Dr. Martin Luther 'the' King

Earl G. Graves Sr., Founder & Publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, issued the following statement regarding the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

In his unforgettable I’ve Been to the Mountaintop speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.’ On April 4, 1968—the very next day—King’s words proved heartbreakingly prophetic when he was felled by an assassin’s bullet.

Dr. King never witnessed the progress that African Americans and the nation would make as a result of his faith and sacrifice—from the signing of the Civil Rights Act by President Lyndon Johnson to Sen. Barack Obama’s historic presidential run. But as certain as King may have been about his own fate, he was even more convinced that the rest of his prophetic vision—justice, fairness, and equality for all Americans—would someday come to pass.

Today, someday seems closer than ever. Yes, America continues to be plagued by many of the ills King opposed, including racism; hatred; violence; economic inequality; and a costly, senseless war. However, we now take for granted accomplishments we previously only dared to hope for. Blacks are astronauts, world-class surgeons, Wall Street financiers, state governors, and CEOs of multinational companies. Hope for the future, belief in our limitless potential, and a sense of our collective destiny as Americans have all made a comeback—stirred up by the tidal wave of political engagement inspired by Obama. In fact, thanks to the historic presidential campaigns of Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, for the first time in the nation’s history we can tell our children—all of our children—that they can dare to be anything, even the President, and really believe it in our own hearts.

Given all that he sacrificed, we now recognize that King’s push for the ultimate triumph of justice, righteousness, and equality was not in vain.

ALSO...This weekend on a very special edition of Our World with Black Enterprise, we spend the entire half-hour remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy. Among those Civil Right leaders who remember Dr. King on the 40th commemoration of his assassination are Andrew Young, John Lewis, Dorothy Height, Jesse Jackson, Earl G. Graves Sr., Rev. Samuel Kyles and Clarence Jones.

To catch this episode, tune into TVOne at 1PM (New York viewers) on Sunday or for more listings, visit: http://ourworld.blackenterprise.com

Until next time...

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REACTivists

The Jena 6, Megan Williams, Sean Bell: These are all the latest injustices which have enraged the Black American public and provided endless fodder for the network media. The injustices in these cases are all glaring and grave, but is our obsessive rallying around a few key causes each year hampering our ability to create real change in our society?

Each year these injustices come up- in 2006 it was Sean Bell, in 2005 Hurricane Katrina. Invariably those African-American issues which are on the forefront of American consciousness are those that can be packaged up nice and neat. The injustices are so shocking that they can almost be dismissed as the work of extreme racism so as not to implicate the overall American culture and government. But these cases are only the “highlights” in a miles long list of injustices committed against minorities and the poor in America. How many more cases like Sean Bell’s have there been? Where instead of being a devoted fiancé and father, the victim was a street hustler, instead of fifty shots, there was only one-- straight through the heart.

On his blog, Transform America, my friend Chester Asher writes:

“If we always wait for injustice before we act we will forever be limited. For once the injustice subsides the movement is over… Such an approach abdicates our roles as responsible humans… Doomed to serve as a check on the system rather than a creator of it.”

Also disheartening is the very nature of our responses to these causes. While media attention and raising awareness are absolutely essential to achieving justice, our responses seldom seem to make it past raising awareness. We send email forwards, join facebook groups (the groups for Megan Williams and Sean Bell have hundreds of thousands of members), email congress members, put buttons on our blogs. We write on message boards where narrow-minded trolls make conversations quickly turn inflammatory. At the end of the day we have either patted ourselves on the back for “signing up” for the cause or we’ve wasted potential positive energy on energy draining arguments.

How can we harness the power of virtual communication to make REAL, positive change?

How can we shift from always responding to injustice to actually CREATING the change we wish to see in this world?

