Voices and Soul
by Justice Putnam
Black Kos Poetry Editor
I purchased and built my first crystal radio with an ear-set with funds gifted to me on my birthday in March of 1963. I was eight years old. It took a couple of weeks before the components arrived in the mail; and I set out to put the thing together. The radio was small and fit in the pocket of my coveralls, while a thin cord snaked its way to my left ear. We lived on the farm in Philomouth outside of Corvallis; and I had many chores to do before the bus picked me up for school. That radio kept me linked to the world while I milked the farm's only cow, slopped slop for the pigs, fed the geese and chickens, collected eggs and churned butter from the cream of that only cow.
The strongest frequency the radio picked up during those early morning duties was a station that broadcast local news, early morning weather and farm reports; and the conservative, baritone intonations of Paul Harvey ("... this is Paul Harvey... good day!"). I attended Saint Mary's Catholic School in Corvallis; and like many Catholics of the day ( and even now, not so surprisingly), photographs of JFK were prominent at home and school.
There was something about Harvey that bugged me as an eight year old. His halting, yet dulcet vocal delivery were pleasant enough, but the content of his broadcasts grated. Later that year, after the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four young school girls; Harvey attempted to diminish the tragedy by explaining that no matter how brutal the murders were, they were to be expected.
Murdering four black school girls was an expectation in America? Even as an eight year old, I knew that wasn't and shouldn't be correct.
A year later, a Great Uncle helped install the antennae for the short wave radio he gave me. I could now listen to the BBC, music from Paris and New York; and I discovered Studs Terkel in Chicago.
Though both Terkel and Harvey broadcast from Chicago, they were worlds apart. Terkel's interviews with Bob Dylan and Mahalia Jackson still resonate in a deep seated radio tape loop in the middle of my cerebelum.
We never owned a television in Oregon, reception being poor or non-existent where we lived. When we moved to Southern California in the summer of 1965, when my father began a 35 year professorship at Cal State Fullerton, we purchased a television shortly after settling in. Later, we purchased one of the first generations of color televisions. I would match the news from the three broadcast networks with that of the BBC, that I listened to on the short wave radio, (it was a big argument about dismantling and moving the antennae from Oregon to California, but my dad prevailed on my mom that is was a good idea). I began to triangulate information before I even knew the word. It just seemed the prudent thing to do.
As a child, I couldn't get enough information. It remains the same today. With each new technological advancement, the ability to gather info increases; and I anticipate it strongly. With events unfolding in Egypt and elsewhere, with social networks in the forefront of a revolution; it is proved that change need not be exacted by the barrel of a gun, but by the wide distribution of information.
DK4 begins officially tomorrow. Rather than smashing an old technology and leaving myself and many others behind, I anticipate yet another growth in my life long quest for knowledge. Difficulties are always prevalent when a new system of dissemination is put in place; but we don't need a hotel heiress or government lackey to set the tone for when and how we get our information.
All we need is the ability of the word to travel the ether.
Total Information Awareness
“This bubble had to be burst, & the only way to do it was
to go right into the heart of the Arab world
& smash something.” The hotel heiress, snapped
flashing her bum in a Bahamas club.
To go right into the heart of the Arab world,
they claim their device can trigger an orgasm:
flashing her bum in a Bahamas club
on a boozy date with her new bloke, Nick Carter.
They claim their device can trigger an orgasm.
American officials who spoke on condition of anonymity
on a boozy date with her new bloke, Nick Carter,
say he confessed under torture in Syria.
American officials who spoke on condition of anonymity
without touching a women’s genital area
say he confessed under torture in Syria.
“There’s no explanation why. We’re just not saying anything.”
Without touching a women’s genital area,
I take it all seriously. I am withdrawing from all representation.
There’s no explanation why. We’re just not saying anything
to make this objective absolutely clear.
I take it all seriously. I am withdrawing from all representation,
but he was in the special removal unit.
To make this objective absolutely clear,
the development of counterterrorism technologies—
but he was in the special removal unit.
This had profoundly shocked the commission,
the development of counterterrorism technologies
with the flick of a switch. Women get turned on.
This had profoundly shocked the commission.
No one detected any radical political views.
With the flick of a switch, women get turned on
to a new business model that only pretends
no one detected any radical political views.
I take it all seriously. I am withdrawing from all representation
to a new business model that only pretends
to give consumers more control. In fact,
I take it all seriously. I am withdrawing from all representation
that she refused to be photographed in body paint
to give consumers more control. In fact,
he was handcuffed and beaten repeatedly.
That she refused to be photographed in body paint
constitutes an integral goal of the IOA.
He was handcuffed and beaten repeatedly.
There’s no explanation why. An information whiteout
constitutes an integral goal of IOA
while Justice turns to Syria’s secret police.
There’s no explanation why. An information whiteout.
