New Age Racism on Television

Nas - Sly Fox (Fox News Diss)

DEATH TO SNAP MUSIC

Life is the struggle

CREATED BY THE RZA from Wu-Tang

My mind flashed back to the early moon
When I was just a sperm cell in the fallopian tube
In the mist of a state of triple darkness
Going through a struggle so I could exist
Avoiding everything that came within my path
As I watch other sperm cells get ripped in half
One out of a million completes the job
And for the other sperm cells the womb is a grave yard
Though my travels I had to pass through
Alot of battles and violent hassles
Cause inside the womb I was a foreign object
I'm like a new nigga walking through the project
Trouble, everywhere I turn
Damn its a struggle just being a sperm
cell, so I attempt to prevail
I guess the womb is the first stage of hell
Now here I am in the danger zone
My head and my tail, my 23 chromosomes
But then again yo it can't be that bad cause my dad
He could have used a body bag
And if so then my tomb would have been the trash can inside my moms bedroom
But they was fucking, they was true to this
And here we go on a mission to the uterus
A million mother fuckers tried to race ahead
But I was the one that fertilized the egg
Then I thought then I was safe
Because I reached home base
But oh no my job wasn't done
In fact my troubles had only begun life as a struggle

"True To The Game" by Ice Cube

Dead Prez-Propaganda

Kemetology

African History pt.15

How Europe learned from Africa

Some of the world's other great civilisations, such as Kush, Axum , Ghana , Mali , and Great Zimbabwe , also flourished in Africa and some major scientific advances were known in Africa long before they were known in Europe . Towards the middle of the 12 th century, the north African scientist, Al Idrisi, wrote, ‘What results from the opinion of philosophers, learned men and those skilled in observation of the heavenly bodies, is that the world is as round as a sphere, of which the waters are adherent and maintained upon its surface by natural equilibrium.' Africans were certainly involved in trans-oceanic travel long before Europeans and there is some evidence to suggest that Africans crossed the Atlantic and reached the American continent, perhaps even north America , as early as 500 BC. In the 14 th century, the Syrian writer, al-Umari, wrote about the voyage of the Emperor of Mali who crossed the Atlantic with 2000 ships but failed to return. Africans in east and south-eastern Africa also set up great civilisations that established important trading links with the kingdoms and empires of India and China long before Europeans had learned how to navigate the Atlantic ocean . When Europeans first sailed to Africa in the 15 th century, African pilots and navigators shared with them their knowledge of

trans-oceanic travel.



It was gold from the great empires of West Africa , Ghana , Mali and Songhay, which provided the means for the economic take off of Europe in the 13 th and 14 th centuries and aroused the interest of Europeans in western Africa . An early historian in the 9 th century wrote ‘the king of Ghana is a great king. In his territory are mines of gold.' When the famous historian of Muslim Spain, al-Bakri wrote about Ghana in the 11 th century, he reported that its king ‘rules an enormous kingdom and has great power' . The king of Ghana was said to have an army of 200,000 men and to rule over an extremely wealthy trading empire. In the 14 th century, the west African empire of Mali was larger than western Europe and reputed to be one of the largest, richest and most powerful states in the world. The Moroccan traveller Ibn Batuta wrote about his very favourable impressions of this empire and said that he found ‘complete and general safety' there.



When the famous emperor of Mali , Mansa Musa visited Cairo in 1324, it was said that he brought so much gold with him that its price fell dramatically and had not recovered its value even 12 years later. The empire of Songhay was known, amongst other things, for the famous university of Sankore based in Timbuctu. Aristotle was studied at Sankore and also subjects such as law, various branches of philosophy, dialectic, grammar, rhetoric and astronomy. In the 16 th century one of its most famous scholars, Ahmed Baba, is said to have written more than 40 major books on subjects such as astronomy, history and theology and he had his own private library that held over 1500 volumes. One of the first reports of Timbuctu to reach Europe was by Leo Africanus. In his book, published in 1550, he says of the town: ‘There you will find many judges, professors and devout men, all handsomely maintained by the king, who holds scholars in much honour. There too they sell many handwritten north African books, and more profit is to be made there from the sale of books than from any other branch of trade.'



