium.

This independence movement sparked an onslaught of African people reclaiming their territories and led to the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in May 1963. (This is why we celebrate ALD in May.) It was during this period that Malcolm X linked the struggle of African people in this country with the struggle of African people worldwide.

It is interesting to note that the Civil Rights Movement in this country was sparked in Montgomery (1955) at approximately the same time the independence movement in Africa began (1956-57). The call for Black Power (1966) sparked a discussion in the Black Liberation Movement in America that placed the re-identification with Africa and African people on the Movement’s agenda, once again. This renewed a new phase of the Pan African Movement.

The call for support of our brothers and sisters fighting against the Portuguese in Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea Bissau led to the formation of the African Liberation Day held in the country on May 27, 1972 that attracted over 60,000 African people. African Liberation Day has become an institution in America since that time.

African Liberation Day is a day when all Black people should come together. As I have emphasized many times before, whether you were born in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Belize, Bahia, Germany, England, France, Alabama, Georgia, or on 47th Street in Chicago, as long as you are Black, you are an African with a common heritage and a common set of conditions. We must continue to fight against racism and white supremacy as we demand reparations for African people in America and worldwide.

BlackCommentator.com Columnist, Conrad W. Worrill, PhD, is the National Chairman Emeritus of the National Black United Front (NBUF). Click here to contact Dr. Worrill.

May 16, 2013 - Issue 516

More about Malcolm X

May 16, 2013 - Issue 517

Spray paint on canvas

Ray Ferrer ~ Urban Wall Art & Murals

Contact Mr. Ferer or to arrange a purchase

Artist Statement: I'm from NY born and raised. I was in the Army for 6 years. I have my MBA from Auburn University and was a management consultant and business strategist for many years. I've traded it all in for a paint can and love what I do. I make very unique and custom artwork for people and businesses all around the world by hand cutting stencils and painting them onto canvas and onto large walls. I travel to client sites for larger murals and mail out smaller pieces. I will go anywhere to do a mural! My artwork is inspired by wanting to see things I absolutely love in a different light.

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