Djatajabs

FIGHTING THE CRIME INDUSTRY

2010-07-09T00:07:00.000-07:00

"A dear friend of mine who lives in Florida has assured me that her state gives youngsters at the lower elementary level (2nd- and 3rd grades) statewide exams that help that state government decide how much additional prison space will be needed in future years, based upon how many youngsters fail the aforementioned exams. Imagine that! Did someone say, 'Crime Industry'?"

Dear friends,

Many of the young people in Our community, especially the teenage boys, are not either in jail or in contact with the criminal justice system, because they have been lucky thus far. However, it is only a matter of time before they may get swallowed into what is essentially an industry in this country. It is, the Crime Industry.

In fact, I do not care how well you raise your kids, for some reason, particularly, African American youth can fall prey to foolishness. Many great parents and those who work with youth through supportive community programs will attest to that. In other words, even those youngsters who have had all of the right parenting, environment and so forth can become food for the vultures of the Crime Industry. It's tough. The Crime Industry does not care about guilt or innocence. They make stuff up. our children suffer. Also, peer pressure to be like the frauds on the hip-hop records is a major problem.

Again, it must be said: Crime in the USA is an industry just as enterprises that manufacture, for example, food, clothing, real estate, automobiles are. Crime as an industry makes sense, of course. After all, less crime would mean less police, judges, prosecutors, corrections officers, court officers, prison architects to design prisons and construction companies to build them, food- and other types of vendors, you name it. Moreover, without the salaries and pensions of those groups just mentioned a large part of the overall economy of this country would be destroyed.

Actually, one would think that our energies should be used towards more useful purposes like finding cures to human maladies and the like. However, manufacturing crime is, also, a major component of programming for both print and electronic media - another source of great income for many.

Still, in especially urban settings, we hear talk about need to have more police and less guns in our communities as a means to solving our crime problems. Domestic guns are being made mostly for police purposes and sport hunting. Consequently, without the Crime Industry, the gun industry itself may have succumb by now. Let’s face it. In Philadelphia alone, during 2006, for instance, it has been reported that, at least, 20 people were killed by the police (17 of them unarmed). Consequently, the aforementioned data reveals that more police simply means more guns - and more deaths.

In all fairness, that just mentioned reflects only one side of the Crime Industry. On the other side, we have an inordinate amount of African American and Latino young people who display absolutely no dignity for themselves or respect for others, including a lack of consideration for authority. In other words, we have a population filled with young people who, emotionally and intellectually, seem to want to remain in the infant stage of the human experience.

Many of these youngsters were brought into this world by those who were children themselves. Now, the former are repeating what their parent(s) did. Moreover, these African American and Latino youth are the chief commodities of the Crime Industry, whether as petty thieves, drug-dealers, stooges for either drug distributors or the district attorney and the like, or those who are caught up in the court and prison systems with its probation and parole agents. The worst part of all of this lies with the fact that, in the general population of US society, European American (so-called white) youth, clearly, must commit more crimes, because of their numerically greater levels of poverty; however, they are not victims of a marked group that is "profiled".

At any rate, our children’s current behavior reflects our own. Let’s face it, again, history is the story of generations of families of varying sizes. Historically, these families have been headed by a single mother, because men have died young, gone off to war and been killed, or just left to indulge in selfish behavior. The fantasy of the Ozzie and Harriet two-parent household is a fabrication of Hollywood. Moreover, wisdom suggests that a young person, male or female, having a male figure around to help direct him or her through life's uncertain journey, is essential. Yet, single mothers do quite fine, and have done so for millennia. Hence, what is even more important than having male “mentors” is having a community that supports the development of its youth.

Of course, a civil society certainly needs some of those people mentioned at the beginning of this piece (e.g., police, judges, lawyers, and so forth). However, many jobs are created, specifically for and because of the Crime Industry, and maintained by those whose best interests are served by continued criminal behavior in our society. A good example lies with the fact that, all across the country, in many municipalities, district attorneys, are allowed to use confiscated drug money, for instance, for future hires, raising wages in their offices, and improved pensions for the same workers just mentioned. It is not, therefore, in the best interests of prosecutors and their agents to be too “tough on crime”. Dig? As a matter of fact, it makes more sense for such people (DAs, and so forth) to actually regulate crime.
******************************

Here are a few ways that we can fight against the proliferation of the Crime Industry which robs African American people of so much of our potentially productive energy and resources. Can you think of some ways to do the same?

1.) Free Buses To Prisons Program

Transport children to prisons for the explicit purpose of having reading lessons with their incarcerated parents. Dr. Seuss books and other “phonics” type of reading materials are a great way to start. Many of these folks who are incarcerated have only first- and second grade reading levels. By learning their phonics better and due to the fact that they are older than their children, thus more experienced in life, invariably, these "parents" will begin to read at a higher grade level, acquiring deeper comprehension as well as greater mental stamina. This means that they will gain new ideas, by reading more informative literature, instead of only consuming thoughts from people who, like them, are locked up as well and just as clueless about how to be productive citizens.

As stated above, many of the brothers in prison either cannot read or read only at first- or second grade levels. More help in the classrooms at the first- or second grade levels (and a relationship with a loving elder) may have kept them trying in school longer. Their children deserve a better chance than they had. Also, regarding females, sisters in prisons are often there because of some knucklehead males. Therefore, young girls will also benefit from having a wider range of caring adults in their lives, whether those elders are incarcerated or not. Note: A dear friend of mine who lives in Florida has assured me that her state gives youngsters at the lower elementary level (2nd- and 3rd grades) statewide exams that help that state government decide how much additional prison space will be needed in future years, based upon how many youngsters fail the aforementioned exams. Imagine that! Did someone say, "Crime Industry"?

2.) Letters to Prisoners Program

Get people to be pen pals with inmates in area prisons. The main problem here will be that we need to make sure that inmates are not being selfish and engaging in deceitful behavior, in order to borrow money or get “favors” done on the outside. Telephone calls should be prohibited from being a way for inmates to connect with their pen pals. Incarcerated people should learn to write, so that they can think about why they are in that situation in the first place. A phone call does not require such reflection; people can just talk and feel good - then hang up.

3.) Convict Redemption Program

Get those convicted of either human or property damages - of any kind, to construct ways themselves to make up for their transgressions against their fellow community members. For example, as part of the “Buses” program, inmates who are not parents can still donate time to read and learn with young people.

Inmates must redeem themselves! Merely proclaiming belief in God or asking to be forgiven does nothing to repair the damage done. Besides, neither apology or claims of religious loyalty has meaning, if the person has not repaired the damage that he or she caused. For example, people go to AA and NA meetings and hold what amounts to religious revival forums. Yet, as far as I know, not a single member of those groups has ever gone back to a victim and said, "Here's the $100 that I stole from you." Instead, that AA or NA person says, "Will you forgive me for what I did?...I believe in God now." Well, guess what? Everyone on death row, conveniently - now - believes in God, after the fact. Moreover, no one can forgive anyone else. Rather, people must forgive themselves, then redeem themselves by trying to undo the wrong committed against the victim. Otherwise, there is no justice. You just have a crook who has gotten away once more.

The three programs mentioned above are only some of the ways that the community can reach out to our fallen brothers and sisters, in hopes that they will be appreciative for the love that the community has shown them, and, thus, return to the community as productive members.

One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus

Good kids and Bad kids alike get killed these days

2010-07-09T00:02:00.000-07:00

"We tend to want to classify — the bad families and the good families, the violent kids and the victims…It's much more complex than that, but our discomfort leads us into overly simplistic thinking,..We withdraw rather than confront the complexities." - Nancy Erbe

Dear friends,

On the link below is a thoughtful story by Sandy Banks of the Los Angeles Times that shows one of the ways that the Crime Industry devastates our communities. However, because of our own inadequacies, as Sandy points out, we may have a distorted vision about both the victims and perpetrators of crime.

Cheers!

G.Djata Bumpus
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-banks-20100629,0,7982683,full.column

More about us needing sexual liberation – not “gay” liberation

2010-07-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

“…does having females cover up their breasts when sunbathing, specifically designate them as sexual objects who are born and bred to satisfy the sexual greed of males, at the whim of the latter?”

Dear friends,

Recently, I read a piece by a very dear friend of mine who wrote about semi-nude sunbathing and the outcry that it causes among some folks. Additionally, she questioned whether or not the practice of females publicly showing their breasts is a good idea at this time, especially considering the fact that , as she put it, “In France, where the practice has been commonplace, more women reportedly are covering up, citing concerns about skin cancer and unwanted attention. There was talk a few years back about banning semi-nude sunbathing in Australia, but it didn't get far..”

Well, I must admit, first of all, that I was disappointed that she never drew a connection between those who either castigate females about showing their breasts in public, ignoring the latter’s own feelings of getting whatever kind of relief, as well as those that rebuke females who breastfeed in public. By the way, both types of breast-revealing females just mentioned are victims in our sexually-repressive society. They are NOT perpetrators of either immoral or naive behavior!

Yet, if people in any particular culture (civilization) do not recognize their sexuality within the context of the relatedness of those sexual feelings towards, especially, those of the opposite sex, then can they even enjoy their sexuality in a mentally- and physically-healthy way?

And what does that say about male/female relationships in such an environment? Can that culture survive very long?