African knowledge and that of the ancient world, was transmitted to Europe as a result of the North African or Moorish conquest of the Iberian peninsular in the 8 th century. There were in fact several such conquests including two by the Berber dynasties in the 11 th and 12 th centuries. The Muslim invasion of Europe, and the founding of the state of Cordoba , re-introduced all the learning of the ancient world as well as the various contributions made by Islamic scholars and linked Europe much more closely with north and West Africa . Arabic numerals based on those used in India were introduced and they helped simplify mathematical calculations. Europe was also introduced to the learning of ancient world mainly through translations in Arabic of works in medicine, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics and philosophy. So important was the knowledge found in Muslim Spain, that one Christian monk - Adelard of Bath - disguised himself as a Muslim in order to study at the university at Cordoba . Many historians believe that it was this knowledge, brought to Europe through Muslim Spain, which not only created the conditions for the Renaissance but also for the eventual expansion of Europe overseas in the 15 th century.

I AM AMERICA, TRUST ME....

It is important, my brothers and sisters that we realize who owns and controls the various things which control our lives. Who owns and controls CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, HBO television and radio. (Note: Over 9000 AM & FM stations, only 171 owned by African Americans). Who owns and controls New York Times, The Washington Post, Time Newsweek and USA Today? Who controls education? Who controls politics? Who controls the Movie and Music industry? Who controls the military? Who declares wars?

Now answer this set of questions....Who watches television and listen to the radio? Who goes to church? Who goes to work? Who catches hell? Who is in the prisons? Who is sick? Who is hungry? Who is undernourished? Who fights the wars?

Don't be alarmed . Don't be upset. There is a reason for all of this. It has been well thought out and is being very effectively implemented. For you see, in order for you to assume your rightful place in society, you must first be programmed to assume your rightful place in society. You must give up your identity and identify with your oppressor.

If I can convince you of my superiority and you of your inferiority, I will have set the guidelines for our relationship. If I can control all of the various means by which information is disseminated, I can fool most of you most of the time. And those of you whom I can't fool, I can label as fools, and thus have you ostracized, killed or imprisoned, and be praised for my actions by the real fool.

I will begin by telling you how unattractive those features are. I will put before you images of European beauty which you will accept as your standard. I will show you Tarzan movies and make you afraid of, and hate Africa, much less love it. I will also criticize your manner of speech.

I will carefully choose your idols and heroes for you , so that you will not be led astray by foolish notions. I will give you a holiday for your Dr. King and label Malcolm X a fool.

I AM AMERICA, TRUST ME....

I will keep you confused that you will only spend six cents out of every dollar you earn in your community. For how can anyone who is inferior take care of your medical needs, dental needs, or meet any of your needs? I will further confuse you to the point that you will spend over billions dollars per year putting chemicals in your nickel heads.

I will study you thoroughly and publish my pre-determined findings in well-known journals, publications and books. I will also give you specially designed test to further validity to my findings.

I will place labels on you such as slow- learner, economically- disadvantaged, single-parent, ghetto mentality, culturally deprived, deviant and maladjusted. I will divide you into Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Haitians, Chicanos, Blacks, and Africans, and teach you to hate and distrust different groups.( but TRUST ME only!!!) I will also classify you into social classes and set up both the criteria for entrance and for remaining in the class-- one of which will be a non association with those of any of the lower classes which I have developed.

I will further separate you into religious of Baptists, Episcopalians, AME's and Catholics. I will allow you to have your own churches , but you must preach from my text......

I AM AMERICA, TRUST ME.........

I will effectively use the same strategy of divide and conquer which I used so masterfully in annihilating those savage Native Americans, the Mayans, the Arawaks, and the Aztecs.

I will teach you my history as I have written it, while convincing you that your history is not worthy of mention. I will mention Egypt, but I will not tell you that it is in Africa.

I will teach you to love me and hate yourself. You will know that I am superior. Aren't you rem9ed of it each time you go to your black church and see my God on your wall? As a result of this hatred, you will slay your brothers and sisters. To convince you that this is okay, I will let you out so you can do it again if you desire. However, if you should lose your cool and strike out against me or my kind, I will banish you forever , or take your life.

I AM AMERICA, TRUST ME......

I will also rem9 you of your criminal tendencies, by pointing to the fact that of your kind comprises our prison population. I will also build more prisons, to accommodate your unemployed, as needed, with your tax dollars.

I will show you all of the nice things you should have as an American, but will deny you means by which to have them. I will improperly educate you, or force you out of my educational system, and then deny you a job because you lack credentials.......

I AM AMERICA, TRUST ME.........

