Big Bully America

We who live in the United States are in a truly frighting nation. Our military leaders must be feeling arrogant right about now, although I have a feeling that with the huge military arsenal of America on a daily basis under their command they already feel arrogant, but at this day and age with America's foes crumbling under it's weight it must be a special feeling of invisibility. No longer fighting nations America is now accustomed to fighting individuals groups, and ideas.

We who live in the United States and those abroad see the war, violence, and domination with impunity our nation uses throughout the world. And yet in it's own borders America likens its self to a lamb having the rule of law and the right to protest, but in actuality America is a wolf internationally, killing civilians and torturing the suspected. 

It is as if America is likened it's self to the portrayal of a French hit-man in the movie 'The professional' able to be soft, gentle and protecting of its own citizens (save those ordered killed by the president) rights while at the same time being ruthlessly aggressive in the maiming of the rights of those in other nations.

Don't believe it for a second! The only reason the American government can speak softly to its dissenting citizens is because it carries a big stick. In New York City we saw how quickly the police brought out riot gear and body armor for the peaceful occupy march on time square. The big stick is showing. In the Bay area the police use tear gas at five in the morning as if its own citizens were a invading camp of combatants. 

We all see how America reacts when it feels threatened it limits freedoms and starts killing people. We cannot be naive as to believe the violence that America does out there stays out there. It will and has found its way inside our borders. There is no justice in American brutality and war, even if you are a America, know that the only judge you will ever face is God so long as America for whatever reason fictitious or otherwise sees you as a threat.

And so the occupy movement, should it ever be seen as a threat to the domestic stability of the US will be dealt with severely. Let us not forget or be naive of the treatment by the NYPD of a young white woman. (The most coddled figure in our media) If this is to be expected treatment of Americans then what hope have the rest of us? If you are a young white American woman protesting and you are seen as a threat, embarrassment or nuisance, then that's a shot of pepper spray to the face. If you are a Arab and American born and seen as a threat, nuisance, embarrassment to the US then thats a shot in the face by a drone. Those are the spectrums extremes. The extremes not only in skin color and the threat Americans feel from those different colors but in actions as well. Given that one cannot compare the actions and behaviors of a protestor with a terrorist, I do instead compare the shared citizenship and dissent of America by the blonde haired wall-street protester and Al awlaki. America dealt with each citizen unjustly and violently.

We who live in America live in a bully nation. Force is the only language it speaks. Its forceful in the middle east, forceful in Africa, its forceful in the UN. What allows us to believe that the same bully that is so dominating everywhere it goes will suddenly settle down and manage with a open hand and light touch. No, no the American hand is clenched at home and then tightened abroad. However we Americans just don't see the fist. We don't feel the fist because it is covered in democracy and liberty but a bully is a bully no matter the disguise.

American military arrogance

American military arrogance has gotten out of hand it seems that American leaders suspect that the only solution to any and every problem is the bomb. 

America is a war mongering state disguised as a freedom loving people first democracy. How is this so when every war it fights benefits it economically? Why does America seem to find justification for war only when there is oil in the ground? 

Recently the President sent in 100 troops into Uganda in the guise of humanitarianism. Though, some foolishly and with much bigotry believe this is a way to pander to the black vote (when a look at African American history shows that the majority of blacks feel no connection and sometimes want no connection to the continent of Africa. The simple fact is that the President panders to the oil industry when he spreads "peace and democracy" into Africa. He is no better than the Europeans who sought to spread civilization to the same areas and yet instead only spread their pockets fat while spreading Africans all over the world. 

Let us look at the situation in North Korea or the situation in Syria why are the deaths and ill treatment of the people there not the concern of the American military or the President. Simply because these nations have little to offer. Selective salvation is the motto of American Foreign policy. 

The idea that American can, shall and will attack without provocation any nation it desires at anytime it so desires is a sign of the shocking arrogance used by American leaders. This nation built on profit, motivated by profit and held together by mutual greed is not the police force of the world but instead serves as the mercenary of the world. 

There are three very important questions a nation must answer in order to receive military assistance from the United States. the first question 'Are you Israel?" if the answer to that question is yes then there is no need to ask further questions military assistance is given, no strings attached no oversight needed. The second question is 'Are you a European Nation?' If the answer to that question is yes, America will put her life on the line and send its youth to die in protection of Europe, assists and resources need not be fused over because America has sworn a cultural and economic alliance with the western nations of Europe. Being a European nation automatically guarantees military backing from the United States. If however the answer is no to the first and second questions then there is a third final deciding questions that will determine if the United States assists and to what extent. That last question is 'Do you have strategic resources or strategic value?' If that answer is no then America does not have the time to help your democracy or your freedom. Case in point would be Darfur, case in point would be Syria. More often than not the United States uses these three questions to determine who gets Marine assistance and who does not.

