Will The Youth Vote Trump Tea Party In Midterm Elections?

by Bakari Kitwana

One of the most important unasked questions this midterm election year is this: “Will the youth vote be a factor in 2010?” Given the actual impact of the youth vote in 2008, it’s a far more important question than the ones daily raised by the media manufactured so-called Tea Party Movement–despite the latter’s success at striking fear in the hearts of incumbents.

The Tea Party murmuring is hardly a movement. It has not a single political victory to speak of. Not so easy to dismiss are young voters who two years ago turned out in record numbers to vote in the presidential election. Two-thirds of the 23 million voters 18-29 who voted for president in 2008, voted for Barack Obama.

“The election of Barack Obama was a major electoral politics victory for the youth vote,” says Angela Woodson who co-chaired the 2004 National Hip-Hop Political Convention, which brought together 4000 young voters from across the US. “But it doesn’t help the president to move their agenda if he isn’t backed by a strong legislative body with the same vision.”

The primary races unfolding this spring and summer (Ohio, Indiana and North Carolina had theirs this week) will lay the groundwork for important midterm elections this November. Both will determine if President Barack Obama can move forward effectively with his change agenda or if young voters will see common sense policies that they voted for in 2008 erupt into ugly, year-long knock down, drag out debates–the ways healthcare and economic reform have.

Over the last year and a half, young voters have for the most part remained on the sidelines of mainstream political debates. And a Gallup poll last week found that young voters are less enthusiastic about voting in midterm elections than older voters.

Is the youth vote simply elated by what it achieved in 2008 or exhausted from the effort?

Biko Baker

Rob Biko Baker, Executive Director of the League of Young Voters Education Fund, an organization that has been mobilizing young voters since 2003 says it’s neither.

“Community institutions and capacity have been weakened by the economy, says Baker. But I don’t think that youth have been quiet. The mainstream media just isn’t focusing on their activism.”

When the Chris Brown and Rihanna incident pushed dating violence into the media spotlight early last year, young voters missed an opportunity to translate their newly won political leverage into much needed dating violence reform. Young voters were mostly silent on the healthcare debate. They were even quieter on student loan reform. Both were signed into law despite lackluster support from the youth voting bloc.

However, Baker points to other issues where youth have taken the lead, such as activism around immigration (in Arizona) and police brutality (Oscar Grant in Oakland).

“Young people are engaged in these issues and extremely present in on-line advocacy,” says Biko, pointing to a recent survey that found that African Americans were more likely to be on Twitter. “But despite their sophistication, we need to identify a tangible agenda around which to heighten that engagement.”

Already this year, the country has witnessed the white backlash against Obama under the auspices of a Tea Party Movement, the rising conservative state’s rights agenda in the form of Arizona immigrant laws and Texas textbook reform, and the even more extreme antigovernment militias threatening violence to thwart an inevitably more inclusive America. With important congressional, senate and governor races approaching, all three may be tangible catalysts for youth electoral politics engagement.

Given the significant number of independent voters in their ranks (42 percent of college students and 35 percent of African Americans under 30 are independent), such a turning point will require young voters to rethink their independent status in the primary in order to assure the most viable candidates are on the ballot on November 2.

Young voters need to understand that the primary structure was created for the two-party system,” says Woodson, the former director of Outreach for Faith-based and Community Initiatives for the Ohio governor’s office, who now heads the consulting firm Gelic Group. “In order to use the same aggressiveness for midterm elections that they did during the presidential race, the youth vote has to learn how to play the independent game and switch parties when it makes sense.”

Such thinking is not unprecedented. During the 2008 Democratic Primary Election, Republicans crossed over and voted for the Democrat they believed to be the easier opponent for their Republican contender, then switched back to “Republican” for the general election. It made concrete political sense and is well within the rules.

The question is, will young voters abandon their fierce independent convictions in the short term to advance their long-term goals?

If they can do this, then they are closer to building a movement than so-called Tea Party supporters can imagine.

Bakari Kitwana is CEO of Rap Sessions, Editor at Large of NewsOne.com and author of the forthcoming Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era. (Third World Press, 2010)

original story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bakari-kitwana/will-the-youth-vote-trump_b_566478.html

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The Racist State of Arizona Reflects a Deep-Seeded Fear of Black & Brown People Rising Up

Almost 20 years ago, sometime in 1991, I found myself on local CBS station KPIX in a heated debate about the rap group Public Enemy. They had come under-fire for doing a video to the song ‘By The Time I get to Arizona‘. The song was a protest against Arizona lawmakers who at that time steadfastly refused to go along with honoring the Martin Luther King holiday. This was 7 years after it was signed into law by President Ronald Regan who had also refused to honor him but was forced to sign the legislation into law because he was Congress had handed him a veto-proof bill.

The video was controversial because it depicted re-enactments of the harsh treatment and attacks that took place during peaceful Civil Rights demonstrations in the 60s. The video showed marchers being assaulted with high pressured fire hoses and hauled away from lunch counters during sit ins after being humiliated by white store owners who refused to serve them . These scenes were interspersed with the group’s S1Ws soldiers arming themselves and preparing to go to war. The video ends with a re-enactment of King’s assassination juxtaposed with lead rapper Chuck D delivering poisoned chocolate to the Senator of New Hampshire (who also opposed the holiday) and blowing up the car belonging to the Governor of Arizona. Needless to say the video sent shock-waves around the country as folks suggested the group went too far and  besmirched King’s non-violent philosophy by depicting acts of violence .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFOb_f7ubw

Former Arizona Governor the late Evan Mecham first act in office in 1987 was to rescind the MLK Holiday

There was a lot of back and forth about this video, but as I had noted on the TV show that night, the video reflected a lot of the anger and frustration that had built up over the years amongst people who felt like hey weren’t being heard and King was being disrespected.  Much of this anger stemmed from the callous attitude of former Arizona Governor Evan Mecham who’s first act when he took office in 1987 was to cancel the King Holiday. He later told Civil Rights leaders King didn’t deserve a holiday and they needed to get jobs.. If that wasn’t enough, in another infamous incident, Mecham took it way back to slave times by referring to Black kids as pickaninnies. He later defended his use of the word and added that he had Black friends who he had hired for ‘cotton-picking‘ jobs. This was the sitting Governor of Arizona in 1987.

Mecham’s remarks and action’s led to a nationwide boycott of Arizona which singer Stevie Wonder helped lead. The boycott resulted in more than 40 conventions pulling out including the NBA (National Basketball Association). Mecham’s arrogance added more fuel to the fire when he publicly suggested the NBA rethink their position ‘because white people go to their games’. Many took that to mean Mecham was calling for a white backlash to the boycotts. Fortunately that never happened except amongst some of Arizona’s lawmakers who steadily stayed on the grind trying to find new ways to keep the oppression going. As for Governor Mecham between the boycotts and other controversies and scandals he caused, he  was impeached and removed from office a little over a year into his term. Ironically he was removed from office on the anniversary of King’s assassination April 4th 1988. But for many the absence of a King holiday in Arizona was a still a sore point.

In 1990 a couple of proposals were put before Arizona voters. One was to cancel Columbus Day and make room for the King Holiday. Needless to say this caused a rift between Black and Italian communities. The other was to create a new paid holiday specifically for King.. The vote was split between the two competing measures with neither one getting a majority. The word went out around the country that Arizona had once again rejected Dr King which led not only to PE doing their incendiary song but also the NFL moving the Superbowl XXVII from Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe to the Pasadena’s Rosebowl. That was a major blow and embarrassment as Arizona continued to see its tourism industry slip. Finally In 1992 the state  got in step with the rest of the nation and started celebrating the King Holiday.

It’s important to keep some of this history in mind as we look at the recent controversy surrounding Arizona’s harsh new immigration law which goes into effect in less than 90 days. It’s important to note that that Arizona has been notorious for resisting change especially when it comes to issues concerning people of color. The resistance shown by law makers over accepting the King holiday hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface. It’s a long and sordid history that goes way back. It’s also important to note that it wasn’t until Arizona started to get hit economically that things began to change.

