"1.) You are equal to all others! That, Male Supremacy, euphemistically called “sexism”, opposes."
Dear friends,
As I, along with a number of other men, have been making an extra effort to join all females in ending Male Supremacy (euphemistically called “sexism”), below, I have listed what I know to be the necessary character traits that all women must possess in order to combat the world’s number one problem – violence against women and girls.
In everyday social interactions, racism, the cute term for White Supremacy, is much bandied about; however, the government- and corporate-controlled media stay away from talking about Male Supremacy. Yet, the latter system of oppression exists in every country, city, town, and village. Racism does not! That means that whether you are in oil-rich Nigeria or our own nation, the USA, the oppression and exploitation of females remains our biggest social problem, not our economy or “global warming”, for that matter. As a result, women and girls are not safe in any particular situation. Moreover, what good is having a thriving economy, if females cannot feel safe to be alone?
Finally, I ask any of the readers of this blog, regardless of your gender, to direct all females who you know to read the info below. The main point being made here is: It does not matter what fighting techniques that one knows, if she has not developed her inner powers so that she can both make and keep a promise to herself to not allow herself to be assaulted in any way; otherwise, she will not use the aforementioned techniques.
One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus
**************************************
10 Steps 4 Self-defense 4 Women
by G. Djata Bumpus
1.) You are equal to all others! That, Male Supremacy, euphemistically, called “sexism”, opposes.
2.) No one has a right to put his or her hands on you, unless you want that person to. Period! (battered wife)
3.) There are no tough guys out here. Perps are punks. (Tough looks mean nothing)
4.) You have nothing to prove to anyone, so don’t get into squabbles with people where you’re exchanging threats with each other.
5.) Whether you hit back or not, your opponent will attack you. Screaming “Get off of me” will get you nowhere.
6.) In a fight, you are confronting your own insecurities, not those of your opponent(s).
7.) You must have a “sense of self”. That means that you know what it’s like to be alone and accomplish goals on your own. In other words, if you only know how to get what you want with another person, you will not know what it’s like to go through life’s changes by yourself. So you really won’t know yourself. Furthermore, without knowing yourself, you won’t know how you’ll respond in any particular situation to whatever problem or circumstance that arises.
Please remember that any response messes the perp up, since he only wants you to “freeze” from not knowing what to do; that will allow him to walk you right through the victimization process. As well, that also means that you will not know what it’s like to keep a promise, not even to yourself. Therefore, you will not know what it is like to be able to depend on yourself to resist an attacker, much less being able to help those who need your protection like your growing children.
Additionally, you won’t truly appreciate other people, because you won’t really know what they went through just trying to survive in life by themselves. Besides, regarding having a “sense of self”, it allows one to possess the personal and divine power called “courage”. And, as the great Maya Angelou insists, “Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”
8.) When you know how to fight, you know when to fight. Therefore, you will use tactics ranging from non-violent to extremely violent, according to the situation. For example, if someone is robbing you at gunpoint, let him or her have the money. You are not less for that. S/he is. On the other hand, you must not allow anyone to either rape you or make you go somewhere with them (usually to a place where they can kill you without being noticed). You have a great chance of surviving a gun assault (85%) and you will feel good about yourself, knowing that no one can take your soul.
9.) Always remember, you have both a duty and a responsibility to yourself and all of those who you love and who love you to maintain your well-being and existence.
10.) There are people who claim to be pacifists. However, those people are dishonest and cowardly (lacking courage). After all, people may very well claim to be civilized and obey the first of the Ten Commandments; yet, that’s obviously a lie, whether speaking of an individual or a government. Both the past and present behavior of humans reveals that simple truism. Therefore, if the so-called pacifists lived in a place where they could not depend upon either the violence or the threat of it by the police or military, they would be corpses – not pacifists.
Moreover, if someone was bringing murder or its equivalent (that is, rape) to one of your loved ones, while you stood there with a gun, and they refused your command to stop, would you shoot that person? No one’s a pacifist. That’s a lie! And I certainly don’t mean to sound like Senator Wilson of South Carolina. You must maintain! Ultimately, you may decide to run away from your attacker; however, you won’t even do that without a “sense of self”, as mentioned earlier, and the divine inner power called “courage” that you will discover within yourself as a result of having that “sense of self”. Instead, you’ll just cower and/or beg as you are being victimized. Don’t be a victim!
Read full post
Monday, July 8, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
People make the "Economy"
Dear friends,
To hear it from large corporations, "pundits" of all stripes, and the mass communications media, the "Economy", as it were, is some kind of force or other phenomenon that drops out of the sky...
That notion makes everyday people, who are the only ones who really do work, think that we are all helpless, unless "Fate", some kind of divine intervention of "market forces", or even a set of prayers to win favor from the aforementioned "Economy" will make it (said Economy) return to us strong and generous.
Does that sound like a fairy tale? Well, it is not. Rather, this is the type of nonsense that those who are directing the wealth that ordinary people create continue to perpetuate through our schools, media, ad other cultural/social institutions. Represented by the earlier mentioned pundits and others (all of whom may, very well, just not know any better), many, if not most, people are constantly left in a state of anxiety about our futures.
People make economies, not vice versa. However, those in power are unwilling to lessen their current earnings by sharing with anyone, especially those who exist outside of their group. That means that, through clever schemes made by the government officials that they (big businesses) install, everyday citizens are expected to sacrifice for the common good (which is that which serves the interests of large corporations and the privileged few who own them - that is, those who have "Entitlement").
If people began to work together and begin to establish businesses like worker's cooperatives, for example, then issues like unemployment would be taken in a completely different context. I have a dear friend who is an automobile mechanic. He and a handful of other such automotive engineers own a shop that thrives quite well. Moreover, they share in both the work, the profits, as well as the losses. If this type of activity became more common, we would see all kinds of small businesses open up where people in the community could shun the larger companies and restrict much of their earnings to supporting institutions in their own communities.
To be sure, we would then see other institutions (for example, supermarkets, and banks) take new forms within communities, including local governments. Moreover, the necessary respect and trust that would develop inside of any community that chose such a direction would increase the standard of living of that body of people, as well. Imagine how it would affect schools, local health centers and hospitals, the relationships with police, firefighters, EMTs, librarians, and others who help provide the high standard of living that results from community sharing. Yet, if we, as individuals, simply copy the greed that is exercised by the ruling class and seek only that which is beneficial to ourselves, then the current circumstances will merely be passed on to our descendants.
Let us consider the great Tip O'neil's assertion that he canonized shortly before his passing. It goes: All politics is local. Cheers!
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post
To hear it from large corporations, "pundits" of all stripes, and the mass communications media, the "Economy", as it were, is some kind of force or other phenomenon that drops out of the sky...
That notion makes everyday people, who are the only ones who really do work, think that we are all helpless, unless "Fate", some kind of divine intervention of "market forces", or even a set of prayers to win favor from the aforementioned "Economy" will make it (said Economy) return to us strong and generous.