America lies when it says it protects freedom and democracy around the world. America if paid enough will protect whatever cause it is told to. There is no moral compass America uses to determine if its troops need to be placed in harms way. The men and women that fight in the armed forces do not share in the spoils of war they only share in the risk, the capitalist take the reward for themselves and use it to invest in more war. 

No more is America the home of the free and land of the brave. America has become the home of oppressed and land of greed. The nation that dropped two atomic bombs, has toppled countless government legitimate and otherwise has in its future a awesome defeat that it rightly deserves. America has become a evil bullying nation that knows neither right or wrong only the dollar. If America can get paid for it the leadership will send youth to die for it, that is the American arrogance. There is no talk of defeat only victory and the dollars and resources are counted well before the first boot is even tied. 

America could have been such a beautiful woman but arrogance makes her ugly.

The Occupy DC Library

The Tobacco Tent Of Occupy DC

Including The Minority In The Occupy Movement

Race Relations

Is it no wonder that Americans do not like to talk about race relations. When discussed one must acknowledge guilt, and here in the greatest nation in the world the Americans love to distance themselves from wrong doing or mistakes. The patriot will tell you America is not perfect, but will fail to give a honest assessment of its imperfections. It is the same as a person who readily admits imperfections but won't list their alcoholism as a imperfection, the most glaring fault, instead they generically say that no one is perfect.

The Americans will talk about past race relations and how things are so much better than how they use to be. However an assessment of America in 1811 and America in 2011 is inherently unequal. Of course things are better, simply the fact that the African natives are no longer in chains is proof that things are better. Nothing else need change and one could say America has made large strides. It is as dishonest as saying a marriage has improved because the husband has stop beating his wife. There has been an improvement, a step in the right direction has been made. However if the husband is still coming home drunk the situation has not improved much just the condition of the wife. Just like the husband America still drinks the intoxicating brew of superiority, racial and national superiority. Drunk of the belief of your race is the most successful your nation is the most powerful America looks at the world from the prospective of the drunk husband. Simple because they no longer take their anger out on the wife automatically means things are mended between he and his wife. What the drunk husband, as well as the Americans fail to understand is that simply stopping the behavior does not mend its results. The welts my heal but the scares do not. It is not up to the victimizer to tell the victim when they are healed.

In truth this is exactly what America tells Negroes when refusing to speak of race relations in this nation. It is as if the country feels all is well because the slaves shackles have gone and the public beating ceases without mending the wounds of the mind and heart. In the nation that beliefs in the death penalty how can America expect the former slaves to not seek justice for the scores killed and enslaved by America. Exactly what is the statue of limitations on genocide? 

When I Met Dr. West (Part 3)

I was at the steps of the Supreme court. I had never been so close to the court before. I had seen it several times at night on moonlit walks but I never went near the plaza. Last I heard of the law it was not allowed to trespass on the plaza. When I arrived at the Supreme Court I quickly frowned a police officer I felt I could get an honest answer from and inquired of the law. I was informed that I could stand on the plaza and take pictures, as long as I was not involved with the protest. I was officially uninvolved with Cornell West.

In all I asked two cops the same question, satisfied with the answers I took out my camera and got as close as I dared to Dr. West. jostling with the other people wanting to capture history in the making. I recorded video but preferred pictures and at one point I edge as close as I could to the human police barrier to take a picture of Dr. West, and for a moment he looked me in the eye.

Although I am certain that it was not his intent, I suddenly felt guilty for not being there with him. Why wasn't I out there standing in the face of the Capital Police protesting and making a defiant stance?

I had to back away from the moment, I didn't take anymore pictures of Mr. West as he faced the Supreme Court. In truth I had been pushing back a mountain of self criticism. Ever since I watched Dr. West wave his hand to the protesters the way I am sure Napoleon waved at his soldiers. At that moment Dr. West was our general, and we were on to conquer the Supreme Court with courage. 

And yet I was on the sidelines. Sense and Sensibility kept me seated taking pictures from afar. I wanted to be up there next to Mr. West getting arrested. And yet I knew better, I knew that now was not my time. I could not carry that burden at my present time. I was not Dr. West. I wasn't even David Ford at that point.

As the Police took Mr. West away the crowd roared and chanted. 