Arizona’s Intolerance Goes Way Beyond Immigration

Arizona Lawmaker and White Supremacist supporter Russell Pearce sponsored the immigration bill

The reputation of Arizona lawmakers should be an indication that unless their intolerant beliefs along with mindset held by many within the state’s older population significantly changes, it’s gonna be a bit of a dogfight to turn things around, not just with respect to immigration but with other key issues impacting communities of color. It’s important to note that many of those intolerant, racist forces that resisted the King holiday were hard at work concocting the current anti-immigration Bill SB 1070. Lawmakers like Russell Pearce, the Neo-Nazi supporter with ties to the White Supremacist group, National Alliance who sponsored and co-authored this bill is a key example.

In 2008, the year Barack Obama was making history, Pearce attached an amendment to bill SB 1108 that would prohibit students on Arizona University and College campuses from forming groups based in whole or in part on race. Hence, well-known organizations like the; Black Student Unions, La Raza, Black Business Students Association (BBSA), MeCHA, Asian Student Union etc were all smashed on by this guy.

In recent days Arizona lawmakers passed house bill 2281 which essentially bans ethnic studies being taught in the classrooms. Pearce and his colleagues feel that ethnic studies undermine ‘American values‘ and that there is only one version to this country’s history and perspectives on key historic events. Current  Governor Jan Brewer is expected to sign this sometime next week (May 11 2010).

And if all this isn’t enough, the Arizona Department of Education is now calling for the removal of teachers with accents from teaching English and ESL courses. The rationale is that a heavily accented teacher will be a detriment to students. The back story to this is that many feel this measure is a way for officials to selectively go after Chicano teachers who school districts may find objectionable because they are advocates for their communities.

To better understand this folks have to keep a couple of things in mind. First, everyone has an accent of some kind. There are regional accents like the ones we hear in New York, the midwest, in New England  and of course throughout the south and in the southwest in places like Arizona. There are also ethnic accents. We hear them among Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Haitians, Jamaicans, Cubans, Filipinos and Chicanos. This doesn’t mean that people aren’t easily understood and up until now this has never really been an issue. What’s being applied here is some sort of accent litmus test to make sure one has properly ‘assimilated’.  The anti-immigrant fear held by many is that Mexicans are trying to take over the country and forcing everyone to speak Spanish and this accent test is just one way of  taking away an important cultural identifier.

Another factor fueling this removal of accent holding teachers is the fact that there is are increasingly large numbers of Brown students entering Arizona public schools who are taking ESL classes. Their first contacts in the public schools are with Brown teachers who often times serve as more than just English instructors but play critical roles in helping build social and cultural bridges to the larger society. We’ve long known that for many students of color having teachers with similar backgrounds can be effective. That’s why there’s long been a push to get more teachers of color in the classroom. Now the state of Arizona wants to have the excuse to remove them, audit them and make life just in general uncomfortable as they apply this subjective accent test. Like I mentioned earlier, since everyone has an accent of sorts, how does one determine if accent is getting in the way of students learning English? Make no mistake  it’s not accents they’re checking for, the end game is to break some of the important bridge building that often takes place in the classroom.

Fear of a Brown Vote

When you look at the history of Arizona and all the recent legislation that its passed, you can clearly understand that what’s taking place is not really just about protecting the borders. This is about maintaining political power and fear of an increasing Blacker and Browner country. Investigative reporter Greg Palast sums this up pretty well in a recent article where he writes:

Phoenix – Don’t be fooled. The way the media plays the story, it was a wave of racist, anti-immigrant hysteria that moved Arizona Republicans to pass a sick little law, signed last week, requiring every person in the state to carry papers proving they are US citizens.

I don’t buy it. Anti-Hispanic hysteria has always been as much a part of Arizona as the saguaro cactus and excessive air-conditioning.

What’s new here is not the politicians’ fear of a xenophobic “Teabag” uprising.

What moved GOP Governor Jan Brewer to sign the Soviet-style show-me-your-papers law is the exploding number of legal Hispanics, US citizens all, who are daring to vote – and daring to vote Democratic by more than two-to-one. Unless this demographic locomotive is halted, Arizona Republicans know their party will soon be electoral toast. Or, if you like, tortillas.

Sadly this country has a long history especially throughout the south and southwest of inventing new rules to suppress Black and Brown votes and thus severely handicap communities of color from obtaining political power. A quick look back during the Jim Crow era , you’ll note that there were voter ID laws in place forcing Black folks to meet a high burden of proof to determine their residence before then could vote. It was one of the key obstacles that was knocked down when Dr King was around. No wonder Arizona was so miffed at granting him a holiday.

Fear Mongering and the Rush to Divide and Conquer

17 year old Jamiel Shaw was gunned down by a gang member here in this country illegally

If the fear of losing political power is what’s driving Arizona’s and other anti-immigrant laws sprouting up around the country, than we can better understand all the insidious tactics being used foster divisions between Black and Brown communities Divide and Conquer. In recent days I’ve been hit up with some ‘interesting’ emails and comments coming from a lot of self identified conservative whites suggesting that Black folks need to be worried about the ‘Mexican invasion‘. The pitch is usually along the lines of them first blaming high Black unemployment on Mexicans who they claim are taking over. Then they go in and start waving the flag for victims of Black/ Brown conflicts.

Here’s a recent example of this. A white woman blogger who calls herself the Madjewess hit me up after reviewing a post on my site featuring a mix of songs and commentary about oppression, political power and issues around immigration featuring artists like Immortal TechniqueRebel DiazChuck DToki WrightInvincibleIce Cube and Anita Tijoux to name a few. This is what she wrote;

Then you MUST be taking up for your own people who are getting the SHAFT BECAUSE of these creeps!!!!! (Mexicans)

Where were you all when your people have been marching in LA?

What about one of the MANY victims of these ILLEGALS that are your people??

What about Jamiel??

Now on the surface one might’ve been able to take her concerns somewhat seriously until I checked her website and true to form she had all sorts postings in which she was referring to Black people like Attorney General Eric Holder as Militant Niggers and Mexicans as Wetbacks. She also talks about the need  for ‘White Rage but then wants to light up my page encouraging me to go smash on Brown folks. As mentioned before this is not usual This goes on all the time both on small and large scales with folks trying to pit us against one another. With respect to this poster bringing up the name Jamiel, she was referring to Jamiel Shaw who’s situation has been heralded by anti-immigration proponents

For those unfamiliar,  Shaw was a young brother, who lived in LA and was a star athlete on his way to Stanford University. In March of ’08 he was approached by a Latino gang member named Pedro Espinoza who wanted to know what set he belonged to? When Jamiel didn’t respond quick enough he was shot and killed. It was later discovered that Pedro was in the country ‘illegally’ and had been released from prison just a day earlier. He was allowed back on the streets and never deported because of ‘sanctuary city‘ laws which didn’t allow local police to check his immigration status. Adding to this tragedy was the fact that Jamiel’s mother was away fighting in the war in Iraq. She learned of her son’s murder while on the battlefield.

Needless to say Jamiel’s killing sent shock-waves through LA and increased Black Brown tensions as people began comparing his slaying to the ‘ethnic cleansing’ campaigns orchestrated by Latino prison gangs and carried out by their street counterparts toward Blacks. Shaw was depicted as an innocent victim of this campaign and quite naturally it left people enraged, especially when it was noted that similar killings of innocent Blacks had taken place in Highland Park by the Avenues Gang, in Hawaiian Gardens by the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang which actually aligned themselves with the Aryan Nation and in Harbor Gateway near Torrance.

