by Gloria Dulan-Wilson
Brothers and sisters, I just received this communique from Brothers James McIntosh and Omowale Clay in reference to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. And it looks as though the gauntlet has been thrown down - again.
I probably don’t really have to say anything, because their letter stands for itself. But that would be too easy, particularly when I, myself, as a New Yorker, have some very strong opinions and concerns about the future of one of the greatest repositories of Black Culture ever.
So, prior to my sharing their letter with you, allow me to make some simple statements (and you know that with me, nothing is ever “simple”).
In the first place who tells your story (our story) and who shapes your history (our history) has a great deal of control over you/us. It was for this reason that Arturo Schomburg started the Schomburg library in the first place. Not because he wanted the New York Public Library to control it, but because he wanted to be sure that our truth about us was in our hands and under our control. When he started the Schomburg collection, nobody was telling our story, and when they did it was distorted, full of lies, and as an afterthought.
Secondly, when it came to who would be the lead factor in the continuation of that truth and the flow of information for and about the Black community, we have been more than adequately served by Dr. Howard Dodson from 1982 to the present. Not only was Dodson a scholar, but he had flair, panache and a love of the Black community of New York and the world that could not be denied. And of course, we in turn loved him back. Under Dodson the Schomburg expanded, grew and became the central gathering place for scholars, students, celebrities -- all wanting to be a part of the very rich and live history that is ensconced within those walls.
We, the Black community, was very clear when we stated that Dr. Dodson’s stepping down would leave a hole in the community, and some very big footsteps to follow. Very big indeed. We were also very clear when we stated that in order for the progress that has been made under Dodson to continue unabated, we had already done our research and selected Dr. Molefi Asante, scholar, historian, and lover of Black people and their history to fill those considerable shoes.
As usual, as is their wont, it seems that white folks just can’t refrain from trying those divide and conquer games. They’ve been doing it since slavery, and they have it as a habit somewhere deep in their subconscious minds. Even though they don’t say it, it’s obvious that they still operate under the Plessy v. Ferguson case where Supreme Court (in-)Justice Roger B. Taney stated that a Black man had no rights that a white man was bound to respect.
And the New York Public Library’s ersatz search committee is operating under the same rubric. Even though a panel was held to discuss the upcoming selection of the successor to Dr. Dodson, and the Black community clearly expressed their selection (read choice), under LeClerc, they pretended to work with the Black community, having brought Dr. Asante to New York four (4!!!!!) times for interviews. Then, schizophrenically they turned in another direction and chose a complete and totally different candidate.
Then, adding insult to injury, they had the temerity and the gall to promulgate the announcement under the signature of Henry Louis “skip the truth” Gates!!
Gates of all people, who had the nerves to say that Black did not deserve reparations; followed some inanities stating that African had brought slavery upon themselves. If my memory serves me correctly - and it does - the Black community castigated Gates for not being or acting in the best interest of Black people It was obvious that Gates has drifted to the “white side” (not unlike Darth Vader’s drift to the dark side - same sinister meaning). In fact, I think we, the Black community, made it clear that Gates was not to have anything to do with the selection of our next head of the Schomburg because he had clearly shown his insensitivity to the needs of Black people (Gates defection to the “white side” is a story for another time - check www.gloriadulanwilson.blogspot for additional commentaries on Gates). His involvement in the affairs of Black New Yorkers was not welcome or desired.
Those wishes clearly were not honored either. So, thinking they can play their modern version of “divide and conquer,” the NYPL search committee (and those that back them who are the real culprits) are looking to pit two equally competent scholars (Asante and Muhammad) against each other, with the possibility of the Black community falling on either side of the line.
But the Black community has already spoken. And we did not stutter!! Just as we did not stutter in 1982 when we stood for Howard Dodson over the white selection for the Schomburg!
However, we are not going to play diversionary tactics with the vapid New York Public Library, either. The Schomburg Library is one of Harlem’s finest centers for Black History and Research. It was not designed by the NYPL. It will not be mismanaged by the NYPL, or those who only deign to show up and make decisions that are not in our best interest when it pleases them.
The Black community is solidly behind Dr. Asante, and will back up the Save the Schomburg Coalition in ensuring that our selection for head of the Schomburg, Dr. Molefi Asante, is the one who is hired. It’s our library; it’s our research center; it‘s our community. And Dr. Asante is our choice.
Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson
THE LETTER FROM THE COALITION FOLLOWS:
As many of you might know, The Save the Schomburg Coalition is engaged with the New York City Library in a battle for who will direct the Schomburg. Because we stepped to the library with a candidate of indisputable credentials of the highest order, Dr. Molefi Asante, they choose the familiar course of divide and conquer. After giving Dr. Asante four interviews the New York Library Administration (led by President Paul LeClerc) announced this past week the selection of Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, who they (the library) made great efforts to point out is the Great Grandson of Elijah Muhammad.
Although we can appreciate this young developing scholar, we thought it necessary to engage him in the context of what is at stake in Harlem today and the role WE must play in its defense and development.
The letter to our young brother follows - we will not be divided in this battle to Save The Schomburg. Please Forward far and wide, inclusive of whatever press contacts you know. A Luta Continua
Subject: SAVE THE SCHOMBURG: A CONVERSATION AMONG BROTHERS
November 24, 2010
Greetings Dr. Muhammad,
We know you are a person of quick understanding so we will be as brief as we can. In 1982, the NYC Public Library announced the appointment of a white curator of The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. We of the Schomburg Coalition let them know that this was unacceptable.
Demonstrations were held at the home of the appointee. Two of our members, Charles Barron who is currently a NYC Councilman, and Preston Wilcox, now an ancestor were arrested during that struggle. A lawsuit was filed against the Library by Attorney Alton Maddox and after a protracted struggle, the Library was forced to appoint Dr. Howard Dodson, selected by the Schomburg Coalition from the resumes that the City had previously thrown in the garbage.
When it was announced this year, that this position would soon again become open, we sent an open letter to Paul LeClerc, NYPL Board Chair. We informed Mr. LeClerc that America's foremost scholar in African/African-American History was making himself available for the Directorship of the Schomburg. A coalition once again formed (Save the Schomburg Coalition) to demand Dr. Molefi Asante's appointment.
The (New York Public Library) engaged in a public relations battle --writing letters to the Amsterdam News, New York City’s largest Black secular newspaper, claiming that some members of the Black community were responding to rumors that whites wanted to move the Library and dismantle it etc. They hired the foremost Black PR firm in the city to hold a community forum to assuage these concerns and the Coalition’s alleged response to “rumors”.
All of this was done to avoid dealing with a united effort to support Dr. Asante's selection. At that community forum, the coalition showed up in numbers and made the same demand. A few days after that a small meeting was held between NYPL Board Chair Paul LeClerc, officials from the library, the Mellon Foundation and 5 representatives of the Schomburg Coalition-- Dr. Adelaide Sanford, Charles Barron, Camille Yarbrough, and the two of us whose signatures appear at the end of this letter. Board Chair Paul LeClerc was given Dr. Asante's sixty page curriculum vitae, which documented his scholarship, administrative experience and teaching credentials; all evidence of a history of professionalism that has encompassed the publication of seventy books, over 400 published papers and being named by an international conference of African scholars as "one of the top ten greatest minds in the African world today”.
At that meeting, Mr. LeClerc was again informed that the Black community was poised to fight if Dr. Asante was not invited to apply for this position. Within 48 hours, Dr. Asante was invited to an interview - and so began an amended search process which involved Dr. Asante being interviewed a total of four times.
