Monthly Archives: May 2007

R.I.P., "Yoki" King

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

With Yolanda King, two things immediately come to mind. Funtown, and her work with Attallah Shabazz.

Yoki did get to go to Funtown with her father eventually, by the way. Now she’s with back with him, performing in the Realm of the Ancestors.

Asante Sana, Yolanda King.

5:51 P.M. UPDATE: Just got this from Rev. Forrest Pritchett, a great friend and mentor of mine. He is the advisor of the Martin Luther King Scholarship Association—the group of select undergraduates of my alma mater, Seton Hall University, who are the recipients of a full, four-year renewable scholarship there in MLK’s name.

I am sad to notify all of my associates of the passing of the oldest child of Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Yolanda King.

Yolanda and I were personal friends and she was a powerful spokesperson for issues pertaining to her father’s legacy and other issues of civil rights.

In 1983, we presented a dramatic production created by Yolanda and Attallah Shabazz, the oldest daughter of Malcolm X, at Seton Hall University’s Theatre in the Round. Yolanda was also the keynote speaker for one of our MLK birthday commemorations at Seton Hall. We were recently discussing the possibility of her coming to New Jersey next February.

May she find peace in the presence of the saviour.

II Corinthians 1:3 – 4

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles,
so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

"Democracy Now!": Philadelphia Court Hearing Could Decide Fate of Imprisoned Journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

 

To watch or listen to this, click here. Afterwards, check this out from Davey D.

AMY GOODMAN: In Philadelphia, Mumia Abu-Jamal’s legal team is preparing for a hearing on Thursday that could decide the fate of the imprisoned former Black Panther. Mumia Abu-Jamal has been on death row for twenty-five years, after being convicted of killing a police officer following a controversial trial before a predominantly white jury.

On Thursday, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments to decide whether Mumia Abu-Jamal gets a new trial, life in prison without parole or execution. Hundreds of supporters, including Danny Glover and Cynthia McKinney, are planning to rally outside the courthouse.

In a few minutes, we’ll be joined in Philadelphia by Linn Washington, a columnist for The Philadelphia Tribune and professor at Temple University. But first, we turn to Mumia Abu-Jamal in his own words. Before he was jailed, Mumia Abu-Jamal was an award-winning journalist in Philadelphia. He continues his journalism behind bars, regularly records commentaries for the Prison Radio Project. This essay is called “Furor Over Politicizing Justice.”

MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: As voices now rise over recent revelations of White House pressures to remove uncooperative US attorneys from their posts, protests over the politicizing of the Justice Department have approached the dimensions of a media firestorm. From the den, we may assume that US attorneys are supremely apolitical. They’re but impartial officers of state power who do not deign to submit to the winding whims of politics nor the bile of bias. It is remarkable to see political appointees denounce the very practice of politics as if it were contagious disease.

In truth, the Department of Justice isn’t less political than other departments of government; it may even be more political. Who is prosecuted and for what is a political decision. Indeed, many of the removed US attorneys reportedly did not try death penalty cases with the enthusiasm that the Justice Department required. Ain’t that political? When the Justice Department targeted the former governor of Illinois, George Ryan, who made international news for his dismantling of that state’s death row, wasn’t that political? What of the recent indictments of the San Francisco Eight, former Black Panthers, some who have been subjected to torture both in the ’70s and more recently in connection with an alleged 1971 attack on a San Francisco police station? Ain’t that political?

To suggest that a politically appointed official isn’t subject to political pressure is like believing in the tooth fairy. It’s OK if you’re five years old, but not if you’re an adult. Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party, once said, “Everything is political,” meaning how we live, what we eat, education, health, how we interact socially. All of these things are impacted by our political decisions.

Now, none of this is to suggest that these removals ordered by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales weren’t slimy. They’re slimy as whale poop. But let’s not even run amok with our unquestioned assumptions. Gonzales is the reincarnation of Nixon’s John Mitchell, the Watergate-era Attorney General who left the office in handcuffs. In fact, John Dean, a Nixon aide during the Watergate scandal, has written a book, the title of which aptly summarizes the present administration: Worse Than Watergate.

Why no calls for Gonzales’s resignation when news came out about FBI snooping on US citizens? For torture alone, he should be canned. The media, which was an accomplice in the crimes of invasion and occupation, now turns up the volume, because eight lawyers were fired. Doesn’t this smack of classic class bias? Let’s not rely on a fable. From death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.

AMY GOODMAN: And this is Democracy Now! Linn Washington now joins us in Philadelphia, columnist for The Philadelphia Tribune, journalism professor at Temple University, has been following Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case for, well, the last quarter century. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Professor Washington.

LINN WASHINGTON: Hi, Amy. How are you?

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Talk about this hearing that will be taking place on Thursday. How significant is it?

