Waterstar

As is obvious in this thread (and countless others), many of the things that were important to the generations before are all but irrelevant to the generations that followed and many of the things that seemed irrelevant to the generations before are important to the generations that followed. Time alone will reveal how our future generations will view the things that we support, oppose, negate, and debate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJB4FG8CLcc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUw6aNH9itE

There, there. Do not join many of the members of the black community as they "play the race card". Plus, didn't you read the results of the investigation documents? It was determined that Zimmerman had no racist qualities, so please stop racializing this issue. Also, just what do you think would be different in terms of Fox had Zimmerman shot someone white? (Betcha Fox would love me, huh?)

While I do not know the author, I found the article interesting.

It is said: "God made man. Man made religion." It is also said that: "Man made God in his image." LOL There are many, many Biishop P. Tenderloins, Writergirl.

I tend to concur.

The 'Race' Card By Karen Hatter The majority of people of African descent, living in America, do not have the luxury of compartmentalizing our collective experience here in America, beginning with forced immigration, enslavement, Jim Crow, the Black Codes and after slavery, in modern times, the long list of inequalities and abuses that have been brought down upon our heads as a result of who we are and our past relationship to those in stewardship, of non African descent, in America, when we express our feelings, beliefs and concerns over our past and for our as yet to be known futures in America. Many Americans find it difficult and it makes them uneasy to hear a perspective that does not reflect the experiences of their own. It's difficult to understand another's perspective if one can't hear the speaker because one doesn't like what the speaker is saying. Race, in America, has remained a divisive force among many Americans, not because America's citizens of African descent speak of it; it's because the society has never reconciled itself to the reality that for centuries, those of African descent lived in a world so different, with many continuing to do so, it would seemingly require, literally, a physical transformation and, as that saying attributed to caretakers of the land before the establishment of European colonies here, the ability to 'walk in another's moccasins'. Numerous studies and reports, regarding societal development along separate paths in the United States, including the Kerner Report commissioned by President Lyndon B. Johnson, have been conducted over the past few decades that indicate all that has transpired in America, since its inception, has shaped the psyches and consciences of all in America, Black and White, resulting in divergent view points on many things due to our life experiences. The African slave trade and the system of chattel slavery became major sources of wealth for Europe. Estimates of the number of Africans taken from the continent during the nearly five hundred year period, including the East Coast Slave Trade, carried on by the Arabs of the Middle East, reaches beyond 30 million, taking into account all the European nations involved in the transport of Africans. As Europe emerged out of the times known as the Dark Ages and as it recovered from the loss of life during the plague that came to be known as the Black Death, the wealth generated from the transport of Africans and their enslavement allowed Europe to continue to rebuild, seeking new, previously unexplored territories outside of Europe. All who partook of the wealth generated during the slave trade, received a leg up, economically, at the expense of lowering an entire continent of people to the status of less than human for those purposes. I hear and read, nearly on a nonstop basis, the admonition to just 'get over slavery'. Our lives here right now are representative of our ancestors somehow grabbing hold to their belief in a Creator and against so many odds, including choosing not to take their own lives out of heartbreak and despair, who lived to continue, despite their hardships and struggles, in spite of slavery, so that each generation reaped the benefit of the succeeding generations' struggles, propelling us forward until we've arrived here. One of the silliest notions that exists, whenever anyone of African descent speaks of historical matters that have occurred or are occurring, due to America's history and how it viewed race, is that the speaker is playing the 'race' card. For most within the African American community, the 'race' card is not some trump card that helps you 'win' any discussion or debate. Virtually every time, whenever race is mentioned by an American of African descent, nearly every discussion veers off course, with the speaker being called out for expressing a belief based on their life experience. For a number of years, our family has lived in a small, predominately White community, in the Black section of town. My oldest daughter was five years old when she began kindergarten. She had one child, who happened to be a White child, that she called her best friend. She and the little girl played together during recess after lunch. My daughter began school in 1994. One day, as she and her friend approached another group of girls, they asked the other children if they could play with them. They were told that my daughter's friend could play but, my daughter could not because she was Black. When my oldest entered 3rd grade, in 1998, another friend, who also happened to be a White girl, explained to my child that, according to the child's older sister, it was alright for my daughter to be friends with her but one day, when they got older, they couldn't be friends any longer because my daughter was Black. Now, I sent my daughter out into the world to attend school in 1994 yet, it was as if she had been attempting to break the color line at her school in the 50's and 60's. Why is that? This is not a unique set of circumstances nor is this story an unfamiliar or unique experience among many of us within the African American community. Is speaking of these incidents somehow playing the 'race' card? Some outside the community would most likely say it is. I shared this story to illustrate that a child, who obviously wasn't concerned about the color of her playmates, was introduced to the concept of exclusionary race based customs, by White children, as she attempted to interact in the world, heedless of the complicated concepts and issues that weigh heavily on the collective American psyche regarding race. In reality, that imaginary 'race' card? It's more like the Old Maid card in the children's card game of that same name because we know, that is, if you're an African, when you get stuck with that card in your hand at the end of the game, you lose.

da heck you MEAN you ain't sure iif you agree wit my analogy?? YOU WANNA FIGHT ME, TROY!?? You can either AGREE with me or be WRONG and DIE FOR IT! State Policy; Get down or LAY DOWN! (Representin da red, white, and BLUE, Baby! These young heads don't know what REAL thug life is. lol) Mad, sick, head deh pon vacation.. Don't mind me. I'm glad that you made a thread out of it. It has made for a very interesting discussion.

