Wisdom of a Female Scientist on Violence against Women & Girls

 "Instead of women, including myself. focusing on our chances, or lack thereof, of getting married we need to actively combat the objectification of women..." Dr. Namandje Ne'fertiti Bumpus


(Originally posted 3/20/11) 


Dear friends, 


 Last year, I read a piece by a dear friend, award-winning journalist Jenice Armstrong of the Philadelphia Daily News. In her article, Jen talked about the difficulties of, particularly, middle-aged professional African American women finding a suitable mate once they have passed 40 years of age . 


 One of my two daughters, Namandje, a medical scientist and college professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has just reached thirty years-old (now 31), but she has spoken with me about the here-to-mentioned stats before. Therefore, when I read Jen's piece, I forwarded it to her for comments. Her response showed that she had more concern for the recently (2010) murdered grad student from Yale, Annie Le, and how that incident relates to male/female relationships generally. Namandje's response appears below. 


 Stop the Violence!!! 


 G. Djata Bumpus 


*********************************************** 
Hey Dad,

 The Yale graduate student murder is the issue that is most on my mind. A young woman and young pharmacologist was strangled in a lab she was working in doing her thesis research perhaps by a man that worked with her and was interested in her. She had done research at the NIH (National Institute of Health) and was now a student at Yale.

 Yale has a very well-respected pharmacology graduate program so we are talking about a serious graduate student that was serious about developing her science. She wanted to become a professor in academia, when statistics show that many women for whatever reason (family commitments, etc.) choose not to go that route. This hits close to home for me.

 The lab for people that are dedicated to our craft is not the same as the average person's workplace. We live in the lab mentally and even physically in a way. We dream about experiments and wake up to write down what we were thinking and run into lab to test it the next day. Many of us spend more time there than we do at home.

 The fact that a woman could be victimized and murdered in that setting is very troubling. Women cannot walk down the street at night, or sleep in their home alone or even work in a lab in broad daylight alone apparently without having to think about the fact that they might be attacked by a violent predator. Instead of women, including myself. focusing on our chances, or lack thereof, of getting married we need to actively combat the objectification of women. Once this happens the definitions of men and women and our places in society can evolve to a place that does not depend on women being lesser which currently in many ways they do. Perhaps then we will all approach looking for and entering into a life partnership in a more productive and intellectual manner.

 Namandje Read full post

a Superb 55 minutes-long taped audio lecture that distinguishes "health" from "Health care"

Please click on the link below
http://folktales.net/BEZS006_Dying.mp3 Read full post

Was George Carlin right?

"By the way, George Carlin, a contemporary of Richard Pryor, at least to me, was often as insightful and funny as the beloved Pryor..."

Dear friends,

I read this piece on the blog of a buddy of mine and thought that I would share it. It reminds us of the reality with which we are all familiar, regarding our nation's constant economic predicament.

By the way, George Carlin, a contemporary of Richard Pryor, at least to me, was often as insightful and funny as the beloved Pryor.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.lewrockwell.com/cooper/cooper8.html Read full post

Urgent News! - African American Collective goes to Cuba

“For those of us who made this journey, the Big Lie of US policy against Cuba (and the Castro regime) is evident, as is the Cuban government's unwillingness to tackle the lingering matter of racism (white privilege) in that nation. “ – Melvin Smith


Dear friends, 


 It is a great honor for me to have permission to present below a statement by an African American collective that has just returned from a genuinely fact-finding trip to Cuba. Additionally, knowing one of its participants, Melvin Smith of MWS Journal, personally, I can assure you that this informative, albeitt concise, declaration reflects a body that represents the highest level of integrity and intellectual capability anywhere, unlike the usual reports we see from the U.S. mainstream media. All African Americans have much reason to be proud. Cheers! 
G. Djata Bumpus
*********************************
 MWS Journal 11-July-2012

 Having just returned from a two-week journey abroad, including Mexico and a 10-day visit to Cuba, I want to share with you the summary statement by my travel companions and me regarding our experience and enlightenment in today's Cuba. It was a most unusual and gratifying trip by persons of African descent-- a decided Travel Challenge and research project-- rather than a mere tourist visit. For those of us who made this journey, the Big Lie of US policy against Cuba (and the Castro regime) is evident, as is the Cuban government's unwillingness to tackle the lingering matter of racism (white privilege) in that nation. I will share more details and conclusions soon, but now I present the declaration as agreed and signed by our small group. --MWS
*******************************
 A DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF CUBA On June 28, 2012, the African Awareness Association (AAA), composed of U.S. citizens, embarked as a delegation on an educational and cultural tour (ending July 10th, 2012) to get an understanding of Cuba and to challenge the immoral, racist U.S. restrictions imposed on its citizens on travel to Cuba. AAA, upon nearing the end of the process and completion of our 10 days’ travel challenge of the U.S. blockade declared that:

 1. We stand in full solidarity with the Cuban Socialist Revolution and its right to sovereignty, self-determination and self-defense, consistent with the United Nations Declaration of the Right of Nations to Self-Determination and Non-Interference in the Internal Affairs of Nations; and

 2. We therefore assert that we do not support the U.S. Blockade/mbargo of Cuba;

3. We see Cuba as a model based upon their historic support for Freedom Fighters, Anti-Colonial movements, and their worldwide Internationalist Programs;

 4. We demand the lifting of the illegal racist Blockade and the release of the Cuban 5;

 5. We call on Africans and all other people of good will worldwide to support the right of Cuba to self-determination by joining the worldwide demand for an immediate end to the unjust racist U.S. blockade and release of the Cuban 5;

 6. We further urge Africans and all other people of good will to engage in programs of educational and cultural exchange to see for themselves the model that Cuba has created;

 7. We call for support of and encourage institutionalization of the Annual Cuban Appreciation weekend to be hosted the first weekend of March 2013 in Richmond, VA and other cities across the U.S. Signed this 8th day of July 2012:

 Lee C. Robinson Tejvir Kaur Grewall Dedon Kamathi Richard L Clemmons, Sr. Michele A. Tingling-Clemmons Mba Mbulu Banbose Shango Antonio M. Leon Melvin Webster Smith Read full post

Re-visiting Mark Twain's use of the N - word

"Why have we never seen a book that uses the term 'cracker' (or even heard it used) anywhere in broad circulation in this country?..."
(originally posted 3/21/11)
Dear friends,

Last night (Sunday, March 20, 2011), I saw a piece on 60 Minutes about Mark Twain and his use of the word "nigger" in the novel entitled The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The station used a young, I presume, African American male as the interviewer and a Black college professor from Oregon who, get this, claimed that he was proud of both being and being called a nigger (but couldn’t even pronounce the pejorative term comfortably), as the expert being interviewed. Wow!

Anyway, this professor reminded me of Clarence Thomas and other such noted Black intellectuals who the television stations always seem to locate. They must have a list. After all, why didn’t they call someone like my longtime friend and colleague Cornel West who would have made a better account of himself and our people? Worse yet, this Oregon guy even seemed, like Thomas, to have a wife who is a member of the Tea Party. You know the type. Still, at least to me, the real question is: Why have we never seen a book that uses the term cracker (or even heard it used), anywhere in broad circulation in this country? Duh?

Moreover, if racism is defined as simply some type of xenophobia, as opposed to its original meaning which is White Supremacy, then those who practice racism can claim the same moral status as the victims of it. Neat trick. Eh? Of course, the term racism was made popular by African and African American scholars/activists, from Kwame Nkrumah and Franz Fanon to Malcolm x and Huey P. Newton.

Therefore, the idea that Mark Twain is pointing out the inhumanity of slavery is contradicted by his insistence upon the use of the word white. For example, for almost the past three generations, the overwhelming majority of the people who call themselves white, in this country, are those of Irish descent. Yet, the Irish are only of recent whiteness.

For example, in the Boltwood Collection of Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts, local genealogist and historian James A. Smith makes an interesting point in his work titled Black People in Early Amherst, in relation to the designation of "whiteness" in the historical town. You see, less than 100 years or four generations ago, Smith writes: The town vital records show an undeveloped and random method of describing racial identities...clerks sometimes listed the person as being Irish in the section used to list race other than white.

Lo and behold! Irish people, surely the single largest group of European Americans in this country, are only of recent "whiteness" - according to their own "race".

Published in nearby Greenfield, almost 200 years or eight generations ago, Howe's Almanac, the only periodical distributed in the area at the time, featured a regular "humor" section in the back of each issue. The following two passages give further evidence to the way that the ruling class' media in this country have consistently been used as instruments for shaping public opinion (in favor of ruling class ideas, of course), as opposed to being the organs of objective journalism that they profess to be.

"An Irishman looking around the horizon, observed with a grave countenance, 'It looks fair for foul weather.'

And

"An Irishman on being asked whether his Sister, (who had gotten to bed) had a son or a daughter; - Answered, 'I cannot tell yet, whether I am an Uncle or Aunt.'"

This is all very confusing, isn't it? Actually, none of the aforementioned passages should be a surprise. Historically, British rulers practiced this sort of "racism" against the Irish, long before English pirates like John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake even thought of the Americas. In an essay called "Slavery, Race, and Ideology in the U.S.A.", Barbara Jeanne Fields indicates: "...the rationale that the English developed for suppressing the 'barbarous' Irish later served nearly word for word as a rationale for suppressing Africans and indigenous American Indians."

But why isn’t any of the aforementioned material about the Irish taught in either public or private schools in North America? Why isn’t it taught that slavery was a class institution, not a race one, and that there were thousands of Black slave masters, especially, in the antebellum South whose descendants today are called Hip=hop moguls, along with the makers/actors of obnoxious Black plays and films – like those produced by Tyler Perry.

Still, some argue that Mark Twain's book is a classic. Therefore, it should be left unchanged. Really? The Holy Bible has been read far more than any book in history. Yet, there are many versions of that book that have been published, since the original English vernacular  tome was published under the name "King James version" (a book about which that monarch didn't even know, until two years after its publication). Did someone say, "Racism"? But racists and their cowardly Black stooges argue, "But the Bible isn't a work of art, like Twain's work." That's interesting, because the 54 scholars who were commissioned by Queen Elizabeth 1st, for the most part, didn't know a lot of Hebrew. Consequently, they had to be quite artsy in translating what would eventually become a book. Besides, since when is any kind of published writing not an art? One has to use techniques that involve metering and phrasing, even doing expository writing.

Finally, what did Twain’s contemporaries like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tibman think of Mark Twain’s work? To be sure, that would be a better starting point than having some idiot "professor" from Oregon calling himself the unthinkable.

"Dare to struggle – dare to win", Frederick Douglass
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Why Obama Deserves the Nobel Peace Prize

My initial reaction was “For what?”…However, when I sat down and thought about it, I realized that if we look at past Nobel Peace Prize recipients, they have often been those whose work is not yet finished…”

Dear friends,

On Friday, October 9th, 2009, the Nobel Committee announced that it had selected President Barack Obama as the recipient for its 2009 Peace Prize. My initial reaction was “For what?” After all, he has not even had a full year to accomplish much. Moreover, to be sure, there are a number of other individuals and groups who represent causes that have been in operation for some time and have yet to receive due notice.

However, when I sat down and thought about it, I realized that if we look at past Nobel Peace Prize recipients, they have often been those whose work is not yet finished, but who, nonetheless, through that international “voice” called the Nobel Committee bring light to genuine issues that will mean a tremendous amount of human uplift should the former succeed.

In other words, the Nobel Peace Prize is often used to put issues on the world stage that have gone unnoticed for too long.

For example, when Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, the Voting Rights Act that changed the lives of millions of African Americans who lived in the South at the time had not been signed (until a year later).

Also, King was awarded Nobel towards the end of the so-called Civil Rights Movement and the beginning of its successor, the more lasting and successful Black Consciousness Movement, that was based upon the work and wisdom of Black leaders of the distant past (that is, preceding the Civil War). They were freedom fighters like: Richard Allen, Gabriel Prosser, Nat Turner, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Martin Delaney, and Harriet Tubman. Again, these folks represented some of the earlier stages of the overall “Freedom” Movement of African American people that began on the first plantation that became “home” to African captives (so-called “slaves”), during the early 17th Century.

In the 20th Century, the newer stage of the Movement was originally led, at least intellectually, by, to name a few, everyone from a number of Black historians/activists that included W.E.B. DuBois and Marcus Garvey to the likes of Franz Fanon, Robert Williams, Kwame Nkrumah, and Imari Obadele, to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad through personalities like Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan, to community activists like Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), H. Rap Brown, Maulana Karenga, and, later, Jesse Jackson, to artists/activists like Imamu Imari Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Toni Cade (Bambara), Francis Beale, Elaine Brown, Curtis Mayfield, and Gil Scott Herron, as well as athletes like Muhammad Ali, John Carlos, and Tommie Smith.

Suspiciously, this Movement that was so popular with Black youth (that is, the “baby boomers” of World War 2) had yet to draw much attention, much less support from the US government- and corporate-controlled mass communications media – let alone their worldwide counterparts.

However, it (said Black Consciousness Movement) eventually became largely responsible for creating the actual social awareness and conditions that led to the recent election of Barack Obama as president of the United States of America. Moreover, the global recognition brought, in part, by the Nobel Committee’s awarding of their Peace Prize to Dr. King showed that the plight of African American people spilled over to giving more notice to the struggles of African and other peoples everywhere.

So the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize, sometimes, has had great effects - eventually. Proof? Let us not forget that apartheid in South Africa had gone on for generations when Bishop Desmond Tutu was awarded Nobel, in 1984. Still, the scurrilous system of oppression and exploitation that was apartheid continued for almost ten years after Tutu accepted the Prize. In addition, during 1993, then newly-elected President Nelson Mandela and his immediate predecessor, the former South African president F. W. de Klerk, were each awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their “peace”-ful transition from apartheid to a “free state”, although, now many years later, there remains serious, if not great, doubt about the integrity of the “freedom” that has been won by either black South Africans themselves or their new government.

And, do you remember the Nobel Peace Prize being given to Yasir Arafat, along with Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, in 1994? There has been no settlement in the conflict between Palestine and Israel to date. In fact, there are not even negotiations of any kind going on these days, years later. As well, I wonder why there were not so many murmurs of disapproval by so many citizens in this country when the two aforementioned officials from Israel (the euphemism for Occupied Palestine) received the Nobel Committee’s nod, considering both the mass murder and expropriation of arable land by Jewish “settlers” that the here-to-mentioned officials’ own government at that time, and all other past and present Israeli regimes have sponsored, for, roughly,  three generations, against the Palestinian people.

Also, whereas gargantuan problems like violence against women and girls, worldwide hunger and poverty, and humankind’s suicidal proliferation of nuclear weapons seem, at least to me, to be far more immediate concerns than “global warming”, did not the Nobel Committee award former Vice President Al Gore and some scientists the Peace Prize anyway, in order to make the overall worldwide public more aware of the dilemma? Racism already existed in America, when Dr. King was awarded Nobel. Apartheid already existed when Bishop Tutu was awarded Nobel. Leprosy already existed there, when, in 1979, Mother Theresa was awarded Nobel for her work in Calcutta. Additionally, many renowned scientists, as well as philosophers of science such as myself, have issues with the whole concept of “global warming”, but should the Nobel Committee have waited until all of the plants and creatures in the Pacific Ocean might have been cooked, before they gave the issue notice?

At any rate, in less than ten months, President Obama has changed the image of the United States from being what his predecessor George Bush and his Republican cohorts had made us look like: notorious bullies who were hated everywhere, as “Bring it on!” dares were spouted from a nationalistic voice of domination.

Instead, President Obama has insisted upon us having dialogue with all other nations so that we can all share in our combined resources. Because of that, we are no longer seen as we were when Bush and the Republicans bullied their way around the world, while making more or less unilateral declarations of war against tiny nations, for instance.

Of course, these days, Americans who travel around the world, as all three of my own progeny do, are much safer. Also, more nations may now become involved with us. Do you know of any other North American politicians or even world leaders, for that matter, who could have done that? Would either Hillary Clinton or John McCain (or Sarah Palin LOL) have been able or even wanted to do that, had s/he become president?

Nevertheless, as was apparent with his speech to the US Congress, with the entire world watching, as he very articulately appealed to both the humanity and anemic intellects of almost all of those who belong to the just mentioned US Congress, in asking them to overhaul America’s health care system, even as the more openly racist members of that legislative body made cries like “That’s a lie!” or booed him, President Obama remained a “peace”-ful statesman, and did not allow himself to join the latter in their vulgar displays of ineptitude and unkindness. It is that type of behavior by our president, of being intelligent and civilized, that has made this country and the world a different place already.

Finally, no one should try and second guess the members of the Nobel Committee. As both history and reason have shown us, they are simply trying to promote world peace, fellowship, and safety by, again, providing an international forum (AKA “voice”) for those who are fighting for freedom from affliction whether biological or social. Besides, rushes to judgment tend to reveal human inadequacy as opposed to our competency. And, when I say “inadequacy”, I am defining it in the context of the great Freud as a process that ranges from “short-sighted apprehensiveness to selfishly narrow interests to conclusions that are based on insufficient premises.”

So, let us all say, “Yes…Congratulations, Mr. President, for a job that has not been completely fulfilled as of yet, but seems to be taking this country and the world in a brand new and positive direction”.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Elmer Smith on Republicans fighting "illegal immigration" with the US Constitution

."The 14th Amendment has been challenged by people who wanted to create second-class citizenship for freed slaves and for Chinese immigrants. It's old business." - Andrew Hoover, of the American Civil Liberties Union

Dear friends,

Considering the fact that Republicans, especially, will use the issue of immigration to flare up the racist feelings of so many of the citizens in this country, I felt it, perhaps, instructive for us to peruse a piece that was written a year and a half ago, by the now-retired, legendary journalist Elmer Smith, formerly of the Philadelphia Daily News. Enjoy!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/elmer_smith/20110107_Elmer_Smith_.html?viewAll=y Read full post

African American girls and young women are part of the Prison/Industrial Complex too

"...it’s a hard-hitting problem as efforts to stop the mass incarceration of black girls are practically nonexistent." - Charlotte Young
Dear friends, 

There is now a consensus that the fastest growing population in the US Prison/Industrial Complex is African American girls and young women. There's always a lot of talk about young Black men needing mentoring. How about their female counterparts? After all, regarding females, young sisters in prisons are often there because of their relationships with knucklehead males. Therefore, both girls and young women will also benefit from having a wider range of caring adults in their lives, as well. On the link below is a piece that should make a lot of concerned folks think about stopping this trend.  

"Liberation!" - Dr. Barbara Love 

G. Djata Bumpus  
http://atlantapost.com/2011/03/16/numbers-of-young-african-american-women-in-prison-rise/ Read full post

Why do "white" cops kill "Black" cops, but the opposite never happens? (originally posted 6/3/09)

"another African American police officer has been gunned down by his European American counterpart, in New York City..."

Dear friends,

In the wake of "A Black guy did it!" claims still swirling around the country, another African American police officer has been gunned down by his European American counterpart, in New York City. On the link below is a comprehensive look at both of these issues by formidable journalist Errol Louis of the New York Daily News.

G. Djata Bumpus
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-05-30/news/17923127_1_black-men-bias-undercover Read full post

Has the crack cocaine "epidemic" really ended? (originally posted 10/21/10)

"The crack epidemic rolled through some lives like a wildfire and burned slowly through others over years... "



Dear friends,

Just a couple of months ago, President Obama signed a bill that will, presumably,bring more fairness in sentencing people for drug-related convicions. It was not only beneficial for certain African American individuals, but for our communities as well.

Additionally, while DAs, politicians, and police agencies have claimed an end to the crack cocaine “epidemic”, at least in African American communities nationwide, the recent crack cocaine-initiated massacre in the Mattapan section of Boston, that took the lives of two young men, along with a young mother and her two-years-old son, proves that the assertions by those “prodessional” groups mentioned above are dead wrong.

To be sure, in an advanced civilization such as ours, people are always trying to run from themselves, as we, as individual beings, try to find a way to deal with what has been called the ““lonesomeness and separateness’” of this experience called human life.

One of the ways that we deal with that dilemma is by pursuing happiness. Yet, if not kept in check, a lifestyle of hedonism can develop that can, both unwittingly and uncontrollably, lead to a dependency that makes a person lose his or her “sense of self”, while, simultaneously, losing integrity. Once that happens, the affected individual can no longer keep a promise, of any kind, to not only himself or herself, but to anyone else.

Unfortunately, since humans are social, not solitary, beings, this means that, in any given community, the more individuals who lose themselves to any number of addictions, the more the whole community deteriorates.

Even worse, if we see this as an individual’s problem, as opposed to being a “community” one, then no matter how well-intentioned efforts are made to curb this situation, much less end it, a waste of our most valuable resource – human energy (whether physical, intellectual, emotional, or spiritual) will, invariably, be the result.

In any case, on the link below, the outstanding Sandy Banks of the Los Angeles Times provides us with a thoughtful analysis of how crack cocaine still affects African American communities. Is the “epidemic“ really over, or has it merely taken on a new form?
One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-banks-20100807,0,7458393,full.column Read full post

N-word & Black self-hatred - the other half of racism

"A major problem with African American people, nationwide, fighting against our oppression and becoming communities lies with the fact that we are often our own worst enemies, because of our self-hatred."

Dear friends,

A major problem with African American people, nationwide (and people of African descent worldwide), fighting against our oppression and becoming communities lies with the fact that we are often our own worst enemies, because of our self-hatred. That is, when we see each other, we see a mirrored image of our own self-hatred. So, from African American law enforcement people who treat us differently than they do others - to drive-by shootings, to the Uncle Tom hip-hop clowns who use the word "Nigga" every other word to appease their "white" patrons, feelings and acts of self-hatred even make it difficult for African American men and women to form genuinely loving relationships of any kind, much less encourage our youth to get along with each other. We must learn to love ourselves and our fellows...

Note: As I continue to insist, "Love", as it were, is only of any use as an "act of being" as opposed to a "state of being". In other words, in this society, love, as a "state of being", is a passive experience that we hear about through so many cheap popular songs on the radio and see on tv soap operas and silly Hollywood movies. However, as an "act of being", love means that people are "actively" loving towards one another. Consequently, at least to me, love should be an active, not passive, practice of caring about, being concerned for, trying to understand, concentrating on, and feeling responsible towards not just our mates and other loved ones, but, as well, our work, and our communities. Besides, when love is passive, it does not last long, because it is just a "mood". To be sure, moods change, all of the time. Hence, the serial polygamy practiced by so many of those involved with the institution of marriage and other "love" relationships, in this country.

Still, the cultural institutions in our society lend to the aforementioned self-hatred that is so constantly internalized and practiced among African Americans. Literature and images in schools, the arts, and, especially, the government- and corporate-controlled media, deliberately, perpetuate this indignity too. As a matter of fact, it is no secret that the overwhelming amount of African American theatrical productions, television shows, and movies that are produced in this country, often using Black celebrities like singers and rappers, are, for the most part, events where we can go laugh at ourselves as in "My Arms are too short to Box with God" and so many others.

It's all the same self-deprecating nonsense. In yesteryear, it was Mantan Moreland and Steppinfetchit. Today it is Eddie Murphy, Tyler Perry, and Martin Lawrence, to name a few. On the other side, we have films and plays like "The Color Purple" where "white" folks can feel sorry for us. Both behaviors are similar to those of children who are trying to manipulate others for acceptance or favors. Moreover, many community groups, made up of wonderful people, consider the violence among African American youth to be, largely, the result of a lack of jobs, along with gun possession. However, at least to me, they are missing the point, which is: Lack of both social and historical conscience which lends to self-hatred.

That lack of conscience is no accident though. The great Marcus Garvey pointed out: "This propaganda of dis-associating Western Negroes from Africa is not a new one. For many years white propagandists have been printing tons of literature to impress scattered Ethiopia, especially that portion within their civilization, with the idea that Africa is a despised place, inhabited by savages, and cannibals, where no civilized human being should go, especially black civilized human beings." - Marcus Garvey (Philosophy & Opinions of Marcus Garvey, edited by Amy Jacques-Garvey)

Additionally, in that context, long before Garvey, W.E.B. DuBois wrote: "The discovery of personal whiteness among the world's peoples is a very modern thing...The ancient world would have laughed at such a distinction...by emphasis and omission to make children believe that every great thought the world ever knew was a white man's thought, every great deed the world ever did was a white man’s deed..."darkies" are born beasts of burden...Such degrading of men by men is as old as man and the invention of no one race or people...It has been left, however, to Europe and to modern days to discover the eternal worldwide mark of meanness -color!" - "The Souls of White Folks (an essay)",

Finally, while systematic oppression and exploitation have been attacking us for centuries, much of the reason that it continues is because of what I call programmatic self-hatred. In other words, we go along with the system of racism (the euphemism for White Supremacy), by killing, robbing, cheating, and humiliating each other. This is true for sexism, as well. Female self-hatred keeps women and girls from dealing with each other in a wholesome way, so that together they can gain equal access to not just opportunity, but the ability to have responsibility in both determining and directing the aforementioned opportunity. As well, neither form of social stratification (i.e., racism or sexism - i.e., Male Supremacy) allows a person the opportunity to seek to be fully human. Even worse, African American women, unlike their European American counterparts, suffer the "double jeopardy" of both forms of injustice.

In any case, the use of the N - word and the need for it should end once and for all. For ultimately, at least to me, African Americans and others like European Americans and Latinos who now use that word as a result of the market construct known as Hip-hop, must accept the fact that it (n-word) has proliferated for so long, because of European American impropriety and African American self-hatred. Of course, "Language is thought.". Have you ever said to yourself, "I can't think of a word for it."? Let us get rid of racist thinking; our language will follow. Dig?

One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

9 minutes-long George Carlin video gives us some real Religion

Dear friends,

On the link below, is a thought-provoking message from the late, great comic George Carlin. However, please excuse the foul language in advance. Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IRxpjEZveQ Read full post

Homelessness in Philadelphia and eslewhere in North America

"Philadelphians have a nerve. After all, during the last quarter of the 18th Century, at the founding of this nation, London was called 'a graveyard for the poor', and Philly 'a warehouse for the poor.' "

Dear friends,

When I either hear or read about "homelessness", I'm always confused about the language. After all, there are many more players/culprits who are never discussed in this issue of “homelessness”. They are: 1) A market economy that thrives on power and greed. 2) Greedy landlords. 3) Media outlets that serve as opinion-makers.

Moreover, “homelessness” is a condition – not an identity. The same logic that was used to get ordinary people to accept slavery as an identity has been transferred to those who were/are, for whatever reasons, in a condition of homelessness. In other words, people were called “slaves”, when, in fact, they were captive workers in a condition of slavery. Worse yet, ordinary citizens have the nerve to go along with the notion that so-called "homeless" people do not “deserve” the same rights as everyone else. Yet, between government bailouts and subsidies for an inflated housing market, it is the landlords and banks who are really "getting over"/subsidized.


Nevertheless, a more pernicious aspect of being in a condition of "homelessness" is: Many young children, not of their own choice, are thrown into a lifestyle that often makes poverty a vice, as being "rich" already does. Hence, just as the wealthy have others wash their houses and butts, many "poor" people become content with their oppression and seek no way out of the mess, instead, living not only accepting handouts, but expecting them. And their favorite mantra is: It's free!


However, if our social and community workers begin helping folks recognize their many inner powers like both creative and productive energy, discipline, concentration, and memory, to name a few, fewer people will allow themselves to remain in the state of "homelessness".

Finally, Hollywood tends to show scenery of days gone by, as if we are looking at Hallmark greeting cards. Yet, the real 18th Century was a time when animal feces were everywhere. There were no graveled streets or cement sidewalks. People "tipped through the tulips", so to speak, when walking down the street, just to avoid stepping in the aforementioned putrid matter. As well, today, Philadelphians have a nerve scoffing at people who are in a “homeless” condition. Yet, during the last quarter of the 18th Century, at the founding of this nation, London was called "a graveyard for the poor", and Philadelphia, our first capital, "a warehouse for the poor". That’s why the British sent so many people to Philly back then, in the first place. Please go to the literature! The “homeless” problem was far worse then.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Why is AFRICOM so vital to US interests?

“…while the US military/industrial complex, along with Big Oil, benefits from using taxpayer dollars to fill their coffers, how does that justify cuts in education and social services, for instance?”
Dear friends,

In an article thta appeared in Foreign Policy magazine last year, author Robert Moeller insists: One of the most serious criticisms leveled at Africom is that the organization represents a U.S. military takeover of the foreign-policy process. Huh?

What about the longtime push by a number of African nations to unify and declare a United States of Africa? Does AFRICOM agree with that perspective, and will it not try to influence the possibility of a united Africa?

Initially alleging that the issue was about the “war on terror", it became clear that the interests of "Big Oil", not "national security" were behind the whole existence of AFRICOM. Started by George W. Bush, Robert Gates was put in charge of the AFRICOM operation. Then yet another convenience for Big Business, Barack Obama kept Gates at his post after he won the presidency.

Nevertheless, the author continues: Let there be no mistake. Africom’s job is to protect American lives and promote American interests. That is what nations and militaries do. But we also have found that our own national interest in a stable and prosperous Africa is shared strongly by our African partners.

Of course, Moeller's assertion is contradicted in a recent article in The Nation, by Katrina vanden Heuvel called, "Around the Globe, US Military Bases Generate Resentment, Not Security". She writes, “The AFRICOM headquarters alone costs almost $300 million for operation and maintenance, with an additional $263 million for support and $200 million for the Camp Lemonier base with 1,800 US troops in Djibouti. Based on the FY 2010 budget requests, AFRICOM would receive approximately $1.4 billion...IPS took the lead in organizing the Africa Human Security Group, a coalition of faith-based and youth groups, African Diaspora groups, academics and Africa-based allies opposed to the development of the new US Africa Command. In general, African civil society is strongly opposed to AFRICOM and US military involvement on the continent. In large part due to widespread African criticisms, the US was unable to headquarter the command on the continent. It is located instead outside of Stuttgart, Germany.”

In any case, why is it so important to the “national interest” of this country to be concerned about what is going on in Africa, at the expense of the well-being of American citizens who need more funds directed towards moving millions of citizens forward?

After all, while the US military/industrial complex, along with Big Oil, benefits from using taxpayer dollars to fill their coffers, how does that justify cuts in education and social services, for instance?

Finally, Moeller’s mention of the USAID begs for the question, "What has been the real history of USAID in helping other countries?" For example, the African nation of Eritrea refuses aid from USAID or any other American group. Why is that? Because such "aid" alway comes with conditions.

On the link below, is the article by Robert Moeller that claims AFRICOM is good for Africa. What do you think?

"Liberation!" - Dr. Barbara Love

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/21/the_truth_about_africom Read full post

A South African analyzes Apartheid versus Zionism (originally posted 8/30/08)

"Of course, invading a country under false pretense is not a form of terrorism to the victims. Is it? They are glad to see their liberators. Right?"

Dear friends,

The link below features an article from a great resource spot that you may want to check out from time-to-time. The producers of the Website focus on Africa. Particularly, in the case of Africa, little attention is given by Western journalists, outside of tragedies. As well, since 9/11, particularly the Israelis and their allies in the United States, via the mass communications media, have been able to somehow put fighters of the the Palestinian Liberation Movement in the same context as the Al Quaeda (a group that is nothing but  an enterprise concocted by the likes of the C.I.A. and Mossad). Neat trick. Eh?

Of course, invading a country under false pretense is not a form of terrorism to the victims. Is it? They are glad to see their liberators. Right? If they are not, then like the former mayor of Baghdad, shortly after the US-led invasion of Iraq, they will be locked up, if they are not happy to have their land invaded, their army disbanded, their government dismissed, and both their human and civil rights taken.

One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/49608 Read full post

A Real Solution for Teenage Pregnancy (newly-edited version of original post of 3/13/10)

“It starts with the dolls” - Dr. Namandje N. Bumpus
Dear friends,

Lately, there’s been a lot of talk, regarding 90 teenage girls who are currently pregnant, at one particular high school in Memphis, Tennessee. Yet, at least to me, the whole approach of psychologists and sociologists to both sex education and teenage pregnancy won’t bring about a solution. Worse yet, the aforementioned so-called social scientists analyze people as if we are talking insects; that is, they act as if we are the same creatures, regardless of our social interactions and experiences. And so, they constantly come up with alleged methodologies for distinguishing “patterns” of behavior. Amazingly, these here-to-mentioned “social scientists” claim their “theories” to be so succinct that they must be the envy of physical scientists.

“It starts with the dolls”, one of my two daughters, Dr. Namandje Bumpus, a professor and research scientist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, insists. She says that girls are socialized to fail at being fully human the moment that they are given dolls. In other words, parents and others set them up, albeit unwittingly.

In, especially, post-agricultural societies, there are far too many roles for females to play outside of a nursery. Male Supremacy (the euphemistic term for “sexism”) sees this dilemma differently, of course, particularly since it (Male Supremacy) is responsible for the turn of events that creates teenage pregnancy in this advanced civilization, in the first place.

Of course, human oppression and exploitation themselves in human civilization, specifically, started many millennia ago, with Male Supremacy, as males began taking advantage of females due to their monthly periodicity and child-bearing capabilities. As sexist values would have it, these female strengths just mentioned became deemed as weaknesses. Even worse, through time, females themselves began to accept their “roles” as the “weaker” – or lesser - sex as “natural“.

In time, males started mistreating each other, with the excuse that the latter were like females. Hence, the pejorative expression in modern times when a male is displeased with another male is, “Ah man, you’re acting like a bitch.”

Nevertheless, at a very young age, girls need to know that males will impregnate anybody who gives them the opportunity. Here’s a short, but true, story that I’ve told young girls, for roughly a few decades. It goes like this:

Around 1981, I was walking with my then six years-old son, Kwame, on the always busy Market Street in Center City (i.e., downtown), Philadelphia.

As we crossed a street continuing down Market, we noticed a “deformed”, 20-something African American woman laying on a gurney who made moaning sounds as she begged passers-by to put money in a bucket that was on the ground in front of her. All four of her limbs (i.e., arms and legs) were only about six inches-long each. Standing next to her was a fellow about 30 years-old, not a bad-looking guy, slightly above average height, holding a baby.

Now, I must mention that this particular woman was featured about every five years or so in the famous African American weekly called Jet magazine. Nevertheless, in spite of her deformity, the magazine always showed her relative independence which included living on her own as a “single” mother. For instance, they would show pictures of her changing her baby’s diapers or writing down notes with her feet, or using a pencil or pen.

As a matter of fact, while I would get used to seeing her in Center City for a number of years after that day, that was the first time that I had ever seen her in person (i.e., outside of Jet magazine).

At any rate, as I kept walking with my small son, he said, excitedly, “Look Daddy. That woman doesn’t have any arms or legs!” I responded, “She doesn’t have any integrity either, Kwame.” A European American woman who was walking directly behind us laughed out loud in apparent agreement with my assertion.
You see, I was upset with the woman on the gurney, because the begging didn’t seem necessary. But I was even more upset with the pathetic guy standing with her who may have been the father of her child. (And she had another child, apparently by a different man who I saw accompanying her, a year or so after that).

The moral of the story is: Guys will have sex with anyone, so young girls, especially adolescents, don’t need to worry about “getting’ a man”. Please tell that tale to young girls who you know.

By the way, over the years, not a single one of the many young girls with whom I’ve shared that story has ever gotten pregnant as a teen, when I’ve run into them in their early to middle Twenties.

Of course, there are other inspiring stories, and being given some direction in life helps a great deal. Nonetheless, in a genuinely safe, loving environment, at home and in school, where, from birth, young people are encouraged, motivated, and inspired to excel, while parents, guardians, and other elders in the community, along with their school teachers, guide the aforementioned youngsters so that they learn how to show care and concern for, try to understand, and feel responsible towards other people - and “things” like their school work and house chores, such youngsters will have a better chance of either recognizing or not recognizing those traits just mentioned in others. That will help them in choosing happy, healthy friendships and other non-familial relationships.

By the way, my other daughter, Tia, is more than halfway through an MD/PhD program at another major medical school. Also, both she and her sister excelled at several sports and forms of art when they were growing up, prior to college. Children need experiences with success at home and in school. Please remember that success in sports and arts, for example, brings confidence. Moreover, confidence nourishes the soil from which self-esteem grows.

Consequently, whether female or male, all young people need to experience success at something other than dressing dolls – whether Barbie or GI Joe. If they get into the habit of that, then they will stay away from people and activities that contradict the notion of having a successful experience. Dig?

So, in this day and age, should females feel obligated to have kids? Additionally, is a female’s worth diminished because she’s not a mother? If your answer to the aforementioned inquiry is in the affirmative, then I must ask: is the value in that logic based upon the same lame ticket that Male Supremacy aka sexism sells. Worse yet, is it right?

Still, at least to me, our biggest problem is not the economy, global warming, or even nuclear war, much less teenage pregnancy or childhood obesity. Rather, it’s violence against females. Let’s keep it real!
By the way, while I have added a few comments here, a woman commented on the original piece that was posted on March 13th of 2010. It’s pretty powerful, what she had to say. Check it out!

Finally, please stop giving dolls to little girls. Buy them build-it-yourself models, chemistry sets, and mechanical gadgets instead. Help them discover all of the wonderful powers inside of them, like both physical and mental energy, memory, focus, and much more. Most importantly, as the great Khalil Gibran taught us, please pass on to both your daughters and sons, “You can’t control what other people think of you...Only you can control what you think of you.”

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
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The Federal Bailout - a panoply of illusions (originally posted 12/11/08)

Teacher: Consider, oh child, whence these talents?
You cannot have them from yourself.
Child: Well, I have everything from Papa.
Teacher: And he, from whom does he have them?
Child: From Grandpa.
Teacher: Now look! From whom did Grandpa get them?
Child: He took 'em.
(Johann Von Goethe from "Katechisation")

Dear friends,

At the heart of the present world crisis in both banking and business is the illusion that value is something outside of what is socially accepted as such. Here, of course, I am defining an illusion (which should not be confused with the medical term “delusion”) within the Freudian context as: An idea or belief that is based upon wishful thinking that has no relation to reality, and does not admit to needing such a connection.

Nevertheless, roughly two and one-half centuries ago, Italian political economist Fernando Galiani insisted that “Value is a social relation.” For example, if you fill a room with either gold bullion or billions of dollars in cash, neither has any value, unless, at least, two human beings engage themselves with either of the aforementioned items during a process of exchange.

In other words, the value of any particular object or activity (i.e., commodity) is solely based upon imaginary notions of “value” that are concocted by buyers and sellers alike during commercial transactions. After all, as a dear friend of mine, Denny Wolfe, says: Other than the three elements that we call oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, which in combination provide sustainable life to both fauna and flora, no substances or objects on Earth have intrinsic “value” for us.

On a more tangible level, for humans, it is food that is the most significant matter that has intrinsic value. Consequently, in his classic book called "The Principles of Black Political Economy", Professor Lloyd Hogan insists that food, which he also calls the “elixir of life”, is "wealth in the abstract".

All people, regardless of either income or social status, must eat in periodic intervals or surely we will succumb. Period. Moreover, unless we are farmers, we must acquire our food by exchanging something for it that is useful to the seller of food. The item of exchange must not only be of use to the seller of the food, but it also must be of use to the seller of whatever the food-seller needs other than food - since it is presumed that this food-seller already has enough food and is merely selling surplus product(s) in order to acquire other things.

Hence, a universal item of exchange is needed. That is, an object or substance must be agreed upon that represents value in the abstract. Food is perishable; therefore, it has to be something that can withstand time. Gold once served that purpose, meaning all commodities shared the same quality in relation to gold, only quantitative factors, regarding how much gold any particular commodity represents was the issue.

And so, this is where money – like Dorothy in Oz - appears in the marketplace. In other words, it is not something "inevitable"; rather, it is pure chance. This is particularly so, because at the point of exchange, the food-seller mentioned above simultaneously alienates himself or herself from his or her ward (food commodity) and transforms it into that universal exchange value (money). At this point of metamorphosis, even the outward appearances disappear, only quantitative factors distinguish the values of commodities. That is precisely why any phenomenon can serve as money (e.g., paper, gold, plastic cards, and so forth).

This also explains why the Federal Reserve System can create money, like gangsters in a cellar, regardless of whether or not the aforementioned currency has any value to it outside of its name. But the more money that you "make", the less valuable existing money becomes. That means that the value of the money is inflated. Most people think of "inflation" in terms of "price". However, a higher price is only the affect that inflating the economy with more dollars has on the representative value of any given commodity. As a matter of fact, ultimately, it is military puissance that determines the validity and value of money. It is sad to say.

Knowing this, nevertheless, a handful of unscrupulous billionaires met on Jekyll Island (Georgia) in 1913 and formed the Federal Reserve System. However, they could not do it by themselves, so they got some seedy politicians to support their endeavor. In the wake of industrial capital being replaced by finance capital (banks fronting money to businesses in lieu of the expected future earnings of the latter), this was the grand opportunity to make sure that overall competition in US banking - and industry - was almost non-existent.

To be sure, it also allowed big banks and companies to determine the progress of the economy based upon their profit margins. That is why whenever we hear that the "economy" is doing bad, it simply means that the profit margins of the aforementioned large enterprises are not as favorable as their owners/managers wish them to be. The labor of everyday people makes the economy, after all. Therefore, as long as folks are healthy, how can the economy be bad?

One of the difficulties in maintaining a healthy economy is: There is no "free" market in the United States. Instead, combines, monopolies, cartels, and other such organizational forms eschew competition. Yet, free competition presupposes free trade. Free trade presupposes a free market. So about what is all of this talk of “free” enterprise that gets bandied about so much in this country through the opinion-making, government- and corporate-controlled mass communications media?

Moreover, today, both our federal government and the corporate media promote the word capitalism as a concept that can be used interchangeably with terms like freedom, democracy, or the magical phrase "market economy." Due to the illusions of politicians, businesspeople, and the overall citizenry, the idea of capitalism as "eternal" is popular as well.

“...the notion of ‘obedience’ to the ‘natural laws’ of a free-market economy has been represented not as reflecting solely the dictates of prudence and the calculus of self-interest, but rather as possessing far loftier ethical overtones. In times of economic crisis this residual naturalism inhibited business and political leaders from ‘interfering’ with the supposedly unalterable laws of the market: its principles were thought to be ordained by nature rather than by men, and men believed that to violate them was to court social disaster. Only the severe breakdown during the Great Depression effectively destroyed this archaic naturalism and prepared the way for the widespread acceptance of a managed capitalist economy in which market mechanisms are assiduously manipulated through the offices of government." - The Domination Of Nature, by William Leiss

Currently, we are in a similar situation as the Great Depression economically. However, the general population is exponentially more educated (only about 3 out of 8 people even finished high school, in those days). Presumably, one would then think that that means either power or wealth will have to be relinquished by the government, banks and corporations, in order to maintain their legitimacy. Yet, that does not seem to be the case.

Please remember, that the whole purpose of the original North American venture by the British ruling class was to extract as much wealth as they could from the land and animals (both human and non-human), for the good of their class - not their so-called "race" (another illusion).

Nevertheless, beginning with the complete falsehood about “Pilgrims” coming to this land in order to be able to express their religious beliefs more freely, while, for generations, their alleged descendants fought “Indians” over “un-inhabited” territory, North Americans have lived under the illusion that the United States was always the United States, it just had another name.

Still it has been up to those in power to remain so. As Professor Hogan explains, "It must be emphasized that Wealth Accumulation is not done in the abstract. Indeed, it must be carried out by the exercise of the conscious will of people acting in the role of wealth accumulators. These wealth owners have the onus of preserving the form of their wealth while, at the same time, striving to increase its magnitude. Just as important, is the necessity for continuous control over the Wealth Accumulation Process by the wealth owners”. (Hogan, ibid.)

But the “Bailout” is using taxpayers’ money, we are told. "Taxpayers' money?", I ask. It is taxpayers’ sweat and blood! It is an illusion to either think or believe that a great deal of the money that the federal government absconds from us under penalty of law goes towards the commonweal. Besides, does all of this mean that the big banks and companies are saving their own money, while they waste ours? Well, perhaps, that just means that, as Professor Hogan has insisted, they are simply doing what they are supposed to do, that is, protect their wealth.

Finally, at least to me, the biggest problem with any illusion is: It can neither be proven nor disproven. This is especially true, because, occasionally, illusions are realized. For example, state lottery games and gambling casinos proliferate, because so many people are willing to embrace their illusions of acquiring great wealth and prosperity, at almost any cost. Yet, there are people who actually “hit”, now and then. The banks and corporations, along with their servants in the US Congress are certainly hoping for that to be the case with the "Bailout". Therefore, it is an outright lie for Krugman, Wolfson, Bernanke, or any of the other apologists to suggest that any of this is about either logic or reason, much less that it makes sense. In any case, it will not work.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Honoring Mothers' Day and the passing of Mildred “Mum” Haynes (February 18, 1921 - April 16, 2009) [originally posted 5/6/09]

"...whether you have actually birthed a child or not, the biological process that we call “pregnancy” is hardly a sufficient condition for claims of being a mother, nor is it even a necessary one..."

Dear friends,

We are all familiar with the longstanding adage: Behind every great man is a great woman. But that woman, as it were, is not always a wife or “soul mate”. In other words, she can be a mother, aunt, sister, daughter, or even a female cousin, in-law, or friend and colleague, as well.

Moreover, sometimes, a person can serve a role in your successes in life that are not easily discernible. This often happens in the lives of parents, because we are sometimes unaware of the contributions that others have quietly made to the progress of our offspring, since such folks are acting out of genuine love and expecting nothing in return, so they don’t bother to remind us of what they have done for us.

Beginning in my early childhood and lasting throughout my adult life until now, Mildred Haynes, the wife and lifelong partner of the late and great Cameron Vincent Haynes (who passed in 2003) and mother to my lifelong and oldest friend, Kenny Haynes, played a consistent role as my second mother. And the range of that role, both emotionally and intellectually, was as wide as that which my own mother has and continues to play. That is, from the look at me of disappointment to the glee and supportive words of encouragement, Mum, as I call her (just as all four of her own children do) reached into herself and showed real love and concern for me as a child, and, into my older years, as an adult.

While there are many examples, I have two specific incidents that occurred between us that I have never shared with any other person before now. I have never talked about them to my mother, my father - who I knew briefly during my late teenage years, a single one of my siblings or friends, neither of my first or second wives, or any of my children. The first incident happened during the summer of 1971. It was a hot day in July. I was going through some serious life changes at the time. Having spent the past couple of years as a very active member of the Black Panther Party, I had just only a few weeks or so earlier left the Panthers.

Now, I must say that a couple of my very close friends had informed me over those two years that their mothers et al. had told them to stay away from me, because I was a Panther (please recall that the F.B.I.’s J. Edgar Hoover had called us the number one threat to internal security in America) Yet, I always felt welcome in the Haynes’ house and around all of the family members. After all, they had known me ever since I was about eight years old, when I anxiously joined the Cub Scout troop of Vinny Haynes (who I called always “Pop”, beginning in my early adult life). Also, growing up, I had gone on trips with the Haynes family, from Boston to New York City. Again, my activism in the Black Panther Party did not affect their relationship with me one bit.

But here I was, on a hot July day in 1971. I had another friend with me. We stopped by the Haynes’ old house on Haskins Street, in the Roxbury section of Boston, Mass. After speaking briefly to Mum, my buddy and I went upstairs and hung out with Kenny, for about an hour or so, listening to music and rappin’ with each other. As my other buddy and I were leaving, with him stepping outside first, I turned to say goodbye to Mum as she started to walk up the stairs to the second floor of the house. She stopped and looked at the brown paper shopping bag that I held in my hand. I already had the bag in my hand when I first came in the house. But, apparently, she had funny vibes about the bag. So she glared into my eyes. Many thoughts were running through my mind at that point. I had never seen that look on her face before – or since. She said nothing. The two of us had ours eyes locked into each other’s and we were in a kind of Twilight Zone that lasted for about ten seconds. She looked angry and disappointed, but she also transferred the idea and feeling to me that she knew that I was better than that. I was embarrassed. And I was ashamed of myself. She turned and continued upstairs and I walked out of the house.

As I said earlier, this is the very first time that I have shared that experience with anyone. I was 17 years-old then. In the coming years, I would take some very positive steps towards returning to and maintaining my social activism as well as enhancing my scholarship, building a family and having a productive future for myself, my family, and my community.



Additionally, while I moved from Boston in 1978, when boxing legend Joe Frazier brought me to Philadelphia and signed me as a professional boxer, my friendship with Kenny and the rest of the Haynes family remained just as strong. When I moved back to Massachusetts in 1987, I settled down with my own family of a wife and three children in Amherst. Whenever we visited Boston - which was only once or twice per year, because it is 100 miles away, almost always, we would be sure to stop by Perrin Street and see Mum and Pop Haynes. And so my/our children grew up knowing them.

In any case, one day, during the early-Nineties, I called their house in order to see whether or not Pop had received copies of some published articles of mine that I had sent to him. Mum answered the phone that day. She told me, gleefully, “Vinny’s not here, but he got your package”. Then she said something that no one else who has known me since my early childhood, except my own mother, had ever expressed to me. She said, “You finally found something that you like.” She continued, “You’ve tried everything. Now you have something that you really like doing.” She was talking about my writing, of course.

I found Mum’s observation to be incredibly profound. While it has never been much of a source of income for me, writing has been one of my primary passions. Certainly, more than anything else, as an artist, a writer wants to be “read”. So I am overjoyed that the appreciation for what I have to share is revealed by the fact that on any given day, this blog, Djatajabs.com, that I only started 10 months ago, is being read worldwide, by people in 39 (now over 80) countries (not including the US) - and growing, daily. My motivation is in no small part due to the encouragement of loved ones like my Mother ad Mum Haynes.

So on this day that we honor mothers, even though I will no longer be able to, as I occasionally did, send cards or flowers to this great woman, Mildred “Mum” Haynes, those like me who have had the personal fortune of actually receiving her care and concern - her love - will acknowledge her too. Additionally, as Mum made it so clear to me long ago, if you truly love your own children, then you must love your neighbors’ children as well. For it is only through our relatedness to others that we can love at all, which includes the capacity for us to love ourselves.

Moreover, as Mum proved with her deeds, whether you have actually birthed a child or not, the biological process that we call “pregnancy” is hardly a sufficient condition for claims of being a mother, nor is it even a necessary one. Rather, only by actively engaging in and sharing the power of love with others, regardless of blood lines, is a person then able to recognize the interconnectedness between love for one’s self as well as other people and things that will help the latter grow.

No, Mum has not died. She has simply passed into another form of existence. And her contributions will continue to be played out, in an oh-so-subtle fashion. That was her style.

Finally, at least to me, it seems that, unless she is a celebrity of some sort, when a woman passes, there is not much fanfare as when a man ceases to exist in the living form. Yet, all of that has to do with Male Supremacy which must be abolished from all human societies as does White Supremacy (that affects less people, but is equally despicable).

Besides, men started it (i.e., the battle of the sexes). Consequently, it is we who must end it. Men must stop hiding behind our insecurities and illusions, and accept the fact that the human race is made up of groups of individuals who all have strengths and weaknesses of some sort and, as a result, in that context, we are all equals.

So to whom are you grateful today? To be sure, it is easy to find excuses to be angry with your parent(s). As a matter of fact, excuses are like unpaid bills; that is, you can always find one. Nevertheless, on her 75th birthday, nine years ago (now 12 years), after giving her a small celebration, along with Tia, the youngest of my two daughters, as I walked out of the door to her apartment, I exclaimed to my Mom, “Thanks for bringing me into this world!”

In any case, today, I must “Holla!” - Happy Mother’s Day!!! – to all females who have mothered other people or even non-human animals, whether you birthed them or not.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
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A Manifesto about the female human that all people should embrace

 

 Dear friends, 

 On the link below is an incredible manifesto, as it were, by, for, and about the female human

that, to me, all people should embrace. 

 One Love, 

G. Djata Bumpus

http://nappaw.tribe.net/thread/7d7077f5-e0b7-4542-9f37-9bf05373e450

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the good ship Jesus

"I first heard about this enslavers' vessel a little over 30 years ago..."

Dear friends,

I first heard about this enslavers' vessel a little over 30 years ago, while reading the classic text, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, written by the late, great Walter Rodney. Additionally, I remember that, as far back as those days, hearing from one of my chief mentors in life, the great Professor Lloyd Hogan, author of The Principles of Black Political Economy. has often noted that, "Black folks are always looking for Jesus". If we look way back, with Marcus Garvey, and later Martin King, and now Barack Obama, this theory still holds.

At any rate, on the link below, is a short article about the first of the enslavers' ships to be used by the British (who were the last of the Europeans to become involved in the Atlantic Slave Trading Operations), and how Sir John Hawkins was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth the 1st, the half-sister of Queen "Bloody" Mary (they were both daughters of Henry the 8th) to embark upon the heinous enterprise of what Professor W.E.B. DuBois called, "the hunting of Black skins".

"Liberation!" - Dr, Barbara Love

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-241597.0.html Read full post

What Good is Online Education?

"The purpose of education is inquiry." - Dr. Molefi Asante  

Dear friends, 

The online education thing has gotten out of hand now. That is, just as Facebook and other"social networks" allow people to find union with others, without ever having any genuine contact, the necessarily impersonal relationships into which people must enter, in order to acquire their material means of survival - called a political economy or process of social reproduction (in our case "capitalism"), under the guise of "automation", has two major educational institutions, Harvard and MIT, now offering an online forum that will help them "corner", as it were, a part of the market. This will, invariably, justify the demise of higher education as we know it. Worse yet, please imagine learning how to work in a lab without a real professor present. 

"The purpose of education is inquiry." - Dr. Molefi Asante 

G. Djata Bumpus
 http://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view.bg?articleid=1061128740 Read full post

Please Stop Calling People "WHITE"!!!

Dear Friends,

As long as enlightened people like yourself use the word "minorities" and spell our cultural identity in lower case "black", as opposed to upper case, then we're, unwittingly, agreeing upon our mistreatment. For example, even in California, where Mexicans overwhelmingly are the "majority", that group still accepts the moniker "minority".

The term "white" is a mean-spirited and phony claim that people make, in order to be part of an artificial "majority" group, in this fraudulent so-called "democracy". For instance, even some Asians and Latins call themselves "white"...The former KKK leader, David Duke, now uses the term "European American", so what's your excuse?.

Finally, please stop loud-mouthing on Facebook and other places about Trayvon's murder and racism, when you don't even have the guts to stand up for yourselves, by stop berating yourselves with the term "minorities"!!!...Besides, who wants to be a "minority"?...So let's insist upon using the word "European American"...You will see that the amount of "white" folks in this country, much less the world, is a lot less...Moreover, if there  isn't a privilege to claiming "whiteness", then why do so many European Americans protest about NOT calling themselves "white"?...Guess why?...Because that makes them feel disempowered...Ya dig?...One Love!

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Smith on Race & Politics (originally posted 9/24/08)

Dear friends,

In light of the current Trayvon Martin tragedy, and the fact that African Americans are standing together for the first time in 150 years, when we fought, along with our European American counterparts, and ended chattel slavery, during the North American Civil War, with his piece on the link below, posted on 9/23/08, my long time and very dear friend, Elmer Smith, now "formerly" of the Philadelphia Daily News, made the crucial point of reminding us that we should not let either polls or "pundits" convince us that then Senator Obama would not win the election.

As Elm reveals, quite adequately, in the piece, what will really matter, ultimately, is whether or not people act in their own best interests.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080923_Elmer_Smith__Race_alone_won_t_derail_Obama.html
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Cultural Development for African American Youth in Philly, and elsewhere

"In fact, even our five "senses" are culturally-defined. That is, Our perceptions, regarding what we feel, taste, hear, smell, and see, are determined by our cultural experiences."

Dear friends,

The history of humankind is the revelation of lots of stories about generational activities, among particular groups. It is not a chronology of the tales of either “great” individuals or “great” events. Additionally, because we are social beings, our existence is based upon two conditions. They are: 1) A cooperative effort to co-exist. 2) Shared responsibility to engage in activities that are regulated by specific rules which allow the continuation of the particular group for hundreds or even thousands of years. The aforementioned generational activities are more commonly referred to as “culture".

In Our society, culture is a word that is often used to refer to the higher achievements of a particular group - like painting and music. However, it (culture) involves everything that We do. Therefore, it even has a physiological significance. This is easily identifiable by recognizing the actual mental and motor reflexes that are initiated when a European American (so-called white person) who is sitting in a car pushes down the lock button as an African American approaches the vicinity of the former’s vehicle.

The notion of the initiating of both mental and motor reflexes also explains the cultural differences in the way that people draw, dance, sing, and so forth. In fact, even Our five "senses" are culturally-defined. That is, our perceptions, regarding what We feel, taste, hear, smell, and see, are determined by Our cultural experiences. We live in a racist culture (where racism, is defined as it was first used to mean White Supremacy)

Additionally, our culture determines the manner in which we transmit and share both behavior and ideas to present and future generations. However, the first thing that we must understand about culture is that it is largely tied to a people's resources. That is, social status and income as well as materials to produce what people need or desire determine how, why and through what medium folks can express themselves as a distinct group.

African American culture has contributed quite positively, and in a large way, to the development of the United States of America. However, the legacy of chattel slavery that was bestowed upon us by both European American enslavers and their, albeit fewer, African American counterparts has left our culture in shambles. Worse yet, much of the problem of the lack of community amongst us is based upon cultural habits that are made all too obvious by the sense of disenfranchisement that many of our youth both feel and display.

Now, there’s an African proverb that goes, " To live together is to have a common fate." In other words, as a community, in the grand scheme of things, as it were, we need each other, regardless of whatever extent that we are physically-able or whatever social differences that we have - like gender and age. But if people, in any specific community, share a common fate, then it only seems fair that all parties involved should have a voice in their destinies. Unfortunately, for all of America’s "brave words" of "freedom and democracy", when do our children ever experience either of these lofty ideals, particularly, democracy?

Worse yet, while the quintessence of "democracy" is non-violent conflict resolution, in terms of the self-destructive deeds of our youth that were just mentioned, our responses to anti-social behavior by said young people are often expressed with violence, destructiveness, counter-productiveness, and mean-spiritedness, and, therefore, quite undemocratic, aside from being totally useless. For example, more police to monitor and/or dominate them, " zero tolerance" in schools, and harsher sentences for youthful offenders may feel good to some, but not even those punishments or "more jobs" will change the present circumstances. As a matter of fact, if either punishment or reward changed behavior, then there would not be such high recidivism rates in the prisons or so many lottery winners who end up broke in short time.

We must convince our young (and allow them) to not only share in controlling their own destinies, but, as well, to prepare for the generations that will follow them. That is all about what culture is.

One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus
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In light of Trayvon Martin's murder, the white" press continues to re-define racism

"Moreover, as long as the people who started using racism against us are able to define it, then they can, very conveniently, sweep their atrocities against us under the rug. Plain and Simple."


Dear friends,

I was watching Meet the Press this morning, about Trayvon's murder. As usual, the man that was supposed to be the "Black" voice, Ben Jealous of the NAACP, made no comment about White Supremacy. Moreover, as long as the people who the racist rulers put in front of cameras (Al Sharpton and his ilk) are too cowardly to state that this is a White Supremacist nation, then our enemies will get to define what racism is (a disease and other such nonsense). Hence, our violators are able to keep their culpability to a minimum.

Yet, the reality is: "white" is a phony, mean-spirited claim that people make in order to pit themselves against us, and form an artificial "majority" group. Worse yet, a woman can come from Norway yesterday (and I've seen it right on Facebook), call herself "white" (which won't mean anything in Norway), and inherit a history that is not hers, as well as privilege over me and those who look like me - along with the common racist arrogance that allows European Americans to murder us without concern for justice being brought against them. That's why the U.S. is a white Supremacist nation.

Moreover, as long as the people who started using racism against us are also able to define it, then they can, very conveniently, sweep their atrocities against us under the rug. Plain and Simple.

Please remember, it was not until the mid-Seventies that the term racism gained any real use in this society, even among Blacks. That is, back in the mid-Sixties and after, and it was only so-called Black militants like myself and some of my elders who used the term. Before that, even Dr. King and others used the term "racial prejudice" - NOT "racism"..and King and those other cats deliberately stayed away from using that word (racism), as not to "offend" European Americans or so-called "whites"...In fact, it was only during the Reagan era of the 80s that Uncle Toms started to cozy up to his administration, and the mainstream media started to use it as well, did it even get used (the term racism).

and then, again, racism, conveniently, became this nonsense about being a xenophobia and disease. and if my timetable of the evolution of that term being used in society isn't a fact about the use of the word racism, then one must ask, "Why did King and others shy away from using that term as early as brothers (and sisters) like Malcolm, and others did?", therefore, rejecting its original definition and use. Let's not get it twisted up in here.

G. Djata Bumpus
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Good kids and Bad kids alike get killed these days

"We tend to want to classify — the bad families and the good families, the violent kids and the victims…It's much more complex than that, but our discomfort leads us into overly simplistic thinking,..We withdraw rather than confront the complexities." - Nancy Erbe



Dear friends,

On the heels of the murder of Trayvon Martin, I thought of an article that I posted almost two years ago, regarding the notion of teenage homicides - its victims and suspects. Moreover, the idea that an African American, male or female, poses a threat, when wearing a "hoodie" suggests that White Supremacy, euphemistically-called racism has so rendered us to be less than human that we kill our own as senselessly as George Zimmerman did Trayvon - as if he were killing an insect.

Consequently, with all of the community support, nationwide, for the Martins at this time, let us hope to embrace this new found Black Love. That means that our "hip-hop" artists will have to stop using the word "niggah" in their discourse, for example, in order to stop showing such a lack of respect for themselves and hatred for themselves that is so easily acceptable to both Jewish and Italian recording moguls.

In any case, on the link below is a thoughtful story by Sandy Banks of the Los Angeles Times that shows one of the ways that the Crime Industry devastates our communities. However, because of our own inadequacies, as Sandy points out, we may have a distorted vision about both the victims and perpetrators of crime.

Cheers!

G.Djata Bumpus
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-banks-20100629,0,7982683,full.column
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Dr. Clarke on origin of "Jews"

"The same thing goes for both Jewish and non-Jewish US ruling corporations, for example, who under the guise of being "Americans", oppress and exploit people here and abroad daily, in the name of everyday American citizens."


Dear friends,

One f the biggest contradictions going on in Western media is: If you say anything about any Jew, then you are subjected to a kind of moral terrorism, being called "anti-Semitic". But one must ask "Are Jews the only Semites, much less the majority of Semites?"

Still, we have to be careful about pointing fingers at Jewish exploiters and oppressors, since it is only the ruling class of Jews, not the everyday person who identifies himself or herself as a Jew that is guilty of constant atrocities towards humanity. The same thing goes for both Jewish and non-Jewish US ruling corporations, for example, who under the guise of being "Americans", oppress and exploit people here and abroad daily, in the name of everyday American citizens.

Nevertheless, on the link below, the now late great Dr. John Henrik Clarke provides us with some history about Jewish heritage.

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbMvSdGloW0
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