I thought I'd shine a little light on some of the more outlandish items that expose life in the U.S. for some.  There can be no remedy if there is no knowledge.  The purpose of this e-mail is to share the knowledge in hopes that we can have receptive attitudes when real solutions are proposed.

Please scroll down and review these:  At Home While Black; Outside While Black, Being Owed Money While Black; At an HBCU While Black; High School While Black and just to round out the understanding of the reality, Outside While White: These are Incredible Stories of Typical Black Life in the U.S.

1.  At Home While Black:  "I was treated like a criminal ... He dragged me, threw me across the chair, put handcuffs on me and just started calling me the 'b' name. He ridiculed me."- Venus Green (now 90 years old, 87 years old at the time of the incident).  In Atlanta, we had a similar situation that occurred with Atlanta PD fabricating a warrant for the home of a 90-something year old stalwart of the community and the police shot her dead.  I remember reading about the woman in NYC who was victimized by a no-knock warrant and suffered a heart attack when the police broke down her door--which was at the wrong address.  For Black families around this country, At Home While Black is real.

BALTIMORE -- An elderly woman got the last word after locking a police officer in her basement, and later suing the police.Venus Green, who was 87 when she was handcuffed, roughed up and injured by police, will receive $95,000 as part of a settlement with Baltimore City. The city chose to settle the case instead of taking a chance in front of a jury."We thought we would have a difficult time in front of a city jury, or any jury," Baltimore City solicitor George Nilson said.Green was so put out by what police officers did, the city said she locked one of them in her basement.

"I was treated like a criminal," said Green, a retired educator who's now 90.In July 2009, Green's grandson, Tallie, was shot and wounded. Tallie said he was shot at a convenience store, but police insisted it happened inside Green's house and that the shooter was either Tallie or Green."Police kept questioning him. They wouldn't let the ambulance attendant treat him," Green said. "So, I got up and said, 'Sir, would you please let the attendants treat him? He's in pain,'" Green said.Green said the officer said to her, "Oh, you did it, come on, let's go inside. I'll prove where that blood is. You did it."Police wanted to go the basement, where Tallie lived, but Green refused on the basis that the police did not have a warrant."I said, 'No, you don't have a warrant. You don't go down in my house like that. He wasn't shot in here.'" Green said the officer replied, "I'm going to find that gun. I'm going to prove that you did it."A struggle ensued between a male officer and Green."He dragged me, threw me across the chair, put handcuffs on me and just started calling me the 'b' name. He ridiculed me," Green said.An officer went into the basement and Green locked him inside."She locked the door, the basement door. She basically took matters into her own hands," Nilson said."This was my private home, and if I latched it, that was my prerogative because he had no search warrant to go in my basement. So, I had to right to latch it," Green said.Green said she suffered a separated shoulder in the scuffle, and she sued the Police Department for assault and violations of her rights."I was once a block watcher, department head of a high school. (I've) been around education for over 50 years. (I'm a) law-abiding citizen, I've never been arrested, I paid my taxes, owned my home, my husband died 34 years ago. (I) raised my son and I have been brutally abused," Green said. "I feel like the Police Department needs to go back to school."In the past two fiscal years, the city has paid out $16.8 million in claims against the Police Department. City Council President Jack Young voted against this settlement and others, saying he is "tired of the Police Department bleeding money."

3.  Being Owed Money While Black:  The people are being tricked into believing that Black Farmers are being saved while Black Farmers are set to lose 1.5 million acres through the Obama Department of Agriculture.

4.  Attending an HBCU While Black:  Something insidious is happening to Historically-Black Colleges and Universities under the "post-racial" leadership of the Obama Department of Education.  I have visited many of them and I have seen this phenomenon for myself.  How can one ethnically cleanse an HBCU?  From this BlackAgendaReport article (http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/ethnic-cleansing-historically-black-colleges-universities-age-obama-part-1-3), Dr. Jahi Issa tells us how:

The Ethnic Cleansing of Historically Black Colleges & Universities in the Age of Obama, Part 1 of 3

by Jahi Issa, Ph.D.

Despite the long and loud verbal commitment of the Black Misleadership class to HBCUs, the deference and dependence of black leadership to corporate ethics and on corporate donations has caused them to endorse policies that are effectively phasing out HBCUs. Within a generation we may see the end of historically black institutions of higher learning.

The Ethnic Cleansing of Historically Black Colleges & Universities in the Age of Obama, Part 1 of 3

by Jahi Issa, Ph.D.

For more than 100 years, HBCU’sⁱ have educated African American leadership. Although the mission statements of most HBCUs do not state this fact, HBCUs grew out of the social disorder and aftermath of the American Civil War—a period which constitutionally brought millions of formerly enslaved Africans into citizenry in the United States. Similar to colleges and universities that were created for religious groups such as Catholics, Jews and for other immigrant groups, HBCUs were created in reaction to de facto marginalization created by a European American hostile society. ⁱⁱ Because of the efforts of the Civil Right Movement, HBCU’s were finally recognized as important institutions and were giving special status for Federal funding. However, over the past few decades, HBCUs have been targeted as being too “Black” and many states are progressively trying to eliminate African Americans from these institutions that have served as a buffer zone for the Black middle class. Some HBCUs have and are going through hostile takeovers in order to turn them into White education facilities and thereby permanently eliminating the African American middle class.

African Americans Perform Better at HBCUs

Although over the years many have argued that HBCUs are redundant and irrelevant in today’s “post racial world,” the fact remains that these intuitions of higher learning, according to the National Science Foundation, graduate more than 33% of all African Americans earning Bachelor’s and doctoral degrees, almost double that compared to African Americans attending predominately White schools .ⁱⁱⁱ Furthermore, according to theWashington Post, the “post racial” world that many hoped for with the election of President Barack Obama may just be an illusion.^iv Relying on a recent report from the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends, the Washington Post noted that the typical White household in 2009 had 20 times more wealth ($113,149) than the typical Black household ($5,677). Moreover, another report that was conducted by Brandeis University in May of 2010 and concluded that African American will never reach wealth parity with that of White Americans.^v Both reports note that African Americans with college degrees stand a better chance at edging out a decent life in the United States than those without degrees.

. According to a 1977 study that was conducted under the leadership of Dr. Mary Francis Berry, in her capacity as the former Secretary of Education in the Carter Administration, primary reasons why HBCUs tended to be better equipped to prepare students for real world experience was because they offered:

• “credible models for aspiring Blacks…

• “psycho-socially congenial settings in which blacks can develop”

• “insurance against a potentially declining interest in the education of black folk”

Furthermore, the report posits that the ultimate purpose of the HBCU is to “represent the formal structures which nurture and stress racial ideology, pride and worth for Blacks. Consequently, they are what every racial and ethnic group is entitled to have—a political, social and intellectual haven.”^vi The report mentioned above was recently vindicated in a study that was published in January of 2011. Three economists concluded that African Americans who attend HBCUs tend to perform better in the work force than African Americans who attend predominately White universities and colleges. ^vii

The 1965 Higher Education Act and Title III: Federal Funding For African-Americans in Higher Education

One cannot discuss today’s relevancy of HBCU’s without mentioning the Higher Education Act of 1965. The Higher Education Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of his Great Society program that sought “to strengthen the educational resources of our colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education.” Before the law was signed by President Johnson, the Chairman of the House Committee on Education, an African-American Harlem Congressman named Adam Clayton Powell made an amendment that defined HBCUs as “…any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans.”^viii The amendments also legalized the federal funding of HBCUs through the Higher Education Act of 1965 Title III program. Title III is the federal governing body which sets the standard for providing funding for HBCUs. Over the years Title III had provided billions of dollars to support African-American undergraduate, graduate programs, increasing African American participation in math and science, real estate acquisitions and strengthen HBCU’ endowments to name a few.^ix In all, Title III has helped African American universities to not only increase their numbers in accredited degree programs across the country; it has also allowed many HBCUs to have a tremendous economic impact in the communities that they serve.

Economic Impact of HBCUs and the Origins of a New and Corrupt Era

In 2005 the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), an office within the U.S. Department of Education, published a report that documented the economic impact of HBCUs. Primarily, this study was introduced by President George W. Bush and continued by President Barack Obama administration which sought to include the participation of private sector (corporations) into the governing bodies of HBCUs.^x The study found that more than 100 HBCUs had in 2001 an economic impact of almost 11 billion dollars in the communities that they served. For instance, schools such as Howard University total economic impact in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area was more than 600 million dollars. For smaller schools such as Delaware State University, their total economic impact was more than 150 million dollars. It must be noted that the economic impacts also made a national impression. Again, according to the National Science Foundation, HBCUs bestowed nearly 25% of all bachelor degrees earned by African Americans in 2001. In the areas of agriculture, biology, mathematics and the physical sciences, HBCUs accounted for more than 40 percent of all bachelor degrees earned by African-Americans.^xi With this stated, it is easy to see why corporations would want a piece of the pie. Furthermore, if one is to evaluate the current lack of transparency on Wall Street, it is easy to see that Wall Street’s collaboration with today’s HBCUs could represent the end of African American higher education as we know it.

The Second Corporate Takeover

Although President Barack Obama HBCU Executive Order 13532 “encourages private investment in HBCUs,” however, research proves that corporate partnerships is not new to HBCUs, nor are their historic input solely motivated by financial gains.^xii Not long after the end of reconstruction, Northern White capitalist sought extreme ways in which they could control the ebb and flow of African American education. This was done to curtail the rapid development of African American educational institutions immediately after the Civil War. For instance, from 1865-1880 federal agents documented that there were thousands of African American schools operating throughout the South independent of White control. When northern White benevolent groups finally reach the South with mythical-preconceived notions that they were coming to “civilize” former wretched enslaved Africans, they were astonished to see that Africans Americans had already had established their own schools systems fully equipped with African American teachers. These schools full missions were self-determination and political control over the regions of the South in which they were the majority.^xiii The high level of African American political education created a problem for the nation after the Compromise of 1877. Since African Americans were no longer allowed to exercise political autonomy in the South, strategies were devised on the federal level to control the nature of their education. The federal government along with the corporate conglomerates in the North believed that the only way that they could ensure the continual flow of cheap labor in the South was to train African Americans in a way that they would not advocate for political control of their communities. Furthermore, there was another important issue at play—that was African American competition with Whites for high skilled jobs. The solution was a new type of training for Southern African Americans was called industrial education. This type of schooling served the purpose of supervising and training African American to be subservient to White interest.^xiv Schools such as Hampton, Tuskegee and Delaware State were devised as the alternative to the African American independent schools that advocated self-determination after the Civil War. The corporate-handpicked spokesman for this new type of schooling was none other than Booker T. Washington. One must remember that Washington’s entrance exam into Hampton University was sweeping the floor. The ultimate goal of Hampton was to control the emerging Black leadership of the Jim Crow South, and train African Americans in the corporate labor needs of the new South.^xv The financial backing of Hampton University and what would later be Tuskegee was provided by White Northern corporations and philanthropy. This corporate-industrial style form of education continued to dominate Southern higher educational institutions long after the death of Booker T. Washington in 1915.^xvi