History informs our firm belief that the selection of Dr. Asante for the position of Director of the Schomburg Center, backed by an united Black community, inclusive of a united front of his colleagues (who declined their own consideration for the directorship in support of Dr. Asante’s candidacy), presented a formidable dilemma to the New York City Public Library System and the Bloomberg administration. Those candidates that had an inside track to the directorship, now had to compete with a Black man whose life’s work presented an insurmountable hurdle to overcome.
The NYPL eventually settled on a course of action they felt would divide our community by selecting a young Black man, with a blood linkage to a historic figure (Elijah Muhammad) of the Black Nationalist Movement in this country. We recognize you as a young and gifted African historian. As such, we thought it critical to put your selection to the Directorship of the Schomburg in the context of the history that has defined our struggle for community control over this valuable institution. In this context we would ask that you carefully review and evaluate the Schomburg struggle.
Most importantly, it is our hope that you understand that outside of the context of a Black community demand, Library officials such as, Mr. LeClerc, Henry "Skip the truth" Gates and their associates, would have attempted to choose a non-Black, as they did the last time this position became open. This letter is an open communication between the Schomburg Coalition and you. It is our request that you discuss with us the way forward in this situation, having been informed of the process that occurred before your appointment.
We recognize that you have been placed in a difficult situation. Let’s have a conversation that puts the integrity of our community first. We plan on sending an open letter to Paul LeClerc which will reflect the Coalition’s position on this critical community issue. We hope that at that time we/you will have a better insight into the history and direction of this fight to Save the Schomburg. Respectfully, James C. McIntosh, M.D. and Omowale Clay Co - Chairs, Coalition to Save the Schomburg(Formerly known as Schomburg Coalition)
FootNote from GDW:
Now that you’ve read the letter, there are several things that we must consider going forward. Both Dr. Asante and Dr. Muhammad are wonderfully talented, intelligent, empowered Black men. So we are not trying to set up any sort of situation that would dignify one while denigrating the other. We likewise are no longer willing to allow others to make key decisions for us, when we are perfectly capable of making them for ourselves.
When they purport to make these decisions it becomes “his-story” not history - or their story, not our story. When they try to keep us off balance, playing keep away with our rights, we have every right not to adhere to their edicts.
In case you haven’t been watching the international (world) news lately, it may be of interest to note that the rest of the world is likewise finding this out for themselves. In London, where there have been proposed massive cutbacks in education, the student, from elementary to college level have turned out enmass on the steps of Buckingham Palace to let it be know that “they’re mad as hell and aren’t going to take it any more. The surrounded the police, turned over a few police cars, and got the message across.
Not only are we facing the Schomburg leadership issue; Bloomberg is trying to foist Kathie Black on the community as the next Chancellor, even though the community has made it clear that she is patently unqualified. In New York we’re facing cutbacks in education, including public, charter and head start programs. We’re witnessing massive layoffs in our schools on both the public and charter school levels; and threatened job layoff at the city and state level, while at the same time they increase MTA and Transit costs; water bills, utilities, all increasing, while the needs of the people, of those who truly make up the communities are ignored. Why aren’t we as mad as hell like they are in other parts of the world. While Wall Street gets bonuses, we are getting banged. It’s time to do some “banging” back; make some national headlines.
Make it known that we are not sheep to be herded about while they take liberties with our liberty. So, after reading this, make sure you pass it on.
More importantly, though, get in touch with Dr. McIntosh and Omowale Clay to find out what you can do to help bring Molefi Asante on board as head of the Schomburg; and beyond that what do we need to do to shape our the Black community into a viable, supportive, empowered environment for us and our families.
In fact, if we can get the various groups who are objecting to the way things are being run (read, ruined) around here, to gather and not only protest, but shut down the city and the state simultaneously, we too might get some national and international attention.
The time for side lining, half stepping, fence sitting, or sending long distance support is past. It’s really time for visibility and viability.
The Schomburg is only emblematic of so many egregious acts perpetrated by the infrastructure against the Black community. It has to stop NOW. We not only have to stop it, but we have to make sure that we get what we want NOW.
Stay blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
EVENT ALERT: WATER BILL HELP NIGHT SPONSORED BY BRIDGE STREET DEVELOPMENT & COUNCILMAN ALBERT VANN DECEMBER 8
By Gloria Dulan-Wilson
Many of Brooklyn's home owners have been faced with the daunting task of maintaining the roof over their heads. It has become even more of a challenge because of the rising costs of utilities, including electrical, gas/oil and water.
For the first time home owners may lose their homes not only because of tax liens or mortgage delinquencies, but for water liens as well. In an effort to assist in bringing these charges under control, Bridge Street Development Corporation, in conjunction with Councilman Albert Vann and CIBS will sponsor a hands on workshop bringing the Department of Environment Protection to sit down and meet with you and try to restructure these payments so that they are manageable.
I strongly suggest that you get all your water bills together, big or small, and bring them along with your most recent readings with you. I also urge you to contact your neighbors, particularly the senior citizens who may be living on fixed incomes and really facing some challenges, and turn out en masse for this. This is for you, but you have to take advantage of it. We have to form a critical mass - i.e. a sufficient number of residents turning out is a clear indication that there is a need for parity in these bills.
It's up to you so show up. We are all great in breaking down the issues and problems to each other, but now we have to be as visible, viable and active in making sure we communicate those same concerns with the Water Company. The information below is for you, but make sure you forward copies to friends, families, associates. See you there.
WATER BILL HELP NIGHT DEP IS COMING TO YOUR COMMUNITY! Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Please join Council Member Albert Vann, Bridge Street Development Corporation, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, and the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford Stuyvesant for a Water Bill Help Night.
At the event you can:
Discuss your water bill one on one with a DEP Customer Service Representative.
Learn about other payment options.
Learn about the Water Debt Assistance Program: Customers who meet the eligibility
criteria can defer their unpaid water and sewer bill until the property is sold.
Sign up for the direct debit program: Customers who enroll in the direct debit
program will receive a 2% discount on their bill.
Learn about Automated Meter Reading (AMR) and what it means for you.
If you require additional information, please contact DEP at 718-595-7000 or visit DEP’s website at nyc.gov/dep.
TIME:
6:00 - 8:30 pm
LOCATION:
Boys and Girls High School
1700 Fulton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11213
TRANSPORTATION:
A or C train to Utica Avenue,
B25 to Schenectady Avenue, B46 to Fulton Street
Many of Brooklyn's home owners have been faced with the daunting task of maintaining the roof over their heads. It has become even more of a challenge because of the rising costs of utilities, including electrical, gas/oil and water.
For the first time home owners may lose their homes not only because of tax liens or mortgage delinquencies, but for water liens as well. In an effort to assist in bringing these charges under control, Bridge Street Development Corporation, in conjunction with Councilman Albert Vann and CIBS will sponsor a hands on workshop bringing the Department of Environment Protection to sit down and meet with you and try to restructure these payments so that they are manageable.
I strongly suggest that you get all your water bills together, big or small, and bring them along with your most recent readings with you. I also urge you to contact your neighbors, particularly the senior citizens who may be living on fixed incomes and really facing some challenges, and turn out en masse for this. This is for you, but you have to take advantage of it. We have to form a critical mass - i.e. a sufficient number of residents turning out is a clear indication that there is a need for parity in these bills.