In any case, as would be expected, there were brief remarks made about breast size, regarding both females and males. After all, in this market-driven, possession-oriented society of ours, people confuse self-pride with self-esteem. The former is a silly mask that people wear in order to trick people into thinking that they’re someone other than who they really are, whereas self-esteem develops from folks recognizing their inner powers, then revealing those strength capabilities to the world, because, each of the abovementioned folks, as individuals, knows what it’s like to be alone and accomplish goals on his or her own. Dig?

Therefore, for example, wearing expensive suits, a guy like Donald Trump rides around in limousines like a “big man”. But his gestures are only those of self-pride. As a matter of fact, he hides the real “him”, along with his often questionable business dealings, especially from his various wives and the authorities, because he prefers that people not know the real Donald Trump. Consequently, he has low self-esteem, particularly since his ascendance to wealth was bequeathed to him by his father, He didn’t earn it.

Likewise, women who get their breasts enlarged feel no better about themselves than they did prior to their operations. Consequently, just as the late Michael Jackson never tired of facial surgery, in spite of his great showmanship, popularity, and wealth, he was also a person who suffered from low self-esteem. He didn’t feel very good about himself.

Considering all of this mentioned above, how can we expect for females to appreciate who they are, if they are raised in a civilization that judges them (and we men too), according to how well they’re/we’re able to trick others into thinking that we are someone other than who we really are?
Moreover, does having females cover up their breasts when sunbathing, specifically designate them as sexual objects who are born and bred to satisfy the sexual greed of males, at the whim of the latter? And, if so, does that serve the purpose of not just maintaining, but proliferating Male Supremacy?

Nevertheless, in essence, people who call themselves “homosexual” deny the various aspects of power relations and discriminating tastes, much less sexual urges, that lead individuals to engage themselves in sexual relations from Jump Street. Moreover, and unfortunately, what passes off today as the “Gay Rights Movement” doesn’t address the direction that we need to take, as species beings, so that males and females can live as people who equally respect and trust each other, so that we can extend our existence as a species as far as possible into the future.

Finally, in a country where dialogue of any kind is, generally, unwelcome (and in some cases, at least, quasi-illegal), the specter of violence against females is clouded by the unwillingness of even female journalists and politicians to dare raise issues that will lead to the liberation of us all. Some “democracy”. Eh?

Still, imagine if millions of women in our country decide to show their breasts in public? What other freedoms would then be on the horizon?
To be sure, such inquiry may then stimulate the thought, “Perhaps, human beings really can appreciate freedom (liberation).”, as opposed to the way that things are now, where most people are more comfortable when they take no personal responsibility for ending their social bondage, and, instead, become anonymous, that is go un-noticed, by joining a herd (i.e., group or crowd) and running from it (freedom)?

“Dare to struggle, dare to win” - Frederick Douglass

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/features/20100629_Jenice_Armstrong__Taking_off_the_top_at_Asbury_Park_.html

Dr. Julianne Malveaux on a variety of issues.

2010-07-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

"
"Despite the prominence of Oprah Winfrey, the profound wisdom of poet Maya Angelou, the gentle grace of businesswoman Susan Taylor and the small, but powerful influence ofAfrican-American women in an array of occupations, we are virtually invisible in the policy context and demeaned and distorted in popular culture..." - Dr. Ju;ianne Malveaux

Dear friends,

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is a distinguished scholar and college administrator who never seems to shy away from providing thought-provoking analysis and biting critique, regarding any number of social issues. Moreover, at least to me, she reminds, especially many men, that things that women see as in their best interests are not always what men seem to think as being in the interests of all. Recall clueless Steve Harvey's moronic notion, Act like a lady - think like a man"?

At any rate, on the link below, is a page from her Website that shows a host of recent columns by Dr. Malveaux. Enjoy!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.juliannemalveaux.com/latest_columns.html

Update on Western media blackout of Exxon/Mobil's cirrent monstrous oil spill in Nigeria

2010-07-02T00:16:00.000-07:00

"“The company is acting with impunity because there’s nobody holding them to account. Would they dare do the same thing in Europe or the US?” "

Dear friends,

This is an important point in world history. People from all over Africa are thoroughly in support of the team from Ghana, hoping that that productive African nation will win the World Cup. This is exactly the spirit of Pan-Africanism that Drs. W.E.B. DuBois and Kwame Nkrumah, two of the most recognizable original Black leaders to call for a United States of Africa, would have enjoyed. Now, if we can only get the same enthusiasm between African peoples, on all five peopled continents, to give attention to the horrific oil spills that continue to plague Africa without any notice from the Western media, including the USA with its “black” president.

We now have a great chance to connect, worldwide, with the Internet. Why not put pressure on Exxon/Mobil, a huge North American oil company, so that it is as isolated as BP?

On the link below, our Nigerian brothers and sisters at SaharaReporters.com provide us with an update of the current deadly spill that is spewing oil in the Niger Delta.

Long live African peoples – here and abroad!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.saharareporters.com/real-news/sr-headlines/6394-exxonmobil-nigerian-officials-blamed-for-akwa-ibom-spills.html

Dr. Barbara Love on Frederick Douglass' famous July 4th speech, 1852 (originally posted July 4th, 2008)

2010-07-02T00:10:00.000-07:00

"Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) was the best known and most influential African American leader of the 1800s..."

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) was the best known and most influential African American leader of the 1800s. He was born a slave in Maryland but managed to escape to the North in 1838. He traveled to Massachusetts and settled in New Bedford, working as a laborer to support himself. In 1841, he attended a convention of the Massachusetts Antislavery Society and quickly came to the attention of its members, eventually becoming a leading figure in the New England antislavery movement...

In 1845, Douglass published his autobiography, "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave." With the revelation that he was an escaped slave, Douglass became fearful of possible re-enslavement and fled to Great Britain and stayed there for two years, giving lectures in support of the antislavery movement in America. With the assistance of English Quakers, Douglass raised enough money to buy his own his freedom and in 1847 he returned to America as a free man.

He settled in Rochester, New York, where he published The North Star, an abolitionist newspaper. He directed the local underground railroad which smuggled escaped slaves into Canada and also worked to end racial segregation in Rochester's public schools.

In 1852, the leading citizens of Rochester asked Douglass to give a speech as part of their Fourth of July celebrations. Douglass accepted their invitation.

In his speech, however, Douglass delivered a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of a nation celebrating freedom and independence with speeches, parades and platitudes, while, within its borders, nearly four million humans were being kept as slaves.

Liberation,
Barbara J. Love

Social Justice Education
SOE, UMASS, Amherst
******************************************

Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you, that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation (Babylon) whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin.

Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!"

To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.

My subject, then, fellow citizens, is "American Slavery." I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing here, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July.

Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity, which is outraged, in the name of liberty, which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery -- the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate - I will not excuse." I will use the severest language I can command, and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slave-holder, shall not confess to be right and just.

But I fancy I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother Abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more and denounce less, would you persuade more and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slave-holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment.

What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments, forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man!

For the present it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver, and gold; that while we are reading, writing, and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants, and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; that we are engaged in all the enterprises common to other men -- digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave -- we are called upon to prove that we are men?

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? How should I look today in the presence of Americans, dividing and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do so would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

What! Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? No - I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.

What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman cannot be divine. Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may - I cannot. The time for such argument is past.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.

What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.

Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

Frederick Douglass - July 4, 1852 -

BP is spilling in the Gulf, Exxon/Mobil is doing just that, right now, in Nigeria - only worse!

2010-06-30T00:05:00.000-07:00

"“It is a paradox that the current oil spill in the Mexican Gulf is attracting so much outcry from the American public and leadership but an American oil company is doing worse damage and poisoning the lives of hundreds of millions of Nigerians who depend on fish as the cheapest source of protein and nobody is talking about it...” - Rev. Samuel Ayadi

Dear friends,

For all of the hype about British Petroleum's oil spill in the Gulf, why is it that we have not heard a peep about US compabies like Shell, in the recent past, as well as Exxon/Mobil - a company that is currently responsible for a great oil spill in Nigeria that's going on at this very moment. Moreover, why are North Americans so perturbed about what's happening in the Gulf, while US companues ravage Africa soil and cause vast amounts of deaths from oil polution?

As one man said jusr last month, "The oil companies just ignore it. The lawmakers do not care and people must live with pollution daily. The situation is now worse than it was 30 years ago. Nothing is changing. When I see the efforts that are being made in the US I feel a great sense of sadness at the double standards. What they do in the US or in Europe is very different...We see frantic efforts being made to stop the spill in the US," said Nnimo Bassey, Nigerian head of Friends of the Earth International.

Another Nigerian man, Beb Ikari, a member of the Ogoni people said, "But in Nigeria, oil companies largely ignore their spills, cover them up and destroy people's livelihood and environments. The Gulf spill can be seen as a metaphor for what is happening daily in the oilfields of Nigeria and other parts of Africa." (see "Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it." ( see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/oil-spills-nigeria-niger-delta-shell ) As I wrote earlier this month on a blog post called "Yes, Marvin sang "Mercy, Mercy, Me", but it's not just about BP (originally posted 6/10/10)"

Still, what is even worse, regarding all of this mess is: there's never any consideration, much less talk, about cleaning up spills around Africa, whenever or wherever they occur. What's that all about?