"Thank-You Mr. West"

The protesters cheered as if he had won a battle, even though on the outset he was loosing. His assistant took film of the arrest, mostly likely for legal reasons and followed as two police escorted him from the court. He disappeared into a side entrance of the Supreme Court. One by one the protesters holding signs were escorted away. I remember what Dr. West side before he crossed the plaza, he spoke to the police.

"And to the police, I know that you are just doing your job, and you do a magnificent job, but unfortunately when you do your job people get arrested." and then he turned to the crowd speaking victory and led them peacefully up the steps of the Supreme Court.

The Protest fizzled after that, it was as if watching a series of prize fights and the main bout was over, the rest of the arrests counted only in shear number. Each fighter who lost to the Supreme court was escorted to the side door of the Supreme Court, the same as Mr. West. The few that put up mild resistance, or refusal to walk themselves got boisterous applause and cheers. All the while as I watch I wonder, the point of it all, I still did not understand. As I had watched Dr. West sitting on the steps of the Supreme court sometimes singing with the crowd sometimes sitting in stillness waiting to be arrested I half wondered, I felt I was watching a lamb waiting for the slaughter. Knowing what was coming, he sat there ready for what the Supreme Court would do him, albeit mild in comparison to other nations, he still sacrificed himself at those steps in-front of my eyes.

As I walked back from the Supreme Court I still buzzed from my experince. Talking to Dr West interviewing the reporter and experecing the moment I tried to stay out of my head by eavesdropping on the conversations around me to absord other people's experinces. I do not think that I will ever forget that day, I am certain that I will not. I will think back on it throughout my life and ponder different perspectives continuoully learning from my first meeting with Dr. West and his arrest at the Supreme Court. 

Cornel West Arrested at Supreme Court

Occupy DC and Cornel West Occupy The Supreme Court

Occupy Movement and Cornel West March up the Supreme Court Steps

March on the Supreme Court (3)

March on the Supreme Court (2)

March on the Supreme Court (1)

Dr. Cornel West Speech at Freedom Plaza (3)

Dr. Cornel West Speech at Freedom Plaza (2)

Dr. Cornel West Speech at Freedom Plaza (1)

My Interview with Khalid Naji-Allah (Cornel West Supreme Court Protest)

I found the article written by Khalid Naji-Allah the reporter I spoke to and spoke of in my blog entry titled When I Met Dr. West (part 2)

The Article is titled: 'More African Americans Encouraged to Join movement' 
http://www.washingtoninformer.com/

When I Met Dr. West (Part 2)

During the speech I realized how organic and off the cuff Dr. West was, he had no preparation he simply spoke from his heart and vast store of knowledge. I realized how organic the march had been as well. We did not plan to march to the Supreme Court, (I for one had simply and only come to see Dr. West speak) we just did it because Dr. West wanted to show solidarity with the movement. He wanted us to remember and honor Dr. King on the day of his memorial dedication with a march, protest, and arrest. Dr. West marched down to the Supreme Court not as our leader, although he was the center of attention, he was a voice among ours.

I being relatively new to demonstrations and protests and having never marched naively thought that when it was said that Cornel West was going to the Supreme Court to get arrested I thought he was driving there or taking the train. It did not dawn on me until I followed the cameras and supporters into the streets that this was a march. I quickly grasped the seriousness and the magnitude of the situation and I sprinted to join the group.

I was beyond words, this is what DC means to me, marching in the streets, the white house behind me congress in front of me and to top it off I'm standing side by side with Dr. Cornel West. I counted myself blessed to be part of this experience my first ever march, and in DC of all places. It was quite an experience for someone coming out of the midwest. As the crowd marched up the streets towards the Supreme Court, traffic blocked behind us I gave a quick thought to the legality of what we were doing and how the drivers and by standers must feel watching 200 plus people waving banners and chanting up the street. All in a day in Washington DC I suppose.

Dr. West who was at times at the front of the march, at the end of the march and everywhere in-between was accessible to all. I spoke with him for what to me seemed an eternity but with modesty I estimate it was three minutes. I first asked his assistant if I could ask Dr. West a question and after his assistant's somewhat apathetic approval I walked next to Dr. West for a few seconds before he turned to me with a smile and said. 

"How are you doing young man?"

We shook hands again and I was sure he remembered me from moments ago. We drew close together as we spoke.

"I wanted to ask you a question." I began.

Even though there was chanting, traffic, and the drum beat of the march ever present I was already deep in the conversation mentally with one sentence. Before I had even approached Dr. West as I walked from a distance and observed in wonder I felt I was having a self realization. A piece of my puzzle fell into place before my eyes and I saw the mystery of myself. I saw myself not as who I am, but as who I am to become. As I marched with Dr. West I became Dr. West and I knew that my life would be filled with marches. It was De Ja vu for the future, marching up to the Supreme Court with Cornell West.