Lots of organizations are on the ground everyday doing peace work like Homeboy Industries

As mentioned earlier, anti-immigrant and Minute Men types have been riding hard with the Shaw killing and using it in some sort of macabre way to appeal to us as African-Americans urging us to stand alongside them and  fight against Mexican illegals. This has been bothersome and odd on a number of levels. First, many of these individuals have made any attempt to join the ongoing neighborhood conversations or peace efforts around this and other gang related tragedies. These proponents have shown little interests in working with already existing on-the-ground organizations like the Gathering , GAPHomeboy IndustriesAmer I CanUnity 1 or Homies Unidos to name a few who have been tirelessly working not only to bridge any Black-Brown divides but to bring an end to all violence plaguing the community and address the immigration problem. Former gang member Alex Sanchez founder of Homies Unidos spoke to this issue during a discussion on Black Brown unity. He brings forth how our communities both Black and Brown need to approach immigration as a human rights issue. He explains the complications behind simply deporting people. He explains this is not about harboring and protecting gang members.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC3WrTZNqdc

What Sanchez speaks about goes against the narrative that many anti-immigrant foes want to push nationally. They have conveniently ignored the social and political realities faced by many communities including the fact that as tragic as Shaw’s killing was, it could’ve and oftentimes has just easily occurred in all Black neighborhoods with the killer claiming allegiance to a Crip or Blood set. The sad back story to his killing was he lived in a Blood neighborhood which had a long-standing beef with the 18th Street in the neighboring hood. It’s been reported that Jamiel because he lived in the neighborhood was familiar and cordial with folks who were members of that Blood set. Sadly in a place like LA, neighborhood affiliation is all it takes to be a victim.

This in no way absolves Espinoza who was eventually sentenced to death. But his horrific actions should not be held up as a terrible attribute of immigrant communities. Nothing could be further from the truth.  The overwhelming majority are hard-working individuals who far too often find themselves prey to criminal elements both Black and Brown who have been known to extort, beat and rob undocumented folks knowing they are unlikely to call the police for fear of drawing attention to themselves and being deported.

The irony to having anti-immigrant right-wing Minute men types suddenly expressing interest in inner city problems is that many of these same individuals are the ones standing in the way of the community to solve them. These are the same people who will lambast the entire community and accuse us of being welfare cheats, affirmative action babies and lazy ‘no good drains’ on the system. These are the same folks who would stand  firmly and aggressively to push back when we insist on  putting an end: to racial profiling, the war on drugs, mandatory minimums and police brutality.

We know that cops and prison guards will pit two groups against one another. We seen it happen in political arenas when candidates try to split a vote . We see and hear it all the time with right-wing talk show hosts. I recall a few years back in LA on Clear Channel’s KFI their afternoon hosts Ken and John who are on Clear Channel’s KFI garnered national attention started airing a one hour segment called ‘The Kill Tookie Hour‘  They were referring to former gang leader turned peace maker Stanley Tookie Williams who was on death row scheduled to be executed. It angered many in the Black community who were fighting to keep Tookie alive and allow him to continue his peace efforts behind bars which included penning children’s books. It got so bad there were calls to picket the station. I recall going to a meeting about this is Lemiert park. These two guys went at for almost three months allowing racist call after racist calling for his death. They even threatened to lead a recall against the governor if he issued a stay. The pair showed up the night of execution to do a live broadcast outside San Quentin and cheered when he was killed.

Anti-Immigrant, Pro-War Homeless Advocate Ted Hayes was the Blackface of the Minute Men and granted lots of air-time to espouse his reactionary views

Several months later in spring of 06 when the call for immigration reform led to large marches around the country, these guys started airing a segment where folks could call in and fire their undocumented workers on the air.. It was complete with white folks doing fake Mexican accents and lots of callers calling in talking about ‘This is America’  and how Mexicans should go back to Mexico and learn to speak English. On one segment they even brought on a Black landscaper from Miami and had a conversation about how there were no more Black landscapers because of Mexicans and the only one they could find was in Florida.

It wasn’t too long after that they along with other station hosts would find conservative Blacks including former homeless advocate turned Black Minute Man Ted Hayes to come on the air and talk about ‘how Mexican immigration was the worse thing for Black people since slavery’. These guys along with Clear Channel gave platform to these types of divisive voices, amplified them and made them seem like they were representative of the larger community thus fueling tensions between Black and brown communities while simultaneously shutting out the many others who spoke in opposition to this.

In this clip Alex Sanchez addresses some of the underlying issues I mentioned but also talks about the on the ground work him and others have been involved in. He represents the voices and perspectives of community members doing the hard work of building bridges that aren’t being acknowledged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6Hlgl9LGFU

Mexican Illegals Are Terrorists

Along with Divide and Conquer tactics pitting Black against Brown, anti-immigrant foes are resorting to another tried and true method. They are creating a Willie Horton-type figure  designed to scare all Americans into seeing not just so called illegals, but the entire Brown community as one that needs to be contained and suppressed by law enforcement.

Domestically, Brown communities are being associated with ‘super-gangs’ like MS13, Sureno and Norteno much the same way the Mafia is attached to Italian communities. Nightly TV shows like Gangland shown on the History Channel reinforce these stereotypes by routinely showing small-time gang members and blowing them up to be biggest menace in the history of their respective cities. If we had not experienced such gross exaggerations in our own city of Oakland, where one gang show asserted we had 10 thousand Latino gang members, we along like the rest of the country would be buying into the misrepresentations. It left many in both Black and Brown communities scratching their heads in disbelief. What was shown on that TV show did not reflect our realities-not in the least.

A few days after the show aired Oakland was hit with a series of ICE Raids. No doubt they were in search of these fictional 10 thousand gang members. Later it was discovered that a lot of the information put out for the world to see was being fed to producers by local law enforcement angling for extra funding for their departments. It was then that many of us  came to fully understand how much of a political leveraging tool and money generator this Brown gang scare was not to mention it was a ratings boom for the outlets showing these programs.

Compounding this negative image that the gang shows have cemented in people’s minds are the drug cartels warring with each other in Mexico. Things have gotten so bad  our government warning citizens not to go South of the Border. All this combined has this combined has resulted in a ‘New War on Drugs’ with Brown communities as ground zero. Unlike the War on Drugs targeting African-American communities a decade earlier this new war has a new element-Mexican Illegals being deemed as terrorists with people holding high office like Arizona Governor Jan Brewer underscoring the assertion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8EKhl4-bCA

This type rhetoric of the Mexican terrorist invasion versus hard working individuals seeking economic relief from extreme poverty being espoused by a sitting governor has been in the making for a minute. It’s been pushed in all come from all sorts of sectors ranging from former CNN host Lou Dobbs on down to Alex Jones (Obama Deception filmmaker) of Prison Planet/ InfoWars on down to the casual racist attending an immigration rally. Both Dobbs and Jones over the years have issued hysterical warnings about undocumented Mexicans being an ‘invading army’ who are part of the impending Reconquista Movement that wishes to return the to South and Southwestern part of the country back to Aztlan.

It’s troubling but I guess not surprising to hear a guy like Jones who will routinely smash on all sorts of fascist elements of this country. He’ll talk about how the government is out to spy on us, set up a police state, swindle us via Wall Street and build modern-day gulags and  internment camps to imprison us. However, when it comes to dealing with the fascist type steps being taken against Brown folks he seems to have a difficult time containing himself. As far as Jones is concerned, the day labor we see standing on a corner looking for work is somehow connected to campus organizations like MeCHA or La Raza which Jones, calls the New KKK because they speak out against white supremacy, and they are part of the New World Order.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGjidGSNVMc

As you listen to this rhetoric keep in mind how similar sentiments have not only been applied to organizations in the past within the Black community, but were aggressively acted upon by our government via Cointel-Pro and with the end goal to disrupt and destabilize everyone from the Marcus Garvey on down to the Black Panthers, Black Muslims, SNCC, and various organizations around Dr King and the Civil Rights Movement. There was always a Fear of a Black Planet and now that fear has turned to ‘Fear of a Brown Planet with Mexicans and Arabs overseas being the primary targets. Its also become big business for those who have an ultra-patriot ‘Country First’ ideology to sell along with weaponry, border walls, fences etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNGSpeC_k8k

Adding to this invading army theory and Mexican taking over is this notion of Brown folks ‘out-breeding‘ the rest of the population. Last year while on my way to Texas, I sat next to a woman who asked me if I was from California. Told her I was and she said she felt sorry for us because we were being overrun by ‘anchor babies‘. I had never heard the term asked her what she meant and she explained that California was being overpopulated by ‘illegals’ who were coming over having babies and making them citizens. She said it wouldn’t be long before they were the majority in the state. She than started reciting Dobbs and Jones talking points about how their end  game was to reclaim California and make it part of Mexico. She said she was working with some folks in Congress to get a law passed that would not grant you automatic citizenship if you are born in the US.