An Excert from Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes' Letter to a Young Acitivist During Troubled Times

Mis estimados:
Do not lose heart. We were made for these times.
I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world right now. It is true, one has to have strong cojones and ovarios to withstand much of what passes for "good" in our culture today. Abject disregard of what the soul finds most precious and irreplaceable and the corruption of principled ideals have become, in some large societal arenas, "the new normal," the grotesquerie of the week. It is hard to say which one of the current egregious matters has rocked people's worlds and beliefs more. Ours is a time of almost daily jaw-dropping astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

...You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet ... I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is — we were made for these times. Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement. I cannot tell you often enough that we are definitely the leaders we have been waiting for, and that we have been raised since childhood for this time precisely.

Art Fighting Homelessness

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EVENT DETAILS:

Re* Generation Gallery 2007 Auction and Benefit

In support of

National Homeless Youth Awareness Month

7, Nov 2007

Bidding begins at 7pm and ends at 10pm

party ends at 11pm

Skylight/275 Hudson St. NYC

(btwn Spring & Canal)

Special DJ performance by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem

Cocktails and Hors d' oeuvres will be served

RSVP to regeneration@brandpimps.com by 10/26/07

100% of the proceeds raised from the auction go to Re*Generation's charitable partners fighting youth homelessness.

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Seven Simple Words

This is my introduction to The Collective. For the past few days, I’ve debated with myself as to what I wanted my introduction to all to say. Yet, as I’m learning, that with which we need comes to us when we are patient. And my inspiration came to me this morning 7:47 a.m. in a text message from my soror:

WEAR BLACK TODAY TO SUPPORT JENA 6*

So here goes:

I missed New York Fashion week, so I found myself heavily anticipating the showcase of "Black" fashion on the A-train this morning. I couldn’t wait to see my people dressed to the fives in support of this throwback injustice (we save the nines for church and the club). Disappointed and disheartened, instead I saw the usual rainbow of colors: pin-striped suits with pink button downs, purple chemises with charcoal grey skirts, red scarves, brown pumps, etc. . .

It’s ironic that I live in a city where people pop off at the mouth about any and every possible type of injustice; and rightfully so in most cases (and the list goes on). However, today, where no sound was needed to make a statement, few took a stand. I counted four on my rush hour train this morning: two black men, a white woman, and myself.

The question today is not whether the situation in Louisiana is wrong or how it will be resolved. The question remains why as a nation of mistreated minorities do we fail to show our unified support for each other?

Is it because we are ignorant to the plight of our brethren? Or because we don't really care about black people?

N

*If you're reading this and thinking "Jena what?," click here

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Daily Data

Every morning I fulfill my regimen of reading web based news sites. I meander through AOL, USA Today, MSN and MSNBC to get the near mandatory scoop on all the worlds new statements, gossip and policy. As I browse these publishings and on-demand videos, It’s my natural tendency to disregard the articles that don’t have juicy titles and gravitate to the ones that provide sustenance for the mischievous voyeur in every one of us. Stories about O.J., tasered college students, terrible weather tragedies, and University shootings have now become a palpable accompaniment to ones morning coffee and muffin. These shattering chronicles seem but a mere reflection of the “real world” to those warmly nestled behind their desks at their jobs. We see technological, educational, and economic gaps increasing within our borders, but do we feel a personal inclination to actually try to help those conditions? They say it’s a recession when your neighbor is out of work but it’s a depression when you’re out of work. So I ask, has the plethora of information distributed and consumed by the public made us jaded and impervious to the strife of others? As I stated before, this is truly and information age. One statistic states that a person living in the mid 1800’s would receive as much information in one year that is available today in one issue of the New York Times. Has all this processing of data not given us time to be as empathetic as we should be as concerned citizens and human brethren? I think so. My advice is to fight the battles you can win everyday. When you can personally help and enrich someone’s circumstances by giving a dollar, holding a door, having an opinion, or (even more dangerous), voicing an opinion, you will prove the fading perception that there is in-fact intelligent life on Earth. Peace.

