Commentary by Black Kos Editor Deoliver47
Where is our Shelter from the Racist Storm?
46 years ago yesterday, on June 21, 1964, Mississippi was the scene for blood spilled, not an oil spill.
Why is this important? Who really cares about those who died fighting for the civil and human rights for us all?
They are dead and buried, and only a footnote in history books, or a sadness that clouds the thoughts of those old enough to remember Freedom Summer, or a trip to a gravesites by the living family members of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner.
I care - because I still care about Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Human Rights...the rights folks died for to give me the privilege to sit here today behind a keyboard, in relative freedom, as I watch those hard earned rights slipping down the drain as States propose laws to disenfranchise many - based simply on the color of their skins, and increase daily the number of folks locked away, out of sight out of mind, in the prisons across America.
For the history behind this please go back and read Meteor Blade's
Mississippi Turning, or my diary "Kill the 2 Jew-boys and the nigra"
I think today about how slow the "Wheels of Justice" are in America.
Borgna Brunner wrote:
The FBI arrested 18 men in October 1964, but state prosecutors refused to try the case, claiming lack of evidence. The federal government then stepped in, and the FBI arrested 18 in connection with the killings. In 1967, seven men were convicted on federal conspiracy charges and given sentences of three to ten years, but none served more than six. No one was tried on the charge or murder. The contemptible words of the presiding federal judge, William Cox, give an indication of Mississippi's version of justice at the time: "They killed one ni---r, one Jew, and a white man. I gave them all what I thought they deserved." Another eight defendants were acquitted by their all-white juries, and another three ended in mistrials. One of those mistrials freed Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen—believed to be the ringleader—after the jury in his case was deadlocked by one member who said she couldn't bear to convict a preacher.
On Jan. 7, 2005, four decades after the crime, Edgar Ray Killen, then 80, was charged with three counts of murder. He was accused of orchestrating the killings and assembling the mob that killed the three men. On June 21—the 41st anniversary of the murders—Killen was convicted on three counts of manslaughter, a lesser charge. He received the maximum sentence, 60 years in prison. The grand jury declined to call for the arrest of the seven other living members of the original group of 18 suspects arrested in 1967.
A major reason the case was reopened was a 1999 interview with Sam Bowers, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard convicted in 1967 of giving the order to have Michael Schwerner killed. Bowers remarked in the interview that took place more than 30 years after the crime, "I was quite delighted to be convicted and have the main instigator of the entire affair walk out of the courtroom a free man. Everybody, including the trial judge and the prosecutors and everybody else, knows that that happened." Bowers claims that Killen was a central figure in the murders and organized the KKK mob that carried them out. (Bowers is currently serving a life sentence for ordering a 1966 firebombing in Hattiesburg, Miss., that killed Vernon Dahmer, a Mississippi civil rights leader—another crime that took decades to successfully prosecute).
As oil drifts in on the tide towards the shores of our gulf coast states, a rising tide of hate more vicious than any oil spill is spewing from the mouths of hate-casters, elected officials, and ordinary Americans with a tea-fetish.
I read a lot of outrage here about oil - but not much is said or done to stop the gusher of hatred which is once again on the rise in this country I call "mine", 'cause me and mine paid dearly to build it.
What will it take to get folks to wake up? Honestly, I don't know.
It's hard enough to get people here to stop and take a moment to click on Black Kos, or Criminal Injustice Kos, or diaries about immigration reform, or to go to Native American Netroots to deal with the plight of our First Nations.
Haiti has been buried, and almost forgotten, though Shelter Box and other diaries like Justice, Not Charity: Justis, Pa Charite, still get posted.
We'll be addressing this at Netroots Nation. Will that make a difference in the blogosphere?
I can't say. The atmosphere here is pretty polluted. Toxic wastes daily and I'm happy to have the shelter of this Black Kos porch to sit on, gathered together with family.
A young black man, and two young white men were murdered, along with many others along the way. Yes, there was outrage, and we moved on, turned the page and the book of history gathers dust.
Did they get Justice? I say no.
Will we get Justice?
Perhaps in the future. Right now, the weather report for Justice shows major storms ahead.
