Voting—Why We Must!!!
We really need to go far, far beyond voting, but voting--as often as legally possible--is a great place to start!! Ever since I turned 18 I have always voted. I am now 53. I’m not talking about when I wanted to or when I got paid to or when the feeling moved me, or what I was inspired, or when I got angry—I’m talking about in every primary, every major Presidential election, for every Mayor in the city I was living in at the time (Which has mostly been Philadelphia, but I now live 45 minutes away in New Castle, Delaware.) I have trudged through snow, sleet and hale, walked in the rain and voted just before the poles closed, although I usually vote early in the morning. Too many Black people and progressive people died in the struggle for us, as Black people, to get the vote in North America for me to sit at home on my fat butt and complain and do nothing. If you are of age you should be voting--especially if you are Black, Latin, Native American, poor, disabled and or Progressive. We need every vote because sometimes every vote we make isn’t counted properly like in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections. We was robbed!! If another 20,000 people had come out to vote in Ohio in November of 2004 and in Florida in November of 2000 we would have stopped George Bush Jr. from doing the multitude of things he did to stop our progress and renege on the promise & good temperament of what North America is suppose to be. Real justice, real freedom, real equality—they are all attainable if we start by voting as often as possible, but take it a step or two further. We can’t be let down when a candidate lets us down. We have to keep our heads up and move on. I don’t want to hear about how one vote doesn’t count. Look at the recent election of a Democrat in Minnesota for U.S. Senate for example. It took over six months for them to come up with a winner because Al Franken (the Democrat) was so close to losing. If the people who voted for him (say about 200 of them) stayed home that day, the turnout would have been different and that would have been a mess for the entire Nation… That Republican and all that it means to be a Republican was right on his heels. The whole Health Care debate would be another matter if Mr. Franken wasn’t in there on the Democratic side. If he had been a Republican Senator it would have made it that much harder for President Barack Obama and his Administration to get the bill through that they have been working on for all these many months—about Nine months if I am not mistaken.
There is a Black woman (Sister Cheryle Jackson) running for U.S. Senator in Illinois to take the old seat that was held by Senator Barack Obama. She is a progressive Democratic and very energetic. She has come out against the war(s) [in Afghanistan and Iraq] and will be the only Black woman and the Only Black in the U.S. Senate if she is elected. It will not be easy. Many right wing and racist forces don’t want to see a Black person get that position and possibly launch another career like our present President was able to. We have to get behind her and help her in whatever way we can. She is getting help from a progressive organization called Emily’s List. Emily’s List helps women get elected to high office all across the country by enlisting volunteers and financial support for the progressive candidate on their slate. I am praying for her, but if I get hold of some money I will also write her a check. Check out www.Emily’sList.org for more information on her and a few other sisters who are running for Congress.
Let’s take one nagging North American issue that continues to cause trouble for both conservative and progressive candidates alike. I’m talking about the abortion issue. (See Chapter 13 for a fuller exploration of the issue). Some Black people are convinced that Federal funds should not be used for abortion. I have to disagree. All that does is make access to safe and legal abortions for rich White women while poor White and Black women are faced with going to the butcher shop or stealing or borrowing the money for the procedure. This just adds to the stress and duress the woman is going through in the first place. It things were really fair women would have access to the procedure if they are rich or poor. I know this is controversial, but this is only the year 2010 and people still make mistakes around contraception, babies, condom use, pregnancy and so forth. When a poor Black woman is strapped with an unwanted pregnancy and eventually another mouth to feed it can have a destabilizing impact on the entire family. My feeling is that if you don’t want an abortion, don’t have one, but don’t tell the entire nation they can’t because of your religious belief. If they ever repeal Row Vs. Wade you will have back-ally abortions in North America once again.
The Democratic Party is by no means perfect and they need to be reminded of that every time they look over Black people for leading positions in the Party or when the Blue Dogs Down South rear their heads and take sides with the Republicans on what ever issue. We need to put pressure on the Democratic Party to let them know we want to see more Black candidates, more money for Black candidates and more support for the myriad of issues that the Congressional Black Caucus is touting as important and worthy such as jobs for the inner cities (especially youth and Black men); re-building the Nation’s infrastructure; money for small businesses; and ethnically relevant education throughout the country. The promotion of such issues has to do with how many progressive or liberal people are elected to Congress, the Nation’s City Halls, and U.S. Senate or other state and local races.
So Vote and don’t give the excuse that it is raining of it is too far to walk. If you are disabled call the local Democratic Party (I’m partisan, sorry) and tell them you need a ride to the polls. Or just ask a neighbor. Too many Black people were beaten, hosed, shot at, whipped, killed, discriminated against under Jim Crow, or otherwise dissuaded from voting for me to take my one vote for granted. The voting Rights Act was just passed in 1965!! That is recent history. You should, if you are young or old, read up on some of this stuff in the Net or get some books on Blacks and voting. You will be shocked at what people Down South went through to vote.
The 2012 re-election of President Barack Obama will not be easy. But if you are not is a habit of voting at every election, you will not be much help for him, the important issues we face as Black people or the other Black politicians seeking election or re-election to office. So Please vote!!
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Being Exclusive
Being Exclusive is NOT The African Way…
By Brother Tracy Gibson
Africans have a long tradition of welcoming other people into their homes, villages, temples and even political struggles. Being exclusive and not forming alliances is a sure fire way of losing a battle. I’m not saying we should trust everyone and be foolish or too trusting. However, when we pull together with other groups and organizations that have similar goals and objectives, we are able to puff up our numbers and really clobber the enemy. When we only struggle within and among ourselves we remain Brother and Sister Outsider…While we have to be careful to collaborate with others who have similar interests and who have similar goals, working in coalition can bring needed fruit to the table and make more bounty for everyone. Working only with Black people can also be fruitful, but it doesn’t always get us the numbers and the victories we want and need…. Being inclusive is African…
In the December, 2009 issue of Leon Williams Journal ``The Voice No One Controls’’, (Brother Williams is a long-time Philadelphia progressive activist who has been friendly over the years), Sister Shahrzad Ali wrote that she was perturbed about the School Reform Commission (SRC) of Philadelphia stripping Black History Month from its’ roster because October was not accepted as Gay & Lesbian History month by many African American groups including the African American Freedom & Reconstruction League of which Sister Ali is a leading member.
I have to agree with Sister Ali that certainly Black History Month should NOT have been dropped by Philadelphia’s SRC. Not with over 70 % of all public school students being from the African American community. This is certainly an injustice considering that most European centered history taught in our Nation is revisionist and often racist in nature. It does not tell the truth. All or most of the accomplishments of other people—people other than Europeans (Usually old funky White men)--has been stripped from the history books including the great achievements in world history of Latino, Asian, Native American, African & Arab people. I want to go on record as officially petitioning our School Board and the SRC to reinstate Black History Month—February—in the official roster & calendar for the school year. They will be getting a letter from me expressing this demand resolutely and within a few weeks!!
At the same time, I have to drastically disagree with Sister Ali in her thought that Same Gender Loving (SGL) (or gay) history is somehow wrong or perverted. I can’t disagree with her more.
I feel that the history of people such as Harvey Milk, Audre Lorde, James Baldwin & Bayard Rustin are part & parcel to the American saga and should be studied by our children and the rest of us. We need to know about people other than just straight Black men and women. A good, fair and just compromise would be for upper classmen to study such people. There is no reason why students in public High School can’t study such great American heroes. Students in High School have a better understanding of what sexual orientation is and have probably already had their own personal sexual identity set. I don’t think they are as impressionable as younger children. I don’t think studying such people & the events that surround them in history should be thought of as perverse or threatening to the Black family or any other family for that matter. Come on people, this is 2009. There are Same Gender Loving families in the school system, in society at large and throughout the world. SGL people are even protected under the Constitution in South Africa. (Our country has not seen fit to give such protections at this point because the Republicans and the so-called Blue Dog Democrats would have a pig fit).
Just for your consideration, here are brief histories of each of the historical figures mentioned here:
Historical Gay or SGL Figures:
Harvey Milk (1930-1978) was the first openly (SGL) member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (Their City Council). He was tragically murdered as he championed SGL rights & advocated for the underserved, left out and poor in that California city. A recent movie ``Milk’’ (2008) Directed by Gus Van Sant met with much critical and public support... The drama is based on facts and stars Sean Penn depicting Harvey Milk...
Audre Lorde (1934-1992) was an outstanding New York City poet, activist, feminist and human rights advocate. She advocated for Black lesbians and SGL Black men and others who she felt were left on the outside of history as well as for poor people... She won many awards and accolades and there is a community center named after her in New York City. There is a documentary film about her called: ``A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde.’’ (1995). Directed by Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson. Some of Ms. Lorde’s works included ``Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches’’ and ``The Black Unicorn.’’