Last week we heard Congressman Duncan Hunter out of San Diego say he would support a house bill that would eliminate automatic birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants. He’s quoted as saying; “And we’re not being mean. We’re just saying it takes more than walking across the border to become an American citizen…It’s what’s in our souls.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-tdN82qmoo

Conclusion

As we move forward its important that all of us stop seeing the world and this country from a ‘me’, and ‘mine’ perspective but instead start looking at things from a ‘we’ and ‘us’ point of view. Like it or not the world is changing and with that change comes heightened responsibility and a richer consciousness. Part of that means taking into account how our foreign and corporate policies and politics impact the world around us.

We can’t on one hand cry foul about people working for cheap wages which are undercutting the American workers and then we go out and purchase product made with that cheap labor. If we gonna be about it, then be about it. Ante Up. Pay full price and don’t cut corners by paying below market wages if you wanna be patriotic and close the borders. This doesn’t just apply to what is taking place with undocumented workers crossing over from Mexico, but it also applies to  those corporations who take America jobs overseas and pay 2 dollars a day for labor. We can’t enjoy the fruits of exploitation and not expect that to one day come back and impact us.

We can’t sit up here and freely export tons of images of a decadent over the top materialistic culture via our media and entertainment outlets, leaving folks with the impression that our streets are literally paved with gold and then not expect that to attract people living in extreme poverty. It’s naive to think folks are gonna stay away when they can clearly see that we have a lot to do with their impoverished conditions.We have imbalanced trade agreements, we support and even install corrupt leaders who rob and hoard much-needed resources from the people and we go to other places and take what we think we need or destroy natural resources for our own short-term gain.

This behavior is not limited to some untouchable government entity or some mammoth impenetrable corporation. A lot of this burden falls on us because of our own attitudes and behavior. We drive a lot of this economy from being the number one purchaser of drugs thus fueling a devastating drug war in Mexico to us exploiting cheap labor forces.The fact that we refuse to see beyond the confines of our own borders unlike the rest of the world that do.. we miss ample opportunity to not only engage our neighbors but work with them to help build up their regions.

In closing we have a responsibility to not forget history.  These new anti-immigration laws are being driven by something deeper than us trying to protect our borders. It’s a deep-rooted fear that knows you can’t do wrong and expect it to last forever. This country was built on stolen land with stolen labor and has sustained itself by destabilizing and swindling the world around us-that can only go so far and for so long.

Lets us not fall on the wrong side of history when it comes to this issue..Say No to intolerance. Say No to Arizona

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Obama, FCC Poised to Cave to Telecoms & Turn Backs on Net Neutrality

Just getting word that after millions of dollars spent in intense lobbying efforts the FCC and Obama may finally be giving into the big telecom companies in particular AT&T & Comcast…I think this article below from Alternet explains it best, but I will add a couple of things to think about.

One of the strategies used by AT&T was to go to communities of color, find Civil Rights organizations and in my humble opinion and pay for their silence or advocacy. The list ranged from LULAC to the Urban League which filed briefs siding with the FCC. It makes no sense why organizations which have long spoke about not having voice their voices heard and a seat at the table would go along with any sort of policy that strip that away from the average person who found such an opportunity via the Internet.

Was having sponsorship dollars for the next awards banquet payment enough? Or a some computers for an after school program payment enough? We’re talking about intelligent people here. It would be absolutely trifling to sell out for something that low and glaringly obvious…

As organizations they too stand to benefit if their voices go unfiltered. Meaning that perhaps they along with handful of others will be placed free of charge on the soon to be unveiled Internet fast lanes while the rest of us will be left trying to raise money or get position to be on par as we escape the toll lanes and slow lanes these telecoms say they need to have in order to be viable..

The whole scenario reminds of the scenario that mad so many of us rush off to the internet in the first place. No one liked having to go through the one or two anointed media gate keepers to get the word out to the masses. Its kind of like having that one cat on the radio and everyone has to go kiss his/her ass to get they record played or PSA read.  The internet freed a lot of that up and made many of those gatekeepers irrelevant. In the age of information and social media its to the advantage of those in power to become gatekeeper and set up a new class of folks who will have unfettered access and serve that purpose.

For those who are still confused let me explain what is soon to come.. Lets say you have a website that houses your blog or music.. You will have the Herculean task of figuring out who is on what system and making sure your website isn’t in the slow lane. I’m sure some of the big telecoms will announce that for X amount of dollars a month you can be assured that your website will load up just as quick as some of the larger/ mainstream sites. So this means I have to figure out who is on AT&T, who is on Comcast, who is Direct TV and 50 other Internet service providers. They may all have a fee to make sure my site or information loads quickly to their customers. Thats what Net Neutrality was preventing from happening.

Glenn Beck smashed on Net Neutrality as a way to ensure he has an unobstructed voice on the net. he will be in the internet fast lane as a media gatekeeper while the rest of us will be tolled

So those of you who listened to the Glenn Becks of the world just note he was protecting his own ass when speaking out against NN.. It was a way to make sure he was one of a handful of voices to routinely have access to the masses. Same with many of the other folks who were waving the flag for AT&T.. it was all about HNIC.. being the Head Negro in Charge … being the new media gatekeeper.

Indy Artists who enjoyed duking it out with the majors and handing them their hats, you will have the hardest times, because the main gripe that Comcast was making was they wanted to charge those who use a lot of bandwidth, that comes with streaming, downloading  etc.. Its easy for a big company like Universal or Sony to cut deals and make sure their product is readily accessible, but what about the small time artist who has good material but no budget..Sad part to all this is no matter how much you pay there will always be an inner circle including companies and individuals that work for these telecoms who will have the fastest of lanes thsu always having a clear advantage over the average person or the small business looking to make a come up. This is what net neutrality was protecting us from.

Below is a list of Civil Rights orgs that submitted files to the FCC saying they wanted to have the internet DEREGULATED. When your shit starts slowing down, your message filtered or censored ,your music hard to access you and more importantly your fees go up, give these esteemed organizations and people a call and ask them how they intend to correct what will go down as a egregious error. Maybe they can let you use their accounts cause I’m certain in exchange for siding with these big telecoms they got a few perks including unfettered and fast lane access.

Here are recent anti-Network Neutrality filings by organizations of color..

There are more and I will post them later..

Urban League Chapter

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408309

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020400790

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020400568

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408157

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020400510

National Lesbian and Gay Chamber of Commerce

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408718

Hispanic Federation

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408716

LISTA

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408720

Latino community Foundation in San Francisco

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408354

Native Americans

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408711

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408291

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408712

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408704

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408709

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408717

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408708

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408713

NAACP in California

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408307

Rainbow Push

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408211

Texas State Rep. Robert Alonzo

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020408179

MANA, A National Latino Organization

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020400566

100 Black Men of South Metro

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020400798

100 Black Men of Mobile

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020401015

100 Black Men of Greater Mobile

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020401015

ASPIRA

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020400339

100 Black Men of Tennessee

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020400506

100 Black Men of Orlando

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020400502

HTTP

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020400970

Hispanic Interests Coalition of Alabama

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020401020

SER: Jobs for Progress

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020400060

NAACP Mar-Saline Branch

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020399888

Japanese American Citizens League

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020399819

Organization of Chinese Americans

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020399334

Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies

Rep. Yvette Clarke

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020399667

Obama, FCC Poised to Cave to Telecoms and Turn Backs on Net Neutrality

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/05/03/obama-fcc-poised-to-cave-to-telecoms-turn-backs-on-net-neutrality/

by Daniela Perdomo

Obama, FCC Poised to Cave to Telecoms and Turn Backs on Net Neutrality

Among the young, forward-thinking demographics with whom Obama, the presidential candidate, was incredibly popular were the digital rights crowd. Obama’s campaign platform promised to ensure net neutrality — the principle that all Internet content must be treated equally by internet service providers, where no content is given preferential treatment by ISPs — if he were elected.

Oh, how things change!

Currently, net neutrality finds itself hanging by a thread, and the Obama administration and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appear to be ready to cave to the mighty telecommunications industry, sacrificing a fair Internet for all.