"I wanted to ask you about the wisdom of going to a place simply to get arrested." I asked.

He told me that in getting arrested you are making a message, pointing out a wrong, letting people know there is a wrong and attracting attention to a cause. He mentioned the recent mass arrests on the brooklyn bridge. It was all about how, and where you got arrested. Getting arrested in front of the Supreme Court protesting corruption and poverty bring attention to a cause as well as letting others know that something is wrong with the building or place in which you have been arrested. I prodded him as best I could knowing that I was talking to a mind greater than my own, so I asked questions for clarity, ready to accept whatever came from his mouth.

"Yes, but when people see folks got arrested they don't see why they just see 100 people got arrested and that's that." I asked

He told me that's where it matters where you get arrested. People know that when you get arrested at the Supreme Court it was political, they know the message of the movement, they will see dedication they will know why this happened and for what reason. It was all about location, and how you got arrested.

As we walked two cameras were directly in our faces. I had a sudden sense of fame. Why did I feel so self aware walking with Cornell West and talking? It felt to me so casual, I could have only imagined it thousands of times in my sleep. And yet I felt like I have just walked into a classroom via American textbooks. I tried to ignore them and kept the conversation going with Dr. West, not to hoard his time, I was careful of that. But simply to remember all the details I could. After our short conversation a reporter put a recorder in my face and asked my name, to which I gave him David Ford and he begun to ask me about my Conversation with Dr. West.

When I Met Dr. West (Part 1)

The first time I met Dr. West I marched with him and the 99% to the supreme court. The goal was to get arrested.

When he first arrived I along with the spectators and supporters of the occupy DC movement listened to him give a fiery speech. It was the usual Dr. West speech, usual in its passionate message and bold truth. I however sat stone face and yet was in rapture watching a man I had held in high regard since the start of my intellectual life. I was not star struck I was inspired.

In truth I am not one for celebrities I have mostly seen news figures, Chuck Todd, Anderson Cooper, Savannah Guthrie, and when I met Willie Geist in New York City on the fourth of July he made the move to shake my hand, not the other way around. So in all truth Dr. West was the first celebrity who I held in high esteem that I had ever meet.

During his speech he mentioned a desire, a purpose to get arrested. As a matter of fact he mentioned that the sole purpose for coming down to DC was to get arrested. At this I was shocked. Not so much that he was okay with being arrested, but with the fact that it was his intent to be arrested.

It is ironic that the night before I met Dr. West I had a video taped interview with a occupy DC supporter who felt it was foolish to go to a place simply to get arrested, or to do a action with the intent and knowing that it would directly cause you to get arrested, and yet here is Cornell West, my hero, telling the crowd he is looking for something that will cause his arrest.

After his speech he was swarmed by people, camera's and supporters. I made my way patiently through the crowd to earn a handshake and a hug from my hero. I could not help but to smile. I yearned for intellectual conversation but the human embrace from a man I had only seen from afar and who has served as my intellectual father was rewarding in its self. It is something that I know I will not forget.

A short time later as I was basking in my glow of accomplishment a speaker gets on the microphone to tell the crowd that Dr. West is going to the Supreme Court to hold a sign in protest, which is illegal on the steps of the Supreme Court. I immediately though to myself that the idea was brilliant in its simplicity, there was no doubt, no hesitation within in me that I would join. Not so much to get arrested but to join in something once in a life time. Had I not gone I would have never forgiven myself. I felt my experience with Cornell West was reaching part two. I did not know what I was, a protestor, demonstrator, or just curious but I knew Dr. West was going to make history that day, and I wanted to take part, risks be damned. 

Occupy DC (K Street) Part 2

The group of the leading intellectuals met by one of the larger trees in Mcpherson park. It was there that the future of the K street movement was planned. At the time I arrived they were in committee meeting which meant they voted on everything that the group did to keep a unified and inclusive front. Some of the things they voted on was the inclusion of a 2:00 PM clean up time as an effort to curb the use of curb the excuse by the police of sanitation reasons as a means to close the protest. 

The group realizing the position they were in frequently spoke of the police and how to engage them. It seemed that the effort remaining non violent one was a foregone conclusion, everyone participating in any actions with the movement was made aware of the risks of arrest and roles were handed out on ability to give time and positions the more risky actions were on a volunteer bases for those who did not mind facing arrest. As one member of the movement put it "I can speak for the camp over on Freedom Plaza, they are down for getting arrested, they get off on it." A light hesitant chuckle rose from the group at Mcpherson square. 