Forebodings of disaster enter into box scores
while Justice turns to Syria’s secret police,
constructing systems to counter asymmetric threats.
Forebodings of disaster enter into box scores
to achieve total information awareness,
constructing systems to counter asymmetric threats.
This bubble had to be burst, and the only way to do it was
to achieve total information awareness
& smash something. The hotel heiress snapped.
-- John Beer
Portland Oregon's 5th Annual Hip Hop Youth Summit will be held all day tomorrow at Portland State. With dKos down, if you're in the area, it would be good to accompany your kids to this important event.
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News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Notice how the party of "personal responsibility" never takes responsibility for their policies. New America Media: Loans to Minorities Did Not Cause Housing Crisis, Study Finds
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Conservative Republicans and commentators have frequently blamed the housing crisis on the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which encourages banks to make loans in the low- and moderate-income areas where they operate. But a study to be released this week and a bipartisan commission conclude that the federal law had little impact on the crisis.
The 1977 law, designed to prevent redlining in less prosperous neighborhoods, requires banking examiners to consider how many loans a bank has made in these urban neighborhoods and rural communities when financial institutions seek approval to open new branches, acquire other banks or merge.
Critics charged that the CRA forced banks to approve mortgages for poor, unqualified buyers who could not maintain payments and went into default or foreclosure, causing the housing market to collapse. That charge was also leveled often at the affordable-housing goals of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, federally sponsored enterprises that buy mortgages made by private lenders.
But the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission established by Congress concluded in January that the 1977 law designed to prevent redlining was “not a significant factor in subprime lending or the crisis.” Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, had made a similar statement two years ago, but the criticism continued.
The bipartisan commission also found that the affordable housing goals “contributed marginally” to purchase of risky mortgages by Fannie and Freddie.
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Black owned businesses expanded rapidly before recession. But for many Blacks that launched their own businesses during the economic downturn, it has been “entrepreneurship by necessity” said Marc H. Morial, of the Urban League. Chicago Sun-Times: Black owned businesses expanded rapidly before recession
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Cook County was home to the most black-owned businesses of any county in the country with 83,733, accounting for 4.4 percent of the nation’s total. Chicago had the second-highest percentage of black-owned businesses of any city with 58,631, or 3.1 percent of the nation’s total trailing New York with 154,929 businesses, or 8.1 percent of the total.
The report showed only 1 percent of black-owned firms nationally in 2007 had revenues of $1 million or more compared to 5 percent of all firms, and 87 percent of black firms had receipts of less than $50,000, compared to 65 percent of all firms. Also, average gross receipts of black-owned businesses fell to $72,000 from $74,000 in 2002 and sharply lagged the average $490,000 for all firms.
Nationally, the number of black-owned businesses spiked 60.5 percent to 1.9 million, also more than three times the growth rate of all businesses. Sales rose 55.1 percent to $137.5 billion. That compares to a 34 percent increase for all firms.
“Black owned businesses continued to be one of the fastest growing segments of our economy,” said Census Bureau Deputy Director Thomas Mesenbourg.
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Despite high-profile success stories such as Barack Obama or Oprah Winfrey, the typical Black family is poorer by some standards today than it was nearly 30 years ago. WSJ: Wealth of black families has disappeared.
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Part of the story of the recession is a story about jobs. The unemployment rate for most demographic groups essentially doubled during the recession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For blacks, the jobless rate rose from 7.7% to 16.5%, while the jobless rate for whites went from 3.9% to 9%.
Those disparities in employment are well known. What’s not fully appreciated is how deeply the recession cut into the incomes of black households, and how the recession devastated the wealth of black families.
Median household income for blacks fell 7.2% from 2007 to 2009, significantly more than the 4.2% decline for whites or the 4.9% drop in Hispanics’ income, according to the Census Bureau. (The median means half of households had more, half had less.) See the data on median income at the Census Bureau’s website.
It’s not until you look at the figures for net worth — assets minus liabilities — that you can understand just how marginalized blacks are in our capitalist society.
$2,200
Most blacks really don’t have any capital at all. The average black person leaves his or her heirs just enough to pay the undertaker, with the typical black household’s net worth totaling just $2,200, according to the latest data.
Let’s be clear: The vast majority of wealth in this country is owned by a few people, mostly white. It’s estimated that about 80% of all wealth is owned by 20% of the people, while about a third is owned by the top 1%. About 40% have no wealth at all.
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A veteran actress shows her dramatic range and aims to break down stereotypes in the process. Black Enterprise: Nia Long Reshapes Image of Muslim Women in Indie Film
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Throughout much of her career, Nia Long has often played the romantic lead. She’s traded poetic verses with Larenz Tate in Love Jones (1997), flirted with Taye Diggs in The Best Man (1999), and started a surrogate family with Ice Cube in Are We There Yet? (2005). This Friday (2/11), however, moviegoers will see her in a dramatically different role, as she co-stars as a Muslim mother in writer/director Qasim “Q” Basir’s independent film Mooz-Lum .