"There were two kind of slaves. There was the house negro and the field negro. The house negro, they lived in the house, with master. They dressed pretty good. They ate good, cause they ate his food, what he left. They lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near their master, and they loved their master, more than their master loved himself. They would give their life to save their masters house quicker than their master would. The house negro, if the master said "we got a good house here" the house negro say "yeah, we got a good house here". Whenever the master would said we, he'd say we. That's how you can tell a house negro. If the master's house caught on fire, the house negro would fight harder to put the blaze out than the master would. If the master got sick, the house negro would say "What's the matter, boss, we sick?" We sick! He identified himself with his master, more than the master identified with himself. And if you came to the house negro and said "Let's run away, Let's escape, Let's separate" the house negro would look at you and say "Man, you crazy. What you mean separate? Where is there a better house than this? Where can I wear better clothes than this? Where can I eat better food than this?" There was that house negro. In those days, he was called a house nigger. And that's what we call him today, because we still got some house niggers runnin around here. This modern house negro loves his master. He wants to live near him. He'll pay three times as much as the house is worth just to live near his master, and then brag about "I'm the only negro out here. I'm the only one on my job. I'm the only one in this school." "You're nothing but a house negro. And if someone come to you right now and say "Let's separate.", you say the same thing that the house negro said on the plantation. "What you mean separate? From America? This good white land? Where you gonna get a better job than you get here? I mean, this is what you say! "I di-I ain't left nothing in Africa" That's what you say. "Why, you left your mind in Africa". On that same plantation, there was the field negro. The field negro, those were the masses. There was always more negros in the field as there were negros in the house. There negro in the field caught hell. He ate leftovers. In the house, they ate high up on the hog. The negro in the field didn't get nothing but what was left in the insides of the hog. They call them chit'lins nowaday. In those days, they called them what they were, guts! That's what you were, a guteater. And some of you are still guteaters. The field negro was beaten, from morning til night. He lived in a shack, in a hut. He wore cast-off clothes. He hated his master. I say, he hated his master. He was intelligent. That house negro loved his master. But that field negro, remember, they were in the majority, and they hated their master. When the house caught on fire, he didn't try to put it out, that field negro prayed for a wind. For a breeze. When the master got sick, the field negro prayed that he died. If someone come to the field negro and said "Let's separate, let's run." He didn't say "Where we going?" he said "Any place is better than here". We got field negros in America today. I'm a field negro. The masses are the field negros. When they see this mans house on fire, we don't hear these little negros talkin bout "Our Government is in trouble. They say thee Government is in trouble." Imagine a negro, "Our Government". I even heard one say "Our astronauts." They won't even let him near the plant, and "Our astronauts". "Our neighbors" That's a negro that's out of his mind. That's a negro that's out of his mind! Just cause the slave master in that day, used Tom, to keep the field negroes in check. The same ol slavemaster today has negros who are nothing but modern Uncle Toms. 20th century Uncle Toms to keep you and me in check. Keep us under control. Keep us passive and peaceful. And nonviolent. That's Tom making you nonviolent. It's like when you go to the dentist and the man is going to take your tooth. You're going to fight him when he start pulling. So they squirt some stuff in your jaw called novocane, to make you think their not doing anything to you. So you sit there and because you got all that novocane in your jaw, you suffer peacefully. Hahahaha. There's nothing in our book, the Quran, as you call it, Koran, that teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful. Be courteuos. Obey the law. Respect everyone. But if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery! That's a good religion. In fact, that's that old-time religion. That's the one that ma and pa used to talk about. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and a head for a head and a life for a life. That's a good religion. And doesn't anybody, no one resist that kind of religion being taught but a wolf who intends to make you his meal. This is the way it is with the white man in America. He's a wolf and you're his sheep. Anytime a shepherd, a pastor, teach you and me not to run from the white man, and at the same time teach us don't fight the white man, he's a traitor, to you and me. Don't lay down our life all by itself, no, preserve your life. It's the best thing you got. And if you got to give it up, let it be Even Steven. . -Malcolm X Bro. Malcolm had some real yet comical stuff, too. Have you ever really read that brother or heard his speeches/interviews? Brilliant he was indeed, with a wonderful sense of humor. In general, we don't read and listen and think for ourselves as much as we should. ****** Eulogy for Malcolm X The following eulogy was delivered by Ossie Davis at the funeral of Malcolm X on 27 February 1965 at the Faith Temple Church Of God Here—at this final hour, in this quiet place—Harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its brightest hopes—extinguished now, and gone from us forever. For Harlem is where he worked and where he struggled and fought—his home of homes, where his heart was, and where his people are—and it is, therefore, most fitting that we meet once again—in Harlem—to share these last moments with him. For Harlem has ever been gracious to those who have loved her, have fought for her and have defended her honor even to the death. It is not in the memory of man that this beleaguered, unfortunate, but nonetheless proud community has found a braver, more gallant young champion than this Afro-American who lies before us—unconquered still. I say the word again, as he would want me to: Afro-American—Afro-American Malcolm, who was a master, was most meticulous in his use of words. Nobody knew better than he the power words have over minds of men. Malcolm had stopped being a Negro years ago. It had become too small, too puny, too weak a word for him. Malcolm was bigger than that. Malcolm had become an Afro-American, and he wanted—so desperately—that we, that all his people, would become Afro-Americans, too. There are those who will consider it their duty, as friends of the Negro people, to tell us to revile him, to flee, even from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history of our turbulent times. Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain—and we will smile. Many will say turn away—away from this man; for he is not a man but a demon, a monster, a subverter and an enemy of the black man—and we will smile. They will say that he is of hate—a fanatic, a racist—who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! And we will answer and say to them: Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did, you would know him. And if you knew him, you would know why we must honor him: Malcolm was our manhood, our living, black manhood! This was his meaning to his people. And, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves. Last year, from Africa, he wrote these words to a friend: My journey, he says, is almost ended, and I have a much broader scope than when I started out, which I believe will add new life and dimension to our struggle for freedom and honor and dignity in the States. I am writing these things so that you will know for a fact the tremendous sympathy and support we have among the African States for our human rights struggle. The main thing is that we keep a united front wherein our most valuable time and energy will not be wasted fighting each other. However we may have differed with him—or with each other about him and his value as a man—let his going from us serve only to bring us together, now. Consigning these mortal remains to earth, the common mother of all, secure in the knowledge that what we place in the ground is no more now a man—but a seed—which, after the winter of our discontent, will come forth again to meet us. And we will know him then for what he was and is—a prince—our own black shining prince!—who didn’t hesitate to die, because he loved us so.