I hope some us us can find shelter and weather that storm. We need to build strong organizational structures that reach across the fault lines of color, class and gender, to provide a safe haven from which we can emerge, in strength, to fight on. Mark my words - the ugly is on the way.
Louisiana Gulf-gal diva Merry Clayton sang about it:
God/Goddess help us if we aren't ready to fight.
No Justice, No peace.
===============================================================
The news by dopper0189, Black Kos, Managing Editor
===============================================================
===============================================================
Detroit Free Press: Minorities tell Congress of racial profiling.
===============================================================
The stories of minorities being racially profiled in Michigan and other states were heard today at a Congressional hearing held by U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Detroit, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
The hearing featured testimony from African-American, Sikh, and Islamic groups, including Muslim Advocates, whose executive director Farhana Khera told of a Muslim man from metro Detroit who said he was profiled and harassed by federal agents at the U.S.-Canada border.
==============================================================
==============================================================
A Look at the Dilemma of Black Youth and Young Adults LA Watts Times: Growing Up Alone.
==============================================================
For nearly 30 years, there has been an uncomfortable and persistent conversation within the black community concerning the condition and behaviors of black youth and young adults.
As a people whose expectations for success were increased by the Civil Rights/Black Power Movement, the youth and young adults that came of age in the 1980s through the new millennium were supposed to have it easier and realize the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.
However, suffering through the realities of the crack cocaine epidemic and street gang wars that claimed thousands of black lives, many of our people — particularly some elders and the black elite — became disenchanted with their own kids and grandchildren and bought into the mainstream narrative that black youth and young adults, in particular, had largely become a group of disrespectful, violent savages.
With every news report of another gang-related murder or music lyrics laced with the N-word, this problematic perception grew in the hearts and minds of many of our own people, which resulted in collective behaviors that further isolated and damaged a vulnerable group of young people beset by the impacts of white supremacy, Reaganomics and police brutality.
While there were elders, community leaders and members of the black elite that understood the changing and complex landscape impacting blacks born in the waning decades of the 20th century, too many still defaulted to simplistic and useless explanations to the rise of gang membership, poverty and political apathy among the youth.
==============================================================
New York Times: For a Young Parent, Lessons in Fatherhood.
==============================================================
Like many young fathers, Leon Britton Jr. begins his day early, at 5 a.m. But not because of a crying baby. He lives two miles away from his daughter, Diamond, who is 2 1/2, and her mother, Rosa Colon, who is expecting their second child in August. Mr. Britton commutes from the Pelham Parkway neighborhood of the Bronx to Long Island City, Queens, where he works as an animal control technician. At 3 p.m., he heads for Ms. Colon's apartment in the Gun Hill section of the Bronx, where he hangs out with Diamond until about 9 p.m., then returns to his own place to sleep.
A Young Father’s Balancing ActMr. Britton, 20, is among 16 graduates of the three-year-old Bronx Fatherhood Program, which trains men ages 16 to 24 in bathing and feeding their children, and how to get along with the children's mother to help win or keep visitation or custodial rights. Benjamin Norman, a photographer and filmmaker in East Harlem, spent four months chronicling the program. Here are snippets of his interview with Mr. Britton:
"My relationship with my real dad has been spotty. And, I'll never forget this: he said, ‘If something was to ever go wrong with you, if I felt that, you know, you just messed up completely, I'll make another one of you.' You know, he has five kids, so I was a complete reject."
"My life has changed when I had Diamond. There was no more ‘It's all about Leon,' because now you have other people to think of. So it made me more open to being responsible. It also made me think, you know, any move you make could affect this child's life."
===============================================================
==============================================================
Boston Globe: Lexington woman aids Haiti with dance.
==============================================================
Lexington resident Nailah Randall-Bellinger, assistant professor of dance at Dean College in Franklin, said she went numb after learning of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 12.
Although she considered taking a year off from the dance institute which she helps run in Haiti every summer, she is now more determined than ever to empower survivors through dance, Randall-Bellinger said.