In any case, please peruse an article from the very reputable Nigerian Website called SaharaReporters.com on the link that is directly below my name..

Long live African peoples - here and abroad!!!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.saharareporters.com/real-news/frontpage-slideshow/6244-exxonmobil-oil-spill-in-niger-delta-exposes-nigerians-to-poisoned-fish.html

National Black Theatre of Action Arts NYC event!!!

2010-06-30T00:03:00.000-07:00

" Fertile Ground" An Original Artist Showcase

EVERY 2ND THURSDAY OF EACH MONTH
8pm-11pm $10.00
http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103462928380&s=6492&e=001zBzDkiIUgFNUKV-DhoLsUj2m62SF5pRO9QiUr3LnTTLrVS_1lK6OI_4MP58LtxSx2NzfnhbyCiNn07S5BzVb2HxZ0wsZ2Hyb4KQFTij8prsm5NBNrJNx8bLTQexA8ZB_
1-800-838-3006
On these special evenings,
YOU - the audience have an opportunity to witness
and participate in new artists presenting original material

We Need Sexual Liberation for all, NOT "Gay" Liberation for a few

2010-06-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

“Moreover, and paradoxically, the “spirit” of sexism - the euphemism for Male Supremacy, is male homosexuality.”

Dear friends,

The “Gay” Liberation Movement which was endorsed first, on a national level, by the Black Panther Party, as I remember, around the early spring of 1971, today, is not the same movement, by any stretch of the imagination, as the one that we supported back then. Likewise, neither is its Feminist counterpart that would officially establish itself as a force, much to the dismay of many, if not most, men, during the summer of 1971, when Black activists like Fannie Lou Hamer, Myrlie Evers, and U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm, along with others like Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and Bella Abzug founded the National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC). We (the BPP) vigorously supported that group just mentioned, as well.

Unfortunately, the leadership of both the “Gay” and Feminist movements in this country started “digressing” as opposed to “progressing”, within a couple of years, after losing their control to, for the most part, mean-spirited European American women, calling themselves “lesbians”, whose agenda had nothing to do with liberating anyone.

Oddly enough, it has been the specter of Male Supremacy that has been at the heart of these two movements becoming mis-directed away from “liberation”, and, instead, being trivialized as, for instance, with women - “equal pay for equal work” - and for so-called “gays”, gay marriage.

Moreover, and paradoxically, the “spirit” of sexism - the euphemism for Male Supremacy, is male homosexuality. Therefore, at least to me, it is, at best, insincere for either gay men or lesbians to proclaim to be sharing similar paths, let alone goals. If that’s not true, then why is that, perhaps, the most common lament by gay guys is: I don’t trust anything that bleeds for a week and doesn’t die.

Additionally, whereas the original Feminist Movement confronted Male Supremacy head on, the earlier-mentioned “lesbians” usurped that movement, as well as the Gay Liberation one, long ago. Then, they distanced themselves from the large presence of the African American pioneers who were mentioned earlier and their sisters - great artists/educators like Barbara Love, Nicki Mathis, Toni Cade Bambara, Sonya Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde, hundreds of Panther sisters, and so many others. Does anyone hear White Supremacy?

Likewise, instead of strengthening the recognition of the need for all of us to have sexual freedom, the Gay Liberation Movement became the Gay Rights Movement and ceased to recognize the relationship between the various cultural institutions in our country such as those of religion, the media, and our schools, in relation to how they tie in with the overwhelming majority of Americans being sexual repressed (especially those who call themselves “homosexual”).

Considering all that has been mentioned thus far, both movements have become little more than silly petty-bourgeois causes that do not recognize the fact that it is, essentially, the lack of appreciation for our very “human” identity as sexual beings that allows females to be treated, in a variety of ways, that males would never accept for themselves.

As a matter of fact, it is the disallowing of the right of females to be fully human, due to the fact that , from birth, for the most part, their own female elders brainwash them into believing their destinies are best served in relation to how skilled they are at deferring to equally brainwashed males (who have so foolishly deluded themselves into thinking that they are "superior" to anyone or anything) that is the cause of this whole situation. That’s the real deal! It is not simply a matter of demanding “equal pay for equal work”.

Proof: Named Steve Harvey, an African American, semi-literate, self-hating buffoon who makes Steppinfetchit look like Malcolm X, recently had a best-selling book called “Act like a Lady-Think like a Man”. Ouch!

The worst part of all that just mentioned is: both African- and European American women purchased such idiocy. [It’s funny. I doubt that any reputable publisher would have let a European American male have a book with such a disgusting title.] Moreover, I remember, during the Black Consciousness Era (roughly 1965 - 85), when speaking to Black men who had just arrived in the North from the South, it was not uncommon to hear such fellows advise, “Man, you gotta think like the white man.” Not to put any brothers from the South in the same category, Harvey, obviously of the same pedigree as those aforementioned Black men, somehow, saw a similar solution for all women. Wow!

At any rate, issues like abortion are only given recognition in the context of anti- and pro-, because women are not considered to be sexual beings - as men are. Worse yet, and unfortunately, in their intelligent response of feeling resentment towards Male Supremacy, far too many women, especially middle-aged European American ones, feeling that they are no longer part of the personality market, conveniently, have declared themselves to be “lesbians”, a totally reactionary stance against human progress that has nothing to do with sexuality, much less liberation.

In fact, I have found few things more humorous, but pathetic, than to see female European American Octogenarians holding signs at so-called “Pride” parades that announce: I am a lesbian. What? Huh? When was the last time that that person had sex with someone else, of either gender?

I’ll write more about this topic soon.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus

Should Boy Scouts ban "gay" troop leaders?

2010-06-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Ultimately, nonetheless, avoiding any dialogue what-so-ever, the argument of many “gays” deteriorates to, “I’m just gay…that’s all to it!” At least to me, the question for which that declaration then begs is, “How can a proposition be proof of itself?”

Dear friends,

Very recently, there has been a lot of controversy in Philadelphia, regarding the city government’s decision to renege on its decades-old promise and practice to provide a rent-free building to the local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America, because the legendary organization has banned openly “gay” troop leaders (which is against newly-legislated city discrimination laws).

I wrote a letter to the editor, in response to a brilliant piece that was written by Philadelphia Daily News journalist Christine Flowers about this issue. My letter has been published; however, a few important points were edited out. Therefore, below, you will find the original letter, while on the link below it, you will find the published version.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
****************************
Dear Editor:

Christine Flower’s thoughtful piece called, “Philadelphia’s odd case against the Boy Scouts”, posted 6/18/10, reveals a disturbing practice by our city government to acknowledge a group of “gay activists” that appears to be ignoring the actual fact that homosexual relationships are no less based upon power and sexual greed than heterosexual ones. Yet, when do we hear heterosexuals establishing themselves as a distinct group based upon the ability to walk around pronouncing unproven claims about with whom they’re having sex? So what kind of guidance should we provide to our youth, so that they can replace us in the future?

One of the real dilemmas of a society that is socially-stratified such as ours, lies in the fact that a person can be a member of an oppressor group and an oppressed group, simultaneously. This was adequately proven, with the Clarence Thomas - Anita Hill debacle.

Let’s face it; except for African American women, but not limited to them, particularly women who call themselves "white", are oppressed as women, but, also, serve as oppressors, as part of the artificial "majority" group that calls itself "white".

Therefore, the attempt by some of these same “white” women to form an artificial "minority" group, by calling themselves "lesbians" or having “white” men calling themselves “gay” for the same purpose is disingenuous - at best.

Besides, what difference does a person's skin color, gender, or any other "orientation" make, if once you are with the person to whom you claim to be oriented, either you wish that you weren't there - or he or she wishes the same? Is anyone “oriented” to be with anyone else? That’s silly.

Well, is there a “sexual preference”? Actually, we already have a name for people like that. We call them rapists. In other words, some amount of mutual consent must be involved between parties. One does not have sex with whomever he or she prefers.

Ultimately, nonetheless, avoiding any dialogue what-so-ever, the argument of many “gays” deteriorates to, “I’m just gay…that’s all to it!” At least to me, the question for which that declaration then begs is, “How can a proposition be proof of itself?”

So-called “gay activists” undermine the real notion of citizens’ rights, when they attempt to re-invent themselves as a distinct population group. Moreover, Flowers hit the nail right on the head, when she insists about city officials and their cohorts engaged in this heartless move to evict children and their mentors from a city-owned property, “They need to get a better answer. Or maybe a conscience.” for discontinuing support for the Boy Scouts of America, a wonderful, life-enhancing group to which my five brothers and I belonged, many decades ago.

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20100624_Letters__The_Boy_Scout_case_has_oppressors_and_the_oppressed.html

The late, great Curtis Mayfield still reminds us....

2010-06-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

"Fathers and Mothers should remember what the great Curtis Mayfield sang, "Keep on keepin' on" "

Dear friends,

During the era of the Black Consciousness Movement (@1965-1985), at least to me, there was not one other popular artist who was more consistent and prolific with songs of inspiration and love , specifically, for African American people than Curtis Mayfield. Bar none. And I'm not intending to trivialize all of the great work from artists like Gil Scott-Heron, Elaine Brown (of the Black Panther Party), or Stevie Wonder.

