The Black Commentator - e-Mailbox - Chang curses Ghettopoly foes

The anti-war crowds return to Washington, Saturday, just a day shy of a year since the 2002 protest against the planned invasion of Iraq. Back then the New York Times, whose worldview is informed by administration handouts and the received wisdom of elite cocktail parties, attempted to impose its will on events by “reporting” that turnout was “below expectations” – in other words, the rally was a dud. Apparently, National Public Radio relied on the same phantom Times reporter; NPR also described the turnout as disappointing. In fact, between 100,000 (police estimate) and 200,000 (Pacifica figure) converged on the Mall from feeder routes around the city. A movement had coalesced against the war before the war had even begun.

A firestorm of complaints, ignited by an Action Alert from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, forced the Times to issue an unprecedented replacement story on Wednesday, October 30: “Emboldened by a weekend antiwar protest in Washington that organizers called the biggest since the days of the Vietnam War, groups opposed to military action in Iraq said they were preparing a wave of new demonstrations across the country in the next few weeks.” It had taken four days for the newspaper of record to accept the world as it actually existed. Millions learned what Black folks have known all their lives: the (white) corporate press respects Power, not Truth.

Faux anti-war personalities emerged to badmouth A.N.S.W.E.R., the young movement’s most effective people-mobilizer, as – lefty-loony. We registered our disgust, on December 19:

At the center of the October mobilization and the follow-up demonstrations set for January 18 is A.N.S.W.E.R., Act Now to Stop War & End Racism. Had it not been for the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition's efforts, Bush and his media would have announced to the world that the American people were solidly behind his war plans. A.N.S.W.E.R. achieved what no one on the "comfortable" Left would or could: they made Bush think about the domestic consequences of his military actions, by mounting demonstrations before the onset of war on a scale that the Sixties movement did not equal until at least 30,000 Americans and several million Vietnamese were already dead. (“Anti-War Hard Core and Anti-War Lite: Privilege, comfort and fear cause schisms”)

Three months later, in January, hundreds of thousands returned to Washington and San Francisco, but organizers agonized over the relative paucity of Black bodies. We offered our take on the matter, in ’s January 23 issue:

The crowd, which organizers numbered at 200,000 by noon, before many contingents had even arrived, was predominantly white, although otherwise quite varied by age, region and lifestyle. We at have no problem with the preponderance of white marchers. After all, there are a lot more of them. Blacks ushered in the modern era of Washington mega-demonstrations in 1963 and held the nation's capitol as if we owned it in the 1995 Million Man March. African Americans are the most consistently anti-war demographic, by far. African American representatives comprise the core of the Peace Party in the U.S. Congress. Ten thousand Colin Powells could not alter the anti-war character of Black America.

An early February Zogby/Atlanta Constitution poll quantified the Black-white divide over the impending war:

…less than a quarter of Blacks (23 percent) support Bush's war against Iraq, versus 62 percent of the white public. 64 percent of Blacks surveyed "somewhat or strongly oppose" the planned attack, while 13 percent "aren't sure" what to think.

The bloodthirstiness of white American males is astounding: 68 percent of men surveyed are gung ho, indicating that the white male pro-war cohort soars somewhere in the high seventies. Less than half of all women favor war.

Hispanics polled nearly as warlike as whites. When asked the general question on war, 60 percent support it.

The lack of empathy with Iraqis as human beings marks white American males as a collective danger to the species. Zogby pollsters asked: Would you support or oppose a war against Iraq if it meant thousands of Iraqi civilian casualties? A solid majority of white men answered in the affirmative, as did more than a third of white women. Only seven percent of African Americans favored a war that would kill thousands. (See The Issues, February 13.)

There are many factors that militate against mass Black attendance at anti-war demonstrations. (See “Why Blacks are underrepresented at peace rallies,” March 13.) However, Black organizations are deeply involved in this Saturday’s demonstration, as they have been in all the major protests over the past year. African American contingents will gather at Washington’s Malcolm X Park, then feed into the National March and Rally for Peace at the Washington Monument, co-sponsored by International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice.

Clark’s Army

In the summer and early fall of 2002, as the Bush men test-marketed their lies about the destructive capabilities of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Wesley Clark was praising the president and test-marketing himself. If Clark’s recently released book, Winning Modern Wars is to be believed, the retired general knew then that the public was being prepared for the first of seven wars scheduled for the Middle East and North Africa over the next five years. A Pentagon buddy had told him what was coming, in November of 2001, leaving Clark “deeply concerned.” Clark kept his specific knowledge of actual targets (“Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan…”) to himself throughout the buildup to the invasion and the first five months of occupation.