Does that sound like a fairy tale? Well, it is not. Rather, this is the type of nonsense that those who are directing the wealth that ordinary people create continue to perpetuate through our schools, media, ad other cultural/social institutions. Represented by the earlier mentioned pundits and others (all of whom may, very well, just not know any better), many, if not most, people are constantly left in a state of anxiety about our futures.
People make economies, not vice versa. However, those in power are unwilling to lessen their current earnings by sharing with anyone, especially those who exist outside of their group. That means that, through clever schemes made by the government officials that they (big businesses) install, everyday citizens are expected to sacrifice for the common good (which is that which serves the interests of large corporations and the privileged few who own them - that is, those who have "Entitlement").
If people began to work together and begin to establish businesses like worker's cooperatives, for example, then issues like unemployment would be taken in a completely different context. I have a dear friend who is an automobile mechanic. He and a handful of other such automotive engineers own a shop that thrives quite well. Moreover, they share in both the work, the profits, as well as the losses. If this type of activity became more common, we would see all kinds of small businesses open up where people in the community could shun the larger companies and restrict much of their earnings to supporting institutions in their own communities.
To be sure, we would then see other institutions (for example, supermarkets, and banks) take new forms within communities, including local governments. Moreover, the necessary respect and trust that would develop inside of any community that chose such a direction would increase the standard of living of that body of people, as well. Imagine how it would affect schools, local health centers and hospitals, the relationships with police, firefighters, EMTs, librarians, and others who help provide the high standard of living that results from community sharing. Yet, if we, as individuals, simply copy the greed that is exercised by the ruling class and seek only that which is beneficial to ourselves, then the current circumstances will merely be passed on to our descendants.
Let us consider the great Tip O'neil's assertion that he canonized shortly before his passing. It goes: All politics is local. Cheers!
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post
Can capitalism survive the current world economic crisis?
"...under the current capitalist model, the performance of big companies, from time-to-time meet a dead end, because, at some point, the continuous seeking of profit in and of itself, with no concern for how the success of the business relates to progress of people in communities - aside from the latter’s consumption - and how people live, will, invariably, lead to the dilemma where the “market” must necessarily reach a 'saturation point',.."
Dear friends,
The big banks decided back in the late 19th Century to allow businesses to depend on them for capital (called finance capital), rather than the latter getting their own capital (called industrial capital) by earning it. Actually, only the largest companiies of certain industries were given the privilege of getting finnce capital. It was a neat trick, because it meant that no one smaller could compete with them, since they (big companies) did not have to worry about waiting for revenues to keep daily operations, buying new equipment, setting up subsidiaries, or providing paychecks for their workers. As a result, monopolies were formed that made sure that there was no "free market".
Yet, under the current capitalist model, the performance of the big companies, from time-to-time meet a dead end, because, at some point, the continuous seeking of profit in and of itself, with no concern for how the success of the business relates to progress of people in communities - aside from the latter’s consumption - and how people live, will, invariably, lead to the dilemma where the “market” must necessarily reach a “saturation point”, as it were, where there are either less or no customers (i.e., consumers), since there will come a time when people will not buy, if for no other reason than the fact that everyone has all of that particular items that they want. Hence, the constant wars in which, especially, the US, Britain, France, and Germany engage, so that they can establish new markets (i.e., new consumers).
In other words, you cannot have an infinite growth of the market, because there are only so many consumers who will want a product. Then what do you do? People who are really thinking about the future of humankind have to change the values of society, so that the market reflects those values, instead of vice versa (which is where the US ad other big capitalist nations now stand). But that means giving up either power or wealth to maintain legitimacy. To be sure, the Bush family and others shun that idea.
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post
Dear friends,
The big banks decided back in the late 19th Century to allow businesses to depend on them for capital (called finance capital), rather than the latter getting their own capital (called industrial capital) by earning it. Actually, only the largest companiies of certain industries were given the privilege of getting finnce capital. It was a neat trick, because it meant that no one smaller could compete with them, since they (big companies) did not have to worry about waiting for revenues to keep daily operations, buying new equipment, setting up subsidiaries, or providing paychecks for their workers. As a result, monopolies were formed that made sure that there was no "free market".
Yet, under the current capitalist model, the performance of the big companies, from time-to-time meet a dead end, because, at some point, the continuous seeking of profit in and of itself, with no concern for how the success of the business relates to progress of people in communities - aside from the latter’s consumption - and how people live, will, invariably, lead to the dilemma where the “market” must necessarily reach a “saturation point”, as it were, where there are either less or no customers (i.e., consumers), since there will come a time when people will not buy, if for no other reason than the fact that everyone has all of that particular items that they want. Hence, the constant wars in which, especially, the US, Britain, France, and Germany engage, so that they can establish new markets (i.e., new consumers).
In other words, you cannot have an infinite growth of the market, because there are only so many consumers who will want a product. Then what do you do? People who are really thinking about the future of humankind have to change the values of society, so that the market reflects those values, instead of vice versa (which is where the US ad other big capitalist nations now stand). But that means giving up either power or wealth to maintain legitimacy. To be sure, the Bush family and others shun that idea.
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Dr. Barbara Love on Frederick Douglass' famous July 4th speech, 1852
"Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) was the best known and most influential African American leader of the 1800s..."
(originally posted July 4th, 2008)
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) was the best known and most influential African American leader of the 1800s. He was born a slave in Maryland but managed to escape to the North in 1838. He traveled to Massachusetts and settled in New Bedford, working as a laborer to support himself. In 1841, he attended a convention of the Massachusetts Antislavery Society and quickly came to the attention of its members, eventually becoming a leading figure in the New England antislavery movement...
In 1845, Douglass published his autobiography, "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave." With the revelation that he was an escaped slave, Douglass became fearful of possible re-enslavement and fled to Great Britain and stayed there for two years, giving lectures in support of the antislavery movement in America. With the assistance of English Quakers, Douglass raised enough money to buy his own his freedom and in 1847 he returned to America as a free man.
He settled in Rochester, New York, where he published The North Star, an abolitionist newspaper. He directed the local underground railroad which smuggled escaped slaves into Canada and also worked to end racial segregation in Rochester's public schools.
In 1852, the leading citizens of Rochester asked Douglass to give a speech as part of their Fourth of July celebrations. Douglass accepted their invitation.
In his speech, however, Douglass delivered a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of a nation celebrating freedom and independence with speeches, parades and platitudes, while, within its borders, nearly four million humans were being kept as slaves.
Liberation,
Dr. Barbara J. Love
Social Justice Education (now retired)
SOE, UMASS, Amherst
******************************************
Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?
Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."
But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you, that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation (Babylon) whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin.
Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!"
To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.
My subject, then, fellow citizens, is "American Slavery." I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing here, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July.
Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity, which is outraged, in the name of liberty, which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery -- the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate - I will not excuse." I will use the severest language I can command, and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slave-holder, shall not confess to be right and just.
But I fancy I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother Abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more and denounce less, would you persuade more and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slave-holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment.
What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments, forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man!