It's up to you so show up. We are all great in breaking down the issues and problems to each other, but now we have to be as visible, viable and active in making sure we communicate those same concerns with the Water Company. The information below is for you, but make sure you forward copies to friends, families, associates. See you there.
WATER BILL HELP NIGHT DEP IS COMING TO YOUR COMMUNITY! Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Please join Council Member Albert Vann, Bridge Street Development Corporation, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, and the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford Stuyvesant for a Water Bill Help Night.
At the event you can:
Discuss your water bill one on one with a DEP Customer Service Representative.
Learn about other payment options.
Learn about the Water Debt Assistance Program: Customers who meet the eligibility
criteria can defer their unpaid water and sewer bill until the property is sold.
Sign up for the direct debit program: Customers who enroll in the direct debit
program will receive a 2% discount on their bill.
Learn about Automated Meter Reading (AMR) and what it means for you.
If you require additional information, please contact DEP at 718-595-7000 or visit DEP’s website at nyc.gov/dep.
TIME:
6:00 - 8:30 pm
LOCATION:
Boys and Girls High School
1700 Fulton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11213
TRANSPORTATION:
A or C train to Utica Avenue,
B25 to Schenectady Avenue, B46 to Fulton Street
Monday, November 22, 2010
AFRICAN UNION MOVES TO ESTABLISH STRONGER TIES WITH THE AFRICAN DIASPORA
By Gloria Dulan-Wilson
Hello All: My friend and colleague, Dr. Chika Onyeani sent me a press release recently that I am sharing with you in a slightly altered form. I’ve woven some of my own comments in with the release, in hopes that you will receive the message and be willing - no, compelled - to play a role in the liberation of Africa, that leads back to the ultimate liberation of African Americans and people of Black African heritage:
Somewhere back in the 1960’s Africans and African Americans began working to re-establish their linkages after 400 years of separation and cultural deprivation. During that time, the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements were running concurrently with what was then called African Liberation from Colonialism. Many African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Liberia, among others got their liberation from the colonial monsters of England, Germany, Italy, France, etc.
It we were on the path to reunification, as we African and African American Black men and women began to honor our lost African heritage. In the US we began wearing our hair “natural“, wearing African colors, and traditional African clothing and jewelry; reading African authors, studying African philosophy, learning to speak Yoruba, Ibo, Swahili, Lingala, and other African based languages; and making trips to the motherland to meet our long lost sisters and brothers.
We began studying, quoting and following quoting Nkrumah, Azikewe, Senghor, Frederick Douglass, Sekou Toure`, Chinua Achebe, Malcolm X, Jomo Kenyatta, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon, Soyinka, Carter G. Woodson, and other great African and African American writers and philosophers, who were popular during that time, and marveling at all the wonders of Africa that we had not been told about as a result of the pariah of slavery that had separated us for 400 + years.
It looked like we were on the right track and that things were coming together for us. Africans and African Americans united together again at last! What wonderful days they were!!
Unfortunately, while we were basking in the glory of our mutual admiration, love and respect for each other, the age old perennial enemy was busy putting together a formula that would undermine any further progress and reunification plans we may have had in mind. That formula and tactic was and is called DIVIDE AND CONQUER. And it is just as lethal today as it was then.
The next 40 years our African brothers and sisters were embroiled in bogus wars on our continent where Russian and American spent millions in dollars and rubles, flooding their economies to buy off those heads of state who were woefully unaware of the ploys in place to destabilize our efforts for unity and autonomy.
Russia and America brought the cold war to Africa, battling in Angola, Mozambique and other areas, that had nothing to do with the people who lived there, but more to do with the neo-colonial powers who wanted to keep us off balance while they continued to exploit us and rob us of natural resources.
{NOTE: I use 'w and us", interchangeably with "my and our" when it comes to Africa, because as far as I’m concerned we are really still one. To me geography does not change family.}
Simultaneously those same 40 years in America witnessed a concomitant loss of our moral compass here in the US, as our youth descended into drugs, guns, gangs, thugs, and a dumbing down of our educational system, to the extent that many of our children (and a goodly number of adults) are functionally illiterate, unskilled, semi-skilled, or “indigent.”
In an effort to rectify the massive problems we face both on the Continent and in the Diaspora, a recently held two-day African Diaspora Conference took place on October 21st and 22nd. Hosted by African Union Permanent Observer to the UN, and the African Union Embassy to the US in DC, it was initiated by the Addis Ababa Headquartered African Union Commission, and The African Diaspora Meeting Committee. The theme of the meeting was "Building Bridges Across the Atlantic."
Ambassador Amina Ali of what the DC-based African Union office had accomplished since opening in 2007. She aggressively delivered the essence of the AU Diaspora Initiative by traveling across the US, Canada, the Caribbean and Central/South American countries. The message was the need for the Diaspora to recognize its important role to Africa and the African Union, especially as the Sixth Region of the Union. Ambassador Ali stayed throughout the two-day meeting, helping to guide the deliberations of the meeting.
Consequently CIDO Director, Dr. Adisa, provided more reasons of why the meeting had been convened, calling it a "precedent setting event, which we hope will set the pace for an annual consultation process with the African Diaspora in US, the Caribbean and Central//South America, Europe and the Middle-East, amongst others. In organizational terms, this is also an exercise in inter-collegiality that serves as an inspiration for the Commission and various organs of the Union to work together as one in the spirit of cooperation and solidarity that underpins the purpose of the African Union."
Dr. Adisa discussed the different sectors of the African Union, including "Objectives of This Dialogue," "The Initiative Within the Context of the Development of the African Union," "Rebuilding the Global African Family," "Definition of the African Diaspora," "Engagement Strategies,""Organizational Processes," ending with the "Global African Diaspora Summit."
Dr. Adisa covered the processes that led to the recognition of the Diaspora as a Sixth Region of the African Union. "Soon after the launching of the African Union in Durban, South Africa in 2002," he said, "the Assembly of Heads of States met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to establish, among other things, a legal framework that would create the necessary and sufficient conditions for putting this decision into effect. Hence, it adopted the Protocol of the Amendment to the Constitutive Act of the Union, which in Article 3(q) invited the African Diaspora to participate fully as an important component in the building of the African Union.
In adopting the decision," he continued, "the Protocol symbolically recognized the Diaspora as an important and separate, but related, constituency outside the five established regions of Africa - East, West, Central, North and South. Thus, although there is no specific legal or political text that states this categorically, it, in effect, created a symbolic sixth region of Africa."
Regarding the definition of the African Diaspora, Dr. Adisa said that a meeting of Experts from Member States had met in 2005 and adopted the following definition, "The African Diaspora consists of peoples of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and building of the African Union."
Dr. Adisa stated that many debates and disagreements on the definition of diaspora had taken place. There were those who felt the need for "academic" and "intellectual" aspects to the definition, while others thought it should be related to the political needs of the Union.
Another group preferred the need to add "permanently" to "living outside the continent. "Others," he said, "argued that the phrase "willingness to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union" should be left out. Nothing, they felt, should be demanded or expected from the Diaspora.
According to Dr. Adisa, the African Union preferred its earlier definition, which encompasses the following:
(a) Bloodline and/or heritage: The Diaspora should consist of people living outside the continent whose ancestral roots or heritage are in Black Africa;
(b) Migration: The Diaspora should be composed of people of Black African heritage, who migrated from or are living outside the continent. In this context, three trends of migration were identified - pre-slave trade, slave trade, and post-salve trade or modern migration;
(c) The principle of inclusiveness: The definition must embrace both ancient and modern Diaspora; and
(d) The commitment to the African case: The Diaspora should be people who are willing to be part of the continent (or the African family).