We find it hard to believe that anyone sane would have the chutzpah to expect that such a belated revelation would be anything but devastating to the credibility and character of The Man Who Knew So Much, but said nothing. We said so, in our October 9 Cover Story, “Wesley Clark: Dishonest to the Core, and probably nuts.”

A number of Clark supporters responded with long, angry exercises in distraction and denial. The letters were remarkably similar, no doubt because there is so little room to defend the newly minted Democrat.

Every vaguely skeptical utterance by Clark is cited as evidence of long-standing opposition to administration policy. Each carefully couched “reservation” about the general drift of U.S. policy that escaped the general’s mouth is highlighted and amplified, as if should be engaged in some game in which anti-war points are awarded based on nuance and sly signals.

We don’t play that. And we will not clutter the e-Mailbox column with nonsense. We will however, offer a few samples. One letter writer suggested that there was no reason for Clark to go public with the war plans, because the Bush men’s designs for global hegemony were already well known: “It's not as though no one has ever mentioned the PNAC plan before...Hello? You even knew about it.” Another excused the lapse in this fashion: “…the Bush Administration's discussions of a multiple-war strategy were public before the war, and wasn't of much interest to people outside the punditry.”

These are amazing arguments, best suited to other forums. The central theme of each Clark supporter’s letter was his vaunted ability to beat Bush. Since Clark people believe that nobody other than Clark can defeat the President, it follows that “your theme that Clark might be crazed is exactly the point that the GOP wants you to make, and therefore, you have picked your side, to re-elect Bush in 2004.”

Clark will self-destruct. We just wish the process might be accelerated, before too many minds are wasted. As we wrote:

Clark can be stopped. The Democratic presidential candidate who has the courage to confront Clark with the insane logic of Winning Modern Wars, will do his nation and party a great service. This candidate must be willing to absorb the full wrath of Bill Clinton’s machine – the real power behind Clark’s campaign – and to abandon any hopes of becoming a vice-presidential nominee.

Two names come to mind.

So far, neither Kucinich nor Sharpton has made an issue of Clark’s book. We do not expect the Democratic frontrunners to be so brave – they’d love to have Clark on their ticket. But, who knows? Nobody wants to lose to a loon.

For the record: supports any Democrat for the White House in 2004 – except Clark and Senator Joe Lieberman. The latter has already lost.

Behind the red line

The Bush men are making American destiny manifest, and it’s not a pretty future. The U.S. corporate media generally misread the United Nations vote on Iraq, in which the Security Council bowed to America’s military fait accompli, while essentially leaving the occupiers to confront their fate. (For a good analysis of the resolution, see Fred Kaplan, Slate, Oct 15.) Meanwhile, a planetary sea change is occurring, as global elites and common citizens alike conspire to thwart the American juggernaut.

“Americans can thank George Bush and his Pirates for accelerating a process that might have taken decades to evolve, but which now looms as a “catastrophe” on the horizon,” we wrote in our October 16 Cover Story, “The Redlining of America: Bush plunges U.S. into rapid decline.”

In the week preceding the UN Iraq vote, Russian President Vladimir Putin casually dropped that he would “not rule out” a switch to the euro for oil transactions. “That would be interesting for our European partners," said Putin. America’s nightmare was on the table of world discussion – the ultimate redlining. What a difference a war makes:

Putin displayed his card to the world – a bargaining chip with the EU and an implicit threat to the United States – because he could. The “sole superpower” cannot stop him, but must instead come up with terms that outweigh the benefits of euro-logic. The Bush Pirate’s quest for a global market subordinate to American fiat has failed. This shift in the global relationship of forces should have been expected when Bush declared war against world order. It is the logical result of, and answer to, the president’s 2002 ultimatum, “either you are with us, or against us.” The planet now prepares to turn on its own axis. Once set in motion, the effects will be irreversible, no matter which party wins the White House in 2004.

The world judges the U.S. by standards alien to CNN and the New York Times, such as respect for national sovereignty and the opinions of mankind. This is all quite logical to Isis Douglas, in Boulder, Colorado.