The White House Initiative on HBCUs Encourages Corporate Collaboration

The current encroachment of private corporate input into the affairs of African American higher education could and will be disastrous. It would mean that African Americans will be forced back into the  Jim Crow Era. A deliberate attempt to curtail educational advancements that was gained by the Civil Rights and Black Power era seems to be the main motivation. The White House Advisor on HBCUs, John Wilson, Jr., stated in April of 2010 HBCUs “must not be seen as plaintiffs in the struggle for civil rights….”^xvii Dr. Wilson, a graduate of Morehouse University, tends to for  get that it was struggle for Civil Rights that literally allows him to serve President Barack Obama. The White House Initiative on HBCUs came into existence because of the “plaintiff” of the past. Furthermore, Mr. Wilson’s statement implies that African American should abandon their pursuit for full rights and self-interest. Taking a lead from Dr. Wilson’s statements, A Wall Street Journal editor named Jason L. Liley wrote an editorial stating that HBCU’s were a dismal failure and that “Mr. Obama ought to use the federal government’s leverage” to bring these schools under Wall Street’s control. He went further by statin g that HBCUs should all become private and model themselves after the University of Phoenix. ^xviii One month after Liley’s editorial, a conservative from the Wall Street funded American Enterprise Institute also imputed on Wall Street’s quest to control Black education. He ended his article in the Chronicle of Higher Education by stating that HBCUs “should accordingly be encouraged to enroll more non-black students.” The author mentioned nothing about White universities increasing African American enrollment. He also stated that “some HBCUs, notably two in West Virginia (Bluefield State and West Virginia State University), are in fact no longer predominantly black” but are still receiving special (HBCU) federal funding.^xix Five months after theChronicle of Higher Education essay appeared, the White House Advisor on HBCUs, John Wilson, Jr. was invited as the keynote speaker to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. The title of his speech “Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Albatross^xx of Undignified Publicity” conveyed that HBCU are historically cursed when it comes to publicity in White dominated media outlets. Moreover, the central thesis of his speech, although impressively constructed, was that HBCUs should jump on the corporate bandwagon by accepting funds from good corporate Samaritans such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.^xxi 

Black Colleges & White Cultural Hegemony: The Signs of the Future

Although the Higher Education Act of 1965 clearly states that an HBCU is a school “whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans,” economist and scholar at American Enterprise Institute, Richard Vedder, reminds us that there is a trend being shaped were as HBCUs who formally had an African American majority student and faculty body, and now have White majority populations, still receive federal funding geared for African Americans. These two schools are Bluefield State College and West Virginia State University. According to a May 19, 2000 CNN report, White enrollment at HBCUs is on the rise. Other schools such as Kentucky State University, Elizabeth City State University and Delaware State University are only a few schools that have a growing White and non-African American student and faculty population. Furthermore, according to an August 17, 2011 Wall Street Journal article called “Recruiters at Black Colleges Break From Tradition,” HBCUs such as Tennessee State University, Delaware State University and Paul Quinn College are cited as no longer foc using exclusively on recruiting African Americans. The author of the article points out that Tennessee State University’s Black enrollment has reduced to around 70 %, while Paul Quinn College Black enrollment has been predicted to fall from 94% to 85% for the Fall 2011 academic year.^xxii

 Many have asked the question if White enrollment at HBCUs represent a decrease in African American enrollment at the same schools. The year that CNN published its story, Blue field College African American faculty had dwindled to less than one percent from previous decades. The African American student enrollment had also decreased to less than ten percent. Nonetheless, research shows that when African American faculty at HBCUs is a majority, African American  students tend to enroll at a higher percentage and they tend to be more productive in the work place once they graduate. There seems to be a direct correlation between African American student enrollment and that of its faculty. In other words, if the African American faculty enrollment at HBCU’s is low, African American students tend not to attend HBCU’s. When this occurs, is an HBCU still a HBCU? In other words, can you have a HBCU without Black students and faculty? This is exactly the issue that American Enterprise Institute scholar Richard Vedder was raising in his essay in the Chronicle of Higher Learning. Why are HBCUs that are no longer Black in students or faculty population receiving federal monies geared toward African Americans? The federal government seems to believe that this trend represents the future for HBCUs.

 Jahi Issa Ph.D is Assistant Professor of History and Africana Studies at Delaware State University. He earned his Ph.D. at Howard (2005), his M.A. at Southern University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), and a B.A. at Texas Southern University. He served as Northeastern NC Grass Roots Coordinator for President Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign See New York Times:http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/05/05/us/politics/20080505_RALEIGH_SLIDESHOW_index.html

6.  Drinking Outside While White:  NYPD allow Whites to drink in the public and nothing is done about it and nothing is done to them despite clear violation of open container laws:  
-- 
http://dignity.ning.com/
http://www.enduswars.org
http://www.livestream.com/dignity
http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun
http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney
http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney
http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun

Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.

"The biggest weapon in the hands of the oppressors is the minds of the oppressed." Steve Biko

"Any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations is both arbitrary and subjective."  American Anthropological Association 1999

I thought I'd shine a little light on some of the more outlandish items that expose life in the U.S. for some.  There can be no remedy if there is no knowledge.  The purpose of this e-mail is to share the knowledge in hopes that we can have receptive attitudes when real solutions are proposed.

Please scroll down and review these:  At Home While Black; Outside While Black, Being Owed Money While Black; At an HBCU While Black; High School While Black and just to round out the understanding of the reality, Outside While White: These are Incredible Stories of Typical Black Life in the U.S.

1.  At Home While Black:  "I was treated like a criminal ... He dragged me, threw me across the chair, put handcuffs on me and just started calling me the 'b' name. He ridiculed me."- Venus Green (now 90 years old, 87 years old at the time of the incident).  In Atlanta, we had a similar situation that occurred with Atlanta PD fabricating a warrant for the home of a 90-something year old stalwart of the community and the police shot her dead.  I remember reading about the woman in NYC who was victimized by a no-knock warrant and suffered a heart attack when the police broke down her door--which was at the wrong address.  For Black families around this country, At Home While Black is real.

BALTIMORE -- An elderly woman got the last word after locking a police officer in her basement, and later suing the police.Venus Green, who was 87 when she was handcuffed, roughed up and injured by police, will receive $95,000 as part of a settlement with Baltimore City. The city chose to settle the case instead of taking a chance in front of a jury."We thought we would have a difficult time in front of a city jury, or any jury," Baltimore City solicitor George Nilson said.Green was so put out by what police officers did, the city said she locked one of them in her basement.

"I was treated like a criminal," said Green, a retired educator who's now 90.In July 2009, Green's grandson, Tallie, was shot and wounded. Tallie said he was shot at a convenience store, but police insisted it happened inside Green's house and that the shooter was either Tallie or Green."Police kept questioning him. They wouldn't let the ambulance attendant treat him," Green said. "So, I got up and said, 'Sir, would you please let the attendants treat him? He's in pain,'" Green said.Green said the officer said to her, "Oh, you did it, come on, let's go inside. I'll prove where that blood is. You did it."Police wanted to go the basement, where Tallie lived, but Green refused on the basis that the police did not have a warrant."I said, 'No, you don't have a warrant. You don't go down in my house like that. He wasn't shot in here.'" Green said the officer replied, "I'm going to find that gun. I'm going to prove that you did it."A struggle ensued between a male officer and Green."He dragged me, threw me across the chair, put handcuffs on me and just started calling me the 'b' name. He ridiculed me," Green said.An officer went into the basement and Green locked him inside."She locked the door, the basement door. She basically took matters into her own hands," Nilson said."This was my private home, and if I latched it, that was my prerogative because he had no search warrant to go in my basement. So, I had to right to latch it," Green said.Green said she suffered a separated shoulder in the scuffle, and she sued the Police Department for assault and violations of her rights."I was once a block watcher, department head of a high school. (I've) been around education for over 50 years. (I'm a) law-abiding citizen, I've never been arrested, I paid my taxes, owned my home, my husband died 34 years ago. (I) raised my son and I have been brutally abused," Green said. "I feel like the Police Department needs to go back to school."In the past two fiscal years, the city has paid out $16.8 million in claims against the Police Department. City Council President Jack Young voted against this settlement and others, saying he is "tired of the Police Department bleeding money."

3.  Being Owed Money While Black:  The people are being tricked into believing that Black Farmers are being saved while Black Farmers are set to lose 1.5 million acres through the Obama Department of Agriculture.

4.  Attending an HBCU While Black:  Something insidious is happening to Historically-Black Colleges and Universities under the "post-racial" leadership of the Obama Department of Education.  I have visited many of them and I have seen this phenomenon for myself.  How can one ethnically cleanse an HBCU?  From this BlackAgendaReport article (http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/ethnic-cleansing-historically-black-colleges-universities-age-obama-part-1-3), Dr. Jahi Issa tells us how:

The Ethnic Cleansing of Historically Black Colleges & Universities in the Age of Obama, Part 1 of 3

by Jahi Issa, Ph.D.

Despite the long and loud verbal commitment of the Black Misleadership class to HBCUs, the deference and dependence of black leadership to corporate ethics and on corporate donations has caused them to endorse policies that are effectively phasing out HBCUs. Within a generation we may see the end of historically black institutions of higher learning.

The Ethnic Cleansing of Historically Black Colleges & Universities in the Age of Obama, Part 1 of 3

by Jahi Issa, Ph.D.

For more than 100 years, HBCU’sⁱ have educated African American leadership. Although the mission statements of most HBCUs do not state this fact, HBCUs grew out of the social disorder and aftermath of the American Civil War—a period which constitutionally brought millions of formerly enslaved Africans into citizenry in the United States. Similar to colleges and universities that were created for religious groups such as Catholics, Jews and for other immigrant groups, HBCUs were created in reaction to de facto marginalization created by a European American hostile society. ⁱⁱ Because of the efforts of the Civil Right Movement, HBCU’s were finally recognized as important institutions and were giving special status for Federal funding. However, over the past few decades, HBCUs have been targeted as being too “Black” and many states are progressively trying to eliminate African Americans from these institutions that have served as a buffer zone for the Black middle class. Some HBCUs have and are going through hostile takeovers in order to turn them into White education facilities and thereby permanently eliminating the African American middle class.

African Americans Perform Better at HBCUs

Although over the years many have argued that HBCUs are redundant and irrelevant in today’s “post racial world,” the fact remains that these intuitions of higher learning, according to the National Science Foundation, graduate more than 33% of all African Americans earning Bachelor’s and doctoral degrees, almost double that compared to African Americans attending predominately White schools .ⁱⁱⁱ Furthermore, according to theWashington Post, the “post racial” world that many hoped for with the election of President Barack Obama may just be an illusion.^iv Relying on a recent report from the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends, the Washington Post noted that the typical White household in 2009 had 20 times more wealth ($113,149) than the typical Black household ($5,677). Moreover, another report that was conducted by Brandeis University in May of 2010 and concluded that African American will never reach wealth parity with that of White Americans.^v Both reports note that African Americans with college degrees stand a better chance at edging out a decent life in the United States than those without degrees.