James Baldwin (1924 – 1987) was one of the most important and renowned American authors through out history. He was also a human rights advocate, a civil rights leader & a social critic who won many prizes for his literary accomplishments. He penned: ``The Fire Next Time,’’ ``Go Tellin’ on the Mountain,’’ ``Nobody Knows My Name,’’ ``If Beale Street Could Talk,’’ and ``Just Above My Head’’ to name only a few. His social criticism was read, lauded and reviewed by some of the top thinkers and policy makers especially during his hay day in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He was outspoken against the war in Viet Nam and the ensuing poverty at home as well as racial injustice, discrimination and the economic disparity among the races. Later in life he repatriated to France. Even Malcolm X adored his outspokenness and his early writings…
Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) was a fiery orator, an expert political organizer & one of Martin Luther King Jr.s’ right hand men. While he was largely a behind- the-scenes player, he was instrumental in organizing the original and now famous March on Washington in August of 1963. That demonstration helped turn the tide towards the passing of major Civil Rights legislation including the Voting Rights act of 1965. A documentary called: ``Brother Outsider’’ (2003) Directed by Nancy D. Kates & Bennett Singer, depicts his life and times and was the winner of many distinguished film awards including a Sun Dance Award.
I personally don’t want to forget any of these American Heroes. The fact that they were homosexuals does NOT make me turn my back on them. You shouldn’t either. Remember exclusivity is NOT the African way!!
(To read more articles by this author, [Brother Tracy Gibson] go to www.btganda.com . . . & look for his upcoming BLOCKBUSTER book entitled ``The Re-Awakening of the African Diaspora, 2009, Volume II, Moving from Abuse, Anger & Frustration to Hope, Activism and Accomplishment,’’ by Brother Tracy Gibson, due out in March, 2010. )
By Brother Tracy Gibson
Africans have a long tradition of welcoming other people into their homes, villages, temples and even political struggles. Being exclusive and not forming alliances is a sure fire way of losing a battle. I’m not saying we should trust everyone and be foolish or too trusting. However, when we pull together with other groups and organizations that have similar goals and objectives, we are able to puff up our numbers and really clobber the enemy. When we only struggle within and among ourselves we remain Brother and Sister Outsider…While we have to be careful to collaborate with others who have similar interests and who have similar goals, working in coalition can bring needed fruit to the table and make more bounty for everyone. Working only with Black people can also be fruitful, but it doesn’t always get us the numbers and the victories we want and need…. Being inclusive is African…
In the December, 2009 issue of Leon Williams Journal ``The Voice No One Controls’’, (Brother Williams is a long-time Philadelphia progressive activist who has been friendly over the years), Sister Shahrzad Ali wrote that she was perturbed about the School Reform Commission (SRC) of Philadelphia stripping Black History Month from its’ roster because October was not accepted as Gay & Lesbian History month by many African American groups including the African American Freedom & Reconstruction League of which Sister Ali is a leading member.
I have to agree with Sister Ali that certainly Black History Month should NOT have been dropped by Philadelphia’s SRC. Not with over 70 % of all public school students being from the African American community. This is certainly an injustice considering that most European centered history taught in our Nation is revisionist and often racist in nature. It does not tell the truth. All or most of the accomplishments of other people—people other than Europeans (Usually old funky White men)--has been stripped from the history books including the great achievements in world history of Latino, Asian, Native American, African & Arab people. I want to go on record as officially petitioning our School Board and the SRC to reinstate Black History Month—February—in the official roster & calendar for the school year. They will be getting a letter from me expressing this demand resolutely and within a few weeks!!
At the same time, I have to drastically disagree with Sister Ali in her thought that Same Gender Loving (SGL) (or gay) history is somehow wrong or perverted. I can’t disagree with her more.
I feel that the history of people such as Harvey Milk, Audre Lorde, James Baldwin & Bayard Rustin are part & parcel to the American saga and should be studied by our children and the rest of us. We need to know about people other than just straight Black men and women. A good, fair and just compromise would be for upper classmen to study such people. There is no reason why students in public High School can’t study such great American heroes. Students in High School have a better understanding of what sexual orientation is and have probably already had their own personal sexual identity set. I don’t think they are as impressionable as younger children. I don’t think studying such people & the events that surround them in history should be thought of as perverse or threatening to the Black family or any other family for that matter. Come on people, this is 2009. There are Same Gender Loving families in the school system, in society at large and throughout the world. SGL people are even protected under the Constitution in South Africa. (Our country has not seen fit to give such protections at this point because the Republicans and the so-called Blue Dog Democrats would have a pig fit).
Just for your consideration, here are brief histories of each of the historical figures mentioned here:
Historical Gay or SGL Figures:
Harvey Milk (1930-1978) was the first openly (SGL) member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (Their City Council). He was tragically murdered as he championed SGL rights & advocated for the underserved, left out and poor in that California city. A recent movie ``Milk’’ (2008) Directed by Gus Van Sant met with much critical and public support... The drama is based on facts and stars Sean Penn depicting Harvey Milk...
Audre Lorde (1934-1992) was an outstanding New York City poet, activist, feminist and human rights advocate. She advocated for Black lesbians and SGL Black men and others who she felt were left on the outside of history as well as for poor people... She won many awards and accolades and there is a community center named after her in New York City. There is a documentary film about her called: ``A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde.’’ (1995). Directed by Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson. Some of Ms. Lorde’s works included ``Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches’’ and ``The Black Unicorn.’’
James Baldwin (1924 – 1987) was one of the most important and renowned American authors through out history. He was also a human rights advocate, a civil rights leader & a social critic who won many prizes for his literary accomplishments. He penned: ``The Fire Next Time,’’ ``Go Tellin’ on the Mountain,’’ ``Nobody Knows My Name,’’ ``If Beale Street Could Talk,’’ and ``Just Above My Head’’ to name only a few. His social criticism was read, lauded and reviewed by some of the top thinkers and policy makers especially during his hay day in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He was outspoken against the war in Viet Nam and the ensuing poverty at home as well as racial injustice, discrimination and the economic disparity among the races. Later in life he repatriated to France. Even Malcolm X adored his outspokenness and his early writings…
Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) was a fiery orator, an expert political organizer & one of Martin Luther King Jr.s’ right hand men. While he was largely a behind- the-scenes player, he was instrumental in organizing the original and now famous March on Washington in August of 1963. That demonstration helped turn the tide towards the passing of major Civil Rights legislation including the Voting Rights act of 1965. A documentary called: ``Brother Outsider’’ (2003) Directed by Nancy D. Kates & Bennett Singer, depicts his life and times and was the winner of many distinguished film awards including a Sun Dance Award.
I personally don’t want to forget any of these American Heroes. The fact that they were homosexuals does NOT make me turn my back on them. You shouldn’t either. Remember exclusivity is NOT the African way!!
(To read more articles by this author, [Brother Tracy Gibson] go to www.btganda.com . . . & look for his upcoming BLOCKBUSTER book entitled ``The Re-Awakening of the African Diaspora, 2009, Volume II, Moving from Abuse, Anger & Frustration to Hope, Activism and Accomplishment,’’ by Brother Tracy Gibson, due out in March, 2010. )
Thinking Outside
Thinking Outside the Box on Iran…..