Thank you for this wonderful article. One only has to look inside one's self to know that when there's a bully on the block people organize against him – they don't gravitate toward him. How this administration thinks it's going to positively influence the planet by being the world's bully is beyond me. Human nature just doesn't work that way. Countries who band together against us and who might "redline" us, are only doing what is completely normal and natural. No big surprise. American's wouldn't want to be invaded. American's wouldn't want to be occupied. American's wouldn't want their infrastructure to be rebuilt by corporations from another country. American's wouldn't want their natural resources sold off to the corporations of another country. That the Bush administration (and Congress) thought that Iraqis would stand for this treatment shows their deep racism when thinking about the Iraqi people.

The isolation of the US is a predictable reaction given our pushy, aggressive, arrogant, belligerent behavior in the neighborhood. We should be isolated until we know how to play fair and how to respect the others on the block. I think we've got it coming and we've only ourselves to blame for it.

OPEC appears to be discreetly bailing out of the dollar. Reader Andrew Walsh did us all a service in forwarding a link to a U.S. Treasury Department site (http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt) listing holders of American treasury bonds. “The IMF makes the US Treasury publish these numbers - not the American people, congress or constitution, by the way,” writes Walsh. “The numbers show that everybody (especially Britain) is accumulating US treasury debt like crazy. But OPEC has seriously dumped TBonds since 2001. That just might indicate what they're planning.”

*We invite readers to check out the numbers. OPEC has reduced its U.S. bond holdings by about a third in the past two years. During the same period, China increased its pile of T-bills by 57 percent, while Britain more than tripled its holdings. All of which makes one wonder, who is holding the umbrella for whom? A switch to the euro by any serious combination of oil producers would, as Dr. Sonja Ebron wrote in the February 20 issue of , “bring a quick and devastating dollar and Wall Street crash that would make 1929 look like a $50 casino bet.” (See “Why African Americans Should Oppose the War.”)Mr. Walsh had more thoughts to share:

The redlining article really made something else click for me too. A while ago I was talking to a friend who's a machine-designer. He had heard about some new cool robotic-controlled machine tool from Taiwan and sent for a catalog. But the catalog didn't have the latest stuff. So he contacted the company and they faxed him the missing pages - but it seems the US gets the dumbed-down catalog. They assume there's no more market here for real hi-end manufacturing.

So we've been redlined.

In the world community of nations maybe we've become how America viewed the red-lined neighborhoods:

the ignorant, uneducated block.
the violent, war-addicted block.
the drug-addicted block. (Rush Limbaugh? Hillbilly Heroin? WTF?)
the block where the only viable industry is entertainment.
the block where people can't control their debts.

And maybe soon, the poor block. The analogy might be more deeply accurate than we want to admit.

But there's no way American capitalism can survive the globalization of labor, although it's going to be a long, painful decline before anybody admits that. And after labor globalization comes total automation in a few decades - where humans aren't needed at all in the manufacture and distribution of goods. Unless we start rethinking society and economy, we're looking at a very grim future.

Sherryll McFarlane read Dr. Ebron’s February article, and wrote to her directly, in Atlanta:

Congratulations on putting forth an insightful analysis of the macroeconomic consequences of the neo-con agenda.

I suspect that your positions are starting to resonate in the online liberal world, of which I am a proud citizen. I hope they will move out from there to the media, and people at large.

As an Anglo Canadian, living in the USA, I ask you to broaden your target audience. My feeling is that the African American population is the canary in the mine of the economy. Look to that community for what is happening because their economic well being is most at risk, so the trends are magnified. But this message must be spread to everyone, we are all at risk. All boats should rise together, and we will all drown together too.

Marjorie Swindler writes from Lawrence, Kansas.

Thank you so much for this prescient article. Before the Iraq war I'd read in the foreign press that Iraq was considering switching its petro-currency to the euro - something that would bring the end of the US's artificial dominance of the world's currency, and to US economic supremacy. Aside from the PNAC plan, which had for ten years been calling for war against Iraq and much of the middle east and west Asia, that was another reason to declare war against Iraq. Congratulations on finding and printing this story, which I still haven't seen in the major media, and don't expect to see.

Thanks also for pointing out the seven-country, five-year plan which Clark mentions in his book. I had no intention of buying Clark's book, so this is important information which we also won't see in the major media, I'm sure, unless it can be used against Clark during the campaign somehow.

Thank you again for being one of the few magazines which not only keeps up on the real news, but writes about it and publishes it for American audiences.