In any case, from songs like "People Get Ready", "Amen":, and "We're a Winner" while being the lead songwriter and vocalist for the Impressions to his debut solo album, to "Roots", then "Superfly", all the way to the soundtracks of both "Claudine", performed by Gladys Knifgt and the Pips, as well as "Sparkle", perfprmed by Aretha Franklin, to "Thee's No Place LIke America", Curtis Mayfield served as one of the finest artists, of any cultural group, ever.

On the link below, I'd like to share one of his manu memorable works. I found it recently on YouTube.

One Love, One Heart, One Spirit,
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-l91O9VxN0

Sandy Banks on a community-building ceremony

2010-06-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

There’s an African proverb that goes, " To live together is to have a common fate."

Dear friends,

Almost all of the problems in our society are based upon the fact that, generally-speaking, we have no sense of “community” anywhere in this country. This is largely due to the simple fact that: in this market-driven, possession-oriented society of ours, people do not think in terms of “we”.

Now, that notion may sound like a platitude; however, such a seemingly trite proclamation is very necessary, because those who control the “market” make a point to have people think only of themselves, even within their individual households, not just our society at large.

There’s an African proverb that goes, " To live together is to have a common fate." In other words, as a community, in the grand scheme of things, as it were, we need each other, regardless of the extent to which we are physically-able or whatever social differences that we have - like gender and age, for example. But if people, in any specific community, share a common fate, as mentioned earlier, then it only seems fair that all parties involved should have a voice in their destinies. Unfortunately, for all of America’s brave words of "freedom and democracy", when do our children ever experience either of these lofty ideals, particularly, democracy?

What young people actually feel is that they are controlled, having little or no input, regarding decisions that directly affect their existences. That, to be sure, makes them feel powerless.

As a consequence, they become angry and frustrated. Moreover, in their feeling of powerlessness, quite intelligently, they rebel. Yet, the problem with much of the rebellion of our youth, particularly in inner cities is: young folks often protest in ways that are self-destructive. Of course, this is largely due to the types of options available to them.

Consequently, we should no longer ignore the anger and frustration that our youth must necessarily express in a negative way, if we do not provide them with opportunities to make good choices, through positive support.

The participation of our youth, in both the decision-making and application processes of building our communities, will help young people to look inside of themselves and resolve the anger, fear, sadness, and frustration which results from their feeling of powerlessness here-to-mentioned. As well, they will then discover their inner powers, through the personal strength of positive energy and group support.

Mastering skills in most activities, whether for business or pleasure, requires using energy in a positive way, relying upon focus and concentration - each being human powers just as energy itself is. We must help our youth develop these skills. Therefore, for instance, affording young folks educational opportunities through scholarship programs, is a great method for enhancing the progress of our communities.

In any case, with the piece on the link below, through an incredible journalist, Sandy Banks of the Los Angeles Times, we get a chance to have a vicarious experience that shows how each of us can help young people build progressive and productive futures for our communities. Enjoy!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/me-banks15-20100615,0,5203647,full.column

Superstition in Africa - a short video

2010-06-21T00:37:00.000-07:00

"When you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer...Superstition ain't the way." - Stevie Wonder

Dear friends,

The short video on the link below seems very disturbing, in this day and age. Yet, if we look at the behavior of African peoples in the Americas, we can truly understand that "Culture hides more than it reveals". And interestingly enough, what it conceals best, it does so most effectively from its own participants.

In explaining that concept, I always point to the practice of the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, when they placed bombs in soda cans that they then would place on their roadsides, knowing that young, urban Americans of the pre- “Don’t litter” era often played a street game called"Kick the can". As a result, a lot of American soldiers lost their feet and other parts of their lower limbs. The Viet Cong fully understood the quote mentioned above.

At any rate, while this video by the New York Times, a story about an Albino population in an African territory, tries to put a racial slant on the topic, wih it's use of the terms "black" and "white", the real problem is: an unwillingness for African peoples to let go of so many superstitions that we've carried on for far too long.

We must learn to confront our fears, inadequacies, and insecurities, so that we can relate to each other and all that is around us, in a more thoughtful way, as opposed to surrendering to our aforementioned inadequacies and unexplainable “feelings”, in order to enhance our conditions of life. That was exactly what our ancestors had to, literally, fight to do, in order to gain freedom from chattel slavery (i.e., those of our ancestors who weren't slavemasters themselves in the antebellum South).

G. Djata Bumpus
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/06/06/world/1194817478108/albino-killings-in-tanzania.html

Michael Baisden's "Million Mentors" national tour - Worthwhile or Worthless?

2010-06-17T06:37:00.001-07:00

"“You gotta tell the children the truth. They don’t need a whole lot o’ lies…‘cause one of these days, baby, they’ll be runnin’ things, so when you give ‘em love, you betta give it right…woman and child, man and wife, the best love to have is the love of life.,,pass it on.” – Jimi Hendrix"

Dear friends,

The present on-again, off-again national tour for a “million mentors” that is being sponsored by radio personality Michael Baisden about recruiting men to "mentor", especially, African American male youth in America is, obviously, well-intended. Yet, aside from signing up a bunch of “men”, is there really a plan?

That is, what type of “role models” should the aforementioned youth admire and aspire to replicate? For example, should they be like either Tyler Perry or his alter ego “Madea”? Or, perhaps, they can mimic another self-hating “comedian” named Steve Harvey who tells so-called “jokes” like, "I know a woman who is so black that when she puts on a yellow dress, she looks like a traffic light.” Moreover, what good is “mentoring”, if it has nothing to do with helping youngsters appreciate the inner powers of mental and physical stamina (i.e., energy), so that they can strengthen their communities?

Clearly, this whole state of affairs requires us to address the inadequacies and insecurities that hinder us from developing, honing, and maintaining those inner strengths/powers mentioned above - throughout life.

To be sure, most people are not even aware of their inner powers. Instead, they relinquish such strengths, in order to embrace the cuddly pillows of external authorities such as “public opinion”, “common sense”, or the world-ruling personality called “God”.

Nevertheless, how does recognizing one’s inner powers provide him or her with a vision that will be beneficial to the community? And what relevance does that vision just mentioned have to both the proliferation and continued evolutionary growth of the community? Additionally, since a realizable vision demands having a plan for the future, will that foresight foster rational faith and hope. And, most of all, will the young charges learn to practice love as an “act of being” that is geared towards other people, along with things like their studies, their work, and all that comprises enhancing the progress of their communities, as opposed to practicing love as the passive and sentimental “state of being” that silly Hollywood tv and movie productions and countless cheap popular songs on the radio portray?

Of course, none of this means very much to a young person, because only after experiencing many favorable and unfavorable circumstances during life’s journey will they be able to understand and appreciate the necessity of planning ahead, so that they can somewhat control their destinies.

That’s why it’s so important that parents. school teachers, and all other adults who come into contact with young people make sure that young folks have regular experiences with success. That will give them confidence. And, as we already know: confidence gives self-esteem a place to grow.

To be sure, there is a generation raising children that is so steeped in this possession-oriented culture that ideas of community, and so forth, represent the folklore of generations past. Additionally, it is hard to steer the imagination towards humanity, community, and the common good in a society that holds individualism as paramount. Individualism has its place, but given too much emphasis, it can encourage greed, selfishness and petty materialism, creating serious identity problems along the way. For instance, there already exists a vulgar mimicry of genuine individualism that has young African American males wearing pigtails, earrings in each ear, along with placing jewelry and tattoos at bizarre points on their bodies.

This all, of course, relates to the industry created by the so-called "hip-hop" genre of music which a genuinely accomplished musician, Wynton Marsalis, and a noted journalist and music critic, Stanley Crouch, have so adequately labeled hip-hop as being nothing more than "buffoon minstrelsy".

Initially, rap music had a revolutionary potential, with lyrics, by groups like Public Enemy, which sought to articulate the social conditions of urban youth. Unfortunately, before long, greedy record companies convinced equally greedy young folks to produce recordings without using either musical instruments or dignified lyrics (with the latter still calling what they produce "music", mind you).

Some of these new "recordings" focused on the childish narcissism and selfishness in which people with low self-esteem engage, as they try to convince themselves that they have worth. Others, mostly young African American males, attempted to gain their self-worth at the expense of others, using sexual infidelity and violence as proof of their manhood, in their "lyrics". None of these behaviors has been abandoned by either the so-called artists or record distributors of the "hip-hop" industry , as of this writing. Thus, for the most part, the revolutionary potential mentioned above has all but dissolved, except for, perhaps, a very tiny group of independents (mostly called "underground").

Several years ago, on C-Span, I saw Lerone Bennett Jr., the great historian, speaking at an academic conference of some sort about his dismay with our young Black "rappers" and their "fans" who are calling their mothers, aunts, sisters, daughters, and cousins "bitches and hoes". No other cultural group does that in the whole world, be it the entire music industry or the general public - only African Americans. This brings us back to the issue of self-hatred, as in the case of Tyler Perry and Steve Harvey. Worse yet, the so-called hip-hop moguls who receive so much publicity these days are no different than the Black slavemasters of the ante-bellum South. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to suggest that the former are the "spiritual" descendants of the latter.

