The Seminoles

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I was looking through an old notebook and wrote something about the Seminoles.This Florida Indian nation offered refuge to fugitive slaves,intermarried with them, and fought along with them against the US government in a series of wars in the mid 1800s.

Read the following:

The Black Seminoles, now called Seminole Maroons by ethnologists, are a group of people who live in Oklahoma, Texas, the Bahamas, and Coahuila, Mexico. Their ancestors were runaways from the plantations of South Carolina and Georgia beginning in the late seventeenth century who sought refuge in Spanish-controlled Florida. They lived among the Seminole Indians and were closely associated with them, but they maintained a separate identity and preserved their culture and traditions. Following the First and Second Seminole Wars (1817 -1818 and 1835 1842) some escaped to the Bahamas and others were removed with their Native American allies to the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). Ten years later some of them moved to Mexico where their descendants, known as Indios Mascogos still live. After the Civil War, a group of them moved to Texas, where in the 1870s and 1880s, they served with the U.S. Army on the Texas frontier as the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts.

Their quest involved contact with Native Americans, Spanish, British and American soldiers, settlers, traders and government officials. They suffered and survived deprivation, exploitation and destitution. Today their descendants celebrate the persistence and perseverance of their ancestors.

Our people have lived in Texas for over 100 years. Before that, we were in Mexico, where some of us still live and before that we were in Oklahoma, and even earlier than that, Florida. And before that, we came from Africa. As far as weve come, in all our travels, we have never lost an awareness of our identity and pride in our freedom, because it is our freedom which makes us different from other Americans of African descent.
---- Miss Charles Emily Wilson

THE WORLD OF THE BLACK SEMINOLE

The experience of the Black Seminoles was similar to other maroon societies which proliferated throughout the Americas before slavery was abolished. Because they were in constant fear of being recaptured, they defended their freedom by developing extraordinary skills in guerilla warfare. They were proactive in finding ways to survive economically in new environments and they were savvy in their interaction with Native Americans. Leaders emerged from their communities who were skilled at understanding and negotiating with whites. Most important, all of these maroon communities, borrowed and blended elements of their experiences and integrated them into their own African heritage.

Historically the central question for those who came in contact with the Black Seminoles was whether they were African or American Indian. This issue of classification hounded them throughout their search for freedom. Individuals, agencies and institutions labeled them for their own purposes, more often than not determined by their own vested interests.

Today the Black Seminole community in Texas refer to themselves as Seminoles to set themselves apart from other Blacks and to emphasize the pride that they have in their unique history of having run away and resisted slavery. For similar reasons, the descendants living in Coahuila, Mexico, refer to themselves as Indios Mascogos, and in Oklahoma as Freedmen.

In the I 7th century our ancestors fought against slavery and escaped into the northern bushlands of Spanish FIorida. There we joined our Indian brothers and sisters who had also escaped from the oppression of the European slavers; together, for many years, we resisted their attempts to recapture us.
---- Miss Charles Emily Wilson

FUGITIVES IN SPANISH FLORIDA

When the first fugitive slaves from Charleston arrived in Spanish St. Augustine, Florida, in 1687, they were given refuge and were integrated into a cohesive, multiracial, multicultural community. The men worked as cartwrights, jewelers, butchers, and innkeepers, while the women worked as cooks and laundresses. Some even owned small businesses. Interracial unions and marriages were common. This open society, bolstered by a relaxed attitude toward slavery and race, made it possible for slaves to use the courts to change their status, to lodge complaints against ill treatment, or to change owners. Those who were free acquired property, often converted to Catholicism and served in the militia. In this regard the Spanish were not entirely altruistic. They were willing to grant freedom to the Blacks and expected loyalty and service in return.

In 1838, the Spanish governor established a settlement for the runaways called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, becoming the first free Black settlement in North America. The residents of Mose, some one hundred men, women and children came in contact with various bands of Indians living nearby. In this multilingual environment, they no doubt adopted folkways of their neighbors and absorbed some of them into their ranks. On this frontier, these Blacks showed an ability to adapt, to be creative and to survive. Even with the support of the Spanish who gave them supplies and building materials, it took intelligence and determination to forge lives for themselves and their families.

BLACKS AND INDIANS: VASSALS AND ALLIES

At the same time the Blacks were establishing themselves at Mose, bands of Creeks split off from the main body of their tribe, dislocated through war and conflict, drifted into northern Florida. These people were called Seminoles. The name Seminole comes from the Spanish word cimaroon meaning "fugitives" or "wild ones" and was incorporated into the Creek language. The English word "maroon" comes from the same Spanish source.

Slavery among the Seminoles was not new. They captured other Indians in battle, "adopted" them into their tribe to replace members who had been killed and treated them amicably. Some Black slaves were purchased, others were given as "gifts" to chiefs by the British who had acquired Florida from the Spanish in 1763. Many of these Blacks lived independently in villages separate from their Indian "owners." This independent living was the foundation of a new social group. They were efficient and productive farmers, owned livestock, and armed themselves against intruders. In deference to the Indian chief, they paid an annual tax, usually corn or some other foodstuff to be used for the common good. In return for their allegiance they were given the protection of the larger Seminole Indian community. An American general aptly described the relationship between the two groups as "vassals and allies."

Gradually the distinction between who was slave and who was free blurred and the two communities, Black and Indian, were interdependent. The Blacks adopted Seminole ways of living and dressing. They spoke their own language, Creole, as well as English, Spanish and Indian dialects. They also understood the Europeans because they had lived on plantations.

These skills made them invaluable to the Seminoles as interpreters, go-betweens and advisors. Life for the Blacks amongst the Indians was idyllic, far different than it had been under the strict codes of plantation slavery. They were free and independent and they thrived under these conditions.

THE SEMINOLE INDIAN WARS

By the early 19th century the Blacks and Seminoles had established such strong communal ties that they banded together to fight side by side defending their land and their freedom. Their adversaries were the Americans who wanted to annex Florida and to prevent its use as a haven for fugitive slaves.

During the First Seminole War (1817-1818) General Andrew Jackson invaded Florida, destroyed Black and Indian towns, burned Spanish forts and routed the British. In this chaos, some Blacks fled to the Bahamas where some of their descendants now live. Ultimately Jackson captured Pensacola and the Spanish ceded Florida to the United States in 1821. During this conflict Blacks were recognized for their aggressive military prowess.

In 1823 some Seminole Indian leaders were induced to move to a reservation in Florida and to return any runaway slaves that did not "belong" to them. In typical "divide and rule" fashion, the Indians were warned that the Blacks cared nothing for them, but only wanted their protection from enslavement. Later the Indian Removal Act of 1830 decreed that the Indians would be removed to the West. The Blacks feared that if they assembled at one place along with their Indian allies to be transported, they would be returned to slavery.

They took the lead in stirring up resistance to removal and joined the Seminoles in a guerilla war known as the Second Seminole War (1835-1842). It turned out to be the longest and most expensive war in the United States to date. Once again, the Blacks proved to be courageous fighters and served prominent roles as advisers, spies and intermediaries. Their influence on the Seminole Indian chiefs prompted General Thomas S. Jesup to say: "This you may be assured is a negro and not an Indian War." To end this long, bloody and costly war Jesup resorted to expedience. He granted freedom to the Blacks if they would go West as part of the Seminole Nation.