Larry A. Kalb is a recent arrival to these pages.

This is only the second time in two weeks that I have read commentaries issued by BlackCommentator.com. I am impressed with the thoroughness of the writer's analysis of the topic at hand, thus honoring my intelligence and bringing insight into news items that will not be found on mainstream media services. Thank you for your respectful candor in light of the demanding economic times for our nation and the American people.

T. Quigly got his ticket punched at BuzzFlash.com. He’s all abuzz.

What a find!! Thank you for your hard-hitting article which is one of the best I have read - and I've read a lot of Buzzflash postings over the past few years.

I will be checking you out on a regular basis now. Thank you again.

Internet broadcaster Meria Heller sent her regards.

That is one of the best articles I've seen in a long time on the state of our fiat money and the world turning against us thanks to Bush & Co. Thank you for writing it.

"The Meria Heller Show"- 4th Year On The Net- #1 on Net!
www.meriaheller.com

Hate for fun and profit

When anti-racist essayist Tim Wise sent us his second piece on Ghettopoly, the hate-based board game (See “Ghettos are Not a Game, Part II: Making money off the Misery of Others,” in this issue), we were still getting mail in response to Part I, published on October 9. In the first essay, while condemning the inherent racism of Ghettopoly, Wise took game creator David Chang’s words at face value.

“David Chang thinks GHETTOPOLY, and his planned follow-ups, including HIPHOPOPOLY and REDNECKOPOLY could get people laughing, and thereby help break down the very stereotypes in which his games traffic.”

In the interim, several of Chang’s Internet and real world distributors have dropped the product. Chang is no longer a happy camper, Wise reports. “I just got an email from David Chang, telling me to ‘shut the fuck up you jealous bitch.’"

Oh, my! It appears that Chang is consuming his own product, so to speak. Not a credit to his ethnic group, or his class. “This is apparently the level of discourse one can expect from an intrepid young entrepreneur these days, and one who graduated from such ‘prestigious’ schools as he claims to have,” said Wise, with sarcasm. “In response to my note that Hasbro was serious about suing him, and that there were many, many people intent on seeing him shut down, his response was, ‘bring it on.’”

Angela Brown would also like to see Chang go down. But she’s got a bigger beef with Cedric The Entertainer.

I was pleased to hear the NAACP Director, Kweisi Mfume, denounce the race hatred being peddled by the opportunistic Taiwanese hustler, David Chang. It is important that people who try to profit from the denigration of African-Americans, as David Chang is attempting to do, be denounced. But I am equally sickened by the fact that the NAACP allowed Cedric the Entertainer to host the NAACP image awards, after he trashed Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, in order to boost the box office performance of his tasteless movie. Cedric should not have been allowed to get away with such denigration, without some kind of social sanction from the black community.

Rosa Parks publicly announced that she would not attend the NAACP image awards, as long as Cedric was allowed to host. Kweisi should have taken that as a hint, of the deep hurt that was inflicted on the 90 year old mother of the Civil Rights movement, who represents the grace, honor and dignity of black America. But the NAACP went ahead and disregarded Rosa Parks' plea, because Cedric was good for the TV ratings of the Image Awards. What sort of "image" was Cedric trying to present by bashing a gentle 90 year old lady? Cedric's low comedy was just as bad as David Chang's board game.

As a regular reader of , I was proud that your publication refused to give Randall Kennedy a free pass over his N-word book, simply because he is black. [See “The N-Word Three Ways,” August 22, 2002.] And I was disgusted that the NAACP did not at least attempt to extract an apology from Cedric, for his sick and tasteless trashing of Rosa Parks, before allowing him to host the Image Awards. Kweisi should not have remained silent when the single most respected living member of his organization was dishonored.

Sondjata has compiled a larger list of racial offenders.

While I too found the game offensive, I am somewhat confused as to the outcry over the subject matter. After all, the Big Five record labels continue to put out material that is just as offensive as those things in Ghettopoly, yet I don't see a mass boycott of those entities.