For the present it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver, and gold; that while we are reading, writing, and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants, and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; that we are engaged in all the enterprises common to other men -- digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave -- we are called upon to prove that we are men?
Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? How should I look today in the presence of Americans, dividing and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do so would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.
What! Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? No - I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.
What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman cannot be divine. Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may - I cannot. The time for such argument is past.
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.
What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.
Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
Frederick Douglass - July 4, 1852 Read full post
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Gay Marriage is a Human Right!
"...no one but the parties involved know what happens, in private, sexually – if anything at all, unless s/he is a witness. Therefore, it is no one’s business what two consenting adults do, regardless of gender, as it pertains to their sexual behavior, much less the type of erotic relationship in which they choose to commit themselves, married or otherwise."
Dear friends,
The right to marry
someone is a human right NOT a civil one. This is where much of the confusion
starts with the issue of “gay” marriage.
The ever-reactionary US
But this lessening of human
rights just mentioned above can be seen in the ability of African Americans to rink
from certain water fountains down South as being called a “civil right”. Being seated
fairly on a bus may be a civil right. After all, at least you can get on the
bus – or walk. However, when, in fact,
all humans must consume water/fluids in periodic intervals or they will succumb,
it is a violation of one’s rights as a human being to not be able to drink from
any particular public fountain. . This also applies to public toilets.
In any case, and unfortunately,
the original Gay Liberation Movement that started in the late-Sixties, due to
the market, not “sexual”, orientation of so many American citizens has
deteriorated into the so-called Gay “Rights” Movement, as folks constantly
practice being the most saleable personalities,.
Moreover, aside from the
fact that, to me, it is absurd for anyone to make a staunch claim of “sexual
identity”, based upon something as precarious, if not frivolous, as the human
sexual appetite, no one but the parties involved know what happens, in private, sexually – if
anything at all, unless s/he is a witness. Therefore, it is no one’s business
what two consenting adults do, regardless of gender, as it pertains to their
sexual behavior, much less the type of erotic relationship in which they choose
to commit themselves, married or otherwise.
One Love!
G. Djata Bumpus
Read full post
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Paula Deen - the prom queen of White Supremacy
Dear friends,
The recent mainstream media coverage of Paula Deen's use of the so-called N-word is a red herring Only a year ago (2012), in a taped interview, she spoke regretfully about how the Civil War ruined the lives of so many who lost their "workers" as a result of the Union's victory ending chattel slavery. Huh? Please check out the very short video o the link below.
Liberation!
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/21/paula-deen-racism_n_3480720.html Read full post
Friday, June 21, 2013
Brief video of Spike Lee on Tyler Perry
"I can't understand why Spike Lee criticizes Tyler Perry, since he deliberately boycotted M-cubed (Million Man March), because some of his Jewish "friends" told him not to attend, due to the fact that it was convened by Minister Louis Farrakhan. Then Spike turned around with some of his aforementioned Jewish friends and made an insulting film called "Get On The Bus","
Dear friends,
I can't understand why Spike Lee criticizes Tyler Perry, since he deliberately boycotted M-cubed (Million Man March), because some of his Jewish "friends" told him not to attend, due to the fact that it was convened by Minister Louis Farrakhan. Then Spike turned around with some of his aforementioned Jewish friends and made an insulting film called "Get On The Bus", allegedly, about the historic event.
Worse yet, the story began with a Black man forcing his teenage son to board a bus to go to M-cubed. Huh?. That was an outright LIE, Spike Lee! I lost all respect for him, for doing that! Cheers!
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post
Thursday, June 20, 2013
South Africam educators and students say, "Obama not wanted here"
Yes!!!...Yes!!!...Yes!!!...He murdered our brother Khaddafy....He's re-militarized Africa through AFRICOM...He kills children with drone attacks!!!!
Dear Friends,
Yes!!!...Yes!!!...Yes!!! He murdered our brother Khaddafy. He's re-militarized Africa through AFRICOM. He kills children with drone attacks!!!
Moreover, in the midst of so many cowardly both African and African American people, it is refreshing to know that there are some of us worldwide, still, who refuse to continue supporting the abominable behavior of such a coward, as is Barack Obama. Please check out the link below.
One Love!
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2013/06/20/obama-not-wanted-here Read full post
Re-Visiting Tid-bits of current US/AFGHANISTAN relations - Big Business
"Inspired by major success stories, Ford, 3M, and Boeing are examining business opportunities in Afghanistan..."
From the Embassy of Afghanistan, in Washington, DC
More than 70 American companies have registered in Afghanistan since 2003, representing $75 million in potential investment, and more than 15 foreign and domestic banks have opened their doors in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s national income per capita has doubled since 2001, reaching approximately $356. Over 100,000 Afghans have been able to start small businesses thanks to micro-credit loans; 76% of these loans were given to women. Afghanistan was selected as the 2005 US Trade and Development Agency “Country of the Year,” while the World Bank ranked the ease of starting a new business in Afghanistan 16th in the world and lists Afghanistan as the 2006 top performer on business entry.
Since 2001, more than 55,000 businesses have been registered, allowing Afghans to dream of a better future for their children for the first time in 30 years. Inspired by major success stories, Ford, 3M, and Boeing are examining business opportunities in Afghanistan, and Coca-Cola has opened a $25 million bottling plant in Kabul, which employs approximately 500 Afghans.
***************************************
Dear friends,
There's a little more, on the link below. The Afghans do not need "oil", in order to make this "war" profitable. Does El Presidente have power over the US multinational business marauders, much less the military/industrial complex?
Meanwhile, thousands of US soldiers have died and thousands more have been injured, with the understanding that they were defending some great ideal or something, while the US government, sponsored by big business, along with its corporate-controlled mainstream media now says that it (said government) wants the Taliban to be included in talks regarding the future of Afghanistan, Huh? Please remember that after 54, 000 US soldiers died in Vietnam, the US has trade dealings with the Vietnamese today.
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.acci.org.af/index.php Read full post
From the Embassy of Afghanistan, in Washington, DC
More than 70 American companies have registered in Afghanistan since 2003, representing $75 million in potential investment, and more than 15 foreign and domestic banks have opened their doors in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s national income per capita has doubled since 2001, reaching approximately $356. Over 100,000 Afghans have been able to start small businesses thanks to micro-credit loans; 76% of these loans were given to women. Afghanistan was selected as the 2005 US Trade and Development Agency “Country of the Year,” while the World Bank ranked the ease of starting a new business in Afghanistan 16th in the world and lists Afghanistan as the 2006 top performer on business entry.
Since 2001, more than 55,000 businesses have been registered, allowing Afghans to dream of a better future for their children for the first time in 30 years. Inspired by major success stories, Ford, 3M, and Boeing are examining business opportunities in Afghanistan, and Coca-Cola has opened a $25 million bottling plant in Kabul, which employs approximately 500 Afghans.
***************************************
Dear friends,
There's a little more, on the link below. The Afghans do not need "oil", in order to make this "war" profitable. Does El Presidente have power over the US multinational business marauders, much less the military/industrial complex?