The democracy displayed in the group was direct and inclusive. For membership and the right to vote one simply had to walk into the group and raise one's hand  index and middle finger out moving the hand rhythmically for the right to speak and simply raising one's hand and wiggling all the fingers 'jazz hands' style granted on the right to vote. It was using this method that the group also declared it would have a radio station as well as a newspaper. 

It is my belief that the all inclusiveness of the group is what will lead it into problems in the future. It is because they are the 99% of the population, that will force their desires to be broad, and their achievements problematic and and non specific. The desire for jobs and equality sounds good on paper, and fits perfectly for a chant, but the real test of time will be how the group includes all the different groups and agendas that will wish to piggy back on the success of the initial occupy movement. How the group handles this while keeping its identity, which has yet to be discovered will allow us to see exactly what this group is made of and if it is meant to last. Even should initial success and change come about there is still the aftermath that will undoubtedly make some sections of the movement feel left out and ignored. Not everyone will be pleased. Can the occupy movement compromise in ways that congress has been unable to, that will be the true test of the movement, not the police enforcing sanitation laws. 

Occupy DC (K Street) Part 1

Yesterday night I spent a few hours among the two camps that make up Occupy DC.

Just as anyone who keeps an eye on the news I heard of the movement starting in New York City, and like any critical thinker I remained skeptical of the movement and its objectives. I also, just like anyone who kept an eye on the news, knew of the Republican skepticism of the protests. I heard the allegations of the group being little more than a mob, of being pampered rich kids with I phones and the like, I have heard the responses from the elite and their supporters that it is the fault of the administrations failed policy's and the protesters for getting  liberal arts degrees and not being able to find work.

However unlike most I decided to go out to the protestors and walk amongst them, taking pictures, taking video and deciding for myself exactly who the 99% where what the movement was about from their perspective. It is not enough to simply trust the national news for a perspective on a subject or a group, one must find out for ones self what a subject is and what a group is about. When the Tea party was in Washington DC I did the same thing, armed with a camera and my curious skepticism I went to find out exactly what the perspective of the tea party was. I even got an interview with Politico's Ken Vogel under the name Alexander. (Another Pseudonym)

What I found at the Occupy K street camp of the  movement was nothing to my expectations. I had gone there with specifically lowered expectations, I purged myself of the intention of something that I wanted to see and went accepting to see what it was that was waiting for me as I crossed the street from the white house. I first saw a group of Jewish youth observing a moment of silence at a makeshift stand, that struck me as an alter. Branch leaves had been placed on the roof of the structure to keep the rain water out and a man stood at the entrance of the structure leading the moment of silence. Around him heads with the jewish prayer caps were bowed. 

In other sections of the park were tents of the protesters that occupied the grass of Mcpherson park. The sidewalks for the pedestrians to walk through was clear and there seemed to be a overall feeling of mellowness. There were plenty of people who were there simply to observe and enjoy the park, as well as those who were there as part of the movement. I felt myself free to ask and talk to whomever I pleased. I spoke with a young man from Chicago who had also been part of the movement in Boston, he spoke of the movement and what it meant to him as well, and better than any sympathetic commentator on TV could. There were many factions within the camp, some the protestors seemed to be homeless residents of the park, some seemed to be out simply to enjoy conversation and enjoy the atmosphere and then there was another smaller group that seemed to be focused on action. It was that group that I focused my attention on and spent the bulk of my observation on.

Keeping The Movement Non-Violent

Medical Tent and Free Healthcare

Word From Other Camps

Committee Meeting

A Democracy Within Its Self

Eat The Rich

Free Food and Feeding The Revolution

Philosophy of a movement

The First Will Be The Last

Currently protestors are popping up across the nation and the republicans are completely reactionary in their responses to the frustration of the underclass and students. At this point it is safe to say the GOP has no shame in supporting the rich over the poor again and again.

In this nation we worship and protect the rich and abhor the poor. We pretend that the poor are lepers of the worst kind while we trample each other to reach our collective prize of super wealth we all have our eye on. 

In DC an its outskirts there has ben a dramatic increase in the amount of poor walking the streets. I pass no judgement on any person, we each with free will are allowed to choose between giving and ignoring. What I observe, or rather what I observe more is the reaction of the motorists to the poor. Again I say I pass no judgement and yet it seems that judgment is quickly passed on the poor in the form of excuses to not give. And yet these are some of the same people who demand the right to choose to give and not be judged all the while they judge the poor by the expressions on their face.