By Brother Tracy Gibson
I have noticed that a great many people in our nation and around the world are concerned about Iran. They see an emerging democracy and are concerned about the birth pains that have cost more than a few lives and the entire supposed ``falsification’’ of an election in Iran (in 2009). I think the real evidence is still out on that. It doesn’t look like the election was fair and free. But I have to hand it to the Iranian people--at least they got out and protested the mess. In America we sat back and tuned into ``American Idol’’ on FOX TV after the falsification of the 2000 AND the 2004 elections. Most of us did nothing. In Iran, they are coming up against an enormously powerful regime that is religiously based, rigid, entrenched and armed to the teeth…. We have all the ``freedoms’’ and just took it all for granted. Maybe we can learn something from the Iranian people. I tell the Americans demonstrating in support of the Iranian people that maybe we should be more concerned or at least AS concerned about the legitimacy and stability of our own present democracy and the further molding, sustaining and maintaining of it. Why? Because we have 45 million people with no health care; most of the money is in the hands of about 5 % of the American population (the most wealthy); unemployment in some hot pockets like Detroit is at 12 % (almost 10. percent nationally, and much higher for Black folk); an unsustainable and unjustifiable Pentagon budget that get passed & approved with little question or fanfare (It is estimated by the Pentagon itself that about 25 cents of every dollar is wasted.); a mortgage and banking catastrophe that has left thousands of Americans without a place for their families to live as their homes are foreclosed on; two, Multi-Billion Dollar plus wars that seem not to be ending anytime soon; a Million Black Men in jail making only slave wages as huge corporations like Monsanto profit enormously from their labor (this may need to be checked and attributed); and a crumbling and faulty educational system that does not take the true diversity of the American citizenship into consideration when hiring teachers and staff or determining curriculum's; not to mention an economy that can’t sustain and employ the people while providing quality goods and services at a reasonable price. Do we really have any right to talk about Iran? We have plenty to fight for right here in America without sticking our noses into Iran’s business and trying to manipulate things there. I call on Black Americans to not lose sight of the prize and keep our eyes on it. We don’t have real freedom and justice just because we have a Black President. Let’s roll up our sleeves and work towards creating a much better democracy right here in North America. Don’t be fooled by the twisted stories coming out of any certain other country without listening to the BBC, NPR, PBS and other more progressive sources such as Mother Jones, The Nation Magazine, the Black media and such. Don’t believe the hype. Read more and think more and turn off the idiocy on network & major cable TV while giving way to more mature, whole and humane sources for your news and information……Don’t be so quick to judge when the only homework you have done is to listen to CNN, Fox, NBC or ABC for five minutes. Read some other stuff, including some books on National policy and current news analysis. You will also at least get some background & be generally more informed by buying the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal once in a while…We have meddled in other countries’ business, usually with very bad results, long enough. Some of the attacks we are getting is from this current and prior meddling…(Read Chapter 13 on National Security)….. Just a thought………
By Brother Tracy Gibson
I have noticed that a great many people in our nation and around the world are concerned about Iran. They see an emerging democracy and are concerned about the birth pains that have cost more than a few lives and the entire supposed ``falsification’’ of an election in Iran (in 2009). I think the real evidence is still out on that. It doesn’t look like the election was fair and free. But I have to hand it to the Iranian people--at least they got out and protested the mess. In America we sat back and tuned into ``American Idol’’ on FOX TV after the falsification of the 2000 AND the 2004 elections. Most of us did nothing. In Iran, they are coming up against an enormously powerful regime that is religiously based, rigid, entrenched and armed to the teeth…. We have all the ``freedoms’’ and just took it all for granted. Maybe we can learn something from the Iranian people. I tell the Americans demonstrating in support of the Iranian people that maybe we should be more concerned or at least AS concerned about the legitimacy and stability of our own present democracy and the further molding, sustaining and maintaining of it. Why? Because we have 45 million people with no health care; most of the money is in the hands of about 5 % of the American population (the most wealthy); unemployment in some hot pockets like Detroit is at 12 % (almost 10. percent nationally, and much higher for Black folk); an unsustainable and unjustifiable Pentagon budget that get passed & approved with little question or fanfare (It is estimated by the Pentagon itself that about 25 cents of every dollar is wasted.); a mortgage and banking catastrophe that has left thousands of Americans without a place for their families to live as their homes are foreclosed on; two, Multi-Billion Dollar plus wars that seem not to be ending anytime soon; a Million Black Men in jail making only slave wages as huge corporations like Monsanto profit enormously from their labor (this may need to be checked and attributed); and a crumbling and faulty educational system that does not take the true diversity of the American citizenship into consideration when hiring teachers and staff or determining curriculum's; not to mention an economy that can’t sustain and employ the people while providing quality goods and services at a reasonable price. Do we really have any right to talk about Iran? We have plenty to fight for right here in America without sticking our noses into Iran’s business and trying to manipulate things there. I call on Black Americans to not lose sight of the prize and keep our eyes on it. We don’t have real freedom and justice just because we have a Black President. Let’s roll up our sleeves and work towards creating a much better democracy right here in North America. Don’t be fooled by the twisted stories coming out of any certain other country without listening to the BBC, NPR, PBS and other more progressive sources such as Mother Jones, The Nation Magazine, the Black media and such. Don’t believe the hype. Read more and think more and turn off the idiocy on network & major cable TV while giving way to more mature, whole and humane sources for your news and information……Don’t be so quick to judge when the only homework you have done is to listen to CNN, Fox, NBC or ABC for five minutes. Read some other stuff, including some books on National policy and current news analysis. You will also at least get some background & be generally more informed by buying the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal once in a while…We have meddled in other countries’ business, usually with very bad results, long enough. Some of the attacks we are getting is from this current and prior meddling…(Read Chapter 13 on National Security)….. Just a thought………
Letter # 19
Letter # 19
11-21-09
Brother Tracy Gibson
214 Southwyk Road
New Castle, Del. 19720
302.276.2755
BrotherTracy11@GMail.Com
Great Results Consulting
201 17th Street, Suite 3000
Atlanta, Georgia 30363
Dear Friends at Great Results Consulting:
I am a heavy thinker and a real idea man. (I have enclosed a resume and a statement about me as an author). I have lots of ideas, but implementing them has proven to be a rather difficult thing for me. I was referred to you by The Rea Men of I See Color.com. I am hopeful that you can help me by finding others with similar ideas and funding for some of these ideas... These are some of the projects I’m working on:
1) A major BLOCKBUSTER publication in the works called ``The Re-Awakening of the African Diaspora, 2009, Volume II; Moving from Abuse, Anger & Frustration to Hope, Activism & Accomplishment.’’ By Brother Tracy Gibson due out early next year. I need editing help, a mentor and funding for the project. About $12,000.00
2) The Coalition to Find Sane Solutions In the Middle East. This is a Non-Profit I want to start that would bring together African Americans, Africans, progressive thinking people of European decent, Latinos, Asians, Arabs and others who want to bring new light to this issue. We want to bring in ideas and concepts to deal with the issue that the politicians and the media have either overlooked or feel are too controversial to deal with. We want to bring in more people than just academicians, political pun dents and power players so the people at the grass roots can have a constructive and forward thinking position on the many-faceted issues pertaining to the volatile Middle East questions and how to resolve them in a peaceful, non-violent manner as quickly and as fairly as possible. We want to have a direct impact on U.S. policy making and on how other countries and the world view the Middle East crisis. We want people to view it as a challenge to the world’s peace-loving people not as an end of the world scenario. Investment Needed: $12,000.00.
3) We have a Positive Plan for Black Youth that will help bring about peace on city streets throughout the United States; less imprisonment of our Black youth; more jobs for youth; and an emphasis on their staying in school and possibly going on to college, university and or trade school and graduate school; a component to help them become constructive American citizens even if they choose not to go to school and less teen parenting, STD’s, illegal drug use, illegal drug trafficking and other behaviors that are ripping and tearing away at the seams of the Black community nationally. There is also a need for constructive things to do instead of get into trouble during after school hours before parents get home. There is a desperate need for new and innovative ways of thinking on this subject—not just the building of more prisons and tracking our youth into ``special’’ education and detention centers. We have some ideas we would like to share with others and get funded so we can begin helping youths in the Delaware, New Jersey and Philadelphia area as soon as possible!! Investment Needed: $12,000.00.
4) Proposal to help Brothers and Sisters in the Prison System. We have several components to our Prison-Industrial Complex alternative plans. They include taking a hard look at the sexual and physical abuse that goes on in the U.S. prison system and putting an end to it as soon as possible. When people commit a crime they should do the time, not be raped and abused—no matter what that crime was. We are against the Death Penalty and want the politicians and media pun dents to understand the root causes behind criminal behavior in the U.S. including: negative media portrayals of African and African American citizens; unemployment; lack of relevant educational experiences for Black and Brown people; lack of physical education, sports and health classes in the public school system; continued poverty; lack of ethical teaching in the class room and strong values; disrespect of elders; lack of mentoring programs; and too much emphasis in the news media on killing, murder and military solutions to ALL questions and problems. Investment Needed: $12,000.00.
5) I would also like to have a multi-national corporation to deal with these and other issues and generate my own income to fund these projects. I started a Marketing and Public Relations firm (Brother Tracy Gibson & Associates, Inc. was founded in 2006) but we have not been able to get things off the ground. While we did a partial business plan, we are still to this day unfocused and floundering. We have a web page www.btganda.com, but need to institute more products from which we can draw the profits to put back into the company and the many Non-Profit components. I need management help and a steady income from this to help regenerate ideas and implement programs that will be helpful to the community. We need to find a funder even to just pay the seed money that would get us started with your company’s consulting fees. We are at $00.00 right now. I need to talk with one of your people to find out where to begin. At $60. an hour for consulting fees, I wouldn’t be able to pay for even one hour until December 3rd, 2009. I am hopeful you will contact me with ideas, solutions and suggestions as soon as possible. Investment Needed: $50.000.00.
6) We also have had real estate holdings and an office in the past and are hopeful of building up our real estate portfolio in the near future. We also need funds to reconstitute and give rebirth to our office to make it fully functional and operable.
Investment Needed: $250,000.00.
7) I also work with a few established Non-Profits in the Philadelphia area including a literacy project and Friends of Somafco, which provides support services to South Africa. Investment Needed: $12,000.00.
8) One of the last things I am working on is a city wide conference (in Philadelphia) that deals with Sex, Sexuality and Sexual Health Issues in the Black Community. The Conference is slated for the year 2013 and will include media hookups in other cities and possibly conferences in other cities including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, L.A. and San Francisco. We want to utilize Cable access, cable, established TV and radio to get the positive word out. Preliminary work has begun to seek out funders, sponsors and supporters and focus the Conference on: 1) The Same Gender Loving {SGL} (traditionally called gay people) community of Black people and how they can be a help in our struggle for economic equality, stability, better ethical behavior and honesty in interpersonal relationships in our community. We are convinced that many SGL people in our community can be a secret weapon in our community instead of a detriment if and when their issues are fully aired and a healing process begins. 2) Teen pregnancy and how this is holding back and destabilizing our community as young mothers are left with no visible means of support for their young families and our young men are left with no jobs to support a family even if they do want to stick around. 3) STD’s such as HIV and all the rest and how this in undermining the stability and uplift of our community. What can be done on a mass level, with or without the government, to consistently and effectively stem the tide of HIV and other STD’s? Finding real solutions for a growing problem. Investment Needed: $12,000.00.