Hey, well it seems that some younger white children would find more wrong with that situation than you, Writergirl. "Mmmmmmmm Mama... Is Massa gonna sell us tomorrow? Yesssssss, yesssssss. " Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC18tioP6PY Ah. Now you get to see. For this, Sister, is precisely my point. What was okay for us on yesterday was okay for yesterday but on today, we want something different and the desire for something different can often be seen in the language of a people. Miriam Makeba said "If you want to know the story of a people, study their music". I can also say that if you want to know the mindstate of people, study their use of language. What is language except a group of symbols? Every letter is a symbol for a sound, so naturally, all words are symbols. All letters represent something and all words represent something. It is my hope that the children of the future will have the same trouble re: the use of "the slaves" relating to such a scenario in a similar way. Malcolm X is such a great example of the evolution of terms coinciding with the evolution of self-concept, desire, goals, and objectives of a people. Malcolm X's terms changed as his perceptions of self and collective identity. His way of relating to himself and his people changed from negro to black to African. This is reflective of the brother's evolved sense of identity: "Twenty-two million African-Americans - that's what we are - Africans who are in America." -Bro. Malcolm "We're not Americans, we're Africans who happen to be in America. We were kidnapped and brought here against our will from Africa. We didn't land on Plymouth Rock - that rock landed on us."-Bro. Malcolm Before his death, Bro. Malcolm was busily working on the organization that he started OAAU (Organization of African American Unity) which was conceived in the likeness of the objectives of the OAU (Organization of African Unity).

Not long ago in the news, there was coverage of a person being attacked by a shark. The news anchor said something to this effect: "We're seeing more and more of this. Is it because of all the sharks or is it because of all these underwater cameras?" You know what? That is too real. Cameras /satelites everywhere, watching everything EXCEPT the more important things it seems. If more lives are being lost in the streets of Chicago than in the "conflict" involving Afghanistan and if there are cameras all around, where does our logic take us in such a situation? When drugs are being shipped in by these planes, we don't see or hear about this, yet we see the effects of this constantly in our neighborhoods. Where does our logic take us in such a situation? Eye tracking devices to record consumer data/shopping habits. Money for such fancy technology yet no money to sustain pre-k programs? Forget what you heard. Education is "not" the key. Education is almost obsolete. Consumerism is the key. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCThO0EIu14&feature=related "Watching Me" by Jill Scott Watching me, watching me Watching me, watching me Watching me, watching me Watching me First thing when I wake up And right before I close my eyes at night I think, sense, feel man likeI'm under some kind of microscope Satellites over my head, transmitters in my dollars Hawking, watching, scoping, jocking, scrutinizing me Checking to see what I'm doing? Where I be? Who I see? How and where and With whom I make my money? What is this? Excuse me miss, may I have your phone number And your social security? Who me?When all I came to do is buy my Double or triple a batteries Please, I decline Watching me, watching me Watching me, watching me Watching me, watching meWatching me Watching me, watching me Watching me, watching me Watching me, watching me Watching me Look here at this watch of mine Gotta open it up Don't know who's been in it Tracking where I go Finding out all my business Se-cur-i-ty, video cameras locked on meIn every dressing room, on every floor, in every store Damn, can I get that democracy And equality and privacy? You busy watching me, watching me That you're blind baby, you neglect to see The drugs coming into my community Weapons coming into my community Dirty cops in my community And you keep saying that I'm free And you keep saying that I'm freeA nd you keep saying that I'm freeBusy watching me Watching me, watching me Watching me, watching me Watching me, watching me Watching me I ain't got no bars to this cage If I'm gonna stay here I'm gonna build me a lead house Keep them satellites out, direct TV Am I watchin' it or is it watchin' me? Man I don't really know, but I feel likeI feel like, I'm being scoped y'all Watch y'all Somethin' ain't right Somethin' ain't right Watching me, watching me Watching me, watching me Watching me, watching meWatching me And you keep sayin' that I'm free And you keep sayin' that I'm free And you keep sayin' that I'm free... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5OegUCe704