The look of shooing away a stray dog, or fly, or pretending not to see the obvious. Have we not seen the faces of the judgmental drivers as they sit at stop lights glaring at a red light.

Why do we hate the poor so much? Because they are needy, because they ask for something free? Yet we all love a good deal, we all love to get something for free from corporations and capitalist even though we know nothing is free in this capitalistic society. Why does this Christian nation do nothing for Christ. "Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me." (Mathew 25.40)

And yet the way America behaves it is as if the words were worship the might and splendor of the rich and follow them as you follow me. 

The worship and fascination with the extremely wealthy is nothing new. It has been this way in America since before my short years it is only just dramatically increased during the Reagan years. And yet these protests seem so appropriate for the time and still seem oddly overdue and subdued. There is a saying that the first shall be last and it seems as if at last the last has finally been fed up. It remains to be seen what and how things will change but the disrespectful flippancy towards the poor will have to be tackled head on.

We believe in the US that the rich an poor earned their position the bootstraps mythology of America is strong. I hope as do other like minded New American Negroes that until the stigma of the rich and poor is confronted and destructed real upward mobility will be impossible. 

State Sanctioned Murder

Today it has been reviled that the Iranian government had a plan that would have killed a Saudi diplomat.

First before discussing this issue further I must make an assumption that many Americans take for granted-that the American government is telling the truth. 

With the truth of this plan assumed true I can discuss this topic as a moral issue. Not the morality of if killing is right or wrong, that is an issue for people to decided for themselves not states. The morality I speak of is the the perceived innocence that American speaks from when it condemns such plans. American officials sit feigning outrage, and maybe they truly are outraged that anyone, especially Iran of all places would dare to attempt to pull a state sanctioned assassination on American soil. Never mind the fact that America has attempted, pulled off, and failed at worst plots. 

One of the most embarrassing plots by the CIA to over throw Fidel Castro involved using flares fired from subs in the middle of the night to convince the Cubans that Jesus was returning to earth. True, this does not equate to trying to kill someone on American soil but are we naive to believe that America has not plotted against other nations on their soil and others. And although I hesitate to bring up the case of Osama Bin Laden that was a situation in which the American Government assassinated a person in a nation we were not at war with. What gives America the moral right to kill people in non combative foreign nations?

It may well be that the case of Osama does not move you, I would not expect it, but the case of the American born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki that was killed by drone attack in a nation America is not at war with. Where does this country get off claiming moral indignation at Iran for taking a play out of the American playbook? Why should this nation not assume that others would do as it has done. Was not the War in Iraq simply a pretext to the assassination of Saddam Hussein. How many leaders democratically elected in Africa and South America has the CIA killed. What makes it morally okay for America to kill foreign heads of state and dignitaries but a moral and unforgivable outrage to even attempt to kill a dignitary of a nation that is friendly to the United States? On what moral ground does the US stand? Might makes right?

Shame on the United States for having a straight face when calling out the Iranians. There is no doubt that what Iran did was wrong, but the pot is calling the kettle black on this one. For the pedestal that America stands on as it points it's finger down at Iran is actually a mountain of corpses killed at the long reaching arms of the CIA. 

Do no play victim America, because you are simply a victimizer who got a taste of its own medicine. 

Black Republican and the GOP

I have been trying to figure out the angle of Herman Cain for some time now. I first wrote him off as the lone hopeless black guy in the GOP race for president. I figure someone put the idea in his head that the GOP would actually give the nod to a Negro after having endured a mixed race Obama. The thought also went through my mind that maybe in fact Cain being in the race was a GOP reaction to Obama, kinda like the Michael Steele republican chairmen election. (I wonder why no one has pointed that out before) We all remember how that ended for him.

However at the rate that Cain is going he seems like a viable candidate. I personally cannot wait for him to go the way of Bachmann and Perry. I say this not because I feel he would be a threat to Obama, I could care less about him as a candidate and I have not resolved myself to voting for Obama a second time. I am still of the mind that not voting would be better than voting for Obama, something I have never done since turning of legal age.

Cain represents a flippant disregard to Negroes. Which is interesting seeing as how the man by his own words "grew up po before I was poor" (Something that got a boisterous laugh from the GOP audience) By that admission one would expect a man like that to understand the keen role that racism and prejudice plays in the Negro American life. However Cain feels that racism does not really hold anybody back in this nation. 

I can't call this man, what I mean to say is that the same man that advocates neighborhoods being able to vote and decided if to allow mosques in the area claims that racism does not hold people back in this nation. This is the man that says he would not appoint muslims to his cabinet, but in his mind racism does not hold people back. 

