Faith in Action

Thanks to my new friend, Kenda Bell for letting me know about this exciting event. If you want to go and you’re comfortable paying online please leave a note saying that KENDA BELL notified you about the event. (I think they’re going to give her a free Happy Meal or something:)

Farajii Muhammad and I host a new segment on The Larry Young Morning Show every Friday at 9:30AM called “We Got Next!” This morning we had Dr. Eric Durham on as our guest to talk about the issue of paying students for good grades - and no we’re not talking about grandpa breaking Jr. off for an “A” - we’re talking about corporations and government getting in the act to incentivize good grades with cold, hard, cash.

This concept has been a buzz as of late after Harvard Professor, Roland Fryer, championed the practice on CNN’s Black in America series.

I checked out Dr. Durham (who is a “Hip Hop Scholar” by the way) blog and found an interesting post about Barack Obama and the political process. I had a slightly different angle than he on the topic he raised. Here’s my comment:

Dr. Durham! Great piece, man. I am definitely feeling you on the issue of sharpening and intensifying the political message, however, my concern is that it (i.e. the political banter) will just pan out to have been words after the election dust settles.

At the risk of sounding fatalistic, I am experiencing a growing sense that both mainstream political parties are two sides of the same coin and if not the same coin then at least two nearly identical ones.

You mentioned that you voted for Nader in a past presidential election, so I presume that you are well aware of the dissonance between what the mainstream corporate politicians say and what they ultimately end up doing. The Power Structure has long proven that it can tolerate “hopeful” words of revolution devoid of any intent to act upon them.

It is that reality that has prompted me to not just vote for who has the best chance of winning or not just vote for the lesser of two evils (or the evil of two lessers depending on who you ask). I’d rather vote my principles and if that means voting for a third party candidate then so be it. Don’t the American people lose out in every national election because they don’t vote their values - rather they vote the values imposed upon them by the fourth branch of the government - mainstream media.

The argument of the “average person” as you so eloquently laid out, better aligns with the values of non-corporatized political parties and if all of us vote our true values then we shouldn’t be surprised if our aspirations lead us to a political platform and a candidate that is not sponsored by Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, or Walmart.

Check out his post.

And here are a few that I’ve been checking out lately.

Our resident scholar/theologian/cultural commentator himself - Rev. C. Solomon has just released a tribute to Dr. Jeremiah Wright. Here’s a piece of it:

The Wright Reverend ought to be America’s man of the year! And even though his presence is not welcome at the Democratic Convention in Colorado, he is a substantial part of the reason for America’s profound new hope, for it is he who gets much of the credit for producing Senator Obama and family. If only more individuals in the nation, particularly its former and current leaders had been shaped at Trinity United in Chicago! READ MORE

Hard-hitting Glen Ford from Black Agenda Report brings the FIRE again with his latest piece entitled, “The Age of Katrina - Not Obama.” Take a sip…

The more delusional Obama supporters behave as if “their candidate’s speech on Thursday will herald a crack in time, after which posterity will speak of Before-Obama (BO) and After-Obama (AO) eras, and the transcendental Age of Obama.” They draw straight lines from Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech to Obama’s nomination acceptance oration. However, the event that far more accurately defines the age is Katrina, the unfolding catastrophe that descended on New Orleans three years ago, this week. Katrina is “the most dramatic manifestation of an implacable racism coiled deeply in the ruling structures of American society, primed to remove concentrations of Blacks from places of value.” READ MORE

Then there’s the Chicken Bones Journal - a great online resource for independent African perspectives on world views. (They need your financial support by the way.) Check out this piece I found there. It’s a letter of support for Cynthia McKinney from the President of the Socialist Party of South Africa (Azania)!

To Sister Cynthia McKinney:

We were particularly and greatly thrilled by your nomination as the presidential candidate of the Power to the People Committee and also that of your vice presidential candidate, Sister Rosa Clemente. These are indeed critical times for the United States but much so for the world and most particularly Africa and its people. We are excited and also support the endorsement of this nomination because of how we have come to know you, Sister Cynthia McKinney, and what you stand for.

The people of Africa and Azania, better known as South Africa, are greatly heartened by the fact that it is not in your character and style to keep quiet or turn a blind eye to the challenges that face you. You have consciously taken sides a long time ago and have been outspoken about countries such as Zimbabwe long before other people discovered where they were on the world map. READ MORE

And Renita Weems asks the question, “What’s wrong with being Nappy and Happy?” In this thought provoking commentary, Weems, highlights the Obama girls to raise the question of why Black women perm their hair. Is perming one’s hair a sign of self-hate? Take a sip…

I guess there’s no place in the White House for little black girls with nappy hair, huh? I know many of you can’t tolerate any criticism of the Obamas. And I’m not criticizing the Obamas. Not really. I’m raising a question about a black girl’s hair. And public perception. We’ve talked about this topic before when it was Michelle Obama. You can be sure that when this month’s issue of Essence Magazine arrived in the mail with Malia (10) and Sasha Obama (7) with hair straightened and curled around their shoulders, some black mother lost a battle with her ten year old about not straightening her (just yet). Why do we perm or straighten our daughters’ hair at such a young age?
What other ethnic group does this to their children? READ MORE

Ok - that’s enough for now. I’ll share more great blogs a little later this week.