LINN WASHINGTON: Well, this is a very significant hearing, because it can determine whether Abu-Jamal finally gets a fair trial or if he’s fast-tracked for that conveyor belt for execution. There’s four basic issues here, one involving discriminatory practices in the selection of the jury. The other is the alleged bias of the trial judge during the 1995 appeals hearing, bias that, I must say, that independent journalists from mainstream news media around the country, including media that has been hostile to Abu-Jamal, felt was an absolute travesty in terms of the bias. And then there’s two other really technical issues, one involving the jury verdict form and the other involving an argument that the prosecutor made to the jury to try to lessen their responsibility in finding Abu-Jamal liable for death, interestingly language that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court outlawed in 1986, re-imposed when Abu-Jamal had his first appeal hearing in ’89, and then reversed itself again in 1990. It’s ironic that you played that particular commentary by Abu-Jamal dealing with politicization of the justice system, because that is exactly what’s happening in this case and has been a part of it for the last twenty-five years.

AMY GOODMAN: Now, what about the appeals judge panel? Who are these judges? Why would this be different than any other time?

LINN WASHINGTON: Well, for one thing, this particular court, or should I say the federal court system, has a better track record of being fair. The core problem with the Abu-Jamal case in terms of how the judiciary has handled this is that the judiciary has consistently failed to apply its own legal precedents. And to break that down in layman’s terms, courts are supposed to follow rules, and the rules are previous rulings. And in the Abu-Jamal case, they just keep going back and forth, flip-flopping all over the place.

So hopefully the Third Circuit will be that forum where finally judges apply the law. If, in fact, they apply the law, the three judges on this particular panel have participated in panels of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals over the last three and a half years, where they have overturned life sentences and death sentences because of the jury discriminatory selection practices of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to Linn Washington, columnist for the Philadelphia Tribune. Did you know Mumia Abu-Jamal before he was imprisoned?

LINN WASHINGTON: I knew him. Wow, let me just say this, I knew him before people called me “sir” and “mister.” They called me “young man.” I first met Mumia in 1973 when we both worked at Temple University’s radio station, WRTI-FM. We were acquaintances from, I guess, a period of 1976 up through his incarceration, or shall I say, his arrest and subsequent incarceration. We worked very closely together as reporters here in Philadelphia, and, yes, we did, in fact, develop a good friendship.

AMY GOODMAN: This hearing on Thursday, there’s expected to be a major rally outside. Can you talk about the preparations, and also what do you expect to come out of it? When will the decision be made?

LINN WASHINGTON: Well, from what I’m told, both from checking with my sources and reading press releases, because I’m not a part of the activism related to this, they expect busloads of people from outside of the city, a groundswell of support within the city, people coming in from Europe, England and France and Germany, in particular.

And in terms of the outcome, the case will — or should I say the panel will probably deliberate a couple of weeks, if not one or two months, and then they will issue their opinion. The federal courts usually proceed in their deliberations a lot quicker than state courts, so we could have a decision in this case clearly before the end of the year, perhaps as recently or as soon as a couple of months.

AMY GOODMAN: That decision could be…what are the options?

LINN WASHINGTON: Well, the options, from what I understand, are a couple. One, the appeals court could order a whole new trial for Abu-Jamal. Number two, they could send the case back to the district court judge who handled it, which is called a remand, with instructions to hold a hearing or make rulings in a particular way that would probably be on the jury selection discrimination issue. They could also order a new PCRA. In 1995, there was a state-level appeal, and in this appeal, this is where the trial judge, Albert Sabo, the original trial judge, engaged in egregious misconduct. So the federal courts could order a new PCRA hearing, and I’m told that may, in all probability, take place in a federal court.

They could also uphold Abu-Jamal’s conviction. Then there would be perhaps — well, not perhaps, there would be an appeal to the US Supreme Court. In all likelihood, given the composition of that court, Abu-Jamal’s conviction would be upheld, and then it would come back to the governor of the state, and he has already pledged — some more politicization — that he would sign a death warrant, and then things would move along on a wholly different track.

AMY GOODMAN: Governor Rendell?

LINN WASHINGTON: Governor Ed Rendell, who was the DA of Philadelphia at the time of Abu-Jamal’s original trial, subsequently became the mayor of the city, where he presided over extraordinary police brutality, fighting it tooth and nail, and now he’s the — when I say fighting it tooth and nail, not fighting against it, fighting to cover it up and to ameliorate it — and now he’s the governor of our state.

AMY GOODMAN: I remember going to Philadelphia for one of the hearings that was before Judge Sabo in 1995. It was a remarkable, I guess you could say, performance. He would walk in and out of the courtroom.

LINN WASHINGTON: Yes, yes. I mean, this guy was the absolute worst. His behavior in 1995 was so bad that Philadelphia’s mainstream media not only editorialized against it, saying it was a travesty of justice and undermined any semblance of a fair trial, it actually gave fuel to Abu-Jamal’s supporters’ complaints. But like I said, these people were normally hostile to Abu-Jamal, and they were really outraged by it. But, unfortunately, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court wasn’t. And in their 1998 opinion upholding Abu-Jamal’s appeal, they said the opinions of a handful of journalists do not convince us that Sabo was not impartial, despite him doing a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i…x, y, z, you know, all the way down, a whole litany of things that he did, but they said, he was, in fact, impartial, and we’re going to stand by it. That, too, was a travesty.

But you have to understand, there’s been such politicization of this court, five members of the seven-member Supreme Court that upheld Abu-Jamal’s conviction in 1998 received campaign contributions and campaign support from the Fraternal Order of Police, which is a Philadelphia police union, the main group that is pushing for his execution. Does that give the appearance of impartiality? It doesn’t to a lot of people, because of the campaign finances.