This war turned out to be a "War of Independence" for the Blacks. Some authorities say that this was the time that they emerged as a distinct social group because they shared the experience of running away, resisting slavery and fighting for that freedom. It was evident not only to themselves but to the outside world that they possessed the skills and intellect to subsist on their own and to create self-sufficient communities. In the years to come, this determination to remain separate and independent would face other challenges as they searched for a home where they could live as free men.

When we had to leave for safer territory in the 1830s to escape the slave raids in Florida, we went to Indian Territory and settled along the Canadian River in what is today Oklahoma. But slave raids continued from nearby states. In our search for peace, we left once again and went to Mexico, though some of our people stayed behind in Oklahoma, where their descendants still live today.
---- Miss Charles Emily Wilson

THE INDIAN TERRITORY

Once settled in the Indian Territory (1841-1850) the Black Seminoles and the Seminole Indians faced another common enemy: the Creeks. The Creeks were intent on enslaving the Black Seminoles and integrating the Seminole Indians into their community. Wild Cat, leader of the Seminole Indians and John Horse, leader of the Black Seminoles, resisted this domination.

Wild Cat didn't want his power diminished by the Creek chiefs and planned to form a confederation with other southwestern Indians of which he would be the leader. John Horse and his band of Black Seminoles were most concerned about acquiring land where they would be safe from Creek slave hunters. Kidnapping of the Black Seminoles by the Creeks and white slave hunters became so prevalent that John Horse was forced to find ways to leave the territory. He went to Washington, D.C., to negotiate a special removal policy for his people. Unfortunately, nothing came of these efforts so that he was forced to join Wild Cat's plan to move their bands to Mexico where slavery had been abolished in 1829. The Mexican government promised citizenship to colonists in exchange for helping to maintain peace along the northern border. In 1850, more than 300 Seminole Indians, Black Seminoles and Kickapoo Indians set out for Mexico on the nine month trek to the border.

IMMIGRANTS IN MEXICO

Upon entering Mexico in July 1850, John Horse exclaimed: "When we came fleeing slavery, Mexico was a land of freedom and the Mexicans spread out their arms to us." The Black Seminoles eventually settled in Nacimiento (where some of their descendants remain to this day) and the Seminole Indians settled in nearby Muzquiz. Given food subsidies, tools for farming and building materials, the Blacks put them to effective use and soon had a thriving agricultural community. A school and church were established.

One of the requirements for colonists was for the men to serve as a border patrol and protect the towns from raids by Comanche and Lipan Indians. The Black Seminoles once again proved to be excellent soldiers and with their Seminole Indian comrades, they gained a reputation for being loyal troops. In time, however, the Black Seminoles tired of this role, particularly when they were called upon to engage in the civil and foreign conflicts which engulfed Mexico in the early 1860s. This separatism and isolation increased after the death of Wild Cat and the return of the Seminoles to the Indian Territory. When the Civil War ended in the United States, the Black Seminoles looked forward to returning to the United States.

In 1870 a few hundred of our ancestors were asked to come to Texas to fight the Native Americans so that white people could settle in the region. Those Seminoles served as Scouts for the U.S. Army out of Ford Duncan in Eagle Pass and Fort Clark in Brackettville, where we live today.
---- Miss Charles Emily Wilson

THE SEMINOLE NEGRO INDIAN SCOUTS

At the end of the Civil War more white settlers moved to the Southwest and used the Overland Trail to cross Texas into New Mexico, Arizona and California. This brought them in conflict with southwestern Indian tribes, among them the Comanches and the Apaches, who had been relocated from their traditional hunting grounds to reservations in the New Mexico Territory. In retaliation, they raided white settlements, stole livestock and horses and destroyed property.

Army personnel at frontier bases in Texas were ill-equipped to stop the raids, track down and confront the fast-moving Indians. Nor did they have the necessary manpower to guard the porous Texas border. What they needed were experienced Indian fighters who knew the rugged terrain of the borderlands, understood the ways of the Indians and could speak the border language--a mixture of English and Spanish. The Black Seminoles had a reputation for being fearless fighters, and they were approached by army recruiters. Finally, in 1870, an arrangement was reached with them. The army formed a "Detachment of Seminole Negro Indian Scouts" and enlisted ten Black Seminoles. On July 4, 1870, the men and their families crossed the Rio Grande into Texas.

Under the command of Lieutenant John Bullis, from 1873 to 1881, the scouts went on twenty-six expeditions and were engaged in twelve battles without suffering any losses. They had excellent tracking skills, were precise marksmen and could endure searching for months at a time. Famed for their bravery, four of the Black Seminole scouts were awarded the Medal of Honor in the 1870s for "gallantry in action."

In return for their services the men were promised salaries, rations, and living quarters for their families at the forts where they were stationed. Some accounts say that they were guaranteed their own land in Texas or in the Indian Territory following their service as scouts. But this promise was never fulfilled in spite of numerous appeals by the scouts and the officers who supported their requests. The War Department claimed not to have land that they could legally give them. Because they were not "ethnic" Indians, the Bureau of Indian Affairs would not honor their claims. In addition, registration for Seminole Indian reservation lands was closed in 1866, thus excluding the Black Seminoles from this opportunity.

By the 1880s the number of enlisted scouts was cut back and their rations reduced. In spite of such setbacks, they continued to live on the Fort Clark military post. It was a precarious existence, however, and the group was often destitute. The unenlisted men found extra work on nearby ranches. Some of the women worked as laundresses. But as the Indian wars declined, the scouts were transferred to custodial and constabulary work and were finally disbanded in 1914. The same year, their dependents were told to leave the post where they had lived for more than a generation.

We have given our loyalty and our skill to our country, and we have contributed to its history I can rest now, knowing that this has been recognized at last, and that future schoolchildren, both American and Seminole, will learn the part we have played in the growth of our great nation.

From the CCNY website.

The Legacy of Malcolm X: Carry it forward by taking up his political stand

By Owusu Yaki Yakubu
20 May 1999

Malcolm's thought and action were not based upon unalterable concepts and formulas, but rather upon the data provided by his study of actual conditions and the creative development of new situations. Malcolm would not continue to hold onto old concepts and formulas devised on the basis of conditions that no longer exist.

We can form hypotheses regarding the probable content and character of Malcolm's ideological and programmatic development had he lived and continued to pursue the course indicated by the words and deeds of his last days. However, no matter what meaning We give to the things Malcolm said and did, and no matter what We think that Malcolm would be saying and doing were he alive today, We must decide upon the legacy that We want to leave for future generations.

We know with certainty that Malcolm left a legacy of unselfish commitment to the struggle of Afrikans in the u.s. for the realization of our national and revolutionary interests. In the last months of his life, Malcolm was developing positions which were more genuinely and consistently revolutionary and scientific.

We can begin to carry this legacy forward, with respect for Malcolm, by taking up his political stand and by making our contributions to its development.

The essence of that stand is a concern to master nature, society, and one's self; to strive to understand the world, and to use one's understanding in order to help change the world; to engage in an on-going process of formulating and testing ideas through revolutionary practice in the struggle to end the domination of u.s. and world capitalist- imperialism, and to place political/state power in the hands of the people.

The stand that We take up should be one resting on a perception of the natural and social orders as being subject to objective laws of development that can (and must) be utilized to help us make better lives for ourselves through struggles for national independence and social revolution.