I will sell you drugs, and alcohol to pickle your brains and drive you crazy. I will prosecute you if you are caught selling it, but I must always protect myself. For I am caught, how can I support your habits? I will supply your junky needs from phantom ships and cargo planes. However, I will fight hard against drug traffic, because I am both the referee and the judge.

I will encourage you to make love to your teenage girlfriend and label your offspring a bastard. I will also create a system whereby you will not be needed as a father, by making your would-be-wife better off without you. She will believe that she is better off having more babies than being with you. You in turn will father many bastards and be praised by your ignorant peers for such a feat.....

I AM AMERICA, TRUST ME.........

I will call your mother Annie and your father Tom. I will call you and the man you call father a boy many times and dare him or you to rebel. For I will teach you to turn the other cheek. I will convince you that all of the hell you are catching in earth will guarantee you a better day in heaven by and by. You will learn to live by the saying..... NO CROSS .... NO CROWN.

I will also protect you against physical defect so you may fight my wars for me. For after all, I do not fight wars, I merely declare them. I will make you unemployed, but I will give you a job in my Armed Services. You will happily and patriotically help me invade places like Granada so I may set up my hotels and casinos there.

I AM AMERICA, TRUST ME........

I will convince you that we need to fight communism all over the world, and never tell you what communism is, or that, what you are really doing is helping me protect my capitalism. (And Corporate Empire). You shall gladly and ignorantly help me rape the countries of your brothers and sisters all over the world, as a result of my convincing you that my goal is to spread democracy throughout the world, while I deny you basic human rights at HOME. If you question me about South Africa, I will convince you that the situation over there is different from other places in the world and you need not be concerned, as time will take care of it. You will in turn convince me that you believe me and continue to do business with firms doing business in South Africa.
I AM AMERICA, TRUST ME..........

I will send you to Vietnam and Cambodia... To Korea and Laeo... To Lebanon and El Salvador , and....if the Sandinistas don't see the light very soon, I will send you to Nicaragua. You will kick Kaddafi's ass for me when I tell you...For you see....I am a BULLY who let's others do my fighting for me. And if things get to tight for me, I will board my space shuttle with my test tube white babies, and live in the galaxy until the waves of nuclear heat have subsided.....

As you can see.......your plight is hopeless. I handled Vessey and Turner. I crushed Lumuumba and Bishop....I cooled the Mandellas out. I also took care of Malcolm X, John Brown, Rap Brown, Angela Davis, Eldridge Cleaver, the Black Panthers, and Medgar Evers. And, I even had to take care of MARTIN LUTHER KING when he got out of line.

AND I WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU............................

FOR I AM AMERICA, TRUST ME. TRUST ME.

Protect and Serve Who??!! pt.1

In this column I hope to trace some of the history of policing in America, so that communities of color can better understand the way that the White power structure thinks, and how they use police to "control" us. Unless we start to get at the roots of these problems, I don’t think we stand a chance of real reform. During the era of slavery in this country, patterrollers (also known as patrollers and slave patrols), or "slave catchers," were White men who served on local patrols organized throughout the South to control the movement of slaves outside their home plantations. Patrollers policed their neighborhoods by challenging any slave whom they suspected of being away from home to produce a written "pass," or authorization, from his or her master.

Slaves found without a pass were subject to arrests, beatings, or other forms of violence, some of which led to death. The average White citizen was expected to do their part in the effort to control slaves by informing on them and generally assisting the patrollers when requested.

Soon, "slave codes" (laws that regulated the behavior of slaves) were enacted. Among other acts, the codes prohibited slaves from gathering in groups, possessing weapons, leaving the plantations without passes, resisting punishment, and striking a White person. The slave patrols’ job was to enforce these slave codes.

By 1750, every Southern colony had a slave patrol. Slave patrols were the first truly American police system. In the South, policing was closely related to slavery and organized and operated as paramilitary organizations. Patrols provided a source of comfort and confidence for Whites in Southern society’s ability to safely and effectively continue its reliance on the institution of slavery. Whites also relied on the slave patrols to help them feel "safe" from the "wild" immigrants from Africa.

The point of establishing slave patrols was to maintain White supremacy and privilege. Patrollers had specific "beats," and were given the authority to stop, search, whip, maim, and even kill any slave who violated the slave codes. Although urban patrollers sometimes had additional duties, patrollers generally had three principal duties: searching slave quarters, dispersing slave gatherings, and safeguarding communities by patrolling the roads.