There was a study done, ironically, in 1998, where the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had a commission do a survey of the public, and — what was it — four out of ten, or it was an extraordinarily high percentage of the public in Pennsylvania, felt that campaign contributions had a direct impact on rulings and deliberations of all courts, including the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

AMY GOODMAN: Linn Washington, we’ll leave it there, but we’ll continue to cover this case through the week. Columnist for the Philadelphia Tribune, Linn Washington, also a journalist and professor at Temple University, thanks so much for joining us, as we end today’s broadcast with Mumia Abu-Jamal in his own words. Last November, he appeared on the Block Report Radio program.

MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: People who believe purely in the law are sometimes met with unbelief. They can’t believe that the law hasn’t done the right thing. That’s because they have a misunderstanding of the law. I mean, what has happened in my case has happened in other people’s cases. The question is not the law, but the people. If people organize and people understand that it will take the power of the people, you know, to change this thing, then they’ll understand what they need to do, if they feel compelled, if they feel pushed, if they feel that this is the right thing to do.

But, you know, if we know anything from history, we know that the law has been the force for the outlaw for hundreds of years for our people. I mean, right after the Civil War, the so-called Reconstruction amendments were put in the Constitution, but for millions of our people all across the country, it was as if no such amendments were written, because our people still couldn’t vote. We were not free. We couldn’t make contracts or have jobs or go to decent schools. You know, look at our condition today. So the law is one thing. The people are another. I rely on the people.

AMY GOODMAN: Mumia Abu-Jamal. His hearing will be on Thursday in Philadelphia.

Coming Soon: "Sentences: The Life Of MF GRIMM"

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

 

Just got this today. I was a huge Transmetropolitan fan, so I’m down with Vertigo. I eagerly await this.

Dear Producer/Editor,

Hip-Hop is a culture that can bring a community together with youth outreach and block parties or divide a neighborhood with violence and gangs. It’s a world built of DJs, Emcees, Writers and B-Boys, a world that grew from the streets. In SENTENCES: THE LIFE OF MF GRIMM, first-time graphic novel writer Percy Carey, a legend in underground Hip-Hop, provides an all access pass into his life and his community.

Carey’s memoir is a profoundly moving coming-of-age story of turf wars and emcee battles that begins in a most unexpected place “the set of “Sesame Street,” where a young Carey had his first taste of celebrity. Years later he recorded with MF Doom and performed with Tupac Shakur, the Dogg Pound and Snoop Dogg. Once again, celebrity seemed imminent.

Carey’s life then took an unexpected turn. On his way to a promising meeting with Atlantic Records, he was gunned down by rival drug dealers” an attack that left him paralyzed from the neck down. To this day, Carey remains confined to a wheelchair. After serving time and beating a life sentence for conspiracy to distribute narcotics, Carey has reclaimed his life and his music, founding Day By Day Entertainment and releasing a series of Hip-Hop albums.

In his first literary work, Carey collaborates with artist Ronald Wimberly (Swamp Thing, Lucifer) to create a book that is at once shocking, moving and inspirational. Wimberly’s striking black-and-white artwork perfectly captures Carey’s life providing a sharp-focused lens into the Hip-Hop world.

On sale this September from Vertigo, SENTENCES: THE LIFE OF M.F. GRIMM is intensely sincere and insightful, providing a griping look at a life lived fully and fervently. A highly charismatic individual, Carey is available for interviews to discuss this seminal piece of work.

Best,

David Hyde | Director of Publicity, DC Comics

Response To Saul Williams' Oprah Letter

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

 

Got this from Kalamu. It’s in response to this.

Notes on “An Open Letter to Oprah Winfrey”

By Taalam Acey

I want to approach this critique cautiously if only because these ideas are  among my most sincere. I applaud you for writing your “Open Letter to Oprah Winfrey,” and though it took me awhile to get around to reading it, I’m glad I did. When James Baldwin remarked that, “The poet or the revolutionary is there to articulate the necessity,” I’m sure that your open letter was the sort of agitation he had in mind.

I was not born of a minister and school teacher. Instead my parents were Black Nationalists in Imamu Amiri Baraka’s Committee for a Unified Newark. Unlike you, I was influenced by both Rakim and June Jordan. I affirm these things because they will no doubt color the critique that follows.

As for the illustrious Ms. Winfrey, I too grew up watching her on television. As a teen, my mother had me read Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple.” In the film, Ms. Winfrey’s portrayal of Sofia was exactly how I envisioned it. It was not surprising that she garnered one of that film’s 11 Oscar nominations (though, the film somehow didn’t win a single Oscar).

Of more relevance here, however, is that Ms. Winfrey, ironically, played a major role in my appreciation for gangsta rap. In 1989, Harpo, her company, produced (and she starred in) Gloria Naylor’s “The Women of Brewster Place.” Back then I was sure that white America despised young Black men. However, in my 18th year, her mini-series convinced me that Black women might hate us even more. I felt demonized. Though, I didn’t care much for “hard core rappers” beforehand, after Brewster Place, my feelings of betrayal rendered their messages vital.

A few months later, when Ms. Winfrey donated $1 million dollars to your alma mater, I remember thinking it had to be a function of her guilt.