Like Malcolm, We should understand that We exist in the world as social beings, as integral parts of a whole. Our stand is the stand of a people, of an oppressed nation vis-a-vis the forces of capitalist oppression. More particularly, our stand is the stand of the most revolutionary class of the nation, the working class. The stand of Malcolm, the stand that We must take up and creatively develop, is the stand of the nation for its independence, and of the working class for social revolution; it is representative of the consciousness of the nation and the revolutionary class, an awareness of our historic position and mission in the system of the world order, and of our fundamental, long-term interests.

Afrikans in the u.s. join other oppressed peoples as gravediggers of capitalism and imperialism. Our interests are fundamentally opposed to the continued ideological, political, and economic hegemony of the u.s. and its allies and puppets. Our mission is to regain absolute control of our natural and human resources, and to direct their use toward the all-round development of each person, according to the principles of collective mastery.

Also characteristic of Malcolm's stand is the search for a scientific revolutionary theory, and a corresponding attempt to build an organized structure that would test the theory in the course of practical revolutionary activities with the masses of our people and with our allies, under the leadership of the working class.

Central to the stand that We must take up is a focus on the acquisition, use, and retention of state power -- our only guarantee for an ultimate solution to our problems in all spheres of socioeconomic life. Only state power, exercised according to our development of scientific socialist principles, can secure our long-sought "freedom, justice, and equality."

Malcolm based his ideas and actions upon what he called a "proper analysis" of conditions and of interests, so that We can know what the "stakes" in the struggle really are. For Malcolm, the "stakes" were material and human resources, the control of land, the ownership of major means of production and distribution on national and international levels.

When Malcolm said, "I'm not an American," he was expressing a conclusion that he had arrived at after a thorough analysis of the concrete historical conditions that have confronted Afrikans in the u.s. Malcolm described those as colonialism. Today, he might call them neo-colonialism.

The colonial oppression of Afrikans in the u.s. helped Malcolm to understand colonialism elsewhere, and helped him to begin forming bonds of worldwide solidarity with other colonized peoples against capitalist imperialism, "as the slave system in the West is called." Malcolm's understanding of the world system of imperialism, in turn, sharpened his understanding of the colonial oppression of Afrikans in the u.s.

Malcolm's analysis of the concrete conditions inside the u.s. and throughout the world led him to the conclusion that the fundamental contradiction in the world -- the fundamental problem facing Afrikans in the u.s. -- was one posing "them" against "us." Malcolm initially posed this contradiction in racial terms, and later he more accurately pointed toward "international capitalism" as the real enemy, because Afrikans in the u.s. and elsewhere were and are oppressed "for economic reasons," and not because of the color of our skin, i.e., "racism" is a mere tool used by international capitalism and colonialism; it's a shadow that far too often diverts our attention away from the substance.

With our attention now on the "substance," where and how do We begin? We could look toward Malcolm for some examples, and We can say that he began with proper orientation, study, and struggle.

We will receive our orientation from our philosophies, ideologies, and theories. At this stage of struggle, much of our orientation will be provided by a common strategic line on the need to concentrate our efforts among the masses, in work to realize a "revolutionary democratic program."

At bottom, no matter what may be our differing philosophical, ideological, or theoretical positions, We all must work with and for the masses, around "food, clothing, and shelter" issues -- or be left by the wayside. We can tackle these issues in our usual separate and ineffective ways, or We can tackle them together, combining and coordinating our resources in the form of national revolutionary democratic front.

More than this, however, our orientation must be genuinely and consistently revolutionary. Putting all nuance and vacillation aside, the only way to be genuinely and consistently revolutionary in the real world is to fight to bring about the downfall of international capitalism and for the rise of socialism. Anything less than this would not be a creative development of Malcolm's legacy.

This is the kind of orientation that We must have, and it's the kind of orientation that We must promote in our work among the masses. Only the insincere or the misguided, or people who otherwise aren't carrying forward Malcolm's legacy, would hesitate to promote such revolutionary concepts and programs among the masses of our people. That such concepts won't be readily embraced in most quarters is no excuse for not promoting them. That capitalism needs to fall, and socialism needs to rise, is the truth. And, as Malcolm would say, We're gonna tell the truth whether people like it or not.

Initial orientation must be reinforced, refined. We must study. Again, turning to Malcolm, We see that, once oriented, he began to prepare himself for the many battles that he knew were ahead of him. Not only did he raise his basic literacy skills, but he studied a variety of subjects. He sharpened and tested skills and ideas (e.g., debates), and he began to teach as part of his learning process. He dialectically combined theory and practice, study and struggle.

We can begin in a similar way, by consciously organizing and orientating our study groups, our networks, our social investigation committees, our research projects, our community action task forces, our strategic studies institutes, and our international policy boards.

All thought, all theory and ideas must be linked to forms of practice. When We organize "study groups" We're organizing people. The objective is to organize people that aren't already organized or that aren't organized to carry forward Malcolm's legacy.

CROSSROAD Support Network
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www.afrikan.net/crossroad

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Thanks to Andre S Belcher

Happy Slavemasters Day!



But Im willing to let ol' George Washington have the benefit of the doubt. Check out this article from the GW Estate:

George Washington was born into a world in which slavery was accepted. He became a slave owner when his father died in 1743. At the age of eleven, he inherited ten slaves and 500 acres of land. When he began farming Mount Vernon eleven years later, at the age of 22, he had a work force of about 36 slaves. With his marriage to Martha Custis in 1759, 20 of her slaves came to Mount Vernon. After their marriage, Washington purchased even more slaves. The slave population also increased because the slaves were marrying and raising their own families. By 1799, when George Washington died, there were 316 slaves living on the estate.

The skilled and manual labor needed to run Mount Vernon was largely provided by slaves. Many of the working slaves were trained in crafts such as milling, coopering, blacksmithing, carpentry,and shoemaking. The others worked as house servants, boatmen, coachmen or field hands. Some female slaves were also taught skills, particularly spinning, weaving and sewing, while others worked as house servants or in the laundry, the dairy, or the kitchen. Many female slaves also worked in the fields. Almost three-quarters of the 184 working slaves at Mount Vernon worked in the fields, and of those, about 60% were women.

The workday for slaves was from sun-up to sun-down, six days a week. Sunday was a day of rest.

Although George Washington was born into a world where slavery was accepted, his attitude toward slavery changed as he grew older. During the Revolution, as he and fellow patriots strove for liberty, Washington became increasingly conscious of the contradiction between this struggle and the system of slavery. By the time of his presidency, he seems to have believed that slavery was wrong and against the principles of the new nation.

As President, Washington did not lead a public fight against slavery, however, because he believed it would tear the new nation apart. Abolition had many opponents, especially in the South. Washington seems to have feared that if he took such a public stand, the southern states would withdraw from the Union (something they would do seventy years later, leading to the Civil War). He had worked too hard to build the country to risk tearing it apart.

Privately, however, Washington could -- and did -- lead by example. In his will, he arranged for all of the slaves he owned to be freed after the death of his wife, Martha. He also left instructions for the continued care and education of some of his former slaves, support and training for all of the children until they came of age, and continuing support for the elderly.

Plus: Who is WEB Dubois?

Happy Birthday Huey Newton!



Huey Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party born 2/17/1942.

Huey Newton, the youngest of seven children, was born in Monroe, on 17th February, 1942. His father, who named his son after the radical politcian, Huey P. Long, was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).