A special African Diaspora Task Team, elected by the constituency, is in the process of formulating a progress report detailing the accomplishments thus far. The Task Team consists of six members. Five elements had been identified as a guide to what the Task Team should consist of: Afro-Latinos, Community, Gender, Media, and Youth. Members of the Task Team, include Dr. Georgina Falu for Afro-Latinos, Mr. Sidique Wai and Mr. Omowale Clay, for Community, Ms. Kathy Jenkins Ewa for Gender, Dr. Chika A. Onyeani for Media, and Engr. Daniel Ochweri for Youth. The Task Team was later given their terms of mandate within which to work, report and conclude their assignment within three months.
Dr. Chika A. Onyeani, noted economist, author, and publisher of the African Sun Times, and chair of the African Diaspora Task Team, voiced concerns about several challenges Africans and African Americans face, both on the Continent and in the US Diaspora:
1) Being victimized by the media’s portrayal of Africans and African Americans in the news (which is not helped by the fact that there are still internecine wars in the Sudan and other areas, with children being pressed into service and women being beaten and raped);
2) Leaders and heads of state who pay millions of dollars to mainstream white media to write about them, while I gnoring their own Black and African news media;
3) Not having the necessary basic and professional trade skills to fulfill the current demands for building, repair or development services (here and in Africa).
Stated Onyeani, “If you need to build something, or if something needs to be repaired in Africa, we have to rely on whites (and now the Chinese) to do the job. Their prices are usually overly high, and you really don’t know if they are doing the job properly or not because you don’t have the skill or experience yourself.”
One of the key things Onyeani is hoping will come of this new collaboration between the Diaspora and Africa, is a broader based coverage of African and African American news via our newspapers. Training programs that can be exported to Africa by skilled and licensed tradesmen in the fields of plumbing, electricity and electronics, agriculture, green technologies, health and hygiene and educational programs.
“This is the 21st Century. If we have to develop some kind of boot camp so that this training is spread throughout all of Africa, then that’s what we must do. The Diaspora has a great role to play in this, because many of them have those skill sets that we need,” stated Onyeani intensely.
Likewise, the attention to the need to collaborate on business development and support was covered at the conference. Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Malawi Mr. Brian Bowler, Chairman of the African Ambassadorial Group, exhorted his colleagues to be more creative in doing business with the Diaspora. "For example," he said, "during the UN General Assembly meeting each September, let's assume that each of the 53 African countries spend just $500,000 (with a Black business), we are talking $25 million that could go to an African Diaspora company. That's $25 million in less than one month!"
As Chairman of the African Union, Ambassador Bowler represents President Binbu wa Mutharika of Malawi. He challenged his colleagues to look for African Diaspora companies to do business with. He also felt the relationship with the Diaspora should not be a one-way street, "especially as a businessman who owns three breweries in three different African countries."
Finally, in regards to the importance the African Union attached to the Diaspora, Dr. Adisa stated that sixty per cent of the AU Recruitment Committee consisted of individuals from the African Diaspora. and how he himself attained his present position after interviewing with two recruitment committees chaired by African Diaspora.
On October 21, an Award Dinner, organized by Nation to Nation Networking (NNN) CEO Ms. Abaynesh Asarat, in collaboration with the African Union was held at Club 51st Street. In attendance was His Excellency Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, the African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security.
Award recipients included Elinor Tatum of the Amsterdam News; Dr. Kwame Akonor, Director of the African Development Institute; Dr. Muriel Petioni, M.D., the "Mother of Medicine in Harlem"; Dabney N. Montgomery, of Harlem Community Board 10; and Mr. Seri Remy Gnoleba, Chairman of the African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S.
Other AU officials participants included Mr. Anthony Okara, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Bureau of the Deputy Chairperson, Dr. Jinmi Adisa, Diaspora Director of the African Union Commission (Citizens And Diaspora Directorate (CIDO); Dr. Fareed Arthur, Advisor (Strategic Matters, Bureau of the Deputy Chairperson of the Commission), Mr. Wuyi Omitoogun (Expert, Diaspora Relations, CIDO) and Ms. Nadia Roguiai (Expert, ECOSOCC, CIDO).
Two African Union Ambassadors in the United States, who attended, were Ambassador Tete Antonio, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations; and Ambassador Amina Salum Ali, Ambassador of the African Union to the United States, Washington, DC. Much gratitude and appreciation to these two for their involvement in the planning and coordination of this first ever conference.
But it doesn’t stop there. We have a great role to play in this, both here in the Diaspora of the US and in our home continent of Africa. We have to put our considerably creative minds together and begin to unify. There was a saying, created by Alma Johns, “each one teach one, each one, reach one!” that has to be our mantra as we begin to reach out to our African brothers and sisters and reach in to our fellow diasporan brothers and sisters.
In much the same way other imigrants who come here support their “mother or father land”, we have to do the same. Otherwise, we will be the only race of people on the planet to not have supported their own mother land, and become the only continent in the world laboring under the heavy heeled boots of European and Chinese exploiters, instead of being in control of our own destiny and quality of life.
Yes, it’s a tall order, especially at a time when the US is undergoing an economic “crises”. But that does not mitigate the fact that it has to be done and done now. WHEN NO ONE ELSE WILL SAVE YOU, SAVE YOURSELF.
As brother Marcus Garvey said, “Rise up, you might race, you can accomplish what you will!”
And let's not also forget that President Barack Obama is one of the brightest and the best ever produced by both Africa and the Diaspora, and can be an inspiration to us all in what we can do when we put our minds, our might, our discipline and our unity to it. And the time for that to happen is NOW.
Inquiries and comments should be addressed to Dr. Georgina Falu, Secretary to the ADTT Board at email: falug@aol.com or to African Diaspora Task Team of the African Union c/o The Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union to the United Nations, 305 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017 Tel. : 212-319-5490, Fax: 319-7135; email: AUDTT2011@gmail.com
STAY BLESSED &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson
Hello All: My friend and colleague, Dr. Chika Onyeani sent me a press release recently that I am sharing with you in a slightly altered form. I’ve woven some of my own comments in with the release, in hopes that you will receive the message and be willing - no, compelled - to play a role in the liberation of Africa, that leads back to the ultimate liberation of African Americans and people of Black African heritage:
Somewhere back in the 1960’s Africans and African Americans began working to re-establish their linkages after 400 years of separation and cultural deprivation. During that time, the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements were running concurrently with what was then called African Liberation from Colonialism. Many African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Liberia, among others got their liberation from the colonial monsters of England, Germany, Italy, France, etc.
It we were on the path to reunification, as we African and African American Black men and women began to honor our lost African heritage. In the US we began wearing our hair “natural“, wearing African colors, and traditional African clothing and jewelry; reading African authors, studying African philosophy, learning to speak Yoruba, Ibo, Swahili, Lingala, and other African based languages; and making trips to the motherland to meet our long lost sisters and brothers.
We began studying, quoting and following quoting Nkrumah, Azikewe, Senghor, Frederick Douglass, Sekou Toure`, Chinua Achebe, Malcolm X, Jomo Kenyatta, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon, Soyinka, Carter G. Woodson, and other great African and African American writers and philosophers, who were popular during that time, and marveling at all the wonders of Africa that we had not been told about as a result of the pariah of slavery that had separated us for 400 + years.
