His name was Herman Ferguson, and if you’re not dialed into the Black Nationalist Movement, the name may not ring a bell of recognition.
But to those aware of the Black Power Movement of the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, Herman Ferguson’s life, role and commitment rings like a bell in the night.
For Ferguson, often accompanied by his wife and comrade, Iyaluua Nehanda, joined Black groups an a New Afrikan Nation ( Provisional Government Republic of New Afrika ) that supported the fight for freedom. He joined several, but perhaps few had more historical significance than his joining of both the groups formed by Malcolm X after his painful break from the Nation of Islam; the Organization of African American Unity (OAAU) and Muslim Mosque, Inc. (MMI).
He met Malcolm in the late ‘50s, when he was still in the Nation, and became a staunch supporter thereafter.
In 1967, he and fellow members of the Jamaica Rifle and Pistol Club (in queens, NY), were arrested and charged with the planned assassination of two prominent civil rights leaders. After a conviction a year later, Ferguson fled the U.S., and he and his wife (3 years later) began a life in Guyana, working in the field of education.
They stayed there for 19 years, and lived good lives there. Ferguson could’ve retired with a government pension under his assumed name, “Paul Adams”, for he spent many years as an officer of the Guyanese Defense Force.
But the call of home only got louder with time.
Ferguson said he missed his “family”, his “childhood friends”, and “the Movement.”
His wife, Iyaluua, said, “I don’t think people really understand the nature of exile.” She explained, “Exile is death.”
So, Herman Ferguson and his wife returned to the U.S., where he knew a jail cell awaited him, but he did so, in part, because the weather had changed, in that the release of top-secret COINTEL-PRO files revealed FBI skullduggery against Black and anti-war activists. Also, several prominent Black Panther figures (like the late BPP Minister of information, Eldridge Cleaver), and Weatherman (a white, anti-imperialist group) had returned to the States.
He did 3 years, got out and hit the ground running, working on behalf of other imprisoned revolutionaries, by organizing, speaking out and building support for such efforts. He and his wife gave deep and broad support for the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, headquartered in NY.
For over 50 years he fought for the same ideas and principles that Malcolm supported: Black Nationalism, popular self-defense, and Black self-determination.
Now, after 93 years of life, Baba Herman Ferguson has returned to the Ancestors.
Herman was a long distance runner in the battle for national liberation. He served as a judge and District Representative of the Republic of New Afrika, was a member and Chairman of the Education Committee of brother Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), and was present on that fateful February 21, 1965 day at the Audubon Ballroom when Malcolm was assassinated. He vowed to carry on Malcolm’s teachings as best he could, organizing the Black Brotherhood Improvement Association in Jamaica, Queens, holding street corner rallies, political education classes, martial arts classes and forming the Jamaica Rifle and Pistol Club, Inc.—all of which made him a target of the u.s. government’s Counterintelligence Program (Cointelpro).
In 1967, Herman chose exile rather than go to prison on the false charges he was convicted of. He, along with his life partner Iyaluua Ferguson, spent nineteen years in Guyana, South America, where he participated in Guyana’s nation-building, rising to the rank of Assistant Director General in it National Service, joined the Guyana Defense Force (GDF), and retired with the rank of Lt. Colonel.
In 1989, Herman voluntarily returned to the united states and was immediately sent to prison. Upon his release, he immediately stepped back into work in the nationalist community, co-founding the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee (now Chairman Emeritus), the National Jericho Movement for Amnesty & Recognition of u.s. held P/POWs, publishing NATION TIME, serving as Administrator of the New Afrikan Liberation Front and co-chairing the Queens chapter of NCOBRA (National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America).
Haki Kweli Shakur 12-31-53 ADM August Third Collective NAPLA NAIM
The presentation of the Top 25 stories of 2017-2018 extends the tradition originated by Professor Carl Jensen and his Sonoma State University students in 1976, while reflecting how the expansion of the Project to include affiliate faculty and students from campuses across North America has made the Project even more diverse and robust. During this year’s cycle, Project Censored reviewed over 300 Validated Independent News stories (VINs) representing the collective efforts of 351 college students and 15 professors from 13 college and university campuses that participated in the Project’s Campus Affiliates Program during the past year.
How do we at Project Censored identify and evaluate independent news stories, and how do we know that the Top 25 stories that we bring forward each year are not…
In April 2017, the Southwestern Border Sheriffs’ Coalition (SBSC) unanimously approved use of new biometric identification technology as a defense against “violent unauthorized immigrants,” George Joseph of the Intercept reported.…
Over the past ten years, more than 82,000 guns stolen in Florida remain missing, Laura Morel reported in November 2017 in joint reports for the Tampa Bay Times and the Center for…
On November 1, 2017, the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) implemented strict changes to its prison mail policy that discouraged inmates, their families, and friends from using the US Postal…
At least 64,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2016, with more than 80 percent of those deaths attributed to opioid drugs, according to an August 2017 report from the…
For many years, especially since the infamous and diabolical decimation of the NYC World Trade Towers and Building No.7, which no plane hit, there’s been much talk about the “Deep State” and/or the “Shadow Government” being the very real government running the USA. Most folks really don’t give a damn, or so it seems. However, there are three sets of ‘actors’ who U.S. citizens seemingly can’t equate with manipulating the strings of governance, especially those folks who propose ‘socialism’.
Most folks think it’s the President and the political party they vote for and elect who run the country. Think again! Would you accept the President is not permitted to know the devious plans of the Deep State and Shadow Government; how about the machinations of the Federal Reserve and its cadre of fiatmoney economy manipulators; and what’s euphemistically referred to as the New World Order under the auspices of the United Nations! See the UN’s Agenda 21 and 2030, if you don’t believe that. Those are the defining actors, or “string pullers,” running the U.S., and most of the world, since they were able to get away with assassinating President John F. Kennedy, in my opinion. I remember that day like it was yesterday!
So, who or what make up the Deep State or Shadow Government? Basically, it’s a conglomerate of military-influenced and/or run alphabet agencies within the U.S. federal government. Here’s a list and don’t gasp:
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
IRS Internal Revenue Service
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation
DoD Department of Defense
DHS Department of Homeland Security
DoS Department of State
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
NOAA National Ocean and Atmospheric Agency
NWS National Weather Service
NSA National Security Agency
DOJ Department of Justice
We can accept the above because they were named by former CIA agent Kevin Shipp on August 5, 2016 before an audience gathered to hear about weather geoengineering.
According to Mr. Shipp, who had his legal run in with the CIA and won, these agencies are operating outside the U.S. Constitution in what‘s being called a “Post Constitutional Government (PCG)”. It’s illegal and we, the citizens, have allowed them to get away with it! According to Shipp, even Congress doesn’t know the extent of the alphabet agencies involvement in post constitutional government, which is pretty sad. Where’s congressional oversight? Is that a ‘flagrant’ clue to what Mr. Shipp says about PCG?
Shipp talks about the CIA-NSA-connected newspapers. He talks about how government agencies work with In-Q-Tel, and that Google is working under In-Q-Tel to monitor the Internet. However, according to Shipp, it’s all part of the military complex agenda.
At 27:42 on the timeline, Shipp ventures off into vaccines and the Autism heartbreak, which may prove interesting to parents. He states we live in the “Age of Cowardice.” OMG! How has it come down to that?
CIA Whistleblower Speaks Out About Climate Engineering, Vaccination Dangers, and 911
41:22 minutes
Along with his pledge to sell off their rainforest home to agribusiness and mining, Bolsonaro has said openly “minorities will have to adapt … or simply disappear”
Credit: Charlie Hamilton James, National Geographic
Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, campaigned on a plan to sell off major portions of the Amazon rainforest to agribusiness, mining. and hydro-power.
“Minorities have to adapt to the majority, or simply disappear,” he said on the campaign trail, adding that under his administration, “not one square centimeter” of Brazil will be reserved for the country’s indigenous peoples.
Contacted members of the Awá of Brazil, only 100 of whom remain uncontacted by civilization. Credit: Charlie Hamilton James, National Geographic
Since his election on October 28, he’s announced a merging of the ministries of agriculture and the environment — the latter of which was supposed regulate the former — into a new “super ministry” to oversee his plan.
The new ministry will be headed by politicians from the “beef caucus,” a group of lawmakers who have historically opposed indigenous land conservation, supported agricultural expansion, and attempted to relax slave labor laws.
Not only is this a grave attack on the human rights of Brazil’s indigenous people, but also on their ability to continue acting as the best defenders of the world’s forests,” writesBecca Warner, an environmentalism journalist for The Ecologist.
Bolsonaro should have little trouble pushing his agenda through Congress, as it is currently dominated by a three-wing political alliance known as the Bancadas do Boi, do Bíblia e da Bala.
In English, those are the political representatives of “Beef” (ranching and agribusiness), the “Bible” (religious conservatives) and “Bullet” (the military).
Indigenous peoples and their supporters say the new push to open protected forested lands to agriculture and mining has clear genocidal implications.
More than 20 land rights activistshave been killed in Brazil so far this year, with most deaths linked to conflicts over logging and agribusiness
Fifty land rights campaigners were killed in Brazil last year for trying to protect forests from illegal logging and the expansion of cattle ranches and soy plantations, according to Global Witness.
Welcome to all my new viewers and returning viewers. Be sure to subscribe, hit the like button, the notification button and by all means leave your comments below.
The Title of this video is, “Dr. Phil, Black Girl Thinks She Is White”When I first saw this video of Treasure Richardson, I knew from the start it had to be a set up, a hoax, a scam or some such thing as that. In the ensuing days after the airing of this segment, with a little ground work and exposure by Treasure’s Sister, Nina, it has come to light, that it is simply a scam for ratings and notoriety, perpetrated by a young woman and her mother who come from a very painful home life experience. While that is no excuse, it does help to fan the flame of the outrageousness of their behavior that subsequently landed them on the Dr. Phil Show.
From my experience with African Americans who identified as “white” it would only take a moment or two before the “black-ish” would come out. The illusion of race is really to perpetrate the fraud of the difference in color, when in fact it is the difference in ethnicity, culture, social orientation, lifestyle, etc. along with genetics that cause people of a certain ethnicity to manifest physically in a certain general form causing a general grouping of individuals. To my thinking, White Supremacy is just as toxic as Black Supremacy. The two paradigms are pitched against one another to keep the separation active, but from a high station above the clouds, looking down on this planet, you see people, different people, but people nonetheless. To me it shows how Creative the All Encompassing Divine Force can be in expressing itself through our physical reality. A garden filled with one type of flower holds a certain beauty but a garden of many flowers has a certain exquisite beauty that leans towards being quite breathtaking.
In this video, I will be citing a commentary on this Dr. Phil segment, submitted to me, from an email buddy, named Chaz White. With all the commentary on this segment, I have found Mr. White’s commentary to be the most profound so with his permission I will share it here. OnMonday, October 29, 2018, Mr. White wrote: “Such as a man thinketh… Such as he is.” Blind Ridiculous Conformity ensures success in the “out-sane asylum” controlled by con artists. In wrestling, you control the head of your opponent to direct the body of your opponent. This show, like many others could be well scripted performance art. The programming is directed by mischief makers, i.e. authors of confusion, to condition mentalities for continued slavery of the populace. We should first ask: What is the purpose of this story? Why is she being featured and promoted?? How does it serve system lords? Confusion that confuses to more confusion is understandable in western cultures based upon confusion, while making that confusion seem like normal behavior. She is only telling the same lie as so called “white people” tell. If others can tell the same lie, why should not she? Pay attention to Dr. Phil’s comments and assertions. They are misguidedly misinformed and shows his ignorance based on the inconsistencies in his description of race being biologically definable. He is after all DR. PHIL. Which means that his thoughts and research should be responsibly connected to the information he dispenses to the public such that it educates, rather than sensationalize the mind. The so called, “well educated,” therapist was not any better. Neither she nor Dr. Phil chose to address Race, Racism, or Whiteness, with the fact based approach which she so eloquently referred. It’s all a sham, scam, and ham, G-d Damn! The system encourages scientific ignorance and moral stupidity, then preys upon it. Snow is white. The albumen of a cooked egg is white. Clouds are white. Humans are not White! The concept of whiteness is the source of racism. Every other definition of race is based on this flawed make-believe of “whiteness.” The invention of “whiteness” is rooted in pretension and presumption of the mentally/emotionally unstable mind. It is “Royalism,” that is beyond reproach, inquiry or inspection. It’s great to be the a royal or associate one’s validity with royals. Royalty does what it wants to do, without question It is always the victor with the spoils. It is the way of spoiled, overindulged children. They get their way at the expense of others deemed by them as inferiors, no matter what. The designation of so called “white people” is even scientifically inconsistent with the definition of white itself. If white is the mixture of all colors (i.e. wavelengths of light), then that would mean that so called “white folks” are the most colored folks of all folks. The inconsistency is heard when someone uses the oxy-morron that describes a person as a so called “black albino!” Incidentally, the largest contingent of Albinos is in East Africa. The attachment to “Whiteness” used to define any Humans, as superior, is a pathological dis-ease designed to soothe mental and emotional instability, while cloaking inadequacies and validating oppression upon any arbitrarily group designated as “not so called white”. The quality of the content of ones character has nothing to do with physical attributes of Humans. It has more to do with behavior and beliefs upon which that behavior is based. All Humans without exception are related. That is to say they are family. A dysfunctional family, but they are family nonetheless. The con artist profit from the dysfunction and keeping the Human dysfunctional. Read Stephen J. Gould’s, “The Misrepresentation of Man,” to understand the history of the propaganda against scientific facts. Here is an experiment for you: Ask a “so called white person” to prove without a doubt that he/she is white. Their explanations will be no better than this young lady on Dr. Phil. You will see it is a matter of Blind Ridiculous Conformity or simply put “make believe.” It is time to “raid the game,” by going to the falsehoods of the matter and challenging the facts to arrive at the truth. This concludes, Mr. White commentary on the Dr. Phil Show, featuring a “Black Girl who thinks She Is White.” Thanks for listening, thanks for watching, peace and blessing to you, your family and loved ones. Links of Interest Dr Phil accused of ‘exploitation’ after black teen tells show ‘I’m white’ https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/dr-phil-accused-of-exploitation-after-black-teen-tells-show-im-white/news-story/bcce7b68fbb8b99b4f15ba002b71dcf3 Black Teenager Tells Dr. Phil She Hates Black People, Claims She is Whitehttps://www.wbls.com/news/news-0/black-teenager-tells-dr-phil-she-hates-black-people-claims-she-white
The Title of this video is, “Dr. Phil, Black Girl Thinks She Is White”
When I first saw this video of Treasure Richardson, I knew from the start it had to be a set up, a hoax, a scam or some such thing as that. In the ensuing days after the airing of this segment, with a little ground work and exposure by Treasure’s Sister, Nina, it has come to light, that it is simply a scam for ratings and notoriety, perpetrated by a young woman and her mother who come from a very painful home life experience. While that is no excuse, it does help to fan the flame of the outrageousness of their behavior that subsequently landed them on the Dr. Phil Show.
From my experience with African Americans who identified as “white” it would only take a moment or two before the “black-ish” would come out. The illusion of race is really to perpetrate the fraud of the difference in color, when in fact it is the difference in ethnicity, culture, social orientation, lifestyle, etc. along with genetics that cause people of a certain ethnicity to manifest physically in a certain general form causing a general grouping of individuals.
To my thinking, White Supremacy is just as toxic as Black Supremacy. The two paradigms are pitched against one another to keep the separation active, but from a high station above the clouds, looking down on this planet, you see people, different people, but people nonetheless.
To me it shows how Creative the All Encompassing Divine Force can be in expressing itself through our physical reality. A garden filled with one type of flower holds a certain beauty but a garden of many flowers has a certain exquisite beauty that leans towards being quite breathtaking.
In this video, I will be citing a commentary on this Dr. Phil segment, submitted to me, from an email buddy, named Chaz White. With all the commentary on this segment, I have found Mr. White’s commentary to be the most profound so with his permission I will share it here.
On Monday, October 29, 2018, Mr. White wrote:
“Such as a man thinketh… Such as he is.”
Blind Ridiculous Conformity ensures success in the “out-sane asylum” controlled by con artists. In wrestling,and you control the head of your opponent to direct the body of your opponent.