We thank you for taking the time to look over these proposals and this letter. We hope to hear from you very soon.
With Love & Respect,
Brother Tracy Gibson…
11-21-09
Brother Tracy Gibson
214 Southwyk Road
New Castle, Del. 19720
302.276.2755
BrotherTracy11@GMail.Com
Great Results Consulting
201 17th Street, Suite 3000
Atlanta, Georgia 30363
Dear Friends at Great Results Consulting:
I am a heavy thinker and a real idea man. (I have enclosed a resume and a statement about me as an author). I have lots of ideas, but implementing them has proven to be a rather difficult thing for me. I was referred to you by The Rea Men of I See Color.com. I am hopeful that you can help me by finding others with similar ideas and funding for some of these ideas... These are some of the projects I’m working on:
1) A major BLOCKBUSTER publication in the works called ``The Re-Awakening of the African Diaspora, 2009, Volume II; Moving from Abuse, Anger & Frustration to Hope, Activism & Accomplishment.’’ By Brother Tracy Gibson due out early next year. I need editing help, a mentor and funding for the project. About $12,000.00
2) The Coalition to Find Sane Solutions In the Middle East. This is a Non-Profit I want to start that would bring together African Americans, Africans, progressive thinking people of European decent, Latinos, Asians, Arabs and others who want to bring new light to this issue. We want to bring in ideas and concepts to deal with the issue that the politicians and the media have either overlooked or feel are too controversial to deal with. We want to bring in more people than just academicians, political pun dents and power players so the people at the grass roots can have a constructive and forward thinking position on the many-faceted issues pertaining to the volatile Middle East questions and how to resolve them in a peaceful, non-violent manner as quickly and as fairly as possible. We want to have a direct impact on U.S. policy making and on how other countries and the world view the Middle East crisis. We want people to view it as a challenge to the world’s peace-loving people not as an end of the world scenario. Investment Needed: $12,000.00.
3) We have a Positive Plan for Black Youth that will help bring about peace on city streets throughout the United States; less imprisonment of our Black youth; more jobs for youth; and an emphasis on their staying in school and possibly going on to college, university and or trade school and graduate school; a component to help them become constructive American citizens even if they choose not to go to school and less teen parenting, STD’s, illegal drug use, illegal drug trafficking and other behaviors that are ripping and tearing away at the seams of the Black community nationally. There is also a need for constructive things to do instead of get into trouble during after school hours before parents get home. There is a desperate need for new and innovative ways of thinking on this subject—not just the building of more prisons and tracking our youth into ``special’’ education and detention centers. We have some ideas we would like to share with others and get funded so we can begin helping youths in the Delaware, New Jersey and Philadelphia area as soon as possible!! Investment Needed: $12,000.00.
4) Proposal to help Brothers and Sisters in the Prison System. We have several components to our Prison-Industrial Complex alternative plans. They include taking a hard look at the sexual and physical abuse that goes on in the U.S. prison system and putting an end to it as soon as possible. When people commit a crime they should do the time, not be raped and abused—no matter what that crime was. We are against the Death Penalty and want the politicians and media pun dents to understand the root causes behind criminal behavior in the U.S. including: negative media portrayals of African and African American citizens; unemployment; lack of relevant educational experiences for Black and Brown people; lack of physical education, sports and health classes in the public school system; continued poverty; lack of ethical teaching in the class room and strong values; disrespect of elders; lack of mentoring programs; and too much emphasis in the news media on killing, murder and military solutions to ALL questions and problems. Investment Needed: $12,000.00.
5) I would also like to have a multi-national corporation to deal with these and other issues and generate my own income to fund these projects. I started a Marketing and Public Relations firm (Brother Tracy Gibson & Associates, Inc. was founded in 2006) but we have not been able to get things off the ground. While we did a partial business plan, we are still to this day unfocused and floundering. We have a web page www.btganda.com, but need to institute more products from which we can draw the profits to put back into the company and the many Non-Profit components. I need management help and a steady income from this to help regenerate ideas and implement programs that will be helpful to the community. We need to find a funder even to just pay the seed money that would get us started with your company’s consulting fees. We are at $00.00 right now. I need to talk with one of your people to find out where to begin. At $60. an hour for consulting fees, I wouldn’t be able to pay for even one hour until December 3rd, 2009. I am hopeful you will contact me with ideas, solutions and suggestions as soon as possible. Investment Needed: $50.000.00.
6) We also have had real estate holdings and an office in the past and are hopeful of building up our real estate portfolio in the near future. We also need funds to reconstitute and give rebirth to our office to make it fully functional and operable.
Investment Needed: $250,000.00.
7) I also work with a few established Non-Profits in the Philadelphia area including a literacy project and Friends of Somafco, which provides support services to South Africa. Investment Needed: $12,000.00.
8) One of the last things I am working on is a city wide conference (in Philadelphia) that deals with Sex, Sexuality and Sexual Health Issues in the Black Community. The Conference is slated for the year 2013 and will include media hookups in other cities and possibly conferences in other cities including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, L.A. and San Francisco. We want to utilize Cable access, cable, established TV and radio to get the positive word out. Preliminary work has begun to seek out funders, sponsors and supporters and focus the Conference on: 1) The Same Gender Loving {SGL} (traditionally called gay people) community of Black people and how they can be a help in our struggle for economic equality, stability, better ethical behavior and honesty in interpersonal relationships in our community. We are convinced that many SGL people in our community can be a secret weapon in our community instead of a detriment if and when their issues are fully aired and a healing process begins. 2) Teen pregnancy and how this is holding back and destabilizing our community as young mothers are left with no visible means of support for their young families and our young men are left with no jobs to support a family even if they do want to stick around. 3) STD’s such as HIV and all the rest and how this in undermining the stability and uplift of our community. What can be done on a mass level, with or without the government, to consistently and effectively stem the tide of HIV and other STD’s? Finding real solutions for a growing problem. Investment Needed: $12,000.00.
We thank you for taking the time to look over these proposals and this letter. We hope to hear from you very soon.
With Love & Respect,
Brother Tracy Gibson…
My Heroes a poem By Tracy Gibson
A Poem: Your Heroes / My Heroes
A note to Dick Cheney and those who think like him On Memorial Day, 2009.
By Brother Tracy Gibson
Your Heroes walk through city streets
With badges and guns and try to ``keep the peace’’
By shooting ``criminals’’ and ``wrong doers’’
Down like dogs—what chances and opportunities were they offered?
My heroes defy you and know that your ``system’’
Is not sustainable
That hegemony is a thing of the past
As is White Supremacy, racial hatred and
Exploitation
You can’t hide in your corporate jets and your military bunkers for long!!
Your heroes move freely on foreign soil
Exploiting, ravaging, destroying progressive history
and ornate indigenous art objects, destroying the books that hold the truth
and killing, killing, killing, never telling the truth—but twisting it & thinking of new
Ways to put a new face on what you have done for generations:
Created war, confusion, self doubt, exploitation, sweat shops &
Set indigenous people against their invaders
Your greed is phenomenal
My heroes work long hours for no or little pay devising ways to
Bring truth to light, educate, fight for real justice, peace, understanding &
authentic LOVE
Your Heroes topple legitimately elected third world governments,
Shoot Palestinian children, destroy the land and foul the air
My heroes expose what you do and struggle to survive
We live off the land and the rugged truth that you burned
In the Libraries of Alexandria, Egypt.
We all have a choice in what and who we choose to be our heroes
And what side we will be on
This is all becoming very clear
Even though we sometimes pay for our own destruction
(Thanks to the twisted way you have finagled our economy)
Soon, you will not be able to buy the gloomy future that chains us
The price is too high: in blood & money
Real Freedom is just a matter of time…
& the clock is ticking………
A note to Dick Cheney and those who think like him On Memorial Day, 2009.
By Brother Tracy Gibson
Your Heroes walk through city streets
With badges and guns and try to ``keep the peace’’
By shooting ``criminals’’ and ``wrong doers’’
Down like dogs—what chances and opportunities were they offered?
My heroes defy you and know that your ``system’’
Is not sustainable
That hegemony is a thing of the past
As is White Supremacy, racial hatred and
Exploitation
You can’t hide in your corporate jets and your military bunkers for long!!
Your heroes move freely on foreign soil
Exploiting, ravaging, destroying progressive history
and ornate indigenous art objects, destroying the books that hold the truth
and killing, killing, killing, never telling the truth—but twisting it & thinking of new
Ways to put a new face on what you have done for generations:
Created war, confusion, self doubt, exploitation, sweat shops &
Set indigenous people against their invaders
Your greed is phenomenal
My heroes work long hours for no or little pay devising ways to
Bring truth to light, educate, fight for real justice, peace, understanding &
authentic LOVE
Your Heroes topple legitimately elected third world governments,
Shoot Palestinian children, destroy the land and foul the air
My heroes expose what you do and struggle to survive
We live off the land and the rugged truth that you burned
In the Libraries of Alexandria, Egypt.