. According to a 1977 study that was conducted under the leadership of Dr. Mary Francis Berry, in her capacity as the former Secretary of Education in the Carter Administration, primary reasons why HBCUs tended to be better equipped to prepare students for real world experience was because they offered:

• “credible models for aspiring Blacks…

• “psycho-socially congenial settings in which blacks can develop”

• “insurance against a potentially declining interest in the education of black folk”

Furthermore, the report posits that the ultimate purpose of the HBCU is to “represent the formal structures which nurture and stress racial ideology, pride and worth for Blacks. Consequently, they are what every racial and ethnic group is entitled to have—a political, social and intellectual haven.”^vi The report mentioned above was recently vindicated in a study that was published in January of 2011. Three economists concluded that African Americans who attend HBCUs tend to perform better in the work force than African Americans who attend predominately White universities and colleges. ^vii

The 1965 Higher Education Act and Title III: Federal Funding For African-Americans in Higher Education

One cannot discuss today’s relevancy of HBCU’s without mentioning the Higher Education Act of 1965. The Higher Education Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of his Great Society program that sought “to strengthen the educational resources of our colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education.” Before the law was signed by President Johnson, the Chairman of the House Committee on Education, an African-American Harlem Congressman named Adam Clayton Powell made an amendment that defined HBCUs as “…any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans.”^viii The amendments also legalized the federal funding of HBCUs through the Higher Education Act of 1965 Title III program. Title III is the federal governing body which sets the standard for providing funding for HBCUs. Over the years Title III had provided billions of dollars to support African-American undergraduate, graduate programs, increasing African American participation in math and science, real estate acquisitions and strengthen HBCU’ endowments to name a few.^ix In all, Title III has helped African American universities to not only increase their numbers in accredited degree programs across the country; it has also allowed many HBCUs to have a tremendous economic impact in the communities that they serve.

Economic Impact of HBCUs and the Origins of a New and Corrupt Era

In 2005 the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), an office within the U.S. Department of Education, published a report that documented the economic impact of HBCUs. Primarily, this study was introduced by President George W. Bush and continued by President Barack Obama administration which sought to include the participation of private sector (corporations) into the governing bodies of HBCUs.^x The study found that more than 100 HBCUs had in 2001 an economic impact of almost 11 billion dollars in the communities that they served. For instance, schools such as Howard University total economic impact in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area was more than 600 million dollars. For smaller schools such as Delaware State University, their total economic impact was more than 150 million dollars. It must be noted that the economic impacts also made a national impression. Again, according to the National Science Foundation, HBCUs bestowed nearly 25% of all bachelor degrees earned by African Americans in 2001. In the areas of agriculture, biology, mathematics and the physical sciences, HBCUs accounted for more than 40 percent of all bachelor degrees earned by African-Americans.^xi With this stated, it is easy to see why corporations would want a piece of the pie. Furthermore, if one is to evaluate the current lack of transparency on Wall Street, it is easy to see that Wall Street’s collaboration with today’s HBCUs could represent the end of African American higher education as we know it.

The Second Corporate Takeover

Although President Barack Obama HBCU Executive Order 13532 “encourages private investment in HBCUs,” however, research proves that corporate partnerships is not new to HBCUs, nor are their historic input solely motivated by financial gains.^xii Not long after the end of reconstruction, Northern White capitalist sought extreme ways in which they could control the ebb and flow of African American education. This was done to curtail the rapid development of African American educational institutions immediately after the Civil War. For instance, from 1865-1880 federal agents documented that there were thousands of African American schools operating throughout the South independent of White control. When northern White benevolent groups finally reach the South with mythical-preconceived notions that they were coming to “civilize” former wretched enslaved Africans, they were astonished to see that Africans Americans had already had established their own schools systems fully equipped with African American teachers. These schools full missions were self-determination and political control over the regions of the South in which they were the majority.^xiii The high level of African American political education created a problem for the nation after the Compromise of 1877. Since African Americans were no longer allowed to exercise political autonomy in the South, strategies were devised on the federal level to control the nature of their education. The federal government along with the corporate conglomerates in the North believed that the only way that they could ensure the continual flow of cheap labor in the South was to train African Americans in a way that they would not advocate for political control of their communities. Furthermore, there was another important issue at play—that was African American competition with Whites for high skilled jobs. The solution was a new type of training for Southern African Americans was called industrial education. This type of schooling served the purpose of supervising and training African American to be subservient to White interest.^xiv Schools such as Hampton, Tuskegee and Delaware State were devised as the alternative to the African American independent schools that advocated self-determination after the Civil War. The corporate-handpicked spokesman for this new type of schooling was none other than Booker T. Washington. One must remember that Washington’s entrance exam into Hampton University was sweeping the floor. The ultimate goal of Hampton was to control the emerging Black leadership of the Jim Crow South, and train African Americans in the corporate labor needs of the new South.^xv The financial backing of Hampton University and what would later be Tuskegee was provided by White Northern corporations and philanthropy. This corporate-industrial style form of education continued to dominate Southern higher educational institutions long after the death of Booker T. Washington in 1915.^xvi

The White House Initiative on HBCUs Encourages Corporate Collaboration

The current encroachment of private corporate input into the affairs of African American higher education could and will be disastrous. It would mean that African Americans will be forced back into the  Jim Crow Era. A deliberate attempt to curtail educational advancements that was gained by the Civil Rights and Black Power era seems to be the main motivation. The White House Advisor on HBCUs, John Wilson, Jr., stated in April of 2010 HBCUs “must not be seen as plaintiffs in the struggle for civil rights….”^xvii Dr. Wilson, a graduate of Morehouse University, tends to for  get that it was struggle for Civil Rights that literally allows him to serve President Barack Obama. The White House Initiative on HBCUs came into existence because of the “plaintiff” of the past. Furthermore, Mr. Wilson’s statement implies that African American should abandon their pursuit for full rights and self-interest. Taking a lead from Dr. Wilson’s statements, A Wall Street Journal editor named Jason L. Liley wrote an editorial stating that HBCU’s were a dismal failure and that “Mr. Obama ought to use the federal government’s leverage” to bring these schools under Wall Street’s control. He went further by statin g that HBCUs should all become private and model themselves after the University of Phoenix. ^xviii One month after Liley’s editorial, a conservative from the Wall Street funded American Enterprise Institute also imputed on Wall Street’s quest to control Black education. He ended his article in the Chronicle of Higher Education by stating that HBCUs “should accordingly be encouraged to enroll more non-black students.” The author mentioned nothing about White universities increasing African American enrollment. He also stated that “some HBCUs, notably two in West Virginia (Bluefield State and West Virginia State University), are in fact no longer predominantly black” but are still receiving special (HBCU) federal funding.^xix Five months after theChronicle of Higher Education essay appeared, the White House Advisor on HBCUs, John Wilson, Jr. was invited as the keynote speaker to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. The title of his speech “Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Albatross^xx of Undignified Publicity” conveyed that HBCU are historically cursed when it comes to publicity in White dominated media outlets. Moreover, the central thesis of his speech, although impressively constructed, was that HBCUs should jump on the corporate bandwagon by accepting funds from good corporate Samaritans such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.^xxi 

Black Colleges & White Cultural Hegemony: The Signs of the Future

Although the Higher Education Act of 1965 clearly states that an HBCU is a school “whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans,” economist and scholar at American Enterprise Institute, Richard Vedder, reminds us that there is a trend being shaped were as HBCUs who formally had an African American majority student and faculty body, and now have White majority populations, still receive federal funding geared for African Americans. These two schools are Bluefield State College and West Virginia State University. According to a May 19, 2000 CNN report, White enrollment at HBCUs is on the rise. Other schools such as Kentucky State University, Elizabeth City State University and Delaware State University are only a few schools that have a growing White and non-African American student and faculty population. Furthermore, according to an August 17, 2011 Wall Street Journal article called “Recruiters at Black Colleges Break From Tradition,” HBCUs such as Tennessee State University, Delaware State University and Paul Quinn College are cited as no longer foc using exclusively on recruiting African Americans. The author of the article points out that Tennessee State University’s Black enrollment has reduced to around 70 %, while Paul Quinn College Black enrollment has been predicted to fall from 94% to 85% for the Fall 2011 academic year.^xxii

 Many have asked the question if White enrollment at HBCUs represent a decrease in African American enrollment at the same schools. The year that CNN published its story, Blue field College African American faculty had dwindled to less than one percent from previous decades. The African American student enrollment had also decreased to less than ten percent. Nonetheless, research shows that when African American faculty at HBCUs is a majority, African American  students tend to enroll at a higher percentage and they tend to be more productive in the work place once they graduate. There seems to be a direct correlation between African American student enrollment and that of its faculty. In other words, if the African American faculty enrollment at HBCU’s is low, African American students tend not to attend HBCU’s. When this occurs, is an HBCU still a HBCU? In other words, can you have a HBCU without Black students and faculty? This is exactly the issue that American Enterprise Institute scholar Richard Vedder was raising in his essay in the Chronicle of Higher Learning. Why are HBCUs that are no longer Black in students or faculty population receiving federal monies geared toward African Americans? The federal government seems to believe that this trend represents the future for HBCUs.

 Jahi Issa Ph.D is Assistant Professor of History and Africana Studies at Delaware State University. He earned his Ph.D. at Howard (2005), his M.A. at Southern University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), and a B.A. at Texas Southern University. He served as Northeastern NC Grass Roots Coordinator for President Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign See New York Times:http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/05/05/us/politics/20080505_RALEIGH_SLIDESHOW_index.html

6.  Drinking Outside While White:  NYPD allow Whites to drink in the public and nothing is done about it and nothing is done to them despite clear violation of open container laws:  
-- 
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http://www.enduswars.org
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http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction
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Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.

"The biggest weapon in the hands of the oppressors is the minds of the oppressed." Steve Biko

"Any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations is both arbitrary and subjective."  American Anthropological Association 1999

Please join us with

Former Congresswoman and Presidential Candidate

Cynthia McKinney

featured at two events this week:

Silencing People of Colors’ Vote and Voice in America

    Tuesday, April 10th, 4-6pm (Room 312)

UDC-DCSL: 4340 Connecticut Ave., NW WDC 20008

4-5: clips from award winning documentary, American Blackout, 5-6: McKinney talk

Political Assassinations & Their Relevance Today

John Judge and Cynthia McKinney

Wednesday, April 11^th, 12-2pm (Room LL105)

UDC-DCSL: 4340 Connecticut Ave., NW WDC 20008

About Cynthia McKinney

"In the fight against bigotry, we stand together, and we must. In the fight against injustice, we stand together, and we must. In the fight against intimidation, we stand together, and we must. After all, a regime that would steal an election right before our very eyes will do anything to all of us."

Cynthia McKinney has made a career of speaking her mind and challenging authority. Her political career began unofficially in 1986 when her father, Billy McKinney, a Representative on the Georgia State House, put her name on the ballot as a write-in. She garnered a large percentage of votes without even trying. Cynthia immediately began making her own mark, defying House dress codes for women by wearing trousers instead of dresses. She spoke out against the Persian Gulf War, and despite being in the House with her father, she often disagreed and voted against him.