This show, like many others could be well scripted performance art. The programming is directed by mischief makers, i.e. authors of confusion, to condition mentalities for continued slavery of the populace.
We should first ask: What is the purpose of this story? Why is she being featured and promoted?? How does it serve system lords?
Confusion that confuses to more confusion is understandable in western cultures based upon confusion, while making that confusion seem like normal behavior.
She is only telling the same lie as so called “white people” tell.
If others can tell the same lie, why should not she?
Pay attention to Dr. Phil’s comments and assertions. They are misguidedly misinformed and shows his ignorance based on the inconsistencies in his description of race being biologically definable.
He is after all DR. PHIL. Which means that his thoughts and research should be responsibly connected to the information he dispenses to the public such that it educates, rather than sensationalize the mind.
The so called, “well educated,” therapist was not any better. Neither she nor Dr. Phil chose to address Race, Racism, or Whiteness, with the fact based approach which she so eloquently referred.
It’s all a sham, scam, and ham, G-d Damn!
The system encourages scientific ignorance and moral stupidity, then preys upon it.
Snow is white. The albumen of a cooked egg is white. Clouds are white.
Humans are not White
The concept of whiteness is the source of racism. Every other definition of race is based on this flawed make-believe of “whiteness.”
The invention of “whiteness” is rooted in pretension and presumption of the mentally/emotionally unstable mind. It is “Royalism,” that is beyond reproach, inquiry or inspection. It’s great to be the a royal or associate one’s validity with royals.
Royalty does what it wants to do, without question It is always the victor with the spoils. It is the way of spoiled, overindulged children. They get their way at the expense of others deemed by them as inferiors, no matter what.
The designation of so called “white people” is even scientifically inconsistent with the definition of white itself. If white is the mixture of all colors (i.e. wavelengths of light), then that would mean that so called “white folks” are the most colored folks of all folks.
The inconsistency is heard when someone uses the oxy-morron that describes a person as a so called “black albino!”
Incidentally, the largest contingent of Albinos is in East Africa.
The attachment to “Whiteness” used to define any Humans, as superior, is a pathological dis-ease designed to soothe mental and emotional instability, while cloaking inadequacies and validating oppression upon any arbitrarily group designated as “not so called white”.
The quality of the content of ones character has nothing to do with physical attributes of Humans. It has more to do with behavior and beliefs upon which that behavior is based.
All Humans without exception are related. That is to say they are family. A dysfunctional family, but they are family nonetheless. The con artist profit from the dysfunction and keeping the Human dysfunctional. Read Stephen J. Gould’s, “The Misrepresentation of Man,” to understand the history of the propaganda against scientific facts.
Here is an experiment for you: Ask a “so called white person” to prove without a doubt that he/she is white.
Their explanations will be no better than this young lady on Dr. Phil. You will see it is a matter of Blind Ridiculous Conformity or simply put “make believe.”
It is time to “raid the game,” by going to the falsehoods of the matter and challenging the facts to arrive at the truth.
This concludes, Mr. White commentary on the Dr. Phil Show, featuring a “Black Girl who thinks She Is White.”
Thanks for listening, thanks for watching, peace and blessing to you, your family and loved ones.
LINKS OF INTEREST
Dr Phil accused of ‘exploitation’ after black teen tells show ‘I’m white’
Noted playwright, poet and novelist, Ntozake Shange died on Saturday morning. The news was announced via Shange’s official Twitter account. She was 70.
According to The Star Tribune, Shange had suffered multiple strokes in recent years, but her health was improving. She died peacefully in her sleep in an assisted living facility in Bowie, Md.
Shange was born Paulette L. Williams in Trenton, New Jersey on October 18, 1948. Her family was an advocate of the arts and their home welcomed legendary figures in black history including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, and W.E.B. Du Bois. Shange took an interest in poetry. When she graduated from high school, she went on to study at Barnard College in New York City. It was there where she met fellow poet Thulani Davis, who she would collaborate with on various works. After graduating from Barnard, she traveled west to USC and earned a masters degree.
In 1975, she returned to New York City from Los Angeles and in the same year,for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf came to light. The play was a 20-part choreopoem that explored the lives of women of color in the United States. It was first produced Off-Broadway and then made its way to Broadway’s Booth Theater. The play became an acclaimed hit, earning an Obie Award and other accolades.
The play was adapted into a book in 1977 and then into the Tyler Perry film For Colored Girls which featured an all-star cast of black actresses including Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington, Phylicia Rashad, Whoopi Goldberg, and Tessa Thompson.
Like For Colored Girls, Shange’s other plays such as Spell No. 7 chronicled the black experience. In 1980, she adapted Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children which earned her another Obie Award.
Shange was also known as a primary figure in the Black Arts Movement, which was predominantly male. She was a pioneering figure and female trailblazer alongside notable figures from the movement and history including Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, Rosa Guy, Lorraine Hansberry, Lucille Clifton, and Sonia Sanchez.
She continued to write and create throughout her years. In 2003, she was the visiting artist at University of Florida, Gainesville and wrote and oversaw the production of Lavender Lizards and Lilac Landmines: Layla’s Dream. Her essays, poems, and stories have appeared in numerous publications including The Black Scholar, Yardbird, Ms., Essence Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, VIBE, and Third-World Women
Shange is survived by her daughter, Savannah Shange and grand-daughter Harriet Shange Watkins.
Ntozake Shange@NtozakeShange1
To our extended family and friends, it is with sorrow that we inform you that our loved one, Ntozake Shange, passed away peacefully in her sleep in the early morning of October 27, 2018. Memorial information / details will follow at a later date.
The family of Ntozake Shange
Black power militant H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael (right) appeared at a sit-in protest at Columbia University in New York City on April 26, 1968. AP
“If they build the first story, blow it up. If they sneak back at night and build three stories, burn it down. And if they get nine stories built, it’s yours. Take it over, and maybe we’ll let them in on the weekends.”
They were there to protest Columbia University’s construction of a gymnasium in Morningside Park, the only land separating the Ivy League university from the historic black working-class neighborhood. The gym, along with the discovery that Columbia was affiliated with the Institute for Defense Analysis – a national consortium of flagship universities and research organizations that provided strategy and weapons research to the U.S. Department of Defense – stirred students to protest for more decision-making power at their elite university.
As I detail in my book – “Harlem vs. Columbia University: Black Student Power in the Late 1960s” – all the issues of the 1960s and New Left collided on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia. Students contended with the war in Vietnam, institutional racism, the generational divide, sexism, environmentalism and urban renewal – all while trying to find dates and attend classes.
Everything came to a head on April 23, 1968 – just weeks after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. That was when members of the Columbia chapter of Students for a Democratic Society hosted a rally on campus to decry the war – and, what many considered the racist gym in Morningside Park. Members of the Students’ Afro-American Society, or SAS, and Columbia varsity athletes – known as jocks – were in attendance as well. SAS followers showed up to resume an earlier fight they had with the jocks who supported the construction of the gymnasium.
Some students had been working with Harlem community groups. They saw the gym as a symbol of the university’s “power” over a defenseless and poverty-stricken black neighborhood. They joined local politicians who opposed the gym for a myriad of reasons, including its concrete footprint in a green park and the inability of the community to have access to the entire structure once built.
Troubled relations
The situation was, of course, complex. Columbia had long been a contentious neighbor to Harlem and Morningside Heights. The campus gym was decrepit and prevented the university from competing with its Ivy peers effectively in terms of facilities and space. Regarding the park, Columbia had constructed softball fields that initially community members could use. By 1968, however, only campus affiliates could access the fields. Then, white faculty members had been mugged in the park.
The university, seeking to expand in the postwar period, purchased US$280 million of land, mortgages and residential buildings in Harlem and Morningside Heights. That resulted in the eviction of nearly 10,000 residents in a decade, 85 percent of whom were black or Puerto Rican.
Columbia acted in coordination with Morningside Heights, Inc., a confederacy of educational and religious institutions in the neighborhood that also sought to “renew” the area to serve their mostly white patrons. David Rockefeller, grandson of oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, acted as MHI’s first president. Columbia was the lead institution.
Despite being close to a black neighborhood, the university admitted few black students and employed a handful of black instructors. For instance, as I report in my book, in the 1964-1965 school year, there were only 35 black students out of 2,500 students enrolled in Columbia’s College of Arts and Sciences, and just one tenured black professor. By spring 1968, there were more than 150 black students enrolled.
On April 23, protesting students attempted to take over the administration building but were repelled by campus security. Then, they walked to the gym construction site where they tore down fencing and physically confronted police. From the park, they returned to campus where they finally succeeded in taking over a classroom building, Hamilton Hall. In doing so, they surrounded the dean of the college, Henry Coleman, who chose to stay in his office with his staff. To “protect” Coleman, several jocks stood guard outside his door.
Clashes with police
What started as a racially integrated demonstration of students took a turn in the late night when H. Rap Brown and several community activists showed up at the invitation of the Students’ Afro-American Society. The student group, Brown and the community activists agreed that black people solely should occupy Hamilton Hall and that white activists should commandeer other buildings. The white demonstrators accommodated, leaving Hamilton and taking over four other buildings. That forced Columbia officials to contend with not just a student protest but a black action on campus at that height of Black Power Movement. Incidentally, the community activists removed and replaced the jocks as sentries of the dean’s office.
Participants of a student sit-in assist each other in climbing up into the offices of Columbia University President Grayson Kirk on April 24, 1968.AP
To the ire of many white university administrators of the period, Stokely Carmichael of SNCC and the Black Panthers fame showed up to explain – through the press – that the university deal either with the student activists on campus or militants coming from Harlem. This insinuated the tone of the demonstrations would change drastically. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated less than three weeks before. From offices in Morningside Heights, Columbia administrators had watched Harlem burn as residents mourned and reacted to the black leader’s death. The only thing that separated the elite white institution from angry black rebels was the park in which the university was building a gymnasium against the will of many community members.
In consultation with New York Mayor John Lindsay, Columbia administrators chose to end the demonstrations by calling 1,000 New York police officers to clear the five occupied campus buildings on April 30. Chaos and brutality prevailed. As the NAACP and other Harlem community organizations stood watch, black students vacated Hamilton, which SAS had renamed Malcolm X Hall, and were arrested peacefully. In the building that national Students for a Democratic Society leader and Port Huron Statement author Tom Hayden occupied, police and demonstrators collided physically. One of the most iconic documents of the postwar period, the 1962 Port Huron Statement outlined the need for young people to be in the vanguard of the movement to eradicate racism and grind the military-industrial complex to a halt; it centered the notion of participatory democracy, which called for greater inclusion of the citizenry in decision-making. In other buildings, students found themselves on the hurt end of police batons when they resisted arrest.
Police rush toward student protesters outside Columbia University’s Low Memorial Library on April 30, 1968.AP
Worldwide attention
In opening the door to violence, the university turned what was a local matter into an international story and radicalized moderate students and neighborhood residents. Young radicals abroad learned of “Gym Crow” and university-sponsored defense research. In solidarity, they supported the Columbia student activists’ causes and chanted “two, three, many Columbias” – a refrain that gained popularity among American student protesters.
After the demonstrations in April, ensuing violent demonstrations in May, and a six-week student strike, the university did not build the gym in the park and renounced its membership in the Institute for Defense Analysis.
In my view, elements of the 1968 Columbia rebellion are inspiring and instructional for today’s students, protesters and community residents. As gentrification threatens the homes of poor black people in urban areas today, activists should recall that 50 years earlier young people believed they could cut their university’s ties to war research and prevent a prestigious white American institution from expanding into black spaces at the same time. They succeeded.
Our new podcast “Heat and Light” features Prof. Bradley and Columbia University’s Michael Kazin discussing this issue in depth.
July 17, 2018 “Information Clearing House” – The American backlash against President Trump over his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin has been as ferocious as it was predictable.
Every possible vilification has been thrown at him. But it is the slur of Trump as “traitor” that puts this president in grave danger.
Democrats, Republicans, state intelligence pundits, hawkish media, liberal media — all have launched a torrent of attacks on Donald Trump for daring to meet with Putin in Helsinki this week.
The Washington Post accused Trump of “openly colluding with the criminal leader of a hostile power”. Let those extreme words sink in for a moment. The implication is as serious as it can get.
As with other politicians and media outlets, the Post said the president had “betrayed” American intelligence services by siding with President Putin in denying that Russia had interfered in US elections.
Former CIA chief John Brennan denounced Trump as a “traitor” who had “committed high crimes” in holding a friendly summit with Putin.
It can’t get more seditious than that. Trump is being denigrated by almost the entire political and media establishment in the US as a “treasonous” enemy of the state.
Following this logic, there is only one thing for it: the US establishment is calling for a coup to depose the 45th president. One Washington Post oped out of a total of five assailing the president gave the following stark ultimatum: “If you work for Trump, quit now”.
The US political class have cast their verdict that Trump is a state enemy, and are openly calling for a mutiny against the White House.
Trump’s political survival is the balance. Possibly the only thing staying the hands of his enemies for now is their wariness about how the ordinary American citizens would react to a deep state maneuver to overthrow the elected leader.
Despite the torrid hysteria in the US political elite over the meeting with Putin, the mass of American citizens seem rather sanguine about the development. It’s fair to say that many Americans would applaud the attempt by Trump to normalize relations with Moscow. After all, that was one of the main reasons why they voted him into the White House in 2016.
The American political class are agog to get rid of Trump, but they are apprehensive to make a decisive move just yet, because such a gambit to depose the president may engender a wider social revolt against the elites. There is a strong sense that US society is seething from numerous grievances. Poverty and abysmal social inequality as well as popular alienation from the Washington establishment are all too rife for a potential civil war or revolution if stoked too much.
One can anticipate that the media campaign to pillory Trump as a traitor will go into overdrive in the coming days, with the calculation by his powerful enemies within the deep state that public opinion can be turned decisively against him for “betraying America” to a “hostile enemy”. If that manipulation of public opinion is achieved, then Trump is a goner.
Admittedly, Trump has many flaws and much of his foreign policy is in keeping with the usual criminal conduct of American imperialism. But one thing that can be said in his favor is that he is not driven by an irrational Russophobia nor a hellbent determination to have a confrontation with Moscow — unlike many in the US establishment.
Trump is often guilty of peddling fake news himself. But one thing he gets right is his dismissal of the “Russia-gate” narrative as a hoax. The US establishment created that farce as a way to undermine Trump and overturn his intention of normalizing relations with Russia.
For two years, Trump’s political enemies have been flogging the “Russia interfered in our democracy” trope — to no avail. The latest wheeze was the unsubstantiated indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence personnel only days before the Helsinki summit.
To be fair to Trump, he wasn’t dissuaded by that effort to sabotage his summit with Putin. But the trap was set. As soon as the meeting was over in Helsinki, all hell has broken lose in the deep state-controlled US media and politicians, condemning Trump.
Russia’s Putin called the tedious allegations of Russian interference in US democracy “the biggest nonsense ever”. Trump said he agreed with that assessment. Probably many ordinary American citizens also agree that the whole affair has been cooked up by political elites who were never happy with the democratic mandate given to Trump.
Trump is right to reject the so-called US intelligence assessment claiming that Russia under Putin’s orders meddled in the presidential race. Putin told the Helsinki press conference that he wanted Trump to win the election in order to improve bilateral relations. So what? Are foreign leaders not entitled to have opinions on who comes to power in rival countries?
In any case, the US intelligence assessment is not conclusive nor a consensus of all 16 state agencies, as former American ambassador Jack Matlock recently pointed out. In other words, the claim is only partial and far from definitive. It was “politically motivated,” said Matlock, a veteran diplomat.
The American political class is sick. It is suffering from a psychosis that prevents any understanding of reality. It is living in abject denial of reality, convinced of its delusions about Russia being a hostile enemy, and Trump being a “Kremlin stooge”.
The problem for the American establishment is that it doesn’t like the way democracy worked out. The people voted for a candidate who wanted to restore relations with Russia. For the elite, that outcome is unacceptable, and they have tried every dirty trick in the book to overturn the democratic process. Ironically, they claim that Russia tried to subvert American democracy, when it is the effete elite in Washington and the deep state apparatus that are subverting the country’s constitution.