It looked like we were on the right track and that things were coming together for us. Africans and African Americans united together again at last! What wonderful days they were!!
Unfortunately, while we were basking in the glory of our mutual admiration, love and respect for each other, the age old perennial enemy was busy putting together a formula that would undermine any further progress and reunification plans we may have had in mind. That formula and tactic was and is called DIVIDE AND CONQUER. And it is just as lethal today as it was then.
The next 40 years our African brothers and sisters were embroiled in bogus wars on our continent where Russian and American spent millions in dollars and rubles, flooding their economies to buy off those heads of state who were woefully unaware of the ploys in place to destabilize our efforts for unity and autonomy.
Russia and America brought the cold war to Africa, battling in Angola, Mozambique and other areas, that had nothing to do with the people who lived there, but more to do with the neo-colonial powers who wanted to keep us off balance while they continued to exploit us and rob us of natural resources.
{NOTE: I use 'w and us", interchangeably with "my and our" when it comes to Africa, because as far as I’m concerned we are really still one. To me geography does not change family.}
Simultaneously those same 40 years in America witnessed a concomitant loss of our moral compass here in the US, as our youth descended into drugs, guns, gangs, thugs, and a dumbing down of our educational system, to the extent that many of our children (and a goodly number of adults) are functionally illiterate, unskilled, semi-skilled, or “indigent.”
In an effort to rectify the massive problems we face both on the Continent and in the Diaspora, a recently held two-day African Diaspora Conference took place on October 21st and 22nd. Hosted by African Union Permanent Observer to the UN, and the African Union Embassy to the US in DC, it was initiated by the Addis Ababa Headquartered African Union Commission, and The African Diaspora Meeting Committee. The theme of the meeting was "Building Bridges Across the Atlantic."
Ambassador Amina Ali of what the DC-based African Union office had accomplished since opening in 2007. She aggressively delivered the essence of the AU Diaspora Initiative by traveling across the US, Canada, the Caribbean and Central/South American countries. The message was the need for the Diaspora to recognize its important role to Africa and the African Union, especially as the Sixth Region of the Union. Ambassador Ali stayed throughout the two-day meeting, helping to guide the deliberations of the meeting.
Consequently CIDO Director, Dr. Adisa, provided more reasons of why the meeting had been convened, calling it a "precedent setting event, which we hope will set the pace for an annual consultation process with the African Diaspora in US, the Caribbean and Central//South America, Europe and the Middle-East, amongst others. In organizational terms, this is also an exercise in inter-collegiality that serves as an inspiration for the Commission and various organs of the Union to work together as one in the spirit of cooperation and solidarity that underpins the purpose of the African Union."
Dr. Adisa discussed the different sectors of the African Union, including "Objectives of This Dialogue," "The Initiative Within the Context of the Development of the African Union," "Rebuilding the Global African Family," "Definition of the African Diaspora," "Engagement Strategies,""Organizational Processes," ending with the "Global African Diaspora Summit."
Dr. Adisa covered the processes that led to the recognition of the Diaspora as a Sixth Region of the African Union. "Soon after the launching of the African Union in Durban, South Africa in 2002," he said, "the Assembly of Heads of States met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to establish, among other things, a legal framework that would create the necessary and sufficient conditions for putting this decision into effect. Hence, it adopted the Protocol of the Amendment to the Constitutive Act of the Union, which in Article 3(q) invited the African Diaspora to participate fully as an important component in the building of the African Union.
In adopting the decision," he continued, "the Protocol symbolically recognized the Diaspora as an important and separate, but related, constituency outside the five established regions of Africa - East, West, Central, North and South. Thus, although there is no specific legal or political text that states this categorically, it, in effect, created a symbolic sixth region of Africa."
Regarding the definition of the African Diaspora, Dr. Adisa said that a meeting of Experts from Member States had met in 2005 and adopted the following definition, "The African Diaspora consists of peoples of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and building of the African Union."
Dr. Adisa stated that many debates and disagreements on the definition of diaspora had taken place. There were those who felt the need for "academic" and "intellectual" aspects to the definition, while others thought it should be related to the political needs of the Union.
Another group preferred the need to add "permanently" to "living outside the continent. "Others," he said, "argued that the phrase "willingness to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union" should be left out. Nothing, they felt, should be demanded or expected from the Diaspora.
According to Dr. Adisa, the African Union preferred its earlier definition, which encompasses the following:
(a) Bloodline and/or heritage: The Diaspora should consist of people living outside the continent whose ancestral roots or heritage are in Black Africa;
(b) Migration: The Diaspora should be composed of people of Black African heritage, who migrated from or are living outside the continent. In this context, three trends of migration were identified - pre-slave trade, slave trade, and post-salve trade or modern migration;
(c) The principle of inclusiveness: The definition must embrace both ancient and modern Diaspora; and
(d) The commitment to the African case: The Diaspora should be people who are willing to be part of the continent (or the African family).
A special African Diaspora Task Team, elected by the constituency, is in the process of formulating a progress report detailing the accomplishments thus far. The Task Team consists of six members. Five elements had been identified as a guide to what the Task Team should consist of: Afro-Latinos, Community, Gender, Media, and Youth. Members of the Task Team, include Dr. Georgina Falu for Afro-Latinos, Mr. Sidique Wai and Mr. Omowale Clay, for Community, Ms. Kathy Jenkins Ewa for Gender, Dr. Chika A. Onyeani for Media, and Engr. Daniel Ochweri for Youth. The Task Team was later given their terms of mandate within which to work, report and conclude their assignment within three months.
Dr. Chika A. Onyeani, noted economist, author, and publisher of the African Sun Times, and chair of the African Diaspora Task Team, voiced concerns about several challenges Africans and African Americans face, both on the Continent and in the US Diaspora:
1) Being victimized by the media’s portrayal of Africans and African Americans in the news (which is not helped by the fact that there are still internecine wars in the Sudan and other areas, with children being pressed into service and women being beaten and raped);
2) Leaders and heads of state who pay millions of dollars to mainstream white media to write about them, while I gnoring their own Black and African news media;
3) Not having the necessary basic and professional trade skills to fulfill the current demands for building, repair or development services (here and in Africa).
Stated Onyeani, “If you need to build something, or if something needs to be repaired in Africa, we have to rely on whites (and now the Chinese) to do the job. Their prices are usually overly high, and you really don’t know if they are doing the job properly or not because you don’t have the skill or experience yourself.”
One of the key things Onyeani is hoping will come of this new collaboration between the Diaspora and Africa, is a broader based coverage of African and African American news via our newspapers. Training programs that can be exported to Africa by skilled and licensed tradesmen in the fields of plumbing, electricity and electronics, agriculture, green technologies, health and hygiene and educational programs.
“This is the 21st Century. If we have to develop some kind of boot camp so that this training is spread throughout all of Africa, then that’s what we must do. The Diaspora has a great role to play in this, because many of them have those skill sets that we need,” stated Onyeani intensely.
Likewise, the attention to the need to collaborate on business development and support was covered at the conference. Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Malawi Mr. Brian Bowler, Chairman of the African Ambassadorial Group, exhorted his colleagues to be more creative in doing business with the Diaspora. "For example," he said, "during the UN General Assembly meeting each September, let's assume that each of the 53 African countries spend just $500,000 (with a Black business), we are talking $25 million that could go to an African Diaspora company. That's $25 million in less than one month!"
