Black Women

What do I know about Black Women? My mother was one. My grandmother was one. My sister is one. My nieces are. Every women in my family in the last 100 years was Black. Any further back and they were Native American and White as well as Black. Yes, the White mothers of the Slave Masters are hanging from my family tree like some other type of strange fruit. I'm sure they're wondering how they got up there, as much as I am. Their sons have placed them there for eternity.

I heard Alice Walker speaking on C-Span, Book TV from her home in Berkeley. It made me think about Black Women. My friend had talked to me about the importance of having a Black female voice involved prominently in what we were trying to do, and I had to agree. The only question I had is how we could ensure that her voice was strong and powerful and undaunted as well as fully respected without being co-opted, twisted or diminished. After all, we were Black men, and we have our own ideas.

I'm not sure that a real Black female voice can be safeguarded protected and fully respected by anyone other than another Black woman. The concept was, or seemed very foreign to me. I simply did not trust that a Black female voice, other than Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks, Oprah Winfrey, Coretta Scott King, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison could/would be fully respected.

While I was imminently confident in the ability of Black women and Black men to have a dialogue, I wasn't so sure that we could share a message that could plumb our depths as well as our truths. The messages are quite different.

My mother told me that a Black woman had to be able to support her family, raise her family and also, at a moments notice, be able to lead and take on both roles (male and female) in her family in the event that the Black man was fired, arrested, killed, or decided to move along.

My mother also said that Black women knew for a fact that their lot in life was completely unlike that of White women. No Black woman ever was told, or expected anyone to take care of them after marriage. They were expected to do the "taking care of". for the dozens of Black men that proposed marriage to my mother while I was growing up, it wasn't about their love and desire to turn her into their Queen. For them, it was like marrying a cow that could not only purchase more milk than they could ever drink, but also, take care of them, support them and fulfill all of their carnal desires, while they fucked off the rest of their lives and made everyone around them miserable.

What a heavy burden Black women carry. In essence, the hopes and dreams of the entire race, as well as the food, clothing and shelter as well as the possibility of acquiring such things.

Some of the things I associate with Black women, are wisdom, love, patience, dedication, consistency, support, protection, history, education, dreams, and magic. As well as martyrdom, sacrifice and unfathomable beauty.

Black women, and their role in the world is so complete, that It's never seemed to make sense to distinguish it, from any and everything that I've ever done or achieved. Black women were my world. There was no man, there was no one, or thing else that raised and guided and supported me.

Deep down, like many Black men, I know that all I am is a wise Black woman inside a Black man trying to operate and maintain and support (as they have always done) all of the extra things that make me a man. Like most Black men, I've had to define my masculinity through what I've been told, and what I've seen, and what I thought was available for me to be once again, because there was no Black man around.

But there are plenty of Black women. I hope that in this modern age, we don't completely strip them of their magic and power.

Wystan Hugh Auden

It was the summer of '91.
Somehow I was at this babe's house in West Seattle. We had absolutely nothing in common, and it was a mystery why she wanted to hang out with me, but not as much of a mystery as to why I was hanging out with her. In any event, I was feeling very unencumbered and free, and ready to explore areas of my town I knew little about.

West Seattle, at least back in '91, was a haven for white dysfunctional boeing employees, who had escaped the trailer parks and yearned for suburban, domestic catholic tranquility, while their children yearned for designer jeans, peroxide, cocaine and hot sweaty sex with complete and total losers.

That particular night, while the babe walked around on the phone and planned the logistics for the evenings brain cell depleting festivities, I sat on the couch and scanned her environment to get a read on her situation.

My eye caught the T.V. stand and shelf below where some magazines and newspapers lay. I noticed something that seemed out of place. It was a large book of collected poetry by an author, I'd never heard of before, W.H. Auden. I lunged forward from the couch, grabbed the book, cracked it open and began to read. Within a few lines my world became the world of the poem. The poem was "On the Circuit", and it began,

Among pelagian travelers,
Lost on their lewd conceited way...

Of course, I had no idea what pelagian meant, but the whole lewd conceited thing was imminently comprehensible. One of the things I liked to do, when I was blasted out of my mind was speak as if I were a stuffy, English Professor. The absurdity of an older, Englishman, who is continually affronted by faux pas of etiquette was an inexhaustible mine of hilarity to me when I was as rude as an irish sailor.

This poem seemed to hint at someone with the sensibilities of a stuffy Englishman, yet disenchanted rather than stout. As I read deeper into this poem, I found a few other key lines that delighted me, such as:

I cannot now say where I was
The evening before last,

Unless some singular event
Should intervene to save the place,
A truly asinine remark,
A soul-bewitching face,

Or blessed encounter, full of joy,
Unscheduled on the Giesen Plan,
With, here, an addict of Tolkien,
There, a Charles Williams fan.

The poem is about being on the lecture circuit, doing poetry readings and book signings. And it seems that when he returns, the only thing he remembers are "asinine remarks" and "soul-bewitching faces" also, the poem reveals that Auden is a fan of Tolkien and Carlos Williams!

But, I couldn't help but to wonder what kind of poet writes about being on the lecture circuit? I knew my Dante's and Ben Johnson's and Virgil's (and even my Theodore Roetke's!)... and they never wrote about flying from city to city selling books...
Who was this guy?

But first, a last line from "On the Circuit" that I really dug...

Is this my milieu where I must
How grahamgreeneish!How infra dig!
Snatch from the bottle in my bag An analeptic swig?

Infra dig! what the hell did that mean? I didn't know, but months later I finished a work of poetry and short stories and I named it "ultra-dig" cause it just sounded so cool.

It turns out that Auden is not a silly bombastic poet, but one of the greatest of our age (in my and a few others humble opinion). I was so taken with this poetry that although I was drunk and ready to go tear up the town, I offered this babe $20 on the spot for the book. I wanted it badly. She said her mother had bought it for her and she had never/would never read it, and so a deal was struck, and the book was mine. Over the following months and years, there were many poems in that book that captured my heart, and resonated with my sensitivity for the rapturous fecundity that lies sublimely within all creations and events.

There was "Nocturne" which begins so majestically,

Appearing unannounced, the moon
Avoids a mountain's jagged prongs
And sweeps into the open sky
Like one who knows where she belongs.

To me, immediately, my heart:
"Adore Her, Mother, Virgin, Muse,
A Face worth watching Who can make
Or break you as Her fancy choose."

and then touches the cold reality of insignificance...

And neither of my natures can
Complain if I should be reduced
To a small functionary whose dreams
Are vast, unscrupulous, confused.

And ends in prayerful supplication..

That gushing lady, possibly,
Who brought some verses of her own,
That hang-dog who keeps coming back
For just a temporary loan;

A counter-image, anyway,
To balance with its lack of weight
My world, the private motor-car
And all the engines of the State.


There were so many great poems on love and life, that I read from that book faithfully. During lulls in my day, the poems would play over in my mind like the great Soul/R&B ballads. Over time, my indebtedness and gratitude to W.H. Auden was such that the first time I went back to New York in '96, after a 30 year absence, one of the places I went, was the former residence of W.H. Auden. I followed the directions, and just north of St. Marks off of Avenue "A" I arrived at the location. There was a plaque noting that it was the residence of W.H. Auden, but other than that, it was a completely non-descript brick building. As I looked upon the building, I was somewhat stunned that It was completely ordinary. I stood there a long time, looking at it, trying to discern something, anything that would seem to indicate that someone of greatness once resided there. I left after a while, utterly defeated in my quest to pick out some special feature. As I contemplated and attempted to reconcile the great man with the ordinary building, I realized that Auden wasn't great because of what he had, or where he lived. W.H. Auden was great because he was The quintessential 20th century poet who successfully linked the greatest aspects of the epic poet tradition, with the end of days, brought on by the creation of a multi-tiered modern society.

My favorite poem in the collection, which sounds as fresh and vital to my ear now as when I first read it, is,
"First Things First"

It speaks of longing, loneliness, companionship, nature, love, finality...

Woken, I lay in the arms of my own warmth and listened
To a storm enjoying its storminess in the winter dark
Till my ear, as it can when half-asleep or half-sober,
Set to work to unscramble that interjectory uproar,
Construing its airy vowels and watery consonants
Into a love-speech indicative of a Proper Name.

Scarcely the tongue I should have chosen, yet, as well
As harshness and clumsiness would allow, it spoke in your praise,
Kenning you a god-child of the Moon and the West Wind
With power to tame both real and imaginary monsters,
Likening your poise of being to an upland county,
Here green on purpose, there pure blue for luck.

Loud though it was, alone as it certainly found me,
It reconstructed a day of peculiar silence
When a sneeze could be heard a mile off, and had me walking
On a headland of lava beside you, the occasion as ageless
As the stare of any rose, your presence exactly
So once, so valuable, so very now.

This, moreover, at an hour when only too often
A smirking devil annoys me in beautiful English,
Predicting a world where every sacred location
Is a sand-buried site all cultured Texans do,
Misinformed and thoroughly fleeced by their guides,
And gentle hearts are extinct like Hegelian Bishops.

Grateful, I slept till a morning that would not say
How much it believed of what I said the storm had said
But quietly drew my attention to what had been done
-So many cubic metres the more in my cistern
Against a leonine summer- putting first things first:
Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.


There is no comment needed.
Greatness is it's own comment,
and the world of this poem is complete from creation to end

Thank You W.H. Auden!!
Tell Christopher Isherwood I said, "Hi!"

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CASE STUDY: How to Refocus an Organization on it's Core Principles: Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation is, in essence, a process that is played out on a personal scale among millions of individual of varying religious traditions and beliefs. The basic argument centers around the ability of man to speak directly to God and to understand the word of the prophets directly from the the accumulated or canonized text, VERSUS relying on the clergy/brahmin/religious leaders to interpret convey and serve as the sole arbitrar of God's word, on Earth...

Luther believed the former over the latter, and this belief was the essence that lead to The Protestant Reformation. The impetus for Luther stating his views, was the sale of indulgences, which promised God's grace whereas following God's will, was an iffy strategy for those seeking to go heavenward.

The points of the 95 Thesis are important, because in all religions, there is an underlying process of coming to know God, follow his will, and gain entry into a place of sanctity and truth, be it in an afterworld, or in a present all-knowingness. Throughout the world, regardless of Religion or practice, the ability of individual humans to understand and know God, has been a used, abused and misused power that has, ironically, served as a major impetus for many of the world's greatest conflicts, as well as destruction of peoples, cultures, societies and histories. Luther aim was to refocus the Church on the business of instructing humans in God's will.

And now I present to you, my simplified understanding of The Protestant Reformation in 500 words or less.
Jesus was a Jew and a prophet
He preached the word of God
He had 12 apostles
He preached that by faith and following him and eating of his flesh and blood, one could come to know the Word of God, be cleansed of sin and God would forgive our sins and the believers would ascend to Heaven
Jesus was crucified for his beliefs and his word was spread by the apostles

The organized religion of Christianity and Church of Christ was founded by Peter, the first "Pope", who was one of Christ's 12 apostles

Corruption was most likely evident from the very beginning (as with any organization)
By the 10th century, the Papacy had reached his high point in corruption that continued up until the Protestant Reformation
By the 1400's it was well known that the Papacy was for sale to the highest bidder
Several families, including the Borgia's, the Medici's were in political control of the Vatican

It was not uncommon for the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops and Priests to have mistresses and children, and to indulge in sexual, financial and all manner of worldly excess
Key to Martin Luther, Indulgences were for sale
King's paid the Pope for the right to govern and rule
Bribes were paid to the Pope and the Vatican to bless any number of adventures
The Pope was in effect, the head of Europe

Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, Germany
He was supposed to become a lawyer
At age 21 he became an Augustinian monk
Although he did penance he felt that he always fell short of God's despite confessing obsessively
A conflict arose in him due to his striving to fulfill his obligation for penance and the open sale of "indulgences"
Luther searched and studied the bible to attempt to remedy these discrepancies
He found that there was no justification
What he did find in his bible study, was that it was man's faith in God and doing his word, as in the bible, which constituted true penance and also served as the basis of salvation
Luther continued to study the bible "religiously" and found a number of contradictions

On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to a church door
He wished to spark a debate within the Church that would lead to a closer alignment between the bible and the Church
He also desired that the Church work to make the word of God understandable to all men
This effort lead to The Protestant Reformation
Europe entered a period of religious upheavel

The effects of the reformation were a decentralization of religious power from Rome and a decrease in the flow of money to Rome, as well as an increase in autonomy to local churches
Church services began to be delivered in the native tongue of the populace, rather than in Latin


My favorite 10 of the 95 points in the Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences [Oct. 31, 1517]
1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.
4. The penalty [of sin], therefore, continues so long as hatred of self continues; for this is the true inward repentance, and continues until our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without letters of pardon.
37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all the blessings of Christ and the Church; and this is granted him by God, even without letters of pardon.
43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better work than buying pardons;
45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a man in need, and passes him by, and gives [his money] for pardons, purchases not the indulgences of the pope, but the indignation of God.
62. The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God.
75. To think the papal pardons so great that they could absolve a man even if he had committed an impossible sin and violated the Mother of God -- this is madness.
82. To wit: "Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of holy love and of the dire need of the souls that are there, if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a Church? The former reasons would be most just; the latter is most trivial."
94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hell.

Lady Cab Driver: Prince's Ode To God & Mary

Great Artistic expression should be capable of being interpreted in multiple ways, and be translatable to different contexts.
Themes, although intending to be specific, should also be metaphorical. Drama, as life, contains elements of birth, death,renewal, temptation, wrath and salvation. The final few essential elements that constitute great art are the medium, the environment and a implicit or implied pedagogy and dialectic.

Prince's "Lady Cab Driver" contains all of the necessary components for great art. It is specific, yet metaphorically thematic enough to be interpreted on a multiple levels.

The "Lady" of Lady Cab Driver is clearly a muse and higher power. A facilitator, a confessor, a protector, a temptress, even Mephistopheles, but mostly a higher power, and as a woman, a mother (The Virgin Mary) and courtesan, that serves as a facilitator of sexual pleasure. As the song wends it's way through the young man's journey, Prince calls for help, confesses his sins, his fears, his temptations, and ultimately finds euphoric fulfillment and salvation.

First, from the din of pandemonium, in the midst of urban confusion and temptation, the unsaved soul calls to God, and beseeches for salvation and the interdiction of a higher power.