At Merritt College in Oakland, California, Newton met Bobby Seale and in 1966 they formed the Black Panther Party. Initially established to protect local communities from police brutality and racism, it eventually developed into a Marxist revolutionary group. The Black Panthers also ran medical clinics and provided free food to school children. Other important members included Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Fred Hampton, Bobby Hutton and Eldridge Cleaver.

The activities of the Black Panthers came to the attention of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Hoover described the Panthers as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country" and in November 1968 ordered the FBI to employ "hard-hitting counter-intelligence measures to cripple the Black Panthers".

The Black Panthers had chapters in several major cities and had a membership of over 2,000. Harassed by the police, members became involved in several shoot-outs. This included an exchange of fire between Panthers and the police at Oakland on 28th October, 1967. Newton was wounded and while in hospital was charged with killing a police officer. The following year he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

After being released from prison Newton renounced political violence. Over a six year period 24 Black Panthers had been killed in gun fights with the police. Another member, George Jackson, was killed while in San Quentin prison in August, 1971.

Newton now concentrated on socialist community programs including free breakfasts for children, free medical clinics and helping the homeless. The Panthers also became involved in conventional politics and in 1973 Bobby Seale ran for mayor of Oakland and came second out of nine candidates with 43,710 votes (40 per cent of votes cast).

Newton published his book, Revolutionary Suicide in 1973. The following year he was arrested and charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Released on bail, Newton fled to Cuba but in 1977 he returned to the United States and was freed after two hung juries.

Newton returned to his studies at the University of California and in 1980 he received a Ph.D. in social philosophy. His dissertation was entitled: War Against the Panthers: A Study in Repression in America. Huey Newton was shot dead on 22nd August, 1989, while walking along a street in Oakland.

From: Young Messengerzz

Ranting about the world...

Ann Coulter:Throw her in the trash!

I been spending tons of money on just junk. I buy stuff...DVD's, CD's, pretty much alot of stuff. I finally got the classic old school Cold Crush Brothers album. I've been waiting for like 20 years to get that album, now its finally on Amazon. I also got that movie about the whole krumpin' movement, that move called Rize. I saw it in the theater, but I liked it so much I got that from Amazon as well. It had some tight dance scenes and I was interested in this whole dance scene, so I wanted to check it out.

I had this debate with some Republicans about Ann Coulter's nasty "Raghead" comments and statements. These people are pathetic. They actually think that by getting on the internet and calling the Arabs who are protesting about the cartoons and the terrorists ragheads, that they are actually accomplishing something. Check out this comment from some soccer mom named Beth:

Robert, there's a world of difference between racism against blacks (or others) and calling terrorists names as a way of expressing hatred (yes, hatred) for their goals and actions. If you can't see that, it's a damn shame and it says more about you than anything.

LOL....my thing was what does calling people names accomplish? I guess its hard for somebody white to really see things from the perspective of somebody who grew up around nothing but racist rednecks and had to hear "nigger, nigger, nigger" all the damn time. I don't find name calling empowering; it just doesn't do much for me. As much as it is a part of hip hop culture to "dis" people, that's different. When white people like Beth do it, its out of an inflated sense of superiority mixed with stupidity.

Republicans are some of the stupidest people on Earth. And screw the Democrats too. I don't need 'em.


Check out this awesome article on Robert F Williams and "Negroes with Guns". This was about a black man who armed himself and other black men to defend himself from mobs of racists, rednecks and other trash. Forget Booker T Washington and all those corny-ass wusses that are propped up every February. This is a true hero. His book, "Negroes with Guns" is available on Amazon.

Check out 4StruggleMag.org

The controversy over Islamic cartoons and racism

Check out So what color was Jesus?

Now I know that in the Islamic faith, the Muslims don't want the prophet Muhammed to be illustrated because of the whole aspect of making up an idol, bowing down and worshipping it. I mean, let's be real, ever since the image of Christ as looking very white with long hair has become indicative of what he really looked like, its not hard to see the influence of white supremacy in making who we worship, well, white, even though there is a possibility that he was black. Check out Jesus Black Ancestors, Was Jesus black? and another Was Jesus Black? article. Although some will say that it does not matter, to me it does matter.

What if Muhammed was black? Talk about unthinkable. I saw the cartoons and to me the Prophet was painted as just looking like a simple Arab. The cartoon makes him look slightly buffonish, with a bomb as a turban.

This image is as ignorant as it gets. It makes me think that it serves no real purpose. Its not funny. It didnt make me laugh. It painted the Prophet and all Muslims in one broad stroke as being terrorists. The image of the Prophet didn't even really provoke any kind of thought provoking reflection. In short, it was just dumb, really dumb. The same Republicans who scream free speech would be screaming bloody murder if an AmeriKKKan did a comic strip lamponing the soldiers as murderers and rapists.

As for the Muslim world, again, I ask, what if the prophet was black? Check out JA Rogers Sex and Race Books to see what I am talking about. I'll just leave it at that.

Check out Black Cults, by a "Hip Hop Republican"

Valentine Day: Are You Supporting Child Slavery & Murder?http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/showthread.php?p=73884

Nestlé
One-third of Nestle's chocolate is from West Africa, where over 286,000 children have been reported working in slave conditions on cocoa (chocolate) farms. Nestle promotes genetically engineered foods while claiming "the Fair Trade approach is not a solution." learn more

Nestlé is the largest food manufacturer and chocolate company in the world with over $65 billion in annual sales. Fair Trade Certification, which guarantees a modest minimum price of $.80 per pound, would establish a "floor" or minimum price that Nestlé could easily afford to pay, thus providing a fair price to small farmers, a subsistence wage for cocoa plantation workers, and an end to the practice of child slavery.

Nestle refuses to investigate the September 22, 2005 brutal assasination of Diosdado Fortuna, the leader of the Nestle union in the Philippines (the second Nestle union leader to be assasinated in this area).

Dole
Dole is the largest cut-flower producer in the world, the majority of which is imported from Columbia and Ecuador where low paid farmworkers are exposed to 127 different chemicals, including neurotoxins and carcinogens. Studies show 60% of these long-term workers have signs of early cancer. learn more

David H. Murdock, Dole's CEO, is ranked by Forbes as one of the wealthiest men in the world. If you took the amount Dole pays all of its thousands of international floral farm workers, per year, and multiplied it times 100 years, you'd still have less than the amount that Mr. Murdock is "worth" (over $2 billion), yet he refuses to have the company invest in paying its farmers liveable wages.

Dole is also responsible for union busting in Columbia (firing union supporters).

Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart is the largest retailer of cut-flowers in the United States, the majority of which come from Dole. Wal-Mart is also one of the largest retailers of Valentine's chocolate candies, mainly sourced from Nestle, Mars, and Hershey.

Wal-Mart's 1,713 stores do not sell or support Fair Trade or organic chocolates or flowers.

While Wal-Mart, the world's largest corporation, rakes in over $250 billion in sales each year, the average pay for a Wal-Mart sales associate is $1,000 below the poverty line for a family of three, and the company is now well known for outsourcing its production to sweat shops.

M&Ms/Mars Inc.
M&Ms/Mars Inc. has been accused of buying from contractors who utilize child labor and child slavery on cocoa farms on the Ivory Coast.