Unfortunately, most Minneapolis police still see this as their role.

It is not difficult to see the parallels between the slave patrols and modern-day Minneapolis police (and police in general, but here I will focus on Minneapolis). Let’s compare.

Patrollers stopped slaves upon suspicion that they were off their plantation. Minneapolis police stop Blacks and others of color to ask why they are in a certain neighborhood or why they are walking or just standing somewhere. (Haven’t you heard that Blacks get hassled by police even for standing at a bus stop?)

Slave codes prohibited slaves from gathering in groups. Blacks congregating in groups seem to be one of the chief irritations of Minneapolis police. Even if Blacks are peacefully congregated, Minneapolis police feel justified in rushing them, beating them, and arresting them. Many police officers still think that they have been given the authority by the White power structure to beat and maim Blacks who are "off the plantation." Have they been given this authority?

Slave codes outlawed the possession of weapons by Blacks. Today, with the help of the media (which for many years had the agenda of scaring us with pictures and stories of "violent" Black men, while all the time the Enron executives were looting pension funds of multi-millions), police and prosecutors go after Black men with guns with a vengeance. Just say the word "gun" in a criminal prosecution against a Black man, and he is going down. Yet meanwhile, the state legislature passed a law allowing Whites throughout the state to carry concealed weapons.

Slave codes outlawed Blacks "resisting punishment." This is like our modern-day criminal statute called "obstructing legal process." Some call it "obstructing justice," but "resisting punishment" is really a better word, even for the modern-day law. Because usually the obstructing charge results from a Black man who was first beaten by police.

What, Blacks are just supposed to take this--take our "punishment" for being Black? This Minnesota criminal code allows police to merely allege that someone struggled while being arrested (even make claims like "he went limp," even if the Black man went limp to try to avoid a charge of obstructing) and send a Black man all the way through the criminal process and likely to jail.

Council of Nicea

Bobby Hemmit on understanding racism

MALCOLM X

Break the Chains

WHEN WE RULED PT.2

23. West Africans built in stone by 1100 BC. In the Tichitt-Walata region of Mauritania, archaeologists have found “large stone masonry villages” that date back to 1100 BC. The villages consisted of roughly circular compounds connected by “well-defined streets”.

24. By 250 BC, the foundations of West Africa’s oldest cities were established such as Old Djenné in Mali.

25. Kumbi Saleh, the capital of Ancient Ghana, flourished from 300 to 1240 AD. Located in modern day Mauritania, archaeological excavations have revealed houses, almost habitable today, for want of renovation and several storeys high. They had underground rooms, staircases and connecting halls. Some had nine rooms. One part of the city alone is estimated to have housed 30,000 people.
26. West Africa had walled towns and cities in the pre-colonial period. Winwood Reade, an English historian visited West Africa in the nineteenth century and commented that: “There are . . . thousands of large walled cities resembling those of Europe in the Middle Ages, or of ancient Greece.”

27. Lord Lugard, an English official, estimated in 1904 that there were 170 walled towns still in existence in the whole of just the Kano province of northern Nigeria.

28. Cheques are not quite as new an invention as we were led to believe. In the tenth century, an Arab geographer, Ibn Haukal, visited a fringe region of Ancient Ghana. Writing in 951 AD, he told of a cheque for 42,000 golden dinars written to a merchant in the city of Audoghast by his partner in Sidjilmessa.

29. Ibn Haukal, writing in 951 AD, informs us that the King of Ghana was “the richest king on the face of the earth” whose pre-eminence was due to the quantity of gold nuggets that had been amassed by the himself and by his predecessors.

30. The Nigerian city of Ile-Ife was paved in 1000 AD on the orders of a female ruler with decorations that originated in Ancient America. Naturally, no-one wants to explain how this took place approximately 500 years before the time of Christopher Columbus!

31. West Africa had bling culture in 1067 AD. One source mentions that when the Emperor of Ghana gives audience to his people: “he sits in a pavilion around which stand his horses caparisoned in cloth of gold: behind him stand ten pages holding shields and gold-mounted swords: and on his right hand are the sons of the princes of his empire, splendidly clad and with gold plaited into their hair . . . The gate of the chamber is guarded by dogs of an excellent breed . . . they wear collars of gold and silver.”

32. Glass windows existed at that time. The residence of the Ghanaian Emperor in 1116 AD was: “A well-built castle, thoroughly fortified, decorated inside with sculptures and pictures, and having glass windows.”

