Given my previous post, I found this clip particularly appropriate for what I was trying to convey, especially seeing what’s going on in the current presidential race.

Tim Wise has been on the forefront of dealing with the issues of race and racism for quite some time, now. Here’s an excerpt he’s given on white privilege and the roots of racism in America. He clearly breaks down down something that I have shared with my circle of friends for years — race, as an issue, is really a facade used to tell white people that, if you have nothing else, you have white skin privilege and that makes you superior. However, in the end, those conveying that notion are using it to preserve and expand their own power, influence, wealth, etc.

The video is below:

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…and, ABC News, your debate stunk.

I understand that there have been a lot of Democratic debates (last night made the 21st) but, seeing how they sunk to the levels of tabloid journalism in presenting this debate, they could have left it at 20.

Many bloggers have already panned this debate. It was over 50 minutes before a single policy question. Instead, we were treated to a rehash of Rev. Wright, Hillary Clinton’s Bosnia story, an obscure reference to 60’s radical William Ayers and — *gasp* — flag pins.

However, it’s not just me and bloggers. Just check out the comments on ABC’s web site. There are over 12.000 at this point and from what I have read, the general consensus is that ABC did a horrible job last night.

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Today marks 40 years since the day Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

I know some will take this opportunity to raise questions about his character but, let me be clear — regardless of what one might say about Dr. King, it’s takes extraordinary courage to keep going knowing that your life and the lives of your family were under constant threat.

I can only say thank you to a man that tried to leave the world a better place than he found it, which is much more than I can say for the current leadership of our country.

So, to remember Dr. King, I want to share with you the last speech he gave before he was murdered.

The audio is below.

 

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It’s a shame that so much of Dr. King’s life is presented without context. You would think that the last thing he ever did was to give the “I Have A Dream” speech. However, there were 5 more years to his life that no one discusses. It was a period where he transitioned from not just focusing on the civil rights of black people to looking at the impact of war and poverty on this nation (in fact, many believe it was his stance on Vietnam that ultimately cost him his life).

April 4th will mark the 40th year since his assassination and CNN profiled his last campaign. From what was contained in this article, it seems clear that King knew that he was embarking on a mission that could very well mean the end for him.

Many of us heard of the “Poor People’s Crusade.” It was King’s most revolutionary effort to get America to really focus on the issue of poverty in this country (sigh…just think of where we’d be today if Dr. King’s crusade had been allowed to bear fruit).

However, what is not shared often about King is the degree to which he believed in this effort. Just check out some of these passages from the article:

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Today is the day we set aside to commemorate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was struck down by an assassin’s bullet nearly 40 years ago. Despite what some may want to say, Dr. King’s life and actions have had a profound effect on what direction America has taken in regards to the fight for racial equality. Though there is still much work to be done, had it not been for Dr. King, as well as those who passed the torch to him and those who carry on his mantle, who knows how much worse America would have been. So, today, I personally want to thank Dr. King for not only his inspirational words but, also, his actions and, ultimately, his sacrifice.

Today, I share with you the speech he gave the night before he was killed. It is as profound, and relevant today, as it was in 1968. I can only hope that the words inspire you as much as they do me.

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I always find it interesting when a white guy wants to tell black folks that slavery really wasn’t that bad. Understand, this is not a man whose family history was virtually lost forever or whose grandparents had to live through Jim Crow and, now, his offspring, James Crow, Esq.

This time, the offender is right-wing hack, Michael Medved. In his latest piece at Townhall.com, he wants to tell us how wrong we are on our perception of what slavery in the U.S. was and how the millions who died in the middle passage weren’t victims of genocide — instead, they were, basically, the unfortunate victims who died when slavetraders were moving product between shores. Also, America is really not to be blamed for its role in slavery but should be commended for its “rapid” abolition of slavery (despite slavery going on for nearly two and half centuries in this country).

I suggest you read for yourself. As for me, I’m not shocked, suprised or amazed, considering the source.

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Renowned educator, psychologist and historian Dr. Asa Hilliard passed away Sunday night. He was 73 years old.

It is believed that Dr. Hilliard may have contracted malaria on a recent trip to Ghana, though autopsy has not yet been performed.

Dr. Hilliard authored and co-authored several books ranging on subjects from black consciousness to educating black youth.

We truly lost a giant. Rest in peace, Dr. Hilliard, and thank you.

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On this July 4th, I wanted to share with you a famous Frederick Douglass speech in regards to this day and its significance for black people.

“Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory….

…Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation’s sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation’s jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the “lame man leap as an hart.”

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! “

read the entire speech here.

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The word “eugenics”, at its Greek root, means “good genes”. The idea is to create a society where human physical and mental defects no longer exist. To some, in passing, this may sound like a noble idea. But, often, the words belie the actions needed to achieve such a goal. Even more importantly, it needs to be asked “who determines what a defect is?”

If you ascribe to what certain folks in the eugenics movement believe, such “defects” could include poverty and ethnicity.

We all know about the Tuskeegee Experiment, in which black men, who had contracted syphillis, were allowed to go untreated for the purpose of determining what the long-term impacts of the disease were. All the while, these men were told that they were receiving treatment when, instead, they received placebos.

However, medical racism and classism did not stop there. The supporters of eugenics, for more than forty years, carried out programs of sterilization on populations they considered unworthy. This was not just a couple of crackpots carrying out a scheme. Some 30 states across the country had eugenics laws on the books. Also, this is not some ancient history. For example, in North Carolina, this practice was carried out from 1929 to 1974. Most of the victims were poor women.

Imagine a young girl whose transgression was being an unwed mother. Now, because of this, some group decides that she doesn’t pass the class, color or morality test so, they decide that, after delivering her baby, she should be sterilized. This is what happened to Elaine Riddick. Her story was far from unusual. North Carolina sterilized more than 7600 women, men and children. In only 500 cases is it clear that the patient knew what was happening to them. More than 60% of those sterilized were black women and girls.

North Carolina is just one of five states to have issued formal apologies for this practice and our federal government, just like with most atrocities against people of color, has not acknowledged, much less apologized, for its complicity in this practice.

So, when people ask why black folks have issues with trusting those in the field of medicine, they should keep stories like this one in the backs of their minds.

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Yolanda King, the eldest daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., has gone to join the ancestors.

She passed away yesterday at her brother’s homes. She was 51.

King found her niche as a motivational speaker, actress and owner of a film production company.

By all indications, she carried on the family legacy in her own way and did it proud.

Rest in peace to a truly powerful and wonderful person.

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