We all have a choice in what and who we choose to be our heroes
And what side we will be on
This is all becoming very clear
Even though we sometimes pay for our own destruction
(Thanks to the twisted way you have finagled our economy)
Soon, you will not be able to buy the gloomy future that chains us
The price is too high: in blood & money
Real Freedom is just a matter of time…
& the clock is ticking………
Political Dynasties, King Makers, And the Movement for Black Progress
Political Dynasties, King Makers, And The Movement for Black Progress…Face the Powers that Be, And Never Give Up the Struggle For HOPE!!!
By Brother Tracy Gibson
Throughout North American history there have been king makers—wealthy, powerful men (almost always White)—who have decided who gets to control the joy stick of government. Who gets to be on the inside of power and control the billions upon billions of federal dollars that get spent annually in America and on what federal projects, programs and considerations those dollars are allocated for as well as who we go to war with and for what reasons. Prescott Sheldon Bush (1895 -1972), a U.S. Senator from the state of Connecticut and a Yale graduate like his grandfather was the father of our 41st President (George Bush Sr.) and the grandfather of our 43rd President (George Bush Jr.) was such a man. Actually born in Columbus, Ohio, Prescott Bush would move on to become a well connected Wall Street executive and the author of books on finance. He might have failed at business early in life, but he knew how to interact with the right kind of people and push all the buttons to become wealthy, educated and well healed. He made sure, before he died in 1972, that his children & grandchildren would one day roam the inside hallways of Washington, D.C. and other corridors of power and control the purse strings connected to the billions of dollars we are forced to pay as tax-paying American citizens.
Prescott Bush made sure his son George Sr. (also a Yale graduate) went to all the right schools and hob knobbed with all the right people who would one day make his son the King of America—although he would not live to actually see that day… The end result was his son George Sr. getting a Congressional seat & his grandsons becoming Governor of Florida (Jeb) and Texas (George Bush Jr.). (By the way, did I also mention that George Bush Jr. also went to Yale?) Prescott had created a political dynasty. George Sr. went on to become the head of the notorious CIA during the last year of the Gerald R. Ford Administration) & then Vice President of the U.S. under Ronald Reagan through out most of the 1980’s. Finally George Sr. went on to be a one term President after Reagan. (George Bush Sr. was defeated in 1992 by Bill Clinton.) But low & behold, Father Bush (George Sr.) was not to be outdone. He made sure his son came back with a narrow, although contested, win in the year 2000 Presidential race against Democrat Al Gore. (Gore actually won numerically, but was defeated in the Electoral College.) The Dynasty was sustained & complete. Big Daddy Prescott Bush would sleep quietly in his grave knowing he had set the pace for his son & then grandson to lord over the so-called ``free world’’ as Presidents #41 and #43 of these United States—even though he had never actually witnessed those victories…
A while ago, there was another Dynasty in the making. Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. (1888-1969) wanted his son Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (1915-1944) to become President. Joe Kennedy was educated at Harvard University (as was President Kennedy) and graduated in 1912. He went on to serve in many capacities during the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration including a stint as Ambassador to Great Brittan (1938-1940). He groomed his children, again, by sending them to the best schools. Boot leg whisky and working on Wall Street (some of his practices would later be described as ``insider trading’’) helped build the family fortune up to some $200-$400 Million Dollars by 1957. Tragedy struck the Kennedy clan early. Because of the death of Joseph Jr. in England during WW II , John F. Kennedy, the young Senator from Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960 (he also served in the House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1947 to 1953) , would actually be the only Kennedy in the Twentieth Century to be elected President of the United States. The ``Kennedy Dynasty’’ was not quite as successful as the Bush Dynasty—at least not in reaching actual success as far as real time served in the highest office in the land—the Presidency. But the Kennedy White House was thought, for years afterwards and even up until this day by some Baby Boomers and others, to represent an almost dreamy Camelot era of fine clothing, good natured humor with reporters and high levels of professionalism and prestige on the world stage. The Kennedy Dynasty, however, was also fraught with family tragedy including the assassination of our beloved President during a motorcade in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Forty five years later our Nation still hasn’t fully healed from this family tragedy which impacted the entire Nation & much of the world--as so many baby boomers still remember little John John saluting his father’s casket and the sad but ever gracious Jacqueline Kennedy acting with such solemn dignity through all the ceremonies that are attached to losing a sitting head of state in North America...
Robert Kennedy (1925 -1968), the President’s younger brother, soon took up the mantel for his brother & had Presidential ambitions of his own. These ambitions were acted upon in 1967 when he decided to run for the Presidency that year. This Kennedy was a Senator from New York State and had served as Attorney General under his brother. But the Kennedy’s tragic story was to continue as an assassin’s bullets put an end to those ambitions in Los Angeles just after the June 6th California Primary which Robert Kennedy had won handily.
I remember as a child not believing the news of Robert Kennedy’s death. I sat on the front steps of the house next to ours on 49th Street playing jacks by myself when someone came up to me with the newspaper headlines blaring of the murder of R.F.K. I was shocked because his death came on the heels of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4th of the same year (1968). Had our Nation gone mad, I thought... What would this mean? There were already riots in many U.S. cities after the King assassination. It seemed the underpinnings of our Nation were crumbling. This perception of instability was shared by many Americans as they went to the polls that November and elected a Republican ``Law and Order’’ man from California named Richard Nixon.
The Kennedy Dynasty would have to be satisfied with a leading role in the Democratic Party for the family and a Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy (1932 – 2009) for quite some time. (Ted Kennedy was unable to unseat President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic Nomination in 1980.)
Dynasty, it seems, was more than just a tawdry, scandal-ridden TV show produced by Aaron Spelling in the 1980’s. It is a way of political life in America. There seems to be very few people who get to hold high office in North America & there seems to be a selection process through which all these men (and so far it has only been a men’s club) have to go through. It is almost as if they have to belong to some exclusive club fraught with high initiation fees, blood line requirements and educational background checks.
The 1939 Frank Capra film ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,’’ explores the concept of King Makers & corruption that has been married to Washington, D.C. politics for almost 20 decades. How do you get to be a King Maker? What is the process? Is being wealthy & well connected enough or do you also have to be a funky old White male to join in this process? Is there any chance that corruption and scandal can be divorced from D.C. politics within our lifetime? Jimmy Stewart played Smith in the film and said ``Things sure happen fast around here. Don’t they’’ when he was taken a back by some events taking place around him as he was about to take office as the junior Senator from a Midwestern state. He said a mouth full. He was (in this fictitious film) appointed Senator through a quirky mishap & some of the powers that be were not pleased with his taking power. He seemed too innocent, bright eyed and bushy tailed for a major position of power in D.C.
Generally speaking, things don’t happen by mistake in D.C. and they do sometimes happen fast--sometimes. President Obama was thought to be a Renegade by some writers when he came into power in January of 2009 on the massive National desire for change in D.C. during the November 2008 election. In most instances he has not & most probably will not deliver on his many promises he made for real, lasting and needed change for our Nation. . . [Maybe we should have made him sign a Progressive Pact that he would carry out specific duties and end the war(s) (for example) at a certain time.] The progressive and liberal wings of the Democratic Party are not pleased at this point in the end of 2009 with many of his appointments and actions. While he has changed the temperament of the White House into something less Right Wing and has been a good international ambassador for the country with a ``message’’ of hope and possible peace, he has done many things that don’t look very forward moving or progressive. Chief among them: he has named three of the most old funky or established White males to major positions of power in his administration (read Dangerous Triangle in Chapter 13); he has not created any new inner-city initiatives to work with corporate America and create summer jobs for youth and thusly stem some of the crime in those areas; he has not even given much lip service to a needed major overhaul of our financial system, military and infrastructure; he has not said one word about military cutbacks in a time when it has been proven that the Pentagon wastes about twenty five cents for every dollar it spends; he has supported the status quo, the existing military & the ``same old war-like White line of hegemony, politics as usual & White power domination in policy initiatives & military actions as his speech in Oslo [when he accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace] proved beyond a reasonable doubt. There are ``just’’ wars he said. There are ``real evil people’’ in the world, he said. The next day he had moved so far to the right in his address in Oslo that even Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin had to fall in line with some sweet words of support for the first African American President of the United States.
I am sure members of the Congressional Black Caucus such as Congresswoman Barbara Lee and progressive members of Congress such as Dennis Kucinich sat in dumb-founded amazement at such a speech. The Major Goliath White media, however, lapped it up. He had effectively picked up his peace prize while not batting an eye about his proposed military build up of an additional 30,000 troops for Afghanistan. Never mind where the money is coming from to effectively stage such a troop increase. (Some experts predict it will cost a million dollars for each trooper due in part to the rough terrain and the lack of basic necessities such as running water and housing.)