Horrific Attack At Batman Screening Leaves 12 Dead by The Associated Press text size AAAAURORA, Colo. July 20, 2012, 08:13 pm ET AURORA, Colo. (AP) — As the new Batman movie played on the screen, a gunman dressed in black and wearing a helmet, body armor and a gas mask stepped through a side door. At first he was just a silhouette, taken by some in the audience for a stunt that was part of one of the summer's most highly anticipated films. But then, authorities said, he threw gas canisters that filled the packed suburban Denver theater with smoke, and, in the confusing haze between Hollywood fantasy and terrifying reality, opened fire as people screamed and dove for cover. At least 12 people were killed and 59 wounded in one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history. "He looked like an assassin ready to go to war," said Jordan Crofter, a moviegoer who was unhurt in the attack early Friday, about a half-hour after the special midnight opening of "The Dark Knight Rises." The gunman, identified by police as 24-year-old James Holmes, used a military-style semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, stopping only to reload. The suspect marched up the aisle in the stadium-style theater, picking off those who tried to flee, witnesses said. Authorities said he hit 71 people. One of them was struck in an adjacent theater by gunfire that went through the wall. "He would reload and shoot and anyone who would try to leave would just get killed," said Jennifer Seeger, adding that bullet casings landed on her head and burned her forehead. Within minutes, frantic 911 calls brought some 200 police officers, ambulances and emergency crews to the theater. Holmes was captured in the parking lot. Police said they later found that his nearby apartment was booby-trapped. Authorities gave no motive for the attack. The FBI said there was no indication of ties to any terrorist groups. In New York City, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said: "It clearly looks like a deranged individual. He has his hair painted red. He said he was the Joker, obviously the enemy of Batman." Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates would not confirm that information, but did say he had spoken to Kelly. The two used to work together in New York. Asked whether Holmes had makeup to look like the Joker, Oates said: "That to my knowledge is not true." It was the worst mass shooting in the U.S. since the Nov. 5, 2009, attack at Fort Hood, Texas. An Army psychiatrist was charged with killing 13 soldiers and civilians and wounding more than two dozen others. It was the deadliest in Colorado since the Columbine High School massacre in suburban Denver in 1999, when two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher and wounded 26 others before killing themselves. The new Batman movie, the last in the trilogy starring Christian Bale, opened worldwide Friday with midnight showings in the U.S. The plot has the villain Bane facing Bale's Caped Crusader with a nuclear weapon that could destroy all of fictional Gotham. The shooting prompted officials to cancel the red-carpet premiere in Paris, and some U.S. movie theaters stepped up security for daytime showings. The film's director, Christopher Nolan, issued a statement on behalf of the cast and crew, expressing their "profound sorrow at the senseless tragedy." "Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families," Nolan said. The attack began shortly after midnight at the multiplex in Aurora, an urban community on Denver's eastside. Audience members said they thought it was part of the movie, or some kind of stunt associated with it. The film has several scenes of public mayhem — a hallmark of superhero movies. In one scene, Bane leads an attack on a stock exchange, and in another he leads a shooting and bombing rampage on a packed football stadium. A federal law enforcement official said Holmes bought a ticket to the show, went into the theater as part of the crowd and propped open an exit door as the movie was playing. The suspect then donned protective ballistic gear and opened fire, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. At some point, the gunman appeared to have stepped outside because several witnesses saw him come through the door. "All I saw is the door swinging open and the street lights behind, and you could see a silhouette," said Crofter, who was sitting on the left side of the theater and toward the front. Sylvana Guillen said the gunman, clad in dark clothing, appeared at the front of the theater as the character Catwoman appeared in the movie. Then they heard gunshots and smelled smoke from a canister he was carrying. As she and her friend, Misha Mostashiry, ran to the exit, Guillen said, they saw a man slip in the blood of a wounded woman he was trying to help. Oates said the gunman wore a gas mask and a ballistic helmet and vest, as well as leg, groin and throat protectors. He said among the guns was an AR-15 rifle and that the gunman used two gas canisters. "I thought it was showmanship. I didn't think it was real," Seeger said. She said she was in the second row, about four feet from the gunman, when he pointed a gun at her face. "I was just a deer in headlights. I didn't know what to do," she said. Then she ducked to the ground as the gunman shot people seated behind her. Seeger said she began crawling toward an exit when she saw a girl of about 14 "lying lifeless on the stairs." She saw a man with a bullet wound in his back and tried to check his pulse, but "I had to go. I was going to get shot." Later, police began entering the theater, asking people to hold their hands up as they evacuated the building. Some of the victims were treated for chemical exposure apparently related to canisters thrown by the gunman. Those hurt included a 4-month-old baby, who was treated at a hospital and released. Authorities started to remove the bodies from the theater on Friday afternoon. Officials wheeled a black bag on a stretcher out of the front entrance, placing it in the back of a minivan. Ten people died in the theater, while two others died from their injuries later. Those who knew Holmes described him as a shy, intelligent person raised in California by parents who were active in their well-to-do suburban neighborhood in San Diego. Holmes played soccer at Westview High School and ran cross-country before going to college. On Friday morning, police escorted Holmes' father, a manager of a software company, from their home while his mother, a nurse, stayed inside, receiving visitors who came to offer support. Holmes also has a younger sister. "As you can understand, the Holmes family is very upset about all of this," Lt. Andra Brown, the San Diego police spokeswoman, told reporters in the driveway of the family home. "It's a tragic event and it's taken everyone by surprise. They are definitely trying to work through this." Police released a statement from his family that said: "Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved." There have been no indications so far that Holmes had any run-ins with the law before Friday. Tom Mai, a retired electrical engineer, said Holmes was a "shy guy" who came from a "very, very nice family." Holmes graduated from University of California, Riverside, in the spring of 2010 a bachelor's degree in neuroscience, a school spokesman said. Mai said the mother told him Holmes couldn't find a job after earning a master's degree and returned to school. In 2011, he enrolled in the Ph.D. neuroscience program at the University of Colorado-Denver but was in the process of withdrawing, a university spokeswoman said. Holmes lived in an apartment in Aurora, and FBI agents and police who went there discovered it was booby-trapped when they used a camera at the end of a 12-foot pole to look inside. ___ Associated Press writers Kristen Wyatt, Steven K. Paulson, Ivan Moreno and Mead Gruver in Aurora, Dan Elliott and Colleen Slevin in Denver, Tom Hays in New York, Monika Mathur and Jennifer Farrar at News Research Center and Alicia A. Caldwell and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.