Meanwhile, thousands of US soldiers have died and thousands more have been injured, with the understanding that they were defending some great ideal or something, while the US government, sponsored by big business, along with its corporate-controlled mainstream media now says that it (said government) wants the Taliban to be included in talks regarding the future of Afghanistan, Huh? Please remember that after 54, 000 US soldiers died in Vietnam, the US has trade dealings with the Vietnamese today.
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.acci.org.af/index.php Read full post
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
NICKi MATHIS' AFRIKAN AMERIKAN JAZZ w/Lynn Tracey ROSE GARDEN FESTIVAL, West Hartford, CT
SATURDAY/SUNDAY 22/23 JUNE 10am - 3pm, FREE
NICKi MATHIS' AFRIKAN AMERIKAN JAZZ w/Lynn Tracey
ROSE GARDEN FESTIVAL, Elizabeth Park, West Hartford, CT
Performance INFO 860.231-0184, 677-4038
___________________________________________________________________
SATURDAY, 27 JULY, 7pm, Nick Mathis host/emcee Nzinga's Daughter's Music of the Diaspora, Hartford Stage Company, 50 Church St, Hartford, CT
Read full post
Dr. Chika Ezeanya talks about US involvement in Africa under Obama
"Africans of the World must unite!!!" -Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
(originally posted 10/29/11)
Dear friends,
On the link below is a piece from one of Nigeria's premier journalists, male or female. Moreover, if we look at recent affairs going on throughout Africa, including the murder of Khaddafy that was brought about, so that the United States government and its multinational corporate bosses could install a puppet-leader in oil-rich Libya, we will see that the United States of America, now under the direction of the Obama administration, as it did under the Bush administration, continues to rape the Motherland.
"Africans of the World must unite!!!" - Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
G. Djata Bumpus
http://saharareporters.com/column/united-states%E2%80%99-looming-invasion-central-africa Read full post
Monday, June 17, 2013
A Brief Note About Women's Suffrage in the 19 Century
Dear friends,
Historically, woman suffragettes were usually
abolitionists first. One such person who began as an abolitionist and later
became a renowned speaker for women's rights was Susan B. Anthony. Yet, Anthony
seemed to have questionable qualities regarding her feelings about human
liberation. You see, suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady
Stanton were, in fact, vigorously opposed to Lincoln's version of the
Emancipation Proclamation, because it would eventually lead to African American
men - and no women of any group - having the right to vote. Even worse, much of her
public life, at least at one point, was financed by a man, George Francis
Train, a white supremacist ideologue and spokesman.
Susan
B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had responded to what they considered to
be a Republican "betrayal" by agreeing to share the lecture platform
with a flamboyant Democrat, George Francis Train. An effective, if eccentric, speaker, Train scandalized abolitionists and suffragists alike by his frequent
recourse to racial slurs and by his advocacy of woman suffrage as an
alternative to Black suffrage. Despite mounting pressure from their fellow
reformers, Anthony and Stanton refused to dissociate themselves with Train, the
only man willing to provide them with consistent strategic and financial
support. He not only took it upon himself to pay the two women's expenses when
funds ran low, but also offered to bankroll Anthony's dream of a pro-suffrage
journal in exchange for their continued presence on his return lecture tour to
the East. In what seems like an obvious victory of expediency over principle,
both women accepted the offer, insisting on their 'right to accept proffered
aid without looking behind it for the motive.' It was not the last time they
would have to engage in such a defense - (please refer to The Isabella Beecher Hooker
Project, edited by Anne Throne Margolis)
G. Djata bumpus
Read full post
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Reflecting on Fatherhood
Kwame, 1975 Boston. Namandje, Penn's Landing, Philly 1981, Tia, South Philly 1985.
Dear friends,
Here I was, 1965, on a very hot July day, in the Roxbury section of Boston
All of my friends, or even cats who I didn’t run with, had gone somewhere with their fathers, including those whose fathers didn’t live with them.
Suddenly, for the first time in my life, I said to myself, "I don't have a father."
While I was a precocious and tough kid - and a knucklehead wherever I was, I still did something that was totally out of character for me. That is, I grabbed my face in my hands and started crying uncontrollably, while, simultaneously, wailing repeatedly, "I don't have a father!".
This went on for about only a minute or so, before I pulled myself together and started sniffling and wiping away my tears, while still reminding myself, "I don't have a father.".
This went on for about only a minute or so, before I pulled myself together and started sniffling and wiping away my tears, while still reminding myself, "I don't have a father.".
There was still no one around. No one to console me. I wouldn't have wanted that anyway. I was too tough.
Yet, when I finally stopped crying, I said to myself, "When I grow up, I'm gonna be a father, and I ain't never leavin' my kids...and I'm gonna teach them how to do EVERYTHING."
As is now, 48 years later, public record, I kept my word to the 11 years-old boy/myself.
Moreover, when recently asked: Whom do you most admire?...I answered: I admire my three children.
In 1993, the oldest, my son, Kwame (38), who was already a legend in Western Mass. , during his senior year at Amherst Regional High School Western Massachusetts 100-meters dash champion in track and field, and the Western Mass High School Chess Champion. He later became an undefeated professional boxer who fought on TV a couple of times. In January (2013), he returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan
My oldest daughter and middle child, Namandje (32), is a highly-regarded scientist and professor at the world-renowned Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore , Md.
The youngest, my daughter Tia (28), is about two or so years away from finishing the prestigious MD/PhD program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester
Cheers!
G. Djata Bumpus
Read full post
The late, great Curtis Mayfield still reminds us....
"Fathers and Mothers should remember what the great Curtis Mayfield sang, "Keep on keepin' on" "
Dear friends,
During the era of the Black Consciousness Movement (@1965-1985), at least to me, there was not one other popular artist who was more consistent and prolific with songs of inspiration and love , specifically, for African American people than Curtis Mayfield. Bar none. And I'm not intending to trivialize all of the great work from artists like Gil Scott-Heron, Elaine Brown (of the Black Panther Party), or Stevie Wonder.
In any case, from songs like "People Get Ready", "Amen":, and "We're a Winner" while being the lead songwriter and vocalist for the Impressions to his debut solo album, to "Roots", then "Superfly", all the way to the soundtracks of both "Claudine", performed by Gladys Knifgt and the Pips, as well as "Sparkle", perfprmed by Aretha Franklin, to "Thee's No Place LIke America", Curtis Mayfield served as one of the finest artists, of any cultural group, ever.
On the link below, I'd like to share one of his manu memorable works. I found it recently on YouTube.
One Love, One Heart, One Spirit,
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h4xxC0xQVc Read full post
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Our Youth are the Future of Our Culture
"The idea that a culture can develop without any connection to the past (except its increased availability of consumables) is a contradiction in terms."