Bogged down in trying to get more encompassing health care legislation passed, the President has not created or even given much more than lip service to the business community about creating the thousands of new jobs that are needed for the teeming numbers of unemployed Americans. (The unemployment rate is about 10 % as of December 2009). The Brother obviously needs some help on the innovation and clear and new thinking side of things in his Administration.
Moreover, Mr. Jefferson Smith (in the Capra movie), upon taking a bus tour of D.C. after he was appointed Senator was deeply and profoundly impressed with the words enshrined at the Lincoln Memorial. A child and an older Black man looked on as he took in the site. So many Americans have, once again, been disillusioned with Obama—the President who had reignited our hopes and dreams & gotten people who would never vote—young & old, Black & White—to vote and believe in him--has largely let us down. There is a new face on things, but bracing up the underpinnings of our Nation is a man who represents mostly the same old line of thinking that got us into the economic morass, war(s) and partisanship of the Bush Jr. years. Mr. Smith soon became disillusioned as he found out the work & difficulties involved in doing a seemingly simple thing like starting a national boy’s camp for orphaned and wayward boys in his home state…
I remember a few years ago during a trip to Washington, D.C. that I also was moved by the Lincoln Memorial. How even before Obama came on the scene, I felt our country could move past the economic morass and political partisanship it was stuck in during the Bush (Jr.) years and become something fresh, new & hopeful. Something was needed that would really help the less fortunate and reflect peace and tolerance instead of war profiteering, White world domination and exploitation & destruction of so-called Third World or developing countries across the globe. Lincoln reflected aspects of that ``something’’. I had worked so hard for 30 years to move things along in a progressive direction, but it seems things only work quickly in D.C. if you have the deep pockets &, frankly, White skin & connections to make this so. If you want to be a mover & shaker, and you have Black skin, if you are in or out of office, it appears you have to play the game, support the status quo & belly up with the insiders & the fat White money boys. That is if you want to ``make it’’ on the world stage. Who knows what kind of deals President Obama has made with the Wealthy? It certainly seems that there was some kind of an agreement that things would be changed as far as style, but the substance has mostly remained in tact…
I remember going door to door in Philadelphia to generate support for the REPARATIONS movement & I remember running as a write-in candidate for U.S. Senator from P.A. in 2005. I’ve tried so many things to bring the human rights agenda some heat and some light—some truth and some inspiration… Then reality sets in when we see Mr. Obama exclaiming the virtues of war in Oslo and never saying a blessed word about the U.S.’s undermining of peace throughout the world through military intervention and the unscrupulous work of the U.S. intelligence network including the NSA and the CIA (along with the rest of the multi-billion dollar North American intelligence Network). The Right Wing; the War Mongers; the defense contractors like Halliburton, GE and Lockheed Martin; Wealthy Republicans; the Pentagon Brass—they all have a new friend in Mr. Obama who was elected to change things, but who pealed off what little was left of his progressive skin and threw his chips in with the Status Quo in Oslo, Norway... I guess the old adage IS true—you can’t beat City Hall… But I for one look onward & know just like at the actual birth of this country in the 1700’s tyranny can & will be defeated. In all its’ forms, ways and means, tyranny will be defeated... Don’t let yourself be easily disillusioned, fooled & like Denzel Washington said as Malcolm X in Spike Lee’s 1992 film ``hoodwinked, fooled & bamboozled.’’ We as Black people can’t afford it. Keep your eyes on the prize and keep supporting people like Barbara Lee and Dennis Kucinich in Congress. Write them and let them know they are doing a wonderful job in keeping the progressive fires lit, hot, active and alive. Here are their addresses if you want to write them:
Congress Woman Barbara Lee
2444 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone # 202.225.2661
Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich
2445 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone # 202.225.5871
They are some of the REAL progressive thinkers and shapers of our progressive tomorrows along with Former Congress Woman Cynthia McKinney (of Atlanta, Georgia) who ran for President in 2008 under the Green Party banner. To Write Sister McKinney log onto:
www.AllthingsCynthiaMcKinney.com
Keep moving in the direction of Black Progress—forward each and every day. Keep your eyes on the prize: What is the Prize? The prize is real economic development; social justice, true freedom, equality; prosperity for our people; a coming of economic parity for the poor. Even political dynasties, deal makers; war itself may have to be thrown on the ash heap of history before this is all over. We must be ever vigilant, work hard and never, never give up !! Power to the people!!! Never give up!! Find new ways to take your issues to the powers that be; create your own power base by creating a Black business; organizing with other Black Business Men and Black Business Women to bring greater political leverage to progressive causes in D.C. and around the globe—throughout our Diaspora… If you have a few dollars to give please check out the organizations our company has given to on our web page at www.btganda.com. They need your support, especially in these economically hard times when grants and donations are drying up!!... But never give up and never give in!!
By Brother Tracy Gibson
Throughout North American history there have been king makers—wealthy, powerful men (almost always White)—who have decided who gets to control the joy stick of government. Who gets to be on the inside of power and control the billions upon billions of federal dollars that get spent annually in America and on what federal projects, programs and considerations those dollars are allocated for as well as who we go to war with and for what reasons. Prescott Sheldon Bush (1895 -1972), a U.S. Senator from the state of Connecticut and a Yale graduate like his grandfather was the father of our 41st President (George Bush Sr.) and the grandfather of our 43rd President (George Bush Jr.) was such a man. Actually born in Columbus, Ohio, Prescott Bush would move on to become a well connected Wall Street executive and the author of books on finance. He might have failed at business early in life, but he knew how to interact with the right kind of people and push all the buttons to become wealthy, educated and well healed. He made sure, before he died in 1972, that his children & grandchildren would one day roam the inside hallways of Washington, D.C. and other corridors of power and control the purse strings connected to the billions of dollars we are forced to pay as tax-paying American citizens.
Prescott Bush made sure his son George Sr. (also a Yale graduate) went to all the right schools and hob knobbed with all the right people who would one day make his son the King of America—although he would not live to actually see that day… The end result was his son George Sr. getting a Congressional seat & his grandsons becoming Governor of Florida (Jeb) and Texas (George Bush Jr.). (By the way, did I also mention that George Bush Jr. also went to Yale?) Prescott had created a political dynasty. George Sr. went on to become the head of the notorious CIA during the last year of the Gerald R. Ford Administration) & then Vice President of the U.S. under Ronald Reagan through out most of the 1980’s. Finally George Sr. went on to be a one term President after Reagan. (George Bush Sr. was defeated in 1992 by Bill Clinton.) But low & behold, Father Bush (George Sr.) was not to be outdone. He made sure his son came back with a narrow, although contested, win in the year 2000 Presidential race against Democrat Al Gore. (Gore actually won numerically, but was defeated in the Electoral College.) The Dynasty was sustained & complete. Big Daddy Prescott Bush would sleep quietly in his grave knowing he had set the pace for his son & then grandson to lord over the so-called ``free world’’ as Presidents #41 and #43 of these United States—even though he had never actually witnessed those victories…
A while ago, there was another Dynasty in the making. Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. (1888-1969) wanted his son Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (1915-1944) to become President. Joe Kennedy was educated at Harvard University (as was President Kennedy) and graduated in 1912. He went on to serve in many capacities during the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration including a stint as Ambassador to Great Brittan (1938-1940). He groomed his children, again, by sending them to the best schools. Boot leg whisky and working on Wall Street (some of his practices would later be described as ``insider trading’’) helped build the family fortune up to some $200-$400 Million Dollars by 1957. Tragedy struck the Kennedy clan early. Because of the death of Joseph Jr. in England during WW II , John F. Kennedy, the young Senator from Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960 (he also served in the House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1947 to 1953) , would actually be the only Kennedy in the Twentieth Century to be elected President of the United States. The ``Kennedy Dynasty’’ was not quite as successful as the Bush Dynasty—at least not in reaching actual success as far as real time served in the highest office in the land—the Presidency. But the Kennedy White House was thought, for years afterwards and even up until this day by some Baby Boomers and others, to represent an almost dreamy Camelot era of fine clothing, good natured humor with reporters and high levels of professionalism and prestige on the world stage. The Kennedy Dynasty, however, was also fraught with family tragedy including the assassination of our beloved President during a motorcade in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Forty five years later our Nation still hasn’t fully healed from this family tragedy which impacted the entire Nation & much of the world--as so many baby boomers still remember little John John saluting his father’s casket and the sad but ever gracious Jacqueline Kennedy acting with such solemn dignity through all the ceremonies that are attached to losing a sitting head of state in North America...
Robert Kennedy (1925 -1968), the President’s younger brother, soon took up the mantel for his brother & had Presidential ambitions of his own. These ambitions were acted upon in 1967 when he decided to run for the Presidency that year. This Kennedy was a Senator from New York State and had served as Attorney General under his brother. But the Kennedy’s tragic story was to continue as an assassin’s bullets put an end to those ambitions in Los Angeles just after the June 6th California Primary which Robert Kennedy had won handily.