Thank you for contributing, Writergirl. Just out of curiosity, would it be a big deal if one of your fellow employees who was an older southern caucasian lady referred to you as a negro? She doesn't do this disrespecfully. I mean, it's not like she referred to you as "jungle bunny" or "porch monkey" or "coon". After all, negro" is just another name for colored or black, right? Or is that a little different? (..and just to clarify, your fellow employee does not have a racist bone in her body; her best friend happens to be a negro. )

Awl helllllll nawl, I KNOW you ain't tryna diagree wit Waterstar WEST! Don't mind me, I'm trippin off Nick West from "35 and Ticking". Those are interesting questions. Perhaps I should have simply said that religion is like a tool in that it is, by itself, harmless. I went on to use the example of a specific tool the gun, which is a tool that has been used to take lives. On the contrary, has tthis particular tool, the gun, not also been used to save lives? For the person who comes to rob the man who was in his house, the gun that he has is being used for negative reasons. Yet when he breaks in the house, he is surprised to discover that the owner of the house is waiting for him with a gun...a much bigger one that happens to, quite literally, scare the crap out of the burglar. The owner of the house tells the burglar to put the gun down and he does... Guess what? That gun in that the owner was holding probably saved his life. The owner's gun probably even saved two lives that day, because I know the owner very well. Trust me, he would have fought until the end. I'm glad it didn't get to that point though. You know what? I'm glad that he had a gun. A gun is a tool. By itself, it can do nothing. Even a person has to load it in order for it to deliver a deadly shot. Let's take a gun that is 'not' loaded though. Somebody can take it a beat it upside somebody's head to take a life...but could they not do the same with a shovel? Was a gun created for the same reason that a shovel was created? Not in the sense of the purpoe of these two tools. However, at the end of the day, whatever tool is used to take a life which has the potential to harm can and will harm. Ever read these medication labels? LOL That's some deadly stuff, Man. However, it is used to make people feel better. Yet, if used in cetain ways, it can make people feel much worse... can even kill them (and IS killing them, but that's another subject). Water. Water can give life. Water can take life. Water is a giver of life, water is deadly. Even water is a tool. Heck, your hands are tools. The two same hands that can be used to administer CPR and help save a person's life are the same two hands that can be placed around a person's neck to take a person's life. Everything available is a tool. Science is a tool. It's just that the most important tool of all, which is the mind, is being used for misanthropic purposes rather than truly humanistic purposes and so the master tool (the mind) has developed a culture in which science serves to kill, destroy, and exploit much more than it does to heal, cure, and restore. So what do we see? We see the evolution of tools which are created for the purpose of death, destruction, and exploitation...but without human operation, these tools would be powerless. So now we get to religion. My religion cannot kill you anymore than your religion can kill me. Why can't my religion kill you? That's simple; because I have none. lol Seriously though, let's take this scenario. Here is Reverend Porkchop. He is very smart with pimp bones in his body. He builds up a hustle *oops* I mean a congregation. Most of his members are single black mothers who are poor, poor single black mothers who ain't got but so much yet freely gives it to their 'pastor' who freely takes it. Revernd Porkchop speaks to them on how Jesus is the "healer of broken hearts" and how all their earthly suffering will earn them heavenly paradise. Word is really getting out that Reverend Porkchop is "on fyah fo da Lode" and his ministry grows. He begins to attract many more single black female members, but of higher socioeconomic status. After a few years, Reverend Porkchop has himself a megachurch. He done came up *oops* I mean "his ministry's been blessed". So much that now, he is Bishop Pork Tenderloins and he is a best selling author of self-help books for women's empowerment. YOU know Reverend Porkchop is a vulture, doing much more preying than praying, preying on the unique situations that sisters in America face... Oh but don't you say NUFFIN bout Bishop Pork Tenderloins to da sistaz he's pimpin cause "he is a man of GAWD!" Meanwhile, Bishop P. Tenderloins is pimpin the heck out of our sisters in the name of the lord..using religion to pimp and exploit the people. On the other hand, there is another pastor by the name of Pastor D. Peoples. Pastor D. Peoples started having visions of what he was being called to do when he was young. He has a sincere love for the god that he serves and he also has a sincere love for the people who he believes that his god has called upon him to serve. Pastor D. Peoples builds up a ministry which is centered around helping the people to improve spiritually and socially. Pastor D. Peoples refuses to accept faith based ("initialtive") money because he feels that this is but a tool used by the government in order for pastors to become its tools and Pastor D. Peoples says that he will be tool to nothing except the god that he serves, that he is there to serve his god and that god told him to serve his people. Pastor D. Peoples' church is community oriented. He allows the space to be used to workshops that will build up the people of his community. He does not shy away from HIV/AIDS awareness in his church; as a matter of fact, every Wednesday of the week, the church offers testing. The church has a food program and various outreach programs. Pastor D. Peoples has a very loyal following. The members of his congregaton say that "he is a man of Gawd" and while Pastor D. Peoples is clearly in a position to use religion and his charisma to exploit the people, he does not; he tries his best to build them up. On a global scale, the impact of religion has not been bad. On a global scale, the impact of what has been done in the name of religion has been atrocious. The mind is the ultimate tool and because this tool is being used for the purpose of killing, destroying, and exploiting, the society is full of all kinds of tools which were created for this purpose and the mind continues to develop in the midst of a the lack of a true sense of humanity, the lack of balance, the lack of compassion and the lack of a higher sense of responsibility, so the real fault is not on the "things' created rather their creators. Whenever medicine is strong enough to take life yet not strong enough to cure; whenever there is no money to sustain pre-k programs yet there is plenty money to develop drone technology; whenever any gift from Mama Earth to her children such as land is being sold, you will see evidence of a decaying of the most important tool ever known to mankind...And trust me, if mankind is headed for destruction, the origin of mankind's destruction will not be found in the things that mankind created rather in the minds of those who created these things.