How ludicrous can these people get? An American president holds a long-overdue meeting with the leader of the world’s second nuclear power. The meeting was a success in terms of opening a friendly dialogue between the two leaders. And yet the US ruling class excoriate this event as a “disgrace” and “criminal collusion”.
The interests of ordinary American citizens, as with the mass of people around the world, are not served by irrational hostility towards Russia. It is in our interests to have peaceful dialogue and to develop mutual understanding between the US and Russia to avert confrontations.
It is only an unrepresentative elite who could possibly want hostility. War and conflict is profitable for a tiny few. But this cabal in the US, and among its European allies, driven by Russophobia and war profits, is nevertheless extremely powerful. They control the mainstream media and politicians with their money and intelligence assets.
When the interests of the ruling elite in the US are threatened anything is possible. Assassinations and coups are par for the course for these plutocrats and their agents.
The livid reaction to Trump’s eminently reasonable engagement with Putin this week — a reaction that is vicious and coordinated — is an ominous sign that powerful forces are moving against this president.
Finian Cunningham has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. He is a Master’s graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. He is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent.
This article was originally published by “Sputnik“ –
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S program of systematically separating migrant children from their parents is steadily expanding, government officials confirmed Tuesday. Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s “zero tolerance” doctrine, U.S. authorities have been ordered to criminally prosecute all individuals arrested for illegally crossing the border without exception, including asylum-seekers and parents arriving with small children.
The result has been historic, and catastrophic, with the U.S. government intentionally creating thousands of so-called unaccompanied minors whose immigration cases have now become separate from their parents, plunging them, on their own, into an already overwhelmed system of federal bureaucracies.
In a phone call with reporters, senior officials at the various agencies responsible for the crackdown said thousands of families have been impacted by the measures so far. They added that there is no uniform, border-wide guidance in place establishing rules for how immigration agents on the ground should handle cases involving sensitive populations, such as babies and small children. Instead, officials said, it is up to Border Patrol chiefs at individual stations to exercise “discretion” in determining how to handle such cases. Officials described the ongoing effort as a program aimed at “deterrence.”
Brian Hastings, acting chief of law enforcement operations for the Border Patrol, told reporters that from May 5, 2018, through June 9, 2018, a total of 2,235 families comprising 4,548 people were apprehended along the southern border. “The total number of children that were made UACs through this prosecution initiative,” he explained, was 2,342, and the total number of adults referred for prosecution during that time period was 2,206.
Graphic: Moiz Syed
“All humanitarian considerations and policies remain in place. There’s discretion given to the field chiefs over each of the nine southwest border sectors for the appropriate referrals for sensitive cases, those include adults who are traveling with tender-age children,” Hastings said. “The chiefs in the field are allowed to make that discretionary call.” When asked if that meant there was no blanket, border-wide guidance on the separation of infants from their parents, Hastings replied, “That’s correct.” He added that “the chiefs in the field” have “generally” considered children under the age of 5 as being “tender aged.” Hastings could not provide statistics on the number of children under 5 who his agency has separated from their parents.Steve Wagner, acting assistant secretary at Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, which oversees the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is in turn responsible for the children the government is taking into custody, said his agency hopes the program will deter parents from entering the country without authorization. “We expect that the new policy will result in a deterrence effect,” he said. “We certainly hope that parents stop bringing their kids on this dangerous journey and entering the country illegally, so we are prepared to continue to expand capacity as needed. We hope that will not be necessary in the future.”
Wagner had no numbers to provide regarding families who have been reunited, post-prosecution, under the administration’s new program.
Shortly after the call, McClatchy, citing a review of federal data, reported that the “Trump administration has likely lost track of nearly 6,000 unaccompanied migrant children, thousands more than lawmakers were alerted to last month.” Last week, the government said it separated 1,995 children from their parents from April through May. Today, the Border Patrol cited a somewhat larger number — 2,342 — for May through June. Earlier this month, The Intercept reported a minimum of 1,358 children were separated from their parents from October 2017 through mid-May. While precise numbers remain fuzzy, due to overlapping timelines reported by different media outlets, it is safe to say the number of migrant kids separated from their parents by the Trump administration is well over 3,700 and climbing.
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Testifying before lawmakers last month, the deputy chief of Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol, said he anticipates that the government will continue separating families at a rate of roughly 650 cases every two weeks into the foreseeable future. The Border Patrol chief in the nation’s busiest sector, meanwhile, is pushing his agents to ramp up arrests and prosecutions even more, telling the Washington Post over the weekend that his office has not yet reached 100 percent enforcement — as the administration has called for — but that they are working to get there.
Such an increase would require overcoming the mounting political and public pushback the administration’s efforts are currently receiving. But even if zero tolerance ended tomorrow, thousands of families have already been separated, so the question remains: Is there a functional mechanism in place to insure those parents get their kids back?
For attorneys and advocates on the ground, the answer at the moment is no. In a series of interviews over the last week, federal public defenders and legal advocates working within the immigrant detention system and at the ports in Arizona, as well as providers of care to migrant kids nationally and U.S. immigration officials, were unanimous in their criticism of the system — or lack thereof — currently in place to reunite migrant children with their parents.
Dona Abbott is the branch director of refugee services for Bethany Christian Services, a leading organization involved in placing children in ORR custody in foster care. With more than 40 years of experience dealing with children fleeing violence and persecution, she told The Intercept that there is simply no system in place for the reunification of families to criticize or praise. Instead, she said, there is a never-ending list of questions that people who deal with the fallout of family separations have been forced to answer on their own: How do you reunify children with parents who are being deported? Can we reunify them before they’re deported? What does the parent want? What does the parent say is in the child’s best interest?
“Just finding the parent sometimes is a challenge,” Abbott explained.
U.S. Border Patrol agents arrive to detain a group of Central American asylum-seekers near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 in McAllen, Texas.
Photo: John Moore/Getty Images
No System in Place
Sometimes arresting agencies are handing kids over to ORR with identifying information, Abbott said, and sometimes they aren’t. Again, she said, there’s no system in place. “There’s a lot of families and a lot of kids affected by this — a lot,” she said. At the same time, none of the child welfare organizations that deal with unaccompanied minors, which the administration is creating more and more of each week, were consulted or warned before “zero tolerance” became the official enforcement posture of the federal government in early April. “We didn’t have a chance to ask questions and talk about how will the system work,” Abbott said. “Typically, you like to do that.”
Currently, the government’s solution for parents whose children it has taken is a 1-800 number. This also presents a problem, Abbott said, because often parents in detention have little to no access to phones. “What we’re finding is that we’re having to call detention centers,” she explained. As an example, Abbott pointed to the case of an 8-year-old girl who Bethany Christian is currently providing care for. “She’s been separated from her mom about a week, and we just keep calling all of the detention centers,” she explained. “Do you have someone by this name?” they ask. “The 1-800 number hasn’t been called, probably because mom hasn’t been allowed to make the call and we’re just not sure where mom is,” Abbot said.
For little kids, certainty about a parent’s whereabouts is of critical importance, Abbott said. “When you’re 8, a week is a long time,” she said. “You just don’t know, is my mom safe?” The issue of state-enforced separations, involving armed men in uniforms with guns, she added, can be particularly jarring for children from areas in Central America and Mexico where the line between organized crime and government security forces is nonexistent, and the entire purpose of the journey north was to escape precisely those kinds of scenarios. Abbott described the case of 10-year-old boy who tells the story of seeing his father handcuffed before they were separated. “That is scary for someone coming from a country where we know, it’s been reported over and over again, police are corrupted,” Abbott explained.
This particular boy’s ordeal also involved another troubling development emerging in recent cases, Abbott added: agents in the field, specifically Border Patrol agents, making on-the-ground calls about who gets to try to claim asylum and who does not. “Border Patrol seems to have a lot of independence and autonomy in their decisions,” Abbott said. “In the case of this little 10-year-old, there just didn’t seem to be anything other than they didn’t think dad had an asylum case and they immediately deported him, but they didn’t deport his son, and they didn’t make sure they went together. So now we have to try to reunite them. And the son is indigenous, which adds another layer of issues.”
Rather than install a system that reunites children with their parents, the administration has imposed at least one new measure that could decrease that likelihood. Earlier this month, McClatchy reported that ORR had entered into a new agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, in which the agency would share fingerprints and run immigration checks on potential sponsors who come forward to take custody of kids. “It’s not just the parent,” Abbott explained. “The new rule is everyone in the household, every adult in the household, must be fingerprinted, and those fingerprints, all those fingerprints, must be handed over to the Department of Homeland Security for criminal investigation. That means, probably, detention and deportation.” Already, as McClatchy reported, “the percentage of unaccompanied youths claimed by parents has dropped from 60 percent four years ago to 41 percent in 2017 after increasing crackdowns.” Abbott expects more of that to come.
“I can’t imagine it won’t exacerbate a difficulty with sponsors not feeling safe coming forward to claim their family member, their child,” she said.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, left, leaves after she briefed members of the press as White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, right, looks on during a White House daily news briefing on June 18, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
False Claims About Separations
In a call with reporters last week, public affairs officials with the various Trump administration agencies responsible for separating migrant kids from their parents defended their actions on the grounds that they have no other choice, falsely claiming that the law requires such separations. Demanding that they not be quoted in their effort to “correct the record,” the flacks blamed the media for irresponsible reporting. In particular, they claimed that the federal government is not separating babies from their parents and denying that government agents have used false pretenses to take kids from their parents, never to be returned again. Abbott said both claims were false.
For one, she said, the government has definitely separated babies from their parents. “The average age now of a child we have in care is 7, but we have children from 8 months all the way to 17,” she said. Second, she said, Bethany Christian provided care for a 6-year-old girl, who, along with her mother, described the pretense of a bath being used to carry out a separation. “Her mother was told, ‘We’re going to give her a bath,’ and they took her and never brought her back. Put her in foster care. I’m sure some immigration officer thought that saved the trauma of the separation, crying and screaming, but I can’t imagine what that mom thought,” Abbott said. “Maybe what the government is trying to say is, ‘We’re not systematically condoning that,’” Abbott said, but the fact remains: “We’ve heard it directly from a parent and a child.”
The chaotic implementation of “zero tolerance” is leading to all sorts of experiences like this, Abbott argued, and the public is only hearing a fraction of them. She described another, about a little boy who came to Bethany Christian carrying a belt. “An adult belt just rolled up and clung in his hands,” Abbott explained. “We were like, ‘Oh, what’s this about?’ We finally get the belt away from him and inside, as we unravel it, is dad’s name and phone number.” For Abbott, the presence of the number sent a clear message. “Dad had in one last desperate moment” said to himself: “What can I send with my son that tells somebody where to find me?”
“So he writes it on his belt,” she said. “We’ve just had too many kids have those kind of separation stories to suggest that it is anything but a little chaotic. More than a little bit — it is chaotic.”
Abbott is hardly alone in her concerns. Two sources The Intercept interviewed regarding the government’s family separation program — including an attorney who has represented children in ORR custody and a senior DHS official working on immigration issues — spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press. They, too, pointed to the absence of an effective system to reunite parents with their kids.
Contrary to claims from the administration, the attorney said the government is indeed separating parents from children even when those families present themselves at lawful ports of entry. “We’re definitely seeing that, even though sometimes the administration says they’re not doing that,” they told The Intercept. Similarly, they added, the government’s claim, relayed in a background call with reporters last week, that it is not separating babies from their parents, is simply not true. “That’s wrong,” they said. “We’re seeing babies.”
In this handout photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol agents conduct intake of illegal border crossers at the Central Processing Center on June 17, 2018, in McAllen, Texas.
Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection via Getty Images
No Way Home
The likelihood that those children will find their way back to their parents is entirely uncertain, the attorney added. In cases where a parent expresses a desire to be deported with their child, Immigration and Customs Enforcement promises to coordinate on reunification, they said, but has routinely failed to follow through. “We’ll get a promise of coordination and then it doesn’t happen,” they said, adding that instead attorneys come to learn that a parent has already been deported just as the reunification process is unfolding. “There’s just not any commitment to the coordination of removal or reunification before removal. There doesn’t seem to be any plan.” The DHS official agreed with that assessment. “It’s all up in the air,” they told The Intercept. “There’s no way this ends well. I feel like now that we’ve crossed this precipice, there’s no limit as to how far Trump and his people will go.”
In the absence of clarity, defense attorneys involved in the prosecutions that lead to family separations have turned to federal magistrate judges for relief, and in some cases, the judges are taking action.
In Tucson, upwards of 70 migrants are criminally prosecuted, in group hearings, for illegally crossing the border every day under the government program known as Operation Streamline. With those prosecutions spiking 71 percent over the last year, and family separations becoming routine, federal defense attorneys have begun asking judges presiding over the hearings to take unusual steps in order to increase the chances that parents will be reunited with their children. “One of the things we were asking for the judges to order, and the judges have been receptive to ordering, is that our clients be kept here, even if they receive a sentence of time served, and they’re subject to deportation — that they be kept here in order to be reunited with their kids,” Molly Kincaid, a federal public defender in Tucson told The Intercept. “They’d literally rather be kept in custody and reunited with their children.”
Kincaid explained, “Most of our clients who are affected by this are getting the misdemeanor, they’re only being charged with the misdemeanor because it’s their first entry.” Normally, she said, people charged with the first-time offense take the plea, accept the time served, and are quickly deported. Now that parents and children are in the mix, she said, an increasing number of defendants are expressing that they want to remain in the country. “It’s very bizarre because most of the time that’s what our clients want — they want the misdemeanor and to go back home as soon as possible, but when you have a child here, obviously that’s the most important thing,” Kincaid said.
So far, the magistrate judges in Tucson have appeared receptive to the effort. “In every single case where an attorney is requesting that recommendation, our magistrate judges are making them,” Christina Woehr, also a federal public defender in Tucson, told The Intercept. In an effort to bolster recommendations, Kincaid has additionally sought orders requiring the government to disclose the locations of children in custody. Any increase in transparency would be a welcome change, the two attorneys said.
Earlier this month, Kincaid appeared before Magistrate Judge Bruce G. Macdonald’s during a Streamline hearing. Her client, Cerafino Perez Andres, a Guatemalan father, had crossed the border with his 15-year-old daughter five days earlier. Following his arrest, Perez Andres’s daughter was taken by the government and, standing before Macdonald, Kincaid explained that he had no idea where she was. Federal prosecutor Christopher Lewis told Macdonald that CBP and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have “no knowledge or control as to where they will place those children,” and that the kids are the responsibility of ORR, which does not have a mechanism for reporting back on the whereabouts of the children it receives from DHS agencies.
“I’m hoping, though, that you can ask them to at least provide you with that information,” Macdonald told Lewis, according to audio of the hearing obtained by the Arizona Daily Star.
“I can inquire, but there’s no mechanism on the part of ORR to report that back,” the prosecutor replied.
“Well, I’m asking for you to ask them to report that back,” the judge said.
Cosme Lopez, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, stressed that the judge’s words were not an order. “I think the pivot point here is ORR,” Lopez told The Intercept, downplaying the Department of Justice’s role in family separations. “Our involvement has really not changed that much,” he said. “We have nothing to do with the children or the apprehension,” he added. “Our piece is so minute, it’s not even funny,” he insisted. The DOJ does not literally apprehend then process children, but the department’s role in family separation is not “minute.” Family separation is the consequence of a “zero tolerance” directive initiated by Sessions, who is head of the Justice Department. This change in prosecutorial priorities is at the very core of the national scandal that family separation has evolved into. The DOJ is just as implicated as all of the other enforcement agencies.
Kincaid and Woehr, the federal public defenders, point out that judges placing detention recommendations on their clients’ cases is hardly a solution to the situation at hand. They describe the measures more like a band-aid intended to staunch the enormous due process and emotional damage currently being done to migrant families. “It’s a pretty terrible choice to have to make as a parent,” Woehr said. “Do you want to be held in indefinite detention hoping you are reunited with a child who, you don’t know where they are, or do you want to ask to be deported and let your child’s immigration case wind its way through our system?” Woehr added, “The issue we run into with asking the government to disclose the location of the children is ICE says, ‘Well, they’re not in our custody anymore; they’re in ORR custody, so we have no way of finding their location,’ which shifts the burden of finding the location of the child to our detained or deported clients, which just adds to the terrible situation that they’re facing.”
