black…MYstory

Okay, I had to dig in the vaults for this one –it’s from 1986. This is the King Dream Chorus in a song commemorating the inaugural Martin Luther King Day observance. Wow, has it really been 20 years?!  Oh, check out the “bonus” video at the end, too!

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Today is the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Jan. 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968). Every year on this website (in a previous version of blackmystory.com), I made sure to post Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech in its entirety. I have found that, in my lifetime, people have used brief quotes and passages from this speech to make Dr. King a symbol of passivity and to lull black folks into not acting in their own interests. However, to anyone who has heard/read the speech in its entirety, it is clear that this speech exemplified the very opposite of what some would have us believe.

This year, of course, is no exception so, I bring you the full text of the “I Have A Dream” speech.

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I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

Read the rest of this entry →

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New Orleans is a city in flux. Right now, a lot of people are caught up in the day-to-day challenges of trying to rebuild their lives more than a year after Hurricane Katrina hit. Unfortunately, in addition to this stress, they have to deal with a ridiculously high murder rate. Well, many are more than fed up and are letting Mayor Ray Nagin have it.
Yesterday, at least 3,000 people marched on city hall to voice their anger of the city leadership’s inability (or unwillingness) to stem the tide of almost daily murders going on in the city.

It’s clear that these folks don’t want lip service. They wouldn’t even let the mayor speak. They want action, not words.

So, Mr. Nagin, you’re on notice. The people have spoken and the ball is now in your court to lead on bringing for real solutions to this problem.

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“Sound of Da Police” from the album Return of the Boom Bap

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There is a reason that Joe Lieberman is known as “Bush’s Favorite Democrat”.
Basically, he’s a whore for this President and it all boils down to his desire to have Iraq totally destroyed.

Like this President, Joe Lieberman is a liar as well. Both vowed to take some action on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Bush vowed to rebuild the Gulf Coast (where ya’ at Mr. Bush?). Lieberman vowed to hold Bush accountable for this promise. But, like the good “hoe” he is, Lieberman has flip-flopped on this to avoid “embarassing” the President.

What this means is that, once again, Bush is getting a pass on his piss-poor handling of this, arguably our nation’s greatest natural disaster. What this also means is that a lot of black folks, who staunchly support the Democratic Party, got screwed over once again. A lot of us hoped that a Democratic victory would finally bring some oversight to Congress but, once again, this is not the case.

So, thank you Connecticut for bringing Joe Lieberman back to Congress. I only hope that we can return the favor to you some day.

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One thing that George Bush’s prosecution of the Iraq war has shown me is that I cannot, in good conscience, encourage any child of mine to pursue a career in the military. I have witnessed how, over the last several years, military people have been deployed and redeployed to Iraq. How some, who were supposed to have their military commitments ending have been “stop-lossed”, meaning that they are not allowed to leave. I have seen how the National Guard has been misused, making regular troops of men and women who signed up to guard and help out in the homeland. Most importantly, I have seen how young people, hoping to make better lives for themselves have been needlessly sacrificed in a war of choice.

Now, I am seeing what could be the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Pentagon has now done away with the 24-month active duty rule for National Guard and Army Reserve troops. In the past, no Guardsman or Reservist could be deployed into a combat zone for more than 24 months total. This means that if one of these troops did 6 months’ preparation and another 12 months in the war zone, they could not go back for another twelve-month stint. Now, apparently, the Pentagon can redeploy these troops back into Iraq as many times as it wants.

Of course, the Pentagon is putting its own spin on things:

The new approach, (General Peter) Pace said, is to squeeze the training, deployment and demobilization into a maximum of 12 months. He called that a “significant planning factor” for Guard and Reserve members and their families.

David Chu, the Pentagon’s chief of personnel, said in an interview that he thinks Guard and Reserve members will be cheered by the decision to limit future mobilizations to 12 months. The fact that some with previous Iraq experience will end up spending more than 24 months on active duty is “no big deal,” Chu said, because it has been “implicitly understood” by most that they eventually would go beyond 24 months.

A senior U.S. military official who briefed reporters Thursday on Iraq-related developments said that by next January, the Pentagon “probably will be calling again” on National Guard combat brigades that previously served yearlong tours in Iraq. Under Pentagon ground rules, the official could not be further identified.

The bottom line for the soldiers is that Bush intends to keep using up these young men and women until they are maimed, mentally scarred or worse, dead. Sadly, this rule only affirms that notion.

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In a sort of follow up to a prior post, State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. has been dealt a huge blow by a jury in Mississippi. The company was sued by Norman and Genevieve Broussard for refusing to pay for damage to their home from Hurricane Katrina.

Today, this jury awarded $2.5 million in putative damages to the couple. This is after U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. ruled that State Farm is liable for $223,292 in damage to the couple’s home caused by Hurricane Katrina.

This case could open the flood gates (non pun intended) for other lawsuits against State Farm and other insurers who have refused to pay thus far. State Farm is already considering setting aside hundreds of millions of dollars to settle claims in more than 600 currently-open cases against them and the thousands of open claims seeking settlement.

Today, the Gulf Coast came one step closer to healing. I only pray it is not too late.

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Just how much is the Iraq War costing?

 

 The Cost Of The Iraq War [2:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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“Straighten it out” from the album Mecca and the Soul Brother

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It has been nearly a year since people in the Gulf Coast have had their lives turned upside down as a result of Hurricane Katrina. It has also been more than a year that the people in this area have been fighting with their insurance companies to have their claims paid. I have heard a lot about insurance companies playing games with people in New Orleans. One insurer wouldn’t pay for hurricane damage saying that the homes were damaged due to flooding and another insurer said they would not pay for flood insurance because they considered the damage to be due to the hurricane.

Well, it appears that insurance companies are playing similar games in Mississippi. Insurers there are still denying claims, telling their customers that flooding, and not Hurricane Katrina, was responsible for the damage and destruction to their homes.

All this went on because insurance companies face no federal scrutiny. However, one Congressperson hopes to change that. Mississippi Representative Gene Taylor is calling for a congressional investigation of the insurance industry’s post-Katrina practices. Taylor believes that companies such as State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide and others worked in concert to deny claims for hurricane wind damage, which could easily be in the billions.

Additionally, Taylor would seek to have federal oversight of the private insurance industry.

I, for one, say it’s about time. People buy insurance for dealing with emergencies. It is unconscionable that they continue to deny the claims when their customers, in good faith, paid their premiums to avoid the huge financial burden of having to rebuild their lives.

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