As Chairman of the African Union, Ambassador Bowler represents President Binbu wa Mutharika of Malawi. He challenged his colleagues to look for African Diaspora companies to do business with. He also felt the relationship with the Diaspora should not be a one-way street, "especially as a businessman who owns three breweries in three different African countries."
Finally, in regards to the importance the African Union attached to the Diaspora, Dr. Adisa stated that sixty per cent of the AU Recruitment Committee consisted of individuals from the African Diaspora. and how he himself attained his present position after interviewing with two recruitment committees chaired by African Diaspora.
On October 21, an Award Dinner, organized by Nation to Nation Networking (NNN) CEO Ms. Abaynesh Asarat, in collaboration with the African Union was held at Club 51st Street. In attendance was His Excellency Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, the African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security.
Award recipients included Elinor Tatum of the Amsterdam News; Dr. Kwame Akonor, Director of the African Development Institute; Dr. Muriel Petioni, M.D., the "Mother of Medicine in Harlem"; Dabney N. Montgomery, of Harlem Community Board 10; and Mr. Seri Remy Gnoleba, Chairman of the African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S.
Other AU officials participants included Mr. Anthony Okara, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Bureau of the Deputy Chairperson, Dr. Jinmi Adisa, Diaspora Director of the African Union Commission (Citizens And Diaspora Directorate (CIDO); Dr. Fareed Arthur, Advisor (Strategic Matters, Bureau of the Deputy Chairperson of the Commission), Mr. Wuyi Omitoogun (Expert, Diaspora Relations, CIDO) and Ms. Nadia Roguiai (Expert, ECOSOCC, CIDO).
Two African Union Ambassadors in the United States, who attended, were Ambassador Tete Antonio, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations; and Ambassador Amina Salum Ali, Ambassador of the African Union to the United States, Washington, DC. Much gratitude and appreciation to these two for their involvement in the planning and coordination of this first ever conference.
But it doesn’t stop there. We have a great role to play in this, both here in the Diaspora of the US and in our home continent of Africa. We have to put our considerably creative minds together and begin to unify. There was a saying, created by Alma Johns, “each one teach one, each one, reach one!” that has to be our mantra as we begin to reach out to our African brothers and sisters and reach in to our fellow diasporan brothers and sisters.
In much the same way other imigrants who come here support their “mother or father land”, we have to do the same. Otherwise, we will be the only race of people on the planet to not have supported their own mother land, and become the only continent in the world laboring under the heavy heeled boots of European and Chinese exploiters, instead of being in control of our own destiny and quality of life.
Yes, it’s a tall order, especially at a time when the US is undergoing an economic “crises”. But that does not mitigate the fact that it has to be done and done now. WHEN NO ONE ELSE WILL SAVE YOU, SAVE YOURSELF.
As brother Marcus Garvey said, “Rise up, you might race, you can accomplish what you will!”
And let's not also forget that President Barack Obama is one of the brightest and the best ever produced by both Africa and the Diaspora, and can be an inspiration to us all in what we can do when we put our minds, our might, our discipline and our unity to it. And the time for that to happen is NOW.
Inquiries and comments should be addressed to Dr. Georgina Falu, Secretary to the ADTT Board at email: falug@aol.com or to African Diaspora Task Team of the African Union c/o The Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union to the United Nations, 305 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017 Tel. : 212-319-5490, Fax: 319-7135; email: AUDTT2011@gmail.com
STAY BLESSED &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Vampires Take Congress in 2010 Midterm Elections
by Gloria Dulan-Wilson
Well Halloween just ended, but the night of horror lingers on in another, more heinous form. It’s interesting. I used to think that America’s fascination with vampires only extended to television and the movies. I used to try to figure out why all of a sudden we had a new spate of vampire oriented movies - even vampire love stories where mortals are actually involved romantically with these evil mythical characters. Worse yet, there are now actually TV vampires with a conscious who actually have scruples and fight each other to save their mortal counterparts from their blood-sucking peers.
But now I understand. Americans are fascinated with vampires! They keep bringing them back over and over and over again, because they are gluttons for these abusive blood suckers. Americans love abuse. It’s what they know. They lionize them, make TV series about them, write novels and diaries about them.
But the most serious issue yet is this: Americans elect vampires to Congress! Which is exactly what happened on Tuesday, November 2, 2010.
So it must be obvious that Americans love blood suckers. It’s perfectly clear to me now. They are suckers for blood suckers. This is why they could allow one to be elected president for 8 years and never complain. Oh, they might gripe and grumble, but take action against them. Absolutely not. They're too in love with the pain. Why else would they allow them to hold positions that bleed them dry in every conceivable way. They practically open and expose their necks to make sure they hit the right vein!
The ignorance and gullability of mainstream white america for Vampires is in their blood. The practice of such nefarious acts of racism, ethnic cleansing, greed, malfeasance, environmental desecration, unjust wars, and economic apartheid - under the direction of the former head of the CIA (who they “selected” president); and his offsprings - another blood sucker who was "selected" president (twice); who wrecked the economy, drained the nation of its lifeblood are characteristic of political vampires. These "Bushwhackers" have left us lifeless and listless, trying to get transfusions from any source possible to resussitate those who are now walking zombies.
So, of course, when a hero, such as President Barack Obama, comes through who would restore the mainstream back to health, they can’t handle it. He has done everything short of driving a stake through their hearts to provide America with a stability it has never had; while at the same time trying to rid them of the vermin and residual horrors that have permeated the government and contaminated the system under the previous administration, ever since they started using their powers for evil back in the 60’s.
Vampire lovers would rather go back to the bad old days and the enemy they know, who skillfully used the power of propaganda to lie to their face while stabbing them in the back, than to do the right thing. They would rather be sucked bone dry, down to the marrow. Like having Dracula in the middle of the night, those whose will has been bent under the psychological brain drain, find themselves going back for more punishment.
The Tea Party and the Republican Party message is literally: "I want to suck your blood." They may claim to be talking about taxes, but what they're really talking about is how to bring more pain, while they and their cronies get over like fat rats in a cheese factory. That's what they did when they broke the economy. That's what they did when they stopped unemployment payments. That's what they tried to do when they tried to block the health care bill. That's what they've done since they jumped ship from the Democrat party and invaded the Republican Party, which was originally the party of Abraham Lincoln, and began to cannibalize the members until it is now a mere shadow of its former self. Talk about vampires (Oklahoma got caught in that switcheroo, and by the time they found out what was going on, it was too late -- the vampires now roam the plains).
Their complaints that things are not moving fast enough are bogus. They took eight years to destroy the economy and take a surplus and turn it into a major deficit. Their complaint that the rich are getting richer, and we’re not getting anything, is because they can't get the under the table money they've been accustomed to receiving.
But we also have to face the fact that some of the Democrats who call themselves “blue dog” may actually be more racist than right wing Republicans. Some of these blue dogs have conspired against the President, putting U.S. in the middle of even more madness. These are the vampires' minions. They pretend to be with us while steering us into their lair; or openly block policies that would be beneficial, because they tbemselves are vampire wannabees. This leaves us open to even more ridicule as the rest of the world watch us get bogged down with infighting. So, if in disgust the voters throw out the baby with the proverbial bathwater to try to get rid of them, it's only natural. That's what the mid-term elections are about!
Here they go again. Talk about your self fulfilling prophecies!!