“It’s Kafkaesque,” she said. “It’s just a nightmare.”
Kincaid agreed. “It’s one of the things that we’re struggling with right now and that we’re trying to address — is basically how to follow up with our clients to see if this reunification is happening, to see if they’re actually staying here, or they’re just getting deported immediately and their kids are staying here, which is obviously the worst-case scenario for most of our clients,” she said. “I can tell you that the whole situation seems to be shrouded in mystery for us.” Both pushed back on arguments, such as those from the Trump administration, that the migrants impacted by family separation bring their kids to U.S. in order to exploit a loophole and thus, gain entry into the country. “I don’t get that at all,” Kincaid said. “I’ve never heard that from any client,” Woeher added. Describing the experiences her clients have recounted, Kincaid said, “It really is more of a situation of real desperation.”
Fighting for Reunification
Beyond the horror of seeing parents separated from their kids, the attorneys said the current situation raises serious due process and proportionality questions. “Parents in this country who are citizens and are going through a process to potentially have their parental rights terminated — they have a lot of rights,” Kincaid pointed out, and yet, in the case of migrants, parents are losing their children through rapid-fire procedures in remote, closed-off government facilities. There’s also the question of how the punishment fits the crime, when the crime is a misdemeanor and the punishment is indefinitely losing your child. “You’re looking at a day in custody as your sentence, but oh, as a collateral consequence of your sentence, you’re going to lose your child for maybe a year — we don’t know,” Woeher said of the current practice.
For now, the public defenders’ focus remains on reunification, though it’s a campaign they wish they did not need to undertake. “We’re fighting for reunification right now but really, I think, the best thing that could happen is to go back to prosecutorial discretion, where you just don’t charge these cases,” Kincaid said. “Let’s not put ourselves in this situation to begin with, where we’re separating families.”
Part of what’s making the impact of “zero tolerance” and family separation so profoundly difficult to respond to, especially in terms of reunification, attorneys say, is that huge numbers of the people involved are little kids, toddlers, and babies — all of whom now have their own immigration cases, and no parents around to help.
With three offices and nearly 70 people on staff, the Florence Project has been the sole provider of free legal representation for people in immigration detention in the state of Arizona for nearly 30 years. Since January, the organization has documented 350 cases of family separation, and attorneys there are feeling the effects of representing very young clients. “Our kids program used to work mainly with 16-, 17-year-old Guatemalan boys, unaccompanied minors,” Lauren Dasse, the project’s executive director, told The Intercept. “Now we’re seeing a lot of young children. A lot of our clients are young and separated from parents.”
Those clients, Dasse said, have included a blind 6-year-old girl who was separated from her mother, and other preverbal, nonverbal, and disabled children and babies. The difficulty of sorting out these newly unaccompanied kids’ individual immigration cases, and reuniting them with their parents, is immense, Dasse said. “This is the most challenging thing I’ve seen,” she explained. “And I’ve heard that from staff cohorts in the field for a long time doing immigration defense and criminal defense, that this is the most challenging that they’ve had to do, is prep an inconsolable 4-year-old for their asylum hearing. You can imagine.”
And it’s not just the young kids, Dasse pointed out. “We have an older client, I think she’s 13, and she feels very guilty about her dad being detained because her dad was fleeing with her to keep them both safe,” she explained. “She’s put in a place where she has to make very adult-like decisions, with us representing her. She shouldn’t be in that place where she has to think of her own asylum case at this moment, because she has her guardian, her parent, as opposed to the unaccompanied minors that we’ve worked with for 20 years.”
Dasse described what’s felt like “a perfect storm of things that have happened over the past few months that have made our work and fighting your case so much more challenging.” She fears the combined impact of Trump administration efforts are aimed at increasing the time people spend in detention, so they will become more likely to abandon their cases, even if those cases involved potentially legitimate asylum claims. “Everything’s pointing to prolonged detention, and then the pressure is on people to give up on their cases,” she said. The DHS immigration official agreed, adding that the message from the administration appears to be “if you aren’t willing to be torn from your kids, spend six months or more in detention, and suffer humiliation and a complete upheaval of your life, then you don’t really need asylum.”
In response to the crackdown, the Florence Project is staffing up and building a rapid response team to handle family separation. Due to the government’s utter lack of transparency, much of that work involves combing through volumes of Streamline hearing transcripts, searching for parents whose children might have been taken. “It’s all very time-consuming,” she said. “Time-consuming and urgent. There’s an urgency right now that we’re all feeling.” The stakes right now couldn’t be greater, she argued.
“We are creating immeasurable trauma — immeasurable trauma, that will have lifelong effects on people,” Dasse said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Abbott, of Bethany Christian, echoed that sentiment. “I’ve worked with unaccompanied children since 1977,” she said. “Forty years in child welfare, I’ve never seen anything quite like this. It’s so systematic.” Normally, she explained, the kids she works with have become unaccompanied for a reason. They are fleeing a war, for example, or a natural disaster, or some other crisis that causes them to enter the system without their parent. This is something different. In the U.S. context, she said, “people have managed to make it all the way to somewhere where they’re asking asylum and then are being separated.”
“This is purposeful, not part of the chaos of fleeing for your life. This is purposeful separation after you arrive at a border asking for safety,” Abbott said. “Quite honestly, I’ve never experienced where we use children as a deterrent.”
Top photo: U.S. Border Patrol agents detain a group of Central American asylum-seekers near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018, in McAllen, Texas.
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Many people have been led to believe Hillary had two separate email accounts. One was a traditional, secure, State Department address, where she received most of her classified information; the other was her personal, sloppily run, wide open, unsecured email, where she received some classified information. But wait.
Sperry/2016: “The State Department is lying when it says it didn’t know until it was too late that Hillary Clinton was improperly using personal emails and a private server to conduct official business — because it never set up an agency email address for her in the first place, the department’s former top watchdog says.”
“’This was all planned in advance’ to skirt rules governing federal records management, said Howard J. Krongard, who served as the agency’s [State Department] inspector general from 2005 to 2008.”
“The Harvard-educated lawyer points out that, from Day One, Clinton was never assigned and never used a state.gov email address like previous secretaries.”
“’That’s a change in the standard. It tells me that this was premeditated. And this eliminates claims by the State Department that they were unaware of her private email server until later,’ Krongard said in an exclusive interview. ‘How else was she supposed to do business without [an official State Department] email?’”
“He also points to the unusual absence of a permanent [State Department] inspector general during Clinton’s entire 2009-2013 term at the department. He said the 5½-year vacancy was unprecedented.”
“’This is a major gap. In fact, it’s without precedent,’ he said. ‘It’s the longest period any department has gone without an IG’.”
“Inspectors general serve an essential and unique role in the federal government by independently investigating agency waste, fraud and abuse. Their oversight also covers violations of communications security procedures.”
“’It’s clear she did not want to be subject to internal investigations,’ Krongard said. An email audit would have easily uncovered the secret information flowing from classified government networks to the private unprotected system she set up in her New York home.”
“He says ‘the key’ to the FBI’s investigation of Emailgate is determining how highly sensitive state secrets in the classified network, known as SIPRNet, ended up in Clinton’s personal emails.”
“’The starting point of the investigation is the material going through SIPRNet. She couldn’t function without the information coming over SIPRNet,’ Krongard said. ‘How did she get it on her home server? It can’t just jump from one system to the other. Someone had to move it, copy it. The question is who did that?’”
“As The Post first reported, the FBI is investigating whether Clinton’s deputies copied top-secret information from the department’s classified network to its unclassified network where it was sent to Hillary’s unsecured, unencrypted email account.”
I did a bit of further searching, and came across a nugget buried in a CNN article, dated 3/3/15, “Team Clinton: ‘Nothing nefarious’ at State,” by Dan Merica and Laura Koran. Here it is:
“On Tuesday, Marie Harf, a deputy State Department spokeswoman, said… ’While Secretary Clinton did not have a classified email system, she did have multiple other ways of communicating in a classified manner, including assistants printing documents for her, secure phone calls, and secure video conferences,’ Harf added.”
Did you catch the key phrase? WHILE SECRETARY CLINTON DID NOT HAVE A CLASSIFIED EMAIL SYSTEM.
What does that indicate? It appears to confirm that Clinton NEVER had a secured, protected, official State Department email address. Therefore, despite denials, she must have been conducting classified government business through her own unsecured email account.
Was this issue ever brought up during interviews the FBI conducted with Hillary? If so, what were her responses?
For example, did she say, “Back off and ease up, boys, we’re all in this together”? Did she say, “We all know I’m trying to shield the Clinton Foundation operations and money”?
She never had an official State Department email account? She conducted all her classified email communication on her unsecured home server? There was no permanent inspector general at the State Department during her tenure as Secretary of State? The State Department lied when it said it only discovered her private email account late in the game?
She’s clean as a whistle. Nothing to see here. Don’t worry, be happy.
(To read about Jon’s mega-collection, The Matrix Revealed, click here.)
Jon Rappoport
The author of three explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED,EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, and POWER OUTSIDE THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free NoMoreFakeNews emails here or his freeOutsideTheRealityMachine emails here.
The title of this video is “Why Do Black Women Hate Black Men?”
This video is a bit of departure from my usual uploads. It’s a bit raw and uncut. A few days, I awakened from sleep and this question was piercing my awareness. “You are not married, why is that? Do you hate Black men?
I must say I was taken aback by this thought appearing in my awareness. In fact it troubled me that anyone would think such a thing.
Typically, I am very meticulous about how I create and present my videos on my YouTube channel, but in this case, I am giving it to you raw and uncut, primarily for effect and specifically to drive home a point.
My voices is a bit gruff, the background street noise is apparent and even some other mistakes may be heard, but I felt this would be the best depiction of my sentiment on this issue.
It’s an issue that seems to prevail in today’s society here in the US and throughout the Diaspora. Black women face these accusations over and over, but in this case, being asked this question truly disturbed me. So, I decided to share my thoughts on it as they flowed from me in the moment. I just grabbed my recorder and started talking.
Please feel free to leave your comments below. Your insights, questions and additional commentary would be much appreciated.
To my new and current subscribers, be sure to hit the notification button so you can be alerted of any new uploads. Welcome to my channel all new subscribers and thanks for listening and watching.
The Beyonce Phenomenon: Appreciation or Exploitation
“Culture Vultures come in all shapes and sizes, and even those whom you least expect are doing just that, using another’s culture and tradition to further their own gain.”
Now let me start by saying that it is quite obvious that there are plenty of people who sing the praises of the Queen B. They shake, rattle and roll at her awesomeness and find her to be a great example for their daughters. Then over in a tiny corner, far from view are just a few people who are not so taken by her.
So, if you are in the larger community, the ones who praise and adore her, who are her Church Members who see her as a goddess, who imitate her and blast her songs in your car on your way to work or where ever you may be headed to, then you might want to turn off this video and go watch her instead.
If you are among those Beyoncé Church goers who have an open mind and would like to explore with me some of the kinks in her armor, then stay with me. And if you are the few in the corner, way over there who can barely get a word in edgewise due to the clamor coming from the crowd, you may find that you may agree with some of what I am about to say, and you may even have something else to think about when it comes to the “Beyoncé Phenomenon.”
Anybody who comes to my channel and even YouTube who consistently demonetizes my videos, knows that I “think outside of the box” in my videos. I was raised by my Mother to be a critical thinker. She never accepted anything on face value, at least it seemed that way to me. Then after being indoctrinated for 12 years in Catholic school, I attended a Catholic college and there I learned what critical thinking really was, as ironic as that might sound. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time because the professors that I had, were not part of the status quo and they got flack from the administration because of it.
The “rave” reviews from the mainstream media as you can see here….
And the too many to count YouTube videos spin the top of the cult of personality, idol worship and the main agenda of those in the seats of power over the masses. Who could ask for anything more than the all out support from the fat cats?
But my mother taught me to question. She did that by telling me over and over again, “you are so gullible, you believe anything that anyone tells you.” My younger brother used to pull all kinds of tricks on me to the point, that I was threatened with bodily harm if I ever, in life, fell for another one of his tricks. So I had to begin to think, and rethink and then think again.
Now, I am going to share my thoughts, it’s my channel and until YouTube completely shuts it down, I will share what I feel and think on my channel. If you do not wish to hear what I have to say, then feel free to go, but please do not leave disparaging comments calling me a “hater” simply because I take another stance on this “Beyoncé Phenomenon.” And throughout this video I am going to tell you why I have another stance, and it’s not something that I have recently taken, I have daughters and while they are mature adults now, with daughters of their own, I also have sons who have sons. This Beyoncé Phenomenon” does not just touch on the girls, it touches the boys as well.
Now, folks may have thought that since Obama and Michelle gave Beyoncé and JayZ the red carpet treatment by presenting them at the white house, that made them pass the grade, but that means nothing to me. Beyoncé is not a good role model for young girls and JayZ is not a good role model for young boys, I don’t care how many people say that they are.
They cannot sincerely believe that the violence and sexualization that goes on in their videos is a model for young people, with the explosive instances of police brutality against people of color when they ain’t doing none of the stuff depicted in their music videos.
But in this video I want to focus on Beyoncé, I want to talk about the sexualization of the woman, I want to talk about how this sexualization of the woman is not appreciation but exploitation to the point that women who have been abused, seemed to be brushed off with the adage, “if she didn’t want to be treated that way, she shouldn’t wear them kind of clothes”, yet, it’s okay for Beyoncé and her team of soldiers to do so, or Hollyweird personalities over all. Why is it okay for those in Hollyweird to prance around half clad, barely clad, merely clad or in some instances, uncladded in the public eye, but those poor unknown victims of sexual molestation are considered hoes and told that they asked for it.
We have a rape culture in this country! I cannot speak about any other country but the US. So on the one hand we are bringing out the Weinstein’s and the Cosby’s and on the other hand we are lining up blocks and hours long, and spending top dollar to attend a festival, game or concert featuring “Beyoncé'” who in my estimation is acting like a whore on stage in front of the entire world!
Now you might want to get off this video right now, you Beyoncé Muppets, but I am about to get real right here and right now. My thoughts around Coachella have haunted me for days and days and even more days. Who remembers how incensed folks got when they saw Malia Obama at Coachella last year or maybe it was the year before, smoking weed and humping? That image and video went viral. People were appalled that Malia would be out there “acting” like that and she’s the Presidents daughter, yet on the other hand the Obama’s invited JayZ and Beyoncé to the white house. Michelle even said, she saw Beyoncé as a role model for young girls. How do you mix both things together?
I have read several articles, watch several videos and the voice in the wilderness still continues to be little ole me. Why can’t people see how perverted this is? Why are people gobbling up this type of performance with no second thoughts or even grievances? What is it about the Beyoncé mania that makes folks blind, deaf and dumb to what is being blasted in from of their faces? I am totally baffled by the support that she gets to get up on stage and rock her sacred space in the nearly pornographic manner in which she does. Has pornography become normalized now, and does an entire show of young ladies dressed in outfits that used to be only seen in “Frederick of Hollywood” become okay?
Now place that within the context of what just happened to Bill Cosby. What do I mean by that? What I mean is, I wonder how many people, who blame the women for “making” themselves available to Cosby so he could do what he did to them, support Beyoncé. I just wonder.
Now place that in the context of all the stuff coming out of Hollyweird, where women and in some instance men and children are being over sexualized, abused and other criminal acts being perpetrated against them. How in one breath can one say, they appreciate Beyoncé and in the other breath abhor the Hollyweird under belly of despicable and criminal behavior. People are losing jobs, being downgraded, being ostracized and criminalized due to their reported, not proven, inappropriate behavior while Beyoncé can flaunt herself and her female soldiers in the manner she does and make millions of dollars!
Is it because she donates to social causes? Does that give her a free ride?
BTW, I am not impressed with donations. I am only impressed if those donations are not marked as tax deductibles at the end of the year. In fact, that simply means the citizens are making the contributions because in some way, it will hit the pockets of every other person who does pay taxes.
Is the community saying that as long as she gives her money away, she can allow herself and her female soldiers to be exploited in the manner in which they were in this last show, and yes I did see it.