A few weeks ago I wrote about a court ruling which had net neutrality activists in a frenzy. A federal judge ruled that the FCC had overstepped its authority in demanding that Comcast, one of the nation’s largest internet service providers (ISPs) treat all content equally. (Comcast had been throttling, or slowing down, certain content — particularly file-sharing sites.)

From that story:

The FCC, in enforcing net neutrality, was trying to ensure the Internet remains a level playing field, where no sites are on a “fast lane,” and no sites are on a “slow lane.” ISPs like Comcast have argued that controlling certain sites’ load times will prevent high-bandwidth users — like file-sharers — from clogging the web for everyone else. But it’s a slippery slope. (…)

Beyond preventing the FCC from enforcing equal load times for all websites, the court’s ruling could hamper the FCC’s ability to ensure that internet policy providers comply with digital privacy laws. Further, it could adversely impact the White House’s efforts to increase Americans’ access to high-speed Internet networks. Currently the United States lags far behind other developed nations in broadband speed and reach.

Net neutrality activists, however, were hopeful that if the FCC chose to reclassify internet services as as a telecommunications network — like telephones — they’d be able to regulate ISPs. And there was reason to be hopeful this would happen — the FCC chair, Julius Genachowski, is credited as a contributor to Obama’s tech platform, which included net neutrality, greater media diversity, and increased broadband access.

The best part of reclassification is that it only requires a simple-majority vote from the FCC’s board members — and would neatly sidestep all the bureaucratic red tape and telecoms’ big lobbying dollars in Congress.

Sadly though, a Washington Post article today indicates that Genachowski is expected to leave the broadband industry deregulated — as if under-regulation has ever proven itself a good idea. (Hello, recession of 2008?)

Josh Silver, head of Free Press, a media reform non-profit, put out the following statement on what this means: “If Chairman Genachowski fails to re-establish the FCC authority to protect Internet users, he will be allowing companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon to slow down, block or censor content at will. They can block any website, any blog post, any tweet, any outreach by a political campaign — and the FCC would be powerless to stop them….If the FCC fails to stand with the public, it will be the end of the Internet as we know it.”

Given that the Internet is either set to replace or already has replaced the telephone as the most important medium of communication, this is a very scary, Orwellian prospect.

Greg Palast: End Game w/ All This Arizona Stuff is to Suppress the Vote

Investigative Reporter Greg Palast hits the nail on the head with this piece. It coincides with things I’ve been seeing which includes a fallback on the efforts to recruit Latino voters..Instead of trying to win folks over the name of the game is suppression..I’m still waiting how the final version will play out..I personally feel like there’s a couple of extra tricks up the sleeve including state wide (not national) but statewide round ups of Brown folks because something big and catastrophic takes place on one of the borders.

-Davey D-

Behind the Arizona Immigration Law: GOP Game to Swipe the November Election

http://www.truthout.org/behind-the-arizona-immigration-law-gop-game-to-swipe-the-november-election58877

Our investigation in Arizona discovered the real intent of the show-me-your-papers law.

Phoenix – Don’t be fooled. The way the media plays the story, it was a wave of racist, anti-immigrant hysteria that moved Arizona Republicans to pass a sick little law, signed last week, requiring every person in the state to carry papers proving they are US citizens.

I don’t buy it. Anti-Hispanic hysteria has always been as much a part of Arizona as the saguaro cactus and excessive air-conditioning.

What’s new here is not the politicians’ fear of a xenophobic “Teabag” uprising.

What moved GOP Governor Jan Brewer to sign the Soviet-style show-me-your-papers law is the exploding number of legal Hispanics, US citizens all, who are daring to vote – and daring to vote Democratic by more than two-to-one. Unless this demographic locomotive is halted, Arizona Republicans know their party will soon be electoral toast. Or, if you like, tortillas.

In 2008, working for “Rolling Stone” with civil rights attorney Bobby Kennedy, our team flew to Arizona to investigate what smelled like an electoral pogrom against Chicano voters . . . directed by one Jan Brewer.

Brewer, then secretary of state, had organized a racially loaded purge of the voter rolls that would have made Katherine Harris blush. Beginning after the 2004 election, under Brewer’s command, no fewer than 100,000 voters, overwhelmingly Hispanic, were blocked from registering to vote. In 2005, the first year of the Great Brown-Out, one in three Phoenix residents found their registration applications rejected.

That statistic caught my attention. Voting or registering to vote if you’re not a citizen is a felony, a big-time jail-time crime. And arresting such criminal voters is easy: After all, they give their names and addresses.

So I asked Brewer’s office, had she busted a single one of these thousands of allegedly illegal voters? Did she turn over even one name to the feds for prosecution?

No, not one.

Which raises the question: Were these disenfranchised voters the criminal, non-citizens that Brewer tagged them to be, or just not-quite-white voters given the Jose Crow treatment, entrapped in document-chase trickery?

The answer was provided by a federal prosecutor who was sent on a crazy hunt all over the Western mesas looking for these illegal voters. “We took over 100 complaints, we investigated for almost two years, I didn’t find one prosecutable voter fraud case.”

This prosecutor, David Iglesias, is a prosecutor no more. When he refused to fabricate charges of illegal voting among immigrants, his firing was personally ordered by the president of the United States, George W. Bush, under orders from his boss, Karl Rove.

Iglesias’ jurisdiction was next door, in New Mexico, but he told me that Rove and the Republican chieftains were working nationwide to whip up anti-immigrant hysteria with public busts of illegal voters, even though there were none.

“They wanted some splashy pre-election indictments,” Iglesias told me. The former prosecutor, himself a Republican, paid the price when he stood up to this vicious attack on citizenship.

But Secretary of State Brewer followed the Rove plan to a T. The weapon she used to slice the Arizona voter rolls was a 2004 law, known as “Prop 200,” which required proof of citizenship to register. It is important to see the Republicans’ latest legislative horror show, sanctioning cops to stop residents and prove citizenship, as just one more step in the party’s desperate plan to impede Mexican-Americans from marching to the ballot box.

(By the way, no one elected Brewer. Weirdly, Barack Obama placed her in office last year when, for reasons known only to the Devil and Rahm Emanuel, the president appointed Arizona’s Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano to his cabinet, which automatically moved Republican Brewer into the Governor’s office.)

State Senator Russell Pearce, the Republican sponsor of the latest ID law, gave away his real intent, blocking the vote, when he said, “There is a massive effort under way to register illegal aliens in this country.”

How many? Pearce’s PR flak told me, five million. All Democrats, too. Again, I asked Pearce’s office to give me their names and addresses from their phony registration forms. I’d happily make a citizens arrest of each one, on camera. Pearce didn’t have five million names. He didn’t have five. He didn’t have one.

The horde of five million voters who swam the Rio Grande just to vote for Obama was calculated on a Republican website extrapolating from the number of Mexicans in a border town who refused jury service because they were not citizens. Not one, in fact, had registered to vote: they had registered to drive. They had obtained licenses as required by the law.

The illegal voters, “wetback” welfare moms, and alien job thieves are just GOP website wet dreams, but their mythic PR power helps the party’s electoral hacks chop away at voter rolls and civil rights with little more than a whimper from the Democrats.

Indeed, one reason, I discovered, that some Democrats are silent is that they are in on the game themselves. In New Mexico, Democratic Party bosses tossed away ballots of Pueblo Indians to cut native influence in party primaries.

But what’s wrong with requiring folks to prove they’re American if they want to vote and live in America? The answer: because the vast majority of perfectly legal voters and residents who lack ID sufficient for Ms. Brewer and Mr. Pearce are citizens of color, citizens of poverty.

According to a study by professor Matt Barreto, of Washington State University, minority citizens are half as likely as whites to have the government ID. The numbers are dreadfully worse when income is factored in.

Just outside Phoenix, without Brewer’s or Pearce’s help, I did locate one of these evil un-American voters, that is, someone who could not prove her citizenship: 100-year-old Shirley Preiss. Her US birth certificate was nowhere to be found, as it never existed.

Ok, I admit, I was a little nervous, passing through the iron doors with a big sign, “NOTICE: ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE PROHIBITED FROM VISITING ANYONE IN THIS JAIL.” I mean, Grandma Palast snuck into the USA via Windsor, Canada. We Palasts are illegal as they come, but Arpaio’s sophisticated deportee-sniffer didn’t stop this white boy from entering his sanctum.