33. The Grand Mosque in the Malian city of Djenné, described as “the largest adobe [clay] building in the world”, was first raised in 1204 AD. It was built on a square plan where each side is 56 metres in length. It has three large towers on one side, each with projecting wooden buttresses.

34. One of the great achievements of the Yoruba was their urban culture. “By the year A.D. 1300,” says a modern scholar, “the Yoruba people built numerous walled cities surrounded by farms”. The cities were Owu, Oyo, Ijebu, Ijesa, Ketu, Popo, Egba, Sabe, Dassa, Egbado, Igbomina, the sixteen Ekiti principalities, Owo and Ondo.

35. Yoruba metal art of the mediaeval period was of world class. One scholar wrote that Yoruba art “would stand comparison with anything which Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece and Rome, or Renaissance Europe had to offer.”

36. In the Malian city of Gao stands the Mausoleum of Askia the Great, a weird sixteenth century edifice that resembles a step pyramid.

37. Thousands of mediaeval tumuli have been found across West Africa. Nearly 7,000 were discovered in north-west Senegal alone spread over nearly 1,500 sites. They were probably built between 1000 and 1300 AD.

38. Excavations at the Malian city of Gao carried out by Cambridge University revealed glass windows. One of the finds was entitled: “Fragments of alabaster window surrounds and a piece of pink window glass, Gao 10th – 14th century.”

39. In 1999 the BBC produced a television series entitled Millennium. The programme devoted to the fourteenth century opens with the following disclosure: “In the fourteenth century, the century of the scythe, natural disasters threatened civilisations with extinction. The Black Death kills more people in Europe, Asia and North Africa than any catastrophe has before. Civilisations which avoid the plague thrive. In West Africa the Empire of Mali becomes the richest in the world.”

40. Malian sailors got to America in 1311 AD, 181 years before Columbus. An Egyptian scholar, Ibn Fadl Al-Umari, published on this sometime around 1342. In the tenth chapter of his book, there is an account of two large maritime voyages ordered by the predecessor of Mansa Musa, a king who inherited the Malian throne in 1312. This mariner king is not named by Al-Umari, but modern writers identify him as Mansa Abubakari II.

41. On a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 AD, a Malian ruler, Mansa Musa, brought so much money with him that his visit resulted in the collapse of gold prices in Egypt and Arabia. It took twelve years for the economies of the region to normalise.

42. West African gold mining took place on a vast scale. One modern writer said that: “It is estimated that the total amount of gold mined in West Africa up to 1500 was 3,500 tons, worth more than $­­­­30 billion in today’s market.”

Mumia Abu Jamal on Obama...

Is Obama's Victory Ours?

[col. writ. 6/5/08] (c)'08 Mumia Abu-Jamal

With the attainment of the required delegates to claim the Democratic Party's nomination for U.S. president, Sen. Barack H. Obama (D. ILL.) has written a new page in American history.

For by so doing he succeeds where Channing Phillips, Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson, Sr., and Al Sharpton could not - by gaining the necessary delegates to demand nomination.

Of course, there have been numerous Black candidates for president, but these have been third party efforts designed more to raise issues, to organize or protest than to actually win elections. Some of the best known have been Eldridge Cleaver (former Black Panther Minister of Information) , Dick Gregory, Dr. Lenora Fulani, and the former congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney.

But this is a different kettle of fish, for Obama's candidacy is the closest to make it to the winner's circle.

What also distinguishes Obama from his predecessors is he doesn't come from civil rights, Black liberation, socialist or anti war movements. (He often remarks at speeches, "I'm not against all wars, I'm just against dumb wars")

Indeed, although his detractors may try to paint him as a leftist liberal this is hardly true. On issues both foreign and domestic he would've been more at home in the Republican Party of his senatorial forebear, Edward Brooke of Massachusetts. For though he is Black by dint of his African father, he has studiously avoided Black political groups in his long, harrowing climb to the rim of the White House.

He has studiously avoided the very real and long standing grievances of Black America. In fact, he tried to run a 'post-racial' campaign until Sen. Hillary R. Clinton (D.N.Y.) (and her rambunctious husband, former Pres. Bill), brought race front and center during the Super Tuesday February primaries, by trying to pigeonhole him as 'the Black candidate'.