"I'm just a human being trying to make it in a world that is very rapidly losing it's understanding of being human" - John Trudell http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fM_ttXdtmo&feature=related John Trudell is an acclaimed poet, national recording artist, actor and activist whose international following reflects the universal language of his words, work and message. Trudell (Santee Sioux) was a spokesperson for the Indian of All Tribes occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 to 1971. He then worked with the American Indian Movement (AIM), serving as Chairman of AIM from 1973 to 1979. In February of 1979, a fire of unknown origin killed Trudell's wife, three children and mother-in-law. It was through this horrific tragedy that Trudell began to find his voice as an artist and poet, writing, in his words, "to stay connected to this reality." In 1982, Trudell began recording his poetry to traditional Native music and in 1983 he released his debut album Tribal Voice on his own Peace Company label. Trudell then teamed up with the late legendary Kiowa guitarist Jesse Ed Davis. Together, they recorded three albums during the 1980's. The first of these, AKA Graffiti Man, was released in 1986 and dubbed the best album of the year by Bob Dylan. AKA Graffiti Man served early notice of Trudell's singular ability to express fundamental truths through a unique mix of poetry, Native music, blues and rock. Since that time, Trudell has released seven more albums plus a digitally re-mastered collection of his early Peace Company cassettes. His 2002 CD, Bone Days, was executive produced by Academy Award winning actress Angelina Jolie and released on the Daemon Records label. His latest double album, Madness & The Moremes, showcases more than five years of new music and includes special Ghost Tracks of old favorite Trudell tunes made with legendary Kiowa guitarist Jesse Ed Davis. This internet only release offers a full range of classic Trudell poetry -- there are lyrics filled with penetrating insight and others with knock out humor, all put to some of the best music Bad Dog has ever made together. Madness and The Moremes is available now on www.johntrudell.com In addition to his music career, Trudell has played roles in a number of feature films, including a lead role in the Mirimax movie Thunderheart and a major part in Sherman Alexie's Smoke Signals. He most recently played Coyote in Hallmark's made for television movie, Dreamkeeper.

Make me guess, Taschalnc, it was when those little shiesty fees started being imposed?