But that’s the point, isn’t it? Not to stop non-citizens from entering Arizona – after all, who else would care for the country club lawn? – but to harass folks of the wrong color: Democratic blue.

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Arizona Legislature Bans Ethnic Studies-Wants to Remove Teachers w/ Accents From Classes

arizona bans ethnic studiesJust so folks know this new law to ban ethnic studies was first proposed by the same white supremacist/ Neo-nazi  Russell Pearse who co-wrote the immigration bill. It was SB 1108.. If folks have not realized it, what we see is all out war..supported by out and out ignorance. The banning of ethnic studies in Arizona is no different then the Texas Text book saga where they are removing ethnic heroes like Thurgood Marshall and Cesar Chavez.  Some people feel like some of what is going on in Arizona won’t impact them, when in fact it will sooner or later.. Right now they are firing teachers in Texas who teach outside the lessons and try to slip in the extra history. In Arizona they are removing teachers who speak with an accent.. This is happening in 2010. Hope folks stay abreast and keep pushing back..

-Davey D-

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100430/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1885

Just a week after signing into law the country’s toughest immigration bill into law,Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer will soon decide whether to endorse another piece of legislation that outlaws ethnic studies programs in public schools.

The bill forbids Arizona schools from using any curriculum that promotes “the overthrow of the United States government” or “resentment toward a race or class of people.” It also disallows any curriculum that’s “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or that seeks to “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

Arizona’s Superintendent for Public Instruction Tom Horne has said he’s backing the measure because ethnic studies programs encourage “ethnic chauvinism”; he’s also suggested that such programs could breed secessionist sentiment among Hispanic students.

Republican state Sen. Jack Harper also voted for the bill, saying that certain Hispanic-themed ethnic studies programs are “trying to say that somebody who came to this country illegally is somehow oppressed. That’s crazy stuff.”

But the legislation’s detractors say that, if the bill is signed into law, the state, not the targeted programs, would be promoting a politicized curriculum. Democratic state Sen. Linda Lopez says the bill would target a Mexican-American studies program used in her home district of Tucson. She offered an amendment—which the legislature approved— mandating that Arizona schools adopt curricula that include discussions of genocidal such as the Holocaust., so that such material would not be considered as promoting “ethnic resentment.”

In another controversial shift in state education policy, the Wall Street Journal has reported that the Arizona Department of Education has begun telling principals to remove teachers who speak English with an accent from classes with students who are still learning English. Some school officials are complaining that the move will remove experienced teachers from classrooms that need them. Margaret Dugan, the state’s deputy superintendent of schools, told the Journal the request is “politicizing the educational environment.”

“Teachers should speak good grammar because kids pick up what they hear,” Johanna Haver, an adviser to Arizona educators, told the Journal. “Where you draw the line is debatable.”

The Education Department permits teachers who don’t meet fluency standards to take classes to improve.

—Liz Goodwin is a national affairs writer for Yahoo! News

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

The ’92 Rodney King Uprisings & Gang Truce-We Remember

18 years ago we had in LA the Rodney King uprisings.. This is when folks went off after getting word that the 4 cops who were caught on tape viciously beating Rodney King were being let off. For many what was seen was unbelievable. For many it was the first time a cop beating was caught on tape… Most of us just knew it would be open and shut, but sadly it wasn’t. Adding to all that was an arrogant, sadistic police chief named Daryl Gates who not only sided with the officers but also took a hostile approach toward people who expressed their concern. Back in those days he seemed to egg  things on both with his insensitivity and his macho approach in which he pretty much let everyone know his police would and could put down any problems…

Gates was warned that LA might erupt.. but he choose to ignore it. He felt confident that his SWAT teams could suppress any situation. He was proven wrong.. All hell broke loose resulting in the end to Gate’s aggressive military style policing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlNUlpqT-F0

Twilight Bey

At the same time the LA Uprising crystalized a 2-3 year process in which South Central based Bloods and Crips were able to finally forge a historic Gang Truce.. A few years back we sat down with Twilight Bey who was one of the chief architects as he laid out the history behind what led up to the riots and the historic Truce..  Here’s what he had to say..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byUzkkMav74 pt1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYm-dx_k0Jw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcfzkmoilds pt2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f3hmE43MNU pt3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCmkRw4RRxc

  Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

When Common Sense Goes Bad…This is Why You Can’t Talk to the Tea Party

This is not an unusual encounter.. I run into this type of illogic all the time..People who have no idea what the terms they say they hate really mean.. And when contradictions are pointed out they try to pull a Bill O’Reilly and start shouting you down..This is a pattern we see not just with the looney tunes at rallies but also in Congress..and in the Senate..  Common Sense isn’t common.. Its all about trying to out shout and out crazy your competition…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgec9WX21ik

Return to Davey D’s Hip hop Corner

Malcolm X’s Killer Released after 44 Years? Sorry But the Real Killers Never Went to Jail

Sure today a bunch of people are gonna be up in arms and have been up in arms when it was announced that Thomas Hagan the only man who admitted his role in the 1965 killing of Malcolm X was paroled yesterday. He had been in jail 44 years… As far as I’m concerned homeboy has gotten what he fully deserved-44 years is a lifetime. However, before folks start picketing the parole board and start sending petitions to some how reverse this decision, I suggest we fall back and go after the real killers-The CIA, FBI and high-ranking members of the United States government. 

Sure Hagan played a role. He’s admitted to that but at the end of the day he’s small fry, the proverbial street dealer that existed within  the larger machinery and movement that working overtime to slay Malcolm X. In pursuing the real killers of Malcolm, we can start by demanding an official apology from the government for the implementation of Cointel-Pro. We can also demand that any building with the name J Edgar Hoover be stripped of his name and when his name pops up in our history books we don’t want it removed. In fact we want it highlighted. People need to know his name for the next 400 years. We just need to put his name right up there with Adolf Hitler and tell future generations Hoover was piece of shit who ruined lives, destroyed communities, was the architect to assassination and incarceration of those who tried to do good. We need to be taught guys like Hoover and his actions were a detriment to this country. That’s what we need to be pursuing. Like I said Hagan is smalltime.

 

J Edgar Hoover was one of the 'real killers' of Malcolm X

After we get that apology we need to get compensation. Maybe we can’t reparations for slavery because Henry Louis Gates might be dragged out to write another NY Times essay telling us why that’s such a foolish notion, but we can at least demand reparations for communities like Harlem that were pyschologically crippled after Malcolm was killed.  He was a vibrant leader and a pillar who helped put folks on the right path. We can think outside the box and perhaps get several top-notch Universities built or monies given to sbuild up several Black colleges with provisions and resources that would allow several generations of students to attend for free.. .

In addition we need to have the relentless pursuit of those involved with the manipulation and conspiracy to murder Malcolm X brought to justice. Our government has spent millions chasing down former Black Panthers, for 30 and 40 years after the fact. The most recent example was the case around the SF8..who have all been acquitted. The last member Francisco Torres has been offered a deal to plea guilty and no jail time. He’s saying hell naw, because he’s innocent  so our esteemed government is plowing along spending millions. That same sort of fervor needs to be directed at those officials past and present who sought to undermine and create tensions and crisis in leadership that eventually led to people like Hagan killing leaders like Malcolm. As far as I’m concerned the ‘Real Killers’ of Malcolm never went to jail. The irony to this whole thing is that Malcolm’s killer have been allowed to build jails and work overtime building a prison population that went from 200 thousand when Malcolm was killed to well over 2 million 45 years later.

Something to ponder

-Davey D-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENHP89mLWOY

Malcolm X’s Killer Released After 44 Years

Thomas Hagan After the shooting of Malcolm X

(CNN)– Thomas Hagan, the only man who admitted his role in the 1965 assassination of iconic black leader Malcolm X, was paroled Tuesday.

Hagan was freed a day earlier than planned because his paperwork was processed more quickly than anticipated, according to the New York State Department of Correctional Services.

Hagan, 69, walked out of the minimum-security Lincoln Correctional Facility at 11 a.m. The facility is located at the intersection of West 110th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard.