But, now that I understand what the real underlying problem is - America’s love of political vampires - I for one won’t be trying to defend or rationalize this situation any more. I will stop trying to put a hopeful spin on these issues. I will stop trying to show white America all the wonderful things President Obama has accomplished under these most difficult of times.
I now understand that vampires, when they’re going for blood, could care less about human benefits, humanity, love, equality, or anything else. They carry their coffins around with them so that they only have to have a very surface interaction with you - just enough to get your blood and go to the next victim.
No, my concern is now to continue to talk to our base - us, we, Black folks. I want to make sure that we are no longer on the late show. I want to make sure we have plenty of crosses to wear around our necks (Vampires hate God/Good); to keep garlic around the periphery of our domiciles, to always operate in the sunshine so we can see through the bull and maintain transparency. We have to keep plenty of mirrors on the walls. Remember, vampires have no reflection because they have no souls. We on the other hand, the people of soul, are required to make sure, as the man/woman in the mirror, that we “make that change” Bro. Michael Jackson sang about.
Like “Buffy” the vampire hunter, we have an obligation, locally and nationally to make sure that the Tea Party/Republican/Right Wing/Racist vampires know that we are not allowing them to suck our blood. We will not let them undo the good that has been done. We are protecting ourselves and our families, and expanding our bases of power.
We are gathering around our heroes, especially President Barack Obama. We will equip him (and ourselves) with the oak stake and silver bullets. We will continue to support him in his effort to keep America from becoming Transylvania.
We are, as Stevie Wonder says, “amused, but not amazed” by the things they do. While they may have made some interim advances in the so called mid term elections, to us it’s nothing more than the same propaganda you proffered when Clinton was president. It’s the same big business vampires as usual trying to undermine the people who are the life’s blood of this country.
But this time we see them for who they are; we really smell the sulphur! Their fangs will be broken, their wings will be clipped, and we’ll send them back to their lair in the caves from which they emanated. The cobwebs are being swept aside, and we’re burying the corpse of their last bankrupt administration with them.
We now know our power. We are strong and getting even stronger, despite your efforts to make it seem otherwise. We have already wrought miracles by electing the greatest President this country has ever seen -- Barack Hussein Obama. We know he is the greatest president because he is catching so much flack from the vampires who feel themselves being threatened by his power. They are pulling out all stops to keep us as their victims.
Now we have to pull out all the stops to stop them. As an old African Proverb says: “Snake at your feet, stick at your side!” (now I truly hope I don’t have to explain this to you; it should be obvious. But just in case you don’t get it, I’m not talking about physically beating anyone up. I’m talking about gathering our forces to be impervious to any further incursions on our intelligence, our souls and our lives). Vampires can no longer exert psychological warfare on our hearts, minds and soul -- or our livelihoods.
For starters, we will stop regurgitating chapter and verse everything we hear on the Continuously Negative News Network (CNN- uh N), or read in the white newspapers! Stop quoting stats, becoming part of their self-fulfilling prophesies (you know the ones that say that Blacks are more likely to lose, be poor, sick or unhappy, or what ever), and then we go about trying to make those predictions reality. We quote this crap as a way of showing that we are well read, not realizing that what we are really doing making ourselves fit into their narrow negative view of who they say we are.
Our words have power, because they mirror our thoughts. Thoughts are things. The things we see around us are a result of the thoughts we think. They manifest into reality. So if we let political vampires program our thoughts so that we are thinking the worst of ourselves, and then acting them out in reality, we have very much invited these vampire into our homes via our psyches.
On that note, I want to give kudos to my fellow New Yorkers, regardless of race and ethnicity. We’ve proven in New York that we are no longer part of the mass mind group think syndrome. We are no longer schizophrenic -- you know, predominantly Democrats in number, yet allowing our state to be run by Republicans (I.e. Pataki, Giuliani). We are well on the way to getting the vampires out of our midsts.
Yeah, I know - the Freedom Party didn’t fare so well this time around. But they took a major stand to shake off the vampires as well. That stand will be the basis for even greater accomplishments down the road. By the way, I think they should join forces with Brother Jimmy McMillan (The Rent is Too Damned High candidate), and begin to consolidate those efforts and energies to help even more people get out from under the influence of the vampire. His message was/is every bit as much compelling as that of the Freedom Party. Besides I love his wit and humor, laced with matter of fact veracities that can’t be escaped or evaded. Nothing like humor to get the point across - especially when you're serious.
Whatever we do, we must do it now, and keep it going. Now is the time to expand the numbers of our vampire slayers so that we can make it to 2012 with our souls and lives intact. We cannot walk around like zombies and disembodied souls, devoid of will or focus, allowing the vampires to think they’ve gotten away with anything. Already they're getting comfortable, gaining confidence. Bush came out from under his rock and is doing an interview with Matt Lauer. The 700 Club is getting bolder on TV with it's negative news couched in Christianity. It's a entire short time between now and the next election. We have to start now to make sure they are completely out again in 2012).
Like President Obama, we don’t give up and we don’t quit. Vampires, the embodiment of evil, have been made into heroes by Americans, while the real hero, has been miscast as the villain.
And since like their predecessors -- Nixon, Regan, Bush, Ford -- these vampires are up to their old tricks, it's up to us to treat them like the evil they really are. But instead of saying "be afraid, be very afraid," I will say be aware, be very aware. And then take necessary action to stop them before they spread and multiply.
It's time to tell the truth, shame the devil, and save the soul of America, in spite of themselves. And remember, the soul you save may be your own.
So Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson
Well Halloween just ended, but the night of horror lingers on in another, more heinous form. It’s interesting. I used to think that America’s fascination with vampires only extended to television and the movies. I used to try to figure out why all of a sudden we had a new spate of vampire oriented movies - even vampire love stories where mortals are actually involved romantically with these evil mythical characters. Worse yet, there are now actually TV vampires with a conscious who actually have scruples and fight each other to save their mortal counterparts from their blood-sucking peers.
But now I understand. Americans are fascinated with vampires! They keep bringing them back over and over and over again, because they are gluttons for these abusive blood suckers. Americans love abuse. It’s what they know. They lionize them, make TV series about them, write novels and diaries about them.
But the most serious issue yet is this: Americans elect vampires to Congress! Which is exactly what happened on Tuesday, November 2, 2010.
So it must be obvious that Americans love blood suckers. It’s perfectly clear to me now. They are suckers for blood suckers. This is why they could allow one to be elected president for 8 years and never complain. Oh, they might gripe and grumble, but take action against them. Absolutely not. They're too in love with the pain. Why else would they allow them to hold positions that bleed them dry in every conceivable way. They practically open and expose their necks to make sure they hit the right vein!
The ignorance and gullability of mainstream white america for Vampires is in their blood. The practice of such nefarious acts of racism, ethnic cleansing, greed, malfeasance, environmental desecration, unjust wars, and economic apartheid - under the direction of the former head of the CIA (who they “selected” president); and his offsprings - another blood sucker who was "selected" president (twice); who wrecked the economy, drained the nation of its lifeblood are characteristic of political vampires. These "Bushwhackers" have left us lifeless and listless, trying to get transfusions from any source possible to resussitate those who are now walking zombies.
So, of course, when a hero, such as President Barack Obama, comes through who would restore the mainstream back to health, they can’t handle it. He has done everything short of driving a stake through their hearts to provide America with a stability it has never had; while at the same time trying to rid them of the vermin and residual horrors that have permeated the government and contaminated the system under the previous administration, ever since they started using their powers for evil back in the 60’s.