In 1992, McKinney won a Democratic seat in the US House of Representatives in the newly created 11th district, drawn from Atlanta to Savannah. She was the first African-American woman to represent Georgia in the US Congress. During her second term, her district was re-drawn and re-numbered the 4th district. McKinney protested the new boundaries, but was still re-elected to the seat. She earned even more distinctive assignments with the National Security Committee and the International Relations Committee’s International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee. She was a supporter of a Palestinian State in Israel-occupied territory, and sparked controversy by criticizing American policy in the Middle East, including President Bush’s policy regarding Iraq before 9/11. After the attacks, McKinney suggested the President perhaps had prior knowledge of 9/11. The criticism she received from these ideas may have contributed to her defeat in the 2002 election; however, she ran for the seat again and was re-elected in 2004. McKinney was also very active in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and a vocal critic of the government’s response.

Cynthia McKinney has never been afraid to speak her mind, and stand up for what she believes in. Late in 2007, she left the Democratic Party to bring her energy and ideas to the whole country by becoming a Green Party Presidential Candidate.

For information:

-- 
http://dignity.ning.com/
http://www.enduswars.org
http://www.livestream.com/dignity
http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun
http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney
http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney
http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun

Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.

"The biggest weapon in the hands of the oppressors is the minds of the oppressed." Steve Biko

"Any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations is both arbitrary and subjective."  American Anthropological Association 1999

From Cynthia McKinney

31 March 2012

The U.S. Tolerates Domestic Extra-Judicial Killings, Persecution, Racial Discrimination, and Genocide:  Justice for Trayvon Martin Also Means Joining the International Struggle Against U.S. Lawlessness 

As a mother of a young Black man whom I pray for nightly and worry daily about his life being violently ended senselessly either by someone marginalized by the unjust social structure of U.S. life or by some rogue officer of the law or one pretending to be a policeman, I offer my sincerest condolences to the Martin family and friends over their loss of their son Trayvon. Each loss is  irreparable and I have no words that can succor the pain that this entire nation is feeling.  Further, I wish to extend my compassionate sympathies to the hundreds of thousands of victims of police brutality, racial profiling, and the millions wrongfully ensnared in the American gulag prison-industrial complex. 

All of my life, no matter how my reputation has been assailed and vilified, I have struggled to promote justice and dignity to those people most adversely affected by the racist, intolerant, predatorily capitalistic, and venal society that we increasingly see metastasize daily into a society with a feel more and more like when Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, or Martin Luther King, or martyred Floridian Harry T. Moore walked the Earth decades ago.

April 4, 2012 will mark the 44^th anniversary of our observance of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King; Jr. April 29, 2012 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Los Angeles Uprising of 1992.  According to Dr. King, the U.S. was “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.”  Forty-five years later this fact remains true with some frightening new additions.  The U.S. imprisons more of its citizens per 100,000 persons than any other nation on earth.  In 2011, the USA ranked fifth in the world in execution of prisoners, and annually police murder scores of citizens. If the number of persons murdered by the police were included in the sum of executions, America would rank third in executions globally—just behind Iran. In spite of the fact that the United States ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) which obligates all levels of government to comply with the treaty, the United States Department of Justice, according to the ACLU 2009 report regarding the persistence of racial profiling in the United States has done virtually nothing to combat the clear evidence of systemic racism the nation.  Therefore, I cannot say that anyone can be certain that justice will be served to the many Trayvon Martins and their grieving families. It is sobering and hurtful to believe that America’s first Black President and first Black Attorney General will allow this nation to possibly descend into greater levels of intolerance and tension, when the laws and mechanisms to address the problems exist on the books.

This should be an easy one for the people of this country to face.  President Obama called for us to push him to stand for the people. Now is the time for us to push so hard that President Obama has no choice but to stand and show us--who are tired of mourning Stolen Lives in this country--that he is equally able to lead as well as compromise and bow to his political rivals.  President Obama, along with the people of this country, can act and begin to remove the legacy of hatred, violence, and injustice before the U.S. is consumed by it--because our community of leaders and followers lacked the will to be a better society.

To the people who care and sacrifice daily for the marginalized and the dispossessed among us, I wish to remind you that I led a Congressional delegation to the United Nations World Conference on Racism in Durban South Africa in 2001 despite President Bush and Zionists daring us to go.  It was my hope that the African American leadership would discover the realm of international law, as was the dream of Dubois, William Patterson, Paul Robeson, Malcolm X, and Dr. King.  The traditional Civil Rights leadership must become more effective and adroit in presenting the plight of our human rights before the international community.  We have enough experience to know that our progress has always been linked to international pressure because we are in a ‘majoritarian democracy’ that tramples on the rights of minorities.  We must push within and without the United States to bring the egregious slaughter of our young people and the mass incarceration and oppression of Black and Brown people to an end using all tools that we can secure.  We cannot wait for another so-called ‘random slaying.’  It is clear that the President does not speak in our names when he denies the existence of racism (in the United Nations follow-up Durban conferences) as he has done twice.  We know that we are world citizens with rights that every Mark Furman, Rick Santorum, or George Zimmerman must respect--even if our only venue for redress is before the people of the world.  Chattel slavery and Jim Crow Apartheid were, in part, overturned because of the joint domestic and international efforts.  Let us honor the agreement of Dr. King and Malcolm X to have a two-fold struggle for our human rights and full freedom. In the 1940s, we called this the double victory over Nazism and fascism abroad and racism and Jim Crow at home.  

At home, the U.S. tolerates extra-judicial killings, violation of human rights, persecution, racial discrimination, and genocide--yes, genocide.  So, if leadership inside the U.S. will do this to their own citizens, what is done to others outside the U.S. should come as no surprise.  The real answer lies in what "we the people" of the United States are going to do differently to stop this madness.  Clearly, what we've all collectively done in the past is not nearly enough.  If you harbor any doubt about that, just ask young Trayvon.

-- 
http://dignity.ning.com/
http://www.enduswars.org
http://www.livestream.com/dignity
http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun
http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney
http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney
http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun

Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.

"The biggest weapon in the hands of the oppressors is the minds of the oppressed." Steve Biko

"Any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations is both arbitrary and subjective."  American Anthropological Association 1999

Hello!  It's amazing what one can learn just by talking to strangers who can become acquaintances.  I want to get this out there because I was stunned when my waitress made the comment as I was complementing her on her cheerful attitude, her pretty eyeshadow, and other small talk.  She announced that she was really not that cheerful about the fact that her sister, in the U.S. military, had just received her orders to report to Syria and that her sister would be shipping out very soon.  Imagine that.  U.S. troops headed to Syria.  Did our President make that announcement to the people of this country?

U.S.forces now reportedly all over the oil-producing areas of Libya and in the desert reportedly spying on the other countries of the region from a secret drone base.  View the video here:  http://www.algeria-isp.com/actualites/politique-libye/201112-A7555/libye-une-base-militaire-secrete-americaine-francaise-libye-katroune-video-voir-decembre-2011.html

U.S.combat troops currently roam throughout central Africa having been deployed by our President to Uganda, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and every other country that received the message loud and clear from our President's previous Africa deployment--Libya--about what could happen if the leadership of that country refused cooperation with the Obama military and hence, says "yes" to the presence of foreign troops on their territory.  Of course, this offensive deployment was made under an appropriate cover story that, for those familiar with the region, is clearly only a cover story and a not-very-credible one, at that.  Watch this video at:  http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/10/20111014174712102972.html.

Drone bases are in Kenya, Djibouti, Seychelles, Ethiopia; and the Obama Africa policy has succeeded in ensuring that Kenyans now fight and kill Somalis on the ground while drones fire missiles from the sky (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-building-secret-drone-bases-in-africa-arabian-peninsula-officials-say/2011/09/20/gIQAJ8rOjK_story.html).

This is going to continue, folks, until the people of this country say no.  Please let our President know that he must act immediately to bring all of our troops home, stop the CIA drone bombings, and adopt a military policy of non-intervention in other countries.  Please send that message now:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments.

Now, about Chamak and those 100 miles.  Chamak is the name of my new bicycle.  Chamak means beauty in Urdu and according to Vernon Huffman of Bike4Peace, she is a beauty.  You see, Vernon put her together.  Vernon conceived of her and chose each of her parts based on my abilities (or lack of abilities)!  And because the Public Interest Law Center agreed to host a panel for Bike4Peace to discuss sustainable living, we decided to bike from Corvallis to Eugene, attend our panel, and then bike back to Corvallis.  All in all, with the extra tooling around town, I have now been declared a WEEKEND CENTURION!!  Maybe one day, I will graduate up to doing a century in one day only--yep, that's right, some bikers can actually complete 100 miles in one day!  During Bike4Peace, we encountered many centurions along the way from California to the White House. (I tried to send this earlier with photo!! but it didn't work for some strange reason.  Let's see if this message goes out as it should.)

Finally, if you're in the Atlanta, GA area, please plan to come to see/hear Gilad Atzmon whose commentaries have shaken the ground beneath the Zionist foundations of  U.S. policy.  Gilad is also the author of "The Wandering Who."  Here's the event info:

The American Grass Roots Tour

Saturday March 10^th, 2012 - 6:30 to 8:00pm

Sponsored by www.VeteransToday.com - Jim W. Dean, Editor

and

Joining Hands for Justice in Israel and Palestine - Greater Atlanta Presbytery

Villa International Atlanta

1749 Clifton Road NE

Atlanta, GA 30329

www.VillaInternational.org

Join us for an evening with the infamous Gilad Atzmon, the man, his sax, and his social justice causes, on his current book tour - www.wanderingwho.com

Gilad writes on political matters, social issues, Jewish Identity and culture. His papers are published by many press outlets around the world. His new book, The Wandering Who? A Study of Jewish Identity Politics, has gained praise and controversy as he stands against injustice in occupied Palestine.

Born in Israeli-occupied Palestine in 1963, he had his musical training at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, where he studied composition and jazz. A multi-talented instrumentalist Gilad plays Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Baritone saxophones, as well as clarinet and flute. His album Exile was the BBC Jazz Album of the Year in 2003.

Come learn why the Israeli Lobby tried to suppress The Wandering Who, and was unsuccessful in blocking the publisher, the distribution, and then lastly his music performance events using what professional propagandists and psychologists call Ritual Defamation.

Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz, on a John Stossel TV show, actually asked students and faculty at the University of Chicago to shun Prof. John Mearsheimer for writing a blurb for the book. Come see what the Israeli Lobby folks are so afraid of...something called the Truth.

Here is a sample of what they don't want you to hear.

And here is Gilad in Trondheim, Norway with his group.

Limited seating is available for this event. Please RSVP jimwdean@aol.com to be added to our update list.

-- 

http://dignity.ning.com/ 

http://www.enduswars.org 

http://www.livestream.com/dignity 

http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction

http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction

http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun

http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney

http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney

http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun

Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.