Various "urban" radio stations play songs that contain equally vile material, yet I don't see the NAACP et al, organizing mass boycotts of those outlets. On any given day one can watch various videos on MTV, BET and their affiliate or derivative stations. All of whom portray many of the same "offensive" images that Ghettopoly has. Again Blacks and whites seem to enjoy and support these programs. And these aforementioned entities also sell to white, sometimes college educated, sometimes elitist, people. It would seem to me that the offense here was that one of the un-usual suspects decided to get his piece of the pie. Apparently we don't mind when we (blacks) put out offensive stuff, or when cool, down or other wise "in "whites produce it. In my book, when we (blacks) along with our "cool, down and otherwise "in" whites, stop putting those images out there as normal "black" experiences, then other people will stop making fun of our collective failures. Besides, Chang could easily move sales of his product offshore, change the name of his product (The only real basis for a lawsuit) and continue to sell his product to people
who are obviously interested. I doubt the NAACP will be chartering a plane to Taiwan.

One question though, given that some of the images I have seen remind me of certain cartoons found in recent issues of VIBE magazine, I wonder how many black people have ordered it. You know, like those people that claim to have never seen THE R-Kelly tape.

You won’t find Leutisha Stills patronizing any San Francisco Bay Area Urban Outfitters.

If politically correct individuals hadn't raised a stink about this, Mr. Chang would be raking in grand theft dough right now. And because he's a Taiwanese immigrant, one would think he would be particularly sensitive to issues such as race and ethnicity. If what he learned about African-American culture came from MTV and VH1, he needs a refund for the lessons taught. And regarding Urban Outfitters, why are African-Americans shopping there? I don't shop there for the same reason I don't shop at Abercrombie & Fitch; they sell inferior products that are not worthy of us who belong to and descend from a royal legacy, such as people of color. If I am not good enough for you, my hard-earned money is not good enough to be spent in your establishment, either. And you sure as hell will not make money at my, or any minorities' expense.

Noted author Alice Holman (Chester Himes Award, 2001) gave Mr. Wise a good review.

I truly appreciated reading your articles on this horrid game. It seems that everything I read in the media finds a reason to put down the African American community as a whole, rather than the inventor of this abomination. It’s as if they really believe that African Americans truly wish to live in ghettos in poverty, fear, hunger and degradation – that there is something “sexy” and desirable about it for the people who are trapped there. Never once has one of them looked at the history of the ghetto, why it’s there and why it continues to exist as you did. Thank you so much.

Ms. Holman’s latest book is, “The Last Days of Murder List.”

Gary Lapreziosa lives in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. He says needs to apologize to Judy Wicks, the former wife of Urban Outfitters honcho, Richard Hayne. But first, he makes us feel good.

Thank you, as usual, for your incisive and articulate analysis of the late-stage U.S. empire. I happened upon your website about a year ago – somehow an email from arrived in my In Box in one of those moments of serendipity that Internet connectivity sometimes brings to us. Ever since then, Thursday has become Thursday!! as I wait for fresh content to be posted or the email from to arrive. It's so refreshing to read things honest and frank – where else could one learn, way back in March, about how the Bush "Pirates" were turning the US into a pariah state and how other nations were gradually distancing themselves from U.S. interests - "redlining", as you say. Where can one read about that even now?

I do take issue with something in the latest e-Mailbox, regarding the hateful "Ghettopoly" game:

"Apparently, former hippie Hayne believed that Ghettopoly deserved a place on his empire’s shelves. Hayne’s former wife and Urban Outfitters co-founder, Judy Wicks, is a self-described “diehard liberal activist.

“How resilient American racism is! In the New American Century, Taiwanese immigrants and diehard white liberals feel no shame in hawking racist parlor games, proof that their piece of the nation has truly gotten over the “pain” of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement era."

This is extremely unfair to Judy Wicks. If one reads the very article that the e-Mailbox linked to in the Philadelphia Weekly, one would learn that Judy Wicks has not been married to Dick Hayne, nor been in any way associated with his store [since renamed "Urban Outfitters"), for more than 30 years.

If you visit the website of her organization [the White Dog Cafe and The Black Cat store], you'll see that it is very active in peace, justice, sustainability, and racial equality activities, and that she is a visible and highly-regarded leader in the Philadelphia area on those issues. Check out that website, and if you're up Philly way sometime, do drop in.

Keep up the great work.

Mr. Lapreziosa is correct, and we do apologize to Ms. Wicks. Although we did read the article and also checked out her web site, we wrote in the mistaken belief that she remained an owner of Urban Outfitters. We’re sorry.