Vampire lovers would rather go back to the bad old days and the enemy they know, who skillfully used the power of propaganda to lie to their face while stabbing them in the back, than to do the right thing. They would rather be sucked bone dry, down to the marrow. Like having Dracula in the middle of the night, those whose will has been bent under the psychological brain drain, find themselves going back for more punishment.
The Tea Party and the Republican Party message is literally: "I want to suck your blood." They may claim to be talking about taxes, but what they're really talking about is how to bring more pain, while they and their cronies get over like fat rats in a cheese factory. That's what they did when they broke the economy. That's what they did when they stopped unemployment payments. That's what they tried to do when they tried to block the health care bill. That's what they've done since they jumped ship from the Democrat party and invaded the Republican Party, which was originally the party of Abraham Lincoln, and began to cannibalize the members until it is now a mere shadow of its former self. Talk about vampires (Oklahoma got caught in that switcheroo, and by the time they found out what was going on, it was too late -- the vampires now roam the plains).
Their complaints that things are not moving fast enough are bogus. They took eight years to destroy the economy and take a surplus and turn it into a major deficit. Their complaint that the rich are getting richer, and we’re not getting anything, is because they can't get the under the table money they've been accustomed to receiving.
But we also have to face the fact that some of the Democrats who call themselves “blue dog” may actually be more racist than right wing Republicans. Some of these blue dogs have conspired against the President, putting U.S. in the middle of even more madness. These are the vampires' minions. They pretend to be with us while steering us into their lair; or openly block policies that would be beneficial, because they tbemselves are vampire wannabees. This leaves us open to even more ridicule as the rest of the world watch us get bogged down with infighting. So, if in disgust the voters throw out the baby with the proverbial bathwater to try to get rid of them, it's only natural. That's what the mid-term elections are about!
Here they go again. Talk about your self fulfilling prophecies!!
But, now that I understand what the real underlying problem is - America’s love of political vampires - I for one won’t be trying to defend or rationalize this situation any more. I will stop trying to put a hopeful spin on these issues. I will stop trying to show white America all the wonderful things President Obama has accomplished under these most difficult of times.
I now understand that vampires, when they’re going for blood, could care less about human benefits, humanity, love, equality, or anything else. They carry their coffins around with them so that they only have to have a very surface interaction with you - just enough to get your blood and go to the next victim.
No, my concern is now to continue to talk to our base - us, we, Black folks. I want to make sure that we are no longer on the late show. I want to make sure we have plenty of crosses to wear around our necks (Vampires hate God/Good); to keep garlic around the periphery of our domiciles, to always operate in the sunshine so we can see through the bull and maintain transparency. We have to keep plenty of mirrors on the walls. Remember, vampires have no reflection because they have no souls. We on the other hand, the people of soul, are required to make sure, as the man/woman in the mirror, that we “make that change” Bro. Michael Jackson sang about.
Like “Buffy” the vampire hunter, we have an obligation, locally and nationally to make sure that the Tea Party/Republican/Right Wing/Racist vampires know that we are not allowing them to suck our blood. We will not let them undo the good that has been done. We are protecting ourselves and our families, and expanding our bases of power.
We are gathering around our heroes, especially President Barack Obama. We will equip him (and ourselves) with the oak stake and silver bullets. We will continue to support him in his effort to keep America from becoming Transylvania.
We are, as Stevie Wonder says, “amused, but not amazed” by the things they do. While they may have made some interim advances in the so called mid term elections, to us it’s nothing more than the same propaganda you proffered when Clinton was president. It’s the same big business vampires as usual trying to undermine the people who are the life’s blood of this country.
But this time we see them for who they are; we really smell the sulphur! Their fangs will be broken, their wings will be clipped, and we’ll send them back to their lair in the caves from which they emanated. The cobwebs are being swept aside, and we’re burying the corpse of their last bankrupt administration with them.
We now know our power. We are strong and getting even stronger, despite your efforts to make it seem otherwise. We have already wrought miracles by electing the greatest President this country has ever seen -- Barack Hussein Obama. We know he is the greatest president because he is catching so much flack from the vampires who feel themselves being threatened by his power. They are pulling out all stops to keep us as their victims.
Now we have to pull out all the stops to stop them. As an old African Proverb says: “Snake at your feet, stick at your side!” (now I truly hope I don’t have to explain this to you; it should be obvious. But just in case you don’t get it, I’m not talking about physically beating anyone up. I’m talking about gathering our forces to be impervious to any further incursions on our intelligence, our souls and our lives). Vampires can no longer exert psychological warfare on our hearts, minds and soul -- or our livelihoods.
For starters, we will stop regurgitating chapter and verse everything we hear on the Continuously Negative News Network (CNN- uh N), or read in the white newspapers! Stop quoting stats, becoming part of their self-fulfilling prophesies (you know the ones that say that Blacks are more likely to lose, be poor, sick or unhappy, or what ever), and then we go about trying to make those predictions reality. We quote this crap as a way of showing that we are well read, not realizing that what we are really doing making ourselves fit into their narrow negative view of who they say we are.
Our words have power, because they mirror our thoughts. Thoughts are things. The things we see around us are a result of the thoughts we think. They manifest into reality. So if we let political vampires program our thoughts so that we are thinking the worst of ourselves, and then acting them out in reality, we have very much invited these vampire into our homes via our psyches.
On that note, I want to give kudos to my fellow New Yorkers, regardless of race and ethnicity. We’ve proven in New York that we are no longer part of the mass mind group think syndrome. We are no longer schizophrenic -- you know, predominantly Democrats in number, yet allowing our state to be run by Republicans (I.e. Pataki, Giuliani). We are well on the way to getting the vampires out of our midsts.
Yeah, I know - the Freedom Party didn’t fare so well this time around. But they took a major stand to shake off the vampires as well. That stand will be the basis for even greater accomplishments down the road. By the way, I think they should join forces with Brother Jimmy McMillan (The Rent is Too Damned High candidate), and begin to consolidate those efforts and energies to help even more people get out from under the influence of the vampire. His message was/is every bit as much compelling as that of the Freedom Party. Besides I love his wit and humor, laced with matter of fact veracities that can’t be escaped or evaded. Nothing like humor to get the point across - especially when you're serious.
Whatever we do, we must do it now, and keep it going. Now is the time to expand the numbers of our vampire slayers so that we can make it to 2012 with our souls and lives intact. We cannot walk around like zombies and disembodied souls, devoid of will or focus, allowing the vampires to think they’ve gotten away with anything. Already they're getting comfortable, gaining confidence. Bush came out from under his rock and is doing an interview with Matt Lauer. The 700 Club is getting bolder on TV with it's negative news couched in Christianity. It's a entire short time between now and the next election. We have to start now to make sure they are completely out again in 2012).
Like President Obama, we don’t give up and we don’t quit. Vampires, the embodiment of evil, have been made into heroes by Americans, while the real hero, has been miscast as the villain.
And since like their predecessors -- Nixon, Regan, Bush, Ford -- these vampires are up to their old tricks, it's up to us to treat them like the evil they really are. But instead of saying "be afraid, be very afraid," I will say be aware, be very aware. And then take necessary action to stop them before they spread and multiply.
It's time to tell the truth, shame the devil, and save the soul of America, in spite of themselves. And remember, the soul you save may be your own.
So Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson
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