Taxi! Taxi!

The Vehicle of life, The Taxi, arrives, with a Lady Cab Driver as God's Angel, The Savior, The Virgin Mary and also the Seductress, Mary Magdelene to take Prince on his journey of Salvation.

Lady cab driver -- Can U take me 4 a ride?
Don't know where I'm goin' 'cuz I don't know where I've been
So just put your foot on the gas -- let's drive

Prince, lost in confusion, sexual, personal, in his direction
places his life in the hands of God and begins to confess his sins within the safe space afforded by The Cab.

Lady -- don't ask questions
Promise I'll tell U no lies
Trouble winds r blowin', I'm growin' cold
Get me outta here -- I feel I'm gonna die

Prince asks for forgiveness and protection.
He will confess, but he does not wish to lie.
He only asks for Her to listen
It is not important what he has done up until entering The Cab
for he is now in God's grace, all has been forgiven due to Prince's recognition that he must change.
The same happened to Gautama Buddha who was also a Prince.

Lady cab driver, roll up your window fast
Lately trouble winds r blowin' hard, and I don't know if I can last

Without the Lord and Shepard,
and God's protection, there can be no "safety" from life
or from sin, or from eternal damnation

Lady -- I'm so lonely
I know that's not the way 2 be
Don't want isolation, but the air it makes me cold
Drive it, baby, drive it, drive this demon out of me

Prince, having tried to satisfy himself through the chasing of desire
has only resulted in loneliness and impermanence
Prince wishes to purge himself of this directionless chasing of desire
In effect, he wants the "demon" to be cast from him so that he may follow "the way"

Take me 2 your mansion
Honey, let's go everywhere
Help me girl I'm drownin', mass confusion in my head
Will U accept my tears 2 pay the fare?

He asks to be taken to the house of the Lord
He asks for entry to Heaven
He understands that his soul is imperiled

Lady cab driver, roll up your window fast,
Lately trouble winds r blowin' hard, and I don't know if I can last
Lady cab driver-- can you take me for a ride?

He asks the Lord to join with him, protect him, guide him and be with him "everywhere"
His bitter tears serve as his payment of penance and confession.

This is 4 the cab U have 2 drive 4 no money at all
Penance, Poverty
This is 4 why I wasn't born like my brother, handsome and tall
Envy
This is 4 politicians who r bored and believe in war
Anger, Wrath
This -- Yeah, that's 4 me, that's who that 1's 4
Selfishness
This is 4 discrimination and egotists who think supreme
Pride
And this is 4 whoever taught U how 2 kiss in designer jeans
Lust
That 1's 4-- That 1's 4-- where U have 2 live
Poverty, inequity, destitution
This 1's 4 the rich, not all of 'em, just the greedy
Greed
The ones that don't know how 2 give
Gluttony
This 1's 4 Yosemite Sam and the tourists at Disneyland
Sloth

Through the spiritual union of man and woman, what was passion, turns to a religious experience, and once again, Prince is brought to God where he finds thanks for all aspects of creation and life.

And this 1-- ooh! Yeah -- That's the 1.
That's 4-- that's 4 the-- the creator of man
To God and subsuming oneself to his will.
This is 4 the sun, the moon, the stars, the tourists at Disneyland
Creation, in all it's aspects
This is 4 the ocean, the sea, the shore
The Earth
This is 4-- and that's 4 U, and that's who that 1's 4
Charity, Fidelity, Family, Love
This is 4 the women, so beautifully complex
Marriage, Mother, the Earthly Creator and the power to create life.
This 1's 4 love without sex
Spiritual love, Fraternity, Brotherhood.
This is 4 the wind that blows no matter how fast or slow
Not knowing where I'm going
Fate, Possibility, the Unknown, and Un-promised.
This galaxy's better than not having a place 2 go
And now I know (I know)
Acceptance, Longing, Wisdom & Salvation...
Then, the dynamic play of life continues, with spiritual experience, the holy ghost and the heavenly muse.

Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver

Black Men V. White Women II

Frederick Douglass (top left) Susan B. Anthony (top middle) & Elizabeth Stanton (bottom middle)

The recent battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has suddenly taken on another historical dimension. As is well known, there has never been a female, nor (admittedly) African-American as President (if you don't count Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding & Calvin Coolidge). But, the rancor and disappointment now being expressed by the female supporters, namely, the white female supporters of Hillary Clinton, reminds me of the rancor caused by the then, long-standing abolitionist movement and the budding movement for women's suffrage and women's rights.

While not talked about, one of the disappointing moments in American politics was when the white, female base of abolitionist, turned against Blacks as they become politically aware of their own struggle. As Blacks benefitted from a succession of amendments and to gain political clout, female abolitionist began to make the realization that Blacks had progressed to the point that Black men, on the surface had more rights than they did.

And here is where the understandable, but no less sharp knife of division was thrust into the backs of African-Americans. The White Female leadership in the abolitionist movement, in effect turned against Blacks and stated that they would not advocate for more Black rights until they had gained their own rights, such as voting, political representation, etc. It was sad day in history when the strategy employed by the white suffragist included taking an active role in the stoppage of all Black rights.

The reality was that the struggle for Black rights had just begun. As Wendell Phillips stated in his speech, "This is the Negro's Hour". This statement became the battle cry for Negro suffrage over Women's suffrage.

The political climate in Washington D.C. in 1866:
Those that felt that Women and Negro suffrage were "both just and logical", also felt that the nation would not accept two reforms at one time; therefore the question of suffrage must be divided and the first chance be given to the Negro. “This is the Negro's hour” became the universal response to the woman's appeal. Opponents of both woman and Negro suffrage, chiefly Democrats, played at friendliness and contended that white women were far better qualified to vote than Negro men. They held that if the suffrage must be extended at this time the ballot given to educated white women would offset the illiteracy of the black man, and therefore women should be given the first chance.

Republicans charged Democrats with insincerity and a desire to embarrass the party in power. Democrats in turn charged the Republican leaders with insincerity, since they seemed determined to put aside the woman suffrage cause which they had long advocated and to substitute this newer proposition of Negro suffrage. Time proved that the diagnoses of motives made by the rival parties against each other were both correct. While in the middle, Blacks and White women cared less about the sincerity or insincerity of the politics that was being played out, as their goal was to obtain suffrage first.

On December 14 (1866), the Congress conferred the suffrage upon the Negroes of the District of Columbia. President Johnson vetoed the bill, January 5, 1867, upon the ground that the voters of the District had rejected Negro suffrage at the polls by an almost unanimous vote.[1]* On January 7 the Senate, and, on January 8, the House passed the bill over the veto.

The Congress followed this act by another, equally revelatory of Republican intentions toward Negro suffrage. On January 25, 1867, it passed a bill providing that “in the territories thereafter organized, the right to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.” Thus the Congress had extended Negro suffrage wherever it had jurisdiction so to do. This bill became law without the President's signature. Under its provisions Nebraska was admitted to statehood after agreeing that the franchise should be allowed to Negroes. It promptly ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and thereby became an historic bone of contention, the Republicans being immediately charged by the Democrats, and by members of their own party, with “gross irregularity” in their haste to secure another Legislature to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, then pending. Whether the charge was true or false, the amendment was ratified by Nebraska, June 15, 1867.

Lost in the stuggle for suffrage, was the reality that soon after reconstruction, due to poll taxes, poll tests and threats of death and intimidation, Blacks would soon lose any hope of suffrage in almost all southern states. It was not until 1964 that Blacks in many areas of the nation were able to excercise their right to vote.

Frederick Douglass, the famous ex-slave, public speaker, politician, publisher, writer, and abolitionist,(who was the first notable Black figure to take a white wife) was dismayed by this calamitous turn of events, when White allies suddenly became enemies. He came to denounce one of the leaders of the White suffragist/Anti-Black leaders, Elizabeth Cady Stanton as being blatantly racist. Stanton was at the time, incensed about the 15th Amendment granting Blacks the right to vote over women, which in her mind placed white women on a level "classed with idiots, lunatics, and Negroes." Although she was not a "racist" per se, her choice of words reflected the impassioned push for female inclusion which pitted Blacks and Whites against one another.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was in fact, at one time, one of the leaders of the abolitionist movement. Born in Johnstown, New York in 1815, she was the daughter of a New York Supreme Court Judge, who schooled her in the study of law. She was also a relative of Gerrit Smith, an abolitionist from New York. It was in Smith's home that Stanton met a large number of escaped slaves. Through understanding of their plight, her understanding of the law, and the philosophy of Smith, Stanton rose to become a leading abolitionist, however, once she turned her focus to women's rights she made the statement,
"shall white men so amend their constitutions as to make their wives and mothers the political inferiors of unlettered and unwashed ditch-diggers, bootblacks, butchers and barbers, fresh from the slave plantations of the South?"

Frederick Douglass' response to this was,
"When women, because they are women, are hunted down through the cities of New York and New Orleans; when they are dragged from their houses and hung from lampposts; when their children are torn from their arms and their brains dashed out upon the pavement; when they are objects of insult and rage at every turn; when they are in danger of having their homes burnt down... then they will have an urgency to obtain the ballot equal to our own.

Soon Frederick Douglass came to grips with the budding women's rights and suffrage movement. For once Blacks were freed, many whites were ready to move on to other topics, forcing Douglass to become adepth in speaking on suffrage issue, as a way to gain entree to a powerful block of historical Black allies (White Women).

Susan B. Anthony, who had her image on the $1 coin for a hot minute, was also a friend of Stanton and perhaps the best known face of the abolitionist and then women's suffrage movement. Anthony also tossed a copper coin onto the frayed connection between Blacks and White women by actively making public the strategy of proposing a full-scale stoppage in the acquisition of new Black rights, until White Women were brought to the level of the Negro. Following the ratification of the fifteenth amendment, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA).

To be fair, to this day, as any sober being looks upon the situation, it can not be said that there is any group on this planet that has been more abused, exploited, diminished, dismissed, looked over, passed over, beaten, shoved aside, and taken fro granted, as women. Women, be they of any race, of any culture, religion, creed, or whatever other measure or class, has always been treated as below the station of any man, of that same race and class.

Also, to be fair, although it may be the case that women, as a group have suffered more than any other group, the reality is that White Women were absolutely not villified to the extent that Blacks in their state of bondage, servitude and 2nd class citizenship were. White women were able to move about freely, doors were opened, men doffed their hats, they lead philanthropic agencies, they had their own colleges, clubs, bathrooms, and a whole host of advantages that came along with their whiteness that Blacks in the 1800's dared not even dream about. the bottom line is that although white women were essentially held in servitude to white men, they were still several stations above Black men, not to mention that it was the rare occasion, if ever, that a white woman was raped nightly by a white man in the light of day, let alone the offspring of such unions sold off to the highest bidder.

Still, to pull back to a clear headed historical perspective, women absolutely can not be faulted for taking up their own reigns and fighting for their own rights, to the diminishement of all other issues, even that of Black rights. That is not to say that I excuse all of the harsh blows delivered back and forth in the struggle for Black and Women's rights. It is only to say that the mission, the purpose, the passion and the heartiness of the battle, can certainly be understood.

Below is a letter drafted by Elizabeth Stanton in response to a speech by the great Wendell Phillips in which he declared (in late winter, 1865) "this is the Negro's hour." and argued that suffragist, and women's rights activist, should back out of the discussion and allow the Negro to have his hour, rather than to halt all progress, to toss in their own issues. In the except below, racist language is in bold.

Elizabeth Stanton:The representative women of the nation have done their uttermost for the last thirty years to secure freedom for the negro, and so long as he was lowest in the scale of being we were willing to press his claims; but now, as the celestial gate to civil rights is slowly moving on its hinges, it becomes a serious question whether we had better stand aside and see “Sambo” walk into the kingdom first.

As self-preservation is the first law of nature, would it not be wiser to keep our lamps trimmed and burning, and when the Constitutional door is open, avail ourselves of the strong arm and blue uniform of the black soldier to walk in by his side, and thus make the gap so wide that no privileged class could ever again close it against the humblest citizen of the Republic? “This is the negro’s hour.” Are we sure that he, once entrenched in all his inalienable rights, may not be an added power to hold us at bay? Have not “black male citizens” been heard to say they doubted the wisdom of extending the right of Suffrage to women? Why should the African prove more just and generous than his Saxon compeers?

If the two millions of Southern black women are not to be secured in their rights of person, property,wages, and children, their emancipation is but another form of slavery. In fact, it is better to be the slave of an educated white man, than of a degraded, ignorant black one. We who know what absolute power the statute laws of most of the States give man, in all his civil, political, and social relations, do demand that in changing the status of the four millions of Africans, the women as well as the men should be secured in all the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizens. It is all very well for the privileged order to look down complacently and tell us, “this is the negro's hour; do not clog his way; do not embarrass the Republican party with any new issue; be generous and magnanimous; the negro once safe, the woman comes next.”

Now, if our prayer involved a new set of measures, or a new train of thought, it would be cruel to tax “white male citizens” with even two simple questions at a time; but the disenfranchised all make the same demand, and the same logic and justice that secures Suffrage to one class gives it to all. The struggle of the last thirty years has not been merely on the black man as such, but on the broader ground of his humanity.

In the end, although Black men were given the right to vote "first" the reality is that they were behind White Women by 98 years in securing the right to vote.

Rap Music: Vilified Poetic Dispatches from the 'Hood.

The essential argument, or proposition for discussion is, is art something to be judged? or villified? or is art something to be experienced, and so, moved and enriched? And, is art the only thing we can learn from? or can we learn from the experience of indivdual's who's lives and situations differ vastly from our own?

These are very important questions, because if art is to be judged, then it is to move a level away from the intent of the artist. Surely, in schools, in practicums, internships, fellowships, apprenticeships, to "judge" is essential. To critique the artists work, is surely an indispensible process for the Teachers, or Critics of artistic endeavors, however, once we arrive at the final finished product, that expresses, that which the artist desires to express, in the unique manner or professional manifestation of their craft, "judgement" may no longer be the proper perspective from which to view, or experience the work.

My point is that African-Americans have been villified, condemned, judged and subject to all manner of harsh experiences throughout the diaspora. Perhaps no African-American story can stand higher, in terms of rawness and complete and total experience of transformation, as that of the African-American in America. Seeing as the European tradition of recording, writing, satirizing, editorializing, is so strong, the 500 year history of African-Americans, forms one of the richest and well documented trevails of any peoples in the world.