“Power to the People!”

“Power to the People!”

The crowd swayed and chanted in a thunderous roar pumping clinched fists in the air as if they were literally striking out at the oligarchical american government and its fascist functionaries that provide safe haven for racism, economic exploitation, discrimination, and ultimately an oppressive existence.

No, this crowd of dedicated change agents weren’t members of the Black Panthers. They weren’t members of the American Indian Movement. They weren’t Weathermen.

They were members of the Green Party - some would say they are the descendants of all of those forenamed revolutionary groups. The Green Party is founded on 10 key values:

Grassroots Democracy

Social Justice

Ecological Wisdom

Non-violence

Decentralization

Community-based Economics

Feminism

Diversity

Responsibility

Future Focus

The Green Party Convention was Saturday, July 12, 2008 in Chicago. I just happened to flip it on TV (Thank God for CSPAN) as I was on my way out the door. An hour and a half later, I hadn’t left the house yet, but I had watched the entire convention. It was really inspiring. I got a sense that I was watching the beginning of a movement. It had all the right ingredients: small, dedicated crowd of supporters, little notice from “mainstream”, progressive agenda that most people could identify with in some way.

And at the center of it all were two awe-inspiring women: Cynthia McKinney - the Green Party nominee for President of the United States, and Rosa Clemente, Afro-Buricua, Community Organizer and Hip Hop Activist for Vice President. (You’ve gotta read Clemente’s powerful piece, “Russell Simmons, you are not Hip Hop!“)

Barack Obama may have the momentum that inspires Black people, but Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente have the message that will uplift us. Obama as President will provide an infinite amount of symbolism to the Black community, McKinney as President will render infinite amounts of substantive policy shifts that will create a new type of country which will help usher in a new kind of world.

As I’ve shared many many times before on this blog, mainstream media works in cooperation with the government to control what you think so chances are most of you have never heard of former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and if you have it’s because of how Big Brother sensationalized an incident at Capital Hill involving her hair. An incident that was blown up about a year after she grilled then Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, over 11 trillion dollars that went missing at the Pentagon, DynCorp’s slave trade, and the 9/11 wargames. (Note: There are always consequences for challenging Empire. She was soon out of office.)

Since “they” are working to keep you blind to it, I urge you to work to open your eyes to this Party and these two fascinating women. Talk to your children about the Green Party. As the two mainstream political parties are now controlled by corporate interest; it is incumbent upon the people to search out alternative political choices - or as Clemente said - the Green Party isn’t the alternative, it’s the imperative.

This does raise an issue though that I’d love your feedback on particularly as it relates to Black voters. What should Black voters do? Vote for symbol and help a Black man become the first African American President of the United States? OR Vote for substance and support a political party whose nominees most likely don’t stand a chance of winning (in the traditional sense) in this presidential election cycle? (Glen Ford, Executive Director of the Black Agenda Report chose the latter of those two options saying that McKinney deserves the Black Vote, Obama does not.)

Whatever happens - don’t sleep on the Green Party. They are not going quietly into the night. I sense that this is only the beginning.

This will probably go down as one of the top news stories of 2008 that you’ve never heard about. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) presented articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush on June 9, 2008. (It’s amazing that as Kucinich is presenting the articles of Impeachment in this C-SPAN video, his colleagues are not just ignoring him, they’re carrying on in conversation as if he’s not even speaking!)

Mainstream media gave very little attention to it - if any at all - because as the Fourth Branch of the United States Government their job is to control what you think and what you are exposed to. The Democrats and the Republicans are not interested in initiating impeachment proceedings against Bush though for different reasons.

The Republicans, naturally, wouldn’t want a sitting Republican President to undergo the scrutiny that comes along with the process - doing damage to the party and its future prospects of political leadership.

The Democrats, strangely enough, don’t want to support impeachment of George Bush because with his historically low approval rating, participation in war crimes, inattention to domestic programs, and general malfeasance in office, he has become a political pinata that the Dems can hold up and rally the masses toward the polls with. They wish to use him as a springboard for their return to power and are less interested in being faithful to their constitutional duty. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has even said as far back as two years ago that impeachment was off the table.

Which reminded me of a conversation that Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance clergy had with a popular Maryland Congressman last summer. When one of the clergy mentioned the prospect of impeachment against Bush, the Congressman laughed in our faces. Therefore, they are culpable in this mess as well.

I caught up with Troy Johnson from 105.7FM (Baltimore) this past Saturday at the African American Men’s Health Conference and he let me know that Congressman Kucinich may be joining him on his radio show on Monday, June 23, 2008 10AM - 12NOON on 105.7FM to discuss his plans to impeach Bush. I will be tuning in and I hope you will as well.

Interesting 3min 43 sec piece about America’s political dance by Glen Ford from the Black Agenda Report website.

The American Electoral Charade (3:43)

And her name is Cynthia McKinney.

Listen as she announces her campaign for President of the United States.