Hagan had been in a full-time work-release program since March 1992 that allowed him to live at home with his family in Brooklyn five days a week while reporting to the prison just two days.

Last month, Hagan pleaded his case for freedom: To return to his family, to become a substance abuse counselor and to make his mark on what time he has left in this world.

He was dressed in prison greens as he addressed the parole board. He had been before that body 14 other times since 1984. Each time, he was rejected.

Hagan was no ordinary prisoner. He is the only man to have confessed in the killing of Malcolm X, who was gunned down while giving a speech in New York’s Audubon Ballroom in 1965.

“I have deep regrets about my participation in that,” he told the parole board on March 3, according to a transcript. “I don’t think it should ever have happened.”

Hagan had been sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment after being found guilty at trial with two others in 1966. The other two men were released in the 1980s and have long denied involvement in the killing.

To win his release, Hagan was required to seek, obtain and maintain a job, support his children and abide by a curfew. He must continue to meet those conditions while free. He told the parole board he’s worked the same job for the past seven years. He told the New York Post in 2008 he was working at a fast-food restaurant.

I can’t really describe my remiss and my remorse for my actions.
–Thomas Hagan, killer of Malcolm X

A parole officer checked on him while outside prison, and he had to undergo random drug tests.

CNN was unable to reach Hagan for a comment about his release. The Nation of Islam declined comment for this story.

Malcolm X is best known as the fiery leader of the Nation of Islam who denounced whites as “blue-eyed devils.” But at the end of his life, Malcolm X changed his views toward whites and discarded the Nation of Islam’s ideology in favor of orthodox Islam. In doing so, he feared for his own life from within the Nation.

Malcolm X remains a symbol of inspiration for black men, in particular, who are moved by his transformation from a street hustler to a man the late African-American actor Ossie Davis eulogized as “our own black shining prince.”

The ballroom where he was killed has now been converted into The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center. Board Chairman Zead Ramadan said the center doesn’t have a position on Hagan’s release.

“I personally find it strange that for a couple decades any person convicted in the assassination of such an iconic figure would be allowed such leniency,” Ramadan said.

There’s outrage among some African-Americans, he said, that he’s being released. Would he be set free if he had killed an iconic white leader?

“It’s really a struggle for Muslims to contemplate this issue, because our faith and our religion is full of examples where we have to exert mercy,” he added. “The Malcolm X story has not ended. His populuarity has grown in death. … Only God knows why this was allowed to happen.”

The center is preparing for a special service next month to celebrate what would have been Malcolm X’s 85th birthday. Would the center welcome Hagan if he asked to attend?

“We’d cross that bridge if he called us,” Ramadan said, “Think about that: How far-fetched is it that he could meet one of the daughters of Malcolm X? And what’s going to happen then? Mercy, fury, anger, emotions — who knows?”

Killed in front of his family

On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X took to the stage of the Audubon Ballroom, a site often used for civic meetings. His wife, Betty Shabazz, and four children were in the crowd.

Malcolm X was 39 when he was gunned down in 1965.

Malcolm X was 39 when he was gunned down in 1965.

“I heard several shots in succession,” his wife later told a Manhattan grand jury. “I got on the floor, and I pushed my children under the seat and protected them with my body.”

Gunshots continued to ring out, she said. Her husband’s body was riddled with bullets. The native of Omaha, Nebraska, was 39.

“Minister Malcolm was slaughtered like a dog in front of his family,” A. Peter Bailey, one of Malcolm X’s closest aides, told The New York Times on the 40th anniversary of the killing.

The assassination came after a public feud between Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam’s founder, Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm X had accused Muhammad of infidelity and left the Nation in March 1964.

“For the next 11 months, there was a pattern of harassment, vilification and even on occasion literally pursuit in the streets of Malcolm by people associated with the Nation,” said Claude Andrew Clegg III, author of a biography on Elijah Muhammad called An Original Man.

“Malcolm felt that if Elijah Muhammad snapped his fingers, then he could stop the escalation of the violent tone around the split of the two men. And I think there’s some truth to that.”

Over the years, the killing of Malcolm X has been the subject of much debate, with conspiracy theories involving the Nation of Islam and others. The Nation of Islam has repeatedly denied any involvement in Malcolm X’s assassination.

Twenty-two and on a deadly mission

Hagan, then known by the name Talmadge X Hayer, was 22 and a radical member of the Nation of Islam the day he entered the ballroom armed and ready to kill. His allegiance was to the Nation’s founder, and he was outraged Malcolm X had broken from its ranks.

After the shooting, Hagan tried to flee the scene but he was shot in the leg. He was beaten by the crowd before being arrested outside.

Thomas Hagan is pictured here in a mugshot from 2008.

Thomas Hagan is pictured here in a mugshot from 2008.

Last month, he told the parole board he felt the urge to kill Malcolm X because of his inflammatory comments about the Nation’s founder.

“It stemmed from a break off and confusion in the leadership,” Hagan said. “Malcolm X broke with the Nation of Islam, separated from the Nation of Islam, and in doing so there was controversy as to some of the statements he was making about the leader.”

He added, “History has revealed a lot of what Malcolm X was saying was true.”

Two other men, Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Kahlil Islam, were also found guilty of murder in 1966 and received 20 years to life. Both proclaimed their innocence. Hagan, who eventually admitted his part in the murder, testified at trial and subsequent parole hearings that both men were innocent. Aziz was paroled in 1985; Islam was freed in 1987.

At last month’s parole hearing, Hagan again maintained that Aziz and Islam were not the other assassins. He said it was two other men who helped plot, plan and participate in the killing.

Did they receive orders from the Nation to carry out the killing?

“I can’t say that anyone in the Nation of Islam gave us the idea or instructed us to do it. We did this ourselves for the most part, yes,” Hagan told the parole board.

Hagan said he received a master’s degree in sociology while incarcerated and that helped him deal with his actions from 45 years ago.

“I understand a lot better the dynamics of movements and what can happen inside movements and conflicts that can come up, but I have deep regrets about my participation in that.”

He added, “Unfortunately, I didn’t have an in-depth understanding of what was really going on myself to let myself be involved in anything like that. … I can’t really describe my remiss and my remorse for my actions — basically a very young man, a very uneducated man. ”

He is still a Muslim but no longer a member of the Nation of Islam. He volunteers at a mosque to help young men. He told the parole board he hopes to become a qualified substance abuse counselor.

His primary mission is to help his four children, ages 21, 17, 14 and 10. He has two other grown children.

“My focus is to maintain my family and to try to make things a little better for them. It’s upward mobility, and to encourage my children to complete their education because it’s a must.”

Op-Ed: The Mis-Education of Henry Louis Gates, Jr

Op-Ed: The Mis-Education of Henry Louis Gates, Jr

By Abdul Arif Muhammad, Esq.

In an April 23, 2010 Op-Ed piece for The New York Times entitled “Ending the Slavery Blame-Game,” Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. argues that a moral, historic, political and economic equivalency exists between the culpability and responsibility of some Africans who participated in the transatlantic slave trade with the nations of Europe and the American colonies .  This article perverts history and violates what Dr. W.E.B. DuBois called “scientific truth.”  The article was intellectually disingenuous from the stand point of history and scholarship.  

Carter G Woodson

The article is a perfect example of the “educated Negro” who has been taught to find his “proper place” at the back door, as stated by Dr. Carter G. Woodson in his book, The Mis-Education of the Negro.  Professor Gates demonstrates through this article that he has accepted his proper place at the back door, showing he is in the category of an “educated Negro” that has, in fact, been mis-educated.  It is not surprising then that when Professor Gates was mishandled by white policemen in Massachusetts, he felt it necessary to inform the police that he was a Harvard professor.  This is the mind of black inferiority masquerading as an “educated Negro” who has in fact forgotten who he is in the mind of White America.