Which brings us to the artform of "Rap" music.

My contention, and theory is that Rap music, at its heart and soul, is the expression, the voice of the inner city, and effect of the experience of Africans in America that rivals all other forms. In "Rap" we have a complete and total voice, that if listened to and understood from 1. The heart & 2. A clinical, perspective as a dialectic of the "other" experience, it forms a full-voiced expression, of the horrors and net result, of the American tradition and experience of exclusion, disparity, racism, segregation and political impotence.

I grow tiresome of this whole condemnation of rap as anti-bitch and pro-profanity. There is no comparison between the disgusting, stomach turning, destructive, murderous result of the U.S. Constitution, which condoned and legalizing the slave trade, and the world's "worst" most profanity laden rap song. My point is this. If you have someone that has lived through a horrendous experience a the hands of a government and it's systemetized, unmitigated racist philosophy, then to describe the effects, the mentality, the psychology and the life that you live because of it... is that really something we should condemn? It's like slitting someone's throat and yelling at them for bleeding. To take it a step further, there is a long tradition of the arts as the social conscience of society. Rap music can be, and many times, is the contemporary artistic expression of the experience of African-Americans. If it isn't art, then nothing is.

Don't just take it from me, Leo Tolstoy, who died long before the creation of rap music, gives an unbiased and well-rounded definition of art, which can be changed but slightly to mirror and express my feelings about Rap as an art-form, and fully realized artistic expression.

In Chapter 15 of Leo Tolstoy's "What is Art?" which he wrote in 1896, he states:
"There is one indubitable indication distinguishing real art from its counterfeit, namely, the infectiousness of art. If a man, without exercising effort and without altering his standpoint on reading, hearing, or seeing another man's work, experiences a mental condition which unites him with that man and with other people who also partake of that work of art, then the object evoking that condition is a work of art."

And, "But most of all is the degree of infectiousness of art increased by the degree of sincerity in the artist.", " And the degree of the infectiousness of art depends on three conditions: 1. On the greater or lesser individuality of the feeling transmitted; on the greater or lesser clearness with which the feeling is transmitted; on the sincerity of the artist..."

Tolstoy goes on to say, "I have mentioned three conditions of contagiousness in art, but they may be all summed up into one, the last, sincerity, i.e., that the artist should be impelled by an inner need to express his feeling... Therefore this third condition - sincerity - is the most important of the three."


And so, let's look at the disdainful and rejected medium of "gansta rap" and look at the lyrics and what is being said and shared, to see if it meets the definition of "art".

"I Got Yo Back" by X-Raided, is a song about the rapper and his devotion to his fellow bretheren. He sings of his loyalty, to the death if necessary that he holds for his friends and close associates. If this type of death pact between those whose entire existence is live outside of the lines of legitimate society is confusion to some, then listening to these lyrics, along with lyrics of all rap, will surely help to bring such ignorance into the light of day.

The song starts out with his pledge of solidarity with his "nigga's"

(Chorus)
If you wanna get high, nigga I got a sack
If you wanna ride, my nigga I got a strap
Do or die for my true thug niggas, and that's a fact
You and I got that true love, nigga I got yo back

What X-Raided is saying to his partners, is if you want to get high, I'll get you high, if you want to do a drive by and kill someone, I got a gun. I'll die for you cause you're just like me, and I support you in whatever you do. Because you are the only one that cares about me, loves me, looks out for me, and are the one that I can trust, I have more loyalty and fidelity towards you than any law, rule or legal pronouncement in this land that don't give a fuck about us.

The question then becomes, how does one become so twisted that they think that to get someone high, to kill with them, is an appropriate way to show devotion? Aren't friends supposed to help one another to do right? How does someone get to this point that they're willing to die for another man's high and desire to kill? Listen, and the song will reveal these and more answers.

Don't nobody got your back, when you need ‘em most
I'm yellin' where the love at? But you don't hear me loc
Sometimes I think I'm goin' down, I need a life preserver
But you throw me bricks, tryna help me drown
But I survived, what other options do I have?
Can't blame it on my Mom, can't blame it on my Dad
I make my own decisions, I chose the path that I walk


What X-Raided is saying here is, "Who loves me? Who cares for me? Not society (loc), not anyone that has a real opportunity, or option, or way to excape the madness that I'm living in. All I get is ignored, Police, Jail, unemployment lines, and no, no, no, no, no. And because of that, often, I either feel that I'm drowning and dying, (while still alive), hopeless, despondent, no options, or I actually am, and at that point, I need some help. I need something to make me feel hope again, or that there is some point to this cold, heartless, optionless existence. (I need a life preserver), but instead, I'm blamed again, I'm either called, crazy, lazy, hazy (high), or that I brought the shit on myself, or that I don't qualify, or I need to go somewhere else, or I'm locked up in a mental ward, or in jail or prison, because that's the only help I can get (you throw me bricks). And I can't blame my mom or dad, they're just as fucked up as me, and they went through the same thing as me. They were no more able to help me, than I am to help my kids, or their parents were able to help them. The condition is societal, it's beyond the strength or ability of the average ghetto survivor, to escape these entrenched cycles of hopelessness (can't blame it on my mom, can't blame it on my dad). I'm the one that decided to not persevere and go to school. I'm the one that decided to get into the dope game. I'm the one that decided to join a gang. I'm the one that decided to not pay those parking tickets, or the child support, or to rob that store, or jump bail, or probation...

But me and my father never had that "man to man" talk
But there ain't no need for me to hate him
He did me a favour when he caught my mama ovulatin'
He brought me in the world, and the rest is up to me
So I'm a, do what I gotta and be all that I can be

X' is sayin' It's futile for him to hate his father, he lies blameless in the tide of forces beyond his control. Instead of hating him, he needs to thank him and his mother for bringing him into the world (aint that what humans are supposed to do?), all of the hurdles and stumbling blocks he faces, are for him to traverse, and overcome. His parents left him at the starting line, and now it's up to him to do the best he can do (which evidently, is pretty incredible, seeing as he's an incredibly talented artist, rapper, musician, and internationally known. it's truly remarkable).

Now I wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a judge
But it wasn't meant to be so now I got a grudge
I was hit with resistence, and asked for persistence,
You kept me at a distance, so fuck all you bitches
I don't need none of y'all, I'm a do it on my own
And when I'm ballin', I'm a floss in front of all y'all non-believers
You thought I couldn't win
But to my homies, my lovers, and my friends
I got ya back

Here X' is sayin, he wanted to be more, he aspired to be more (a doctor or lawyer or judge), but those roads were blocked, and he does have a chip on his shoulder, because, quite honestly, he was doomed from the gate when it came to competing for those coveted educational opportunities with kids that had ALL the advantages, security, safety, encouragement and resources to get those coveted opportunities. He tried to stay in school, but the help and support wasn't there (resistence, persistence, kept at a distance), so to hell with this system that didn't want him to begin with (racist admissions, substandard schools, disparity). He decided to do it on his own, and when he makes it, he's going to flaunt it and wave it in your faces to show you up. society had him buried before he was born, but he made it, and so, to his "homies, lovers and friends" he'll get them high, he'll drive by for them, he'll go to the death, because THAT was his family, THAT was his support, THAT is what kept him going when he felt like he was drownin'. And so without them, there wouldn't be an X-Raided, so seeing as he owes them his life, he will go to the death for them. and heaven help him that he won't be killed, but.....

When everybody got they noses up in the air
I'll be there for you, lettin' you know your nigga cares
I ain't got much to offer but you welcome to what I have
Down to ride witcha, even when the homies mad
I be down witcha; winter, spring, summer, fall
I'm ready to ride every time that my homie calls
I never stall on ya dawg, through it all, thick or thin
We went from boys to men in the same hood
So it's all good, even when you actin' like you got this bitch made
It's still on, I'm a ride when you right or wrong
Standin' strong, no matter what the situation in
And if you die, will provide for your wife and kids
That way you live, forever

This one is simple, if you've read the others, in this X' is just continuing entreaties, pledges and promises to be there for the ones that were there for him, a pledge to never say no, to never delay, to not put them off, and to be behind his friends and their family forever.

However, a nigga's never gonna let ‘cha rest in peace till we back together
Fuck restin' in peace, I'm in an up roar
What other reason does a nigga have to live for?
If you ain't ready to ride for what we believe
Then get the fuck out the game, it's time for you to leave
Cuz only niggas is willin' to put it all on the line
And ride with us when it's killin' time
I got yo back loc


This is just continuing re-statement and passion about how dedicated he is to the ones that were there for him when no one else was. They may have been wrong, but they were there. They were the only ones that cared, and they all stood together to protect what little they had. And to be a part of this, you have to be ready to (put it all on the line), when it's "killin' time"
[Chorus] x2

X-Raided mad at the world, ready to go to war
So tell me what y'all mothafuckas waitin' for?
Put on your boots, and lace ‘em up
Dawg, tell me which tree you wanna chase ‘em up
It's an organized congregation, committee of the wicked
If you ain't ready to ride, then nigga you can't kick it
So get the fuck up out the set, you high powered coward
Before your bitch ass get devoured
At any given hour my soldiers is bound to loc up
The warriors gonna ride, and all you bitches gon' choke up
But that's the only way to separate the real from the fake
Don't ask me why, bitch a bitch ...(?)
That Northern Cali kill ‘em all mentality
It ain't my fault, blame it on the criminality
I'm out to make the paper stack
And when my homie calls, hell yeah it's a conspiracy
I got his back

Summary: Now, if you have no familiarity to with the experience of the African-American, or the inner-city, then yes, I can see your disdain, confusion and desire to discard the words of X-Raided and all of the other rappers that have made it out of pure nothing and situations where the odds were completely stacked against them, but if you are at least able to listen, you can learn how they feel, why their lives are the way they are, and most of all, their triumph and passion and incredible musicality.

Rap music is a relatively recent creation, but in the African-American, despite huge odds, they were able to create blues, gospel, rock, jazz, big-band, rap, r&b, and all manner of different art forms of dance, music, etc, etc, etc. Yes, the venacular can be confusion, but no less confusing than Shakespeare, to the uninitiated. At first, no one knows what the fuck is being said. Those that study Shakespeare, or even the bible are continually mining new truths, new meanings, new insights. The same can be done for Rap.

For me, it's not hard to listen to the pledges and love that flows from brother to brother, and to relate to that. Oftentimes, the love we have for the oppostite sex, is unsustainable, If it starts as lovers, many times it can not persist as friends. In the situations that start as friends, it's often hard to avoid becoming lovers, in essence, risking all. Such is the passionate drive of sexual attraction and reproduction. But your male friends, that you know love you without a care for you sexually, and that you have known, from when you had nothing and before you had direction, or purpose, or even knew yourself.... yeah, much of this rap is about signing the praises of that unquestioned love. One has to also factor in the high rate of single-parent households, and kids that, even if they did have a father, did not see them much. These groups of youths band together, without guidance, without supervision, desiring to be, what they see in their own 'hoods...

God Bless X-Raided and all of the brave souls and artists that have made it against all odds, kept, harbored and nurtured their dreams, and have been able to not only give us such beautiful music, but to make known the suffering and conditions of love that exist in the forgotten inner cities and ghettos of America.

The Great Moon Hoax

At this point in my life, it seems that life has a certain continuity. moment by moment, day by day, year by year, there is a smooth consistency of awareness and experience. This was not always the case. During early childhood, there were distinct experiences when it seemed that from a void of nothingness and non-existence, suddenly I was aware of being alive. At those times, I would remember other experiences of being alive, and so, over the course of time, a gradual acceptance of life took hold, and the moments of non-existence, became less and less. Although I did not know all of the particulars of life and what it was, There was a certainty that one day, such knowledge would come into my possession. It was something I took for granted.

In those early years, I had a sneaking suspicion that many if not most humans existed within the blissful non-awareness of complete non-self-consciousness, behind a cloak upon reality so dark ,so thick and so total, that it was much more foolproof and impossible of being discovered, as the Wizard of Oz's ill-conceived master control panel. It was clear from an early age that it wasn't that others "knew" the keys to the mystery of life, rather, they had no clue that what was going on, or that there was a mystery to life. For this vast majority, life was not miraculous in the least. and so bullshit like cars, television and silicone breast, held great fascination to them against the ignorance that rendered nature and life, as boring or less than. It was apparent that the average person was not conscious in any meaningful respect. And so, December 21, 1968, when I found myself once again suddenly conscious, it meant much more to me than just a walk to the store.

I will always remember December 21, 1968. It was the afternoon. My mother, brother and I got on our winter clothes, it was a snowy, slushy day in Seattle, WA. I had rubber/plastic galoshes. We marched the seemingly long 3 blocks to the "Chuck Wagon" supermarket where we bought a newspaper. When we got home, my brother stood behind me and I in front, still in my outer wear, boots and hat, and my brother held the headline in front of me, while my mother took a photo.

That photo still exists. The caption read, "OFF TO THE MOON!" Apollo 8 had just blasted off to the moon, or so they said. Many people didn't believe that there actually was a spaceship. Many, even when they saw the broadcasts from the moon, believed that the scenes were being shot on a Hollywood studio. Certainly the transmissions were such, that no strong argument could be made to prove that an actual moon journey had taken place.

My belief is that the Moon Trips, the entire early age of NASA was a very real, and somber hoax perpetrated on the American People.

Compared to discovering new life forms, alien civilizations, traveling near the speed of light and even leaving our solar system, going to the moon is the equivalent of spitting on the sidewalk from a tall building. Whereas humans escaping the solar system, to a certain death, is as far away from being accomplished as a so-called grand, unified theory.

But the hoax is, the notion that going to the moon, meant anything. It was a high tech pissing contest. the resources, the time, the money, the imagination to build it, and that the American people held in observing it, was nothing more than a sociological hoax, for absolutely nothing was accomplished by it.

It was the world's most high-budget movie, with no plot, no sub-text, and no point. Epic? yes. Metaphorical? yes. mind blowing? yes. Practical? no.

What we should do, is imagine that 200 years ago, 100,000 high tech humans landed on Earth from another planet and mixed with indigenous Earthlings. We should imagine that the reason these high tech humans came to our planet is because they had polluted, poisoned, killed, sterilized, and rendered their own planet, inhospitable for life. We should imagine that now, 200 years after these folks arrived, it is clear to us and to them, that they are well on their way towards doing to our planet, what they did to their own. And when we ask them, "Why?" they will say, "Because that's the way it is." and then we can stand like a bunch of stupid motherfuckers as they load up with evian, oxycontins a few Marvin Gaye albums and a few million IOU's and blast the off into the heavens.