M&M/Mars Inc. is the third wealthiest private company in the United States. The three private owners of the company are each "worth" $10.4 billion, while the West African farmers actually growing the cocoa for M&Ms chocolate make a baseline income of only $108 annually. M&M/Mars Inc. continues to report record profits while flat out refusing to consider Fair Trade. learn more

Mars Brands: 3 Musketeers, Combos, Dove,
Kal Kan, Kudos, M&Ms, Milky Way, Pedigree, Sheba,
Skittles, Snickers, Starburst, Twix, Uncle Ben's, Whiskas

Hershey's
Despite announcing record profits in 2006, Hershey's has been accused of buying from contractors who utilize child labor and child slavery on cocoa farms on the Ivory Coast.

Like M&M and Nestlé, Hershey's has banned genetically engineered soy lecithin and sweeteners from its product line in Europe, while refusing to do the same in North America.

Hershey's Brands: Hershey's, Reese's, Kit Kat, Almond Joy, Mounds, York, Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, Bubble Yum

Source:
Organic Consumers Association - http://www.organicconsumers.org/valentines/alert.htm

Happy Birthday Bob Marley..Black History tidbit for today


2/6/1945-Bob Marley, reggae star born



Check out Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson Part 2 of 2
Tonite at 9:00...click this link for details.

Antiwar activists, where are you?
By Victoria A. Bonney | November 7, 2005

MY FELLOW young Americans, the evidence is mounting that this war we are fighting in Iraq is not a ''just" war. No, this is a dirty fight, and we're in it for the long haul. But I guess that's the problem -- ''we" are not in it at all.

''We" are here in our land of iPods and cellphones, luxuriating in our apathetic comas while our soldiers are over there.

I know what you're thinking. You have that magnetic yellow ribbon on your SUV, and, boy, if that is not uber-effective I do not know what is. But let me ask you, if you'd just put your Podcast on pause and cellphone on silence for a moment, is this all enough?

Two wars ago, during the Vietnam disaster, there was Generation Activist. The youth of America rallied against ''the man." How did they do it? They didn't have e-boards or e-mail for that matter.

Yet somehow, this archaic mob of longhairs and peaceniks managed to mobilize. They marched on the National Mall. They protested everywhere, even in bed (refer to your hippie handbook, under John Lennon and Yoko Ono's ''bed-in"). Their methods were not always nonviolent, but they were creative and incorrigible.

Why is Generation Apathetic unable to have the same resounding roar?

For starters we have a woman from Generation Activist doing our dirty work. Former flower child Cindy Sheehan is out on the front lines with a pack of her patchouli-wearing alliances. What is the youth of America doing in the meantime?

We are watching it on our car television sets thinking about the jerk in front of us who is not driving fast enough.

It's not our fault that we all have Attention Deficit Disorder. We are conditioned like Pavlov's dogs to jump at the sound of ''You've got mail!" But we are in dereliction of our duty as a thorn in the side of authority. Our parents shouldn't have to bail us out of everything. So while we appreciate the help of Cindy and her comrades, this is our fight.

It's not only apathy that is killing the spirit of our generation, it's the execution of our dissidence. For some reason the youth of America think that violence is the most effective method of rebellion (albeit something we learned from our Playstations).

That brings us to another nifty way that the young inactivists of America are making life easier for our elected warmongers -- E-Marches.

Yes, E-Marches are the newest way to protest your government. All it takes is a double click and you will be part of a simulated march on Washington.

Oh, dear, sweet, well-intentioned youth, don't you see? Just as easily as you signed up to electronically protest your senators, they can delete you from their inbox. The Internet is a resource for sports scores, CliffsNotes, and porn -- not a venue for modern dissent.

We are a generation with potential coming out of our ears. We could move mountains if only we'd turn off our televisions. They only tell us we are powerless and to just give up.

So this is what you have to do. Tomorrow when you stop into Starbucks for your venti latte and the person behind the counter gives you your change, look at it. Look closely. There, written on your bills is our American mantra in a defunct language.

It says, ''E Pluribus Unum," which means, out of many, one. Let this be your daily reminder. Generation Apathetic, we are in this boat together.

It's up to us to chart a course. We cannot live our lives on cruise control.

Victoria A. Bonney is a senior at Endicott College.

Source: Boston Globe
Note: I've been thinking the same things this writer thinks. What a waste this generation is.

Ray Nagin, White Rage and the Manufacturing of "Reverse" Racism

By Tim Wise
January 25, 2006

If you're looking to understand why discussions between blacks and whites about racism are often so difficult in this country, you need only know this: when the subject is race and racism, whites and blacks are often not talking about the same thing. To white folks, racism is seen mostly as individual and interpersonal--as with the uttering of a prejudicial remark or bigoted slur. For blacks, it is that too, but typically more: namely, it is the pattern and practice of policies and social institutions, which have the effect of perpetuating deeply embedded structural inequalities between people on the basis of race. To blacks, and most folks of color, racism is systemic. To whites, it is purely personal.

These differences in perception make sense, of course. After all, whites have not been the targets of systemic racism in this country, so it is much easier for us to view the matter in personal terms. If we have ever been targeted for our race, it has been only on that individual, albeit regrettable, level. But for people of color, racism has long been experienced as an institutional phenomenon. It is the experience of systematized discrimination in housing, employment, schools or the justice system. It is the knowledge that one's entire group is under suspicion, at risk of being treated negatively because of stereotypes held by persons with the power to act on the basis of those beliefs (and the incentive to do so, as a way to retain their own disproportionate share of that power and authority).

The differences in white and black perceptions of the issue were on full display recently, when whites accused New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin of racism for saying that New Orleans should be and would be a "chocolate city" again, after blacks dislocated by Katrina had a chance to return. To one commentator after the other -- most of them white, but a few blacks as well -- the remark was by definition racist, since it seemed to imply that whites weren't wanted, or at least not if it meant changing the demographics of the city from mostly African American (which it was before the storm) to mostly white, which it is now, pending the return of black folks. To prove how racist the comment was, critics offered an analogy. What would we call it, they asked, if a white politician announced that their town would or should be a "vanilla" city, meaning that it was going to retain its white majority? Since we would most certainly call such a remark racist in the case of the white pol, consistency requires that we call Nagin's remark racist as well.

Seems logical enough, only it's not. And the reason it's not goes to the very heart of what racism is and what it isn't--and the way in which the different perceptions between whites and blacks on the matter continue to thwart rational conversations on the subject.

Before dealing with the white politician/vanilla city analogy, let's quickly examine a few simple reasons why Nagin's remarks fail the test of racism. First, there is nothing to suggest that his comment about New Orleans retaining its black majority portended a dislike of whites, let alone plans to keep them out. In fact, if we simply examine Nagin's own personal history -- which has been obscured by many on the right since Katrina who have tried to charge him with being a liberal black Democrat -- we would immediately recognize the absurdity of the charge. Nagin owes his political career not to New Orleans' blacks, but New Orleans' white folks. It was whites who voted for him, at a rate of nearly ninety percent, while blacks only supported him at a rate of forty-two percent, preferring instead the city's chief of police (which itself says something: black folks in a city with a history of police brutality preferring the cop to this guy). Nagin has always been, in the eyes of most black New Orleanians, pretty vanilla: he was a corporate vice-President, a supporter of President Bush, and a lifelong Republican prior to changing parties right before the Mayoral race.