"The biggest weapon in the hands of the oppressors is the minds of the oppressed." Steve Biko

"Any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations is both arbitrary and subjective."  American Anthropological Association 1999

Cynthia McKinney Tells It Like It Is

A Conversation with Gary S. Corseri

20 February, 2012
Countercurrents.org

[Intro : I grew up in New York City, and have traveled and lived in different parts of the world, including about 18 years in the “Peachtree State” of Georgia. For almost as long as I lived there, I'd heard of Cynthia McKinney—the first African-American woman to represent Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives. To be honest, a great deal that I heard from the Mainstream Media was negative, portraying Ms. McKinney as a crazy shrew, an over-the-top black radical who questioned the official story of 9/11; opposed the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan--and, recently, in Libya; opposed Israeli policies, and supported Palestinian demands for statehood. About three years ago, I heard McKinney speak at a conference at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Instead of a crazy firebrand, I heard an intelligent, measured, if passionate, presentation of why she challenged US war policies.

When I returned to Geogia, I wrote a friend in the UK about my hope to interview McKinney. My friend related a story about the “Dignity” ship, carrying food and medical supplies to Palestine, in 2008, rammed by the Israeli Navy in international waters. McKinney was on that ship, and when it was rammed, she turned to my friend's brother and said, “David, I can't swim.” Nothing I had ever heard about McKinney revealed her character more succinctly. This is a woman willing to put her life on the line in support of her principles. Missing from the Mainstream Media depictions were the human and humane aspects of her character. The MSM has too-often portrayed the struggle for justice as irrational, or even fanatical. I needed to know more.—Gary Corseri]

GC: Let's start with a big one… about the day that changed everything—9/11.

[And, for a sense of the very sharp way McKinney performed her duties—and the People's business-- in the US House of Representatives, while on the Budget Committee, I recommend checking out this 9-minute 2006 YouTube video of her grilling Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, General Meyers, and Tina Jonas about 9/11 and related matters: ]

In 2004, you signed the 9/11 Truth Movement statement, calling for new investigations of “unexplained aspects of the 9/11 events.” More than 7 years have passed since then. What would you say are some of the more egregious “unexplained events”?

CM: … How is it that the people of the United States can invest trillions of dollars in the military and Intelligence infrastructure—and it failed four times in one day? … That singular question has never been answered.

GC: Staying with 9/11. … Distorted as they have been by the Mainstream Media, your views have caused uninformed Americans to question your patriotism. In 2005, you held Congressional briefings on the official 9/11 Commission Report—

CM: Yeah. ... the only official briefing on that subject held on Capitol Hill, period!

GC: Well… The Atlanta-Journal Constitution editorialized that—

CM: Oh… you mean, The Urinal-in-Constipation !

[General laughter in the room. …]

GC: … They editorialized that—

CM: You call them legitimate? I won't even legitimize them with a response! Whatever they say is bogus! You got another quote from somebody?

GC: No… well, hear me out. …

CM: I'm not going to respond to anything they say!

GC: Well… you did, in fact, respond to an editorial they wrote when they editorialized that the briefings you were holding were to determine whether the Bush administration had prior knowledge of the attacks. That was their editorial! You replied…, but they refused to publish your response. …So… how did you respond? Can you tell us now?

CM: Oh, I can't even remember back that far…, but, I think the record now reflects what Bush knew… and I'm sure that part of what I said is that I would never try to go inside George Bush's brain to see what's there!

GC: Too many maggots?

[Laughter. …]

GC: So, your main question is, Where was our air force, why didn't they prevent it—

CM: We know where they were. … The question is, Why didn't they follow standard operating procedures?

GC: And the other questions about buildings free-falling into their footprints… Building 7—

CM: Look… I spent last September '11 in the home of a woman who is afflicted with cancer… because she lived near the World Trade center. And all of that dust came into her apartment… and she had to clean it up. … She will never figure into any of the statistics about who has been affected—her situation will never count… but it counts to me, and to all of the other memebers of the 911 Truth Community.

GC: Let's explore another controversial issue linked to you. … Ms. McKinney, what does the number “88794” signify for you?

CM: That was the number that was assigned to me by the Israeli prison system when—on my secondattempt to get into Gaza—I was kidnapped on the high seas in international waters and taken against my will to Israel and put in prison. … David Halpin, the UK physician, and I sat next to each other because the volunteers—the activists that were on the boat—were international and spoke different languages… so I sat next to the English doctor… and he railed, he railed, he railed as the warship came close to us…, then backed off…, then approached us again—very quicly and very quietly--in this cat-and-mouse game. … And he cursed my government… because it was with the assistance of the United States that those engines had been provided to the Israeli military so that they could do what they were doing to us. …

GC: Did you join him in the cursing?

CM: No. … In fact…, I do a lot of apologizing! I can say this: In the struggle for human rights, I consider prisoner # 88794 a badge of honor that I've acquired as a result of what I have chosen to do to assert my own right to recognize the human rights and the dignity of other people. …

GC: Let's continue with this theme of recognizing other people's human rights. … More recently, this past year, you were in Tripoli when NATO bombed Libya. What were you doing there… and can you describe that experience?

CM: I voluntarily went to Libya. … Any time the War Machine rolls—I have to oppose that! Libya was a special case, a personal case… because I had just been to Libya. … I had taken a delegation of independent journalists to go to Libya… because I did not believe the explanation that was given to the public about the necessity to bomb Tripoli and other cities in Libya. … While we were there… we experienced what “shock and awe” is all about. The individual who went to the UN with allegations of thousands dying at the hands of Colonel Gaddhafi and the Libyan government—when he was pressed to substantiate his claims, he couldn't.

GC:That reminds me of the allegations made against the Iraqis in Kuwait, back in 1990--that they were taking babies out of incubators and throwing them on the floor!

CM: It's also a situation similar to that of the Cuban-American community congregated down in Miami… right after the Cuban Revolution in 1959 where we had a community of expatriates who were willing to unleash terror on their own country… and, a similar thing was happening in Libya… with the United States providing financing for these individuals willing to lie about what was happening.

This information is available on the Internet. Julien Teil interviewed the individual making these false claims at the UN. The interview can be found at www.laguerrehumanitaire.fr . …It's on YouTube, as well. Julien also interviewed the woman at Amnesty International who had claimed that “African mercenaries” were supporting Gaddafi's repression of his people; but, when challenged—and this was all after the devastation—she admitted that it was “just a rumor.”

My colleague, David Josue, and I had been in Libya to attend a conference for Africans on the continent as well as Africans in the diaspora. And what the Jamahariya government had devised was a call to Africans in the diaspora who were unhappy with their treatment at the hands of white Americans or white Europeans, etc.—to come back home to Africa and to help Libya rebuild Africa and rebuild itself.

[Interviewer's NOTE: (from Wikipedia): “Jamahiriya” is a term coined by Gaddafi, usually translated as “state of the masses.”]

… That was the purpose of this conference I had attended. … And it was at that conference that the Jamahiriya committed 90 billion dollars to help in the creation of The United States of Africa. … That would also include a million-person army for continental Africa to drive back the attempts of AFRICOM and others to occupy the African continent. … That was in addition to the proposal for a gold-backed dinar for all of Africa. … The daughter of Kwame Nkruma was at that conference; the son of Patrice Lumumba was at that conference… the grandson of Malcom X was there. … The atmosphere was electric with the idea of the re-building, the re-kindling of the movement that these African leaders—or their forebears—represented. Well… that was all put to an end by NATO's bombing. …

[Interviewer's NOTE (from Wikipedia): The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) is one of nine United Combatant Commands of the United States Armed Forces.]

The attack on Libya was an attack on Africa! It was an attack on my aspirations as a person of African descent to have a free and independent Africa. That's what was attacked!

GC: I've never had as complete a picture of that. … I'd heard that Gaddafi wanted to set up a gold-backed dinar. … In fact, people like Ron Paul even talk about using gold-backed currency... so I've heard that as a rationale for what we were doing there—trying to prevent any challenge to the US dollar as the world's reserve currency. … But…, nobody has described the situation as completely as you have.

My final question on Libya is this: You have praised Colonel Gaddafi's GREEN BOOK and the kind of “direct democracy” advocated therein. Can you give us a brief lesson as to how that “direct democracy” differs from our “representative democracy”?

CM: Our “democracy” is neither democratic nor representative! But… let's start with what the Jamahiriya means to me. … The only stake that I have is that I want to see a free and independent Africa…, but the type of government that Libya has should be determined by the Libyan people. I don't really have a say in that. … And I shouldn't have a say in how they dispose of their governmental form. … Therefore, it's inexcusable to ask another country to bomb your fellow countrymen if you really care about your country!

The Jamahiriya--which had the highest living standard in all of Africa--had free education up through the Ph.D. level; free health care; free utilities, subsidized—and free, if you were poor—housing; subsidized food; subsidized transportaion, including car expenses… and so, the necessities of life were paid for by the direct democracy known as the Jamahiriya.

Can you imagine…? I have a cousin who is $120,000 in student debt in the U.S. She has a Master's degree as a social worker. Now, if she had been born in Libya—she would have no such debt. … I went to a university outside of Tripoli and asked the students about their tuition fees… and the word didn't translate. I asked them about what they paid to attend the university. … It was $9.00 per year!

When I was in Congress, one of my allies was Senator Mike Gravel… and Senator Gravel's initiative is about “direct democracy.” He had been to Libya… and he supported the establishment of the revolutionary committees which was the way Libyans determined how they would use their oil money.

A question under discussion when I attended the conference there was whether the subsidies for gas/petrol or the subsidies for education would be increased! (In the US, under “austerity” measures, people are being told which programs will be eliminated or eviscerated; in Libya, they were voting on which programs would get increased subsidization!)

What I have said publicly is that what we have been seeing is the Israelization of US policy. You know… the only reason the Libyans took any interest in me was that someone in Libya, looking at their television, saw me having all these problems trying to get into Gaza… and they said, “We want to know her!” That's why I was invited to attend this conference on THE GREEN BOOK—to explain what I was trying to do in Gaza. And what I observed in Libya was the same kind of collective punishment I observed in Gaza. People supporting their own governments were being punished by outsiders who opposed those governments!

This is the kind of thing that happens in the absence of ethics in jouralism. … Because… we don't have journalists in the Mainstream—I call it the Special Interests Press--to educate and provide information to citizens so they can make a critical analysis of issues. That is absent. … We need ethics in scholarship; ethics in journalism, as well. …The journalistic community has gone along with the kind of death and destruction that has been visited upon Libya… and so many other countries. We're setting up drone bases all over Africa… and people here don't even know… don't begin to understand. …

GC: You've mentioned many potent issues, including the “Israelization of US policy.” I'd like to explore that, and also explore the theme of alliances—even unlikely alliances. …

In the 2002 election to the House of Representatives, people like your father and the editor and commentator Alexander Cockburn alleged that your defeat by Denise Majette was a consequence of out-of-state Jewish organizations and Jewish money working against you---

CM: That's not an allegation—that's a fact! I was informed that I had been targeted by the pro-Israel lobby by the media. … I read about it in the papers! … and the evidence is readily available. …So, the fact of being targeted by the number-one special interest lobby in the United States means that there is an engagement in every aspect of one's political life. …

GC: Well, ah, let's tackle this head-on: Are you anti-Semitic?