It's certain that at this time, having received the answer, from the super-beings, we will realize, that we've been duped, and there's no one at the wheel... and these super-beings are really clever, and smart, but the one thing they lack, is an exit strategy from their own madness.

Imagine the horror, disbelief and disappointment that we would feel to find out that we had turned over the development of our world to these super beings, only to find out that the economic system they instilled, was not even in their control rather, was controlled by the basest of human desires, the "invisible hand", "laissez-faire", "free markets", which translates into: greed, exploitation & profit motive, with no regard for sustainability, or longevity. Imagine the shock, horror and dismay that we would feel to find out that the chemicals, compounds, technology and products that these super-beings had created for our good, was now polluting our skies, groundwater, and causing the melting of our polar caps and glaciers? and destruction of our ozone layer? and had caused a Texas sized soup of plastic to form in the middle of the Pacific? Imagine, how sad and distraught we would feel, to find out that the natural resources required to feed their various machinery, had deforested, our lands, genetically altered our food supply, lead to the extinction of thousands of life forms, and lead to poverty, disease, disadvantage, war, starvation and strife throughout the globe?

But why need we imagine this to see that the result is the same as what is going on right now? Just because we are fucking up and have no one to blame, does that mean that we are powerless to make sound, rational decisions? Does that mean we have a right to charge full-steam ahead into a brick wall?

Going to the moon, was a hoax, far beyond a Hollywood studio posing as the moon. It was a hoax of epic proportions, that duped the American people, and the world, into the belief and promise of endless resources, sagacious, wise leadership, technological limitless, and safety, security and sustainable, ever-increasing personal and societal wealth, perfection and harmony. This moon shot combined with the image and life of Einstein, as the ever-wise, super-genius, who could solve any problem, figure anything out, and also pontificate upon the moral tides and forces at play with the creation of super weapons, has lead us to believe, that 1. we can do anything 2. we can solve anything 3. if anything were really that bad, some really, really smart person would tell us, and we wouldn't use that thing. to which I say, BULLLLLLLLLLLSHIIIIIIIIIT!. All super-geniuses have a little Beaver Cleaver in them. They are cute, well-meaning, like to experiment, but ultimately, they're in over their head. And, seeing as Ward and June aint around, theirs no one to slap their little cherubic cheeks and send them off to bed.

Imagine if John F. Kennedy had said, "We will not be going to the moon. We have too many issues that we need to deal with on Earth. When the time is right, and if we take care of the issues we have here on Earth, then life will flourish on this planet ad infinitum, and when we are ready, when we have learned, when we understand, and when it makes sense, and meaning and purpose to travel through space, then we will do it. But right now, we must turn our attention towards solving basic, human issues of meaningful life, partnership with other cultures, races, religions and the world, and finding a way to regulate our economic system and what we produce, to ensure that we are making the best possible decisions for the posterity of all possible future generations...."

But JFK didn't say that. He went for the Ad captandum vulgus. He went for the Viet-Nam war, he went for the Bay of Pigs, He went for all the flashy bullshit, and pie in the sky, lets-tear-the-roof-off-this-sucker bullshit befitting the man who loved to fuck Jackie O. more than all his other bitches. The guy had style, panache, wit and a good eye for broads and the ability to turn a good phrase.

He had the advantage and prerogative to make decisions that could destroy life on Earth, because many of these technologies, were technologies that he first opened and played with. he had time, he had land, he had resources. But he also had foresight, and knew that he shouldn't have done it. But he did anyway.

It's not just the Moon. But it was a big part of it. One day, hopefully we'll look at the stars and heavens and figure out that in an existence so vast, the point isn't to try to go anywhere, but to make your house a home. And to see that anywhere, is as good as anywhere else. and so, what is to be done, is to turn inward, and to exist and persist, and to make the real decisions befitting beings of intelligence, foresight and wisdom.

Did You Know That You Were Supposed To Seek, Tame, Ride and Lose The Ox?

In the 12th century, Ch'an painted ten pictures illustrating the search for an Ox, an allegory for the search of our true nature. The practice which precipitates the freeing of oneself from their base desires has been understood as occurring in a series of stages. The Ox-herding pictures are a beautifully poetic illustration of the stages. In Reality, we have the Ox, but we must turn inward to see it, to tame and calm it, so that we may then rest with ourselves, turn inward and be free from the wild inattentiveness of the Ox within.


Seeking the Ox

In the pasture of this world,
I endlessly push aside the tall
grasses in search of the bull.
Following unnamed rivers, lost
upon the interpenetrating paths
of distant mountains ...
My strength failing and my vitality
exhausted, I cannot find the bull.
I only hear the locusts chirring
through the forest at night.

Finding the Tracks

Discovering the Footprints
Along the riverbank under the trees ...
I discover footprints!
Even under the fragrant grass I see
his prints.
Deep in remote mountains they are found.
These traces no more can be hidden
than one's nose, looking heavenward.

First Glimpse of the Ox

I hear the song of the nightingale.
The sun is warm, the wind is mild,
willows are green along the shore.
Here no bull can hide!
What artist can draw that massive
head, those majestic horns?

Catching the Ox

I seize him with a terrific
struggle. His great will and
power are inexhaustable.
He charges to the high plateau
far above the cloud-mists ...
Or in an impenetrable ravine
he stands.

Taming the Ox

The whip and rope are necessary.
Else he might stray off down
some dusty road.
Being well trained, he becomes
naturally gentle.
Then unfettered he obeys his master.

Riding the Ox Home

Mounting the bull ...
slowly I return homeward.
The voice of my flute intones
throughout the evening.
Measuring with hand-beats the
pulsating harmony ...
I direct the endless rhythm.
Whoever hears this melody will
join me.

Ox Forgotten, Self Alone

Astride the bull, I reach home.
I am serene. The bull too can rest.
The dawn has come. In blissful repose,
Within my thatched dwelling I have
abandoned the whip and rope.

Both Ox and Self Forgotten

Whip, rope, person, and bull ...
all merge in No-Thing.
This heaven is so vast no message
can stain it.
How may a snowflake exist in a
raging fire?
Here are the footprints of the
patriarchs.

Return to the Source

Too many steps have been taken
returning to the root and the source.
Better to have been blind and deaf
from the beginning!
Dwelling in one's true abode,
unconcerned with that without ...
The river flows tranquilly on
and the flowers are reIn the World.

Entering the Marketplace with Open Hands

Barefooted and naked of breast ...
I mingle with the people of the world.
My clothes are ragged and dust-laden,
and I am ever blissful.
I use no magic to extend my life;
Now, before me ...
the dead trees become alive.

Having Kids...

I had to escort this young lady from the release section of the jail to the cab awaiting out in front of the clock tower. I waited in the room usually reserved for inmates being processed for release. She finally came through and signed for her money, her raggedy-ass, knock off designer bag, fake gold chain and fake gold earrings. then, the deputy buzzed us through the final exit point to fresh air and sunshine.

When this young lady, "Mary" came through, she remembered me from the time I saw her a few weeks back to evaluate her state of mind and she was out of it. Alert and Oriented, able to answer questions, she knew the date, who she was, where she was, why she was but she was weird, tweaked out, brain damaged and gave the impression of someone that was floating above and inconvenienced by having to listen to, and answer questions emanating from earth bound beings. In essence, she "passed" the test of grave disability. During the course of the interview, she kept standing and grabbing her chest and breathing deeply. The young worker with me asked her if she needed to see a doctor. I can see why he said it, but it was clear that her movements were an after-effect of Intravenous crystal meth. When I asked her what she did for a living, candidly and without pretense, she stated that she was a prostitute. I almost felt like the only reason I asked the question was to see if she was going to lie. And when she answered, it was seemingly with the same awareness that it was a "test" of honesty. When I asked her if she used condoms, she said, "Sometimes". Then I suggested that she call her mother from the office phone, which is something I rarely do, however, seeing as she was a native Espanol speaker, and her English wasn't that great, I wanted to see how she communicated in her native tongue. Even though I only understand about 10% of 1st grade level Spanish, I can tell a normal conversation in any language, by the clarity, fluidity, inflection, pronunciation, manner of thought and contemplation, as well as non-language factors of affect, pace, tone, etc. She sounded much clearer on the phone. From what I was able to make out, her mother asked her how she was doing, she talked about God, she asked about her kids and some other people. She did not hesitate, stutter, get emotional, argue, etc. As I suspected, (and the other workers hadn't factored into their assessments) she presented much better in a language she had an understanding of.

After seeing her, I requested that the psychiatrist increase her medications. Why? Well, two days previous to the days interview,, the young worker and a skilled worker saw the inmate and reported that that she was laughing inappropriately, non-responsive and talking to herself. My explanation for the discrepancy between her behavior two days ago and the day I saw her had 4 factors. 1. She was in court when she was doing worse. Court is a high stress situation and even normal people sound like babbling idiots when they get in front of a judge. 2. The worker that observed her in court, has a tendency to, well, not over-estimate the mental health symptoms, rather, to over-estimate the response needed to deal with it. 3. The worker that interviewed the client at the jail two days ago, is inexperienced, so his ability to provide firm boundaries and structure to the interview, is definitely nascent, thus, the inmate showed many more psychotic symptoms, and was less well directed to demonstrate her highest possible level of functioning. 4. The medications that she was taking were minimally effective, yet effective enough such that "Mary" was having a "good" day, they were sufficient, but not sufficient enough if she was having a bad day. So I asked the doctor to increase her meds, so that we could increase the number of "good" days and possibly reveal a higher baseline.

Now, as we were buzzed through the small antechamber to the final stop before her release, she was looking at me and laughing, while also putting the pieces together about what was happening, why I was there, and where she was going. By the time we got her possessions and were walking out to the cab she understood everything that was going on. I asked her a few questions about if she wanted treatment, if she would stay for the entire stay, if she was interested in getting her kids back, if she could stay with her family when she finished treatment, and her answers were leaning towards socially appropriate responses in all phases. I was not convinced that she was now on her way to a happy, healthy, and successful life. But, the fact is, whether junkie-whore, or ceo, we can only live life one moment at a time.

Everything that has been said about this young lady has so far been inconsequential to what I found "special" about her, for this young lady, at the tender age of 24, had 5 babies in foster care. This brings me to the point of this discussion. Humans seeming ability to care for children, has nothing to do with whether they can actually have them. I used to marvel at how many dope fiends, whores and addicts were able to seemingly have baby after baby, yet, now that I see the large number of doped out whores, I have seen with my own eyes, that anecdotally, it's a relatively small percentage of junkie-whores that remain viable for pregnancy. The vast majority can not have children. The ones that do, tend to be very young, and their fertility is facilitated by stints in Jail and prison whereby the petite sentences serve as a respite from the drugs, disease, lack of nutrition and stress that normally would keep these cadre of doped out whores from being able to get pregnant. It's my guess that a large percentage of the ones that can get pregnant, get pregnant within 30 days of release from jail.

In "nature" certain events prevent human females from getting pregnant. 1. Lack of nutrition (if you don't get a period, it severely decreases the chance of pregnancy) 2. Most women can not get pregnant while breast feeding 3. In nature, most males will not mate with females that are near death, or appear to be so. Generally, it is seen as a sexual turn-off, however, when the so-called "man" is just as blitzed and zombie-like in appearance, the mitigating factors (apparently) are not substantial enough to stem the tide of semen receiving opportunities. 4. A doped out, near-death, sickened, mentally ill female, usually is incapable of caring sufficiently for her offspring, and thus, in many cases, the infant will perish. Any tribesman or woman, knowing that this offspring is from such a diseased, pathetic female, would more than likely allow the child to perish, especially if that female is struggling to provide for her own children. No doubt, if this sickened female had given birth to, and killed more than a few children, social taboos would probably dictate that she be killed, or in the least, ostracized from the general group. As you can see, currently sociological factors have resulted in society rushing in to support, nurture and even encourage the junkie-whore to have wave after wave, and litter after litter of offspring that neither she, the biological father, nor society wants, or needs.

And so, this is not to pass a value judgement upon junkie-whores. Sure I could call them "substance addicted individuals engaged in illicit sexual transactions" but it means exactly the same thing. I'm sure all of these value neutral terms are not being used in the tenement, low-rent, rent by the hour fleabag copulation rooms, back alleys, car seats and open fields where said whores are being inseminated. I'll admit, I have a certain amount of disdain for the overall trend and phenomenon of brain dead males and females "having kids", but amazingly, when I'm talking to the junkie whore face to face, I really do care, I am compassionate, empathetic, caring, polite, helpful, friendly... and it's not hard at all to be. I am a human, and so are they. If I had to deal with this individual more than the few system contacts that I am well compensated for, then perhaps I would be robbed of my ability to focus on the singular purpose of the sparse interactions, but, such is not the case.

In any event, "having kids" in the year 2008, is a very strange process that has seemingly lead to some rather preposterous outcomes.

Today, the women that would be the good mothers, are waiting longer and longer to have children, and increasingly, waiting until they are no longer viable, or, until their viability as mothers has diminished substantially. At the same time, these women look at other responsible mothers who have taken the plunge, and exalted them, as if they were saints and goddesses. The thing about it is, that having life, is a continuation of something that was going on long before we were created, and will go on long after we are gone, in some form, in some way, somewhere, and if not, the struggle to assemble viable life, as it was created on this planet 3.5 billion years ago, will continually wrestle to find embodiment.

The point is, that for the individual, non-junkie-whore, or junkie-john/sex addict, to make the leap to being a responsible parent, only requires that one be responsible, and get pregnant, for everything that follows, will happen as a matter of course, as necessity, love and responsibility dictate. It's truly, not a big deal, and at the same time, the biggest deal possible to humans, in that it embodies, our entire existence. If and when, if ever human life is extinguish, all of the life, that has previously passed in the shadows of time, will be meaningless, unless and until such time, if ever, another life-form comes along and digging through the terrestrial layers of earth, fragments of our culture and existence are unearthed. Then, and only then, will we be, in a vague, oblique manner, significant, or meaningful again. Barring that, life on Earth now, for all it's wonders and glory, is still nothing more than a waiting game for some meaning, or purpose that can serve as an explanation, for the seeming progressive refinement (in some sense) of humanity.