ZaZa Ali Live: Beyonce at Coachella, Cardi B & the Impact of Celebrity Culture
I would like to take a moment and give a shout out to ZaZa Ali. She painfully approached this subject, by consistently giving credit to Beyoncé’s performance being impeccable when it comes to the work she had to put into it to pull it off. I think she did a fine job of tiptoeing over the haters who will come at her saying that she doesn’t want another black woman to succeed in life. But what is the definition of success? And what is the cost of this success?
And yes, I am harping on Beyoncé and yes I know that other female entertainers have done the same thing, but like my mom used to say, just cause everybody is doing it does not make it right.
I did a video on the Cult of Celebrity. I also did a video discussing the sexualization of our children. Along with various references that I made to pedophilia and child sacrifice.
Nowadays, we may not be blatantly sacrificing our children by taking their lives in a bloody ritual, but we are sacrificing them if we allow them to sing some of the Beyoncé lyrics like “Suck my balls, Bitch!”
Is that what we want our young children and young girls to say while they are at school or in the play ground, in the gym or at a football game? To me, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, that hoisted me into the Beyoncé phenomenon at risk of losing friends, family and even a few foes.
Just take a look at this meme and tell me, how can any parent find this to be okay? Your child is impersonating Beyoncé and while doing so is causing disruption in the classroom and when they call the parent in, the parent is like well………………. What is your problem?
Along with the several “f” bombs in her lyrics why is she allowed to do this, and why are people supporting her and keeping her “rich and famous”? What is it about her mania that makes people blind to the fact that her shows are destructive! I really don’t care how much time and effort she puts into her shows, how much practice and long hours, that same time and effort is put into making nuclear weapons and bombs that are created to be dropped on innocent men women and children.
To me, Beyoncé is poison, and poison can be created in a moment or it can be done painstakingly, but it will kill, and that is its purpose. I don’t care about the symbolism that folks like to equate to Illuminati or some occult references such as the eye of Horus (Heru) or 3 sixes, those symbols have also been perverted and yet used by folks behind closed doors, the very folks who tell the masses to shun them. It matters not to me that those images and symbols are used in music videos. What matters to me is our children and they are our future. If we allow this exploitation of our children’s mind, body and spirit, it matters not that these so called Illuminati symbols are being used. The actual behavior of these artists is more blatantly instrumental in their destructive effects than those symbols, believe me. It’s the music, the imagery, the hypnotic trance that comes over the crowd, the acceptance of this low bar of morality and the continued cognitive dissonance that is most troubling in my opinion.
So we get this meme about how she demonstrated her “black culture” unapologetically. Take a look at this meme.
When in actuality, she never said that she was doing that at all. She just wanted to be “entertaining” and that was all. Where does it say that she is or ever has been about “black culture”? And if she presented that show as some have said, to show the mostly white audience what “black culture” looks like, to me she gave that audience a perverted version of it.
Are we to expect black women to be engaged with rocking their sacred space? Are we still expecting black women to be bed winches and is that the message that Beyoncé is giving to this predominately white audience who saw her and her female soldier wag themselves so suggestively it bordered on pornography?
Then other say, but she came back, after having 3 children, blazing, strong and resilient. And my response is so did our Ancestors working in the cotton fields! They did that with no money, no fame and a whip on their backs carrying their babies all the while. Why does she get a pass for doing that?
And what really broke my heart was to see Blue Ivy, sitting there in the audience, watching her mother exploit herself in that manner. I hoped that maybe the pyrotechnics distracted Blue, but she probably have seen some of those rehearsals, so yeah….
I want a show of hands of how many of you out there, listening to my rant, would love to see your mother get herself in tip top shape and then get on stage and do what Blue’s mother did? Would you not be just a tad bit embarrassed by that show of vulgar vagina humping by your mother? What about your father? Would he sit there in the audience with the whole family and applaud?
I remember the other meme and viral story about the “Smith’s who were at a show where Miley Cyrus was acting completely out of line, and the shock on their face was quite telling. Why and how did Beyoncé get a pass?
So they say, she was showing off her culture. So that is what black culture looks like? That is what African culture looks like, that is what spiritual culture looks like?
Excuse me, but I am missing something here.
But, after all of these flash points came, the YouTube tarot reader saying, Beyoncé has Oshun with her, and that she is very spiritual and I was like, wait a second………
Now they are adding to the mix a perverted version of Oshun? The goddess of love? From Nigeria west Africa? And so that gives her a stamp of approval?
So we go from Black panther at halftime, Oshun at the Grammy’s and now Nefertiti at Coachella, and folks are drinking and slurping and praising her exploitation of all three, not reading the lyrics, not paying attention to the hypnosis, and certainly not belying the truth of any of these representations.
Yet in the same breath say she is daring to show the world African culture, black culture and the black experience in America. The dangerous normalization of these stereotypes will replicate and imbed “unconscious bias” towards blacks.
I am appalled that they would even bring Oshun into it, without knowing what she represents.
She is a sacred Goddess, the Goddess of love, and to equate what Beyoncé is doing and has done in her performances with Oshun to me is an outrage. Forgive me, but to me she is presenting a perverted version of Oshun. Understanding the many roads of Oshun, you must first understand the tradition and just because she looked like Oshun does not mean she is representing her, to me she looked more like the statue of liberty, but that’s just me. However, the road of Oshun that she is presenting on stage with the blatant sexuality and sexualization is the road of Oshun that people who know about this goddess tend to avoid or tend to keep under raps, rather than blasting it on the big screen.
Besides, even if she was trying to represent Oshun or Erzuile Freda, could she stand before the Goddess and look them in the eye after she had exploited their legend and misrepresented them in front of the entire world? And how does being connected to either of these goddesses forgive the exploitation of her femininity in that way. And by the way, why aren’t the so called feminist coming out against this sordid display of femininity. Are we of the mind that femininity in the feminist movement and exploitation of the female body are one in the same? She should be able to do whatever she chooses with her body in a public arena because she has a body to do that with?
Then let me say this, what if it was a 300 pound woman scantily clad on stage doing the same thing?
Of course that would never happen in this culture, a 300 pound woman does not fit the profile. So what are we saying here? Are we saying that only certain women, with a certain physique and status should be allowed to flaunt their stuff on stage, while the other more comely and not so attractive women should dress modestly?
And if you do fit the profile and you dress and act like that, it’s your fault if you appeal to the “lower” nature of men? Zaza Ali mentioned this point as well in her video. She also mentioned how she cautioned her son to be very circumspect about being around such young ladies who may lure him into a trap. Another women on Dr. Boyce Watkins’ channel said she had to have a talk with her husband, about having private lunches with women in order to steer clear of any allegations of in appropriate behavior.
Additionally, the so called “Me Too” movement should have been outside protesting. Women are being denied jobs as a result of this movement for fear the establishment or members of it will be drawn out in some high profile allegations of sexual misconduct. And yet, we have this and all the praise that goes with it. How do we have it both ways?
Are we saying that it’s okay for the rich and famous to do certain things that your regular Joe or Jane cannot do? Why do we continually give them a pass to do whatever they wish and then throw down the gavel and sentence the average person to a life of scorn and skepticism? By giving them a pass, aren’t we enabling them to continue to exploit us? We buy their records, watch their movies and share their tabloids. Aren’t we saying that it’s okay for them to do it when we support them? Where is critical thinking, what happened to it, and will it ever return?
I have personally always had a problem with double standards. And I must give my mom credit for that to, cause she used to always say, “Do as I say, not as I do.” And that would enrage me. Because by the same token she would say, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, Now I didn’t know what gander was as a young child, but I surely knew what the saying meant. So what are feminist saying about this, how are they weighing in on this? Where is their moral compass or their compass of equality I should say. Where is it and why is it okay for Beyoncé and yet, the old lady down the road better keep her
butt in the house, wearing those daisy dukes like she’s 20 years old.
In traditional African culture there is what is called “rites of passage” for boys and for girls. During these right young boys and girls learn about what it means to be a man and woman in the community. They are given specific customs, dances and implements to help them to move up into the position of man and woman in the society. Many of these dances would be perceived as suggestive to the European onlooker. In fact, part of the process of colonization of the African was to demonize their sexual expression and draw them away from their customs. Ever since, Africans have been presented has overly sexed to the point of being a fetish for European men and women. They expect the black woman to have a high libido and the black man, along with a high libido, to have a long schlong. How can the show that Beyoncé had at Coachella, change that image?
After the Grammy’s of Article written by CC Saunders entitled “Beyoncé- A Win for White Supremacy” was featured inKushite Prince article date February 16, 2017.
I wish to present to you a few quotes from that article.
The praise following Beyoncé’s long overdue “consciousness” demonstrates that the bar for black allies is impossibly low. Beyoncé as a black activist demonstrates that one or two acts fulfill the necessary requirements to deem someone a black leader. The black collective witnessed this behavior with former President Obama who would often place a single stream of consciousness in his speeches, a consciousness that he would counter with the following sentence. Yet, the allegiance he had for five seconds, overshadowed lesser deeds carried out in the majority of his actions and behaviors. Beyoncé’s praise functions in a similar manner, as her seemingly “overnight” enlightenment supersedes past behavior that aimed to present Beyoncé, the black woman as a crossover artist.
Beyoncé, a black woman who gained fame and international stardom for her fair skin, blonde weave, and jezebel-like performances, personifies the height of white male imagination. She embodies what many black women wish they were, conventionally beautiful with full features, fair skin, a curvy yet slim body, an accent that is slight enough to suggest a humble sweetness but a work persona that screams boss. She’s a wife, a mother, businesswoman and all-around superwoman. But she is a fantasy.
Beyoncé exists as a means to control the black female demographic. For example, I can not help but notice that weaves became a more versatile and a more prominent tool in black female hair styling as Beyoncé’s popularity grew. The desire for long, full, hair personifies what I like to call the “Beyoncé effect,” an effect mirrored in every popular black female image from reality stars to singers. Beyoncé’s power manifests in her ability to generate styles and standards of beauty, and in her losses and wins.
I feel compelled to mention that I reference Beyoncé as a brand and not an individual, as the chief component of Beyoncé’s popularity is that she encompasses a larger than life figure– a human canvass of desirability curated by white male imagination. Beyoncé becomes a figure of influence due to a black female collective that largely exists vicariously through their blonde-haired heroine.
Beyoncé personifies what many black females think black female perfection is. As a physical manifestation of black female thought, Beyoncé acts as a pawn to dictate what we do.
Carter B. Woodson conveyed the following excerpt from The Miseducation of the Negro:
“If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.”
Thus, Beyoncé is not an activist or conscious member of the black collective. Beyoncé is the literal and figurative back door of which the black female collective enters into a white male gaze. She is a prevalent form of contemporary inferiority veiled as black excellence. Furthermore, Beyoncé functions as an on-going win for white supremacy, functioning as a string that puppeteers the black female psyche by veiling the poisons of white supremacy with pseudo black femininity.
And finally, let me just add, that while women seem to be the brunt of all types of descrimination and exploitation, every single solitary human has come through the loins of a female, boys and girls are birth through her sacred orafice and to have that orafice defiled in the manner in which it has become customary in Western culture says a lot about the respect that it has for the Feminine Energy, and explains how this culture and defile the planet upon which we all must depend.
MORE LINKS OF INTEREST:
Beyoncé Live Coachella Performance HD | 2nd Week | Coachella 2018
Atlanta, GA — It is very true. “The National Church of Bey“, an organization that recently formed the new religion called Beyism (based on pop star Beyoncé Knowles), based in Atlanta, Georgia. Although Beyoncé herself is not believed to be a part of it, she is the foundation of it and has so far not made a statement denouncing it.
On April 12, 2018, 2 African American men were arrested at the Philly Starbucks, and of course since then there has been a flurry of news reports on this incident.
What’s most interesting is the comment section below these articles. For sure some folks feel that you should not sit in a restaurant if you are not going to purchase something. And you especially should not use the bathroom if you have not made a purchase. Now, I am aware that there are some stores that have a sign that says, “Bathroom for Patrons Only”. However, this policy while it may be in effect in some places is not readily apparent in most stores.
I have traveled many, many times on the road, and have simply pulled over, go into the store and get the bathroom key. Never was I made to feel I had to make a purchase. It sort of comes with the territory.
Not to mention that typically, stores that sell food have to have a bathroom that can be used by patrons, but there certainly are occasions where someone sitting in the establishment, may not purchase anything at all, particularly if they have a certain diet, or are simply not hungry or even may not have the money to purchase anything at all. There are so many different circumstances that can be sited here.
One thing that is certain, Starbucks is known for being a meeting place. Sometimes folks just go in there to use the wifi, on the real, sometimes Starbucks is a bit pricey.
I once read a meme that says, “Tired of me pulling the race card, stop giving me reason to use it.”
In this video I will site excerpts from several news article. A list of these article will be in the link in the description below.
The first article I wish to share with you is
‘Sitting While Black’ latest side of coined indignities
In this video, I wish to present to you, my commentary on the movie, Black Panther. Many of my thoughts presented in this video have been derived from my initial impressions, articles that I have read, videos I have watch pro and con and a host of other comments from folks in the comment sections under articles, videos and reviews pertaining to this movie.
My commentary will present an alternative view. I think that it is important for alternative voices and commentary to be heard for the purpose of balance and introspection. Indeed, it is clear that the vote is in, and Black Panther has taken the world by storm and has surprised even its makers. The amount of support, particularly from the Black community has been astounding which implies that more folks are geared up to support this movie than there are those who wish to present an alternate and maybe a somewhat counter perspective on the benefit of this movie to Black folks in general and the image of Black folks, particularly here in America, in general.
Let me begin by saying, now that Africans have a fictitious super hero show, akin to Superman, Batman, and the Green Hornet, please show me how even the slightest correlation will help elevate black consciousness. I.e., how many of these movie goers will boycott during the scandalous Christmas season, starting with Black Friday. In fact, what have the super heroes done for white folks besides give them the “illusion” of grandeur. I don’t think we need any more super heroes. We have enough Real ones to celebrate. Malcolm X birthday, almost became a national holiday, now folks at the movies are giving the white man they money. Feeling empowered by fiction. Am I being a kill joy or what?
I really don’t care about the celebrity engagement.
Or the celebrity involvement.
Or how much money the actors will make, or even how much the movie makers, movie houses, movie concession stands, movie ticket sellers, movie uber drivers, movie dress makers, movie drummers and stilt walkers, movie advertisers and pundits. I don’t even care about the fact that people feel that the closed shows were seeped in racist fears that black folks may riot or feel empowered or both.
I don’t care if people literally call me a Hater for spreading this hateration.
What I care about is that this is science fiction. And what I would like to know is how does science fiction seep into the consciousness of white supremacist and change their minds.
I want to know how science fiction will stop cops from killing black children, Monsanto from poisoning our food, big oil from poisoning us with plastics, and pharmaceuticals from poisoning us by selling us legalized drugs.
How will this hype over shadow our true hero’s who lost their lives fighting for freedom and justice like Malcolm X.
Our children are resonating with comics but hey, they don’t know who Stockley Carmichael, Marcus Garvey, Huey Newton, Sojourner Truth, Dr. Ben, Ivan Van Sertima, Benjamin Banneker, and a host of real people who made real changes.
I would also like to add a comment that I found in the comment section beneath a video about the Black Panther movie. Unfortuanately, I do not remember which video it was but I think it is important to share these dates with you.
And I quote “Philly Phil” here.
“The movie was strategically released smack dab in the middle of Black History Month for the end game of DISRUPTING the study by 40 Million Negros of REAL Black superheros.
2/7 death of Anta Diop,
2/15 birth of H. Sylvester Williams,
2/17 birth of Huey Newton,
2/20 death of Frederick Douglas,
2/21 death of Malcolm X,
2/23 birth of Amos Wilson,
2/23 birth of WEB Dubois,
2/25 death of Elijah Muhammad.
The comics present a false reality. It’s the fallaciousness of this whole thing. Even the movie “The Butler” about that guy who spent decades working in the white house was more historically correct. We don’t need more fantasy, we need the real truth, that’s all I’m saying. Do the young folks know that there are Black Panthers languishing right now in federal prisons. Do they know about Assata Shakur?