This primary wounded Obama, and as he won in the delegate count, he also lost a number of primary states, such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, which are necessary for a win in November.
Politics is the art of making people believe that they are in power when in fact, they have none.

It is a measure of how dire is the hour that they've passed the keys to the kingdom to a Black man.

As in many American cities, Black Mayors were let in when the treasuries were almost barren, and tax bases were almost at rock-bottom.

With the nation's manufacturing base also a thing of history, amidst the socioeconomic wreckage of globalization, with foreign affairs in shambles, the rulers reach for a pretty, brown face to front for the Empire.

'Real change that you could believe in' would be an end to Empire, and an end to wars for corporate greed, not just a change of the shade of the political managers.

That change, I'm afraid, is still to come.

Net Neutrality ???

NYOIL-Conspiracy Theory

Malcolm

Malcolm Said it best;

"They loved their master more than the master loved himself. They would give their life to save the master's house quicker than the master would. The house Negro, if the master said, "We got a good house here," the house Negro would say, "Yeah, we got a good house here." Whenever the master said "we," he said "we." That's how you can tell a house Negro.

If the master's house caught on fire, the house Negro would fight harder to put the blaze out than the master would. If the master got sick, the house Negro would say, "What's the matter, boss, we sick?" We sick! He identified himself with his master more than his master identified with himself. And if you came to the house Negro and said, "Let's run away, let's escape, let's separate," the house Negro would look at you and say, "Man, you crazy. What you mean, separate? Where is there a better house than this? Where can I wear better clothes than this? Where can I eat better food than this?" That was that house Negro. In those days he was called a "house nigger." And that's what we call him today, because we've still got some house niggers running around here."

History of Atrocities

The following time line describes just a few of the hundreds of atrocities and crimes committed by the CIA.


1980

El Salvador — The Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, pleads with President Carter "Christian to Christian" to stop aiding the military government slaughtering his people. Carter refuses. Shortly afterwards, right-wing leader Roberto D’Aubuisson has Romero shot through the heart while saying Mass. The country soon dissolves into civil war, with the peasants in the hills fighting against the military government. The CIA and U.S. Armed Forces supply the government with overwhelming military and intelligence superiority. CIA-trained death squads roam the countryside, committing atrocities like that of El Mazote in 1982, where they massacre between 700 and 1000 men, women and children. By 1992, some 63,000 Salvadorans will be killed.

1981

Iran/Contra Begins — The CIA begins selling arms to Iran at high prices, using the profits to arm the Contras fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. President Reagan vows that the Sandinistas will be "pressured" until "they say ‘uncle.’" The CIA’s Freedom Fighter’s Manual disbursed to the Contras includes instruction on economic sabotage, propaganda, extortion, bribery, blackmail, interrogation, torture, murder and political assassination.

1983

Honduras — The CIA gives Honduran military officers the Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual – 1983, which teaches how to torture people. Honduras’ notorious "Battalion 316" then uses these techniques, with the CIA’s full knowledge, on thousands of leftist dissidents. At least 184 are murdered.

1984

The Boland Amendment — The last of a series of Boland Amendments is passed. These amendments have reduced CIA aid to the Contras; the last one cuts it off completely. However, CIA Director William Casey is already prepared to "hand off" the operation to Colonel Oliver North, who illegally continues supplying the Contras through the CIA’s informal, secret, and self-financing network. This includes "humanitarian aid" donated by Adolph Coors and William Simon, and military aid funded by Iranian arms sales.

1986

Eugene Hasenfus — Nicaragua shoots down a C-123 transport plane carrying military supplies to the Contras. The lone survivor, Eugene Hasenfus, turns out to be a CIA employee, as are the two dead pilots. The airplane belongs to Southern Air Transport, a CIA front. The incident makes a mockery of President Reagan’s claims that the CIA is not illegally arming the Contras.

Iran/Contra Scandal — Although the details have long been known, the Iran/Contra scandal finally captures the media’s attention in 1986. Congress holds hearings, and several key figures (like Oliver North) lie under oath to protect the intelligence community. CIA Director William Casey dies of brain cancer before Congress can question him. All reforms enacted by Congress after the scandal are purely cosmetic.

Haiti — Rising popular revolt in Haiti means that "Baby Doc" Duvalier will remain "President for Life" only if he has a short one. The U.S., which hates instability in a puppet country, flies the despotic Duvalier to the South of France for a comfortable retirement. The CIA then rigs the upcoming elections in favor of another right-wing military strongman. However, violence keeps the country in political turmoil for another four years. The CIA tries to strengthen the military by creating the National Intelligence Service (SIN), which suppresses popular revolt through torture and assassination.