CM: Well, I'm, ah… I'm no more anti-Semitic than than any of the anti-Zionist Jews who I work with on an almost-daily basis to correct US policy. And, I would suggest that the real Semites are the Palestinians. And, therefore, I would suggest that I'm not anti-Semitic, but that there are people who are anti-human rights, and there are some people who are anti-peace, and there are some people who are pro-war… and no matter who they are, I will always be against that… because I. … You see what my… my button says?

(She points to a button she is wearing on her blouse). My button says, “I'm a peace-keeper” And, this one says, “War is a crime!”

GC: “Blessed are the peace-keepers. …”

CM: When I was in Congress, I organized a Press Conference with organizations like “Jewish Workers for Peace,” “Not in My Name, Women in Black [www.womeninblack.org]— we had about ten organizations at that press conference… and it was fantastic. …

That night, the Atlanta news criticized me for associating with “fringe Jewish elements”! Now… what's a “fringe Jewish element”? It was the Anti-Defamation League that was casting this aspersion!

Now, the Anti-Defamation League that I knew about is supposed to be a Civil Rights organization. But… the Anti-Defamation League, in practice, filed an amicus brief with five white racists to dismantle the district—my district!--that provided an opportunity for black people in the black belt of Georgia to have representation! Those are the people who sent me to Congress to represent them! … I stand on their shoulders, and I did my darnedest to represent them—and I was rewarded by the Anti-Defamation League filing an amicus brief and a lawsuit to dismantle that district and take representation away from those poor, black people.

GC: I can certainly understand your indignation. And I don't want to hammer this issue. … But, this is on Wikipedia… and, as one researches you—this is what one comes across:

About that election with Majette, your father, a former state representative in Georgia, stated that “Jews have bought everybody… And then he spelled it, “J-E-W-S. …” Now…, personally, I always make a distinction between Jews and Zionists—and you just did. … I try to distinguish between people who follow a religious tradition and those who assert a political-nationalist ideology. … And, ah… I think writers like Gilad Atzmon, for example, have been very clear about making that distinction in his recent work like The Wandering Who? . …

CM: I haven't read that, but—

GC: I haven't read it, but I've read about it—

CM: Gilad is coming to Atlanta this month—

GC: Is he? I'd like to meet him. …

CM: Yes. … You must come—

GC: I will! But, ah, anyway… do you think, in retrospect, you might recommend changing the terminology a bit-- just to broaden the dialogue and widen the base of opposition to inhumane practices?

CM: Well… let me tell you something. … I want to talk to you about. … The first time my daddy got into trouble was when he said, “racist Jew.” And, I had a Jewish friend who was trying to smooth things over. And I asked her, “Is Jew a bad word? I didn't know “Zionist”—I didn't even know that word at the time… because… here's the thing: the Anti-Defamation League says that they represent all Jews—that's what they tell us. AIPAC, also. So… I didn't know that there was a word called “Zionist” until I became involved with the Betrand Russell tribunal on Palestine. … And there was a famous Jewish lawyer who was one of the leaders in that tribunal, and I went to him and I said, “Daniel, how does your family feel about your being in this tribunal?” and he said, “My family are anti-Zionist Jews.” And I said, “I don't know what that is!” I was 50-something years old, and I'd never heard the language! Now, of course, I've been exposed… and I'm more sensitive that there's a difference. … Now… I have marvelous Jewish friends… and I understand the difference between Judaism and Zionism. Whoever prays to whatever God is fine with me…, but, a political ideology is quite different. … I know I have a lot to learn when it comes to Zionism and Judaism. … I'm not very religious… but I am spiritual… and I'm very interested in people's beliefs… but, I'm more interested in the way people behave. … So, I would always say, Judge me on what I do more than on what I say. … And, I acknowledge that I can be wrong about what I say. … And, my father can be wrong about what he said. …

GC: Thank you very much. … I think you've clarified that for a lot of people. …

Now… this idea of building alliances. … I'd like to discuss current events, namely, the Presidential election

CM: Um-ha. …

GC: First, a re-cap: In 2008, disgusted with the Democratic Party, you were the Green Party candidate for president. That same year, you joined a press conference held by 3 rd party and independent candidates, including Ralph Nader and Ron Paul. The participants agreed on 4 basic principles:

1. An early end to the Iraq War, and an end to threats of war against other countries, including Iran.

2. Safeguarding privacy and civil liberties, including repeal of the Patriot Act, the Military Commisions Act and FISA legislation.

3. No increase in the National Debt.

4. A thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System.

My question is this: If these different elements of Independent thought could come together on these 4 basic principles in 2008, why can't they unite behind the same principles in 2012?

CM: They can. …

GC : Isn't it possible to conceive a party that speaks for the majority of Independents, that unites Independents? The 4 principles that united Independents then are still very much with us—and in many ways the dangers are greater—the possibility of war with Iran looms larger now, and there's the National Defense Authorization Act, as well as the other intrusions on privacy and civil liberties. More Americans classify themselves as “Independents” than as Republicans or Democrats. How can the varied strands of Independents work together to defeat the Republicrats?

CM: The answer to that question goes to the core of the kind of change we hope to initiate on a policy basis. … So… how do we do that? I think the first thing is that we have to be willing to talk to each other. We have to recognize that there's commonality despite difference. So… the thing that allowed Nader and me and Paul to come together is that we were at least willing to see areas of commonality. We should be able to do that across the political spectrum. And, in fact, when I was in the Congress, I was forced to do that. … As a Southerner, I—and as someone who had to get votes—not lose them—I needed the endorsement of a leader in the community… and he was a Klan member… and I had no choice. … I asked him for his support—and I got it! (After I sat there for over an hour and he described to me how “confused” the people were because of the way they judged the Ku Klux Klan to be racist!)

[Here, CM gives a strong, hearty guffaw!]

And… I sat there and found a place where we could have a meeting of the minds—and I did it!

GC: Related question then: I've been criticized because I wrote an article, about a month ago—“The Lion and the Ox”-- praising Ron Paul's stance on ending the wars, ending the Empire, auditing the Fed. I also think his views on our antiquated, absurd and minority-punishing drug laws are far more enlightened than anyone else's—with the exception of 2012 Green Party candidate, Jill Stein's. Paul makes a distinction between Capitalism and Corporatism—an important distinction. Now, I'm not a Libertarian; I don't agree with “unregulated” Capitalism to the extent Paul and Libertarians do. But, I wonder: Given various points of convergence, how can the Green Party and Libertarians work together to overturn what we have in America today—basically, a one-party system, a Corporate Party system, abetted by corporate media?

CM: Well, one thing is that the Libertarians and the Greens could join forces—kind of a united front. So… I'd like to see if those kinds of talks could get anywhere.

GC: A friend of mine suggested a Paul-McKinney ticket. …

CM: That was your friend, huh?

GC: Well, you know… when I first heard that, I thought, “That's crazy!” But… I thought about it, and I thought, “Why not? We live in crazy times. …”

CM: Yeah… we do. …

GC: I mean… look what we have to choose from: Santorum, Michelle Bachman, Hermain Cain, Gingrich, Romney--all these crazy people. …

CM: Every time there's a vote, it gets more outrageous, doesn't it?

GC: It does! Well… what do you think about Paul-McKinney?

CM: Well… we're not there yet, so I don't have to think about it at all!

GC: Well. …

CM: Let me put it this way. … We do have overlapping constituencies. … So… it would be wonderful if the two circles could expand beyond their points of intersection. …And I'm not just talking about Paul. … I'm talking about people on the Left in general. … Because, there's no more Left and Right. It's only Right and Wrong now… and the old “Right” is Wrong… and the old “Left” needs to be more Right… does that make sense?

GC: Yes. …

CM: Yeah, because the Left is being co-opted. … So, the Left needs to be more Left!

GC: There needs to be a convergence where the Greens and the Libertarians can meet—

CM: And the militia! You know… I have to deal with the militia, too. I'm from Georgia, right? They participate in the political system—to the extent that they do—and somebody needs to be talking to'em… because, ultimately, they're a part of the 99%. … And that's the gift that the Occupy Movement has given to us—they've given us a way to self-identify. Now we know—it's not about color, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation—all of those things. At the end of the day—if you're part of the 99%, you're part of us… and if you're part of the 1%--you're part of them!

GC: Related question: Okay…also about Current Events: this is about the Occupy Movement, then. …

CM: Okay. …

GC: We live in a Surveilance State. Our license plate numbers are routinely recorded; we're finger-printed for jobs, our Social Security numbers serve as National I.D.'s, our e-mails are monitored for “code” words or phrases, our homes are surveiled by satellite mapping systems of Google, Yahoo, etc. Those who protest, as in the Occupy Wall Street movement, are arrested, booked, and more closely watched. Now they have “records” that affect their employment. … My question is: how do we battle this pervasive system? Do you get discouraged? What do you do when you are discouraged? Who are your “heroes”? To whom do you turn for inspiration?

CM: Do I get discouraged? Yes! What do I do when I'm discouraged? … find other people who are not yet discouraged!

Who are my heroes? Everybody! Everybody who has a tough row to hoe in life! Those are my heroes. Those are the people who give the most! When I was running for Congress back in 1992--for the first time—I was running to represent the second poorest district in Georgia… and, what I learned was that the poor people gave the most! The people who had… didn't give as generously as the people who didn't have! So… my first campaign theme was, “Warriors don't wear medals, they wear scars!” So… my heroes are the community and neighborhood warriors who have a whole lof of scars, a whole lot of dignity.

GC: I'd like you to talk specifically about what used to be called the Black Liberation Struggle. As a young, white man, I was inspired by the works of black writers like Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Leroi Jones (now called Baraka), Eldridge Cleaver, W.E.B. DuBois, and poets like Langston Hughes. Martin Luther King and Malcom X were inspirational leaders for all people; Rosa Parks was a woman of quiet, dignified courage. But, now, with the election of Obama, and with the prominence of people like Bill Cosby first, and Oprah Winfrey, the billionairess—the great struggles of the past almost seem quaint. What's your take on this? Who are the great black leaders today? What is the struggle about today?

[Note:There are 7 million Americans now under “correctional observation.” More African-Americans' lives intersect with our prison-industrial-surveillance complex than there were African-American slaves in 1850!]

CM: You asked me who are my heroes. … One of my heroes is Glen Ford, who writes for The Black Agenda Report [http://blackagendareport.com/]. I view him as the most astute political observer of our times.

There's a whole lot of pundits who are in our faces every Sunday morning who think they are political observers…, but they are not astute! And they're also not independent. Glen Ford is independent, he's been through the wars and he has no special interests to kow-tow to. … He just wrote a piece… “Can the Proud African-American Progressive Legacy Survive Another Four Years of Cowing to the Corporate Servant in the White House?” That's strong stuff…, but right on point!