Save the Babies

Im sure that I share the same sentiment as most conscious young Americans in that I am frankly worried about the longevity of this great country we call the United States of America. Notwithstanding the current turmoil in domestic and foreign relations of the present, it is our future that I’m concerned about. Why does it seem that every futurist is also a blazon pessimist as well? We have all seen the Minority Reports, Terminators, Mad Max’s and the Blade Runners out there and I don’t see much hope being portrayed to the masses about the stability that our current course is offering for our offspring. America is roughly 400 years old and already it shows signs of instability within its borders. Do you see the U.S., as great as it is, having a run comparable to that of say a China where they have been prospering for millennia? I want to. Have the gatekeepers of society been feeding us these pessimistic portraits of societal demise through entertainment just to cushion us when we have arrived at that era. Look at the book 1984. I have never read it but I’m sure that in the actual 1984 we were chillin compared to the outlook of society that that book gave in its pages. Are we all preparing for the worst while actually living the best? I just know that we are growing and influencing at a startling rate. I once read a stunning statistic that said that 90% of the scientists that have ever practiced are living today. This is truly an information age. What is also interesting is that in the bell curve for an industry there is inception, growth, maturity, decline and the end in its cycle of existence. The industrial revolution, if you ask me, is somewhere in the late decline area. However, the technological revolution will be in a growth mode for centuries to come. I hope is that we as a people and a country really put an effort into crafting these new technological tools for our long term benefit and proper prosperity of our generations into perpetuity.

THE READ A BOOK VIDEO - ARE YOU SERIOUS??

Have you seen this video? Um, this is sad. I understand the message of the video, but it is really sad that they had to 'dumb it down' for the masses to really understand. And to read the YouTube comments... This video does more harm to African-Americans than good.






This is what tcphilosopher had to say about why he/she uploaded it:

"This was shot on BET Animation and 106 and Park. IT IS A SATIRICAL OBSERVATION ON THE CURRENT RIDICULOUS, OFFENSIVE, AND EMBARRASSING STATE OF THE ONCE NOBLE ART OF HIP HOP. THE RAPPER WHO MADE THE SONG IS ALSO SATIRING THE CURRENT POPULAR RAP MUSIC WHICH IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO EVERYTHING RAP WAS. WHILE MAKING THIS SOCIAL SATIRE, HE ALSO PROVIDE A POSITIVE MESSAGE AND A SOCIAL COMMENTARY. African Americans, open your mind. This man is not offending us. He's smaking us in the face and saying Wake Up. This is what they think of us...and the reality is...most of it is true.Unfortunately I have no connection to the authoring of the video. I merely uploaded it as a show of support and like-mindedness. I feel that the video was a clever, harsh, striking, and much-needed parody/satire on the current state of hip hop. Hip hop, originated as a black folk style of music, the voice of the innercity. A conscious, aware, if hardened by it's environment, expression of the life of middle/poor-class African Americans and Hispanic/Latino Americans in America. It has, like EVERY style of music before it, finally succumb to commercialization and thus the current POPULAR hip hop is little more than brain-mush over percolating beats. This song highlights that, with the line: "I used to makes song with concepts and shit, but now I wanna go platinum". The irony of that line, says it all. In addition to being a strong satire/parody, it also instills some very strong positivities: reading, hygiene, ownership of things that cultivate wealth and worth (buy some land), responsibility (raise your kids), etc...concepts that popular hip hop is NOT teaching to our youth anymore. So it parodies viciously, and instructs what is lacking concurrently. For this reason, as an African American male who is passionate about the origins of hip hop and a purist of the hip hop form sans commercialization, and as a human being in general worried for our future and our progeny, I couldn't HELP but support the creator of the song and video by uploading it."

WHO in their right or wrong mind thought this would be a good idea? There are many other ways to elevate a race. This isn't one of them. I didn't even touch on the parody of commercialized hip hop. That in an of itself is a hot mess. Hopefully, you all know the real deal and don't need a video to give you advice on life, hygiene, how to raise your children, etc. Until next time...