For me, it can not be argued that evolution, not only has survival as a point of reference, but there seems to be, something that we are evolving towards. In all of the randomness and entropy, the complexity of dna based organisms runs afoul of any attempt to justify blind evolution as the sole cause. As has been said, the wave particle dilemma isn't so much of a "real" dilemma for the wave/particle, rather, only for us. Clearly, the world does not need us to understand it, in order to exist or persist, however, the lesson is clear. The structure, and meaning, of even inanimate "stuff" represents a complexity far beyond comprehension, and yet, comprehension, is ever able to come to grips with the understanding of this structure, leading me to believe, that a possible culmination of life is to be the life based expression, of existence.

You see, it is my contention that in declaring man as God, upon the establishment of the Christian faith was far too premature, yet, a prognostication, for if we are able one day to voice, discuss, explain, predict, and comprehend existence in it's full complexity, then we will have "evolved" to the point of being a (as mentioned above) a life-based representation of not only that which is living, but that which is not. At this point, our ability to create technologies capable of utilizing our creativity and knowledge of the universe, will result in possibilities that will literally turn reality upon it's ear. It will not be too much to assume, that at that point, the ability to create, new forms of reality will not be beyond our capability, but this can only happen, if we can persist and survive and move along this course of seeming purposeful, ordered, "striving-towards" evolution.

All of this is to say, that one of the problems we must deal with, is not only the junkie-whore, but finding and creating purposeful life for every human, regardless of whether they are addicted to drugs, or have sex for money, or not. For life, and how it is lived, and the choices we make about life, will determine, whether or not we can, or will exist in the future. And so, as I walk this junkie-whore out to the cab, waiting to take her to her mental health/substance abuse program, I have no idea if she will get pregnant again, or have more kids, but I do know, that if she does have a kid, someone, will be obligated to take care of it. And every kid she has, or anyone else has, takes a little bit more, and a little bit more, out of life.

It's plain to see that the best way to reduce our "carbon footprint" and pressure upon this Earth, is to have less children. And the best way to increase the quality of life, is to plow more resources into taking care of those children that are born, in the beginning of of their lives. And the best way to increase our chances as a species, is to educate those children in such a way, that they understand all that they need to know, to pass on the wisdom they've learned, to the next generation.

And I thought all of this, in the time it took her to get her knock-off handbag, fake gold chain and earrings, and get into the van, and pull off into the distance.

All-Earth Anime Round-up

TIIIIIIMAAAAAAA!!!! TIMA! TIMA!.... TIIIIIIMAAAAAAAAAAA~!!!!!

Sorry, I just had to get that out of the way... Anime? you may wonder how that fits into the stream of things between the impassioned, boorish social commentary, the black power perspective and spiritual philosophizing... well, Anime is a strange thing. cartoons allow us to create completely new worlds, and Anime, is the high art of animation, so it's interesting to see what folks have done with it. Let me tell you, there is some really good shit out there. Stuff that really will blow your mind and make you think and put you in a creative head space.

To me, it seems that Anime, the good stuff anyway is overinterpretated. Mainly, western folks look at japanese anime and then try to read into it, like they're in English Class deconstructing The Canterbury Tales and looking at all the allusions and reasons and rationales and hidden political and social pokes and prods. Anime in Japan is a form of entertainment that, as stated above, allows the writers and creator to be free of the rational world in constructing their storylines.

I find it amusing to read interviews of great anime legends, such as Osamu Tezuka and Katsuhiro Otomo, and all of the concrete questions that are being asked about plot and intent, and then the technical questions about how it was done, financed, etc, etc, etc. They totally miss the point. Interpreting good anime is like interpreting a dream. To interview the creator in an attempt to ascertain concrete meaning is to miss. Would it make sense to ask such questions of yourself about the "production" of your own dreams?

Below is some of the best anime and anime that is universally accepted as the best, as well as the anime that I have found to be outstanding.

1. METROPOLIS: I'm going to give this one high marks, just because it ends like all movies should end, with the destruction of the entire world. But, in an amazing twist of absurdity, as the world is coming to an end, inexplicably, yet, so apropos, "I can't stop loving you" by Ray Charles comes blasting from every direction. You can't hear the sounds of buildings crashing, people talking, nothing, just Ray Charles singin' his black ass off. This movie starts slow and then slowly hooks you. When the cute little robot girl makes her appearance, it really finds it's groove. There's the jealous kid with the gun. The evil scientist, the arrogant blue blood leader of the world, the boy and detective family member and the cyborg assistant. But the heart of this movie revolves around this strange love affair between a boy and the cute robot girl. Unbeknownst to anyone, save one, the girl was actually created to take over and destroy the world, which she attempts to do. If not for love, she would have succeeded. The visuals are absolutely amazing. The art deco inspired design, is great, but as in all great anime's, you probably have to watch it 3-4 times just to get to the end, but once you do, it all comes together beautifully.
Rating: 5 out of 5

2. STEAMBOY: This is some crazy shit. The movie is like, 2 hours long, but the last hour and 10 minutes is the final climax. It seems to be about to end for fuckin' ever, and they pull out all the stops, and then more, and more, and more. it's completely off the hook. But, only in anime could you get away with some shit like this. I mean, it's a cartoon, why not continually pull out stops? what's stopping you? certainly not the director or writers. It's a technically astute film. the sets, incredible, the concept, astounding. it's essentially a long chase sequence, and a world changing piece of technology that everyone wants, and it pits a father, against his son, who is then pit against his son (Steamboy). there's a rich white girl, Victorian England, and just beautiful animation and hollering throughout.
Rating: 5 out of 5

3. TOKYO GODFATHERS: This story is about a transsexual, a runaway girl, and an older alcoholic x-bike shop owner, who are all homeless, have banded together and find themselves with a baby to take care of in the dead of winter. They search for the kids parents. They seemingly find the kids parents, but in the search, they all have to re-visit their past, ala "A Christmas Carol" style, and the parents story, is much more than it seems. It features some unpredictable, but believable plot twists, and by the end of the log journey, you have really come to love the characters. I have to admit, I didn't think it would happen, but the ending of this movie, made me cry. It was beautiful, and a real cliffhanger.
Rating: 5 out of 5

4. AKIRA: This movie has a Japanese motorcycle gang in post-apocalyptic Japan. The cause of the nuclear disaster is unknown, but the opening scene gives away some vital clues. The weirdness is so creative and weird, that it makes you wonder why this corny, bullshit motorcycle gang element was even included. There are some strange telepathic mutants, who can bend and control reality. A revolutionary underground network, that is in over it's head, and the character "Akira" who was the cause of the Apocalypse, due to the power of his mind. The twist is that one of the motorcycle punks, has the ability to go toe to toe with Akira. The movie has some real creepy and creative scenes that are totally weird. Ultimately, the corny parts of this movie, drag the entire exercise into the toilet.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5, but with a few scenes that make it a must see.

5. MEMORIES: Three short movies. The first is a mix between "Alien" "Blade Runner" "2001" and "Solaris". It's damn good. all the "mind/what's real" bullshit that every good sci-fi movie has. The second movie, is totally weird. This guy takes a pill that turns him into a toxic, lethal plume of death. The last one, is about a future society, 1984-type, that just shoots bombs off to an unknown enemy. The story makes little sense, and follows the mother, father and son. It's wierd. All three of them, are like a n Anime, "Creepshow", a good movie to watch when you're bedridden and already starting to come unglued.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5

6. APPLESEED: A great futuristic, save the world from destruction by the all-knowing computer type of movie. The heroes are brave, foolish, good looking, and incapable of being killed. half the population are "bioroids" that can not reproduce, the rest are humans. "mya" controls the entire city, and these geriatric motherfuckers that float around, make all the major decisions. The heroine's mother, developed the code for the bioroids, and also has the key to destroy and save them. The final sequence is off the hook, as 12 unstoppable machines march to the center of town to destroy a vat of lethal virus. Of course, with half a second left, the world is saves, and it's all good.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5, but it's mindless.

7. PAPRIKA: A dreaming machine begins to suck people into coma's. somewhat reminiscent of "The Cell" with J-Lo. It has the same weirdness as Akira, but much more of it. A great surreal world. But whereas most movies that have two worlds where characters pop back and forth, this one actually is as amazing in it's "real" world as in it's dream one. It's damn near R-rated, and definitely not for kids.
Rating 3.5 out of 5.

8. FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN: This one is very similar to Appleseed. The monsters are better, scarier, and the final sequences, more exciting. Makes you think a bit harder, but overall, just as good. No more, no less.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5, but it's mindless.

9. GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES: I'm putting this one down here, cause it's horrible. The movie is essentially 2 hours of watching 2 kids die of starvation. Nothing good happens to them. It's depressing and fucked up. Don't get it. There's not a single ray of sunshine in this one. BUT, the overall story is on the suffering of war, the death and destruction, the struggle for life, the end of every relationship and joy that drives humans to move and to love and enjoy. In our current world, we are all given license to moan and gripe and be wounded for losses, be they of individuals, jobs, relationships. But in this movie, the losses are so total, that there is no room to moan and be wounded. There is only time to struggle with all of ones might to keep up with the pace of survival. To acquire food, to stay warm, to deal with the unforeseen and to improvise. This movie is just about a couple of kids thrust into an existence of survival. A survival that based upon their love, dedication and need to preserve the last thing that means anything to them in their life. They are supported by the idea that their father will one day return, but by the end, this is quashed too. When folks think about Japan and war, one thinks of the atrocities against the Chinese, The alliance with the Germans, Pearls Harbor, the Bataan Death March, the firebombing of the major cities, the dropping of 2 nuclear bombs, surrender and the miraculous return to glory. This film holds the lense tightly on the suffering of the Japanese people, and their most vulnerable citizens, children. For that, I have to give this film high ratings. It must represent something that was deep in the national consciousness, and had to be expressed, but it certainly doesn't qualify in my mind as "entertainment" it's something else entirely, and as such, it demonstrates the vast range and capability of anime, as exemplified in the other great anime sci-fi mentioned above.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

10. NAUSICAA, VALLEY OF THE WIND: This one is pretty creative. good battles, good story, strange creatures, good scenes. But, it's for kids. It's too corny and cutesy for any real Black man to enjoy, but the kids got off on it. It's a lot like the old Speed Racer, or Marine Boy (that I can't seem to find anywhere).
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 for kids, 1 out of 5 for adults.

As a final note, I think it would be a shame for anyone that considered themselves to be a movie lover, and film afficianado to get through life without at least a short sojourn into the realm of anime. If nothing else, it will add to your understanding and experience of movies, what they are, what they can be, and what they can convey.

White Outrage At SDSU For Audacious Drug Etiquette Faux Paux In Arrest Of Whites

There are some seriously pissed off Whites at San Diego University right now. They had absolutely no idea that they could be arrested for drug dealing. Even now, I have nary a doubt that many of them are just now beginning to realize that for whatever reason, they are have, against all odds, been arrested for crimes usually reserved for Blacks.

Read the following article, and you'll see the following points that I had emphasized in yesterday's blog.
1. White Neighborhoods, Cars and Vehicles are virtual drug use free pass areas to the point that White folks are completely in the dark about the current catastrophe going on in Black communities for the last 30 years. Whites KNOW, that drugs are illegal, but the point is, rich, affluent Whites have been virtually immune from drug charges as long as they remain in their communities and do not deal with inner city Blacks in the acquisition of drugs.

Danielle Patterson, a sophomore sorority member, said she was awake cramming for finals when agents raided an apartment behind her building. She said, "I never thought something like that would happen here," she said. "To think they think drugs are such a big issue here, it's ridiculous."

2. What this whole incident exposes, and will continue to expose, is that White folks have absolutely no compassion for what has been happening to Blacks. The unspoken assumption has been that Blacks who have been given outrageous sentences for drug possession are deserving of such sentences, not because they are bad people, but because they are Black, and ample warning has been given to the Black community, that any trifling with drugs can result in a life sentence. White folks have NOT been included in this. And so, in a sense, they feel that they have every right to be outraged and blindsided by this recent turn of events. In fact, they probably have legal grounds with which to challenge the arrests, seeing as it's common knowledge that the police have no business busting rich whites in academic sanctuaries for any crime. Believe it, the calls for leniency have just begun, and before this thing is over, every last White kid involved in this, will be seen as a martyr. Hell, we may even have the beginnings of a new religion.

Some students and parents complained that the bust was heavy-handed. Parents joined students at a campus rally Wednesday calling for more drug-abuse treatment instead of tougher enforcement. "This heavy hand coming down is not going to change drug use on campus," said Gretchen Burns-Bergman, whose son is a month away from graduating. "There's not going to be a shortage of drugs on campus."


3. White Universities and Colleges are complicit in creating the drug use free zones on Campuses across the country. The understanding with affluent Whites is that the colleges will protect and safeguard their children's futures. Part of this strategy is to turn a blind eye towards rampant alcohol use, sexual assaults, and drug use and sales, as well as cheating, writing bad checks, etc. Because colleges have been establishehd to safeguard Whites through the difficult transition from young adulthood, to movers and shakers. What many Blacks understand is that if you are accepted, not only are you given the tools necessary to succeed in life, but you will be treated with kid gloves until the day of your graduation. Every effort will be made, to make sure that you dodge all the hazards to make it to the promised land. I'm in shock that this eden has been invaded. Someone seriously fucked up, and I will not be surprised if some cops lose their jobs over this.

Campus police started the probe a year ago after the cocaine overdose death of a freshman sorority member, but they soon called in federal agents to provide fresh faces on campus and supply the money needed to make drug buys. That was a major departure from the arms'-length relationship that has existed between colleges and police since the 1960s. For decades, police in many communities have largely turned a blind eye to drugs on campus. Yet the invitation to federal authorities was unusual because it involved an open-ended investigation that didn't involve a violent crime. "In general, universities are pretty jealous of their prerogatives and are uneasy about welcoming outside authorities onto campus," said Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University, a former student radical and a leading authority on the '60s counterculture. "There's a real reluctance at universities to call on outside police." University President Stephen Weber defended the decision to bring federal authorities onto campus.