Since then, she has given repeatedly and contributed to the education of hundreds of Morehouse students. I no longer doubt her sincerity. Still, I have come to believe there is a dichotomy in her perception of young black males. She has gone on record about being sexually abused by relatives (including a 19 year old cousin) beginning when she was 9 years old. However, she also credits moving in with her father as saving her life. In fact, while Vernon Winfrey was named by her mother as only one of a few potential fathers, he nevertheless took responsibility for Oprah and refused paternity tests throughout her life.

I mention none of this to be disrespectful to Ms. Winfrey. She is a self-made billionaire, Television Hall of Fame inductee and media mogul. Yet, she is also human and, like the rest of us, her past experiences may shed light on her current convictions.

Thus, having discussed the above, I’d like to assert that many of today’s rap lyrics conform more to the values of her 19-year-old cousin than they do those of her father.

I love Hip-Hop. It is and has always been sacred to me. There was something spiritual about Rakim’s flow and something evangelical about KRS-One’s diatribes. In high school, I spent time with Queen Latifah and was pretty close with Cut Master DC (of “Brooklyn’s in the House” fame). I attended shows at Union Square, The Tunnel and even The Castle in the South Bronx. I almost don’t know where to stop… During my teens, I got to drive Red Alert from a show in Jersey back to NY and talked him to death. I remember dancin’ to Crash Crew records, arguing over who was the best emcee in the Fearless Four, losing my mind when the Sugar Hill Gang and The Furious Five did a record together. There are entire Slick Rick, Rakim and Biggie songs that I still know word for word. Believe me, I too am a hip hop head.

Hip Hop in its organic form is [Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five featuring] Melle Mel’s “The Message.” Nevertheless, there’s always been room for Ice Cube and Snoop. They had a story to tell. Our problem now has become that the stories are being told ad nauseam and by people who not only haven’t lived them, but aren’t inspired to tell them.

I’m into Spoken Word, one of many forms of poetry. There can be no doubt that rap is another. True, all rappers are not poets. But, even by the definition you applied, all Spoken Word artists aren’t poets either. Few artists of any artform operate from a sincerely vulnerable place. That is not a Hip-Hop phenomenon.

The problem is bigger than vulnerability. When you declared, “There is no true hatred of women in Hip Hop,” I can only assume that you meant in the Hip-Hop that you and other “Backpackers” support—those of you who choose “to associate…with the more “conscious” or politically astute artists of the Hip Hop community.” Surely you don’t believe that today’s rappers intend their endless litany of “Bitch,” “Ho,” and “Slut” as displays of affection.

I agree with you that, at our root, we inherently worship the feminine. Sadly it seems that for most of us now, at all points above our root, we’ve begin to worship money more. The problem with most of Hip-Hop is that it’s being co-opted. I cannot imagine what, if any point, you were attempting by mentioning that 50 Cent and George Bush share a birthday. I agree that George Bush is one of the gangsters that control this country, but I am certain that 50 Cent is not one of the “gangsters” that controls Hip-Hop. He may control his entourage and his bank account, but not much more. Curtis Jackson is an “artist,” not a mogul. So can you tell me if Lyor Cohen or Jimmy Iovine share a birthday with Bush? That might be slightly relevant.

You are right that “Censorship will never solve our problems.” Boycotting the sponsors of a radio show that made disparaging remarks about young black girls isn’t censorship though. In America, dollars vote. It is not censorship to use your dollars to vote a bigot off the air. The dramatic decline in the sale of rap records since 2005 is also not due to censorship. People are voting for change. We no longer care to support songs about how your car and house are better than mine because you’re really good at selling crack to my children.

This is a serious social issue and has nothing to do with the depiction of G*d in Christianity or any other religion. I’ve heard the argument about the proper Holy Trinity being man, woman and child, previously. I’ve attended lectures about instances of chauvinism in organized religion. Still I take issue with the logic that the Western depiction of G*d has driven emcees crazy.

You concluded by saying:

“If we are to sincerely address the change we are praying for then we must first address to whom we are praying.”

That’s the point, emcees have begun praying to mammon. Most mainstream rappers no longer take pride in their lyricism. They simply write whatever the record company believes it can easily sell. The problem is selfishness, not religion. Believe me, we haven’t reached this point in our history because too many rappers have become obsessed with studying the Bible.

This particular weapon of mass destruction is NOT the one that asserts that a holy trinity would be “a father, a male child, and a ghost.” This weapon of mass destruction IS wealthy racist white men who exploit and mass market poor young black men who are willing to denigrate themselves for money. We do not require disconnected excuses, only change.

The primary problem with rappers today is selfishness. That’s the very quality that separated Oprah’s father from her 19-year-old cousin. I’ll end by saying there’s nothing more vulnerable than a broke talentless rapper in the hands of a racist white media mogul. In the end, I hope you understand that these notes are not about you and I but, instead, the masses of oppressed people who deserve to know the truth.

In Brotherhood,

Taalam Acey

Was Former Black Panther Leader Elaine Brown A Government Agent?

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

Making the Internet rounds. Except for some absolutely necessary spacing, I have not edited the dispatches.