Negro, do you not know that 30 years ago you were the muslim? What would you have said then? That you are not sure Negroes are loyal to the same nation that oppress them daily. Would you have been the only black surrounded by Americans claiming that Negroes are brainwashed not to love the brutality of the Americans during the civil rights movement? Why is Cain such a dog whistle for a group that would be raging against him had it not a "new nigger" in the muslim community to lynch. One would think Cain would try and lull Negroes away from the democratic vote but instead he is making them cling even more hopelessly to Obama. He has no empathy, sympathy or words for his brothers other than to say they are brainwashed for not sharing his political mindset. Yes, we Negroes should turn around follow the lead of our once oppressors and join them in the oppression of a new peoples that is how we become fully American. 

I suspect that Cain is no different from the Dean of the southern college portrayed in the Novel 'Invisible man' A Negro with a little bit of power, and a little bit of money, along with the good graces of the Americans will have every Negro hanging from a tree if it meant keeping his position. I suspect that Cain will say and worse of all do, all the things that make his American supporters feel they can trust him despite his black skin, anything that makes him seem like 'one of them' and once he reaches that honorary American status I imagine the plight of the Negro will be a running joke between he and his GOP supporters.

Post Racial Democracy

The main obstruct to US democracy is not a foreign threat, terrorism, nuclear arms, or anti American sentiments. It never has been and it will never be. The main obstruct to American democracy is the internal conflict between the Americans and those who are considered lesser Americans. To be clear the Americans are those that can trace their main ancestry to the continent of Europe. I do not use the term white in this instance because as census numbers show a growing number of Hispanic/Lationos categorize and self identify with the term white.

Far be it from me to tell anyone who they are but for the sake of clarity and traditional understanding of words the people of South America are no more white than they are Spanish, a term which the Latino youth sometimes apply to themselves.

Instead the Latino/Hispanic population can be lumped into a group that has many names but for this essay will be known as lesser Americans. Populating the group of lesser Americans are the racial minority groups of America Negroes, Native Americans, Asians, etc. However it is worth nothing that I would not include Jews among the group as even though Israel is viewed as the homeland of the Jews, Europe has been where the economic and traditional roots of the modern American Jew lies. Simply put due to economic, cultural, and political reasons the Jew can be viewed as a American and not a lesser American, despite being part of a ethnic minority. 

With all that said there is racial tension between the Americans and the lesser Americans, and to an extent tension between the different groups that make up the lesser Americans.

I should also note at this point that the term lesser American speaks to the inequality under the law and unequal access to education and job opportunities. There is no surprise or secret in the gap between Americans and lesser Americans, know to society as the gap between whites and minorities. That gap is not only substantial but also widening.

In order for a democracy to work there must be rule of law and equality for all. Compared to other nations America is indeed one the most free nations in the world, however America's claim to glory comes not from a comparison with Saudi Arabia but from the claim of American exceptionalism. America in actuality when compared to the promise of America is to be a democracy that gives protection to the minority against the tyranny of the majority, however this is not put to practice. The racial and economic tensions palpable in the United States makes a stable democracy not one of  participation but one of dominance and exclusion. Democracy is to get its footing from inclusion of all. Yet the fact that historically the minority, be it Negro, woman, or otherwise were excluded from participation. Why even today we hear of plans for voter disenfranchisement in the state of Ohio. The current president himself addressed the issue an the effect it may have on the upcoming 2012 election. This is not the first and last example of mass voter fraud and disenfranchisement. I need not be remind any ethnic American of Florida in the 2000 election.

America is a country of hostile waring ethic camps and let us be under no illusion, as 'Time' magazine recently reported there has been an increase in black and white interracial marriages, however whites and blacks still do not see eye to eye on the basic issues of discrimination, equality, and the need for affirmative action and other social programs. The democracy is not depended on all people agreeing but it is dependent on all people being equal.

With a historically racist and broken judicial system, a collapsing inner city education system, an an economic system catered to the elite, one would be hard pressed to say that Americans of all ethnic backgrounds are treated equally. With a voting system that looks to disenfranchise lesser Americans are treated like risks to the democracy. That is because, America views lesser Americans as risks to the status quo. The status quo being Americans on top and everyone else scrounging and scraping at the bottom. Politically the lesser Americans have been blocked out. There are only two political parities in American of which lesser Americans are forced to find their voice in only one. Yet still that one party is over overwhelming a platform for the Americans.