4. These White kids and parents feel utterly betrayed by the University for abiding by the law. The reason is that of course, White folks should be protected from the harsh realities that Blacks and other minorities face on a daily basis. If I was White and got caught up in this shit, or I was a White parent and got caught up in this shit, I'd be pissed too. The fact that the sales were so out in the open, on campus and no effort whatsoever to hide or disguise what was going on, shows that these White boys were absolutely not concerned with arrest in the least. Why should they be? they attend classes on one of hundreds of White free drug use zones across this country.

The day after the drug sweep landed members of three fraternities in jail and led to the suspension of six frats, investigators revealed how easy it was to penetrate the university's drug culture."They never gave any thought that we could be doing an operation there," said Eileen Zeidler, a spokeswoman for the DEA office in San Diego. At least 75 people arrested during the five-month sting were San Diego State students, and 13 of them were from seven fraternities. All together, there were 128 arrests, 61 on Tuesday. Theta Chi had the highest number of students arrested, with five.Undercover agents who posed as college students to bust more than 100 suspected drug dealers at San Diego State University never had to crack a book to gain acceptance on campus. All it took was cash.The federal agents went to one or two parties but never actually went to class or lived in the dorms. Instead, they merely arranged meetings with suspected dealers and asked about buying cocaine, Ecstasy, methamphetamine, marijuana and other drugs, authorities said Wednesday. "All it took was saying, `Hey, I go to State, can you hook me up?'" said San Diego County prosecutor Damon Mosler. "And then it was off to the races."

5. It appears that so much hype about anti-drug bullshit has seeped across this nation on it's War on Drugs, some of the SDSU administration had no idea that they were breaking drug etiquette by calling in the big dogs. Even today, after more arrests were made, the SDSU administration stated the following:

"Some have asked what we think this publicity has done for SDSU's reputation. I have told them I am proud of the action taken by SDSU to proactively address this serious threat to our students," Weber said in a statement Wednesday. "As a parent I would want my son or daughter to attend a university committed to providing the safest possible environment."

All I have to say is that there are probably at least 25,000 White boy drug dealers on college campuses and fraternities across this nation that are furiously flushing thousands of dollars worth of product down the tizzoilet at this very minute. I'm sure a few are having blowout sales, but mark my words, this bust is a frickin' anomaly. Although at least 50 White boys and girls could be arrested on every White campus a day for breaking federal drug use, possession or sales policy, it will never become a trend. In fact, if the police had truly used the same strategy that they used in the Black community, they would have had at least 1,000 arrests, because in the city they focus on small time dealers, but mostly, the focus on the small time buyers. I guarantee you, nary a single buyer was busted in this. Is it discriminatory that they didn't focus on buyers like they do in the hood? absolutely, but what it shows is that they truly do understand the problem. For had they busted buyers, they would have invariably been exactly the same as the buyers in the hood (more or less). They would be the kids that came from broken homes, who were outcasts, who had histories of abuse, sexual and physical. who were going through tough transitions, losses, deaths of loved ones, family discord, break-ups or had underlying mental health issues like depression, bi-polar disorder, dyslexia, etc. So they didn't focus on the buyers... But the point is, they don't give a damn when it comes to the hood. If these dope dealers had a hundred thousand dollars worth of dope, then it was because that's how much dope they needed and how much they were movin'. that's a lot of buyers. If you figure the average sale was an eighth, then that's at least 5,500 sales and 5,500 users, and that's just the weed. That doesn't count the mushrooms, meth, ecstacy, cocaine.... Believe me, this shit could have been a whole lot uglier.

All quotes in this story were from the following story: "FEDS PENETRATED DRUG CULTURE EASILY AT SAN DIEGO STATE"
By Allison Hoffman, Associated Press Writer, Wednesday, May 7, 2008

George Washington Cable & Matthew J. Mancini on the post-bellum Convict Lease system in the former Confederate States.

"In studying about a year ago, the practice of letting out public convicts to Private lessees to serve out their sentences under private management, I found that it does not belong to all our once slave States nor to all our once seceded States. Only it is no longer in practice outside of them. under our present condition in the South, it is beyond possibility that the individual black should behave mischievously without offensively re-arousing the old sentiments of the still dominant white man. As we have seen too, the white man virtually monopolizes the jury-box."

"Add another fact: the Southern States have entered upon a new era of material development. Now, if with these conditions in force the public mind has been captivated by glowing pictures of the remunerative economy of the convict-lease system, and by the seductive spectacle of mines and railways, turnpikes and levees, that everybody wants and nobody wants to pay for, growing apace by convict labor that seems to cost nothing, we may almost assert beforehand that the popular mind will-not so maliciously as unreflectingly-yield to the tremendous temptation to hustle the misbehaving black man into State prison under extravagant sentence, and sell his labor to the highest bidder."

"After the erroneous takings of the census of 1880 in South Carolina had been corrected, the population was shown to consist of about twenty blacks to every thirteen whites...what is to account for the fact that in 1881 there were committed to the State prison at Columbia South Carolina, 406 colored persons and but 25 whites? The proportion of blacks sentenced to the whole black population was one to every 1488: that of the whites to the white population was but one to every 15,644. In Georgia... there were 115 whites and 1071 colored... Yet of 52 pardons granted in the two years then closing, 22 were to whites and only 30 to blacks."

"This system springs primarily from the idea that the possession of a convicts person is an opportunity for the Sate to make money... The mitigations that arise in its practice through the humane or semi-humane sentiments of keepers and guards, and through the meager est of legislation, are few, scanty, and rare: and in the main the notion is clearly set forth and followed that a convict, whether pilferer or murderer, man, woman, or child, has almost no human right that the state is bound to be at any expense to protect."

"(The system) is not intended to imply that the long-term convict inside the prison is likely to serve out his sentence. while among a majority of commitments on shorter periods, men, women and children are frequently sentence for terms of 15, 20, 30, 40, and sometimes even of 50 years, a prisoner can rarely be found to have survived ten years of this brutal slavery either in the prison or in the convict camp. In Alabama, in 1880, there were but three who had been in confinement eight years, and one nine; while not one had lived out ten years' imprisonment. In Mississippi, December 1, 1881, among 77 convicts then on the roll under 10 years' sentence, 17 under sentences of between 20 and 50 years, none had served 11 years, only two had served 10, and only 3 others had served 9 years. There were 25 distinct outside gangs, and their average annual rate of mortality for that and previous year was over 8 percent... in Louisiana, in 1881, 14 percent perished."

"If anything may be inferred from the mortal results of the Lease System in other States, the year's death-rate of the convict camps of Louisiana must exceed that of any pestilence that ever fell upon Europe in the Middle Ages. And as far as popular rumor goes, it confirms this assumption on every hand. Every mention of these camps is followed by the execration's of a scandalized community, whose ear is every now and then shocked afresh with some new whisper of their frightful barbarities... it kills like a pestilence, teaches the people to be cruel, sets up a false system of clemency, and seduces the State into the committal of murder for money."

-George Washington Cable
The Convict Lease System in the Southern States
The Century; a popular quarterly. / Volume 27, Issue 4
Publisher: The Century Company, New York, Feb. 1884

"Some measure of cruel treatment seems to be an unavoidable element in even the finest systems of penal administration, bu the routine cruelty which characterized the convict lease system in all its years of operation raises important questions of analysis and interpretation. Convict leasing, in fact, is best understood not as part of the history of prisons but as part of the elaborate social system of racial subordination which had previously been assured by the practice of slavery. That is, the lease system was a component of that larger web of law and custom which effectively insured the South's racial hierarchy. Seen in this light, the brutality of convict leasing fits clearly into a more comprehensive pattern of intimidation and violence, and it can be seen as an intrinsic part of that system rather than an aberration."

"In addition to its social usefulness, leasing had numerous and very obvious economic advantage as well :it took the care an d expense of thousands of prisoners out of the direct purview of the state, it provided a large pool of extremely cheap labor, it permitted the easy exploitation of natural resources, and it helped attract northern capital with which business leaders in the post-bellum South were so obsessed. In 1880 Enoch Cobb Wines, the outstanding crusader for prison reform, reported that, barring the states in which convict leasing was practiced, about tone-half of the expenses of penal administration came from prison income. That is, taxpayer were in most states paying part of the burden of incarceration. In states where leasing was practiced, by contrast the average proceeds constituted 372% of costs. These figured represent only the expenses saved by the state governments; they do not begin to tell the story of the profits amassed by mine owners, railroad builders, lumber merchants, and other capitalists in the impoverished South."

"So convict leasing was not just an expedient by which Southern states with depleted treasuries could avoid costly expenditures; it was also one of the greatest single sources of personal wealth to some of the South;s leading businessmen and politicians. The economic and social justifications for the convict lease system were thus mutually reinforcing. for nearly half a century they combined to stave off repeated attempts of abolition."

-Matthew J. Mancini
Race, Economics, and the Abandonment of Convict Leasing
The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 63, No. 4 (Oct., 1978), pp. 339-352
Published by: Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, Inc.

The Pigs Finally Crack Down On Some White Folks For A Change.

See these young Caucasian gentlemen on the Left? They are the type of chaps that would never fall under any type of drug suspicion. Not because they don't do drugs, but because they're White, and no Pig, either Black or White is going to ruin' the future of some White boy who's just trying to get high and have some sex and party a little bit before getting a multi-million dollar job working for their father.... but read below, because several White boys in this photo of San Diego States Theta Chi Fraternity, just got busted for selling' drugs supplied to them by Mexican Cartels.

Now, even without a crystal ball, I can tell you that many of these folks will get a slap on the wrist, some will skate, and it's absolutely beyond reason to assume that any of these promising young White boys will get life sentences as is customary for hard core drug sales in Louisiana. No doubt can be had that many of the 75 mostly fraternity members will post bail, hire the best lawyers, and the "mitigating evidence" will "move" the jury to light sentences with rehab, probation and speaking engagements. Regardless of what they find, it's more than likely that by the end of it, they'll martyr any and all of the minority students that are involved.

We already know (As illustrated in The Woozy's Angola paper), that as of 2001, although Black's comprise a mere 12% of the population and 13% of drug users, they comprise 38% of those arrested for drug offenses, 44% of those prosecuted, 59% of those convicted and their sentences were 49% longer than Whites who did the same exact thing. So I'm not just playin' the race card in my prognostication that these White boys will get preferential treatment in the criminal justice system. it's an established fact.

As more and more Black men and women are getting locked up in this racist drug war, three news articles in the headlines, on Tuesday illustrate the racist drug enforcement's lopsided and misguided policies and the thinly veiled focus on martyring the entire Black community in the name of conning the American public that America, it's Pigs and it's politicians are "tough on crime". The reality is that White people do just as much drugs as Blacks. Hopefully we can start to tear down some of these free drug use zones that seem to exist in every white neighborhood, white college and white vehicle.

Not surprising, the Racist Manhattan Institute, and it's dapper cadre of racist pseudo-intellectuals have jumped into the fray to defend the practice of focusing on Blacks and their neighborhoods solely in the drug war. I have a long standing hate of the racist propaganda that emanates from this shithole, and it's all-star assholes like the Thernstrom's and Uncle Tom in residence, John McWhorter. But that comes later, If you read the excerpts from these three articles and think about it, it's clear that we have a serious flaw in our national drug enforcement policy, and once again, racial discrimination and America's long standing class system and it's determination of the value of Black and White lives is at it's core. Read on.


San Francisco Digest:
SHARP RISE IN JAIL'S BLACK POPULATION
By Cecilia M. Vega
Published: Tuesday, May 6, 2008
(05-05-08) 19:36 PDT San Francisco -- As San Francisco's population of African American residents has decreased in recent years, the population of black men and women locked up in the San Francisco County Jail has increased dramatically. More than 60 percent of all prisoners are African American. And of the 282 female prisoners, 67 percent are Black. About 42 percent of the jail population is in custody for drug offenses, the study found. In contrast, 6.7 percent of San Francisco residents are black- a number that has been in steady decline. Sheriff Hennessey said the criminal justice system and the war on drugs are "disproportionately adversely affecting San Francisco's African American community."

O.K., so that's the first part, now, let's turn to the New York Times...


The New York Times:
REPORT FINDS RACIAL GAP IN DRUG ARRESTS
By Erik Eckholm
Published: Tuesday, May 6, 2008
More than two decades after President Ronald Reagan escalated the war on drugs, arrests for drug sales or, more often, drug possession are still rising. And despite public debate and limited efforts to reduce them, large disparities persist in the rate at which blacks and whites are arrested and imprisoned for drug offenses, even though the two races use illegal drugs at roughly equal rates. Two new reports, issued Monday by the Sentencing Project in Washington and by Human Rights Watch in New York, both say the racial disparities reflect, in large part, an overwhelming focus of law enforcement on drug use in low-income urban areas, with arrests and incarceration the main weapon. But they note that the murderous crack-related urban violence of the 1980s, which spawned the war on drugs, has largely subsided, reducing the rationale for a strategy that has sowed mistrust in the justice system among many blacks. Apart from crowding prisons, one result is a devastating impact on the lives of black men: they are nearly 12 times as likely to be imprisoned for drug convictions as adult white men.

And just for good measure, here's some of the rather astute commentary...

“The way the war on drugs has been pursued is one of the biggest reasons for the growing racial disparities in criminal justice over all,” said Ryan S. King, a policy analyst with the Sentencing Project who wrote its report. “The race question is so entangled in the way the drug war was conceived,” said Jamie Fellner, a senior counsel at Human Rights Watch and the author of its report. “If the drug issue is still seen as primarily a problem of the black inner city, then we’ll continue to see this enormously disparate impact,” Ms. Fellner said. Blacks constituted 53.5 percent of all who entered prison for a drug conviction.

And here is the aforementioned racist spin/justification from the Manhattan Institute...

Heather Mac Donald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute in New York, said it made sense for police to focus more on fighting visible drug dealing in low-income urban areas, largely involving members of minorities, than on hidden use in suburban homes, more often by whites, because the urban street trade is more associated with violence and other crimes and impairs the quality of life. “The disparities reflect policing decisions to use drug laws to try and reduce violence and to respond to the demand by law-abiding residents in poor neighborhoods to clean up the drug trade,” Ms. Mac Donald said.