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KATRINA: IT'S NOT OVER

This was forwarded to us. We thought we should share...
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Contact:
Monifa Bandele, Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund 917.407.3018
Kojo Livingston, Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund 318.834.0322

Representatives from 9 Countries to Hear Testimony from Katrina Survivors on US Human Rights Violations

When: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 5-7pm --Opening Ceremony
Where: Pan American Conference Center
609 Poydras Street, 11th Floor
New Orleans, LA 70130
What: International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina & Rita, www.internationaltribunal.org

The People's Hurricane Relief Fund, the US Human Rights Network, the Louisiana and Mississippi ACLUs, Safe Streets/Strong Communities, and Advocates for Environmental Human Rights stand in support of and in response to the demand by hundreds of Katrina and Rita Survivors that local, state and federal governments be held accountable for their actions before during and after hurricane Katrina. “We are calling for an International Tribunal to bring charges of racial discrimination, forced eviction of pubic housing residents, violations of the right to life and health, and the denial of the right to return” --says Survivor and activist, Viola Washington. More than 300,000 residents, mostly poor and black have been unable to return to the city, due in large part to the discriminatory rebuilding and public assistance efforts. Furthermore, they call into question government practices before and during the storm that led to the disproportionate impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on poor African American communities.

This International Tribunal has been endorsed by over 100 Louisiana-based, national and international organizations. It will bring together hurricane survivors, international delegations, expert witnesses, a team of human rights and civil rights prosecutors, and a panel of US-based and international judges. The international delegations will include government officials, scholars and advocates from Brazil, France, Germany, Algeria, South Africa, Haiti, Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela, Guadeloupe, Martinique and the Dominican Republic.

The prosecution team includes attorneys:
• Chokwe Lumumba - People's Hurricane Relief Fund,
• Kwame Kalimara – Malcolm X Grassroots Movement,
• Joan Gibbs – Medgar Evers Center for Law and Social Justice,
• Mark Fancher – National Conference of Black Lawyers,
• Lisa Crooms – US Human Rights Network,
• Kamau Karl Franklin – Center for Constitutional Rights,
• Tracie Washington – Louisiana Justice Institute,
• Bill Quigley – National Lawyers Guild,
• Nkechi Taifa – Legacy Empowerment Center,
• Kerry McLean –International Association of Democratic Lawyers,
• Chandra Batnagar –ACLU Human Rights Program,
• Damon Hewitt – NAACP Legal Defense Fund*,
• Jaribu Hill – Mississippi Worker’s Center for Human Rights, and
• King Downing – ACLU National Campaign Against Racial Profiling.

The panel of judges includes Algerian Parliamentarian Louisa Hanoune, international law scholar Ward Churchill, and human rights expert Jill Soffiyah Elijah of Harvard Law School. The proceedings will be based upon international law and practice made standard through the People’s Permanent Tribunal in Rome, Italy. The tribunal has gained the endorsement of South African Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane and will commence on the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s touchdown on the Gulf Coast region of the United States.

*for identification purposes only


Tribunal Partners:
ACLU of Louisiana
ACLU of Mississippi
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Law & Social Justice at Medgar Evers College
Common Ground Relief
International Association of Democratic Lawyers
Louisiana Justice Institute
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Mississippi Disaster Relief Coalition
Mississippi Worker’s Center for Human Rights
National Conference of Black Lawyers
National Economic & Social Rights Initiative
National Lawyers Guild
People's Hurricane Relief Fund
Safe Streets Strong Communities
Urban Justice Center
US Human Rights Network

On December 8th and 9th, 2005 hundreds of Internally Displaced People from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita gathered in Jackson, Mississippi in a Survivors Assembly. They came together to demand accountability, reconstruction and restitution from all levels and departments of the US government. The Survivors Assembly was convened as a democratic institution to provide Survivors with a vehicle for self-determination. On December 10, 2005 over 2,000 survivors and their supporters marched on City Hall in New Orleans demanding justice and the right to return home.

The tragic scenes of Katrina victims facing death, destruction, abandonment and forced relocation and occupation at gunpoint gave rise to outrage across the globe. The events of December 2005 signaled the turning this outrage to action. Now, from those same voices, comes a demand to put the American Government on trial for its Katrina related human rights violations.Katrina Survivors, advocates, and volunteers have carried out the will of the 1st Survivors Assembly 18 months ago.