We have a situation now… it was the Black struggle that really defined morality in the United States. It defined the moral imperative. And the character of the country was measured by how well it answered the call of Black people for justice. But what happens when Black people stop asking for justice? I think you get exactly what we've got now—a President who is dropping bombs on Africa… which is un-thought-of; I mean, it would have been un-thought-of four years ago that Africa would be bombed—routinely! But it's a routine matter now that the United States Africa Command [AFRICOM] would actively establish itself and militarize the US relationship with Africa. AFRICOM represents a kind of US imperial occupation of the continent that we haven't seen since the days of outright colonialism of the Europeans. We are being told about issues that are “important”…, but we're ignoring the real issues that are important! Henry Kissinger said that he couldn't believe the amount of good will that was embodied in this president! But… what people like Kissinger don't “get” is that this president sits on top of the historic Black struggle that characterized the United States to the world! People around the world thought that Barack Obama characterized the New United States! But… far from it! A lot of people got tricked and fooled and now… as philosopher Michel Foucault has observed—the every-day actions of ordinary people actually entrap them in “powerlessness”. … So, to break out of your powerlessness, you've got to break out of your existing paradigm. So, as long as Barack Obama is representative of the existing paradigm, this is what we're going to get… because the existing paradigm is war and more war!

GC: How do we “break out”? How do we fight the Mainstream Media that's constantly projecting that paradigm and hammering it into our brains?

CM: The literature suggests that people have to be confronted with a “disorienting dilemma” that causes them to reflect on what they've just experienced. …

GC: Cognitive dissonance?

CM: That's right. … Reflect on what you always assumed… and what you've been confronted with that contradicts your assumptions. … For some people, it was the murder of JFK; for others, it was the murder of Malcom; for others, it was the murder of MLK; for a whole bunch of others, it was the murder of RFK; and for some people who began to look and pay attention like me… it was the murder of all of them and then add onto it the murder of the members of the Black Panther Party—who were attacked by our own government. …

You could say that for me, my first “disorienting dilemma” was when I realized that I was black. I realized that the world around me was not like me, and that it didn't value my black skin! That, for me was when I began to pay attention and wake up!

GC: How old were you?

CM: Seven or eight. …You know… for some people it's religion, it's race, it's gender, it's, maybe, sexual orientation. … Everyone has their moment of reckoning.

I think, ultimately… it's about the love we have for humanity and how we see something is wrong and we have to stop it!

So… by the time I got to Congress… I had had my “reckoning,” and I had had my “break-out” moments, and I guess this gave me strength and vibrancy… and there were people who didn't like it. I wore my hair differently, I dressed differently from the other people in Congress. There was even a segment of the Capitol Hill police that didn't like that. …

GC: What year was that?

CM: 1993. …

GC: Wasn't there a much more recent incident with the Capitol Hill police?

CM: No, no, no. … It happened for twelve years! … Twelve years of harrassment from the Capitol Hill police! They considered it a “sport” to harass me! … It's available on the Internet… if you go to YouTube and you put in “The Last Plantation.”

GC: The infamous incident is when you apparently struck back at the officer who was harassing you. … Is that correct?

CM: The officer had no business putting his hands on me! … And I reacted like any normal person would react when being attacked by some great big, huge guy from behind! … This was a “hit.” It was a “hit”—a “sport”--for the white officers. You'll see if you go to that “Last Plantation” site that I had been targeted because I had written a letter of support for the Black Capitol Hill police officers.

GC: And this most infamous incident… that was the same day as House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was indicted?

CM: That's right. … The Mainstream Media didn't want to lead with that indictment, did they? It was much more sensational and distracting to lead with the story of a black Congresswoman attacking a Capitol Hill police officer!

[Laughter]

GC: You're a pretty brave woman, aren't you?

CM: Everybody can be brave… they just need that break-out moment of recognition. … I've stood on some big shoulders. … As I said before—my campaign theme: “Warriors don't wear medals… they wear scars.”

Editor, teacher and writer Dr. Gary S. Corseri has taught in universities in the U.S. and Japan, and in public schools and prisons in the U.S. His articles, poems, fiction and dramas have appeared at Countercurrents, CounterPunch, InformationClearingHouse, CommonDreams, The New York Times, The Village Voice , and hundreds of other venues worldwide. His dramas have been produced on PBS-Atlanta, and he has performed his work at the Carter Presidential Library. His books include novels and poetry collections. He can be contacted at gary_corseri@comcast.net .

Can you believe, more risky proposals for our community: cell phone towers on public school property and a biomass plant for our neighborhoods?  If you are in Metro Atlanta, please come to this community Town Hall Meeting and help my neighbors fight back!

WHO:  CHASE (Citizens for a Safe and Healthy Environment)*
WHAT:  A Citizens Town Hall Meeting
WHEN:  Saturday, 11 February 2012, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
WHERE:  Georgia Piedmont Technical College Conference Center (formerly DeKalb Technical College)
ADDRESS:  495 North Indian Creek Drive, Clarkston, GA   30021
WHY:  Proposed new threats to health, air quality, and environment in DeKalb County:  Biomass Plant/Cell phone towers at schools

*in partnership with No Briarlake Tower, The Green Party of DeKalb County, DeKalb County NAACP, and other concerned environmental and neighborhood association groups

For more information, call 404-286-1054 or visit www.chase-dekalb.org

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Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.

"The biggest weapon in the hands of the oppressors is the minds of the oppressed." Steve Biko

"Any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations is both arbitrary and subjective."  American Anthropological Association 1999

Most people know about being "Sleepless in Seattle."  Well, I am "snowed in in Seattle!"  But even six inches of snow in Seattle don't keep me from becoming steamed when I read the latest news reports on the activities of the U.S. war machine:

At a time when U.S.-Iran tensions are the highest I have experienced in my lifetime, Danger Room of wired.com breaks a news story on 19 January 2012 that a new United States commando special operations team is operating near Iran.  Meanwhile, a columnist in Lebanon's "The Daily Star" newspaper writes that Syria increasingly looks like Libya.  And at the same time, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta admits in a press conference that he believes that the annual number of sexual assaults in the U.S. military could number as high as 19,000.  This is from the Administration that shamefully accused the Libyan Jahamiriya military of issuing Viagra to its soldiers and using rape as a weapon.  And finally, coming hot on the heels of an Algeria-ISP report that that the Obama Administration offered to reconstitute the Libyan military, forming desert troops, special forces, and a Libyan air force, tunisiefocus.com reports reports that U.S. troops are already in Libya, in Brega, Ras Lanouf, and Sirte, in order to secure Libyan oil for western markets at a very cheap price.  Further, these reports indicate that US troops are at Mitiga Air Base east of Tripoli and that NATO helicopters and war planes fly over Libyan towns, surveilling everything including parties held by Libyans (http://www.algeria-isp.com/videos/politique-libye/201201-V1682/libye-video-voir-helicoptere-otan-janvier-2012.html) and that drones launched from a secret base in the Libyan desert surveille Libya and neighboring countries:  http://www.algeria-isp.com/actualites/politique-libye/201112-A7555/libye-une-base-militaire-secrete-americaine-francaise-libye-katroune-video-voir-decembre-2011.html.

Last week, I reported on numerous reports that I had read indicating that U.S. troops were on the island of Malta waiting for the word to deploy to Libya.  If the above reports are correct, then it would appear that that word has been given.  Interestingly, the reports of U.S. troops were reported in several African, Libyan, and Russian online sites, yet there was no response from either Malta or the U.S.  In fact, the Russian site za-afriku.ru as late as 19 January 2012 wrote, "The administration of the United States still has not refuted a lot of messages in various MEDIA for the transfer of 12000 troops on Malta as a preliminary step to the further redeployment in Libya in order to control the deteriorating situation in the country." 

I am pleased to report that both Malta and the U.S. Embassy in Malta,  while neglecting the many reports out there describing U.S. and NATO activities in Libya, felt compelled to respond to my report of this information in apparently coordinated responses.  The government of Malta stated in its one line response, "The allegations are completely false."  The U.S. Embassy in Malta followed suit.  However, I want to stress that while the responses are welcome and appreciated, given events of the recent past, it is U.S. activities in Libya that are are of utmost concern at this moment.  All U.S. troops must be brought home, yet the following video was posted today of the U.S. war machine on the roll, destination unknown:  .  As you watched that video, I hope you thought about the number of teachers or nurses or solar heating systems could be procured with the money wasted on this massive number of tanks, going where?

Well, right now, the U.S. admittedly has special forces in Uganda, South Sudan, 9,000 troops in Kuwait, radar, and for the first time ever, U.S. troops in Israel.  Drone bases across the African Continent are in Djibouti, Seychelles, Ethiopia, and Kenya.  On drones, Human Rights Watch says, "CIA drone strikes have become an almost daily occurrence around the world, but little is known about who is killed and under what circumstances."  Drone strikes occur in Somalia and bases are expanding to the Arabian Peninsula.  Even worse, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an adjunct to the U.S. war machine, has affiliates all over the world--just ask Nicaragua and Venezuela about their experiences with the NED.  

Nigerian military sources have confirmed for African news outlets that US troops are scheduled to be deployed to Nigeria after AFRICOM's 2008 war game scenario that saw 20,000 U.S. troops maintaining "security" of the Niger Delta oil fields within a dissolved and anarchistic Nigeria.  That war game setting was 2013.  This is Plan Colombia.  Does the Obama Administration plan an African Continent-wide Plan Colombia?  Why such a militarization of U.S. relationships all over the world--and even here at home?  Will chaos and wars (like what is happening in Libya today) be created all over Africa and the rest of Asia?

Last week, I sent a video of Amnesty International admitting that the allegation of "African mercenaries" was a lie; at the time, it was the U.S. and NATO that had employed mercenaries--not only the Qataris, U.S. contractors, Italians, French, and British special forces, but also including the members of the National Transitional Council.  That message also included a video of an African beaten to death by these Libyan U.S./NATO allies.  That message went viral and forced a response from the authorities.  Please circulate this message widely so that maybe we can get some more responses from the Administration about its policy direction.  Contact the White House at www.whitehouse.gov, tell them to bring our young men and women home, keep the tanks home, and don't use them.  

Tell the White House that you will cast your vote for peace--to stop the drones and bring our troops home.

Finally, a sad day in journalism continues.  I just received word that the owner of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Andrew Adler, apologized for saying that the Israeli government ought to consider killing Barack Obama.  This is outrageous.  I have been "deconstructed" by this very same publication, so I am doubly saddened by this kind of loose talk by someone of authority and responsibility at the Atlanta Jewish Times indicating that assassinating President Obama should be an option that remains on the table for Israel to carry out.  Enuff said.

I tried to send a photo of the Seattle snow, but for some reason, it's not coming through.  I'll send it later if I can!
-- 
http://dignity.ning.com/
http://www.enduswars.org
http://www.livestream.com/dignity
http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun
http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney
http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney
http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun

Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.