Nevertheless, connecting to institutions where youth already participate, rather than trying to form new ones, is essential, for any hope of success. Church youth groups, school clubs, athletic teams, specialty learning centers (like boxing, karate, art, trade schools, and so forth), as well as college groups will all have interest in community service on some level, whether for positive publicity or to give concrete application of their principles. Eventually, even gangs could be convinced to act more as social clubs, giving their members a more positive sense of purpose.

By the way, instead of being “anti-gang”, perhaps, we should consider getting gangs to identify with positive behavior, at least, under some circumstances. After all, who would have ever thought that the famous biker gang known as the “Hell’s Angels”, originally out of California, would be connected to philanthropic activities, although their name continues to, sometimes, be connected with criminal activity? Even the infamous Blackstone Rangers of Chicago, at one point, became known for actions other than their violent ones. This can happen with the Crips and Bloods, as well.

Still, for all that has been discussed thus far, the proverbial bottom line is: Capitalism has been so attractive, because it is, thus far, the only type of economy that has afforded total political freedom to its perticipants, as workers. That means that a person can "flip the boss a bird", as it were, and walk away, being "free" to find another opportunity for employment. This was certainly not the case in either slave or feudalistic societies. Socilaist countries do not allow that kind of freedom either, since everyone works for the "State" and, therefore, must work where he or she is assigned, more or less.

The downside of total political freedom for workers within the capitalist political economy is: The "market” then controls all economic and, , social relationships, based upon the notion of "supply and demand", whether for the human commodity - labor, or non-human ones (commodities). Unfortunately, since, the end of World War 1 or so, the "market" has taken control of what we see as culture. As a result, the definition of culture, which historically, has referred to all of the actions by a specific population group, has become anything that the market determines it to be. Consequently, the notions of “youth" culture (clothing, hairstyles, piercing and tattoos, books, magazines with ads sold in them, and so forth), "Hip-hop" culture (drugs, guns, gangs, and so forth), and “gay" culture (weddings, nightclubs, exclusive recreational venues, magazines and newspapers with ads sold in them, and so forth), are, totally, market constructs. Additionally, while there are social constructs like race, age, and gender, for example, those social structures were not created for the appetite of the market. Rather, they serve the purpose of establishing social relationships within that society itself that will allow it (said society) to last for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Still, the idea that a culture can develop without any connection to the past (except its increased availability of consumables) is a contradiction in terms. Hence, the notion of "youth culture", for example, is designed to exploit the vast and seemingly endless energy and enthusiasm of young people. Yet, it seems, at least, to me, that the energy and courage of our youth should, actually, serve the purpose of moving society forward - but only under the guidance of that part of society (parents and other elders) that has both the experience and understanding to recognize the values that maintain both our humanity and spirituality.

Moreover, once the market is allowed to define culture, our only values become those which drive it (the market). For that reason, the mentality needed to function within the market system itself, has a great deal to do with causing the people in this society, for the most part, to not have the ability to act in a loving way towards each other, since it defines people by price or money-name. Hence, terms like low-income and wealthy become the false abstractions, like so many other monikers, that tend to sort out and classify people, then assign said folks to their stations in society and life, with most people never having any real control of their destinies

Therefore, and ultimately, if our youth are to be our future, then it will only happen if we as adults, particularly parents, take the reins of this present culture and provide our children with both an historical and social conscience, and set the example for them, by informing identity through the recognition of the connection between generations and defining human life in a meaningful way (as opposed to basing who they are upon unproven claims, regarding with whom they are having sex, or what "gang colors" they're wearing). That way, our society will benefit from the "leadership" of our youth. As well, the "market" will then be a function of the values of the society and not vice versa.

Let’s face it; culture has no meaning once taken out of the context of a reproductive process. A people who cannot reproduce themselves as a people will cease to exist as a people and become part of something else. This is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. For example, the culture that held Africans in slavery, in this society, could no longer reproduce itself in that form and had to change, because of the well-deserved hostility and resistance it engendered.

In any case, let us stop asking children what they want to be, in the context of what they will possess, when they grow up. Instead, let us ask, what they want to be, regarding their relatedness to others. Let us ask, "How will you help the community when you grow up?" Let us ask, "What kind of work will you do to help people when you grow up?"

So, mentoring has significance, if it reflects a part of the culture of any particular community. However, social constructs like “race” and “gender” obscure opportunities for guiding young people so that they will be able to adequately replace us and prepare the way for those who have yet to come. Besides, what does either skin color or gender have to do with sharing vital information and skills with a young person? Therefore, however well-meaning, a “Million Mentors Tour” is a total waste of energy and valuable resources, unless its purpose is to direct youth towards embracing the notion, with a great sense of love, that they have a vested interest in building their communities for themselves and all of those who will follow them. Dig?

One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus

Yes, Marvin sang "Mercy, Mercy, Me", but it's not just about BP (originally posted 6/10/10)

2010-06-17T00:57:00.000-07:00

"Oh, Mercy, Mercy, Me, aw, things ain't what they used to be...nah, nah, oil wasted on the oceans and upon our seas..."

Dear friends,

Currently, each “analyst” seems to plagiarize the previous one. Blather about whose fault it is - and whether President Obama’s present level of popularity will suffer in his inevitable re-election bid - does not change the reality that far too many adults in this nation have more concern about four female airheads going to Morocco and showing off their trinkets and baubles in the movie “Sex and the City” than the damage that has been done to the eco-system in and around the Gulf of Mexico due to the now-infamous oil spill attributed to British Petroleum (BP).

Even worse, many Republicans seem more concerned about when “the drilling” will start again, as opposed to helping to figure out how we all can help clean up this mess.

Consequently, for the most part, what is currently being delivered by the mainstream media, regarding this topic, is nothing more than a series of false abstractions that serve more to hoodwink people than to inform them. After all, at least to me, the real question is: If it wasn’t BP, then would it not have been, say, Exxon/Mobil, for example - or some other company to have created such a disaster? Personally, for me, as someone who has been in the boxing game for the past four decades, singling out BP for the oil spill is like people who point fingers at boxing promoter Don King, when most boxing promoters are no less indecent – and many are far worse. Imagine that!

Nevertheless, the callous destruction of both land and sea by multinational corporations is, of course, preceded by the same type of environmental devastation that started with the sheep walks in Europe, several centuries ago. Moreover, between the International Slave Trade that started about one thousands years ago between Eastern Europeans and Arabs, before deteriorating into the Atlantic Slave Trading Operations that brought Africa a Holocaust that has yet to end, as well as both the murder, kidnapping, and rape of persons and their land throughout Europe that forced the aforementioned persons to flee to cities and find a minimal subsistence in factories, then on top of that serve as the buyers of the commodities that they just produced in those factories, the true history of our current political economy (capitalism) or process of social reproduction, as it were, is mired in, as it has been said, “Blood, sweat, and fire!”.

Moreover, greed, has been the chief motivator for continuing this process mentioned above, while, simultaneously, ignoring anything other than the present. Hence, greed is always short-sighted. The current BP debacle is adequate proof, let alone the world financial crisis that has been caused by the greed of both multinational corporations and banks.

So why BP? Where are the questions regarding multinational corporations and banks, with their lack of respect of and concern for the territories that they exploit, whether with land – when they constantly overproduce everything from crops to cows and pigs, or at sea – with the over-fishing, oil spills, travel boats, and the dumping of toxic wastes? And what about the politicians and agencies in our own US government who collude with the firms just mentioned?

Let’s keep it real, folks. We need to change our existing system of making value judgments, instead of pointing fingers at anyone. Dig?

At any rate, on the link below, is a video that has Marvin’s classic song about the death of our environment.

One Love One Heart, One Spirit,
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WxgeYXCjM8

Obama wins Sojourner Truth's vote (originally posted 9/18/08)

2010-06-13T00:05:00.000-07:00

by Rev. Valda Jean Combs

The post-primary polling data out of Kentucky has been hitting us with the central message that race strongly factored into Senator Hillary Clinton's lopsided victory there. So now, as the race cards are spread right out there on the national table, I have a question: Does anyone still wonder why so many Black women are going for Senator Barack Obama?

Some of Clinton's backers, this campaign season, have tried to make a vote for their candidate seem like a vote for all women. Younger women drawn to Obama's message of change have demurred. So have peace activist women horrified by Clinton's vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq. Black women also have our own reasons— rooted in the history of this country and the two waves of women's rights activism—to make another choice. And, I'd like to talk about that. But first, let me make it plain that my support of Barack Obama is not a failure to understand the damage patriarchy has done to our community. Instead, it's an intentional embrace of a brother who eschews paternalism and who himself embraces community.

This contrasts with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Both have marginalized Obama at different times with statements such as: "He gives good speeches," "he's not electable," "he's another Jesse Jackson" and most recently "hard working whites support me." It's an encoded drumbeat that spreads the message that Obama is "not like us."

Rather than challenge racism, the Clintons have affirmed those for whom race is a barrier to supporting a Black Democratic nominee. In their quest for the White House, the Clintons have sacrificed the Black vote and the Black loyalty that helped to put Bill Clinton in office. We have a saying in my community: "It is a sorry child who forgets those who helped them along the way."

At the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in 1851, Sojourner Truth, an emancipated slave, posed a defiant question to white men and women when she asked, "Ain't I a woman?"