I remember as a child not believing the news of Robert Kennedy’s death. I sat on the front steps of the house next to ours on 49th Street playing jacks by myself when someone came up to me with the newspaper headlines blaring of the murder of R.F.K. I was shocked because his death came on the heels of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4th of the same year (1968). Had our Nation gone mad, I thought... What would this mean? There were already riots in many U.S. cities after the King assassination. It seemed the underpinnings of our Nation were crumbling. This perception of instability was shared by many Americans as they went to the polls that November and elected a Republican ``Law and Order’’ man from California named Richard Nixon.
The Kennedy Dynasty would have to be satisfied with a leading role in the Democratic Party for the family and a Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy (1932 – 2009) for quite some time. (Ted Kennedy was unable to unseat President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic Nomination in 1980.)
Dynasty, it seems, was more than just a tawdry, scandal-ridden TV show produced by Aaron Spelling in the 1980’s. It is a way of political life in America. There seems to be very few people who get to hold high office in North America & there seems to be a selection process through which all these men (and so far it has only been a men’s club) have to go through. It is almost as if they have to belong to some exclusive club fraught with high initiation fees, blood line requirements and educational background checks.
The 1939 Frank Capra film ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,’’ explores the concept of King Makers & corruption that has been married to Washington, D.C. politics for almost 20 decades. How do you get to be a King Maker? What is the process? Is being wealthy & well connected enough or do you also have to be a funky old White male to join in this process? Is there any chance that corruption and scandal can be divorced from D.C. politics within our lifetime? Jimmy Stewart played Smith in the film and said ``Things sure happen fast around here. Don’t they’’ when he was taken a back by some events taking place around him as he was about to take office as the junior Senator from a Midwestern state. He said a mouth full. He was (in this fictitious film) appointed Senator through a quirky mishap & some of the powers that be were not pleased with his taking power. He seemed too innocent, bright eyed and bushy tailed for a major position of power in D.C.
Generally speaking, things don’t happen by mistake in D.C. and they do sometimes happen fast--sometimes. President Obama was thought to be a Renegade by some writers when he came into power in January of 2009 on the massive National desire for change in D.C. during the November 2008 election. In most instances he has not & most probably will not deliver on his many promises he made for real, lasting and needed change for our Nation. . . [Maybe we should have made him sign a Progressive Pact that he would carry out specific duties and end the war(s) (for example) at a certain time.] The progressive and liberal wings of the Democratic Party are not pleased at this point in the end of 2009 with many of his appointments and actions. While he has changed the temperament of the White House into something less Right Wing and has been a good international ambassador for the country with a ``message’’ of hope and possible peace, he has done many things that don’t look very forward moving or progressive. Chief among them: he has named three of the most old funky or established White males to major positions of power in his administration (read Dangerous Triangle in Chapter 13); he has not created any new inner-city initiatives to work with corporate America and create summer jobs for youth and thusly stem some of the crime in those areas; he has not even given much lip service to a needed major overhaul of our financial system, military and infrastructure; he has not said one word about military cutbacks in a time when it has been proven that the Pentagon wastes about twenty five cents for every dollar it spends; he has supported the status quo, the existing military & the ``same old war-like White line of hegemony, politics as usual & White power domination in policy initiatives & military actions as his speech in Oslo [when he accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace] proved beyond a reasonable doubt. There are ``just’’ wars he said. There are ``real evil people’’ in the world, he said. The next day he had moved so far to the right in his address in Oslo that even Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin had to fall in line with some sweet words of support for the first African American President of the United States.
I am sure members of the Congressional Black Caucus such as Congresswoman Barbara Lee and progressive members of Congress such as Dennis Kucinich sat in dumb-founded amazement at such a speech. The Major Goliath White media, however, lapped it up. He had effectively picked up his peace prize while not batting an eye about his proposed military build up of an additional 30,000 troops for Afghanistan. Never mind where the money is coming from to effectively stage such a troop increase. (Some experts predict it will cost a million dollars for each trooper due in part to the rough terrain and the lack of basic necessities such as running water and housing.)
Bogged down in trying to get more encompassing health care legislation passed, the President has not created or even given much more than lip service to the business community about creating the thousands of new jobs that are needed for the teeming numbers of unemployed Americans. (The unemployment rate is about 10 % as of December 2009). The Brother obviously needs some help on the innovation and clear and new thinking side of things in his Administration.
Moreover, Mr. Jefferson Smith (in the Capra movie), upon taking a bus tour of D.C. after he was appointed Senator was deeply and profoundly impressed with the words enshrined at the Lincoln Memorial. A child and an older Black man looked on as he took in the site. So many Americans have, once again, been disillusioned with Obama—the President who had reignited our hopes and dreams & gotten people who would never vote—young & old, Black & White—to vote and believe in him--has largely let us down. There is a new face on things, but bracing up the underpinnings of our Nation is a man who represents mostly the same old line of thinking that got us into the economic morass, war(s) and partisanship of the Bush Jr. years. Mr. Smith soon became disillusioned as he found out the work & difficulties involved in doing a seemingly simple thing like starting a national boy’s camp for orphaned and wayward boys in his home state…
I remember a few years ago during a trip to Washington, D.C. that I also was moved by the Lincoln Memorial. How even before Obama came on the scene, I felt our country could move past the economic morass and political partisanship it was stuck in during the Bush (Jr.) years and become something fresh, new & hopeful. Something was needed that would really help the less fortunate and reflect peace and tolerance instead of war profiteering, White world domination and exploitation & destruction of so-called Third World or developing countries across the globe. Lincoln reflected aspects of that ``something’’. I had worked so hard for 30 years to move things along in a progressive direction, but it seems things only work quickly in D.C. if you have the deep pockets &, frankly, White skin & connections to make this so. If you want to be a mover & shaker, and you have Black skin, if you are in or out of office, it appears you have to play the game, support the status quo & belly up with the insiders & the fat White money boys. That is if you want to ``make it’’ on the world stage. Who knows what kind of deals President Obama has made with the Wealthy? It certainly seems that there was some kind of an agreement that things would be changed as far as style, but the substance has mostly remained in tact…
I remember going door to door in Philadelphia to generate support for the REPARATIONS movement & I remember running as a write-in candidate for U.S. Senator from P.A. in 2005. I’ve tried so many things to bring the human rights agenda some heat and some light—some truth and some inspiration… Then reality sets in when we see Mr. Obama exclaiming the virtues of war in Oslo and never saying a blessed word about the U.S.’s undermining of peace throughout the world through military intervention and the unscrupulous work of the U.S. intelligence network including the NSA and the CIA (along with the rest of the multi-billion dollar North American intelligence Network). The Right Wing; the War Mongers; the defense contractors like Halliburton, GE and Lockheed Martin; Wealthy Republicans; the Pentagon Brass—they all have a new friend in Mr. Obama who was elected to change things, but who pealed off what little was left of his progressive skin and threw his chips in with the Status Quo in Oslo, Norway... I guess the old adage IS true—you can’t beat City Hall… But I for one look onward & know just like at the actual birth of this country in the 1700’s tyranny can & will be defeated. In all its’ forms, ways and means, tyranny will be defeated... Don’t let yourself be easily disillusioned, fooled & like Denzel Washington said as Malcolm X in Spike Lee’s 1992 film ``hoodwinked, fooled & bamboozled.’’ We as Black people can’t afford it. Keep your eyes on the prize and keep supporting people like Barbara Lee and Dennis Kucinich in Congress. Write them and let them know they are doing a wonderful job in keeping the progressive fires lit, hot, active and alive. Here are their addresses if you want to write them:
Congress Woman Barbara Lee
2444 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone # 202.225.2661
Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich
2445 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone # 202.225.5871
They are some of the REAL progressive thinkers and shapers of our progressive tomorrows along with Former Congress Woman Cynthia McKinney (of Atlanta, Georgia) who ran for President in 2008 under the Green Party banner. To Write Sister McKinney log onto:
www.AllthingsCynthiaMcKinney.com
Keep moving in the direction of Black Progress—forward each and every day. Keep your eyes on the prize: What is the Prize? The prize is real economic development; social justice, true freedom, equality; prosperity for our people; a coming of economic parity for the poor. Even political dynasties, deal makers; war itself may have to be thrown on the ash heap of history before this is all over. We must be ever vigilant, work hard and never, never give up !! Power to the people!!! Never give up!! Find new ways to take your issues to the powers that be; create your own power base by creating a Black business; organizing with other Black Business Men and Black Business Women to bring greater political leverage to progressive causes in D.C. and around the globe—throughout our Diaspora… If you have a few dollars to give please check out the organizations our company has given to on our web page at www.btganda.com. They need your support, especially in these economically hard times when grants and donations are drying up!!... But never give up and never give in!!
Why We Need Reparations and NOW!
Why We Need Reparations and now!!