"The biggest weapon in the hands of the oppressors is the minds of the oppressed." Steve Biko

"Any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations is both arbitrary and subjective."  American Anthropological Association 1999

What Does Ken Ford Know?  And Who Put Him in Prison to Keep Him from Telling?
Ken's Family Seeks Gutsy Attorney to Appeal Their Son's Conviction

By all accounts, Ken Ford, Jr. reputed to be a computer whiz, was an upwardly mobile, trusted, young African American man who was so trusted that he worked his way into a security clearance that fewer than 150 people have in the entire United States.  His work reports were good.  And Ken considered himself lucky.  He was a homeowner and as a single young man, he sought to climb the professional ladder.  Ken started out at the United States Secret Service.  He received good reports there and moved over to cybersecurity and monitoring at the National Security Agency (NSA).  He moved around in the Agency to advance up the bureaucratic ladder.  He served one stint in the Iraq Office lasting about 6 months.  When he decided to leave the secretive National Security Agency and work for one of the government's national security "private contractors" whose work would boost his pay, that's when Ken's life began to turn upside down.  It started when a young African American lady entered his life--well, I'm being generous.  According to Ken, what happened between him and this woman, it's clear that she's no lady!  Ken states that she was "planted in my life" and issues this warning that he, himself, received later in this episode:  "Be aware because they are looking at you.  I did receive a message that the FBI does run sting operations using these social networks."

Imagine his shock when his girlfriend turned out to be a witness for the prosecution!  Ken was charged with espionage under the Espionage Act of 1917, and the proof of his perfidy was found in the briefcase of what he thought was his girlfriend!  Quick perusal of this Act reveals that the Rosenbergs were charged under this Act and so was Daniel Ellsberg.  Ken maintains his innocence, but does reveal an important aspect of his work assignment at NSA in an interview with Dr. Randy Short and Joshalyn Lawrence, members of DIGNITY who took the time to interview Ken on the day after Christmas, 26 December 2011.

Ken Ford, Jr. wrote an intelligence report on his findings on the Iraq War, his findings contradicted the Administration's premise at the time to validate their reason for going to war against Iraq.  Ford's work was to research whether or not there were WMD in Iraq.  The results of his research were that there were no WMD in Iraq.  He says that when he went to the next shop, he was assigned an entirely different subject matter, he went from a job with a specific task, to a job with undefined tasks.

Everyone knows the name of Valery Plame.  The media did not pay attention to Ken Ford's plight at all.  The only person who did pay attention to Ken's situation was DIGNITY Delegation member Wayne Madsen of WayneMadsenReport.com and who wrote extensively about Ken's case and where those original stories still can be found by searching on Ken Ford's name.  Ken says that during his trial, Wayne was the only journalist in the courtroom.

Where were all of the journalists who get paid to tell us what they determine is the news?  Poor Ken Ford, one of only ten Black employees that he ever saw during his entire time at the NSA was taken from his home in handcuffs after approximately eight hours of questioning by 25 flack-jacketed government agents.  

On 26 December 2011, Dr. Randy Short and Ms. Joshalyn Lawrence, both DIGNITY Delegation members, interviewed Ken Ford, Jr. to allow him to tell his story.  Incidentally, his father worked at the Brentwood Post Office that was stricken by anthrax.

View these videos of this sincere young man and his mother as he relates his personal ordeal of character assassination in an effort to shut him up.  Ken Ford told the truth about WMD in Iraq and paid a heavy personal price.

To hear Ken tell his story, click here:  

To hear Ken's mother tell the details of their ordeal as a family, click here: 

I would like to thank Wayne, Randy, and Joshalyn for giving this family the opportunity to tell their story.  Ken Ford was sentenced to 6 years in prisonIn light of the President signing the most recent Pentagon authorization bill that allows for indefinite detention for U.S. citizens, in combination with the Patriot Act, the Secret Evidence Act, the Funding the War Against Terrorism Act, and more, Ken Ford's story could easily be you!

Support Ken Ford, Jr. and his family's attempt to clear their only child's name.  They have reams of documents proving Ken's innocence, prosecutorial misconduct, and fraud on the Court, but need an attorney willing to sue for justice on Ken's behalf.  Are there any civil rights organizations out there willing to help Ken?  Any appellate level lawyers willing to help this traumatized family and young man?  Ken's mother has now been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

According to Mrs. Ford, "We have solid proof of the illegality of this situation from the day it started to today."

Here is one of Wayne's stories on the strange and unfair treatment of Ken Ford, Jr.:

September 26-27, 2011 -- A tale of two cases

On June 15, U.S. federal judge Richard B. Bennett sharply rebuked federal prosecutors for pursuing a four-year Espionage Act violation investigation and case against former National Security Agency (NSA) official Thomas Drake. At Drake's sentencing hearing in Baltimore, Bennett called the four-year long case against Drake and the prosecutors' ultimate dropping of multiple espionage charges to a single misdemeanor count of unauthorized use of a government computer "unconscionable." 

Drake had been charged with providing classified information to the Baltimore Sun in 2006 and 2007. He was specifically charged with violation of sub-paragraphs (d) and (e) of the Espionage Act, which covers "transmittal" of classified information to unauthorized parties. Charges under the 1917 Espionage Act have rarely been brought by the Justice Department. The law was used against American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) officials Steve Rosen and Kenneth Weissman for receiving highly-classified information, including Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI), from a Pentagon official. Charges against Rosen and Weissman were dropped by Eric Holder's Justice Department on May 1, 2009.

However, the "classified material" cited by prosecutors was not originally classified and it pertained to NSA officials, particuarly then-NSA director General Michael Hayden, defrauding the government for well over a billion dollars. Hayden and his advisers awarded a failed program called Project TRAILBLAZER to a group of contractors led by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). 

The prosecutors, acting as virtual criminal racket protection agents for Hayden and his advisers, decided to retroactively classify the unclassified whistleblowing information in order to justify the Espionage Act charges against Drake. Hayden's pet project also assisted in the program to conduct warrantless wiretapping of communications of U.S. citizens, a super-classified operation known by the code name STELLAR WIND.

Drake avoided prison and Bennett ruled against federal prosecutor's wish to have a $50,000 fine imposed on Drake. In sentencing Drake to 240 hours of community service, Bennett said "There has been financial devastation wrought upon this defendant that far exceeds any fine that can be imposed by me. And I’m not going to add to that in any way.”

Drake was represented by two federal public defenders, James Wyda and Deborah Boardman. Drake's case began to fall party after it was featured on CBS "60 Minutes." Retired NSA officials, interviewed on camera, defended Drake and his whistleblowing actions. After the bad publicity for NSA and Eric Holder's Justice Department, the espionage charges against Drake were dropped.

Five years earlier, in another federal court room in Greenbelt, Maryland, and in a case even more egregious than the one involving Drake, federal judge Peter J. Messitte sentenced former NSA "Iraqi shop" signals intelligence analyst Ken Ford Jr., to six years in prison and no fine as a result of his politically-motivated conviction for allegedly removing two boxes of classified materials from NSA during broad daylight without detection. In fact, the documents were planted in Ford's Waldorf, Maryland home in retaliation for his signals intelligence analysis report casting doubt on the White House contention that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. That report, which contained Ford's name as the preparer, eventually ended up on the desk of Vice President Dick Cheney. As a result, Ford became a target of the neo-con cell operating from within Cheney's office and the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), the same cabal that compromised Valerie Plame Wilson's covert identity and mission.

The team of Assistant U.S. Attorney David Salem; federal public defenders John Chamble, Andrea Callaman, and Susan Bauer; and even the private lawyer eventually retained by Ford, conspired to ensure that Messitte was successfully "judge shopped" as the trial attorney, that at least one dubious pro-NSA jury member was selected for the trial jury, and that Ford would receive anything but a fair trial. Unlike Drake, Ford served in a lower-level analyst position. However, Ford, an African-American who previously served as a uniformed U.S. Secret Service officer at the White House, was on a fast-track for an executive position at NSA. 

"60 Minutes" never covered the Ford case, even though it was as, if not more, outrageous as the case brought against Drake. The Washington Post, rather than assign one of its national security correspondents to the case, handed it to a Metro desk reporter, who parroted in his articles what was given to him by the prosecution team.

Prosecutors never cited any classified document that was said to be in Ford's possession at the time of his arrest. Prosecutors relied on the testimony of a confidential informant named Tonya Tucker, who had several other aliases and a long criminal record, who said she saw a document labeled "classified" in Ford's home. Of course, "classified" is not a national security label or designator for any documents. Salem also charged that Ford was planning on meeting a foreign agent at Dulles International Airport to transmit documents. However, Salem could not identify the foreign country involved, a flight number, a rendezvous point, or any details of what amounted to a "pre-crime" allegation. In fact, Salem made up the entire Dulles story as a way to ensure a guilty verdict, especially considering that the jury was never shown any of the alleged classified documents that were said to be in Ford's possession. In the Drake case, the jury was shown copies of "retroactively" classified documents, which were originally unclassified. 

Ford is now out of prison and serving three-years of restricted travel probation in Maryland. He maintains his innocence and intends to appeal his case. However, Ford's attempt to enlist the assistance of the parties who came to the defense of Drake have been unsuccessful. There is another problem with the Ford case. The Ford case files, including those maintained by the PACER system and the federal public defenders office in Washington, DC, have all disappeared. Even Ford's original birth certificate in the District of Columbia Vital Records Office has disappeared. The only information available on the Ford case from the Justice Department are the press releases issued on the case.

The federal public defenders office in Washington is clearly nervous about the double standard applied to Ford and Drake. Moreover, the supervisor of Ford's tainted public defenders in 2004 was Wyda, the same public defender who successfully argued Drake's case.

Former Justice Department prosecutor Thomas Tamm, under a long investigation for revealing the nature of NSA's warrantless wiretapping program to The New York Times, eventually saw his investigation by the FBI suspended. However, WMR has learned that the STELLAR WIND program was routinely violated by NSA employees. Hayden, who came up with the program and sold it to then-CIA director George Tenet and Vice President Cheney, essentially canceled the provisions of U.S. Signals Intelligence Directive 18 (USSID) 18, which governed the application of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) at NSA. NSA was prohibited from eavesdropping on "U.S. persons" without a court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Under Hayden's tenure, some NSA analysts were conducting e-mail surveillance of their current and former girl friends, prompting Hayden to cover his tracks by implementing a procedure that saw database security officers, including those with oversight over the PINWALE e-mail interception database, conducting after-the-fact audit trail analysis for internal abuse of the new NSA powers.

Ken Ford, Jr. [center], reunited with his father and mother after six years of imprisonment on trumped up neo-con political charges stemming from the search for phony Iraqi WMDs.

Ford's case, which involved pressure from the Bush-Cheney White House, has also met with indifference from the Obama White House and the Congressional Black Caucus. Groups like the Government Accountability Project (GAP), which assisted with Drake's defense, did not raise a finger in the Ford case.

During his incarceration at Lewisburg federal penitentiary in Pennsylvania, Ford received rank-and-file support from some current and former NSA employees. However, unlike Drake, not one high-level NSA official, current or retired, came to Ford's defense, even though his innocence was as provable as that of Drake. It is, indeed, a "tale of two cases," one with a relatively happy outcome, the other singed with racism.

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/articles/20110926 

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Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.

"The biggest weapon in the hands of the oppressors is the minds of the oppressed." Steve Biko

"Any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations is both arbitrary and subjective."  American Anthropological Association 1999