Impairs the quality of life? Tell me, what impairs the quality of life more, smoking' some dope, or life in prison? The reason why folks in the ghetto are getting' high is because they've already been impaired by the effect of everyone they ' know either getting' blown away, or arrested, or incarcerated not to mention the fact that they have more than likely already been blackballed by a criminal record, life in foster care and expelled at school, only to go out into the world and not being' able to get a fucking' job, education, help, services, treatment, justice or a fucking' chance in Hell in this 500 year history of American "fuck over every fucking' Black motherfucker" Philosophy. Let's face it, fucking' over Black Folks and blaming them for everything that's wrong in this country is as American as George Washington's underwear.

The Manhattan Institutes's young commenter seemingly pays no attention to the fact that drug laws are on the books because drugs are illegal. If violence occurs, then there are other charges that can be called into play. If you read her statement, she's essentially saying that White drug use is inconsequential, assumedly because it is "responsible" drug use. However, San Diego State's recent bust has shown what we have known all along. White folks use just as much drugs as Black folks. I applaud the thoroughness of the investigation, the number of undercover sales, the further search into the sale of illegal weapons and the tracing back of the drugs to Mexican Cartels, because when they bust your ass in the hood, all they're interested in is putting your Black ass in jail. There is a concerted lack of focus on drug distributors, the weapons trade that goes along with it, and the larger network of importers and high level and mid-level distributors. To me, it seems obvious why the police do this, and it's because they want arrests to justify the number of police on the streets, and if they cut the head off the beast, then they essentially put themselves out of work, and make it that much harder to arrest the street level user. Anyway, here's the final article in the trifecta expose of drug enforcement disparity.


Tuesday, May 6, 2008 (AP)
Newsweek:
DRUG PROBE AT SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY NETS 75 STUDENTS
By ALLISON HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer
Published: Tuesday, May 6, 2008
When a 19-year-old freshman sorority member died a year ago from a cocaine overdose at San Diego State University, campus investigators set out to find out who was dealing drugs to their 34,000 students. It turned out their targets were on Fraternity Row, where authorities say unassuming facades of houses emblazoned with Greek symbols concealed thriving networks that may have used profits to finance fraternity operations. Undercover agents arrested 96 people, including 75 San Diego State students, during a five-month investigation into drug dealing on campus. Students at three fraternities were arrested. Twenty-nine people were arrested early Tuesday in raids at nine locations including the Theta Chi fraternity, where agents found cocaine, ecstasy and three guns. Eighteen of them were wanted on warrants for selling to undercover agents. San Diego State suspended Theta Chi and five other fraternities.
University police launched their investigation into drug sales on campus after Shirley Poliakoff, 19, died from a cocaine overdose in May 2007. Investigators discovered many students in fraternities were aware of organized drug dealing within their houses. Grams of cocaine were on sale for as little as $35. More than 130 undercover drug buys were made at locations including fraternity houses, student parking areas and in student dormitories during the investigation by university police and the DEA, authorities said. Authorities seized several guns, at least $60,000 in cash, marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, hash oil, methamphetamine and illicit prescription drugs, the university said. Some drugs bought and sold by students were traced to gangs linked to Mexican cartels, according to the DEA. Agents collected about $100,000 worth of drugs, including cocaine, ecstasy pills, hallucinogenic mushrooms and high-grade marijuana that were being advertised in "resale quantities" between members of the fraternity and other students.

Like I've been saying all along, the police need to get off their asses, and get up in those gated communities where White folks are using drugs in a shroud of safety and free from arrest or any other type of enforcement. Hopefully we'll see some of the White drug users pulled into the shit along with Blacks, because right now the "Drug War" is a Race war, and it shows no sign of diminishing.

They say...

theoretically speaking, the "big bang" released almost completely pure energy at incredible temperatures....

In this release of energy, almost equal amounts of matter and anti-matter was released...

And matter outnumbered anti-matter by a ration of only 1/1,000,000...

So only 1/1,000,000 of the energy released in the big bang is in existence, and this composes the known universe...

Of the "known" universe, only between 1-6% of it, is in the form of elements represented in the periodic chart..

And most of this "stuff" is held in vast clouds of gas, asteroids, planets, stars, black holes, etc...

The other 94-99% is in the form of what has been referred to as "dark matter".

It is called dark matter because although we "know" it exists through it's effect on gravity and the shape of the universe, however, it has never been seen, or directly observed...

Theories of it's composition range from vast "invisible" objects, to sub-sub-atomic particles, so small, plentiful and fast moving that millions of these un-detectable objects would have to be passing through each of us at any given moment to account for it all...

To appreciate the vastness of the known universe... if the known universe were the size of the earth, then in relation, our solar system (the size of pluto's orbit around the sun) would be the size of a single small bacteria, which would be about 1/100th as large as the period at the end of this sentence. But even though our solar system would be the size of a bacteria in that scale, it would still take us over 10 years to travel less than halfway across that period in the fastest spacecraft to date (Nasa's New Horizons) which takes an hour, to travel 1/6th the distance that light travels in a second.

The number of stars in the universe is so great that there are more of them, than there are grains of sand, on all of the beaches on earth... in fact, there are over a million stars in our universe for every grain of sand on the earth... and in this analogy, the total number of stars visible from earth with the naked eye, would amount to less than two tablespoons of sand.

But for the vastness of the known universe the vast majority of it is empty space.... for example, if the sun were reduced to a scale of slightly less than one inch, Pluto would be 100 yards away and 1/50th of an inch across... in this scale the speed of light would equal about 1 inch every 5 seconds...

The vastness of outer space is dwarfed by the vastness of inner space... if the nucleus of a hydrogen atom (a single proton) was slightly smaller than an inch, the electrons would be about 210 yards away and 1/150th of an inch in size... about the size of a grain of sand... imagine that, a single grain of sand, orbiting an object less than an inch in size, millions of times a second, at a distance of over 210 yards...

And the star closest to our sun is Proxima Centauri. To give you a feel for how far away we are from everything else, if our sun were the size of a period printed on a page (.5mm), Proxima Centauri would be the same size, but 8 miles away. In this same scale, the closest sun to us with planets (Bernard's Star) would be 12 miles away, or in terms of the bay area, if our sun was represented by a period printed on a page in Oakland, CA. City Hall, Bernard's Star would be a period printed on a page in San Francisco, CA. City Hall.

But perhaps the most incredible number, is the age of the life contained within every living human. Each human on this planet, represents an unbroken chain of life extending back 3.5 billion years (which spawned plants and animals 550 million years ago)... each human that is alive today, represents an unbroken chain of between 215 million to - 550 million lifeforms that were born, lived to reproduce, and nurtured and (for higher level life forms) protected young that then lived to reproduce, and so on, and so on... and each human that lives, and does not reproduce themselves, represents the end of a line of life, that endured at least 3.5 billion years, to the day that individual died...

Is it no wonder, that the desire to reproduce, is the strongest urge and strongest desire on earth, save the perpetuation of ones own life?


I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
-Ecclesiastes

The Amazing Life of Tunis Campbell

Tunis Gulic Campbell 1812-1891

Tunis Gulic Campbell was one of the most important, fearless, politically astute Black men in the history of the United States. His skill for leading, community organizing and political acumen are the reason why he will be the next Black individual elevated to "Black God" status by The West Oakland Opportunity Zone.

Tunis Campbell was one of ten children born to Two free Blacks, John Campbell, a blacksmith, and his wife in Middlebrook, New Jersey. In 1817, when Campbell was five, a white friend worked to place the unusually self-aware Campbell in an all-white Episcopal school on Long Island. At this school, Tunis was trained for work as a missionary in Liberia by the American Colonization Society. Soon though, Tunis began to see that he disagreed that Blacks, who had been in the United States prior to virtually all other peoples of the world, should be repatriated as a solution to the race question.

At age eighteen he followed his conscience and began to lecture and preach against slavery, colonization, alcohol, and prostitution. To support himself, Tunis made a living as a hotel steward and head waiter in new York and Boston. He was so effective at this profession that he wrote the first book on hotel management to be published in the United States.

Campbell's greatest legacy is as a political leader in Georgia, where he lead one of the most remarkable experiments in democracy in the history of the United States, by organizing a large community of freedmen into a model community of self-sufficiency and self-governance. This all came about In 1865 when Campbell was appointed Freedmen Bureau Superintendent of the major islands off the coast of Georgia. On January 12, 1865, General William T. Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, met with Tunis Campbell and 20 of Savannah's black clergy to discuss how to help blacks make the transition from slavery to freedom. The meeting in itself had no precedent. White leaders, meeting with Black leaders, to discuss and organize the transition from slavery to freedom. Tunis and others argued for self-sufficiency and that Blacks be given a chance to govern themselves and not be governed or managed. All they asked for was freedom, protection, land and the opportunity to take part in the great experiment of democracy that whites had enjoyed for the previous 200 years.

Based upon what was shared, discussed, General Sherman issued the most important Order in the History of Blacks in America, Special Field Orders No. 15., promising all blacks 40 acres of Low Country property and a military mule. It was General Rufus Saxton, director of the South Carolina Freedmen's Bureau implemented the program, and over the next several months, over 40,000 blacks were settled on 40-acre tracts along the North and South Carolina Coast.

The experiment flourished, the crops were planted, homes built, government officials elected and churches ministered over their recently freed parishioners. In an amazingly short time, and under the leadership of Campbell, the communities bonded; however, due to the forgiveness of President Johnson of former Confederate soldiers, plantation owners and former slave owners, many of these lands were returned to their previous White owners. The great Black democratic experiment in freedom and self-sufficiency was over, and eventually, Campbell was summarily exiled from the Sea Islands.

Once the Black were turned out of their newly given lands, A program was implemented to force the freemen into labor contracts with white investors. The land was either returned to its Confederate owners or leased to Northern entrepreneurs. Freedmen who protested against outrageously unfair contract stipulations and inflated prices at the White-run company stores, or who resisted signing the contracts, were arrested, punished and many were worked to death after they were leased to public works projects, road gangs, levee construction and railroads.

Campbell managed to regroup on the mainland at an abandoned plantation he purchased and was joined by a hundred people on the land to form the Belleville Farmers Association. For several years, this project was troubled by bad weather and poor harvests and inadequate support by private agencies.

Some positive changed did take place and it seemed for a while that Blacks would experience a reprieve. In 1867 Radical Republicans gained control of Congress and overpowered the conservative president Johnson and a number of Reconstruction acts were passed over veto.

Among these acts, the former Confederate states had to
--register all qualified voters, under federal supervision;
--elect delegates to rewrite the state constitution into compliance with the united States Constitution;
--elect new state legislatures;
--ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, which established full African-American citizenship.

Under these federal guidelines McIntosh County fall of 1867 elected Tunis Campbell, and along with 37 blacks among 170 delegates to the state constitutional convention. Campbell developed a voting bloc to propose and enact legislation favorable to freedmen, such as passing a bill eliminating imprisonment for debt.. With the new constitution Campbell and two other blacks were elected to the Georgia State Senate.

Although success was sweet, it was short lasting, for on 12 September 1868, Campbell and other blacks were expelled when racist argued that "the right to vote did not imply the right to hold office".

In December 1869, in response to the steady rise of Ku Klux Klan terrorism, the United States Congress restored military rule in Georgia. The expelled legislators were reinstated, and for what remained of his term Campbell served on committees on education, the penal system, and the military. he introduced fifteen bills furthering black rights, most of which were unsuccessful. His great concerns were access to voting and education.

Campbell lost his Senate seat in 1872 in an election mired in fraud. He continued to serve as a justice of the peace; in that capacity he was most prominent defending the rights of black sailors on the ships docking in Darien, an active port. His vigilance on their behalf, and his willingness to fine and imprison the white ships' captains who abused them, incurred the wrath of local whites.

Campbell had been a major irritant to the white power structure for years. they recognized his influence over McIntosh County African Americans, and they despised him for it. Planters claimed That Campbell's opposition to contract labor and his constant advice to the freedmen cost the planters hundreds of thousands of dollars. By the mid-1870s the momentum of national politics was conservative again, and white "Redeemer" forces, dedicated to restoring the "'old order," were seizing power throughout the South.

The former Confederates engaged in a plot with racist Judge Henry Tompkins, a Confederate veteran sworn to destroy him. He indicted Campbell for falsely imprisoning white men (the abusive ship captains in Darien) and set the bail so high that blacks were not able to redeem Campbell, who was thus forced to serve one year of hard labor in Georgia's penal system.

Conditions in these camps were appalling, and the treatment accorded the men were brutal. In the late 1870s, convicts leased to one railroad company in South Carolina suffered a 45% annual death rate; the death rate across the South averaged between 16 and 25%.

There were some attempts at exposure and reform: in one such brave effort, a United States district judge examined the court records of one Georgia county for one month and disclosed that 149 people--almost all of them black--had been sentenced to an average of 19 years each at leased labor for crimes no more serious than walking on the grass and spitting on dirt streets. The maverick Southern reformer George Washington Cable published and lectured against convict leasing. But the system was too profitable for both the state and the contractor for reform to have a chance. In the mid-1889s Georgia's United States Senator, Joseph E. Brown, held a twenty-year lease on three hundred, "healthy" convicts, for which he paid the state the sum of seven cents per man per working day.

Tunis Campbell entered that world in January of 1876 Tunis Campbell entered the dark world of convict leasing when a plantation owner bought his labor contract from the state of Georgia for $8.75.

A petition for pardon was offered to the Governor of Georgia, James M. Smith, for Rev. Tunis G. Campbell. The facts of the case seemed to warrant an effort to obtain clemency but it was denied.

After little more than a year, Campbell was released in January 1877 and moved to Washington, D.C. where he lobbied for federal protection of African American rights. He returned to Georgia briefly in 1882 for a Republican convention in Atlanta and visited McIntosh County and was received by the local colored population with "support and affection." Campbell never returned to Georgia and died in Boston 4 December 1891.

Evolution, Creation and Intelligent Design.

Although the title of this seems to indicate that some type of summation or analysis will take place, that is not the case. Only if you think in terms of the above, or accept the dialectic, would you assume that there is a debate brewing. I'm here to tell you that such is not the case.

Something about the above, I find quite troubling.

Evolution, although definitely, seemingly could plausibly serve as an explanation, So can Creation.

Clearly, something exist. Was it created? We can assume such. But, we actually can not say that anything was created, for we have no knowledge as to whether creation itself was created, or if it has always existed. In a sense, we can say that to the extent that the possibility that creation existed, may be the same, in a sense, depending on how you look at it, as saying that it has always existed.