Sportin’ life

Kobe Bryant’s current predicament brought history rushing back to Ellen Rosner, author of the October 16 Guest Commentary, “OJ Revisited: Kobe Bryant, Marv Albert & Latrell Sprewell – Race, Athletes and Public Perception.” Ms Rosner covered lots of ground, from Babe Ruth’s and Mickey Mantle’s drinking, Pete Rose’s gambling, Mike Tyson, Jack Johnson, Muhammad Ali, and Dennis Rodman – all in just 1,000 words. “When did you ever hear of Marv Albert referred to as the ‘cross-dressing, back-biting sportscaster?’ Rosner asks. “All of which is to say that race is always present, whether stated or not. Race is why Sprewell became a symbol of black violence against white authority and why Marv Albert's ‘Yess’ is again heard across the land.”

Sharon Boone says “Amen” to that, from Asbury Park, New Jersey.

I just read OJ revisited. All I can say is Kudos to the author. She forgot a white athlete/manager, Billy Martin who while drunk driving, killed himself. He constantly feuded with Reggie Jackson, while "managing" the Yankees, 1978. A display of white against Black athlete just occurred Friday night when Don Zimmer, exercised his "whiteous-ness" against Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox. Pedro received a $50,000 fine for defending himself from an oafish, red, belligerent "white man". Being 72 is no excuse for bracing up to a black-Hispanic to show him he has no respect for.

You barely reached the tip of a Titanic Iceberg, but your point was well said. First, I want to say Amen! But, now what? Where does this go from here? What do we do now?

Paula Matabane is displeased.

I'm sorry, Ellen Rosner's commentary on black athletes was weak. How dare she liken Ali to a Rodman or Tyson. Puleeze, gimme a break. Yeah, it's true that a) white men get away with murder, literally (as well as rape, theft, making war) and b) that black men have always paid a higher price for real or imagined crimes. But it is also true that some (not all) black men and black male athletes do commit crimes and generally act the fool. Like Tyson. He is not only an ear biter but also a convicted rapist of a black woman. But I guess that doesn't count because she was black. We have no compassion for her as a victim. I hear that all the time not only from black men but other black women.

So when we talk about the vilification of some black male athletes let us also remember the also utter blindness to the degradation of black women. Further, a lot of the black male athletes are hopelessly hung up on white women, on sex, on self, on money. Most of the higher paid stars, I dare say, give nothing back to the black community except as public relations ploys induced by a handsomely paid white management agencies!!!!!

I, for one, would hate to see Kobe Bryant go to prison. I honestly believe he is innocent based on what I've read. I think date rape is murky water (though a reality) and that unfortunately both Kobe and the woman are probably accurate in their understanding of what happened that night. Mixed signals, changed minds during or even afterwards. But what say we that these black male athletes are so often hung by a white woman? Echoes of OJ. Why can't they learn anything from history?

Dr. Henry Johnson took the opportunity to call attention to his book.

To compare Kobe and Sprewell to O.J. is like comparing Whoopi to Marilyn Monroe. You see, O.J. exposed the U.S. criminal justice system and the media to the world for what they are, corrupt and racist institutions which concealed the conspiracy of the LAPD/DA, CIA and Tel Aviv involving drugs and money laundering. They all acted in collusion to hide the telephone records of the Browns which would prove OJ's innocence. O.J. knows how deep the stench is so he shrewdly keeps his mouth shut as his henchmen lawyers keep a vigil over him. Kobe and Sprewell are the usual Hollywood fluff to distract you from what you really need to be thinking about. Check out the book Doubled-Crossed For Blood, OJ Simpson's Constitutional Disaster.

Aubrey J. Howard is CEO at Midtown Mental Health Center, in Memphis, Tennessee.

The OJ/Kobe commentary was very enlightening and could have been spread to Blacks of any profession (or non profession for that matter).

Paths of the Freedom Rider

The title of Margaret Kimberley’s October 9 debut Freedom Rider column, “I’m Proud of What I Did in Tulia,” is a quote from Tom Coleman, the racist undercover cop who arrested ten percent of the town’s Black population on drug charges. Ms. Kimberley took CBS 60 Minutes to task for failing to come to grips with the pervasive racism that allowed Coleman to carry out his devastating wave of hate crimes. Denial can be deadly to body and mind. Truth is “liberating,” wrote the columnist.

We waste time asking questions that more often than not have an obvious and simple answer. “Why am I followed around in the store?” Answer: white supremacy. “Why does the world stop brutality in Bosnia but not in the Congo or Liberia?” Answer: white supremacy. “Why doesn’t Angela Bassett get more and better roles?” Answer: white supremacy. I could go on with important and unimportant issues alike but you get the idea. When these questions arise we should take a deep breath, count to ten and then say, “White supremacy.” The initial discomfort will be overcome by a feeling of freedom. Our circumstances may not be any different, but the willingness to tell the truth will be liberating.