1989

Panama — The U.S. invades Panama to overthrow a dictator of its own making, General Manuel Noriega. Noriega has been on the CIA’s payroll since 1966, and has been transporting drugs with the CIA’s knowledge since 1972. By the late 80s, Noriega’s growing independence and intransigence have angered Washington… so out he goes.

1990

Haiti — Competing against 10 comparatively wealthy candidates, leftist priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide captures 68 percent of the vote. After only eight months in power, however, the CIA-backed military deposes him. More military dictators brutalize the country, as thousands of Haitian refugees escape the turmoil in barely seaworthy boats. As popular opinion calls for Aristide’s return, the CIA begins a disinformation campaign painting the courageous priest as mentally unstable.

1991

The Gulf War — The U.S. liberates Kuwait from Iraq. But Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, is another creature of the CIA. With U.S. encouragement, Hussein invaded Iran in 1980. During this costly eight-year war, the CIA built up Hussein’s forces with sophisticated arms, intelligence, training and financial backing. This cemented Hussein’s power at home, allowing him to crush the many internal rebellions that erupted from time to time, sometimes with poison gas. It also gave him all the military might he needed to conduct further adventurism — in Kuwait, for example.

The Fall of the Soviet Union — The CIA fails to predict this most important event of the Cold War. This suggests that it has been so busy undermining governments that it hasn’t been doing its primary job: gathering and analyzing information. The fall of the Soviet Union also robs the CIA of its reason for existence: fighting communism. This leads some to accuse the CIA of intentionally failing to predict the downfall of the Soviet Union. Curiously, the intelligence community’s budget is not significantly reduced after the demise of communism.

1992

Economic Espionage — In the years following the end of the Cold War, the CIA is increasingly used for economic espionage. This involves stealing the technological secrets of competing foreign companies and giving them to American ones. Given the CIA’s clear preference for dirty tricks over mere information gathering, the possibility of serious criminal behavior is very great indeed.

1993

Haiti — The chaos in Haiti grows so bad that President Clinton has no choice but to remove the Haitian military dictator, Raoul Cedras, on threat of U.S. invasion. The U.S. occupiers do not arrest Haiti’s military leaders for crimes against humanity, but instead ensure their safety and rich retirements. Aristide is returned to power only after being forced to accept an agenda favorable to the country’s ruling class.

America’s New Slavery

A new American slave trade is booming, warn prison activists, following the release of a report that again outlines outrageous numbers of young Black men in prison and increasing numbers of adults undergoing incarceration. That slave trade is connected to money states spend to keep people locked up, profits made through cheap prison labor and for-profit prisons, excessive charges inmates and families may pay for everything from tube socks to phone calls, and lucrative cross country shipping of inmates to relieve overcrowding and rent cells in faraway states and counties.

Advocates note that the constitution’s 13th amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery in the United States, but provided an exception—in cases where persons have been “duly convicted” in the United States and territory it controls, slavery or involuntary servitude can be reimposed as a punishment, they add. The majority of prisoners are Black and Latino, though they are minorities in terms of their numbers in the population.

According to “One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008,” published by the Pew Center on the States, one in nine Black men between the ages of 20-34 are incarcerated compared to one in 30 other men of the same age. Like the overall adult ratio, one in 100 Black women in their mid-to-late 30s is imprisoned.

“Everyone is feeding off of our down-trodden condition to feed their capitalism, greed and lust for money. They are buying prison stock on the market and this is why they want to silence the restorative voice of Minister Louis Farrakhan, because he is repairing those who fill and would support the prison system as slaves,” said Student Minister Abdullah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam Prison Ministry.

The report states that the rising trend stems from more than a parallel increase in crime or surge in the population at large, but it is driven by policies that put more criminals in prison, extending their stay through measures like California’s Three Strikes Law.

Good By Uncle Tom (please watch)

AIDS:Possible Cure?