Dear friends,
The idea that a culture can develop without any connection to the past (except its increased availability of consumables) is a contradiction in terms. Hence, the notion of "youth culture", for example, is designed to exploit the vast and seemingly endless energy and enthusiasm of young people. Yet, it seems, at least, to me, that the energy and courage of Our youth should, actually, serve the purpose of moving society forward - but only under the guidance of that part of society (parents and other elders) that has both the experience and understanding to recognize the values that maintain both Our humanity and spirituality.
Moreover, once the market is allowed to define culture, Our only values become those which drive it (the market). For that reason, the mentality needed to function within the market system itself, has a great deal to do with causing the people in this society, for the most part, to not have the ability to act in a loving way towards each other, since it defines people by price or money-name. Hence, terms like low-income and wealthy become the false abstractions, like so many other monikers, that tend to sort out and classify people, then assign said folks to their stations in society and life, with most people never having any real control of their destinies
Additionally, culture has no meaning once taken out of the context of a reproductive process. A people who cannot reproduce themselves as a people will cease to exist as a people and become part of something else. This is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. For example, the culture that held Africans in slavery, in this society, could no longer reproduce itself in that form and had to change, because of the well-deserved hostility and resistance it engendered.
Therefore, and ultimately, if Our youth are to be Our future, then it will only happen if We as adults, particularly parents, take the reins of this present culture and provide Our children with both an historical and social conscience, and set the example for them, by informing identity through recognition of the connection between generations and defining human life in a meaningful way (as opposed to basing who they are upon unsubstantiated claims regarding with whom they are having sex, or what "gang colors" they're wearing). That way, Our society will benefit from the "leadership" of Our youth. As well, the "market" will then be a function of the values of the society and not vice versa as it is now.
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post
Dear friends,
The idea that a culture can develop without any connection to the past (except its increased availability of consumables) is a contradiction in terms. Hence, the notion of "youth culture", for example, is designed to exploit the vast and seemingly endless energy and enthusiasm of young people. Yet, it seems, at least, to me, that the energy and courage of Our youth should, actually, serve the purpose of moving society forward - but only under the guidance of that part of society (parents and other elders) that has both the experience and understanding to recognize the values that maintain both Our humanity and spirituality.
Moreover, once the market is allowed to define culture, Our only values become those which drive it (the market). For that reason, the mentality needed to function within the market system itself, has a great deal to do with causing the people in this society, for the most part, to not have the ability to act in a loving way towards each other, since it defines people by price or money-name. Hence, terms like low-income and wealthy become the false abstractions, like so many other monikers, that tend to sort out and classify people, then assign said folks to their stations in society and life, with most people never having any real control of their destinies
Additionally, culture has no meaning once taken out of the context of a reproductive process. A people who cannot reproduce themselves as a people will cease to exist as a people and become part of something else. This is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. For example, the culture that held Africans in slavery, in this society, could no longer reproduce itself in that form and had to change, because of the well-deserved hostility and resistance it engendered.
Therefore, and ultimately, if Our youth are to be Our future, then it will only happen if We as adults, particularly parents, take the reins of this present culture and provide Our children with both an historical and social conscience, and set the example for them, by informing identity through recognition of the connection between generations and defining human life in a meaningful way (as opposed to basing who they are upon unsubstantiated claims regarding with whom they are having sex, or what "gang colors" they're wearing). That way, Our society will benefit from the "leadership" of Our youth. As well, the "market" will then be a function of the values of the society and not vice versa as it is now.
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post
Thursday, June 6, 2013
A must-hear video by Senator Bernie Sanders on "Immigration Reform"
"While he covers the usual issues of illegal immigration at the southern border of the U>S, he also makes note of the attempt by both Democrats and Republicans to sneak in legislation that will allow multi-national corporations to bring Eastern European and Asian workers to do entry-level white collar work that millions of our currently unemployed college graduates can do..."
Dear friends,
On the link below is an important 20 minutes-long presentation by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, regarding the upcoming "Immigration Reform" legislative issue where the Independent politican delivers a concise analysis.
While he covers the usual issues of illegal immigration at the southern border of the U>S, he also makes note of the attempt by both Democrats and Republicans to sneak in legislation that will allow multi-national corporations to bring Eastern European and Asian workers to do entry-level white collar work that millions of our currently unemployed college graduates can do. Are the Democrats, Republicans, and their multi-national corporate sponsors/bosses trying to lower wages? This is "God's country", after all. Please have a listen.
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/media/view/?id=abff86a1-5056-a032-524a-56c06d0c8574 Read full post
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Blacks and Comedy - a review of an NYC Comedy Show
Kareem Green and Hadiyah Robinson
Luigi
“What attempts to pass itself off as self-deprecation is really self-degradation. The two practices are not the same.”
Dear friends,
This past Friday (May 31, 2013), I arrived in New York City to see a friend who was visiting from outside the country for a week. On the agenda for that evening first was to catch one of NYC’s veteran comics, Hadiyah Robinson.
While I’d seen videos of her, this would be the first live performance I’d seen. My friend and I were both more than pleased that we’d gone to the show, which was at a very nice, Yuppie-ish place called the One & One Pub, in Lower Manhattan. (btw, being held every first and ever last Friday of the month)
In any case, the very pretty and witty Hadiyah, who was also the host/emcee of the show, was joined by two equally funny and thoughtful comedians, Kareem Green and a brother who simply goes by the name Luigi. All three were hilarious! And all three were well-seasoned vets, with Luigi doing a skit where he impersonated Mike Tyson incredibly well and in a way that would have had the legendary prizefighter both smiling and laughing with approval. By the way, any cultural group will enjoy the three aforementioned comics' presentations.
Yet, there was also a little downside to the show, unfortunately, because three novices were generously given the microphone, even though not a single one of the trio deserved, much less earned, it - a heavyset fellow named Jamal, a young woman (Kali ?) who spent too much time claiming to be Dominican, and a buffoon named Jay “the singing comic” who, apparently, forgot that he was on stage and not on a street corner amusing his wino buddies. In their amateurish effort to use the comedic technique of self-deprecation, the thoughtless drivel of each of these three was laced with the pejorative term "Niggaz" throughout their insulting sets. And this was in front of an audience that was equally mixed with both African- and European-Americans.
The three who I just mentioned above remind me of some words from a piece that was written by an old and dear friend of mine, legendary Philadelphia journalist Elmer Smith, when he paid homage to the great Richard Pryor, after the latter’s passing, back in late 2006. It goes, in part, “…he may have been the funniest man who ever told the truth for comic effect…Problem is that his success has spawned a legion of foul-mouthed imitators whose mindless musings haven't evolved since they were class cut-ups in junior high school…You can turn on the television any day of the week and hear the uncouth utterances of some street-corner comic whose idea of comedy is to see how many "mf's" he or she can sprinkle on a half-baked monologue that tries to raise low-life to high art…It has become the staple of a crew of stand-ups who got some of the style and none of the substance that distinguished Pryor's comedy… Pryor offered insights. The other blue comics offer only stereotypes…But I can't understand how someone who hopes to make a living at something doesn't care enough about his (or her) craft to even examine it closely… His comedy came from his struggle to understand a society where he saw himself as an alien in his native land… the crude comics who have followed him can decipher all of the words but none of the meaning of what they heard.” (Elmer Smith | Pryor's message was more than the profanity, Philadelphia Daily News, Dec. 16, 2006)
Of course, on a side note, when he was just starting to really get big, back in the early-Seventies, I went to catch Pryor at a small nightclub called Paul's Mall on Boylston St, in Boston (today, almost exactly where the Boston Marathon Bombing occurred). I still remember, as he got out of the limo and walked towards the front door, folks standing in a line that was a block or so long were asking him for his autograph. Then suddenly a guy yelled out "Hey Richard!...Will you autograph this blank check?". At that, Pryor and everyone else cracked up, as he entered the venue.