If lesser American have unequal treatment under the law, unequal education in the schools an lesser opportunities in the economy how is it to be expected that the concerns and agenda of the Americans and the lesser Americans is to be the same? More still how are the voices of the lesser Americans to be heard through a representative or direct democracy in which their numbers are trumped by the self serving majority.

Democracy does not work in such a racially divided nation. It is not that democracy will not work in a racially diverse nation it is simply that a racially dived nation will agree on little and tear a nation in different conflicting directions. In a democracy the majority rules, and when the majority constantly contains the same group an the same ideology then democracy becomes little more than a facade of legitimacy for the ruling group. Here in America there is no doubt that the Americans are the ruling group and the lesser Americans serve as the 'token' for a one sided democracy.

Reversing American Discrimination

We are told, thanks to the election of Barack Obama that we live in a post racial America. It is convenient for the Americans to tell America that she is a nation that no longer abuses and mistreats based on race. The nation that says race does not matter is the nation whose Supreme court will decided if affirmative action is legal. No doubt that the conservative bend of the court will allow for the striking down of affirmative action. So I ask if America is so over racial discrimination that affirmative action need no longer be on the books. But wait..who are the people who advocate for the dismissal of the law? It is America herself, the Americans say that affirmative action is wrong. The Americans who are the masters of discrimination are now in court saying that affirmative action is discriminatory. I call the Americans the masters of discrimination because since the creation of this nation America has been discriminating against those it views as less American in various ways be it out and out or veiled. So for the Americans to stand in court and say that they are being discriminating against, they the Americans who invented Jim Crow, they the Americans that benefited from white only and colored only, they the Americans who refused entry to universities based not on your credentials but on the color of your skin are the Americans that are crying outrage at discrimination because of a policy that looks to correct years of state sanctioned discrimination.

These Americans would argue that two wrongs do not make a right. These Americans would love for you to believe that that they are being discriminated against by a law that they established and they maintained. It is a fact that there is no law, there is nothing that the Negro can establish for himself without the support and permission of the Americans that the American has to respect. Does that sound familiar? A Negro (Slave) has no rights that a white has to respect. And we see this even in the 21st century. The very fact that the Americans are in the courts right now fighting against a law they established for the protection of the Negro against his own power shows us Negroes that America views post racial as a one size fits all white wash. It suggests that they believe they alone understand what discrimination is, being masters of it themselves, and that they will revoke every protection of the minority against the tyranny of the majority that they have ever established and protected. The first step is to 'unreverse' reverse discrimination. 

Let us look briefly at the term 'reverse discrimination'. In it we find an admission from the Americans that discrimination traditionally flows in one direction. From White to Black. Realization of this fact is the only way one could reverse discrimination, because in fact discrimination is discrimination and need not be reversed. What affirmative action looks to do in truth is reverse the traditional discrimination the Negro has faced since his arrival to this nation. Why does the American have a vested interest in 'unreversing' the discrimination of the Negro? Why exactly, things have worked so beautifully under traditional American discrimination. And if it aint broke, don't try and fix it by reversing it. By looking to strike down Affirmative action the Americans are asking us to trust them not to go back to there old ways of discrimination. I for one, cannot trust the Americans or their government to not do the quintessential American thing that has brought this nation "greatness" in the first place. The Americans know what side their bread end is buttered on,and its always been the white side.

Get dressed to go to class not to go to the club.

I am still perplexed by the women that dress at the height of fashion while attending college. And yet I recall from memory seeing more young white women dressed in athletic shorts with writing sprawled across their butts and simple college team t-shirts than white women dressed at fashions height. Still I would not be quick to say that every such dressed white woman is focused intently on her studies, but what it does is makes her part of the typical college crowd and takes away the suggestion, at least outwardly that she is there to be seen.

Now this is of course is hardly a scientific finding. I have no data to support this claim and yet I am tempted to suggest that it seems Negroes of both genders seem to go to college for all the wrong reasons. Or rather what I would consider reasons inferior to obtaining an education. Now, again, this is merely observation and speculation. I cannot know the heart's of others but what I can know is their appearance to society and how Americans view them. I would be hard pressed to suggest that given the dress and the attention it undoubtedly garnishes the first and immediate concern of some of the college attending black women I have seen is education.

I would be remiss however to leave unsaid that the Negro males sometimes do carry the same attitude. There are various reasons individual and social for the apparent apathy for education. However at this time I offer no suggestions for remedy at this time. I do however take heart in the progress of the charter schools in Harlem. I pray the younger generation is strong in character and determination. I pray that they go to college for all the right reasons and when they speak of schools their main concern is not “How the bitches be lookin.”