If I hold in my mind, for a number of years, the idea of the wheel, and only decades later "create" it, does not my thinking about it, in all of it's nuances, technical details, manner and method of it's construction, not also represent an "existence"? And as it's assembled, surely the items used to assemble it, have already existed, and so, does this newly put together item, truly represent something that did not exist previously? in a sense, absolutely not, and in a very, very small sense, we could say that it did not exist before...

But that's not what this is about. My beef is with Intelligent design.

It sounds intriguing at first, but only until you know the history of Intelligent Design.
Intelligent design is the assertion that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection". It is simply put, a new age explanation for the existence of God.

Something that is equally as asinine is the U.S. National Academy of Sciences debasement of intelligent design, in which they state, "intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life" are not science because they cannot be tested by experiment, do not generate any predictions, and propose no new hypotheses of their own.

That seems to me to be equally silly. So, we're going to limit "reality" those things which can be tested by experiment, predicted, and can propose new hypotheses?

I don't know that the universe needs to bow at the feet at man to be understood.

the theory of evolution, is the scientific result of painting oneself into a corner.

Clearly, despite entropy, there is something that is not only able to survive, but to evolve, to change, to become stronger, more complex, more perfect, without any seeming, outside entity being observed, in any fashion, to serve as an intervening agent.

And so, the logical conclusion, is that there is a force at work that drives this effort, that moves it forward, that protects it, informs it, makes it aware, and causes it to react.

I find it quite curious that as entities, made up of this very same stuff, that we, on a new order of consciousness, have succeeded in creating creations by utilizing our understanding of things.

but, the complexity of existence, is more complex, more subtle, more perfect. Chemistry, is, "the science of the composition, structure, properties, and reactions of matter, especially of atomic and molecular systems."

molecules, depend on the structure of atoms, atoms, on the structure of subatomic particles, cells, on the nature of multiple entities, and so on and so forth. What seems clear to me, is that as the higher ordinal constructs are continually created, they are all dependent on the potential of their constitutional parts, and that only if constructed, and put together in certain ways, are the higher ordered entities able to "work".. and so, our consciousness, is in essence, the consciousness of creation. Although we may live a short time, we are constructed of the ageless.

We don't have enough time to solve the other riddle. (the real riddle is the riddle of self and coming to know self. the other riddle is the chase to unlock all of the secrets of existence).

So what do we have time to do?

We have time to be true, to give it our best shot, to do what we know, what we feel, what we think, to be right.

And when we die, we can know that we did our thing to the fullest.

the strangest thing, is this little bit of awareness that we have. and how it dominates our existence. And even, how we interpret this bit of awareness as being so incredibly important. And strangely, how completely right and wrong that interpretation is.

Do we really need to solve the science of creation? What answers will that inquiry yield? and what meaning? Will we be capable of inner peace? of super-consciousness? or perfect unions between man and wife? or immortality?

I wonder what we will achieve when we find, and isolate the power, the reason, the truth of existence, and have "proved" it, tested it, and made hypotheses based upon our understanding and it all checks out.

Will we be happy? Will it change anything? how could it? how could it change anything?

It is incredibly sad, that this experience, this happening has occurred, and we are alive and a part of it, and yet, so fully mired in insanely neurotic rituals that reign in, harness, and subjugate the delicately ever-blooming flower, of the ever-present "now".

Maybe I should save myself, and suffer what will be.

it's so hard, because even the most sage will tell you, that it is all suffering

But there is a way to save yourself, find the truth, know the truth and end all suffering. The Buddha's taught, The Four Noble Truths. suffering exists; it has a cause; it has an end; and it has a cause to bring about its end.

I don't know about you, but I'm stuck on quenching the thirst for desire. My life has been standing by the door with it's hat and coat on, waiting for me as I continually look over at it and say, "I'll be there in a minute, I only need one more." The simple fact is, that there's always a good reason to grab one more, and the only reason I can see not wanting to grab one more, is because one is somehow satisfied.

Now, what Buddhism has to do with who we are and what we are, I do not know. My suspicion is that it's not so much about who we are, as it is about accepting it. You can not tear apart the doll to see what is in it, and accept it at the same time.

But I think we've worked it all out, because we are only going to smash a few atoms, and leave the vast majority of them, intact.

Levels of Knowing and Existence.....

I remember rummaging through my grandmother's house back in the early nineties and finding a gem of a book, Called Levels of Knowing and Existence; Studies in General Semantics, by Harry L. Weinberg. It had been there for years, but I had never bothered to look through it; however, several months prior to rediscovering the book, I had experienced some earth shaking experiences and was able to look upon literature in a completely and totally new way, such that to see a book titled "Levels of Knowing and Existence" was simply too provocative for me to resist.

My Mother and Grandmother had small, modest, but powerful libraries. As I got older and out of my teens, their libraries became treasure troves for me. Great books, some of the greatest books of my life were found on these shelves.

And it's a remarkable, strange, coming-full-circle type of feeling, when books you have looked upon since before you knew how to read, are finally able to tell you their tale, and share their wisdom with you at a later point in your life.

One of the other gems I found was, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer. but that, is another story.

There are several standard descriptions that I give, over and over again, when describing the nature of my Mother and Grandmother. They were both very intelligent, but more than intelligent, they were sagacious and had mother's wit and a rooted humanist perspective from which they were able to examine life and seemingly, magically (to me) quickly apprehend any situation and state a position and argument for that perspective.

How could one not wish to be like them? and so, that being the case, the easiest way to be like them, was to become like them, and to learn their skill and manner of discernment and perspective, for it seemed to be one that was foolproof, deep, penetrating and beyond reproach.

When I finally got around to digging through the Weinberg book, I had made a recent breakthrough of the phenomenological type, which allowed me to feel free to indulge in philosophy, rhetoric, etc. Whereas previous to this breakthrough, I disdained reading such materials, for fear that they would prejudice me towards a certain perspective, or show me something prematurely, that perhaps, I could have/would have arrived at if left to my own devices.

I found this book to be so pleasing, that I asked my Grandmother how and wherefore she had acquired it. She did not have a long explanation, nor was it an academic reason, or a reason spurred by her own interest. She had acquired the book from Harry L. Weinberg because he was a "friend" who wrote a book, and so, gave her a copy.

She went on to say that he, like she, enjoyed talking about philosophy and existence and other matters of the sort. She said they also liked to debate such issues, make arguments and counter-arguments, and that this, was the mortar that sealed their friendship.

I too loved to talk/debate/attempt to convince my Grandmother of all manner of strange ideas on philosophy, as well as to engage with her in mutual inquiry about the mystery of existence, the puzzle of individuality, the nature of time, and the meaning of it all.

My Grandmother confessed to me that there were moments in her life, when she felt that she went "out of existence" for long periods of time. She had had visitations, mystical experiences, along with other members of her family, including my mother. Black folks used to talk about this stuff a lot more in the latter half of the 20th century, whereas now, I hardly hear it anymore.
I hope that it is still going on, but that I am just away from those vital discussions.

In any event, the reviews for Mr. Weinberg's book are quite good, and having read it myself, I applaud my Grandmother for being friends with Mr. Weinberg. And knowing that he was friends with my Grandmother, caused me to read it, as if it were from a peer, rather than an expert and savant in the world of semantics.

There are many marvelous things in this little book. Mr. Weinberg understands the core principle of semantics, which I had also realized, without knowing that this understanding had a scientific description and category.

Semantics, as defined by Merriam-Webster online is (truncated), "the study of meanings... dealing with the relations between signs and what they refer to and including theories of denotation, extension, naming, and truth."

And my understanding, gained through this "breakthrough" experience was one of realizing and experiencing the "realness" of the world, above and through the verbal. For words are descriptions of things, not the "things" themselves. And realizing, this, one can avoid many so-called fallacies and conundrums, which exist only within the math and abstraction of semantics, and not within the thing itself....; however, realizing this, allows one to make many 45 degree turns within such fallacies and conundrums to arrive at a higher truth, which may then be named and expressed.

Weingberg's book is filled with all manner of gems and treats for the understanding. So to demonstrate an issue that is in effect semantics, and arrived at through the fallacy of confusing words and the understanding of things by the abstraction of delineated concepts (when the reality is that things are "whole" and can be defined, and yet are inextricable interdependent and never truly separated as we imagine as we class them, I give you the following:

"Since the seventeenth century a large body of evidence has accumulated to support the theory that light travels through space in continuous waves. With the development of the quantum theory there has been an increasing amount of equally reliable evidence to lead tot he conclusion that light travels in discontinuous bits called quanta or photons...Thus we are faced with two contradictory, incompatible concepts. Which is true?... both must be employed to give us adequate theories about atomic structures, even though logically they are mutually contradictory... As Lincoln Barrett states, 'the world is subtler than man's understanding, and the contradictions the scientist uncovers in studying nature lie not in nature itself but simply in man's own inadequate concepts.'."

Later, Weinberg is able to prove beyond a doubt, that God does not laugh.

"Only man can laugh... not God. God, being perfect and omniscient and omnipotent, cannot be surprised and surprise is necessary for laughter, assuming, of course, that there is a God and that he has human attributes, which by definition he cannot have; and by logic he cannot be our 'be'. ".

What Weinberg means by surprise is that the creator's necessary attribute of not being time-bound, results in there being no irony, no possible angle, twist, possibility or even thought (that would give rise to the thought of humor or anything else). A thought would be a diversion from omniscience... Such "furtherings" on the part of the reader that takes a concept introduced and explained by Weinberg, and then contemplates it such that futher meanings and implications can be had in the process, is one of the great joys of this book. It is, in a sense, Socratic reading.

Weinberg also has some words of wisdom that seem to point the direction to the "goods" of life for humans, based upon their level of consciousness and knowing which allows, and forces them, to arrive at such truths,

"Pleasant as the satisfaction of the lower-order needs may be, they do not produce the lasting and, in a way, more desirable, effects that come with the satisfaction of the higher-order needs--a profound and pervasive happiness and serenity not to be confused with the full-bellyness and docile peace of mind associated wit the satisfaction of the lower-order needs; a true dignity and nobility which comes from rich inner life quite distinct from the pomposity and arrogance which are the mark of warped and restricted patterns of evaluation."

Later, Mr. Weinberg tackles the "holy grail" of Semantics, Enlightenment.

He first starts by describing D. T. Suzuki's universally accepted (in the west) characteristics of Satori and concludes that the experience of Satori, is on a wholly different level of abstraction than any level which attempts to describe it. in short, Satori, is an experience, and words are naming, labeling, abstraction of a different sort, and most importantly, not the thing itself.

I marvelled at Weinberg's complete perfection in the understanding of Satori, from the Western mind, with the understanding of Satori, from the East and his ability to mark the crucial distinction, in semantics, between the two.

Having myself, experienced the stopping of all words, and finding myself thrust out of my abstracted mind, and into the experience of pre-verbal, full, complete life, for several weeks afterward, I marvelled at how, by using words, I could continually cicumnambulate around the experience, in inexhaustible phrases, and yet, the truth of reality was ever-present as a joining of all words, things, parts, descriptions and experiences of reality.

Weinberg provided important instruction and synthesis for me at the time, which allowed me to see that although Satori is a level of abstraction removed from words, all that needs to happen, for the words to share the same level of abstraction as Satori, is for one to look at the words while in Satori... and then plainly, all pieces of the reality puzzle, click together perfectly.

So, it is not the words that lie or, as Weinberg states, "The Buddhist, by refraining from interpretation, avoids this evil.", it is that the master-quizmaster, who has been foretold in all legends of mysticism, has yet to arrive and master the tongue and force words to do his bidding in the explication of all that is unknowable and unspeakable. For the master-quizmaster, has the ability to not only be in truth (for we are already a part of it), but he will be able to speak truth, plainly, for all to hear.

And here, is where Weinberg makes his one error in this book. By inferring that because the Satori/Mystical experience has not successfully been spoken, he takes a truth, -that the experience of Satori is on a level of abstraction different from words- and infers that since it has not been successfully spoken about, it can not be successfully spoken about.

It is my contention that It can be spoken about, and that this vital transmission from indivdual, to indivdual, is the only way in which our world can collectively be tuned into this deeper, lurking sublime experience of truth, for if it can not be an experience which is indivdual, yet shared, then there is no hope for any such spiritual revolution to occur on Earth, regardless of how long life on this planet endures... But, it is easy to forgive Mr. Weinberg for this one small error, for he is a Semanticist, and they are, by nature, forced to make inferences to make their points.

But the lesson need be learned by all budding students of semantics. It makes no difference how good and reliable and historically "true" any past inference or inferences have been. Past performance, is not an Ironclad indicator of future returns.

But anyway, back to the chosen one, who will come to spread truth and unite the world (as he or she has been foretold). The question is, "How will we know the master-quizmaster when he or she arrives?" Simple, they will tell us, and we, having no ability to deny the truth of our existence, must recognize it. If we do not recognize him or her, and it is not because we lack cognitive ability, or that we do not share the same language, or that we are not hobbled in some real and measureable way, then, either we are not able to preceive truth, or they are a false prophet.

Now, if anywhere from 60-70% of the world, perhaps less is "turned on" by this individual, then that should be suffient to hold proof, that they are a "good enough" chosen one. At least until the real one happens along.

Weinberg also speaks about the difference between those that indulge in semantics as a way to classify, abstract, and attempt to separate reality into discrete elements, thus destroying it, and the opposite experience, of experiencing oneself and ones experiences and the world itself, as all pieces of a unified whole, that is accepted, and not abstracted beyond how it actually "is".

To me, this seems to be the semantic "truth" of the difference between the world's indigenous tribes and chiefdoms of the world, and how they lived their lives within the context of their environments and worldly conceptions, and the way in which the world's colonizers viewed their lives and the environment and their worldly conceptions. And, moreso, the effect and ramifications of these viewpoints in how the world's peoples intermingled and struggled, which resulted in the pervasive nature, of 1st world, vs. 3rd world existence and life.

Jeremy Diamond has his little theory on "Cargo" titled, Guns, Germs & Steel. My theory, is one that harkens back to the one real and true reality for humans, our thoughts, our psychology and the way in which we view and interact with the world. Surely, the truth lies somewhere comfortably betwixt the two, (admittedly, leaning heavily towards Mr. Diamond's interpretation).

All in all, Harry L. Weinberg's little book is wonderful, as it provides many wondrous launching points, such as the above, from which individuals may more meaningfully contemplate the levels of knowing, and their own existence.