Sister Sojourner spoke out despite the pleas of white female suffragists who thought that demanding the vote for former slaves would doom their cause to failure. Sojourner felt then, as I do, what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called "the fierce urgency of now."

But, the dialogue she sought did not occur. Sojourner's place was to speak when she was asked, and to sit down and shut up when her agenda diverged from that of her suffragist sisters. Sister Sojourner experienced sexism, but it was racism that caused her children to be sold away and racism that forced her to plow the fields like a man.

When Black women press for inclusion, white women have historically been hard of hearing. As a result, far from viewing white women as partners in the struggle, women of color have the historical knowledge of white women in partnership with their men as oppressors.

Slavery left a sour taste in the mouths of Black women whose forebears suckled and nurtured white children while their own children were neglected or sold away. Slavery bred antipathy between the Black slave woman forced to endure rape at the hands of the white male slave owner and mistreatment at the hands of the white female slave owner. And, then there were the Black men lynched, murdered and prosecuted based on false accusations by white women.

While leading feminists often acknowledge this historical truth, this acknowledgement did not equal inclusion. Women of color fought alongside white feminists in the 1970s and 1980s, but found our perspective elbowed aside; our loyalty taken for granted.

Feminism's almost exclusive focus on the worth of woman's work outside the home was a non-issue for Black women who worked inside and outside the home and whose work was devalued in both realms.

But, when we raised the problematic irony of women of color working outside their own homes in the homes of white women—where they were paid low wages with no benefits—this was often lost on white feminists. They seemed more riveted on breaking down the gender barriers to elite schools and high-paying professions.

Feminism could not, or would not, grasp the loyalty of Black women to a patriarchal church that has marginalized and sometimes oppressed us; our insistence that we will not leave our men behind; and a moral vision, borne out of oppression, that seeks a just society for all humanity, with equal opportunities and rights for all groups. Ain't I a woman?"

Out of that demand grew the movement we call "womanism," a term that Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Alice Walker coined in the introduction to her 1983 book, In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose.

Womanism recognizes that—at least for now—only Black women can articulate the complex nature of our history, our theology, our community, our voice and the fierce power of our love.

Implicit in that love is the embrace of church, family and women, but also our men. For women who experience oppression more intensely, we require a more intense liberation movement.

Finally, while feminism places priority on women, womanism places priority on the collective whole. While feminism speaks to sexism, womanism speaks to sexism, racism, classism and ethnocentrism. As an end note to her definition of womanism, Walker writes, "Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender," an acknowledgement that womanism expands the parameters of white feminism to include issues important to women of color and women in poverty.

My support for Obama is a repudiation of the politics that have reigned supreme since Sojourner Truth, a politics that says my dream must wait until someone else's has been realized.

Obama stands for the proposition that we can go forward together, as one. This is what my 94-year-old grandmother and her 84-year-old sister have prayed for, stood for and hoped for. The fierce urgency of now is up against the fierce arrogance of now.

Black women supporting Obama now dare to believe that change can come in our time. A change that offers our boys hope that they, too, can become president; a change that offers our community hope that Black families can survive and thrive; and change that says out of oppression can come liberation for not just some of us, but all of us. If we have learned anything from Sister Sojourner, it is that we must speak now, for we are women too.

Permission to reprint this article was given by Valda Jean Combs and Womens enews.

Valda Jean Combs is a pastor in the United Methodist Church, an ordained Baptist minister and licensed attorney. Combs heads Full Proof HIV Ministry, an organization that educates, raises awareness and combats stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in faith institutions.

Video feature with Glen Loury on Obama (originally posted 11/21/08)

2010-06-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

That term, "underclass", I contended was an impossible description of people who lived in a class society. In other words, to be "under" a class, as it were, is to suggest that one is living in a society that has no classes. Moreover, the term contradicts itself, since, in our society, everyone belongs to some economic class. Eventually, after a brief debate, Glen agreed with me

************************************
Dear friends,

Back in 1995, while writing a book review for the now-defunct, but highly worthy magazine, African Commentary, I interviewed Glen Loury. At the time, after an unfortunate occurrence in his personal life, Professor Loury stopped teaching at Harvard University and went across the Charles River to Boston University, another great school.

In any case, during the interview, we segued from the topic of the book that I was reviewing, for a moment, because I wanted to discuss a term that he had popularized during the Reagan Era which was commonly bandied about by journalists and other such pundits. That term, "underclass", I contended was an impossible description of people who lived in a class society. In other words, to be "under" a class, as it were, is to suggest that one is living in a society that has no classes. Moreover, the term contradicts itself, since, in our society, everyone belongs to some economic class. Eventually, after brief discourse, Glen agreed with me.

I found that more than noble of him. After all, the level of plagiarism and other kinds of dishonesty has become such a part of American academia, even among African American scholars now, that I was pleasantly astonished. It is for that reason that when I saw the brief video on the link below, from the New York Times, I had to share it. Enjoy!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/11/14/opinion/1194832958030/bloggingheads-is-real-change-here.html

Education and disturbing Job ads

2010-06-10T00:59:00.000-07:00

“The other day, I saw a post on a friend's Facebook page that, at least to me, pointed out a real contradiction between the cries of many politicians for ‘education reform’ and ‘employment opportunities’. “

Dear friends,

The other day, I saw a post on a friend's Facebook page that, at least to me, pointed out a real contradiction between the cries of many politicians for “education reform” and “employment opportunities”.

The article was about employment ads that, basically, state: unemployed applicants will not be considered.

In other words, many employers are telling people who are out of work, for whatever reasons, that folks who are unemployed need not bother applying for the aforementioned employers’ jobs.

Now, actually, it had always been my experience that employers normally hire those who already have a job anyway. Therefore, I didn't understand why folks, including the author of the article, were so shocked about a practice that has always existed.

At any rate, apparently, in these Tea Party days, employers have "come out of the closet", as it were, and are stating publicly, “Get lost!” to millions of people.

Nevertheless, with all of the phony talk and legislation about
“No child left behind", isn't it funny that, for example, young people who have diligently gone and gotten their education, in hopes of contributing to the commonweal and being compensated for it, so that they can continue to share their skills with the rest of society, are locked out from the git-go? In other words, what’s the point of pretentious laws and statutes like the under-funded "No child left behind", if eager job applicants are discriminated against when they try to get opportunities to reveal the inner, personal powers that they enhanced through their education?

Yet, interestingly enough, the same politicians who say that they want "education reform" are happy to see these spurned job-seekers just mentioned go to war and defend the property rights of these pols’ sponsors (multi-national corporations and other big businesses). Also, you can bet on it that those same discriminating employers second the motion by politicians hat young people be fodder for the former’s benefit. Go figure.

Check out the article on the link below.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/04/disturbing-job-ads-the-un_n_600665.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=997897,b=facebook

International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, CT, Wednesday 16 June 1:45 pm

2010-06-10T00:52:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 16 June 1:45 pm
International Festival of Arts & Ideas
Come and see Texas native, Nicki Mathis, with her innovative ideas, effervescent classic performance style, & selection of original material, as well as jazz standards reflect her ties to Africa as well as Mexico
& Brazil. Children are invited to sing, dance, clap their hands,
tap their feet, & keep the beat as Mathis returns to the Festival
w/Joey, Paulette, Lynn Tracey on Family Stage Series
Elm Street Stage.New Haven Green 203.498.2715
FREE GLOBAL MUSIC
http://www.artidea.org/event.php?id=310
***************************************************************************** Che
Check outNick Mathis' Itapuã on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jKR0c0qK_w&feature=related (btw, this short video is a very good piece to which you should listen - Djata)

"Ebony Woman" by Nicki Mathis - a poem (originally posted 3/31/10)

2010-06-10T00:46:00.000-07:00

"I wrote this in 1986, as a tribute to Black Women"

"EBONY WOMAN"
by Nicky Mathis

Beautiful are your eyes
Strong, creative, and tender
are your hands
Spiritual is the heart
of my Black sisters

Your eyes are the eyes of the world
Sparkling in the sunlight
Glowing in the moonlight
Girl, I see you dancing in the twilight

Your hands are the hands that weave webs of life's mysteries
Place me in your stories
Taste the nectar of your love
Bear the fruit of your trees

Sing a song of love and praise
Your adventurous spirit is ageless
You leave me more than misty haze
For my song of love and praise
You foretell all the mazes
To make my life's mirror
So much clearer

I told you about my first love affair
This time before I wake
Listen to my dreamlife without care
And my last heartbreak

My courageous sisters
You cheered me on
You ran this race before me
You taught the lesson so well
You left a priceless legacy
You loved the world enough to tell
All the time you showed me
I can choose not to fail

Now it’s your brilliance
That I bask in
You breathe the breath of life
And it’s I who’s asking
To see the mold that you’re casting
It’s everlasting, everlasting, everlasting

And ever beautiful
You’re the richest of all my treasures
Or how else can I measure
What my life is meant to be
You have made me see
The Universe in me

So I sing my love song to you
I need to be with you girl
I’m so lost without you, and you, and you
My mother you are beautiful
Sister you are beautiful
My love and my friend
You are beautiful

An interview/discussion with legendary jazz singer/bandleader Nicki Mathis (originally posted March 31, 2010)

2010-06-10T00:40:00.000-07:00

"I'm interested in singing songs about my family, my people, the motherland, joy, happiness..."