I mean seriously, doesn’t it say something that finally Marvel Comics can give a nod to a Black Super hero? When there are African comics and animation creators who can get no backing, but this will?
They knew exactly how to pull this wool over the eyes of the masses for sure.
And if imagery is everything, how can one Black movie change the massive amount of imagery that has been spoon fed to the masses depicting white supremacy? I’m confused. On the other hand, we just came through a season where white supremacy was at its zenith, i.e., a white Jesus born to save the entire world, and not one person, except me, said anything about that image. White Jesus in black churches still tells black folks, that white is supreme and savior, and one movie cannot change what has been indelibly placed in the minds of the people, white and black. White folks have had a ton of white super heroes.. are we saying that their super heroes have and will have the same impact, that is, they will continue to see themselves as superior? It would follow logically that they would if we are going to assume that the imagery in a movie has the effect of changing the image of a people, real or contrived.
It is truly unfortunate that a people has been relegated to such a level of self esteem that they would need a fantasy movie to boost their image of themselves.
What I am trying to say here is this. If one black superhero can change the mindset of a people toward empowerment, than surely all the tons of white heroes and saviors in the media, have certainly done their job in promoting and sustaining white supremacy. So to me, this movie is just a drop in the bucket compared to the avalanche of white themed movies since movies even became something to watch. And we are gonna need more than one black movie to change the predominance of white supremacy in the culture and minds of people globally.
Why can’t they tell true stories of real heroes who really did something. Like the Black inventors who’s inventions were co-opted to the point that nobody knows who invented simple things like the stop light. During black history month, we need real history, not a fantasy. I don’t care if the fantasy was created by a black man and directed by one.
Make a movie showing Africa for real, this movie is fantasy. If folks go to Africa looking for what they saw in this movie they will be sorely disappointed.
Black people need reality after being brainwashed for hundreds of years. They need their real history not a made up fairy tale of “could be some how might have been”. If we were not such a broken people, we could take the risk of a few fairy tales, but we are, and we need to heal, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
This movie will only lure more and more people into some pseudo empowerment, but when they are looking down the barrel of a gun held by a police officer trained to see “black people” as dangerous, even if they are unarmed, they will not be able to pull “vibranium” out of their pockets.
We live in real times that are dangerous, and being socially engineered to sleep through a movie such as this one, is like pumping massive amounts of sedatives into the hearts and minds of a people who can not take the risk of even blinking much less, going off to sleep.
If it truly mattered and would actually make a difference in the consciousness of African descendant folks, it would not have gotten past “go.”
Think about it. When have they lauded any real freedom fighters.
Superman ain’t real.
Batman ain’t real.
Ninja Turtles are not real.
But the Matrix is.
And this is social engineering and a major distraction that people are actually in national TV fighting over.
Once they mainstream it, it loses its power, like how they mainstreamed Mandela. People don’t see how they do this over and over again. It’s their way of rewriting history. Where is this done except with Santa Claus and the tooth fairy? When the babies grow up will they know about the Real Black Panthers or believe this fiction?
I have always been one to wonder about the hidden agenda. Storytelling since the beginning of human experience on this planet has been used to mold and shape or socially engineer the masses. I proceed with great caution when it is mainstream.
Time will tell what the impact will be, however, the “escape” to the movies and this one in particular, will certainly line some pockets.
Will they simply be inspired to wear the Black panther costume and purchase memorabilia that I am sure they have all ready, and lined up for sale.
We need discretionary spending, and less unwashed consumerism. Can we get these folks to study African History, read books about Africa’s real contributions. Or will they just fill their houses with more fanciful junk!
One thing’s for sure this movie is bringing forth a lot of dialogue and that’s a good thing.
I love sci-fi, however I realize that it’s the imaginings of a mind guided by a creative spirit.
I also am aware that movies and the media, just like ancient story telling have design and purpose.
I simply don’t trust Hollyweird.
There’s a serious and nasty underbelly that paints a skewed reality over the lives closely and not so closely connected to Hollyweird.
To me supporting it needs to be done with knowledge of the true intent. Are these folks really about empowering black folks and divesting the hundreds of years of racist overtones that have been injected into the film industry thus far?
Are they really about taking that step towards equanimity or is this being used to pacify the masses? As they have done time and time again. Give the “darky” a little limelight here and there but never enough to release him from mental slavery.
Why do people, like lemmings, buy into stuff that is put forth to exploit them. Is there no resistance to the con? All of a sudden after decades of ridicule, harassment and abuse, now Black Panther is something to celebrate.
This is how they normalize and trivialize threats, especially those of Black Empowerment.
I just shake my head and wonder why. Then it comes to me, clearly we are in a matrix that is constantly remolding and shaping us to remain, blind, deaf and dumb to the mockery.
Did they use an all black starstudded cast to reel in the unsuspected? Or was there a sincere intent?
It certainly has some revealing overtones but again, I just don’t trust Hollyweird, I don’t trust Disney and I don’t read comics. I also am a very round peg who does not fit into a square hole too well.
In this video I wish to share my commentary on a YouTube video called “BLACK PANTHER EXPOSED: Witchcraft Served to the Black Community” posted by a YouTube channel by called Truthunedited. The video was Published on Feb 23, 2018. The link to this video is in the description below. My commentary is in no way a defense of the Disney/Marvel movie, I simply wish to express my thoughts on the concepts presented in this video as a rebuttal to the premise that this movie, like so many others, contain what is commonly called by Christians “witchcraft”. I wish to express some of the obvious parallels between commonly held Christian precepts and dogma that are enshrouded in so-called pre-Christian practices.
The Movie, Black Panther has served its purpose of creating debate, controversy, disgust, disbelief and even the loss of friends, family and associates. Like in the political spectrum, one is hard pressed to speak against it as it will garner outrage that one would be so deft as to not see the historical impact and paradigm shift it has and will continue to create. It has aptly captivated the minds of those who were seemingly awake and brought them back to slumber and the minds of those already slumbering into an even deeper slumber. Along with that is has topped box office expectations within the first two weeks reaching the 1 billion dollar record for any Marvel Comic Universe movie. It has been creatively marketed to entice and has altered the minds of those who view it.
This fantasy has created a paradigm shift towards the support and acceptance of what Hollyweird can do to change the image of a people from powerless to powerful, all amidst the backlash of Hollyweird scandals. People who heretofore were reticent to support anything “Hollywood” have changed their minds and now support Hollywood’s attempt to create a so called better image of Africans and African descendant folk. Even the most skeptical have reached into their pockets to pay the piper for this hypnotic song. They argue that while they are aware that it is just a fantasy, that it can still have an impact on how Hollywood will treat its People of Color with more respect, dignity and adulation, thus opening the door for more People of Color to advance beyond the racist epithet that is Hollywood, hands down. They argue that now People of color can have more opportunities to be in the limelight, when heretofore, they conveyed a deep concern for the Hollyweird lifestyle, its extravagance, its discrimination, its scandals and its misrepresentations of People of Color.
I will not go further on this aspect but will now shift my focus to the video mentioned previously and that is, “BLACK PANTHER EXPOSED: Witchcraft Served to the Black Community” posted by a YouTube channel called Truthunedited.
Let me start by saying that your video was very well done. It contains a lot of truths that resonate with me. The depictions and graphics were well placed and the message carried through until the end.
However, when you began to discuss witchcraft and how the movie was leading people away from the Bible and towards the ancient spiritual customs of Africans… it took me aback.
I find it quite interesting that anyone of African descent in Africa or in the Diaspora can take the religion of the oppressor. The imposition of Christianity into the African experience was brought by “white missionaries” and the black guns of the imperialistic invasion of the colonizers, who all over Africa are seen erected and honored in Churches in the face of a “White Jesus.” The colonizers skillfully duped the Africans into believing that a White Jesus, not their indigenous gods, ancestors or nature spirits, would save them from their “sins” which were only sinful in the eyes of the European colonizers. They brought the concept of “sin” to Africa and the need to eradicate it through their pre-ordained notion that a “White Jesus” could do this for them.
Christianity as it is brought to us in which it warns against witchcraft in my estimation, is patently disingenuous. The very thing that is supposedly “evil”, against “God and his ordinances”, spawned by Satan himself… are all done in the Bible by people of God, prophets of God and even “Jesus” himself. I find it quite ironic that while pointing a finger at other religions who worship idols and who acknowledge the Ancestors, that Christians find a departure from doing the same when they do it.
Christians often separate themselves in their piety from the rest of humanity while turning a blind eye to their very own customs, rituals and beliefs. Just doing some background research on some of the most popular Christian Holidays, should draw a conclusion that 1) Christianity has borrowed much from its “pagan” counterparts and 2) the miracles are magic, slights of hand, indisposed superstition, and tricks that are akin to pagan practices, not a departure from it. Placing a Christian mantle over a pagan ritual, holiday, custom, practice etc., does not make it less pagan. It actually gives it a cover, ingratiates it, protects it, honors it and sustains it.
Pre-Christian Pagan roots can be seen in many contemporary Christian holidays.
“No matter which holidays you celebrate, most holidays on the calendar have a history behind it. Most of these histories are steeped in debated origins; most with at least some minor link or curious similarity to pagan tradition.”
25 Popular Holidays With Surprisingly Pagan Origins
Christmas=the birth of Mithra; pagans celebrated the sun god, Odin
Easter=the festival of Ishtar; The spring equinox;
The Christmas Tree; Celebration of Nimrod. Evergreen trees were important fertility emblems for pre-Christian ceremonies marking the winter solstice.
Halloween; celebration of Samhain. It was the end of the harvest season
New Years Day; the victory of the sky god Marduk over the sea goddess Tiamat.
Ash Wednesday; protection of the Norse god Odin
I could go on and on with the many depictions of magic and witchcraft featured in the Bible and connect them to pagan practices that predate Christianity.
The idea that a “Savior” is needed to save humanity from their sins is the most deep rooted ploy played “against” humanity in whatever religion it manifests, because it takes sovereignty from the individual and places it in the hands of someone else who then becomes responsible for the individuals behavior. Thus Kings, and rulers and gods are herald as the salvation of the people instead of the people taking responsibility for their own behavior. This is a trap of incessant control over the masses as the masses will become entrapped in a vicious cycle of shirking their responsibility, falling into guilt, being redeemed and then continuing in the same vain, again and again.
With all the outstanding research that you have done and the many correlations that you provide in your video, it astonishes me that you have not come upon, or if you have, you have not expressed, the many correlations between what happens in the Bible as it relates to what you refer to as “Witchcraft” in the movie Black Panther and the blatant exemplary depictions of “witchcraft” in the religion called “Christianity.”
One of the problems with this type of docu-video-info-research, is the mixing of things in such a way that the truth is so apparent and blatant, the untruths or lack of research become veiled. This methodology has the viewer in such a state of “belief” they miss the disinfo. This methodology is very, very dangerous, I might add.
I will conclude my comment with a reference to my video where I analyze the correlations between what Christians call “witchcraft” and what their “Savior” did.
Are You Involved In Witchcraft and don’t Even Know It?
Kristan goes over the ancient origins of the Christian holiday of Christmas and holiday traditions including December 25th, Winter Solstice, Three kings, Eastern Star, Sun worship, Wicked ruler Nimrod, Tammuz, Semiramis, Evergreen Tree, History of the Christmas Tree, Holly Bush, Gifting, History of the crown, sun disc, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Buddah, Hercules, Attis, History of the Yule Log, Santa Klaus, History of Santa Klaus, Babylonian tradition, Christmas Traditions, Son of God or Sun of God?
“Get Me Out of Wakanda”: Articles and Analysis of Black Panther Movie
It’s been at least a week now that the hype over Wakanda has crescendoed. The movie seems to have taken the world by storm, and I do mean the entire world. However, we do know that what is reported is not necessarily what is really happening, all we gotta do is look at the last US presidential election cycle to see that numbers and polls can be flubbed and flipped to fit a narrative. What we can be sure of is that with the amount of support pouring in from the Black American community, Disney/Marvel are rolling in some serious bucks. Along with all the memorabilia, that is probably trademarked, along with felony restrictions on the copyright, this film will make money for the producers, hand over fist. And Disney’s investment will sky rocket in its returns.
Meanwhile the debate ensues as to the merit of this film. As for myself, whenever it feels like there some hype behind it, I am skeptical. The mere fact that a film showing black people in positions of power or having powerful impact has always been minimized in Hollyweird, and the crumbs that dropped from the table always seemed to be just enough to keep the recipients of these crumbs engaged in the “pie in the sky” ideal that one day, some day, Hollyweird would recognize the wealth of Black talent right in their stock rooms.
Hollyweird has always shown its underbelly when it comes to black actors in starring roles. They have gone so far as to blacken the faces of white actors so they could ignorantly represent black folk. They have consistently denied awarding black actors in varying degrees when it came to the Oscars, and have also denied directors and producers of color. To the point where Jada and Will Smith were complaining about the poor representation in the Oscars of Black folk. Now we have a spectacular film that has reached record heights in what it has brought to the theaters around the globe. But will it receive accolades at the next grammy awards? And if it does, why?
Personally, I don’t trust Hollyweird and I certainly don’t trust Disney. I have left a link to my blog post in the description below, check out the links in the blog, see for yourself what Disney and Hollyweird have been up to. I don’t want to make this video too long, so I will move on.
In this video I will share with you a few articles discussing the Black Panther movie.
I will admit, that I have not watched it, and after seeing the previews and having dreams flash in my head from just watching the previews, I am reticent to watch it now, because it feels like it will be quite hypnotic and I am trying to stay woke as much as possible. So, if you are not interested in watching this any further because I have not seen the movie, that’s fine. The social engineering persists through the film industry, it is designed that way to project into the minds of those who watch it subliminally and overly, the marching orders. I’d rather not march with the crowd. If that makes me a hater or someone who should not even say anything, well, it’s my channel and like those who are “pro” black panther movie.. I believe the alternative voices should be heard and that is what I wish to express.
So I will continue to share with you a few articles with a somewhat different perspective.
Abdul Alkalimat is a native of Chicago, Illinois and received his PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago. He is currently a Professor in African American Studies and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Go to his website to find out more about his lifelong history of activism, with a focus on
Chris Lebron is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and author of The Making Of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea.
Taryn Finley is a Black Voices Editor at HuffPost, based in New York City. Previously she has worked at The Root, ESSENCE magazine, NBC Universal, DC Modern Luxury and Radio One. She has a masters from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is a graduate of Howard University. Taryn can be reached at taryn.finley@huffpost.com.
I am drawing this title from an article that I read that I wish to share with you. However, I want to make a few comments before I share the article with you.
One of the things that I find most interesting about how people talk about Africa is that they tend to think that Africa and its people are homogeneous. While they may share many similarities, they are not exactly homogeneous. In fact, there are many cultures and subcultures in Africa. First off Africa is a continent made of many countries. The African Union recognizes 54 countries. These countries vary in so many ways that it is virtually impossible to put them all together in one description. Many times people who take a cursory look at Africa tend to think they can apply what they learn about one region, country or community to the entire continent. This approach leads many people in a direction that is incompatible with the true essence of Africa, Africans and their way of life.
The African continent contains communities that are very industrialized to communities that still live isolated from the world. There are innumerable languages and dialects. There are innumerable lifestyles, religious practices and cultures. Africa as a continent is not a melting pot, but a place of differentiation and cultural mores.
There are some things that are intrinsic to the African experience, that is, the importance of family and community, deep spirituality, an appreciation for nature and an honoring of the Ancestors. Depending on the region, climate and weather, there are festivals that acknowledge the harvest, the weather changes, and various other customs that signify the African’s awareness of their environment and their connection to it.
There are people who are nomadic and they tend to adapt to the environment or are nomadic because the environment is not sustainable enough to inhabit for long periods of time. Even the hunting styles vary from community, village, country to country.
Again, Africa is not homogeneous, and while researchers and pundits may wish to identify Africa as one conglomerate of people, some often don’t even realize that Africa is a continent and not a country, it is virtually impossible to place Africa and its people under one umbrella.
One thing that is certain, everything that they do has purpose and meaning. Masks are made for specific purposes, certain words are used to describe certain things for a purpose. Relationships are purposeful and leadership is accountable.
Before the advance of western civilization into the African experience, the elders were revered and the children belonged to the entire community, every adult male is a father and every adult female is a mother to all the children. Extended families and polygamy (polygny) is quite ordinary in most societies and there is also a smattering of polyandry where the women have more than one husband.
The priests and priestess, elders and wise men and women have a high position in African society across the board, and are respected.
Beyond that the customary way that these social norms are displayed vary from community to community, village to village and in some instance country to country, although, that is even stretching it a bit too far.
When people begin to discuss and even study African culture, they are remiss to attribute a general broad brush to Africa, because it simply is impossible to do so. Over the past few years there have been several African leaders who wanted to Unite Africa under one umbrella, calling it the united States of Africa. Muamar Gaddaffi had that in mind as well, but, without understanding the extreme diversity of the many peoples who inhabit the African continent, what you typically get is an elite group of elite officials who decide what is best for “ALL” of the African people. History has shown even with institutions like the UN or the EU, that it is still very difficult to place a single umbrella over a very diverse group of people.
I would also like to mention that, in regard to this article, the focus is more on West African style of dress. As you can see in my slideshow, that there are different styles of dress across the continent, and while West African style may be prominent or even more popular it does not represent the entire scope of African attire. It simply has become more popular in the eyes of the Western World who view it, with the same lens they tend to view most things, that is, they tend to pigeon hole and homogenize their perspective rather than take a look at the diversity. For some reason this diversity, makes it hard for them to understand what they are looking at so they make it easier for them to digest by painting the continent with a broad brush.
The Africans in Diaspora throughout the world also represent a hodgepodge of diverse cultural practices, languages and lifestyles. Then when they migrate to other countries they tend to imbue some of the cultural norms of their new homes, while attempting to hold on to that which they have left behind.
African people from all over the continent have been the brunt of ridicule and racism for at least the past 400 years. This was primarily done to justify slavery. But as I have stated before, if anyone wishes to build an empire they would not enlist the services of non-skilled labor to help them do so. So to think that the Africans that were brought out of Africa to build the “new land” were ignorant and unskilled is a misnomer that needs to be eradicated from the annals of history. Unfortunately, the Western society and its educational systems have done their level best to perpetrate the falsity that African people were ignorant savages, who knew nothing and had to be trained like animals. But, quite the contrary, they had to be divested of what they already knew and implanted with the spurious belief that African civilization, culture and mores were inferior to that of the European.
Even in some of the commentary that I receive under some of my videos, it is plain and obvious that people are simply ignorant of the facts and the contributions that Africans and Africa have given to the world. But that is another video and I won’t go into that right here. But, instead, I will acknowledge that their ignorance is not really their fault, if they were not taught any different, than how can they know any different? Therefore it’s imperative for Black History, African History to be taught all year round as a significant part of the educational curriculum in the schools so that they can be informed of the true contributions that Africa and its people have given to the world.
The invaders found artisans, craftsmen, iron workers, gold smelters, brick layers, masons, farmers, mathematicians, scientists, herbalists, educators, ministers, priests, astronomers, and even magicians when they came to Africa. The idea that the Africans they encountered there were ignorant and uneducated has altered the world view of the African over the past 4-500 years and has cause a great deal of ignorance to prevail around the subject of Africa and its people.
Today, a certain curiosity has developed when it comes to understanding Africa and its people. However, as it becomes more and more mainstream, my concern is that even this curiosity will devolve into the same pattern of painting Africa and its people with a broad brush. To understand the African, you must immerse yourself in their culture, social mores and lifestyles. But, it has to be a specific attribution to a specific territory or region rather than using the “melting pot” scenario. It’s a big bite and a long chew, but I would suggest a more localized study of a particular region and especially through their native tongue if you wish to understand them. Otherwise, you will make many mistakes and in some instances offend the indigenous African who knows full well his own culture and that what they do in Swaziland is not what they do in Nigeria! With that being said, let’s go on to the article.
Here it is important to note that the term “dashiki” is a Yoruba word references to the garment worn by men. The garment that is worn by women is called a Buba. The man’s garment is longer while the women’s garment is shorter. Cultural appropriation of this garment can be scene across the African landscape and the diaspora in a variety of patterns and fabrics with the Angelina print reaching its hayday in the 1960’s and having a resurgence in the late first decade of the 21 century. In fact, various African prints have been used to accentuate several fashion styles and modeling runways. The customary styles found most prominently in Nigeria and Ghana have become forerunners as their acceptance as traditional African garments are most popular.
It was once noted to me from an indigenous African, that the garment and patterns themselves mean nothing compared to the individual who’s wearing them. That is, at certain festivals one may notice that everyone is wearing the same or similar print garments. The individuals wearing these garments are empowered by their own essence and do not squabble about how another may be wearing the same print. The uniformity may have Westerners shying away from “looking like” or wearing something that is the same as another. Vying for their own uniqueness, they often miss that it is the wearer and not the garment that is unique.
Also, the larger more flowing garment worn by men in Nigeria is called “Agbada” or if worn by women is called the “grand Buba” and the “Ntoma” or large wrapped garment is worn by both men and women in Ghana West Africa. The shorter version of Dashiki in Ghana has been referred to as “batakari” but Ghanaians will also call the men’s top a Dashiki. Additionally, the wrap cloth worn by women is called a “lapa” by many Ghanaians or in their language “atade” or small cloth.
Once you align yourself with the style it is also important to know the country from which it is herald. Africans among themselves are quite aware of the distinctions between cultures and styles. They can identify one another based on what they are wearing. However, within the confines of cultural appropriation and a bit of naiveté, a mixing of cultural styles of dress will be seen particular in popular modern fashions.
Again we see a variety of head wear or coverings that bespeak a continent of diverse customs and styles. The customs vary and may demonstrate the various stations in life of the individual who is wearing them. For example, a married man or woman may wear their head covering in a certain way. This lets the community know that they are married. The same is true with those who are unmarried or single.
The head wear symbolizes the complete look, in other words, you are not completely dressed until you have place a “crown” upon your head. Special occasions, festivals and the like will have the attendees wearing a variety of head wear from simple to extravagant.
In fact, in Ghana, West Africa as well as in Nigeria, a single woman will not wear an over garment or “apron” while the married or elder women will do so.
When indigenous Africans see their cultural garments worn by those who are not indigenous they make certain assumptions about the wearer. It is only natural that seeing someone wear your cultural garments in a manner that would be inappropriate within the cultural confines of your particular country, community or village would garner a certain aversion from the observer. In some cases, the observer may even attempt to explain the “appropriate” manner and occasion when such garments should or should not be worn, or simply, shake their heads at the ignorance of the wearer. Some may even go so far as to be offended.
Recently there was a huge outcry about men wearing “skirts” or “dresses” as it was seen through the Western lens, that these garments were mainly worn by women. However, if you go back into human history, and take a look at the clothing styles worn by men, you will find that men have been wearing what appeared to be “skirts” or “dresses” for quite some time. The “pants” as a style strictly for men was introduced over the past few centuries while something wrapped around the waist of a man was more often seen.
In Africa, the idea of using a pattern also was outside of the norm. Men and women sewed and were all considered tailors. In fact, it is quite common to see men sewing particular when it came to the patterns of embroidery that are seen accenting many African prints. It takes a very special skill to create these beautiful “free hand” patterns of embroidery.
The advancement of Islamic or Arabic culture into the African continent has its impact as well in the style of dress and head wear for the men and the women. Interestingly enough, the particular style that is/was worn by the Islamists has much to do with climate and environment. Face coverings, in particular, have been worn by many desert dwellers who are covering their faces to guard against the hot sun and sand. Over time, this style became equated with “Islamic garb” when in fact it is more the garb of a desert dweller or nomadic person.
Huge debates have been waged as to what is and what is not “Islamic” garb and how and who should wear what. But further study and research will bring to mind, that much of what is worn by a people is indigenous to their surroundings and environment and not necessarily due to their religion. Do not be confused by this. There are many people who are Islamic and are quite comfortable wearing Islamic garb in any environment. The Arabic style has become the Islamic style and many will find no difficulty donning these garments proudly and with great reverence. To them, it represents what they stand for and has a unifying effect on those who call themselves followers of the Islamic faith.
What I wish to present in this video is the importance of “knowing” what you are wearing and in that way you can avoid erroneous cultural appropriation. It may seem insignificant to the Western or modern mind, but it means much more than can be stated in a short video on the topic. Take a moment and do your own research. Be aware of the political, economic, cultural and even spiritual significance of the African garments you chose to wear. Educate yourself about the history and purpose of the garments. Empower yourself with this knowledge. And share this knowledge with others.
It is one thing to celebrate African History during Black history month by wearing African garb but I feel that it is most important, that we wear Africa in our hearts instead of simply displaying Africa in our styles and fashions. Let’s preserve the significance, meaning and power behind the garb and revel in the knowledge of the diversity as well as the commonality that we find on the African continent and the African Diaspora.
American culture is a bourgeois culture. By this, i mean the dominant culture is shaped and propagated by the bourgeois (upper and middle) classes.
To be born and raised in America is to be steeped in this culture. The culture in which you are socialized shapes your ambitions and desires. Even the working and poor classes aspire to achieve the cultural standard as established by the bourgeois classes.
Individualism, competition, and consumerism are but a few of the values deriving from bourgeois culture. For the poor and working classes, these values work against Our best interests. Yet, We seem to practice these without understanding how these values only serve to keep Us subjected to bourgeois domination in the form of colonialism/neo-colonialism.
An essential aspect of revolutionary nationalist struggle is to identify and reject bourgeois values that perpetuate our oppression, exploitation and degradation.
As a colonized people, even the middle class among New Afrikans practice bourgeois values against their best interests. As such, the New Afrikan middle-class often have greater privileges than lower level working and poor classes, and typically struggle to protect and expand such privileges. As such the New Afrikan middle class accepts (existing) privilege over (envisioned) power, and never challenges colonial domination. This is the basis of neo-colonial reformism as opposed to revolution.
Amilcar Cabral says the bourgeois class (and i would also include ALL other classes within the nation) — if it wish to serve the cause of national liberation — “has only one choice: to strengthen its revolutionary consciousness, to reject the temptations of becoming more bourgeois and the natural concerns of its class mentality, to identify itself with the working classes and not to oppose the normal development of the process of revolution. This means that in order to truly fulfill the role in the national liberation struggle, the revolutionary petty bourgeoisie MUST BE CAPABLE OF COMMITTING SUICIDE AS A CLASS IN ORDER TO BE REBORN AS REVOLUTIONARY WORKERS, completely identified with the deepest aspirations of the people to which they belong.” – Kwa Kwamu
The Case Against the Invisible Man (A Dream Story)
Today I want to share with you a dream story. I dream often and many times the are like short stories. I have always loved writing and reading short stories so my dreams are my muse.
In this video, I will share with you a dream story called: “The Case Against the Invisible Man”
Before you ask, I want you to know that I do flesh out my dreams stories so that they can flow when telling them to you. I dream in vivid detail but in some instances, it’s more of a knowing than to say that I actually “saw” it in the dream Universe. So to make it a more interesting read, I may had a few details that were there in the dream Universe but not specifically. If you are a dream you know what I mean.
This dream story is comedy with a bit of a mature audience content. So be advised, before you share this dream story with your children.
I suggest that the quickest way to evolve in the development of you spirituality is become completely immersed in the dream Universe. There is so much wisdom, knowledge and understanding right there for you. Dreams are Messages from the Soul.
Ms. Halu Synate describes the advantages and disadvantages of having an Invisible Lover.
And finally, the court proceedings.
By all means, enjoy the story, leave your comments below and hopefully you will get a good belly laugh out of it. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for watching.
____________________________________________________________________ THE COURT DOCKET
This story covers the details of a case presented in court, before JUDGE HERKIMER BARTHOLOMEW JOHNSONUS District Court Docket 777555408Date: January 74, 2018Court of Common PleasDistrict 69City: MoronsvilleState: Woodenunoit Township, KS, USAResiding Judge: Judge Herkimer Bartholomew Johnson Complainant: MS. HALOU SYNATELegal Counsel: MS. HALOU SYNATE represents selfDefendant: MR. AJM UNCEENLegal Counsel: Unknown. Defendant was unable to secure counsel due to circumstances beyond his control, i.e., he could not appear. _____________________________________________________________________
The Advantages and Disadvantages of having An Affair with An Invisible Man The Advantages:
Has this ever happen to you. Have you ever been ravished by an Invisible Man.
It happens to some of the best of us, and maybe a few of the worst of us, but it can happen and I am here to tell you my story. I have a very intriguing story to tell, I have been having an affair with an invisible man. I mean this man, when he comes over he rocks me in the cradle of love, and I rocks back.
You don’t have to worry about catching any diseases. Or what your body looks like or smells like. You don’t have to fix your hair.
It doesn’t matter what you have on, you can have on all your clothes or none of your clothes.
You can wear whatever you like, new or old. Something flattering to your shape or size or just an old t-shirt with holes in it.
You don’t have to get up and fix it breakfast in the morning or polish his shoes, motivate him or tell him how handsome he is. You don’t have to pay his bills, nurse him to health or protect his fragile ego.
Every once in a while they may get fragile because they want it to seem like you are immensely so charged by their invisibility, that when they come on the scene you can’t help yourself.
So they may need some type of energetic response from you like “oohs” and “aahs” and count your orgasms. They might want to see you move your toosh around a bit, do the sexual dance. The one where you roll your hips around just so he can feel you are dancing for him a little bit. After that you can just lay da fuq there.
He can come at any time. He can come while you are standing in the bank line or talking with someone. He can come when you are fixing dinner for your ownself. Or when you are standing naked in the middle of the floor. He responds to your every wish and will happily oblige you. I even heard that multiple female orgasm causes weight loss. Since he is invisible you can have hundreds in one day!
Now there are some disadvantages but not too many.
He can’t put out the trash or walk the dog, you have to do that yourself.
And, if you are really good at communicating with this invisible man, you might hear him tell you how beautiful you are. He might even tell you he loves you, just to keep you going. So you won’t have any doubt in your mind that you are being ravished by an invisible man who loves you. Now, above all the things that you could possibly enjoy and extremely cherish, is the fact that the invisible man, loves you.
He says, “I might be invisible, but that don’t mean I don’t love you. I’m just invisible.”
One of the Key advantages to this invisibility, you don’t have to deal with the friction, so you can entertain him all the damn day.
And if your invisible man is really talented, he’ll put your ass on a schedule. He will wake you up and tuck you in at night!
The invisible man can keep you aroused all in your sleep. Make you have orgasm all while you are sleeping and you can’t accuse him of rape or molestation or any like that, can’t you see yourself in court, trying to accuse the invisible man?
Well maybe not, but I can and that is exactly what I did! Things got out of hand and so I had to take him to court. THE COURT PROCEEDINGS
Order in the court. Order in the court! All Rise!
“Ma’am………? So it appears that you wish to bring a case before the court, you have an accusation that you would care for the court to address.”
“Yes, I do, your honor. I have a case that I would like to bring before the court.”
“Yes Ma’am, what is it? Please state your case.”
“Well, you see, I want to report a rape.”
“Okay Ma’am, did you do your rape kit? Did you go and get that done?”
“Yeah, I got that done and there were no physical signs of rape.”
“Okay Ma’am, so why are you here if there were no signs of it?”
“Well the only signs I had was that my honey pot was dripping.”
“Okay, your honey pot was dripping, Ma’am?”
“Yes it was, and actually it’s been going on for at least two months, that I have found myself being ravished and it’s happening while I am asleep.”
“Ma’am, you are being raped in your sleep, Ma’am?”
“Yes, it seems that our activities when I am awake are not enough for him, so he continues to get it, to engage, with me, while I am asleep. In fact, he wakes me up, and I always thought that if there’s no consent there, that it could be called rape.”
“Okay Ma’am, you are being approached while you are sleeping. So Ma’am, I am trying to understand what is your case that you wish to bring against this… Who is this person, do you have a name for this person?”
“Well, I have a pet name for him. Because I noticed that when I call his name, he shows up.”
“Ma’am, you are in a relationship with the person that you are accusing of raping you, Ma’am?”