Kwame’s thoughtful letter to Margaret Kimberley feels like a big hug.

Just a brother who also writes from time to time, dropping a line for further encouragement. Your analysis of “white supremacy” as the root PATHOGEN that has scourged the psyche of our communities and is the malady from which ALL other racist mental disorders stem was a breath fresh air. Unfortunately our current “visible” so called leadership is far too impotent for all of the obvious reasons to EVER address this issue in its correct context.

I will leave you with a few brief words I came across some four years ago. I am sure you will find them quite timely considering the contents of your recent piece on . I believe them to have originated with Neely Fuller and what he said was:

“If you do not understand White Supremacy everything else you think you know will only serve to confuse you.”

I myself long for the day when this quote is institutionalized via all of the expedient mediums into our new collective psyche, but until that day comes my sister…continue to hanel-yo-biz!

Lonzie Cox, Jr. agrees with Ms. Kimberley’s premise: it’s healthy to confront facts as they are.

Your essay was a great piece of writing. It is necessary for black people to maintain a sense of anger. If we are not angry about injustice against us based on race who will be…and when. Feel welcome to forward emails to me from commentator.

Patricia Wilde lives far from west Texas, in Toronto, Canada. Her letter to Kimberley:

I read your article "The Truth About Tulia" at Alternet.org. and was deeply saddened and disgusted by the total injustice in Tulia, knowing full well it is happening to others everyday. How can one white supremacist, Coleman, have so much power? Will he get 99 years for perjury? I doubt it, sadly. Your article was so well written and brought up so many issues for me to ponder. I missed 60 Minutes, but will write to them asking for a serious discussion about the total inequality of the system. As a 54 year old woman, I still cannot comprehend man's inhumanity to man.

Freedom Rider’s October 16 installment, “The Threat to Black Families,” ponders African American involvement in right-wing inspired organizations like the Alliance for Marriage, whose poster-persons include former Washington, DC non-voting congressional representative Rev. Walter Fauntroy. The once-liberal Brookings Institution contributed to the propaganda stream with a study that tends to blame Black family structures for what ails African Americans. Marriage is the answer. Kimberley doesn’t buy it.

The Brookings Institution study and many others before it clearly show the benefits of stable two-parent families. I will give the conservatives a nod and admit that many people resist acknowledging these benefits because to do so seems retrograde and well, too conservative. I hope that the Alliance for Marriage also addresses the fact that while marriage increases family income, the effect is far less pronounced for black families. Are the prominent blacks chosen for the Alliance web site going to talk about how institutional racism causes economic and social problems that contribute to the weakening of the black family?

A letter to Ms. Kimberley from England reveals the contradictions that riddle the American Right. Rose H. Hall, of Middlesex, wants to get married. But budget cutbacks and anti-inmate sentiment in Illinois stand in the way.

I am at the moment printing off Issue 60 of your publication so that I can send it to my fiance. He is an African-American incarcerated in Illinois and he enjoys reading all the printouts I send.

I have just read the excellent article by Margeret Kimberley, Freedom Rider “The Threat to Black Families.” I am amazed that President Bush has declared October 12th through the 18th as Marriage Protection Week.

The state of Illinois has been denying their inmates the right to marry for most of this year. We, Tony and I, have been fighting the state for months to get this policy overturned. I've tried getting help from the ACLU, Amnesty International, The John Howard Association (and I learning fast that this association is far from helping prisoners rights) and so many newspapers I've lost count. Perhaps I should be enlisting the President’s help!

I can't believe this is happening in Illinois and there are so many women who just don't know which way to turn because of this decision.

I stems mainly from the County Clerk's Office refusing to send anyone to the prisons to get marriage licenses signed, a service they have given for many years. The Randolph County Clerk actually says she won't waste tax payers money on “convicts.”

Blair revisited

The Internet has transformed the meaning and uses of “archives.” is pleased that so many visitors rummage in our past issues – a few have reported losing themselves for days in the links.

Steve Parris found our May 15 Cover Story, “The Jason Blair – New York Times Affair: Blaming affirmative action for white folks mistakes,” worthy of his attention. First, a portion of the piece: