To my MySpace friends on this profile who still don't know what's been going on lately, I have recently launched a NEW profile that is replacing this one. As such, I am not adding any NEW content of any kind on THIS profile---including blogs!

For all the NEW stuff I'm posting, PLEASE add my new profile at myspace.com/derrix_jaheim.

Harlem: Resisting Displacements

On Saturday, June 21st in Marcus Garvey Park starting at 10 AM hundreds of Harlemites will take to the streets to voice their opposition to ethnic displacement and corporate centered development sweeping throughout Harlem.

The rapid transformation of Harlem through zoning and rezoning encompassing East, Central and West Harlem without a doubt has and will continue to displace thousands of local residents and small businesses.

After decades of public policy neglect, redlining and disinvestment Harlem now stands at the brink of losing its historic status as Black America's cultural Mecca for more than a century. Although development is a welcome relief from abandoned buildings, garbage-strewn empty lots, few service amenities such as supermarkets, rampant drugs and crime, the "revitalization" of Harlem is displacing tenants, driving out local businesses and will impact Harlem's ethnic, political and socio-economic makeup for decades to come if not permanently.

For decades progressive grassroots activists bemoaned the deliberate policy of redlining by banks that today occupies nearly every corner in the "new" Harlem although Blacks are still less likely to receive loans and mortgages than their white counterparts.

Local Community Boards are deluged with complaints from Blacks unable to secure bank loans that will prove even more difficult since the sub-prime mortgage melt down. The economic racism continues virtually unabated as does other forms of institutional racism manifested in high unemployment, the growing class of those permanently jobless, police brutality, poor education, homelessness and youth violence.

Virtually everyone is experiencing some form of economic difficulty including those who thought they were secure in their middle class abodes. Here in Harlem, unofficial reports indicate hundreds of tenants from Lenox Terrace, Delano Village/Savoy Parks, and the Riverton are seeking one shot deals at the Human Resource Administration to avoid eviction only to be denied. Unable to pay rents of over $2,000 hundreds of Black and Latino tenants have been forced out of the former state subsidized affordable Mitchell Lama building of 1,192 units at 3333 Broadway situated at the northern tip of Columbia University's 18 acres expansion.

The same is true of tenants unable to pay escalating rents in Schomburg Plaza and Lake View Apartments in addition to other Mitchell-Lama buildings in Harlem. According to the Community Service Society, a city public policy anti-poverty organization, New York City has an estimated 39,392 units left after losing about 26,254 units from the Mitchell-Lama program over the past 16 years. With accelerated gentrification throughout the city more units are set to leave with some 4,000 apartments in 12 developments on notice to quit the program.

Public Housing has fared no better. Faced with a looming deficit of $195 million for 2008 alone the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) announced a new round of rent increases of 5 to 15% for its "highest income households"; the second increase for the same households since 2006. NYCHA, the largest public housing administration in the nation, administers 2,600 buildings, made up of 406,000 residents. New cuts to close the deficit includes the elimination of hundreds of community centers including all of NYCHA's 94 community centers and 147 senior citizen centers operated by the City's Department for the Aging in public housing.

In addition, hundreds of programs serving youth at risk, tenants with job training, arts and athletic activities are scheduled to be closed. Ironically, while tenants in public housing are facing rent increase but cuts in services, maintenance and social programs NYCHA continues to warehouse thousands of vacant units. A 2005 study found 81% of units remain vacant up to 13 years while over 137,000 families remain on the waiting list. The loss of revenue is estimated in the millions of dollars.

It is against this background that we need to weigh the supposed "community benefits" out of Harlem's much touted "second renaissance." The recent approval of Mayor Bloomberg's transit development initiatives in Central Harlem- the 125th Street rezoning from River to River, is on a scale staggering in scope, cost, ultimate displacement and political betrayal.

In April of 2008 Councilwoman Inez Dickens, representing Central Harlem that encompasses Community Board 10, entered into a quid pro quo agreement with the Bloomberg administration in exchange for Dickens to push through the land use proposal in the New York City Council.

Approximately 3,858 luxury units are projected for development in the 24 blocks footprint that expands from 2nd Avenue to Broadway between 124th and 127th Streets. Despite Dickens' false assertion that 46% of these units are being "income targeted" only 5%, or 200 units are for families earning below $30,000. Even the gentrification-pushing New York Times weighed in to verify this travesty.

But it doesn't get better; only worse. While Dickens negotiated not a penny for anti-eviction services, including emergency rental assistance, youth jobs/programs and support services for Harlem's most vulnerable population --senior citizens on fixed income -- she saw fit to allocate over $5.5 million to upgrade Marcus Garvey Park, funds to cover broker fees and $100,000 plus cost for benefits for an "economic development consultant" whom she will hire.

Columbia University no less got Bloomberg to allocate $150 million for an affordable housing program in its expansion deal; no such luck with Dickens! Central Harlem is poised for office towers, luxury condos, hotels, major retail stores, and luxury condos developed by private landlords who will ultimately score billions in profits, even while receiving public dollars such as the $15 million dollars to Vornado, the fourth biggest American real estate investment trust, for its 21 story glass office tower on 125th Street at Park Avenue.

The handwriting is on the wall.

We, the people of African descent. in Harlem and around the city alone with our allies and supporters must take to the street to voice our opposition, to organize, to agitate, and to raise the consciousness of our people that it is never too late to fight for what is ours.

For the nay-sayers who are quick to point out, "Oh, it's a waste of time, Harlem is gone!" Just remember this is the kind of apathetic attitude those who want a new de-Africanized Harlem are counting on.

Join us on Saturday, June 21st in Marcus Garvey Park for a march across 125th Street to Broadway up to 145th Street across to Frederick Douglass and down to Morningside Park for a 2 PM Rally. Bring water, noise makers, signs, your family, friends and neighbors. Let's stand together on June 21st for a new Harlem that includes all of us.

Should People Feel Good About This Country?

The emergence of Barack Obama as the Democratic Party candidate for President poses important questions. Among them, and central to Obama's core message, is whether people who have not felt good about this country now have something to feel good about: that an African-American is the nominee of a major party for the first time in this nation's history, and that he is running with a message of "hope" and "change."

Should We Feel Good About This Country Now?

People are outraged and horrified about what this country has been doing. Millions of people do not feel good about this country right now. They're right.

Take one very basic example: The so-called "war on terror." The "war on terror" was launched in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 that resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people. Under the rubric of this "war on terror," the Bush regime has:

• invaded Afghanistan and continued to wage war on it for over six years with tactics that resulted in massive civilian deaths;

• invaded Iraq—a country that had nothing to do with 9/11—and has occupied it for five years, causing the deaths of perhaps a million Iraqis and the displacement of four million more—all on the basis of conscious, deliberate lies by Bush;

• supported Israel's ongoing violent suppression of the Palestinian people and the denial of their national rights, and also backed up Israel's 2006 invasion of Lebanon—including the widespread Israeli use of anti-civilian cluster bombs that were made in the USA;

• threatened, and continues to threaten, Iran with military attack, including the implied threat of nuclear attack by the code-phrase "all options are on the table";

• opened up a worldwide network of torture sites, where literally thousands of "suspects" are held incommunicado and tortured, with no rights or legal recourse;

• swept up thousands of immigrants within the U.S., holding them without charges and in many cases torturing them, and also instituted new laws expanding the state's power to wiretap and otherwise spy on people without legal review.

Who can forget the orange jumpsuit, the man in the hood, and the grinning American soldier giving the thumbs-up while she poses with a corpse?

Yes, people do NOT feel good about this—and should NOT feel good about this—and many are very righteously disgusted and angered and heartsick about it. Yes, they are—and should be—profoundly ashamed of it.

A Whole History. . .

Now it's important to understand that none of this began with Bush. Long before Bush, the U.S. waged war and sponsored proxy wars in this region that took hundreds of thousands of lives since World War 2. The U.S. CIA installed tyrants like the Shah of Iran—and even had a hand in the ascension of Saddam Hussein—through military coups, and worked to violently suppress any viable communist or revolutionary nationalist movements or groups in the region.

Bush institutionalized open, legal use of torture but, before that, the Clinton administration kidnapped and "renditioned" people around the world, and sent them to countries like Egypt with the knowledge and expectation that they would be subjected to gruesome torture.

And the U.S. government has backed up other repressive regimes like the Saudi royal family, the Sadat and Mubarak regimes in Egypt, etc., with massive military aid. Beyond that, and as a cornerstone to their whole policy, the U.S. has built up Israel as a highly militarized settler-state, supporting it as it subjected the Palestinian people to terror, exile, massacre, and a draconian occupation.

All this has been done to protect U.S. imperial "interests" in the region.

And what are those interests? The domination of the region's oil both as a source of super-profits and as a strategic weapon against rival powers. Flowing from that, the U.S. imperialists need—from their interests and their point of view—to dominate and determine the politics of the region. All these policies have, for decades, led to rivers of oil flowing out of the Middle East—and rivers of blood flowing through it.

The "war on terror" itself—Bush's "creative development" of all this—was launched to further protect those interests—and specifically to recast the political and social terrain of the region in order to defeat challenges coming from both Islamic fundamentalist political trends and its imperialist rivals to those interests. These are not the fundamental interests of the majority of American people, let alone the interests of the people of the world—but they ARE the interests of the ruling imperialists who sit atop this system, and they are at the heart of the whole "American way of life."

And no, if you have any sense of this history at all—the crimes committed and the interests behind those crimes—you should NOT feel good about America and what it has done.

…And a Whole Bigger Picture

The Middle East, of course, is just one part of the world, and what we have just explored is just one brief period, and one dimension, of what the people of this planet confront. But look around the world. Pick a country—Haiti, South Africa, Mexico, Vietnam…. Wherever you look, you will find the same kind of history. And when you look deeper, you will find these same interests, the maximization of profit enforced through U.S. invasions, coups, puppet dictators, and massacres.

And what about the United States itself? The whole development of this country was driven forward by capitalism, and has developed through the most grinding exploitation of millions and millions of people, generation after generation, their lives feeding into the huge power and wealth of a relative handful. This nation, "from sea to shining sea," was stolen through the near-genocide of the Native Americans. Much of the great wealth of this nation was produced by, and stolen from, African slaves — slaves who were brutally kidnapped from their homes, and often murdered and raped in the process. Their work, under the overseer's whip, not only built up southern agriculture, but also provided much of the basis for northern transportation, industry, and commerce. Even after the end of formal slavery, Black people remained subjugated in the Jim Crow / KKK South, and then in the northern ghettos and factories—and are now often cast aside and criminalized. And today, from the meatpacking plants of Iowa to the fields of Florida and California, millions of immigrant workers live in the shadows, branded "illegal" and working under the most exploitative conditions.

Think about how many millions died, or had their whole lives plundered and mangled, to serve those interests. No, people should not—and many people do not—"feel good" about this.

The great wealth of the rulers of this country, extracted "at home" and even more viciously around the world, is now the basis for the most overwhelming military machine in world history. And that powerful military, including thousands of nuclear weapons, enforces this whole setup. From military bases in 130 countries around the world, and through proxies and regional enforcers (like Israel), that military has brought death and destruction from Somalia to Nicaragua, from Iraq to Vietnam.

If you cannot feel good about this, if you are outraged, you are right. But then the question must be asked: What would it take to really change it?

Would This Really Change If Obama
Were President?

Let's return to the very salient example of the so-called "war on terror," and look at what Obama himself is saying about what he would do as president, and what he would be compelled to do if he was president.

Yes, Obama opposed the invasion of Iraq, but he is not calling for getting out of Iraq now. His talk of withdrawal and timetables is—as the Los Angeles Times recently wrote, "carefully hedged, leaving the option of taking more time—and leaving more troops—if events require." He says that when he is president, "We will get out as carefully as we were careless getting in." Should you feel good about this? That he uses the fact that he initially opposed the war, to now hem and haw about getting out, and to lay the basis to stay in "if events (!) require"?

And if Obama were to launch a war on Iran based on "evidence" of a nuclear weapons program (brought to you by the same liars who fabricated Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction"), but only after offering to "talk" with the Iranian President Ahmadinejad, should that make you feel good about this country? (Don't forget that Obama, in a major speech that we covered last week, emphasized that "I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon"—and then departed from his text to repeat the word "everything" three times!)

Should you feel good about this country if, as Obama also pledged, it maintains its unconditional support for Israel's violent suppression of the Palestinian people and Israel's military aggression against other countries, as well as its maintenance of an arsenal of up to 150 nuclear weapons, but in addition to that Obama also held some meetings with the Palestinian Authority?

Why should any of this be a reason to feel good about this country? And yet, this is precisely the limit of the change that Obama promises.

Obama, let us be clear, is running for president of the U.S.A. That means president of an empire that sucks the blood of billions of people and uses the most terrible military machine in history to enforce that. When Obama talks about "change," he is talking about change to serve and maintain all that. Listen carefully to the whole context in which Obama talks about the occupation of Iraq and the whole "war on terror." When you do, you will hear him talking about how to carry out U.S. political, economic, and military domination of the Middle East. And if he became president, he would be presiding over a global system of capitalism-imperialism, contending with other capitalist countries, and suppressing any opposition, through political and economic structures that enforce that, and ultimately through the threat, or actual delivery, of military violence. That setup defines the terms for anyone running for president of—for chief executive of—that system. Obama cannot rise above that, and does not want to rise above that.

Empire—its consequences all over the planet, and what it takes to maintain it—is nothing to feel good about.

We Need Fundamental, Revolutionary Change

But that is the question people have to answer: do you want to live in an empire where the ruler might be able to make you "feel good" (or at least "okay") with the crimes that necessarily go with maintaining an empire; or do you want to live in a world without empires?

The Obama campaign is not about—and cannot be about—addressing in any real, fundamental way, the things that make millions of people not feel good about this country. But an important part of what the Obama candidacy is all about, and why it has gotten as far as it has with the blessings of the powers-that-be, is that it is about mis-channeling outrage into making people feel good about this country.

The point here is not that nothing can be done about all the things that the rulers of this country have done, and are doing, here and around the world. It can—but only outside the killing confines of a system that allows nothing more meaningful than participating in a ritual choice of who will preside over the next four years of oppression.

What all this shows even more emphatically is that we need a whole new, radically different system, and a revolution to bring that system into being.

We don't need change that we are allowed, and told to believe in—change that won't really change anything fundamental—we need fundamental, revolutionary change.

Midwest floods & crumbling levees
Why capitalism can't deal with global warming

By LeiLani Dowell
Published Jun 19, 2008 11:37 PM

A series of flooding, storms and tornadoes throughout the Midwest has once again called attention to the crumbling nature of U.S. public infrastructure and the increasing crisis of global warming.

At least 15 deaths in the Midwest and elsewhere have been attributed to the recent weather that has hit the region. People have been displaced from their homes in the thousands in Indiana and the tens of thousands in Iowa. Power outages have occurred in Michigan, Ohio and Iowa, while in some areas, people have been required to limit their water usage to drinking only.

Reminiscent of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, levees broke throughout the region. Two levees broke on June 14 near Keithsburg, Ill., near the Mississippi River, and emergency workers and residents have been fervently trying to reinforce nearly 30 levees along that river before they too break. Another levee broke along the Iowa River, flooding the community of Oakville, Iowa. And in Wisconsin, an embankment along a human-made lake broke, washing out a highway and five homes.

A levee in Des Moines, Iowa, burst on June 14, flooding part of the city's northeast side. According to Des Moines Public Works Director Bill Stowe, the city had been seeking federal approval to reconstruct that levee, which was built in the 1950s. (Washington Post online, June 14)

The American Society of Civil Engineers, in its 2005 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, gave the U.S. an overall failing grade of D, with grades of D+ or less in the categories of aviation, dams, drinking water, energy, hazardous waste, navigable waterways, roads, schools, transit and wastewater. Their Web site, updated for 2008, states, "Establishing a long-term development and maintenance plan must become a national priority." (www.asce.org)

Happening during an overall economic crisis, the poor will be bearing the brunt of this disaster—not only in the Midwest, but everywhere. The price of corn, a staple food, jumped to a record $7 a bushel after the floods destroyed crops in the Midwest.

In Iowa, Gov. Chet Culver has requested federal disaster status for 83 of the 99 counties there, so that the Federal Emergency Management Administration can provide food, water and other resources and individuals can request individual assistance. Whether or not FEMA will neglect the people of these Midwest states—as it did the people of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita—remains to be seen.
Global warming a reality, not a threat

The recent surge in natural disasters such as tornadoes and other extreme weather events speaks to the fact that global warming is increasing their threat and intensity.

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the National Weather Service reported on June 12 that the Cedar River was expected to reach a record crest a staggering 12 feet higher than the previous record, which was set more than 150 years ago in 1851. Jeff Zogg, a hydrologist for the Weather Service in Davenport, Iowa, told the New York Times, "Usually if you break a record, you only do it by an inch or two." (June 13)

At the same time that flooding was occurring in the Midwest, the East Coast was experiencing a rash of heat waves from North Carolina to New Hampshire, with record temperatures in New York. According to the National Weather Service, heat is the primary weather-related killer, accounting for 1,500 deaths in the U.S. annually. (New York Times, June 10)

The World Health Organization made climate change the theme of World Health Day on April 7. A statement by WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan asserts: "Climate change endangers health in fundamental ways. ... The effects of extreme weather events—more storms, floods, droughts and heat waves—will be abrupt and acutely felt. Both trends can affect some of the most fundamental determinants of health: air, water, food, shelter, and freedom from disease. ... In short, climate change can affect problems that are already huge, largely concentrated in the developing world, and difficult to combat."

The utter lack of planning or accountability for human needs under capitalism has created both an environmental crisis that will lead to even more natural disasters and an infrastructure that is unable to cope with them. The prospects are ominous for people in the U.S. and throughout the world.

However, there is an alternative. The planning and response to natural disasters in some socialist countries show a way forward.

In Cuba—which according to the Global Footprint Network is the only country that has built its infrastructure and raised educational and health levels without adversely impacting the environment—hurricanes are frequent, yet lives are seldom lost. In China, the entire government has responded with urgency and resources for earthquake survivors.

These two examples show just a glimpse of how socialism, based on people's needs and not profit, can better handle the damage to the environment and also turn it around.

Unlike many of my brothers and sisters, I was so certain of the outcome that I didn't even bother to officially "tune in and find out the verdict" until VERY late in the day.
I've seen enough of these types of cases to "instinctively KNOW" how this would turn out.

When I finally tuned the news sometime yesterday and found out that those murderers in police uniforms were "officially acquitted", the result didn't surprise me ONE BIT!!

You see, I'm quite used to seeing this same old scenario play itself out over and OVER AGAIN. EVERY time a black man becomes the victim of a gang-style police shooting involving a group of "whites in blue", the result is ALWAYS a MOCK TRIAL to "ACQUITTAL" process.

These bastards ALWAYS get away with murder, and after the intial anger and outrage at yet another "miscarriage of justice" most of us just simply wipe away our tears, hold our heads down, sing "We Shall Overcome", and then go right "back to business as usual" tending the same plantations we've been slaving away at for eternity.

But the time has come where enough is enough, and something's gotta get done ONCE AND FOR ALL! It's "open season" on all of us. Whites (wearing police uniforms) feel we're something subhuman or "animal-like" and they can just kill us without fear of reprisal. In the eyes of "the system", we don't exist as a group of people with basic human rights.

Racist whites and their trained killer cops are like bullies. They'll keep pushing us around until the day we finally FIGHT BACK and STAND UP to them! I don't care how many guns they have, or how many of them exist. We've gotta at least defend ourselves, or there'll be LOTS more Sean Bells of the world.

These pieces of human trash know from past incidents that we have become "all talk and NO ACTION". So they feel they can get away with whatever they want.

That was quite evident when the cop who fired 31 of the 50 total shots (Michael Oliver) looked like he was SMILING and GIGGLING after the verdict came down. Why? Well it was no coincidence that this "trial" took place WITHOUT A JURY and with a cracker judge who made it perfectly clear that he was no friend to ANYONE of Afrikan descent.

So what happens now? For whitey, nothing changes at all......until the NEXT incident. But for us, it's our RESPONSIBILITY to make sure there isn't a "next incident". We need to have a network like the Jews do. When you mess with ONE of them, you mess with them ALL....and they make you PAY one way or the other. We need to make these racist corporate bastards that support these killer cops PAY---by hitting them right where it HURTS---in their WALLET!!

If you're not gonna support and go through at LEAST and economic boycott (the first step towards economic self-sufficiency), then WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?? Simple rallies, protest marches, and "Shopping For Justice" don't do shit but make us look like a bunch of idiots and crybabies. I'm sick of BULLSHIT like this Sean Bell verdict, and I'm ready to "get down and dirty" and make the revolution happen.
R U with me??


Der'ryx-Jaheim


P.S.: When the REAL revolution goes down, mouthpieces like Al Sharpton won't have a thing to do with it!

January 21st: Oppose the Lynch Mob Racists!
No to Nooses! Free the Jena Six!
We Want a Better World!


White Supremacists plan to march in Jena on Martin Luther King Day in 2008. On Martin Luther King Day of all days, the one day that is supposed to be about the struggle of Black people, they are coming to march with Nooses! This is a call to people everywhere: On Monday January 21st, get to Jena! OPPOSE THE LYNCH MOB RACISTS!

Displaying nooses is a hateful and terrorizing message. These racists want to take us back to the days of lynch mobs murdering Black people in this country. Nooses are INTOLERABLE. Bring a sign, hang a poster, make a banner, get to Jena, SAY NO TO NOOSES!

The Jena High students said no to nooses hung at their school when they protested by standing underneath the "white only tree." Then on September 20th, 2007 tens of thousands of people stood up, marching in Jena and around the country. People said "Enough is Enough" to the injustice in punishing Black youth who take a stand against racism. The white supremacists call Black youth criminals and thugs, they say, "Jail the Jena Six." Let's say it loud again in Jena: FREE THE JENA SIX!

It is in response to September 20th and what that day achieved that white supremacists are lashing out, with a message that takes us back to the horrors of lynch mobs and segregation. When racism rears its ugly head, it is up to people everywhere, white and Black, people of all nationalities, to take a stand. If you are against injustice and inequality, if you want racism to end...it's up to you to voice it! If we don't speak up and stand up, this horrific message will go unopposed. If not us who? If not now when?

Protest in Jena on January 21st. Join people everywhere in politically opposing white supremacy and drowning out their message of hate with the message that WE WANT A BETTER WORLD.

January 21st Committee

Contact the committee. Email: january21injenacomm@yahoo.com Phone: 318-787-1190

Spread the word! Get out this call far and wide, support and build for January 21st!

Initial signatories:

A group of 14 Jena residents Black and white, young and old, including two parents of the Jena Six

Addis Bey Ababa, People's Hurricane Relief Fund organizer, Atlanta

Animas SDS (the Fort Lewis College [Durango CO] autonomous chapter of Students for a Democratic Society

Medea Benjamin, Cofounder CODEPINK* and Global Exchange*

Black Men 7, Eunice, Louisiana

Herb Boyd, The Black World Today, NY, NY

Reverend Raymond Brown, Community Activist, New Orleans

Marcus Coleman, President-National Action Network, Atlanta chapter* and 37 members and supporters attending the 1st NAN Atlanta meeting of 2008

C3 (Community, Concern, Compassion)/Hands Off Iberville, New Orleans

60 residents of Cabrini Green, Chicago

Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party

Education Not Incarceration (San Francisco Chapter)

Miky Espinal, NY organizer for Health & Hospital Workers Union 1199*

Peggy Hendrix, member of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Idress Stelley Foundation

International Socialist Organization, Madison Campus Branch

Thomas Kleven, Professor of Law, Thurgood Marshall School of Law*

Mayday New Orleans

Michael Novick, Anti-Racist Action, Los Angeles

NU Coalition to Free the Jena 6, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

Don Paul, writer, musician, Housing is a Human Right, New Orleans

People Against Racist Terror

Don Rojas, The Black World Today, NY, NY

San Francisco Bayview Free The Jena Six Task Force

San Francisco Village Voice Community Radio, 105.5 FM

San Francisco Bayview Campaign to End the Death Penalty

Sankofa Community Empowerment

Sess 4-5, Nuthin But Fire Records, New Orleans

Adam Shapiro, "Current Events" on WRFG 89.3 FM Atlanta

Cindy Sheehan, Candidate for Congress, California's 8th district, mother of KIA soldier Casey Sheehan

Benetta Standly, Georgia Statewide Organizer, ACLU*

Student Organizers from University of California, PA and Howard University

Debra Sweet, Director, The World Can't Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime

Everett Taasevigen

"Mzee" Leonard Tate, Millions More Movement Atlanta Chapter

Ms. Beauty Turner, National award-winning Journalist/Activist/Groundbreaking researcher, Founder of Poor People Millennium Movement

McNair Wagner, member Georgia Students for Sustainability

Cornel West

William Winters, Baton Rouge Activist

Alice Woodward and Hank Brown, Jena, LA correspondents for Revolution

By Mumia Abu-Jamal on death row
The idea of a Black president
Published Jan 17, 2008 10:20 PM

For much of the U.S. populace, the very idea of a Black president is one so new, so novel, that it forces many people to think of it as if it is barely possible; as if it is the stuff of fiction, not fact.

Fiction has indeed been the realm of this idea, as in movies and television series, actors have played the part, but that, of course, is on TV.

Of course, time will tell if that is more than imagination, but for millions of people who share this vast land space we call North America, the idea is neither new nor groundbreaking.

That's because there are some 100 million people living in Mexico, and that country had a Black president (albeit briefly)—some 173 years ago.

It was during their war for independence from Spain, when a warrior emerged, a Black Indian named Vicente Guerrero.

In his first battle, he was commissioned a captain. As the independence war raged on, many of the leading revolutionaries were either killed, or captured. Guerrero fought on, leading some 2,000 men into the Sierra Madre mountains to continue the fight.

By 1821, the Mexicans were prevailing over the Spanish and Guerrero was hailed as an incorruptible independence fighter. In 1829 he became president of Mexico, and as scholar William Loren Katz writes in his 1986 book, "Black Indians":

"He began a program of far-reaching reforms, abolishing the death penalty and starting construction of schools and libraries for the poor. He ended slavery in Mexico. Yet, because of his skin color, lack of education and country manner, he was held in contempt by the upper classes in Mexico City. This president, who had, according to U.S. historian M.H. Bancroft, "a gentleness and magnetism that inspired love among his adherents," was still "a triple-blooded outsider."

Black historian J. A. Rogers summarized Guerrero's striking accomplishments by calling him "the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln of Mexico." Guerrero, who in his youth was an illiterate mule driver, once bitten by the bug of Mexican independence rose to the highest office in the land.

He learned to read when he was about 40, and helped craft the Mexican Constitution, of which he wrote the following provision: "All inhabitants whether white, African, or Indian, are qualified to hold office." He wrote this in 1824, over 30 years before the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous Dred Scott decision, which announced, emphatically, that "a black man has no rights that a white man is bound to respect" and that "black people weren't, and could never be citizens of the United States."

In that era of revolution and social transformation, a Black man became president of the second-largest country in North America. Today, 178 years later, we still wonder if such a thing is possible. What does that say about the United States?

More Mumia's columns at: www.prisonradio.org.

Marion Jones & sports under capitalism

By Monica Moorehead
Published Jan 17, 2008 10:08 PM

First, Bill Belichick, the head coach of the National Football League's undefeated New England Patriots, is caught cheating this past September by authorizing the videotaping of defensive signals by the New York Jets' assistant coaches during a game. He gets a slap on the wrist and is recently named Coach of the Year. Other NFL coaches have complained in the past that this isn't the first time the Patriots have used such tactics to get the upper hand.

Second, Marion Jones, a 2000 U.S. Olympic champion, is found guilty for lying to federal investigators regarding steroid use, is forced to return her gold and bronze medals, and then gets sentenced to six months in jail followed by two years' probation and 800 hours of community service. The judge handed out this harsh sentence on Jan. 11 even after a tearful Jones asked for leniency. Jones asked for leniency because she didn't want to be separated from her two young children, one of whom is still nursing. Jones's prison sentence is scheduled to begin on March 11.

So again what's wrong with these pictures? Plenty. The fact that Belichick is a white male coach and Jones is an African-American woman athlete certainly cannot and should not be swept under the rug when it comes to understanding what goes on in a racist, sexist and homophobic society like the U.S. If a Black NFL head coach had been caught cheating as Belichick was, would he have gotten off that easily? Many would answer absolutely not.

This double standard of meting out punishment based on nationality and gender should be enough grist for the mill to cause a massive outcry among those who can see right through the hypocrisy.

But the circumstances surrounding the case of Marion Jones and also what could eventually happen to Barry Bonds—the Major Baseball League's home run leader, recently indicted by a federal grand jury over his supposed steroid use—go much, much deeper than the obvious. There are important class issues that either are downplayed or ignored altogether by the mainstream media, including sportscasters and writers.
Athletes, like workers, are commodities

These class issues are tied to capitalism, an economic system of haves and have-nots, that is driven to make profits no matter what the industry—including sports. And just as workers of all nationalities are viewed as expendable commodities to the bosses, athletes, amateur or professional, are also expendable—especially when it comes to owners or college athletic programs.

If an athlete does not perform on a very high or even superhuman level, s/he is susceptible to being cut and then traded to another team, unless permanently injured. Only athletes are capable of generating the billions of dollars in television revenue, season ticket sales, food and liquor concessions and endorsements raked in by their bosses.

Just as workers are forced to compete against each other for a higher wage or even for job security, athletes are also forced to compete against each other. It is not only for the highest salary but also to sign multimillion-dollar contracts with corporations to sell their products to impressionable young people—especially if the athlete wins an Olympic gold medal or is named the most valuable player on a championship team.

And since the "achievements" of an athlete in the U.S. are based on how many medals or titles they can win in a short amount of time, many athletes feel extraordinary pressure to get a "competitive edge" over others, including taking performance-enhancement drugs.

No one is more aware of this dog-eat-dog phenomenon than the holier-than-thou sports media, which pray for and prey on a Marion Jones, a Michael Vick or a Barry Bonds to superexploit. Demonizing talented athletes sells more papers and magazines for the media moguls.

In fact, the sports media love to hold the power of the pen over athletes by telling them in essence, "We can build you up one day and tear you down the next," especially if they come from poor, oppressed communities or, like Barry Bonds, if they don't bow down to the media.

In his Oct. 15, 2007, column, "The Fall of Marion Jones, Inc.," progressive sportswriter Dave Zirin wrote, "For Jones, the regret, the public humiliation and the possible time in prison are hers to bear alone. This should not be the case. Fault also lies with a system that both elevates and debases sporting superstars, turning them into something not quite human. Star athletes have become corporations with legs: branded with logos and slogans, and supporting an entire apparatus of advisers and hangers-on. Jones became a one-woman multinational corporation after her 2000 Olympic triumph: the feet of Nike, the face of Oakley sunglasses, the wrist of TAG Heuer watches."

He goes on to say, "Marion Jones should be granted amnesty on the grounds that the entire system sets athletes up for failure. As fans and followers of sport, it's time to drop the Pollyanna act and the hero worship. It's time to stop demanding the super human and start letting the guardians of sport know that anyone who benefits from an athlete's rise to the top should also accompany their fall from grace."

On the one hand, what both Belichick and Jones did was not make the rules but only play by the rules of capitalist competition in order to gain an advantage over their rivals.

A major difference is that while Belichick was all but forgiven because he is privileged, Marion Jones was an easy scapegoat of an inhumane system that will use divide-and-conquer tactics like racism in order to toss aside any human being, gifted or not, as long as its precious profits are not threatened. Most sacred of all are the profits of the pharmaceuticals that produce and promote steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.

1,000 march in support of Black man convicted for self defense
By LeiLani Dowell
New York
Published Jan 10, 2008 11:06 PM

On Jan. 5, about a thousand Black, Latin@ and white people marched together in Riverhead, L.I. in protest of another racist attack by the U.S. criminal "justice" system with the Dec. 22 conviction of John White, a Black Long Island man, of second-degree manslaughter. The march was initiated by Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights forces. White had shot a white man who was part of a mob threatening his family in the middle of the night.

The mob of intoxicated, young white men arrived at the Whites' house on Long Island on Aug. 9, 2006, after White's son, Aaron, was kicked out of a party that the men were present at. It was alleged that Aaron had threatened a young white woman with rape on a posting to the MySpace Web site—an allegation that was later proven false when it was discovered that a friend of Aaron's was responsible for the posting.

The Black Star News reports: "Aaron upon reaching the safety of his house awoke his father. ... Outside, the lynch mob was busy blocking off the street leading to the White home, while revving the intimidating loud engines of their hot-rod cars and spewing the N-word." (Dec. 28, 2007)

John White went outside with a handgun to confront the intruders. When one of them, Daniel Cicciaro Jr., lunged at White in an attempt to grab the gun, the gun discharged and Cicciaro was killed.
Judge colludes with racists

The trial against Mr. White lasted four days, with a jury of ten whites, one Latino and one Black person. (Amsterdam News, Dec. 28, 2007) On Dec. 22, the jury told the judge that they were deadlocked on the case, with two jurors pressing to acquit.

In a maneuver to force the hand of the two holdouts, Judge Barbara Khan told the jurors to clear their schedules for the next day rather than continuing the trial after the holiday season.

According to defense attorney Eddie Hayes, "The judge made them deliberate for 12 hours on Friday and the Saturday before Christmas, and then told them she might bring them in on Sunday." (Daily News, Dec. 27, 2007)

She also told the jury that if they didn't reach a verdict the case would face a jury "that would not be any different from you," implying that it would be futile for the two jurors to not give in. (Black Star News, Dec. 28, 2007)

Suffolk County, where the trial was held, is the third most segregated region in the country according to U.S. Census data for the year 2000. Cicciaro's family was accompanied by skinheads throughout the trial. (Amsterdam News, Dec. 28, 2007)

One hour later, the two jurors caved; White was found guilty. He now faces five to 15 years in prison. White is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 21, the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Black freedom fighter, Malcolm X.
Jim Crow legacy enforced

White had testified that as a young man, his family had recounted stories about relatives being lynched and the Ku Klux Klan torching his grandfather's Alabama business in the 1920s. He feared a similar attack was going to happen in the incident at his house and was attempting to defend his family.

The nature of the crime against the Whites speaks to the legacy of racist scapegoating. Defense attorney Paul Gianelli reminded the jury, "In the South, Black men were hanged because of the accusation they raped a white woman."

Prosecutor James Chalifoux argued that White should have locked his door and called the police. He raised that the attack on White's grandfather occurred 30 years before White was born.

Yet why would a Black man in today's world trust the police to see his side of the story? Defense attorney Marie Michel told the Amsterdam News: "These were 17- to 19-year-olds who were intoxicated, with the knowledge of white privilege. And the police and prosecutors backed up that theory." (Dec. 28)

Meanwhile, because of death threats against him, 20-year-old Aaron White has been forced to drop out of college, quit his job and move away from home. (Amsterdam News, Dec. 28, 2007)

Supporters demand justice for Black leader
Published Jan 13, 2008 10:27 PM

Supporters of Viola Plummer, a revolutionary leader of the Brooklyn-based December 12th Movement, and New York City Councilperson Charles Barron huddled together at a news conference in front of the U.S. District Court on Jan. 3. A piercing wind and single digit temperatures didn't cool the anger of speakers who related illegal actions of NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the NYC Corporation Counsel.

Speaking in English and in Spanish, activists representing many oppressed communities in the city, including those struggling for LGBT and immigrant rights, denounced Quinn's gross racism.

Plummer is suing Speaker Quinn in federal court for illegally firing her as Barron's chief of staff. Quinn took this racist action after using her position as City Council Speaker to block popular demands to change a Brooklyn street name to Sonny Abubadika Carson Avenue last summer.

Plummer was hired by Councilperson Barron. She filed the court suit because Quinn overstepped her legal authority, violating both Barron and Plummer's right to self-determination. See related article on the Jan. 3 court hearing.