JAJA SOZE

"Slavery, Imperialism, and the African Diaspora: Black History II" Ivory Phillips http://www.jacksonadvocateonline.com/?p=2223

Kenyans WERE tortured under our rule, says UK: Lawyer's admission as three Mau Mau survivors tell of horror Thought to be first public declaration by Government that brutality occurred Admission comes as three elderly Kenyans seeks damages in the High Court Could open floodgates for thousands of survivors to sue Britain for millions By Sam Greenhill PUBLISHED:18:43 EST, 17 July 2012 | UPDATED:18:43 EST, 17 July 2012 Ministers issued a dramatic confession yesterday that prisoners were tortured and sexually abused under British colonial rule in Kenya. It is believed to be the first time the Government has made such a public declaration that atrocities were carried out ‘at the hands of the colonial administration’. The admission came via a Whitehall lawyer addressing three elderly Kenyans who had gone to the High Court in London to demand damages and an apology Now in their 80s, one of them told the court how he had been brutally castrated in a British detention camp during the Mau Mau rebellion – Britain’s bloodiest colonial war. If the trio win their case, it would open the door to up to 20,000 Kenyan survivors of the Mau Mau purge to sue Britain for millions of pounds, using no-win, no-fee lawyers. The Foreign Office is contesting the case because it officially denies liability and maintains the Kenyans have left it too late to make claims. Yesterday, each of the three claimants walked slowly to the witness stand to deliver their graphic testimony. But before Guy Mansfield, the Foreign Office’s QC, cross-examined them, he said: ‘I wish to make it clear that the British Government does not dispute that each of you suffered torture and other ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration.’ The Foreign Office is contesting the case because it officially denies liability and maintains the Kenyans have left it too late to make claims. Yesterday, each of the three claimants walked slowly to the witness stand to deliver their graphic testimony. But before Guy Mansfield, the Foreign Office’s QC, cross-examined them, he said: ‘I wish to make it clear that the British Government does not dispute that each of you suffered torture and other ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration.’ In July 1959, Enoch Powell attacked government policy over the Mau Mau. Speaking about the Hola camp, where 11 Mau Mau were killed after refusing to work, Mr Powell noted that some MPs had described the 11 as ‘sub-human’. He told MPs: ‘I would say that it is a fearful doctrine, to stand in judgment on a fellow human being and to say, “because he was such-and-such, therefore the consequences which would otherwise flow from his death shall not flow”.’ A year ago, the three Kenyans were told by Mr Justice McCombe that they had ‘arguable cases in law’. He will now decide if a fair trial is possible. The Government says it is not. Mr Mansfield said the Foreign Office faced ‘irredeemable difficulties’ defending itself because key witnesses had died. In a written submission, the FO declared: ‘After so long, it is simply impossible.’ Last night a FO spokesman said: ‘We understand the pain and grievance felt by those on all sides in the bloody events of the Kenya emergency period in Kenya.’

Rounded up: Mau Mau suspects in concentration camps Mau Mau torture files were 'guilty secret' Documents revealing the torture of Mau Mau Kenyans directed by the British authorities were a "sort of guilty secret," a report says. Foreign Secretary William Hague said the papers should now be made public. The internal review found some Foreign Office officials had chosen to ignore the documents' existence. It comes as the High Court is due to rule on a compensation case brought by four Kenyans over alleged human rights abuses in the 1950s and 1960s. The documents give further details of what ministers in London knew about how the colony was attempting to crush the rebellion that paved the way to independence. Many of them, which were released by the High Court last month, were only recently found in the Foreign Office's own archives after years of investigations by academics. The papers were brought to the UK when Kenya became independent but, unlike others, were never made public in the National Archives. Until recently, they were in boxes kept at the Hanslope Park archives near Milton Keynes. In a written statement released last Thursday, Mr Hague said it was time to make the files public through the National Archives, "subject only to legal exemptions".'Too difficult' Former British High Commissioner to Canada Anthony Cary, who conducted the review, found there was confusion about the status of the files, but this only explained the failure up to a point. But he said that while some officials realised their importance, they chose to "ignore" their existence following three Freedom of Information requests from the Kenyans' lawyers in 2005 and 2006. Mr Cary said: "It was perhaps convenient to accept the assurances of predecessors that the migrated archives were administrative and/or ephemeral, and did not need to be consulted for the purposes of FOI requests, while also being conscious of the files as a sort of guilty secret, of uncertain status and in the "too difficult" tray." Adding that officials at the Foreign Office need urgently to review all its documents, he said: "The migrated archives saga reminds us that we cannot turn a blind eye to any of our holdings. "All information held by the FCO should have been retained by choice rather than inertia, and must be effectively managed from a risk perspective."'Appalling conditions' Four Kenyans - three men and one woman aged in their 70s and 80s - are the lead claimants in the reparations case. They want the UK government to acknowledge responsibility for atrocities committed by local guards in camps administered by the British in the pre-independence era. The UK says the claim is not valid because of the amount of time since the abuses were alleged to have happened, and that any liability rested with the Kenyan authorities after independence in 1963. Daniel Leader, counsel for their lawyers Leigh Day, said the report was significant because if the High Court ruled the British government was liable, it could not legitimately claim there was a time lag because it withheld crucial documents needed by his team. Historians say the Mau Mau movement helped Kenya achieve independence. But their actions have also been blamed for crimes against white farmers and bloody clashes with British forces throughout the 1950s. Veterans say they suffered barbaric treatment, including torture, as the British suppressed the rebellion. The Kenya Human Rights Commission has said 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed during the crackdown, and 160,000 were detained in appalling conditions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lYDuQ5jTvQ