Secondly, given the ways in which displaced blacks especially have been struggling to return -- getting the run-around with insurance payments, or dealing with landlords seeking to evict them (or jacking up rents to a point where they can't afford to return) -- one can safely intuit that all Nagin was doing was trying to reassure folks that they were wanted back and wouldn't be prevented from re-entering the city.

And finally, Nagin's remarks were less about demography per se, than an attempt to speak to the cultural heritage of the town, and the desire to retain the African and Afro-Caribbean flavor of one of the world's most celebrated cities. Fact is, culturally speaking, New Orleans is what New Orleans is, because of the chocolate to which Nagin referred. True enough, many others have contributed to the unique gumbo that is New Orleans, but can anyone seriously doubt that the predominant flavor in that gumbo has been that inspired by the city's black community? If so, then you've never lived there or spent much time in the city (and no, pissing on the street during Mardi Gras or drinking a badly-made Hurricane at Pat O'Brian's doesn't count). If the city loses its black cultural core (which is not out of the question if the black majority doesn't or is unable to return), then indeed New Orleans itself will cease to exist, as we know it. That is surely what Nagin was saying, and it is simply impossible to think that mentioning the black cultural core of the city and demanding that it will and should be retained is racist: doing so fits no definition of racism anywhere, in any dictionary, on the planet.

As for the analogy with a white leader demanding the retention of a vanilla majority in his town, the two scenarios are not even remotely similar, precisely because of how racism has operated, historically, and today, to determine who lives where and who doesn't. For a white politician to demand that his or her city was going to remain, in effect, white, would be quite different, and far worse than what Nagin said. After all, when cities, suburbs or towns are overwhelmingly white, there are reasons (both historic and contemporary) having to do with discrimination and unequal access for people of color. Restrictive covenants, redlining by banks, racially-restrictive homesteading rights, and even policies prohibiting people of color from living in an area altogether -- four things that whites have never experienced anywhere in this nation (as whites) -- were commonly deployed against black and brown folks throughout our history. James Loewen's newest book, Sundown Towns, tells the story of hundreds of these efforts in communities across the nation, and makes clear that vanilla suburbs and towns have become so deliberately.

On the other hand, chocolate cities have not developed because whites have been barred or even discouraged from entry (indeed, cities often bend over backwards to encourage whites to move to the cities in the name of economic revival), but rather, because whites long ago fled in order to get away from black people. In fact, this white flight was directly subsidized by the government, which spent billions of dollars on highway construction (which helped whites get from work in the cities to homes in the 'burbs) and low-cost loans, essentially available only to whites in those newly developing residential spaces. The blackness of the cities increased as a direct result of the institutionally racist policies of the government, in concert with private sector discrimination, which kept folks of color locked in crowded urban spaces, even as whites could come and go as they pleased.

So for a politician to suggest that a previously brown city should remain majority "chocolate" is merely to demand that those who had always been willing to stay and make the town their home, should be able to remain there and not be run off in the name of gentrification, commercial development or urban renewal. It is to demand the eradication of barriers for those blacks who otherwise might have a hard time returning, not to call for the erection of barriers to whites--barriers that have never existed in the first place, and which there would be no power to impose in any event (quite unlike the barriers that have been set up to block access for the black and brown). In short, to call for a vanilla majority is to call for the perpetuation of obstacles to persons of color, while to call for a chocolate majority in a place such as New Orleans is to call merely for the continuation of access and the opportunity for black folks to live there. Is that too much to ask?

Funny how Nagin's comments simply calling for the retention of a chocolate New Orleans bring down calls of racism upon his head, while the very real and active planning of the city's white elite -- people like Joe Cannizaro and Jimmy Reiss -- to actually change it to a majority white town, elicits no attention or condemnation whatsoever from white folks. In other words, talking about blacks being able to come back and make up the majority is racist, while actually engaging in ethnic cleansing -- by demolishing black neighborhoods like the lower ninth ward, the Treme, or New Orleans East as many want to do -- is seen as legitimate economic development policy.

It's also interesting that whites chose the "chocolate city" part of Nagin's speech, delivered on MLK day, as the portion deserving condemnation as racist, rather than the next part--the part in which Nagin said that Katrina was God's wrath, brought on by the sinful ways of black folks, what with their crime rates, out-of-wedlock childbirths and general wickedness. In other words, if Nagin casts aspersions upon blacks as a group -- truth be told, the textbook definition of racism -- whites have no problem with that. Hell, most whites agree with those kinds of anti-black views, according to polling and survey data. But if Nagin suggests that those same blacks -- including, presumably the "wicked" ones -- be allowed to come back and live in New Orleans, thereby maintaining a black majority, that becomes the problem for whites, for reasons that are as self-evident as they are (and will remain) undiscussed.

Until white folks get as upset about racism actually limiting the life choices and chances of people of color, as we do about black folks hurting our feelings, it's unlikely things will get much better. In the end, it's hard to take seriously those who fume against this so-called reverse racism, so petty is the complaint, and so thin the ivory skin of those who issue it.

Source: LipMagazine

Student Dies in College Park Blaze
U-Md. Senior, 22, Lived in Off-Campus Apartment Cited for Fire Concerns
By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 25, 2006; B01

A 22-year-old University of Maryland student who was a hip-hop disc jockey on a campus radio station was killed yesterday when fire roared through his College Park basement apartment, which had recently been cited by the city for having windows too small to permit easy escape.

It was the second fatal fire in off-campus housing in nine months.

Firefighters found David Ellis of West Windsor, N.J., unconscious in his bedroom, trapped by flames that were shooting between him and the apartment door, said Prince George's County fire spokesman Mark Brady. He was pronounced dead a short time later at a hospital.

The cause of the blaze, in the 7100 block of Rossburg Drive, was under investigation, fire officials said.

The apartment building's owners, who did not respond yesterday to requests for interviews, were cited by the city for not complying with new regulations to enlarge the unit's windows, Brady said. The intent of the regulations is to provide a second exit in the event of a fire, he said.

"We tell people: 'You need two ways out.' These windows were not up to code," Brady said.

The owner, listed in property records as Knox Box Realty of Rockville, had appealed the citation and asked for an extension to complete the renovations, Brady said.

Students on campus were rattled by the death, which came a day before classes were to resume. Many remembered back to April, when senior Michael A. Scrocca died in a fire that had been set, a case that remains under investigation by Prince George's police.

Some aspects of the cases are similar: Both victims were 22-year-olds from New Jersey; both were seniors and about to graduate; and both died in fires that ripped through off-campus housing in the early hours.

The April fire was ruled an arson; officials said they will not know what ignited yesterday's fire, or the cause of Ellis's death, until today at the earliest. Brady said the blaze started in the kitchen area of the apartment.

A friend of Ellis's, who asked not to be named because the case is open, said Ellis had complained over the weekend about his stove overheating, causing smoke to fill his apartment and setting off the smoke detector.

Ellis lived with Richard Lang, 21, in the apartment, which is in a two-story brick building two blocks south of campus. There was one way to enter and exit their unit: through a cellar door in the back of the building.

The apartment building is one of several square, squat brick buildings known as a "Knox boxes" because of their proximity to Knox Road. The building dates to 1953, property records show.

Christina Santiago, a close friend of Ellis's, said the apartment buildings have a reputation for being run-down. "The Knox boxes are dangerous," she said. "It was just a matter of time."

Lang suffered minor smoke inhalation and was treated at a hospital and released. He arrived home at 2:30 a.m., shortly after the fire ignited, and tried to enter the back door before firefighters arrived.