AFRICAN SLAVE REVOLTS pt.1

San Miguel de Gualdape
1526

According to Aptheker, and others, the first documented enslaved African rebellion in the Western Hemisphere, was at the Spanish settlement of San Miguel de Gualdape where enslaved Africans rebelled against their conditions in the fall of 1526. The prime source of this information is ~The Spanish Settlements Within the Present Limits of the United States, 1513-1561~ by Woodbury Lowery. Noted historian Peter Wood also mentions this incident (in ~Black Majority~).
Mexico
1547 The first documented enslave African rebellion in Mexico, occurred in 1537; this was followed by the establishment of various runaway enslave African's settlements called "palenques.".
Brazil
1600s In Brasil, in a sugar cane region near the Atlantic ocean known as Pernambuco, a group of 40 enslave Africans rebelled against their master. They killed all the white employees and burned the houses and plantation. They headed to a very hostile area in the mountains, known as Palmares, because of its abundance of palm trees. In this place an African community was born which lasted for over 100 years. It was divided into eleven fortified sites. There, a population estimated to be about 20 000 free Africans created a new religion and a common language to bring together at least six different African cultures. It is argued that they organized the first socialist society in world. They also mobilized an army that could take over Pernambuco, if they wanted to. They defeated seven attacks from Brazilian military forces and from a Dutch army that had invaded and occupied that region for some years. They ignored a proposal of peace and freedon for all, from the king of Portugal. Zumbi of Palmares, today a hero for Brazilian Africans, was the name of an young acolyte who grew up and became the greatest leader of this African community. Also in this community the first forms of Capoeira which is a deadly martial art, were developed.

Contribution made by Italo Ramos iramos@cy.com.br
Mexico
1608 In Mexico, Spaniards negotiated the establishment of a free black community with Yagna, a runaway rebel enslave African. Today, that community in Veracruz bears its founder's name.
Brazil
1630 In Brazil, many enslave Africans with assistance from Palmares an escape enslave African community in the mountains, left the plantations and fought the Portuguese and Dutch Armies. This fighting continued up until 1644. It is important to point out that the Dutch and Portuguese Armies were formed by very experienced and well-armed soldiers. But the Africans developed a system of fighting called "jungle war" or ambush. Capoeira which is a deadly martial art, was the key element in the unexpected attacks. With fast and tricky movements the African caused considerable damage to the white men. Capoeira became their weapon, their symbol of freedom.
St. Kitts Nevis
1639 On the island St. Kitts, in November 1639, more than sixty enslaved Africans from the Capisterre region, angered by the brutal treatment meted out to them by their owners, left their plantations and found refuge on the slopes of Mount Misery. They took with them their women and children. The runaways built a formidable camp upon the mountainside. It was protected by a precipice on one side and could only be approached by a narrow pass. From this position they carried out raids on the plantations. To put an end to their activities, Governor De Poincy raised a company of five hundred armed men. The stronghold was stormed by the soldiers and the uprising was crushed without much difficulty as the runaways were poorly armed and too few in number to offer much resistance. Most of them were killed in skirmishes. Some of the runaways were burnt alive, while the rest were captured, quartered, and their limbs exposed on stakes to serve as a warning to those who might be tempted to rebel.

However, one of their leaders, a gigantic man, escaped and continued to elude capture for three years and was able to carry on a one-man reign of terror from the forests of Mount Misery. He served as a rallying point for other discontented enslaved Africans and was kept well informed of what was going on in the settlements. However, he continued to live apart from his fellow runaways, fearing that one of them might betray him in order to gain favour with the planters. His success in evading capture inspired many to think that he was aided by supernatural powers.

Realising the danger that this situation caused to the French settlement on the island, De Poincy sent some half a dozen soldiers to track him down and capture him. The mission was kept secret to prevent the slaves from giving him advance notice of what was to come. The soldiers pursued him and once they had him in their sights they blazed away at him. None of their muskets would go off and the infuriated African sword in hand, charged them. The men fled and he was able to gain a musket and a hat. Again the rumor spread that the runaway possessed magical powers that protected him from fire arms.

Quickly the French Governor sent out another squad to seize him. Again the African was found and surrounded, again shots were fired and again he was not hit. However, the sergeant who must have kept his nerve more than his subordinates, shot him through the head. His body was quartered and the limbs hung in the most public places.
Virginia, USA
1663 First serious enslave African conspiracy in Colonial America, Sept. 13. Servant betrayed plot of White servants and enslave Africans in Gloucester County, Va.
Virginia, USA
1672 Fugitive Africans in small armed bands raided nearby towns hoping to convince others to join them. The Assembly urged their capture dead or alive, saying "very dangerous consequences may arise if other Negroes fly forth and join them."