Finally, to me, one of the most damning criticisms that I have of wannabe comics like Jamal, (Kari ?), and Jay mentioned above is: Like so many of today’s Black “comics” of whom my brother Elm spoke above is: What attempts to pass itself off as self-deprecation, in order to get a cheap laugh, is really self-degradation. Obviously, the two concepts are not the same.
Still, I look forward to seeing Hadiyah, Kareem, and Luigi again. Cheers!
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/opinion/15iht-edjackson.html?_r=1 Read full post
Friday, May 31, 2013
Armstrong Williams on "Women" in Politics?...About what'sis all of that?
"What does belonging to either the Democratic or Republican Party have to do with insuring that citizens are protected against the greed of corporations and the “market” that that body so affectionately controls?"
Aside from the fact that the US is one of the only advanced nations on this planet that refuses to sign the International E.R.A. Treaty, why are women, whether “conservative” or “liberal”, African American or non-African American, Republican or Democrat, being any less exploited, by agreeing with men who don’t even give women the respect of allowing them to speak about, much less endorse, E.R.A. being law in our own country?
That’s equivalent to praising Clarence Thomas for being on the US Supreme Court, when he has consistently voted against any measure that promotes human progress. Sometimes the vote is 8 – 1, where he even snubs his master Anthony Scalia. So what good is a Black man on the Supreme Court, if he’s like Clarence Thomas? It’s, at best, a hoax.
A few years ago, Uncle Armstrong Williams wrote that the Democratic Party platform promotes equal social and economic outcomes with an emphasis on women’s rights and liberal social policies. These policies are designed to appeal to the disenfranchised members of society, which formerly included most women.
Huh?
What does belonging to either the Democratic or Republican Party have to do with insuring that citizens are protected against the greed of corporations and the “market” that that body so affectionately controls?
When we live in a society where women are raised to have a “sense of self” and are not compelled to behave according to the whims of men, and, consequently, are not so disrespectful towards themselves that they have no self-esteem whatsoever, and buy books with insulting titles like, “Act like a lady – Think like a man”, then we’ll have legitimate political and social organizations. THen the world won’t have to experience the likes of Armstrong Williams or any of these other clowns that the rulers use as their mouthpieces.
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.baystatebanner.com/Opinion58-2010-09-02 Read full post
Aside from the fact that the US is one of the only advanced nations on this planet that refuses to sign the International E.R.A. Treaty, why are women, whether “conservative” or “liberal”, African American or non-African American, Republican or Democrat, being any less exploited, by agreeing with men who don’t even give women the respect of allowing them to speak about, much less endorse, E.R.A. being law in our own country?
That’s equivalent to praising Clarence Thomas for being on the US Supreme Court, when he has consistently voted against any measure that promotes human progress. Sometimes the vote is 8 – 1, where he even snubs his master Anthony Scalia. So what good is a Black man on the Supreme Court, if he’s like Clarence Thomas? It’s, at best, a hoax.
A few years ago, Uncle Armstrong Williams wrote that the Democratic Party platform promotes equal social and economic outcomes with an emphasis on women’s rights and liberal social policies. These policies are designed to appeal to the disenfranchised members of society, which formerly included most women.
Huh?
What does belonging to either the Democratic or Republican Party have to do with insuring that citizens are protected against the greed of corporations and the “market” that that body so affectionately controls?
When we live in a society where women are raised to have a “sense of self” and are not compelled to behave according to the whims of men, and, consequently, are not so disrespectful towards themselves that they have no self-esteem whatsoever, and buy books with insulting titles like, “Act like a lady – Think like a man”, then we’ll have legitimate political and social organizations. THen the world won’t have to experience the likes of Armstrong Williams or any of these other clowns that the rulers use as their mouthpieces.
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.baystatebanner.com/Opinion58-2010-09-02 Read full post
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Re-visiting an analysis of Eddie Glaude's article called "The Black Church is Dead"
"He makes no mention of the origin of the Black Church, regarding an individual’s religiosity, much less the inner powers of spirit that were necessary to survive the infamous voyage of the European enslavers’ ships. Or, for that matter, even of post- Civil War concoctions of Black churches that were organized by “white” missionaries and their ilk who established “places of worship” for our forebears (as if our predecessors had no sense of their own religiosity.)"
(originally posted 3/22/10)
Dear friends,
Considering the health care legislation that was just approved by Congress at the urging of President Obama, the recent publication by The Huffington Post of an unworthy article by Princeton professor Eddie Glaude Jr, regarding his assertion that the Black Church is "Dead", seems like a moot point. This is especially so, since it was the Black Church that was Obama’s strongest ally, during his run for the presidency. However, it also points to a deeper problem of Black scholarship in this country and elsewhere, or what passes off as such, that has really taken a nose-dive during the past couple of decades.
But what is the Black Church? In Glaude’s perception of what it is, he provides very little historical basis for it, outside of pointing out a couple of questionable characters/preachers who have fleeced African Americans over the past 80 years or so. He makes no mention of the origin of the Black Church, regarding an individual’s religiosity, much less the inner powers of spirit that were necessary to survive the infamous voyage of the European enslavers’ ships. Or, for that matter, even of post- Civil War concoctions of Black churches that were organized by “white” missionaries and their ilk who established “places of worship” for our forebears (as if our predecessors had no sense of their own religiosity.)
Nevertheless, after first focusing on the results of silly studies and polls that claim to document African American worship, Glaude does briefly take notice of various endeavors in which the Black Church has involved itself in order to help alleviate social problems, in the past. Unfortunately, after what amounts to an anti-intellectual, anti-historical introduction, Glaude’s main solution for re-establishing an effective Black Church is some kind of metaphysical drivel about “prophetic energies”.
To be sure, the energy that we need to muster is readily available to us, because each of us possesses both inner and outer powers that will allow us to create and produce what we need and want in this myriad of experiences that we know as human life.
We don't need to search for some type of esoteric entity such as “prophetic energies”. Rather, at least to me, we need direct action that is based upon the struggle of African American people to acquire “freedom, equality, and justice”.
Most importantly though, without Glaude’s anemic article acknowledging the origin of the Black Church as beginning on enslavers’ ships where people were chained together with folks who often didn’t even share the same native tongues, while, simultaneously, living in their own excrement, there is no reasonable justification for Glaude, as an alleged African American “scholar”, to even have written this piece, because his premise is entangled with quixotic notions about propositions that are somehow proof of themselves. Hence, the “prophetic energies” about which he babbles.
In any case, in the real world, later the Black Church developed in cotton fields and other such places. Please remember that a building does not make up a church. Rather, it is the combined religiosity of any group of people – any size - that does. Also, the Black Church is not “black and Christian”, as Glaude so naively, if not mean-spiritedly, claims. There are, after all, many Black congregations of Muslims, Jews (i.e., Hebrew), you name it. Are they not part of the Black Church? In fact, does one have to be enrolled in a particular denomination or attend religious services, in order to be part of the Black Church? Does a person have no investment in the Black Church, if s/he attends a church where most of the congregants are not African American?
At any rate, our church facilities should be open to our youth so that, for example, they can study our history (with no membership or attendance at the particular church required). Resources like the great Charles Blockson collection in Philadelphia, community activists, and college professors can contribute tremendously to making this happen.
Education, of course, is something that you get for yourself. It is NOT something that someone gives to you. Notwithstanding, the Black Church should be the place where young people in our communities can get helpful knowledge and ideas, along with developing useful skills. The schools will, ultimately, follow, if our churches show them the way. Our young people should know that the adults of the community will provide the type of environment where their minds can develop in a manner that will make them be able to control their destinies.
Consequently, for our youth, we must all embrace the old Nigerian proverb that goes, “If you pick a good tree to climb, I will help lift you up.” Moreover, where is a better place for our children to learn to appreciate scholarship than the Black Church?
Yet, to me, there is something much more pernicious going on here. It is: Glaude and his pathetic ilk have no clue as to how to solve current problems in our religious institutions, much less our communities. For example, he didn’t mention the rampant practice of Black ecclesiastics who, just as many Catholic priests of all complexions do, engage in all sorts of sexual indignities with their parishioners. That makes a lot of Black folks not want to go to church!
Still, the Black church lives! Yet, it must maintain a course, based upon the people’s struggle. Churches, mosques, and synagogues need to play a strong role in our community building. The Black church is the oldest institution that we have, again, beginning in the holds of enslavers' ships through chattel slavery, manumission, and the series of freedom movements that have led up to this point for African Americans. The Black church has been there, and it will continue to be. But, like everyting else, it’s part of a process.
Finally, Glaude has taken improper stock of himself in trying to analyze an institution of which he, apparently, has limited understanding. Worse yet, he’s given more reason for mainstream media outlets, like The Huffington Post, to keep the dialogue away from being enlightening/informative, motivating, and inspiring. After all, the idea that the Black Church is dead is useless blather. Is the “White” Church dead? Is it only “white and Christian”? Does it even exist? Why hasn’t The Huffington Post found some fool to write such a piece?
If you’re interested, the link to Glaude’s article appears below.
One Love, One Heart, One Spirit,
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eddie-glaude-jr-phd/the-black-church-is-dead_b_473815.html Read full post
(originally posted 3/22/10)
Dear friends,
Considering the health care legislation that was just approved by Congress at the urging of President Obama, the recent publication by The Huffington Post of an unworthy article by Princeton professor Eddie Glaude Jr, regarding his assertion that the Black Church is "Dead", seems like a moot point. This is especially so, since it was the Black Church that was Obama’s strongest ally, during his run for the presidency. However, it also points to a deeper problem of Black scholarship in this country and elsewhere, or what passes off as such, that has really taken a nose-dive during the past couple of decades.
But what is the Black Church? In Glaude’s perception of what it is, he provides very little historical basis for it, outside of pointing out a couple of questionable characters/preachers who have fleeced African Americans over the past 80 years or so. He makes no mention of the origin of the Black Church, regarding an individual’s religiosity, much less the inner powers of spirit that were necessary to survive the infamous voyage of the European enslavers’ ships. Or, for that matter, even of post- Civil War concoctions of Black churches that were organized by “white” missionaries and their ilk who established “places of worship” for our forebears (as if our predecessors had no sense of their own religiosity.)
Nevertheless, after first focusing on the results of silly studies and polls that claim to document African American worship, Glaude does briefly take notice of various endeavors in which the Black Church has involved itself in order to help alleviate social problems, in the past. Unfortunately, after what amounts to an anti-intellectual, anti-historical introduction, Glaude’s main solution for re-establishing an effective Black Church is some kind of metaphysical drivel about “prophetic energies”.
To be sure, the energy that we need to muster is readily available to us, because each of us possesses both inner and outer powers that will allow us to create and produce what we need and want in this myriad of experiences that we know as human life.
We don't need to search for some type of esoteric entity such as “prophetic energies”. Rather, at least to me, we need direct action that is based upon the struggle of African American people to acquire “freedom, equality, and justice”.
Most importantly though, without Glaude’s anemic article acknowledging the origin of the Black Church as beginning on enslavers’ ships where people were chained together with folks who often didn’t even share the same native tongues, while, simultaneously, living in their own excrement, there is no reasonable justification for Glaude, as an alleged African American “scholar”, to even have written this piece, because his premise is entangled with quixotic notions about propositions that are somehow proof of themselves. Hence, the “prophetic energies” about which he babbles.
In any case, in the real world, later the Black Church developed in cotton fields and other such places. Please remember that a building does not make up a church. Rather, it is the combined religiosity of any group of people – any size - that does. Also, the Black Church is not “black and Christian”, as Glaude so naively, if not mean-spiritedly, claims. There are, after all, many Black congregations of Muslims, Jews (i.e., Hebrew), you name it. Are they not part of the Black Church? In fact, does one have to be enrolled in a particular denomination or attend religious services, in order to be part of the Black Church? Does a person have no investment in the Black Church, if s/he attends a church where most of the congregants are not African American?
At any rate, our church facilities should be open to our youth so that, for example, they can study our history (with no membership or attendance at the particular church required). Resources like the great Charles Blockson collection in Philadelphia, community activists, and college professors can contribute tremendously to making this happen.
Education, of course, is something that you get for yourself. It is NOT something that someone gives to you. Notwithstanding, the Black Church should be the place where young people in our communities can get helpful knowledge and ideas, along with developing useful skills. The schools will, ultimately, follow, if our churches show them the way. Our young people should know that the adults of the community will provide the type of environment where their minds can develop in a manner that will make them be able to control their destinies.
Consequently, for our youth, we must all embrace the old Nigerian proverb that goes, “If you pick a good tree to climb, I will help lift you up.” Moreover, where is a better place for our children to learn to appreciate scholarship than the Black Church?
Yet, to me, there is something much more pernicious going on here. It is: Glaude and his pathetic ilk have no clue as to how to solve current problems in our religious institutions, much less our communities. For example, he didn’t mention the rampant practice of Black ecclesiastics who, just as many Catholic priests of all complexions do, engage in all sorts of sexual indignities with their parishioners. That makes a lot of Black folks not want to go to church!