Late yesterday morning, Lang walked around the parking lot in front of the building. A soot-stained tear streaked his face. He wore hospital scrubs under a green fleece jacket.

"As far as I knew him, he was pretty laid-back and funny," Lang said of Ellis, his roommate for three semesters.

Seven other students in the six-unit building were home during the fire and escaped unharmed.

University spokesman Millree Williams said the school is coordinating a workshop on fire safety for students living off campus. In the meantime, the off-campus housing office is updating its Web site to remind students what to look for when renting, including making sure that an apartment has two exits, and adding information on fire safety.

"We're always concerned whenever we have a tragedy on campus," Williams said. "We certainly are looking at ways to ensure that our students have a safe and secure environment at all times."

He said the university isn't working directly with the apartment building where the fire occurred, but it has coordinated with College Park officials to try to ensure safety for the 13,000 or so students who live off campus.

College Park Mayor Stephen A. Brayman said the city will review its regulations to see whether they need to be updated. "We will be taking this unfortunate incident to see if there are more lessons we can learn to make the housing within College Park even safer," he said.

After the April fire that killed Scrocca, city officials said they were discussing the possibility of mandating that all housing in the city be retrofitted with sprinklers.

Santiago came by Ellis's apartment yesterday with tears in her eyes. She said she had been hanging out with him Saturday night.

She spoke about his love of watching televised wrestling and spinning underground hip-hop music. He was known around town for his hip-hop radio show from 9 p.m. to midnight Fridays on campus station WMUC-FM (88.1), where he entertained under the name D. Ellis.

"He was a popular face on campus," she said. "He had a lot of potential to go far." She said he was majoring in American studies.

Another close friend, Rahul Reddy, 21, graduated with Ellis in 2002 from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South. Speaking from his home in Irvine, Calif., Reddy said he and Ellis bonded over hip-hop music.

"He was so intelligent with music," Reddy said. "I didn't know anybody who knew as much music as Dave. His personality was unparalleled. He's such a loving and caring guy. All our friends gravitate around Dave."

Source:Washington Post
Check out his website

Random Search

When I get stressed I get on the internet. A few interesting sites I pulled from random, pointless searches:

This one site, "Growing Up Sexually, A World Atlas", has a disturbing account of the sex lives of black youths in the "urban slum" of Chicago. Sickening thing is that they make this account indicative of what all Black Americans go through. This extreme example, which describes 4 and 6 year olds having sex, is suppossed to be what all black kids go through. That's complete BS if you ask me, though.

Speaking of youngsters and sex, I wish that sites like Puberty 101 and Teen Puberty existed when I was younger. The only thing I had was MTV and rap music when I was that age in the early 80's.

MedLinePlus is an awesome Medical Encyclopedia, generated by the NIH website. Have a medical issue? Find out the solution here!

The truth about that "Jamie Foxx" special Email Alert

For those people who got that email about the Jamie Foxx show tommorow night, or who heard the rumor on the Russ Parr morning show this morning, check out the story on EUR Web:

*Someone tried really hard to start some drama surrounding tomorrow night’s airing of Jamie Foxx’s “Unpredictable” special on NBC.

Despite television promos that have been airing since last week, Foxx’s two-hour interview accessibility via satellite and a nationwide telephone press conference with reporters on Monday – not to mention interviews in Time and TV Guide and a guest spot this evening on “The Tonight Show” to promote the special – an e-mail is being passed around to industry insiders and the general public claiming the network is deliberately trying to ambush the program by refusing to promote it and throwing it under the “American Idol” bus.

The e-mail - of course from an unknown source - says NBC “is purposely putting his show up against the second week of “American Idol” in hopes that it will fail.” It further states: “This will give them the excuse to never give another black person a music special because ‘it doesn't work.’”

The author of the e-mail also says that “NBC is not doing any marketing and publicity” on the special “because he stood his ground and wouldn't have any white guests as they requested.”

Responding to EUR’s request for comment, NBC would only say “we don't comment on baseless rumor and speculation.” However, Foxx’s publicist Alan Nierob confirmed to EUR’s Lee Bailey that the Oscar winner had indeed spent Monday morning talking to media outlets via satellite and telephone, in addition to the interviews for Time and TV Guide.

Filmed at the historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, “Jamie Foxx - Unpredictable: A Musical Journey” features such R&B and hip-hop artists as Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige, Angie Stone, Snoop Dogg, The Game and Common.

The performances will include his current hit single “Unpredictable,” a duet of the remake “Love Changes” with Blige, and a medley of “Gold Digger” and “With You” with Snoop Dogg and The Game.

Playwright and author David E. Talbert, who co-produced and staged the special, came on board after receiving a sudden phone call from Jamie's manager, Marcus King.

“The next thing I know, I'm in Miami with Jamie Foxx on the set of ‘Miami Vice’ putting the pieces together,” Talbert says. “Really it's Jamie's story, my job was to take what was in his head and bring it to life theatrically.”

According to NBC, the “inspirational special centers on the milestones of Foxx’s life and his musical influences growing up in Texas. Dramatic vignettes lead up to each musical performance and portray childhood conversations with his grandmother and family minister, as well as life-changing events such as falling in love and the birth of his daughter.”

The Jamie Foxx "Unpredictable" special airs Wednesday night, at 8pm E/P on NBC and re-airs Friday night.
Source: EUR Web

New Blogs.....

New hip hop blogs keep on coming up. Here are a few I found today. I will make more of an effort to update my blogroll:

The Fallout Shelter:http://antistat.blogspot.com/ Really cool personal look at hip hop and culture.
Spiced Tea & Letters
Really cool Hip Hop Sista!
Straight, No Chaser-Views From a Hip-Hop Perspective Good writing, very interesting.
Soul ImperialistThe name says it all.

Links 1/15-1/21

Check out the Yahoo Group Just Janesse!
Hip Hop DX: Calling Out Names
Xclusive!MTV:Notorious B.I.G.'s Family Awarded $1.1 Million From City Of L.A.
Who Is The Next Black Leader?
Amp Fiddler:Waltz of A Ghetto Fly
Check out Underground Magazine!
Look! Mad Cow Productions
Internet privacy in China and the U.S.
The Hustle Heads Take Hip-Hop Back To The Future With CD Duky Dope Demo
Hip Hop, Bloggers, and The Voice of a Generation (Remix)
Thug Life Army:Hip-Hop 'Reggaeton' Film to be Produced by Jennifer Lopez
Why Isn't Bin Laden Caught, 'Dead or Alive?'
Check out the new messageboard Pumpitude!
Google's reputation at stake in fight with government
Hollywood has a thing for hip-hop stars
Britney's husband-what a joke.
U.S. accused of spying on those who disagree with Bush policies
Quote: "Neither you nor anybody in that (Quaker) church had anything to do with terrorism," said Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla. "The fact is, the Truth Project may have a philosophy that is adverse to the political philosophy and goals of the president of the United States. And as a result of that different philosophy, the president and the secretary of defense ordered that your group be spied upon.
"There should not be a single American who today remains confident that it couldn't happen to them."

Hip Hop&A G-rated culture

Yawn. Today the politicians discussed Internet Pornand Decency on Cable TV. Personally, I would've rather seen them discuss poverty, homelessness, unemployment, or the rising costs of health care. But hey, they have their priorities straight, so who am I to question them?