“As an artist, you don’t want to keep painting the same picture,” says Long. “I think each canvas should be painted with a different picture and I was really driven and attracted to the role because it was such a different role for me. Not only am I playing a Muslim woman, but it’s also more of a dramatic piece, and those roles are far and few between for [Black actors].”
Also starring Evan Ross, Danny Glover and Roger Guenveur Smith, Mooz-Lum tells the story of Tariq (Ross), a young Muslim-American man torn between adhering to the strict beliefs of his father (Smith) and following his own path in life. Long plays Tariq’s mother, Safiyah, who struggles to keep the peace between father and son, while the world around them comes crumbling down in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The veteran actress delivers a superb dramatic performance that portrays Muslim women in a light rarely seen on screen.
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Family fights are bad, having them in public is much worse. New York Times: Malcolm X Trove Hidden During Feud
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A feud over the estate of Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, has created divisions among the couple’s six daughters and has resulted in something none of them had intended: keeping part of their father’s legacy from the public.
The daughters have traded accusations of irresponsibility, mental incapacity and fiscal mismanagement of the estate, which is worth about $1.4 million. But the greater value may reside in a trove of unpublished works from Malcolm X and Dr. Shabazz.
As the dispute drags on in Westchester County Surrogate’s Court, efforts to publish the works have been thwarted by the daughters’ bickering; all must sign off on any plan to sell and release the material, which includes four journals that Malcolm X kept during trips to Africa and the Middle East in 1964, a year before his assassination.
The battle represents the latest turn in the complex journey of a family that has come to define the struggle and pride of blacks in America. The clash also underscores the difficulty of preserving the legacy of a prominent figure, especially when it requires uniting competing personalities and visions.
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Hey someone let them know it's the 21st century. The Loop: Proposed Mississippi License Plate Would Honor KKK Leader
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A fight is brewing in Mississippi over a proposal to issue license plates honoring Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan, the Associated Press reports.
Forrest, who is notorious for commanding a massacre of black Union soldiers and leading the KKK in its early days, would appear on the plates in 2014 if the proposal passes.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans is sponsoring a series of specialty plates over the next four years to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. This year's plate features the last home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis.
Sons of Confederate Veterans member Greg Stewart said he believes Forrest distanced himself from the Klan later in life.
"If Christian redemption means anything — and we all want redemption, I think — he redeemed himself in his own time, in his own actions, in his own words," Stewart said. "We should respect that."
Others are outraged that by the idea of honoring a man with tie to the Klan.
"He should be viewed in the same light that we view Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden," Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson said of Forrest. "The state of Mississippi should deny any vanity tags which would highlight racial hatred in this state."
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Natural resources are sometimes called "Africa's cursed blessing". New York Times: Riches Flow Into Nigeria, but Are Lost After Arrival
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The oil money has coursed through this swampy, sprawling settlement in the Niger Delta, a paper gusher that has yielded ambitious unfinished skeletons: a ghostly high-rise hotel; a luxury shopping center-in-waiting; a giant hospital that is mostly empty; housing and other projects, some completed but many not.
Closer to the people, schools are crumbling, commerce spills from squalid shacks, soldiers operate checkpoints and militants hide in the creeks.
Billions of dollars of Nigeria’s immense oil riches have been funneled to places like this in the last year alone, yet they have not brought the country peace. The region is still plagued by huge disparities of wealth, kidnappings, sabotage and threats of more to come.
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Haiti's exiled former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, wants to dedicate himself to education not politics, his lawyer has said. BBC: Haiti's ex-leader Aristide 'seeks no political role'
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Mr Kurzban said Mr Aristide, ousted in 2004, had long wanted to come home.
Mr Aristide's possible return comes amid continuing uncertainty in Haiti, with the presidential election set for a delayed second round in March.
Mr Kurzban, Mr Aristide's Miami-based lawyer, flew to the Haitian capital on Tuesday to pick up his client's diplomatic passport.
The Haitian authorities had earlier said the formalities had been completed and the passport issued.
Mr Kurzban did not indicate when Mr Aristide, who has lived for the past seven years in South Africa, might travel back to Haiti.
But, in a BBC interview, he insisted that Mr Aristide's return would not be a destabilising factor, nor was it political grandstanding.
"The vast majority of Haitians want to see Jean-Bertrand Aristide back in Haiti," Mr Kurzban said.
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[] National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day by FogCityJohn
[] Criminal InJustice Kos: A Letter To My Son by Criminal InJustice Kos
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Welcome to the Porch, grab a glass of mint lemonade and a slice of key lime pie.