15 July 2012 Last updated at 19:39 ET Veterans of 1950s Mau Mau uprising in Kenya seek UK damages Three Kenyans who allege they were tortured by the British colonial authorities during the 1950s Mau Mau uprising are to begin a damages case at the High Court in London later. It is the latest stage of a legal battle by veterans of the rebellion to sue the UK government. Hundreds of elderly Kenyans claim they were the victims of brutality at the hands of British colonial officials. The government has previously said it was not liable. Papers in the test case were first served on the UK in 2009. Last year a High Court judge ruled the claimants - Paulo Muoka Nzili, Wambuga Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara - did have an arguable case. BBC World Affairs correspondent Peter Biles says the three Kenyans, who are now in their 70s and 80s, will be giving evidence in pursuit of damages. This week's hearing will have access to an archive of 8,000 secret files that were sent back to Britain after Kenya gained its independence in 1963. The Foreign Office says the Mau Mau issue remains deeply divisive, and this period of Kenyan history caused a great deal of pain for many on all sides. It has indicated it would defend the claim "given the length of time elapsed and the complex legal and constitutional questions the case raises". According to the claimants' solicitors, Leigh Day and Co, ministers will be now arguing that the claims are time barred and should be thrown out by the High Court. The claimants are being supported by the Kenyan government and three academic experts on the so-called Kenya Emergency, which lasted from 1952-60, have made lengthy statements in support of their allegations. A fourth claimant, Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua, has died since the High Court ruling in July last year that the test case could go ahead.

Chris McGreal in Nairobi Kenyan Mau Mau war veterans Generals Kassam Njogu, Njeru Mugo and Ndungu Gicheru. Photograph: Jacob Wire/EPA An ageing group of former Mau Mau insurgents will launch legal action in the UK next week accusing the British army and colonial authorities of torturing or illegally killing thousands of Kenyans during the independence rebellion 50 years ago. Lawyers acting for the Mau Mau veterans say they will serve the Foreign Office with a notice of intent to seek compensation for human rights abuses involving a group of about 10 Kenyans in what is being seen as a test case. Those involved have given accounts of rape, systematic and prolonged beatings and other physical torture that caused permanent injury and starvation as part of a British policy to break the rebellion. Some also witnessed killings. But if the case comes to court it is likely to divide Kenya by highlighting the part played in suppressing the Mau Mau by some Kenyans who went on to hold senior posts in government. The insurgents also killed many more black Kenyans than white settlers. The claimants say they were held for years in detention camps during the seven years that followed Britain's declaration of the "Kenya emergency" in 1952. Jane Muthoni Mara was 15 when she was arrested for supplying Mau Mau fighters with food. She says a white army officer ordered her torture, and that it was carried out by a black soldier who shoved a bottle into her vagina to force her to reveal the whereabouts of her brother, a member of the Mau Mau. "There was a [Kenyan soldier] called Edward. He filled the bottle with hot water and then pushed it into my private parts with his foot. I screamed and screamed," she said. "Other women held at the camp were raped the same way. I have never forgotten it." Another former detainee, M'Mucheke Mucheke Kioru, says he was beaten senseless on several occasions by an officer. "He ordered me to lie down with my face down and severely beat me all over my back from the lower spinal cord. I was beaten until sperms were coming out of my penis like a stream. I believe this is when I lost the ability to have children," he said. The Kenyan Human Rights Commission, which is backing the former prisoners' legal claim, says about 160,000 people were detained in dire conditions and that tens of thousands were tortured to get them to renounce their oath to the Mau Mau. Britain set up the camps in response to the brutal killings of white settlers, including women and children. After the emergency was lifted in 1961, an official report determined that 32 whites had been killed by the insurgency while more than 11,000 Africans died, many of them civilians. Others put the death toll much higher. Lawyers for the claimants are likely to call as a witness a US academic, Caroline Elkins, whose acclaimed book, Britain's Gulag, estimates that up to 100,000 Kenyans died of torture, abuse and neglect in the British camps. The British authorities also hanged hundreds of Mau Mau members for offences other than killing, such as illegal possession of arms or associating with people illegally carrying weapons. Martin Day, the British lawyer representing the former detainees, said torture was not carried out by just a few rogue soldiers, but was rather the policy of the colonial authorities. "In torturing people under their control, or allowing torture to take place, the British were negligent, they committed assault, they breached the European convention on human rights that was in effect at the time and they caused very severe suffering," he said. A spokeswoman for the British High Commission in Nairobi, Charley Williams, said the government would contest the lawsuit. "If and when legal proceedings are brought forward we would defend them vigorously on two grounds. First, all claims and responsibilities pass to the Kenyan government on independence and, second, after 50 years or so it would be impossible for there to be a fair trial of the issues," she said. Mr Day conceded that it would not be an easy case to win. "It's a tough case, no question about it, because of the length of time that has passed and because the British government will be worried about the precedent it will set," he said. "But it's a case that absolutely has to be brought. It's very important for the victims to have a historic acknowledgement by the British government that what it did was very wrong."

"Peace is costly, but it's worth the expense."