At times, it seems that politicians want to bring back to the culture of America a G-rated culture. Though the focus on the net porn seemed to be on child porn, I think that ultimately they want to try to just get rid of all porn on the net. How broad the definition of porn is going to be is anybody's guess. Could they slap on the porn label on a site with girls in bikinis? These self appointed moral vanguards might just end up doing that. I wouldn't have a problem with them doing away with some of the more extreme stuff on the net. The problem that I see is that they will make the definition so broad that fines will go to a site where a woman shows a little too much leg.

With the decency and cable TV thing, I think that ultimately there is a middle ground. I think the industry wants to maintain a standard of free expression. However, the other side of the debate is the people on this whole "protect the children" kick. One of the participants pointed out that if such an approach as eliminating everything deemed obscene is taken, then everybody, including adults, will have to be subject to a G-rated culture. This means that when the government is done eliminating all "indecency" (defined by them, of course), all of us will have to turn off the TV because the only thing that the whole "protect the children" crowd wants on TV is Barney, that annoying purple dinasour. And I hate Barney.

Don't get me wrong, Im all for protecting children against nasty TV shows and child porn, but I don't want this country to end up like China. There, they have succesfully stamped out net porn, and everything else for that matter. In this post 9/11 world, the whole cultural landscape and the power of the net has made it a really strange world that scares the puritanical types. This group of people represented by various special interest groups like the American Family Association wants the government to step in and censor whats on TV and whats on the net.

In the end, what will result will be a G-Rated culture. Where will hip-hop fit into that mix?

P.E.'s New Whirl Order


Download PE's "New Whirl Order" off Emusic!

Public Enemy is somewhat of an enigma in today's rap world. I think if anybody is a hardcore fan of P.E. it is me.

As it is, I confess, I am 36 years old, just brought a house, have a 9-5, and so on. When I first went to college, I was 18, and everybody was bumping the classic PE diatribe "It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back".

In writing about a group like PE, you don't really look at the music per se, you look at what PE is. You look at what the day and age is. As Flav would say, you have to see "What time it is." Flav used to trip me out with those big clocks he would wear.

Today, with the unlimited power of the Republicans (dare I say?), the country on edge because of terrorism, the wars in Iraq and the up coming war on Syria? Iran?, and it is ideal that PE come back and drop another. Not only does PE have the task of trying to be a thorn in the side of the Republicans, PE also has to contend with their peers, most of whom were in diapers when PE put out its first album, and with a Nation of millions of indifferent rap fans. What irony there.

Just think, when Nations of Millions came out, it was crack, gangs, exit Reagen, enter Bush. Now its terrorism, endless war, and more Bush.

My only complaint about the album is that PE shouldve come harder. Much harder. They have alot to be mad about, after all. The only song that had me listen again and again was the rock driven "What A Fool Believes". I know there are a bunch of good bangers, but as one who can recite the track lists to all of PE's first four albums, I have to say that I wasn't really impressed by their attempts to reach kids half their age.

However, I'd have to say that I want to hear more of what this generation has to offer, like this new cat coming up named Saigon. He seems to have a real intense story to tell, and Im sure he will turn a few heads. He'll be what Public Enemy used to be. Despite the fact that this album was not a classic, I want to hear more of what PE has to offer up, and I hope they will forever keep on pissing people off more than Michael Moore!

I know that the album was released like 7 months ago, but I just had to remind you all, its out. Get it.

Hip Hop Essentials

Check out: Hip Hop Essentials!

It seems like a strong collection of hip hop classics. A bit overhyped, this is good for younger hip hop fans to learn about the roots of the culture. I got most of these songs on better collections like the Hip Hop From The Top series.

However, this one collection is the only CD with Joeski Love's "Pee Wee's Dance" and Mellow Man Ace's "Mentriosa". If anybody else knows where else I can find these songs please holler at me!

Otherwise, I won't be spending my money on this. If they got it on ITunes, cool, I will download, but I wont buy the actual set. This seems like this will be tied to some VH1 special or something. It's got a slick website, though.

Martin Luther King



But even if it were not present, I would yet have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ. To me, the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war. Could it be that they do not know that the Good News was meant for all men-for communist and capitalist, for their children and ours, for black and for white, for revolutionary and conservative? Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the one who loved his enemies so fully that he died for them? What then can I say to the Vietcong or to Castro or to Mao as a faithful minister of this one? Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life?

Finally, as I try to explain for you and for myself the road that leads from Montgomery to this place, I would have offered all that was most valid if I simply said that I must be true to my conviction that I share with all men the calling to be a son of the living God. Beyond the calling of race or nation or creed is this vocation of sonship and brotherhood. Because I believe that the Father is deeply concerned, especially for His suffering and helpless and outcast children, I come tonight to speak for them. This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation's self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation, for those it calls "enemy," for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers.

And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to understand and respond in compassion, my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the ideologies of the Liberation Front, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three continuous decades now. I think of them, too, because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries.

They must see Americans as strange liberators. The Vietnamese people proclaimed their own independence in 1954-in 1945 rather-after a combined French and Japanese occupation and before the communist revolution in China. They were led by Ho Chi Minh. Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them. Instead, we decided to support France in its reconquest of her former colony. Our government felt then that the Vietnamese people were not ready for independence, and we again fell victim to the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long. With that tragic decision we rejected a revolutionary government seeking self-determination and a government that had been established not by China-for whom the Vietnamese have no great love-but by clearly indigenous forces that included some communists. For the peasants this new government meant real land reform, one of the most important needs in their lives.

From Martin Luther King's speech "Beyond Vietnam"

Also check out Soundslam:Martin Luther King Day: Not Just A Day Off

Is Flavor Flav What A Girl Wants?
by Dangerous Lee

Why are attractive, some are ugly, women breaking their necks to win Flavor Flav’s heart on VH-1’s Bachelor styled Flavor of Love? VH-1 has given Flav another show to showcase just how ignorant and hideous he can be. If we weren’t freaked out by his and Brigitte Nielsen’s relationship while watching Strange Love then we will be sure to get our fill this time around.

It’s quite obvious that these ladies want fame and fortune while they pretend to want real love from Flav and have his best interest at heart. The theme song should be Kanye's Golddigger!

One lady who was nicknamed Miss Latin, because Flav is not good with remembering names so he nicknamed all the contestants (another clue that he’s not all there), was ratted out by another contestant because she called her ex-boyfriend from Flav’s love palace. She was soon booted because she was not devoted to Flavs' flavor. Can you blame her? She realized she wasn't as greedy as she thought she was. No amount of money or fame could make her continue to pretend that she wants to be on Flav's arm.

None of those women are into Flav romantically. He’s a ghetto clown with horrible manners and weak vocabulary. I know damn well there were ads all over the place looking for lonely and desperate ladies who may or may not be fans of Public Enemy who want their shot at 15 minutes of fame. He and Brigitte were supposed to be so in love, but she still married her lil’ punk ass finance, Matia. Even she had sense enough to let him go.

I also know that Public Enemy has got to be pissed with Flav. I mean he has really sold out to what the image of Public Enemy was all about. Right now Flav is looking like a Public Idiot.

I guess you can’t fault him. He has more than a few baby mammas and his kids have got to eat and he has to keep his grille (did I spell that right?) shinning, so make that money at any cost to your dignity, Flav. We’ll keep watching the train wreck!

From Dangerous Lee's Myspace Blog.