Djata: Nicki, I must first say that it's an honor for me to be having this discourse with you. At any rate, from where did the lyrics come in your early years and how have they evolved?

Nicki: Thanks, Djata. For the first lyrics I wrote to my 1st jazz pianist's Sabrina, the words came from the real story; Sabrina was his & his wife's 1st born, and the story came from a collection of words I thought told how he must have felt about her beauty, his responsibility to protect her, his wishes for her happiness in life. His music was/is so beautiful, I wanted to sing along, so I wrote words.

For the 1st music & lyrics I wrote for Make Some Kind of Magic, it came from a comment I made to a poet who had signed me to sing accapella on her poetry show- something I don't know how to do performance-wise - I ended up telling her, don't worry, we'll make some kind of magic. When I heard the words out my mouth, I thought, “Hmmmm…that sounds like a song”. I proceeded to put notes to the cadence of the words, and told the story of my first trip to Africa. Usually, a phrase, or a scene will conjure up a story, then I have to find melody to match words.

Djata: You’ve told me that when you do a song, you have to like the story. What do you mean by that?

Nicki: I'm interested in singing songs about my family, my people, the motherland, joy, happiness. I'm not interested in singing sad, violent songs, songs about people mistreating people.

Djata: You were a single Mom who raised two sons to adulthood. You’ve been involved in music, literally, all of your life. But, Nicki, as a basis for all that you’ve done and still do, I’m curious, at this point in your life, what really makes you tick?

Nicki: Love of life makes me tick; learning makes be happy, I love people, artists, art, nature.

Djata: Is there or are there either benefits or detriments, or both, to being a female performer?

Nicki: I'm still looking for benefits outside of self actualization/fulfillment; gender determents are a way of life. Women are not viewed as equal human beings.

Djata: Do you believe that there is any one thing or are there several things that female artists, of all kinds, can do to help bring humanity to a tangibly higher level where people will be able to relate to each other on many levels, as opposed to so much of the division between cultural groups and sexes that is so prevalent today?

Nicki: Many things can be done to bring humanity to a higher level, go back to kindergarten like behavior, and treat people like we want to be treated with respect and consideration. . Understand that r-a-c-e is a make believe word which means nothing, and immediately stop applying it to reality.

stay tuned…

Another superb interview/discussion w/legendary jazz leader NIcki Mathis (originally posted April 22, 2010)

2010-06-10T00:15:00.000-07:00

"Try to perform with musicians who will also listen to you, know your song's story, and allow you to tell it your way."

Djata: NIcki, exactly what distinguishes jazz singers from other music genres like opera, rhythm and blues, country, and so forth?

NIcki: For me, jazz is in the moment, kind of evolving as it is delivered - free, or at least it's supposed to be; I believe opera is entirely structured, as in note for note the way someone wrote it & doesn't allow for individually inspired changes; rhythm and blues have what it suggests, a different rhythm, and blues, a sort of a wailing of despair, and can be sassy; country, I don't know much about, but I enjoy Willie Nelson, and think he's pretty hip & jazzy at times, and look what Gladys Knight did to Neither One of Us. I think the difference in each is time and feel...soul?

Djata: Do you think that any particular phrasing or texture of a song’s interpretation is gender specific?

NIcki: No. I read that Luther Vandross was inspired by Dionne Warwick; Frank Sinatra's phrasing was inspired by a black female singer who's name escapes me at the moment…

Djata interrupts, “Josephone Baker?”…

NIcki: No, but she was one of Josephine's peers, & not Bricktop. I remember now. Her name was Mable Mercer‏. She was famous in France for many years before she came back to the states, in the late Seventies. She was still thrilling NYC audiences with her delivery from her chair/throne.

Djata: In terms of relating with other musicians, both male and female, in creating music, what is the history of female jazz singers as either members with or leaders of orchestras and groups of whatever size?

NIcki: ...History of female jazz singers? time doesn't permit me to begin to express, but let's just say they were involved every step of the way, but hardly mentioned/recalled - while their male counterparts are. Who knows that in the beginning, Lucile Armstrong played in the band with Louis, and later encouraged him to go out on his own?

Djata: NIcki, is there anything that you would like to say to young females who may be entertaining the idea of being a jazz singer?

NIcki: The same thing Eric Dolphy said to me, Sing everyday. I would add, sing everything, jazz, rhythm and blues, opera, country. . . be conscious of the story you're telling, and listen to yourself. Try to perform with musicians who will also listen to you, know your song's story, and allow you to tell it your way.

please stay tuned…
**********************************
NICKi MATHIS
at
International Women In Jazz Festival Friday 23 April 6pm
Nicki in IWJ Chorus, 7:30 pm
Place: St. Peter's Church, Lexington Av @ E. 54, NYC
Tickets: $25 day; 2-day discount $45 212.560-7553
http://www.blogger.com/www.intenationalwomeninjazz.com

John-Hall on a hero most don't know of...

2010-06-07T00:13:00.000-07:00

"Now, you would think that a historically black college such as Alabama State would act as a safe haven for its students...But a segregationist governor sat on the board of trustees of state-funded institutions."

Dear friends,

On the link below is the documentation of an important historical event that one normally does not see in the newspaper. Nonetheless, Annette John-Hall of the Philadelphia Inquirer, as usual, helps to keep us fresh on African American history as an inspiration to continue moving forward. Enjoy!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/annette_john-hall/20100604_Annette_John-Hall__Phila__man___60s_activist__finally_gets_Ala__degree.html#axzz0q76u2xiF

Bumpus interviews/discusses the present "mess" in Gaza - with a Jewish educator, activist, and scholar (originally posted 1/3/09)

2010-06-03T00:39:00.000-07:00

I am coming to believe that there is a type of zero-sum game of discussion about Palestine and Israel that needs rethinking. Do you know what I mean by this? A half-century or more of Israelis bad/Palestinians good, or Arabs bad/Israelis good rhetoric leaves people nothing to do but react predictably to the latest crisis...

Dear friends,

The current blood-letting that is going on in the Gaza Strip, particularly, should, at least to me, raise questions in all of us, regarding our genuine belief in human freedom, dignity, and justice.

I am honored to begin a series of discussions about the constant mess that represents the life experiences of our brothers and sisters, of all groups, in the Middle East. Neil Zagorin, a brilliant thinker, who has appeared on this blog in the past, brings a wealth of scholarship and goodwill to the dialogue that appears below.

One Love, One Heart, One Spirit!
G. Djata Bumpus
*******************************************
Djata: Neil, in our attempt to bring more clarity to the current view of what is going on in the Middle East generally, how do you think we should approach it? In other words, is it the “terms” of the discussion or the “facts” of same that we need to consider?

Neil: I want to put it out there that our written exchange stems from a meal we shared recently, when there happened to be disturbing news about Israel’s military operation in Gaza. We’re both citizens of the U.S. You’re an African American with family roots in Barbados. I’m an Ashkenazic Jew with family roots in the Czarist Empire. It was the kind of situation in which probing discussion of the Palestinian-Israeli impasse often goes nowhere, yet we shared outrage, dismay, and sadness in many of the same ways. More importantly, we explored areas where we might differ without personal venom, and most importantly, did so while resisting the temptation to resort to dehumanizing narratives about either side, Palestinian or Israeli. I think this is too rare: do you agree?

So, I am coming to believe that there is a type of zero-sum game of discussion about Palestine and Israel that needs rethinking. Do you know what I mean by this? A half-century or more of Israelis bad/Palestinians good, or Arabs bad/Israelis good rhetoric leaves people nothing to do but react predictably to the latest crisis: anti-Israel as usual, anti-Arab/Palestinian as usual, or anti-both as usual. It’s a horrendously complicated situation. Israel is much stronger than the Palestinians, but they’re both small and diverse groups of angry, scared, confused people in a world where small nations – and they’re both small nations – can sway in the wind created by bigger powers.

Djata: Okay. But is calling Israel a small nation in the same context as one does Palestine a false abstraction? Israel does have nuclear weapons, after all. More significantly I must ask, at what point does the government of Israel pull a Nagasaki and Hiroshima, as the US did in becoming a world power?

Neil: Israel is a military giant compared to Palestine, but not compared to the entire Arab world. Don’t forget that Israel has also relied heavily on U.S. support for decades to maintain its tenuous position in the world. So I’ll maintain that Israel is a small country.

I observe that it’s common for critics of Israel to view Israel as some huge monolith that always sets the agenda. For all of Israel’s resolution in pursuing its aims, I challenge you to acknowledge the many ways that efforts by Jews to build a Jewish state have been influenced and conditioned heavily by outside factors. That is,the Ottoman Empireʼs colonial policy allowed Palestinian land to be legally acquired for Jewish settlement in the late nineteenth, early twentieth centuries.

The British and French Empires controlled the Middle East after World War 1, and redrew the map, physically and politically, in ways that endure today. The British Empire made differing promises about Palestine to Jews and Arabs, and, in dissolution after World War 2, dropped the conflict into the lap of the fledgling United Nations. The Nazi campaign to kill Jews, and the world’s reaction to it, had a huge impact on the movement to create a Jewish state. The West and Soviet Bloc both conducted Cold War conflict by proxy in the Middle East.