“Well see, what had happened was, your honor, one day I was feeling like I wanted to experiment to see that if I gave him a name, would he come whenever I wanted him to, because before then, he was the one who decided to come visit me. You know sometimes you want a visitor and other times you don’t want a visitor. So I need to be sure that I could control the visits when I wanted them, instead of waiting for him to decide when “he” would visit me. So I gave him a pet name and I’ve been using that name ever since, your honor.”
“Ma’am, do you think this is the right place to plead your case. Maybe you might want to talk to a psychiatrist.”
“No, I don’t need a psychiatrist, I am not crazy. I have been ravished, I have been molested, I have been raped, I have been over taken, I have been possessed, by an invisible man. And I want to plead my case in this court of law, your honor. Because I didn’t mind being ravished when I was awake, but this whole thing about ravishing me in my sleep, and I thought that when you are not conscious and they come and get you, that you can bring a case against them.”
“But Ma’am, you have no proof, the rape kit came back negative, there’s no semen……….…”
“No, that’s right, there’s no semen, but I got plenty of juice to show you. In fact your honor, if you like, I can demonstrate how he does it.”
“Ma’am, that will not be necessary. Thank you. Will you please continue with your story.”
“Okay, well, one day in a small country town known as Moronsville, KS, a tall dark and handsome hunk of a man sat in my living room. Yes he did. And we had a business meeting and so during that meeting, we exchanged loving long glances at one another. I looked at him and he… looked at me.
“Well is he invisible yet?”
“No, no, no, he’s not invisible yet. No, no, no he’s not invisible. He’s not an apparition not just yet, he is in the physical and he is fine as the day is long. Yes, that’s right.
Several years later, I started noticing that he was lurking within the deep recesses and corners of my home.”
“Is he, is he, is he still visible, Ma’am.”
“Oh no, the visible man hasn’t been around since who knows da fuq how long that’s been. Who da fuq knows when the last time his physical ass been here, I ain’t talking about his physical ass. I’m talking about……. Oh, excuse me, pardon my vernacular. No he has not returned in the physical flesh as of yet.”
“Oh, I see Ma’am so continue with your story, it’s quite intriguing.”
“Yes, it is, you can’t even imagine how amazing it is to be ravished by an invisible man. And I have no complaints about being ravished. It’s just when the ravishing continues throughout the day, when I’m standing, when I’m walking, when I’m talking, when I’m working, those moments, when I am a little indispose to entertain my invisible man. Yes, those are the times, when I feel the most vulnerable, and may have him feel like ‘Damn, you mean to tell me that you don’t want me to visit you now?”
“Uh Yeah, I do want you to visit me, I just don’t want you to visit me now.”
“Well, that’s what I asked you, that you don’t want me to visit you now.”
“No, because see, I have things to do, and when you are in there visiting me, I get distracted, I can’t concentrate and all of that. So that’s why it’s best that you come when I’m not doing something.”
That’s how you have to communicate with him, you know, because his feelings will get hurt, if you don’t be nice to him. Although I do have a magic word. It’s like a magic bullet! It’s like a silver bullet! That word right there, all I have to do is say that word and poof! He disappears!
But he ravishes my body, and takes me places I have never been before on the physical plane. Then it got out of hand one day, and that’s why I’m in court, because it got out of hand. It seriously got out of hand, because up until that point I didn’t have no problems with my invisible man. It was going on for years, your honor. I mean, I had no problems with my affair with my invisible man. I didn’t have to worry about his family or his friends, I didn’t have to worry about my family and my friends. Nobody had to know that he was coming to visit me, 4 and 5 times a day. No one knew, it was a secret.”
“But Ma’am, you said he was invisible, though.”
“Yes he is, he can’t help himself, he has to be invisible. He doesn’t want anyone to see him. He’s invisible because he has to be invisible. There’s no way around that.”
“Okay Ma’am, he’s invisible.”
“Yes….!”
“But you are having an affair with him though aren’t you?.”
“Yes, yes I am, it’s a fascinating affair, it’s so amazing, it’s so amazing. I have never had the type of orgasms I have had with this man.”
“Okay….!”
“It may appear a bit strange to you. I understand that, you might think the physical orgasms are much more profound than the orgasms from an invisible man, but I’m here to tell you, having felt what a visible man can do, I tell you right here, and I tell you right now, I prefer the invisible man. Yeah!”
“Okay, Ma’am.”
“Yes so, let me tell you my story. So, it’s been years since he has been in my physical presence. But in the meantime and in between time, he has entertained me from the invisible realm.”
“Okay?”
“Yes I kid you not. In fact, the entertainment is so profound that I am speechless afterwards. In fact, I often fall into a deep hypnotic trance.”
“Okay Ma’am, a deep hypnotic trance you fall into?.”
“Yes, I do, I kid you not”
“Okay, and so after this deep hypnotic trance, how do you feel?”
“Oh, I feel wonderful, I feel wonderful, I feel… oh, I just can’t even describe, it’s indescribable.”
“Okay, so why are we in court Ma’am. If you are having an affair with an invisible man who is making you feel all these kinds of ways, so why are you in court?”
“Well you see, the reason I am in court is because I had read somewhere that, when someone takes advantage of you, if you are sleeping and someone decides to come in there and sit on you and penetrate you, and he didn’t ask you, he kind of got in there, it might be something that I need to have addressed in a court of law.” “Yes Ma’am but didn’t you say that this man is invisible.”
“Oh certainly he is, but does invisibility have anything to do with the law of the land? How does it not apply to him, if he’s visible and he does it or if he’s invisible and he does it? He broke the law and that is my point”
“Okay Ma’am he broke the law.”
“Exactly, this is what I am trying to explain to you. So let me finish my story. So one day we were enjoying ourselves.”
“You were enjoying yourselves?”
“Yes, we were, we were having quite a wonderful time together. And then, he said he wanted to, well you know that thing they do, he said he wanted to do that, and when he did it, OMG, well, I mean after he reached his peak and he released himself, I followed suit and before I knew it I was releasing for 24 hours, afterwards.”
“Ma’am, releasing what?”
“Oh my dear, you don’t want me to be that specific do you?”
“Oh yes, Ma’am, it would help with gathering the evidence in this case, it will help our case and help us determine whether or not the invisible man is guilty of the charges being pressed against him. So we need to have all the facts. So Ma’am, let’s go back to your story.”
“Yes, so he released himself, I released myself but I never stopped releasing, I continued to release for 24 hours afterwards.”
“Okay, were you able to Participate with any of your other activities?”
“Your honor, I think this line of questioning is inappropriate, I mean I don’t wish to override your position as the judge in this hearing, but I’m beginning to think that you are looking more for details about our experiences together, more so than looking at the fact!!! That I was asleep.” ” Well Ma’am the more evidence you give us, the more certain we can be of providing the justice that you seek and deserve.”
“Alright sir, I really don’t want to get into some details because when you asked me about releasing myself, what does that have to do with anything.”
“Well Ma’am, you added that to the story, and so we thought we would engage you and follow along with your story because that’s what you are telling us, that you released yourself.”
“Yes I did, your honor, but that has nothing to do with the fact that I was asleep, and I just finished reading that when someone enters your lair while you are asleep, and takes advantage of you, you can accuse them, take them to court and have them prosecuted. Oh I must admit, too. I am not too sure, but he may be even drugging me. I am beginning to believe during the waking times that he is drugging me, I do tend to think that is exactly what is happening.”
“Ma’am are the drugs invisible too?”
“Well of course the drugs are invisible. How could he, an invisible man, carry a physical drug and give it to me. Seriously judge you should know that. You have been a judge for a very long time. And certain things you should not need to ask. And it would be obvious that if he’s an invisible man, that his drugs are invisible as well. I don’t understand why you are even asking this, the invisibility of his drugs. I am telling you about the effects of his drugs. I’m talking about the effects of his drugs, not the fact of whether they are visible, that’s obvious that they are invisible, obviously!”
“Okay Ma’am, it’s obvious that his drugs are invisible and you are having an effect……….”
“Yes, that’s right, when he drugs me up, I am out of my mind, I can’t think, I can’t walk, I can’t talk, I just fall off to sleep and have the most awesome dreams, but that is irrelevant, the fact that I dream after he comes. But that’s irrelevant to the case here, but what I would like to express and stress is that when he comes….. and drugs me, I found out that that was incorrect, I found out that that was against the law, that you are not supposed to drug somebody and then take advantage of them, and so I wanted to add that, but I don’t know if that’s a different case or anything, or if it’s evidence that you need for this particular case, all I know is that I read up on it.”
“Okay Ma’am, can you please continue.”
“Certainly, no problem, I am saying that I am having an affair with this very awesome invisible man. I had no problem with having an affair with him. It’s been going on for years. Matter of fact it’s been going on for 9 years. Yes, he’d show up in my dreams and ravish me, then he started showing up in my visions, and then the visions got more and more powerful, and before long, he was there all the time.”
“Okay Ma’am so, you’re saying he’s invisible, but you can envision him you can see him, you can actually see him?”
“Yes, I can see him, he’s only invisible to you. You can’t see him.”
“Okay.”
“So I decided to use the term “invisible” just so that “you” could understand why “you” don’t see him. It should make logical sense to anyone who hears this story. You can’t see him because he’s only visible to me.”
“Okay!”
“that’s right! And it’s very true.”
“Yes Ma’am, and so continue.” “So after many years of just showing up in my dreams, he decided to come visit me. Yes he did. And the visits, I must say were quite exquisite, I totally enjoyed them. You see when you deal with an invisible man, it don’t cost as much time in your preparation for him, you don’t have to put on make up. You know, girls like to make up themselves when they are about to have, a visitor. So you don’t even have to shower. You don’t have to polish your nails. Nope, you don’t have to do none of those things. It’s quite an amazing opportunity to just BE YOU! Be yourself, your all beautiful self, it’s an opportunity to just love yourself, you don’t have to worry about being judge for not being pretty enough, or tall enough or, you know, all of those things that women tend to bother themselves with. You don’t have to do any of that, you just be “You”.
“Okay Ma’am.”
“I’ve also lost a lot of weight, at least 30 pounds!”
“Ma’am, we are not here to talk about your weight loss plan.”
“I’m saying it’s quite an intriguing and amazing opportunity to just discover who you are without all the trappings of make-up and jewelry and accessories and smell good stuff, where you just can be in your own smells. If you pass gas, he doesn’t care, and you can release yourself in other ways. It doesn’t bother him. There’s no judging of you or anything that you do. So in that regard, I think it’s quite a healthy relationship to have because you don’t have to be anything but who you are. And who would not want to have that type of relationship with someone?”
“But Ma’am you’re in court accusing him of raping you. And so if he’s raping you, how is that…….?”
“Excuse me judge, I just wanted to explain to you that I read that anybody who comes to you and attempts to have sex with you while you are asleep that is a form of rape.”
“Yes Ma’am it can be considered that. Did you ask him to leave or anything? Did you demand that he stop? Did you call the police?”
“Well, your honor, I have to admit that, No, no and no. But I still feel that I have a case because of what I read on the internet, it’s considered rape.”
“But you didn’t ask him to stop, you didn’t demand that he leave, and you didn’t call the police to report this crime that was being waged against you.”
“No your honor, I did not. No I did not. It never occurred to me until after I read the article on the internet.”
“Okay Ma’am you read the article on the internet.” “Yes I did, I read it on the internet and it said that…… And not to mention those drugs, he drugs me every time. Yes he does. I tried to keep my mind open. He’s almost like Bill Cosby with the Quaaludes.”
“Ma’am we are not talking about the Bill Cosby case today, okay?.”
“I’m just saying, isn’t that what Bill Cosby did, he rendered them asunder by giving them drugs. Yes, that’s what he did, I know about that. Terrible man that he is.”
“Ma’am, we wanna keep ourselves focused on this particular case right here with your particular situation.”
“It’s okay, I don’t mind focusing on my situation I just want you to know that I am aware of other situations that are similar to mine. The only difference is that the man who’s giving me the drugs is invisible, that’s the only difference, I don’t see how anything else can be different. I don’t see it at all. They come to you, they visit you, right. They invite you to come visit them. They invite you to come and play with them, all of that good stuff. And then, once they’ve gotten your trust, they go for the kill. That’s what I’m talking about. I was under the impression that he ws a nice guy and all his wondrous invisibility, and those brown eyes of his.”
“Ma’am how do you know what color his eyes are? If he’s invisible, how do you even know?”
“Oh I told you already. Your honor, You’re not doing your job very well, you’re not a very good listener. I already told you that “you” are the only people who cannot see him. I can see him. Exactly, your honor, I can see him!”
“Okay, Ma’am you can see him, but nobody else can?”
“No Of course not, your honor, that is why I am here. Because if no one else can see him, this would be an unbelievable story. No one would believe me, unless I took him to court, that’s why I am here, I need to take his ass to court. That’s what I need to do”
“Okay Ma’am you need to take him to court. “
“Exactly he needs be in front of you, your honor so he can plead his case because he’s guilty as hell.”
“Ma’am So let’s look at this again, what is he guilty of?”
“He’s guilty of taking advantage of…… I said this already, your honor you’re not doing your job, you’re not doing your job. Is there anyway I can get another judge for this case, because I am really beginning to be concerned that this judge is not doing a good job of listening to me. I’ve explained to him my issues and my story and he’s asking me questions about things that I already told him. I don’t understand what his problem is.”
“No Ma’am, sorry about that, the judge you got is the judge you keep. You can’t be exchanging judges. You can throw out your lawyer, but you can’t throw out the judge. Sorry about that Ma’am, so continue.”
“Okay, well I thought this was justice, but obviously it’s not. When it comes to the judges they get to do anything they wish. So I want to talk again about the aspect of being drugged, drugged, continuously drugged. I begged him, I said please, don’t knock me out.”
“Oh Ma’am we need to go back to the color of his eyes.. Are you gonna explain to us how you know the color of his eyes?”
“Yes, I know the color of his eyes, they’re…… Your Honor, I already explained that to you. If I can see him, than surely I can see what color his eyes are! They’re brown and beautiful.”
“Okay Ma’am if you say so.”
“I say so. But I still do not know why that is relevant. I have explained to you my story, and how he has taken advantage of me. I am in this court before you your honor, because I want to get justice. This man has entrapped me, ensnared me, pulled me into his invisible charms. He has drugged me and left me in a hypnotic trance. Then I read on the internet that this behavior is criminal and I would like to know, your honor, what are you going to do about it? He needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law!”
“Well Ma’am, I must say that your situation is quite different from any that I have ever seen in my long history of being a judge. We have often had cases where the defendant did not appear. However in your case the defendant seems to be incapable of appearing as he seems to choose not to. If that be the case, what can we do? We do not have invisible guards who can put invisible handcuffs on him and take him to an invisible jail. What would you suggest that we do?”
“Well, I don’t know what you can do. I only know that I have a case, and that I have followed due process in presenting it to you, and now you are asking “me” what to do? I am curious as to how you even became a judge, much less remain a judge for such a long time. Are your constituents aware of your ineptitude?”
“Ma’am have you ever heard of contempt of court?”
“Well, yes, I have heard of it, but I’m not too sure exactly what that means. What does that mean, your honor?”
“It means that if you continue to insult me, I can have a visible guard, place visible handcuffs on you and take you off to a visible jail.”
“Wow, really your honor? You mean to tell me that with all the evidence I have presented to you, that you would find me guilty of a crime and not the accused?”
“Well Ma’am unless the accused can appear in court before this bench, you my dear, will have to bare the brunt of any inappropriate behavior, language and innuendos about my authority, etc. Since he is not here challenging my authority and you are, it would be perfectly legal for me to charge you and have you committed. So I would strongly suggest, that you proceed cautiously from this point further in the manner that you address me. Is that understood, Ma’am?”
“Yes, I understand. I certainly do understand. I also see that the scales of justice are a bit out of balance and that my case is not going to receive the justice I desire and deserve.”
“Well Ma’am here is what I can do for you. If he can make an appearance in this court 5 days from now, we will review his defense and make a decision. Until then, your story is quite unbelievable, so I strongly suggest that you be very cautious about entertaining him in the future. Court dismissed!”
decacsinc 
Written
on January 3, 2019