Elaine Brown’s Open Statement to the Green Party
 
May 1, 2007

Vicious Rumormongering Will Not Deter Me from My Campaign for the Green Party Presidential Nomination

The vicious rumor being floated among Green Party members that I am or ever have been a government agent is a lie. I have never consorted with the U.S. government or any of its myriad agencies against the interests of black people, the Black Panther Party—of which I was a leading member—or any other people. I have dedicated my very life to the freedom of all oppressed people. Because these rumors are unfounded, unsupported by one scintilla of evidence or any citation to any specific act, they are, in the end, indefensible and, therefore, all the more insidious. I stand on my history of struggle in the Black Panther Party and since that time as the strongest refutation of this lie.

On the occasion of my announcing my candidacy for the Green Party presidential nomination, Mike Feinstein, a ranking California Green, and Nan Garrett, chair of the Georgia Green Party, launched this sinister campaign to discredit me, Feinstein, in a series of telephone calls to key Greens across the country after meeting me in March, and Garrett, in a recent, nationally-distributed, vitriolic email. It is particularly ironic that, while neither Feinstein nor Garrett has any history of involvement with the cause of the freedom of black people, they would challenge the credentials of the former Chairman of the Black Panther Party. This dangerous rumormongering is especially egregious as to Garrett, who, as a lawyer, makes her accusation without even the appearance of presenting evidence.

Their lie is based on a statement made at a meeting held by Cynthia McKinney in 2000, when she was a Congresswoman. Even though this meeting was not a Congressional hearing, Feinstein and Garrett would elevate its record to an “official” document. McKinney, who claimed to be conducting an investigation into the FBI’s COINTELPRO activities against blacks, had invited only two former members of the Black Panther Party to her meeting to serve as ‘witnesses,’ Kathleen Cleaver and Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt. At the meeting, Pratt is recorded to have asserted that I was an “agent.” ­This is a statement he has never dared make directly to me, and I challenge him now to do so and to present one iota of evidence to support his J. Edgar Hoover-like accusation against me. And, I would assert that, as McKinney has stood by surreptitiously and allowed her so-called forum to be used to validate Pratt’s lie, she has endorsed that lie.

Cleaver and Pratt were expelled from the Black Panther Party in early 1971 as conspirators in a plot led by Eldridge Cleaver to take over the Party, whereby they denounced Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, David Hilliard, Fred Hampton and others, called for their deaths and declared the Weather Underground group the “vanguard” of revolution. Their attack against the Party resulted in internecine violence and, even, death. All of this is documented in the Black Panther Party newspaper, housed in its entirety in an archive at Stanford University.

One other glaring irony in all of this is that, while Feinstein is promoting McKinney as the Green Party presidential candidate, despite that McKinney remains a Democrat to this day, it is McKinney who has engaged in activity that has undermined the efforts of black people for freedom, specifically in her vote in favor of the Bill Clinton “three-strikes” crime bill.

Raising suspicion about someone as a traitor, a “government agent,” was a key tactic employed by the FBI under its COINTELPRO operations against the Black Panther Party. The resulting distrust frustrated our efforts and destroyed lives. That was what the FBI intended. When J. Edgar Hoover declared in 1968 that the Party was “the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States,” he announced he would wage a campaign to discredit, disrupt and destroy the Black Panther Party. While the Party is long gone and Hoover is dead, COINTELPRO is, clearly, very much alive.

Given all of this, I call for the resignations from the Green Party of Mike Feinstein and Nan Garrett.  In the alternative, I urge the Green Party leadership to impeach Feinstein and Garrett or otherwise remove them from their ranking positions. Their rumor-mongering has done more than defame and endanger me. It has embroiled the Green Party in destructive, counterproductive activity and at a critical crossroad.

The mass rejection of Bush and his policies has opened a door for opposition. It is the Democrats, however, who are poised to walk through that door, and only to replace this Bush with another Clinton. The Green Party proffers a progressive agenda, though it has failed to gain the support of the very constituencies it would serve—especially blacks—the majority of whom remain dedicated to the Democratic Party. I stand, and still, as a prospective nominee for the presidency who is singularly committed to the Green Party agenda, capable of bringing blacks into the Party ranks, veteran in articulating the contradictions between black and other poor and working people and the Democrats, and able to stir national debate on the issues, toward the election of more Greens and, ultimately, real progressive change in the United States of America.  
 
ElaineBrown.Org 2007

———————

Sent To TheBlackList By: Panthershepcat@aol.com
 
—– Original Message —–

From: k.cleaver@att.net
To: Panthershepcat@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2007 1:22 PM
Subject: FW: Re: FW: notes

————– Forwarded Message: ————–

My First remembrance of Elaine brown was while I was conducting security for Elrage Cleaver, October 1968?. After Elrage gave a rousing speech at Pauley Pavillion, UCLA, this girl came to the security gate crying and begging to meet Elrage.   She was escorted to Bunchy Carter, whom I was standing with and he began to question her. She said that she was Elaine brown and was in awe of Elrage and wanted to meet him. Bunchy arraged the meeting after consulting w/Elrage.   During that period, I was assisting Bunchy w/developing his security forces and techniques and made note of this breech of protocol?.(Elrage later explained that she only wanted him to fuck her and he saw it as his duty to implement his “Dick Power” program).   The next time I remember seeing Elaine was a couple of m onths later because it’d been reported to me that she was John Huggins’ new lover while his wife Erika was pregnant . At that time Elaine was dubbed as another girl who wanted to have sex w/men in leadership positions which placed her in a higher suspicion in my security files. Bunchy and I were sharing an apartment and I remember that night we discussed John Huggins’ relationship w/Elaine and how displeased Bunchy was w/John’s sexual activities w/this girl because Bunchy felt very close to Erika and didn’t want her to find this out.

 I had no idea that but a few weeks after this (1/17/69) on the campus of UCLA at a carefully pre-arranged* meeting between the US group and the Panthers, that elaine brown would incite a ruckus by slapping one of the US members whom she also had sexual relations with, then ran to John Huggins screaming that “She’d” been assaulted by this US member! John Huggins immediately pulled a 357 magnum from his waist and shot at the US member who returned fire resulting in Huggins and Bunchy’s deaths ! ! During the police investigation, Elaine brown lied and wrongfully attested that the Steiner Brothers had murdered Bunchy and John w/out provocation. She then continued this lie all the way to the witness stand in LA Superior court resulting in the wrongful conviction of 1 st degree murder of George and Larry St einer who are still being persecuted  till this day. (her testimony a matter of public record).  The pandemonium and turmoil that ensued the death of our most revered leader Bunchy, made it nearly impossible to get hold of the raging fratricidal situation but as soon as the smoke began to clear. the pieces began to fall into place clearly implicating elaine brown as the instigator of the entire deathly drama !   This information was known to me “Prior” to my agreement to continue Bunchy’s program in the capacity of Deputy Minister of Defense of the Liberation Forces there in Southern California . So it is impossible for Elaine to have joined any formation of which I was in charge as I was very meticulous/selective re new membership . Futher, I am sure that we never permitted membership to ANYONE who testified for the pig so-called justice system as they were known, as “Snitches and/or “Rats”.  My security reports were sent to various leaders in the movement but was continually watered down by those “Leaders” who had become victim to elaine’s sexual manipulations. Each time I received reports of elaine brown popping up in Oakland, Chicago, Connecticutt, etc., I’d act quickly to banish her and I’d then render whatever form of discipline necessary to those who’d hosted her.   Our main obstacle in handling this at that time was the sad alienation of Elrage who had by then fled and was our International Ambassador?and was adamant in giving Elaine brown “another chance “. So it was decided that she would be sent to work w/Elrage and she’d finally be out of our hair.   Elrage told me years later that that was the biggest mistake he’d made while there cuz as soon as she got to Algeria, unity began to crumble ?,and before he could rectify the situation, Elaine was gone .  It was now 1970 and Huey had just been released. Elaine somehow ended up right in Huey’s bed and as Huey told me in 1988, “She kept cocaine and sexy women on him everyday/night”. Huey also admitted that it was Elaine who’d inflamed his hatred against Elrage resulting in the infamous phone call that marked a clear split in the top leadership of that important sector of the Black Liberation Movement.  During that stint in Quentin 1988,Huey refused to leave the prison unless I was released first because he stated that he had ordered key exculpatory witnesses not to testify on my behalf because he was misled to believe what agents like Elaine brown wanted him to believe. I remember Huey reflecting on the strange fact that was revealed in my trial that Elaine brown’s name was on th e receipt from the paint shop that changed the color of my car and how that bit of info opened his ever-drugged eyes to suspect. Then he told me that he learned that she’d testified for the pigs lying on those brothers, as he put it, when everyone knew that they did not shoot Bunchy nor John. H e said it took months for him to raise out of that euporia and realize that he was surrounded by agents. He then put Elaine in his “Panther Jail” but was over taken by a barrage of “Advisors who’d constantly tell him that he was going thru a severe stage of paranoia?.” Next thing he said he remembered was that Elaine was out of his jail and had gotton Masai to get her back in the mix?.All throughout these conversations, Huey made sure to mention Elaine brown’s complicity as an fbi agent ,including her occasional meetings w/the “same white dude”. I remember stopping him to say that way back in 1970, Nsondi (aka Sandra “Red” Pratt) was the first to report to me about elaine’s meeting w/this white fella at a LAX hotel.  We now know that the white dude was the same “Kennedy” super-mind- control CIA chief of psy-war operations against many key forces for Black Liberation?including SCLC !

There is much much more irrefutable evidence that continues to expose this sad sally for the COINTEL conspirators? but do not lose sight of the fact that this girl Elaine was brought to ucla for psychiatric treatment which seems to be a pre-requisite for patsies of elaine’s type and that she was but one, tho a very important one, of so many others who were used, unwittingly, as moles, provocateurs, et cet ad nauseam.

It’s a low down dirty and a doggone shame that here in 2007 elaine is still being used to now attack the beautiful Fighter for True Justice Cynthia Mckinney and if there is more I can do to assist, don’t hesitate to let me know.

Geronimo ji Jaga

Asante Sana, New Ancestor Judy Dothard Simmons

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

My friend and mentor Judy Dothard Simmons died over the weekend. She was a good person who happened to be a great writer. A poet, she was a pioneer of Black news-talk radio (New York’s WLIB-AM) and national magazine journalism (Essence, Ms. ).

I thought I’d share a couple of her (group) emails from last year. They say a lot about her.

—————-

From: “Judy Simmons” <dexta@cableone.net>
To: “Judy Simmons” <dexta@cableone.net>
Subject:
Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2006 09:40:42 -0500

Dear Elisha,

It’s Saturday again. The week has flown by since you stopped here and graciously brought the Noni juice. I’m so glad you did that. It not only restored my basic support to me, but it also warms my heart that you are generous and understanding in your wonderful way.

I have decided not to have a laparoscopy. The second thing Dr. Huh said after introducing himself was that he didn’t want to do surgery on me because I would probably die on the table. Only one person, a doctor in Anniston who had never examined me before, raised the specter of ovarian cancer. That set everything rocketing off like crazy.

Then I arrive at UAB and nobody can see through the calcified fibroid tissue all over the place to discern where the womb is, what shape it’s in, or what kind of tissue the “mass” is. This takes us through cat scan, cat scan with liquid (not the dye, something else for contrast); vaginal echo, and ultimately MRI, which was supposed to give the one true answer for where to insert for a needle biopsy.

No dice.

Meanwhile, when they finally take of a couple of liters of fluid, within thirty minutes I have a fully formed stool, which hadn’t happened for a month.

The fluid that was removed does not seem to be coming back, and my bowel (with colace) is working two or three times a day. I have no pain, and my breathing is not labored. I do not have cancer.

Why go looking for a disease I show little sign of instead of looking at the disease I clearly have—congestive heart failure—which is known to produce fluid and symptoms of the sort I’m displaying? So, since surgery is surgery, laparoscopic or otherwise, and the doctor said in my hearing that maybe he could get in and out in 15 minutes and that wouldn’t be so bad, cutting me (invading the envelope) seems more of a risk than the possible diagnosis is worth.

Bear in mind that any mass, cancerous or not-cancerous, would sooner or later require surgery to remove, and it was made clear to me that no responsible practitioners are going to put me under general anesthetic and do the two- to four-hour (or more) operation to remove mass.

Who’s to say that where he goes in for the laparoscopy is going to be any more productive of non-fibroid tissue than all the other tests that showed him he can’t see what’s there anyway?

He talked about needing to find an anesthesiologist who was willing to take a chance on a heart in the shape mine is in, even for a spinal and sedation.

He said that even if it were cancer and he treated it with chemo first, it would eventually boil down to needing surgery and that isn’t an option.

So, basically, I would be submitting to a life-threatening procedure so the doctors can be certain about something that can only degrade the quality of my life by causing me risk, discomfort, and a healing procedure that, right now, my body is telling me in no uncertain terms that it is not up to. And since this good body has always risen to the occasion, no matter how I’ve jeopardized and neglected it, I’m listening now that it says, “Judy, I just can’t make this one. It’s asking too much.”

My Anniston cardiologist had a full-fledged two-year-old temper tantrum yesterday because I told him I would not get a pacemaker (for the ninth or tenth time; by the way, the UAB teaching hospital flower-of-the-south medical-center cardiology gods said a pacemaker would do me no earthly good, as I suspected). Then my cardiology said he didn’t think I had cancer—which is why I was sent to UAB oncology on the say so of a gynecology who had never examined before he stuck is finger into me in the hospital bed and opined with deep seriousness that I really, really, probably had ovarian cancer.

The cardiology told me yesterday he thought the fluid in my abdomen was consequent to right-side heart failure, but he refused to treat me for that unless I had a laparoscopy (which would never have occurred to him if this other guy hadn’t raised the cancer issue).

So, my cardiologist turned me back over to my primary care physician and refused to give me the benefit of his cardiology expertise on how to manage the excess fluid
collecting in the abdomen from diuretics and heart failure. There are medical manipulations he can do—he told me that—but unless I consent to a tissue diagnosis (which, again, we have no guarantee they will get, all other tests having shown no markers for cancer, he won’t help me any further.

There was more stuff he vented which showed he thinks he has made me live, and that I have had no part in making decisions that resulted in his being able to help me, and preventing him from injuring me.

I grasped his hand in a shake and told him I was grateful to him for his help. Badtemperedly, he shook off my hand and snapped, “Don’t be grateful to me.” I took hold of his hand again, said again that I am grateful to him, and he basically threw me out of his office.

I’m listening to the fine classical jazz collection I’ve amassed over the years, putting my affairs in order, loving my dog and my friends, and generally having a good time for the first time in fifteen or twenty years. I am walking through the valley of the shadow of death and feeling damn good about it. I fear no evil, for I AM always and ever living.

So, for more info, call.

Judy

From: “Judy Simmons” <dexta@cableone.net>
To: “Judy Simmons” <dexta@cableone.net>
Subject:
Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2006 17:53:33 -0500

Sixty-two doesn’t feel the same as thirty-three, and I think folks who say it does are lying. These great Indian seers who don’t breathe earthly air and put on and take off bodies like togas—I guess I’m ain’t one uh them. Also I just figured out that some of the unaccustomed sensations I have been thinking are ill health are signs of a body used for six decades.