For the fourth year, she will join Jean Appolon of New York in traveling to Haiti to teach a free, three-week dance workshop next month focusing on body conditioning and folk and traditional modern dance. While Randall-Bellinger said she fears learning the fate of her students and staff members, she finds comfort in the resiliency of the people who so impressed her during her first trip to Haiti in 2005.
‘‘I’ve traveled all over the world, but something about the culture, national pride, and spirituality in Haiti really speaks to my spirit,’’ Randall-Bellinger said. Ultimately, she said, she hopes to expand the program so that American students can travel to Haiti to dance, explore the country, and take classes in the country’s history, language, and literature.
To raise money for the Janbe Institute, the Boston-based nonprofit cultural arts organization that Randall-Bellinger and Appolon established in 2006 to fund the Haiti dance program, they will host an intensive dance workshop next Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Roxbury Center for the Arts in Hibernian Hall, 184 Dudley St. in Roxbury.
===============================================================
The Olympics are a reach but I love Dominos! BBC: In recent years Jamaica has become a superpower in sprinting - it boasts the world's fastest man and woman in Olympic Champions Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser - but the nation wants to make a much slower game its new national sport.
=============================================================
In recent years Jamaica has become a superpower in sprinting - it boasts the world's fastest man and woman in Olympic Champions Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser - but the nation wants to make a much slower game its new national sport.
Athletics, cricket and football are all extremely popular but dominoes is the one that nearly everyone knows how to play. It may be a quiet pastime in many countries but in Jamaica it is more than a game.
Underneath the shade of a tree, taxi drivers wait in a shop that doubles as a restaurant. The sound of the World Cup highlights are drowned out by the sound of plastic slamming against wood.
Every time a tile is played the table shakes. They have to be built sturdily for Caribbean-style dominoes, with its spirited gestures and colourful victory celebrations that match anything that can be seen on the screen from South Africa.
Domino competitions see players setting up from daybreak and going through until the early hours playing Cut Throat and Partner, the names of the two most popular local styles played.
A "Q", or quarter-litre bottle of white rum, is often a key element of the event, making the job of getting the game more professional even more of an uphill battle.
=================================================================
This a country and a question we really need to put a spotlight on. This country should be the jewel of Africa instead it a blight. Race Talk: African human rights defenders or colonialists? Seeking justice in Equatorial Guinea.
==============================================================
A few years ago I had the privilege of visiting Equatorial Guinea, a small country on the Central West African coast. In the capital city of Malabo I met incredible women and men persevering to feed, clothe, and educate their children on less than on dollar per day. Most suffered from malaria and typhoid fever, lived in homes lacking running water and with sporadic electricity, and were surrounded by overflowing dumpsters with garbage piled higher than their houses. I observed elementary schools in which single teachers were responsible for educating several grades in one room, lacking the necessary materials to succeed, and secondary schools without bathrooms.
Outside the capital I toured a hospital whose maternity ward had beds without mattresses and birthing equipment so decrepit it was abundantly clear why most women choose to deliver at home. I spoke to a nurse who said another hospital where she worked had just broken its last remaining thermometer and was desperate for bandages, alcohol, sutures, and other basic medical supplies.
While troubling, these conditions are perhaps not remarkable in an impoverished, forgotten African nation. The problem is that Equatorial Guinea is neither impoverished nor forgotten. It is one of the largest oil producers in Africa, exporting about 400,000 barrels of oil every day. Its income per capita is on par with countries like Japan and France, yet its Human Development Index remains in line with that of Guatemala. For over thirty years Equatorial Guinea has been governed by a ruthless dictator, President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, whose family has uniquely benefitted from the country’s growing wealth.
For these reasons, this spring a group of Equatoguineans in exile organized to oppose the recent creation of the UNESCO‐Obiang Nguema International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences, funded by President Obiang to the tune of $3 million:
===========================================================
==============================================================
Why do good guys finish last so often. New York Times: The Town That Loved Its Bank
==============================================================
Like many working-class towns in the Midwest, this Chicago suburb has been on the cusp of better times for decades.