 Sadly, the “educated Negro” state of mind has been a historic problem in the struggle of the masses of Black people for true liberation because there has always been a segment within the black community who are the buffers and apologists for the evil of White America against its black citizens.   This phenomenon has been discussed in several scholarly works including The Black Bourgeoisie, by Dr. E. Franklin Frazier; The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, by Dr. Harold Cruse; The Souls of Black Folks, by Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and of course,  The Mis-Education of the Negro, by Dr. Carter G. Woodson

Professor Gates’ arguments are far below the standard of what one should expect from the Director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University.  Dr. DuBois was the first Black man to receive a Ph.D degree from Harvard University in 1895.  The irony of Professor Gates’ article is that Dr. DuBois’ doctoral dissertation was entitled, The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to The United States of America, 1638-1870.  It was first published in 1896 as one of the Harvard historical studies.  This study properly placed the culpability and responsibility for slavery on Europe and the American colonies.  Whatever the role some Africans may have played, Dr. DuBois did not seem to view it as requiring research and scholarly attribution.

Henry Louis Gates

Professor Gate‘s claim that the idea of reparations is “compensation for our ancestor’s unpaid labor and bondage,” clearly shows the extent of his mis-education.  Reparations is a cry for justice borne from the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, over three centuries of chattel slavery where our ancestors according to Dr. DuBois were “worked to death,” and the injustices suffered by the masses of black people even down to this present day.  The issue of reparations is not solely based upon compensation because money alone will not solve the 400 year destruction of an entire people, who were robbed of the knowledge of themselves, the knowledge of their heritage, robbed of their names, language, and religion.  The cumulative effect of slavery was that Black people were destroyed in their ability to think and do for themselves.

 Reparations have to be determined based upon the extent of the injury inflicted, and the cost must be calculated to actually repair the damage done from slavery, Jim Crow segregation, lynching, raping of women, destruction of the institution of the black family, assassination of black leaders, shortened life expectancy from disease, poor health care, drug abuse, gang violence, black on black homicide, police brutality, racial profiling and mob attacks.  Professor Gates’ view that the call for reparations may be symbolic and impractical is profoundly egregious and shows his profound lack of understanding of the scientific truth of black suffering during slavery and since emancipation.    

Kwame Nkrumah

Professor Gates’ claims that Africans played a “significant role” in the slave trade and that it was “lucrative for European buyers and African sellers alike” is astounding.  His view that equal culpability for the slave trade and slavery “should truly belong to white people and black people on both sides of the Atlantic” is a historic perversion of the worst kind.   Professor Gates obviously did not consider how Africa was devastated by slave trade from the 1500s to the 1800s; then, how she was systematically underdeveloped by European colonization from 1885 through the Second World War (1947).  It was not until Ghana, the first independent African nation, was established in 1957 by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, that Africa began her journey to repair over five centuries of European rape and pillage of her human and material resources.  Africa remains in that struggle today.  An excellent source for scholarship on this point is the book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Dr. Walter Rodney

 The co-conspirators, conceivers, planners, architects and designers of the transatlantic slave trade were the European nations.  The American colonies and the colonized West Indies sustained and nurtured the slave trade due to the wealth it generated.  This wealth fueled the industrial revolution in Europe and America, and ultimately made the United States a world power.  Where is the evidence of historical records to prove otherwise?  Another excellent source of scholarship on this point is the book, Capitalism and Slavery by Dr. Eric Williams.  Africans did not know the mind of the European nations in planning the destruction of a people.  Africans did not know that the Church sadly issued “papal bulls” from the pope sanctioning slavery of Africans because they were heathens, and needed to be civilized and Christianized.  Africans were not aware of the peculiar institution of chattel slavery and its destructive effects that evolved over centuries in the American colonies.  It is ludicrous to infer that visits to Europe by some Africans gave them knowledge of the holocaust of slavery.

 Professor Gates writes that slavery is one of the greatest evils in the history of civilization.  On this point he is absolutely correct.  Slavery was a crime against humanity and an entire people.   America has a very narrow window to escape the consequences of her deeds; unfortunately she has not yet shown she has the spiritual, moral or political will to repair the damage.   If there was a criminal prosecution Europe and her American co-conspirators would be charged with crimes against humanity for the murder and slaughter of untold millions of African people.  At best, those Africans who delivered their own brethren into the hands of their oppressors could be charged with the lesser criminal offense of being an accessory before the fact of false imprisonment.  In other words they were complicit in an aspect of an entirely different crime from the greater crime of Europe and her American co-conspirators.

 But the real point here is why is Professor Gates attempting to blunt and reduce the culpability of Europe and America in the horror of slavery?  He seems to have developed a pattern of this behavior.  On July 20, 1992 Professor Gates published an Op-Ed article in the New York Times to rebut the Nation of Islam’s book The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, Vol. 1.  In this article Professor Gates attempts to minimize the role of Jewish merchants, traders, financiers and slave owners in slavery.  Can we fully comprehend the contradiction and hypocrisy of describing the behavior of the perpetrator of the crime as minimal, yet the victim played a “significant role” in the crime?  It is bewildering.  Is Professor Gates proving that he is a hired “educated Negro” by the rich and powerful to be an apologist against the legitimate cries for justice by a suffering people?

Finally, Professor Gates’ claim that President Obama’s genetic heritage of African and American parentage makes him “uniquely positioned to solve the reparations debate.” This statement does a tremendous disservice to President Obama.  The question of reparations is largely a legislative issue that is the responsibility of the Congress to address.  Should there ever be a Reparations Bill passed by Congress, only then would President Obama play the crucial role of signing the Bill into law.  Moreover, no one person, even our President, can be the sole arbiter and reconciler on the issue of 400 years of black suffering.  He could play a significant role in the discussion but the advancement of the issue of reparations is the responsibility of the more than 40 million black people who are the descendants of slaves.

 I conclude by offering to Professor Gates the words of Dr. W.E.B. DuBois regarding the culpability of England and America for slavery, found in Sec. 96 Lessons For Americans in The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to The United States of America, 1638-1870.. 

“It was the plain duty of the colonies to crush the trade and the system in its infancy: they preferred to enrich themselves on its profits. It was the plain duty of a Revolution based upon “Liberty” to take steps toward the abolition of slavery: it preferred promises to straightforward action. It was the plain duty of the Constitutional Convention, in founding a new nation, to compromise with a threatening social evil only in case its settlement would thereby be postponed to a more favorable time: this was not the case in the slavery and the slave-trade compromises … and yet with this real, existent, growing evil before their eyes, a bargain largely of dollars and cents was allowed to open the highway that led straight to the Civil War… 

It behooves the United States, therefore, in the interest both of scientific truth and of future social reform, carefully to study such chapters of her history as that of the suppression of the slave-trade. The most obvious question which this study suggests is : How far in a State can a recognized moral wrong safely be compromised? And although this chapter of history can give us no definite answer suited to the ever-varying aspects of political life, yet it would seem to warn any nation from allowing, through carelessness and moral cowardice, any social evil to grow. No persons would have seen the Civil War with more surprise and horror than the Revolutionists of 1776; yet from the small and apparently dying institution of their day arose the walled and castled Slave-Power. From this we may conclude that it behooves nations as well as men to do things at the very moment when they ought to be done.”

W.E.B. DuBois

Dr. DuBois who over a span of seven decades as academic, scholar, sociologist, author, editor, civil rights activist and Pan-Africanist  was truly an educated black man. As the Director of the institute at Harvard which bears his name it is my hope that this may provide some future guidance to Professor Gates that he might escape the syndrome of the “educated Negro” who has been Mis-Educated.

 original story: http://jessemuhammad.blogs.finalcall.com/2010/04/op-ed-mis-education-of-henry-louis.html

 (Abdul Arif Muhammad is an attorney, historian, researcher, writer, lecturer and former Editor-in-Chief of The Final Call newspaper. He is currently developing a series of essays entitled “A More Perfect Union.” Contact him at arifmuhammad@armatlaw.com)

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Today is a sad day…We lost another Hip Hop Heroe-RIP DJ Hideo

Just got a tweet from DJ K-Sly out of LA..It reads as follows..

Sad news Dj Hideo passed away 2day after his 62 week battle w/colon-liver cancer keep his family and friends in ur prayers…

This has been a sad week indeed.. we lost a few legends.. Guru, Dr Dorothy Height, Benjamin Hooks and now Hideo..He was a solid, down to earth, engaging dude who fought his cancer with strength where he exuded love..

lets appreciate life..Please visit his website  and show love..http://www.djhideo.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Roh7USa5Sqo

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