I’m sittin’ up here in the house following the U.S. Tennis Open on tv. I listen to these people rattle on—the anchors, pundits, and hosts—and I’m torn between shooting them all with my high-vibration consciousness death ray or plunging back down to the depths where they don’t swim, sharks though they are. The death ray hasn’t worked so far, and being under water has its own drawbacks.

So, here I am, missing my radio show after twenty years, and without any media outlet for my spleen. I really liked being on WLIB AM, NY when it started the news-talk format in the 1980s. Then Philippe Wamba, the chief editor who made Africana.com an engaging web stop, put up with me from 2000-2002. He hired me as staff writer, editor, columnist, and insecure egotist. We both found out I was too old a dog (mid-40s) to do any corporation’s stupid pet tricks. He was kind, and kept me going for two years until he left and died some months later in an automobile accident in an African country. (If it were Europe, I would know it matters which country things happen in, but since it’s the Dark Continent, it’s all the same.)

Okay, so clearly I don’t have enough social life here, so when I want to party or converse, I’m just realizing, I send off one of these mass mailings. I figure the delete key is handy enough, so you shouldn’t get too annoyed, and a few people tell me they like getting what I write. For me, I’m realizing, it’s doing my radio show, which was very extemporaneous. It’s whatever it is that makes me need to be a public communicator (writer, broadcaster, contributor of information and sometimes knowledge).

Why don’t I do a blog? Because I don’t expect people to come to me. I have to be where they can catch my drift, as it were. And besides, this is personal in an immediate way. Feedback comes quickly as people are moved to give some—it’s not required—and I imagine how some of you look while reading this. It keeps me off the streets, and it’s about all the effort I’m up to giving.

And, I’m developing my communications skills. Language keeps changing. Plus, as I enlarge my understanding of how we people operate, I keep an ear out for the rhythm, cadence, and tones of the times. It’s about the gestalt. The way images move nowadays has so much to do with what people see and hear. When I was in psych school back in the day—(I could have said “school a million years ago”) but I think the “back” phrase has a more satisfying crunch; what do you think?)—anyway, when I took psych we talked about gestalt. As I understood it, it meant getting a whole picture that’s more than the separate pixels, stimuli, responses, actions, and so forth put together like a jigsaw puzzle. The individual pieces say “sky,” “grass,” “cloak,” or whatever, but the whole picture calls out emotional, aesthetic, and intellectual responses that are more than cardboard interlocking on a table.

Another question people ask me is why didn’t I stay in media and become an internationally famous personality. Well, seldom is one allowed to do such things on one’s own terms, and refuse to or can’t do them on any other.

So, those are some of my reflections this day. I didn’t rave on about how I can’t stand the most of what’s going on in our culture, given that the sole raison d’etre for much of it is the mindless and soulless pursuit of material wealth. There’s a difference between being the master of money and the servant of it. Guess which most us are.

Love, Judy

May 10 UPDATE: Here’s the official death announcement.

Judy Dothard Simmons

Judy Dothard Simmons, a noted poet, journalist, author and broadcaster, died on Sunday, May 6 in Anniston, Alabama from heart complications.

Since the 1970s, Judy’s thought-provoking writings and broadcasts had won her national acclaim. She had been a senior editor at Essence and Ms. magazines. Also, she had been managing editor for the NAACP’s Crisis magazine, a columnist for Harvard University/Time Warner’s Africana.com, and an editor at Black Enterprise. During the early 1980s Judy had a popular radio talk show on New York’s first Black commercial talk station WLIB and also on Pacifica’s WBAI. Her articles had appeared in The Village Voice, American Legacy Woman, and others. Also, she had been a guest on Donahue.

During the 1990s, Judy returned to Alabama and was a columnist for The Anniston Star. A celebrated poet, she was a Revson Fellow at Columbia University and did graduate work in poetry. Judy was the author of several books of poetry and essays including Decent Intentions, Judith’s Blues, and A Light in the Dark. She was also a contributor to the book Wild Women Don’t Wear No Blues. Her vibrant voice will be sorely missed.

Arrangements are being handled by Ervine Funeral Home in Anniston, Ala.: (256) 237-1717.

A "Spider-Man 3" Review, In Less Than 200 Words

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

I can’t believe that as of this morning, “Spider-Man 3” only ranks a measly 62 percent on Rotten Tomatoes! That’s borderline (*SHUDDER*)”rotten!” WTF??

But, then again, after seeing the movie twice 🙂 yesterday, I think I get it.

“SM3” is a near-excellent film. (It is a little long, but as a true sequel to both the original and its sequel, it has a lot to wrap up, and does it real well.) But “SM2” was, well, pretty much PERFECT, so this film is permanently in its shadow. Also, the formula these films use are too well-established—too well-absorbed by fans (and perhaps critics).

And, like every other superhero movie that had the misfortune of coming out during and after 2005, the third is suffering in comparision to “Batman Begins.” Is the bar now too high? And, for all you comicbook geeks out there: Doesn’t it feel GREAT to finally ask that question about superhero movies??? LOL!

Anyway, “SM4”—and, of course, no one has any doubt about that, right?  🙂 —will have to go in a whole different direction, with a different tone, plot construction, etc.

Onward to Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

P.S. Thought this series was quite amusing.