Separated by a river and woods from its wealthier neighbors, Oak Park and River Forest, it shares some of their charms: imposing, century-old homes and stately elms and maples draping the streets. But Maywood is decidedly more blue-collar than its neighbors, and its residents are predominantly African-American. Most of its homes are modest bungalows and frame houses that were built for factory workers whose jobs disappeared long ago. Many storefronts are vacant, and there appear to be more churches than viable businesses.
For more than a decade, a silver-haired banker from River Forest named Michael E. Kelly — owner of Park National Bank in the Chicago area and eight others around the country — took an unusual interest in Maywood. He did things most bankers don’t do.
In 2003, he opened a branch in Maywood, just west of the city, despite the modest incomes of most of its residents. His bank bought an entire redevelopment bond issue from the village and refinanced it at a lower rate to save Maywood money. And in an effort to prop up property values, he came up with the idea of buying homes out of foreclosure, renovating them and selling them at cost.
"He’s from River Forest, O.K.?" says Lennel Grace, a fourth-generation Maywood resident. "If you talk to people in River Forest or Oak Park, they say, ‘Oh, poor Maywood.’ They kind of look down their nose. He’s not that kind of a person."
===============================================================
African American communities to lose $193 billion by 2012. Black Enterprise: Billions in Wealth Lost Since Foreclosure Crisis Began.
==============================================================
Communities of color have lost billions in wealth since the current foreclosure crisis began, according to a new report from the Center for Responsible Lending(CRL). Based on their share of total home value and the CRL's estimated foreclosure rates, the spillover wealth lost to African American communities between 2009 and 2012 as a result of depreciated property values alone will be $193 billion.
"As Congress finishes financial reform legislation, the rules on home lending need to get stronger, not weaker," said Mike Calhoun, CRL president. "We need to make sure a foreclosure crisis of this type never happens again, and, though so many homes have been lost, it's not too late to prevent more damage."
It is estimated that 11% of African American homeowners have already lost their home to foreclosure or are at imminent risk, writes the nonprofit policy organization in the report "Foreclosures by Race and Ethnicity: The Demographics of a Crisis."
===================================================================
Voices and Soul
by Justice Putnam
Black Kos Tuesday's Chile, Poetry Editor
With Father's Day just past, I want to pay homage to fathers old, current and new; I want to pay homage to the fathers who are there every day and the fathers who can't be.
I asked my dad, in a more maudlin time just after the birth of my own son almost thirty-three years ago, how I could be a better son?
"By being a good father," he said simply.
When my grandson was four, I wrote the following that has been published a few times in the intervening years. A simple suggestion from a father to a son. Because a father will always wonder if he's done enough; he will always wonder if his mark was for good or ill; and if he is truly the contemplative sort, he will also wonder if there is ever a balance...
On Poetry and Fathers
by
Justice Putnam
The one thing
That always amazed me
Even from the
Earliest moment
Of your life
Was the utter trust
You had in me
And I was struck
At the time
By the amount
Of doubt
I had in myself.
Even though
Your mother and I
Had half a year
To practice breathing
I doubted that
I could remember
Properly when to
Encourage the right
Breath
And when the doctor
Said I could assist
And I finally held
You
Gray and small
I thought to that
Distant day
When you would
Hold your own son
In the same way
And I thought of
The resolve you would
Have
Just as I had
To love
Like no other
Father has loved.
So the years pass
And I doubt
You felt the
Prayer of love
Over that distance
And separation
You grew in.
A correspondence
Is a poor substitute
For a kiss
Yet each word
Was a universe
Of touch
I doubt it
Was enough.
I cannot now
Apologize
For all that you
Went through
I wish it were
Otherwise
But mere words
And sentiment
Are hollow.
You are now
A father
Kiss your son
While you can
Circumstance
Has a way
Of intruding
Upon the best
Of plans
And apologies
Become terrible
Temptations.
© 2004 by Justice Putnam
and Mechanisches-Strophe Verlagswesen
===================================================================
The Front Porch is now open, providing shelter from the storms and good company. Come on up, pull up a chair and chat with us for a while.
If you are new, introduce yourself.
On today's dessert menu we have peach cobbler, and ambrosia. Iced tea, coffee, ginger beer and lemonade to drink.