It’s still an area in which governments and non-governmental actors from abroad support one side or another for financial or political gain. There are governments or movements that support one side or another as minor players in some larger conflict. There are governmental and non-governmental organizations in other places that profit from munitions expended in Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I’m willing to bet that there are smaller and larger military organizations in many places that have some involvement in what’s going on in Gaza to draw lessons for their own use about waging asymmetric warfare. There are governments or movements beside Hamas that anticipate political gain if Hamas continues to lob rockets randomly at Israel to precipitate continued military conflict in which Gazans will suffer the most. Do you think I’m badly wrong in these observations?

As for nukes, they say that Israel has them. If so, I pray they never use them, but I’m a lot more worried about the possibility of nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India.

Djata: I think that what you’re doing here is keeping with the facts, but not with the terms. And that’s fine. Yet, based upon our initial premise, how do we keep the dialogue in "terms" as opposed to "facts", in light of the obvious domination by the Israelis over Palestinians? Additionally, since the violence (rocket launches) of Hamas is mostly symbolic, as are the rocks thrown at both real and imagined planes in the sky, by small Palestinian boys, when does the reality of "moral superiority" defeat the Israelis, regardless of the benefits of this conflict to bigger powers?

Neil: Djata, when thinking of the difference between “terms” and “facts,” I’m thinking of the zero-sum game of judgment that we’re seeing even now. There’s a nightmare occurring in Gaza. Lots of people are quick to point to one side or the other as the villain, forgoing a deeper discussion that this tangled tragedy deserves. By contrast, I think thereʼs responsibility in many places, both in Israel/Palestine and outside. .

In physical confrontation between Palestinians and Israelis, hatred and murderous intent exist on both sides, though I have to reject the stereotyping of either group. In my understanding, Israelis have shed much more Palestinian blood than Palestinians have shed Israeli blood. Am I wrong in thinking this? In trying to find a way forward, this will make reconciliation, if this will ever happen, a complicated as well as painful process. Somewhere along the way, Israel should expect to be judged for the number of casualties it has caused.

I do not agree that Hamas' targeting of Israeli civilians can be entirely categorized as "symbolic". Why launch rockets at Ashkelon when the thousands of Israeli soldiers massed at the borders of Gaza are available as a foe against whom one can symbolically resist with dignity and honor? Yes, part of what's going on is an oppressed people demonstrating its uncompromising resistance to subjugation in the modest ways possible to it. Another part of it is that the spilling of Jewish (not just Israeli) blood as an end in itself beyond national self-determination is one of the goals for many of the militants in Hamas, and analagous groups. Some of these people are real religious zealots, and do not operate within the moral or political framework of the national liberation movements that struggled in many parts of the world for justice and liberation when we were younger.

Justice needs to be achieved in the Middle East. I ain't King Solomon, and I don't know to achieve it, though the two-state solution, with the world insisting, watching, and supporting so that it works in some real way, seems like the way to go. More funerals of Palestinian children will not bring justice. I do not want to believe that most Palestinians, and Arabs and Muslims in a wider sense, as angry as they might be with Israel, would really view more funerals of Jewish children as a triumph. Some of the militants who launch rockets at Israeli cities, when they already have the world's full attention, would. They should be judged accordingly.
None of this is to claim that there is equivalence between the suffering of Gazans and whatever atmosphere of fear Hamas is able to achieve in Israel. I don't think that Israel is morally superior; many of its views, goals, and methods are morally troubling, in my opinion.

Do you think that all of Hamas' views, goals, and methods are really morally superior to those of Israel? Something I'd like us to look at together over the coming months is how Palestinians look at Hamas; I'm getting the sense that it's increasingly not with tremendous pride and pleasure.

Djata: I think that we can discuss solutions in a future discourse. Your points are certainly well-taken. To be sure, we hear a lot about the involvement of the United States with Israel. Some have even called Israel our 51st state. Yet, are there any other countries or bodies who share culpability in the mess that has been proliferating for much of the 20th Century -and beyond, in Palestine/Israel?

Neil: You’re right, we hear a lot about the involvement of the U.S. with Israel, here in the U.S. It follows predictable patterns: either you hear about an admirable bond of solidarity between two good nations, or you hear about a partnership in which the U.S. supports, or is manipulated to support, Israel’s unjust domination of Palestinians.

For our purposes, I’d like to respond to the latter view. In my opinion, Israel should be held accountable for its actions, and this includes an accounting for the current nightmare in Gaza. With that said, I am hesitant to assume that Israel has been and continues to be in confident control of its own destiny.

To those who feel that Israel should bear responsibility for what’s happening in Gaza, I say “you’re right.” I’d say the same thing to those who feel that Hamas should bear responsibility. I want to add to this that responsibility should be borne by those, neither Israeli nor Palestinian, who pursue their own interests in the Middle East without regard to the interests of millions of frightened, despairing people who live between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River.

Djata: Yes, but let us not forget that during the apartheid era in South Africa, the US circumvented restrictions imposed by the UN embargo against South Africa, by funneling both financial and technical assets to apartheid South Africa through Israel – a country that ignored the aforementioned UN sanctions. At any rate, in speaking out for justice for Palestinians, when is it right to acknowledge the failures of their leaders? Likewise, in acknowledging Israel's vulnerabilities, as Western media outlets so commonly do, at some point, is it either proper or improper to recognize Israel’s use of military and political force, as well, such as bombing the homes of Hamas leaders? Israeli leaders are never targeted it seems, after all.

Neil: Defenders of Palestine or Israel acknowledge the moral and political failings of the side they support incidentally, if at all. That’s my observation. More honesty is necessary to bring greater understanding and less dehumanization of both Israelis and Palestinians. That’s my conclusion.

Concerning South Africa and Palestine, Nelson Mandela has made the point of acknowledging the steadfast support of Palestinians during the anti-apartheid struggle. I admire and honor Palestinians for this.

Concerning South Africa and Israel, it’s an anti-Israel orthodoxy to underscore Israel’s role in working with the apartheid regime. Yes, Israel did this, and should answer for it, but we both know that there were many governments world-wide during the apartheid years that paid lip-service to justice while quietly doing business with Pretoria. The Israel-South Africa connection has been of undoubted value to those seeking to present the Palestinian cause to the world, but does continuing to stress it as has been commonly done come into conflict with the spirit of South Africa’s truth and reconciliation process, which seeks honesty and openness about what actually transpired during the apartheid era?

Djata: While apartheid is gone in “code”, unfortunately, a new social uprising has begun there against injustice and impropriety. Nevertheless, it has been a pleasure Neil, as always. Until next time, my final thought is: Militarily-speaking, why do you think that the Bush administration finds it reasonable for the Israeli government to attack the Palestinians in Gaza, when our own government sought no such reprisal, of any kind, against Saudi Arabia, when 19 of their citizens killed thousands of Americans in one day - on 9/11?

Neil: Oil is precious and blood is cheap. I think it’s the responsibility of citizens here in the U.S. to prevent our government from acting as if this is true.

Look, man, this has been great. We’ve been wrangling with some thorny, complicated issues, trying to be moral in our judgments and analysis, without oversimplifying, and without resorting to any of the racist discourses about Arabs and Jews that often poison discussions about the Middle East. To me, that’s heartening.

Djata: Cool, Bro’. Peace.

Where was Rahm Emanuel as Israel attacked and murdered innocent people

2010-06-01T00:35:00.000-07:00

"...why has the Netanyahu administration waited to commit its two most recent unconscionable acts in the full presence of a high level US official?

Dear friends,

The online newspaper article read, “Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed regret after at least nine people died when troops stormed ships trying to break the Gaza blockade. But he said soldiers had been defending themselves after they were ‘clubbed, beaten and stabbed’ ." Huh?

Get this. Israeli troops were sliding down ropes from a helicopter onto a ship full of civilians who were carrying humanitarian aid supplies to the Gaza Strip, then these same rope-descending marauders began shooting firearms, and BiBi (Netanyahu) wonders why people resisted their massacre with only sticks and clubs. Go figure.

Meanwhile, Gerald Seib of the WSJ just wrote, “Two weeks ago, the president met with 37 Jewish Democrats in Congress and told them that he had spent more time one-on-one with Mr. Netanyahu than any other world leader, and that ties were solid. Geib follows by mentioning that “Israel apologized for embarrassing Vice President Joe Biden by announcing more East Jerusalem construction just as Mr. Biden was visiting.”

Excuse me, Mr. Geib. Where's Rahm Emanuel, Obama’ Chief of Staff who is the son of one of Israel's pioneers/invaders of Palestine? Wasn’t he in Israel, as the slaughter occurred? It was announced only a few days ago that he was. I wondered why he was there, when I first heard about it. Now this. By the way, is Mr. Emanuel looking for an apology too, as Biden was? If not, then why not? As a matter of fact, why hasn’t anyone from either the mainstream or “progressive” media been raising that point?

Additionally, where is the useless Black Caucus of the US Congress on this one? Are they in cahoots with the 37 Congress people with whom Obama bedded with recently, as mentioned above?

Moreover, why has the Netanyahu administration waited to commit its two most recent unconscionable acts in the full presence of a high level US official? Is there something wrong with this picture?

G. Djata Bumpus