I was involved with the REPARATIONS movement in Philadelphia for about three years. Most of my work centered on the work I did with a group called N’COBRA—the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. We met in North Philadelphia. The work was hard, but it was some of the most enjoyable political work I have ever done. I got to meet with other Black community leaders, political representatives in Washington, D.C. and their staffs as we traveled to D.C. to advocate for HR40—the bill that would have provided for money to ``study’’ the issue of REPARATIONS for Black Americans... The thought was that once we had the opportunity to study the issue properly, the American people and plenty of American legislators would see that some form of compensation for the over 200 years of chattel slavery that Blacks suffered under was in order and only fair. After all, some historians think that over 100 million Blacks were killed during the Middle Passage; over 2000 people--men, women and even children—were tortured, raped, shot castrated and or hung; discrimination still exists today; there was the reprehensible treatment of runaway slaves and the equally reprehensible history of the Jim Crow South; and the fact that Black men are still to this day steered towards prison and jail instead of school, college and other places for higher education. Not to mention an unemployment rate that is through the roof in some big cities. Someone needs to pay for the incredible double standards and the continuing discrimination that Black people suffer under in the housing and job market and in every other life passageway. If President Obama thinks he is going to get re-elected without handling this I know many REPARATIONS activists who have another thought in mind. I actually talked to a few Congressional Representatives and help them see the importance of HR40. A few signed on to the bill, others hedged and waited for more grass-roots support to bubble up from the community down under. Congressman John Conyers of Detroit, Michigan is the sponsor of HR40.
11-21-09
Questions about REPARATIONS for Sister Charlotte Harris of N’COBRA!! (The National Coalition of Blacks for REPARATIONS in America) Interviewed on 11-22-09
How long have you been actively working on the Reparations issue? What is your position with N’COBRA and what do you do professionally?
Maybe eight years.
I am Membership Chair of the Philadelphia Chapter of N’COBRA and An At large Board Member nationally of N’COBRA...
I am a Psycho Therapist by trade.
What exactly are reparations?
Reparations is a form of repair for what the U.S. government, businesses and the U.S. citizenry has done to us, the damage caused from their behavior from the 1400’s to now.
Why do you feel that Black people don’t know what they are and don’t feel they are ever going to get them?
``They don’t know for the same reasons everyone doesn’t know. They don’t know (because) they cannot make the connections. They haven’t had it taught to them the connections to the centuries long rape of Africa the theft of its resources, the theft of its land and the theft of its people which created the African Diaspora and present day vestiges of poverty, lack of health care , (and lack of) land ownership, justice and education. They don’t understand that the wealth this country (North America) has is connected to the 500 years of unfair, unjust malevolent behavior of European business, government and citizenry against Africans.’’
What does this disbelief or mental disconnect among people of African Descent do to the REPARATIONS movement itself?
``Besides frustrating me and making me sad it also reinforces the need for me to do more work towards educating my people towards the goal of REPARATIONS.’’
How can you and N’CORBA generate more mass support within the Black community?
``One way is to do a series of lectures and to speak at various organizations. Speak at various African organizations and to partner with various organizations & to join with various international Black organizations to work towards REPARATIONS. ‘’
What do you mean by partner?
``To join forces with World Wide African organizations that are striving towards Reparations.’’
Is support for reparations outside of the Black community important? Why or Why not?
``It is important because it will make less people to fight (against) to get reparations.’’
(1)
Will this support among Blacks alienate the White community and make them more hostile during these economically troubled times? (2) Will they (Whites) be jealous and take it out on Obama and other Black people if they see even an inkling of Black people getting any financial rewards for past and or even present injustices?
(1) ``No, the ones (Whites) who are already alienated and hostile are already alienated and hostile. We already have support among Whites they are not alienated and hostile. Most Caucasians already are against it because they deem us inhuman and not worthy of Reparations. They would have to admit that they had committed crimes against us and most Caucasians are not willing to admit that. They are still today benefiting from those crimes by the way society is structured today. They are less likely to be stopped by police, they are less likely to be killed by police, (they are) less likely to go to jail. They benefit by putting Black people in jail. The prison industrial complex benefits by putting Black people in jail. America has an army and employs mercenaries to kill Brown people all over the world. Businesses are designed to exploit people of color in America and around the world. ’’
(2) ``In order for Africans to be paid what is due us for our condition to be repaired, White people will be uncomfortable because the hierarchy that says GOD is a White man (and that) the President (is) a White men, will be changed. Black people are at the bottom. The pyramid hierarchy (of power) will change. In order to have justice the pyramid must change and end.’’
Where do we go from here? What are the plans of N’COBRA and how can the masses within the Black community help?
``The plans are to educate everyone and continue fighting for REPARATIONS. The masses of Black people can help by joining N’COBRA which is a mere $35 a year. (Or $20 a year if you don’t have a local chapter. )’’
I was involved with the REPARATIONS movement in Philadelphia for about three years. Most of my work centered on the work I did with a group called N’COBRA—the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. We met in North Philadelphia. The work was hard, but it was some of the most enjoyable political work I have ever done. I got to meet with other Black community leaders, political representatives in Washington, D.C. and their staffs as we traveled to D.C. to advocate for HR40—the bill that would have provided for money to ``study’’ the issue of REPARATIONS for Black Americans... The thought was that once we had the opportunity to study the issue properly, the American people and plenty of American legislators would see that some form of compensation for the over 200 years of chattel slavery that Blacks suffered under was in order and only fair. After all, some historians think that over 100 million Blacks were killed during the Middle Passage; over 2000 people--men, women and even children—were tortured, raped, shot castrated and or hung; discrimination still exists today; there was the reprehensible treatment of runaway slaves and the equally reprehensible history of the Jim Crow South; and the fact that Black men are still to this day steered towards prison and jail instead of school, college and other places for higher education. Not to mention an unemployment rate that is through the roof in some big cities. Someone needs to pay for the incredible double standards and the continuing discrimination that Black people suffer under in the housing and job market and in every other life passageway. If President Obama thinks he is going to get re-elected without handling this I know many REPARATIONS activists who have another thought in mind. I actually talked to a few Congressional Representatives and help them see the importance of HR40. A few signed on to the bill, others hedged and waited for more grass-roots support to bubble up from the community down under. Congressman John Conyers of Detroit, Michigan is the sponsor of HR40.
11-21-09
Questions about REPARATIONS for Sister Charlotte Harris of N’COBRA!! (The National Coalition of Blacks for REPARATIONS in America) Interviewed on 11-22-09
How long have you been actively working on the Reparations issue? What is your position with N’COBRA and what do you do professionally?
Maybe eight years.
I am Membership Chair of the Philadelphia Chapter of N’COBRA and An At large Board Member nationally of N’COBRA...
I am a Psycho Therapist by trade.
What exactly are reparations?
Reparations is a form of repair for what the U.S. government, businesses and the U.S. citizenry has done to us, the damage caused from their behavior from the 1400’s to now.
Why do you feel that Black people don’t know what they are and don’t feel they are ever going to get them?
``They don’t know for the same reasons everyone doesn’t know. They don’t know (because) they cannot make the connections. They haven’t had it taught to them the connections to the centuries long rape of Africa the theft of its resources, the theft of its land and the theft of its people which created the African Diaspora and present day vestiges of poverty, lack of health care , (and lack of) land ownership, justice and education. They don’t understand that the wealth this country (North America) has is connected to the 500 years of unfair, unjust malevolent behavior of European business, government and citizenry against Africans.’’
What does this disbelief or mental disconnect among people of African Descent do to the REPARATIONS movement itself?
``Besides frustrating me and making me sad it also reinforces the need for me to do more work towards educating my people towards the goal of REPARATIONS.’’
How can you and N’CORBA generate more mass support within the Black community?
``One way is to do a series of lectures and to speak at various organizations. Speak at various African organizations and to partner with various organizations & to join with various international Black organizations to work towards REPARATIONS. ‘’
What do you mean by partner?
``To join forces with World Wide African organizations that are striving towards Reparations.’’
Is support for reparations outside of the Black community important? Why or Why not?
``It is important because it will make less people to fight (against) to get reparations.’’
(1)
Will this support among Blacks alienate the White community and make them more hostile during these economically troubled times? (2) Will they (Whites) be jealous and take it out on Obama and other Black people if they see even an inkling of Black people getting any financial rewards for past and or even present injustices?
(1) ``No, the ones (Whites) who are already alienated and hostile are already alienated and hostile. We already have support among Whites they are not alienated and hostile. Most Caucasians already are against it because they deem us inhuman and not worthy of Reparations. They would have to admit that they had committed crimes against us and most Caucasians are not willing to admit that. They are still today benefiting from those crimes by the way society is structured today. They are less likely to be stopped by police, they are less likely to be killed by police, (they are) less likely to go to jail. They benefit by putting Black people in jail. The prison industrial complex benefits by putting Black people in jail. America has an army and employs mercenaries to kill Brown people all over the world. Businesses are designed to exploit people of color in America and around the world. ’’
(2) ``In order for Africans to be paid what is due us for our condition to be repaired, White people will be uncomfortable because the hierarchy that says GOD is a White man (and that) the President (is) a White men, will be changed. Black people are at the bottom. The pyramid hierarchy (of power) will change. In order to have justice the pyramid must change and end.’’
Where do we go from here? What are the plans of N’COBRA and how can the masses within the Black community help?
``The plans are to educate everyone and continue fighting for REPARATIONS. The masses of Black people can help by joining N’COBRA which is a mere $35 a year. (Or $20 a year if you don’t have a local chapter. )’’
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)