Still, the Black church lives! Yet, it must maintain a course, based upon the people’s struggle. Churches, mosques, and synagogues need to play a strong role in our community building. The Black church is the oldest institution that we have, again, beginning in the holds of enslavers' ships through chattel slavery, manumission, and the series of freedom movements that have led up to this point for African Americans. The Black church has been there, and it will continue to be. But, like everyting else, it’s part of a process.
Finally, Glaude has taken improper stock of himself in trying to analyze an institution of which he, apparently, has limited understanding. Worse yet, he’s given more reason for mainstream media outlets, like The Huffington Post, to keep the dialogue away from being enlightening/informative, motivating, and inspiring. After all, the idea that the Black Church is dead is useless blather. Is the “White” Church dead? Is it only “white and Christian”? Does it even exist? Why hasn’t The Huffington Post found some fool to write such a piece?
If you’re interested, the link to Glaude’s article appears below.
One Love, One Heart, One Spirit,
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eddie-glaude-jr-phd/the-black-church-is-dead_b_473815.html Read full post
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Foundations and "Giving back"
"Then there are the Bill Gates types. He has a multi-billion dollars AIDS Foundation that, from what I've heard, perhaps, NEVER gives money to scientists who submit research grants...."
Dear friends,
Many of these foundations are just tax tricks. When the athlete or movie star stops making money, the "foundations" fold.
Then there are the Bill Gates types. He has a multi-billion dollars AIDS Foundation that, from what I've heard, perhaps, NEVER gives money to scientists who submit research grants, but does that foundation, meanwhile, collect millions in tax-free interest, by keeping the money in a trust account?
Moreover, I find the whole idea of "giving back", as it were, a bunch of bourgeois nonsense. What would they have given, if they didn't have a lot of money? For example, high school basketball players can start youth leagues for younger kids. I mean, as a dear friend of mine pointed out recently: Are those who volunteer their any less generous than wealthy donors? Besides, why do the aforementioned donors have to wait until they get NBA contracts and such to contribute to the commonweal? Ya dig? After all, many of the neighborhood youth would benefit by learning to work cooperatively with others, while experiencing success, and accomplishing gols. That's great for the community. The same thing could be said for dancers and actors. They can start community theatres for young people.. Churches and neighborhood schools can lend their facilities, for such activities.
Why do people have to wait for a Grammy or an Oscar to do for their communities? .It's about sharing NOT "giving back"! We need to build genuine communities! That more than anything, will stop all of the murders, rapes, other assaults, and robberies. The police, courts, and politicians regulate crime. It wouldn't be in their financial, much less social interests to stop it.
Finally, there is a mentality in our cities, towns, and in this country that has people making themselves "The bird with the broken wing that needs fixing." That has folks living life with their hands out, expecting others to do for them, as opposed to exercising their inner powers and doing for themselves. So, just as wealth can be a vice, poverty becomes one too. And you hear people yelling out, "Free food!..Free this!...Free that!". Nobody owes you shit! In the words of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, "Do for self!?"
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.blackgivesback.com/2012/12/6th-annual-top-10-black-celebrity.html?m=1 Read full post
Dear friends,
Many of these foundations are just tax tricks. When the athlete or movie star stops making money, the "foundations" fold.
Then there are the Bill Gates types. He has a multi-billion dollars AIDS Foundation that, from what I've heard, perhaps, NEVER gives money to scientists who submit research grants, but does that foundation, meanwhile, collect millions in tax-free interest, by keeping the money in a trust account?
Moreover, I find the whole idea of "giving back", as it were, a bunch of bourgeois nonsense. What would they have given, if they didn't have a lot of money? For example, high school basketball players can start youth leagues for younger kids. I mean, as a dear friend of mine pointed out recently: Are those who volunteer their any less generous than wealthy donors? Besides, why do the aforementioned donors have to wait until they get NBA contracts and such to contribute to the commonweal? Ya dig? After all, many of the neighborhood youth would benefit by learning to work cooperatively with others, while experiencing success, and accomplishing gols. That's great for the community. The same thing could be said for dancers and actors. They can start community theatres for young people.. Churches and neighborhood schools can lend their facilities, for such activities.
Why do people have to wait for a Grammy or an Oscar to do for their communities? .It's about sharing NOT "giving back"! We need to build genuine communities! That more than anything, will stop all of the murders, rapes, other assaults, and robberies. The police, courts, and politicians regulate crime. It wouldn't be in their financial, much less social interests to stop it.
Finally, there is a mentality in our cities, towns, and in this country that has people making themselves "The bird with the broken wing that needs fixing." That has folks living life with their hands out, expecting others to do for them, as opposed to exercising their inner powers and doing for themselves. So, just as wealth can be a vice, poverty becomes one too. And you hear people yelling out, "Free food!..Free this!...Free that!". Nobody owes you shit! In the words of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, "Do for self!?"
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.blackgivesback.com/2012/12/6th-annual-top-10-black-celebrity.html?m=1 Read full post
Friday, May 24, 2013
Eshu Bumpus critiquing an essay by Djata Bumpus
Yo D,
I thought it was
good. I'm glad that it will continue with a part2 and/or 3 because you didn't
get a chance to develop the idea of, " 2) That you know what it’s like to be alone and accomplish goals on your
own. "
I think this is
essential because there is so much violence that people become inured to that
has little to do with hitting. As children, people should be given support and
encouragement to think highly of themselves and their futures. This should
involve helping the child discover and appreciate "Their powers" in a
multitude of ways.
They can create
and be loved for what they create. They can achieve and be loved for what they
achieve and even what they try to achieve.
I believe it is
nothing short of violence when a certain child is deemed a failure when it is
the system that is failing the child. It is nothing short of violence when
resources that could be used to help families are diverted to feed the
pockets of greedy, already absurdly wealthy individuals or corporations
or when people can't get nutritious food.
It is violence that brings a young girl to a mentality that makes her say,
"I like my man with a little thug in him."
If a person has
no sense of responsibility to others, they will never really learn how to love.
It is through the development of their powers and the sense of the value of
those powers that a person begins to see their own potential to change their
environment for the better, not only for themselves but for the ones they love
or may come to love.
E
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Re-visiting Harry Reid's Remark about the "Negro dialect" (originally posted 1/13/10)
"Think about it. Have you ever listened to an ordinary European American person do a voice impression of an African American? No matter what the voice of the latter actually sounds like, the European American just mentioned ALWAYS imitates the 'Southern twang'."
Dear friends,
Imagine. This whole media frenzy is all about Harry Reid using the term “Negro dialect”. What is the Negro dialect? For example, the so-called Southern dialect or twang, as it were, is simply the evolution of the vocal expression of West African captives as they tried to communicate with Europeans. (see Melville Herskovits’ New World Negro)
Think about it. Have you ever listened to an ordinary European American person do a voice impression of an African American? No matter what the voice of the latter actually sounds like, the European American just mentioned ALWAYS imitates the “Southern twang”.
Therefore, considering the above, many European Americans, especially Southerners, speak the “Negro dialect” - each moment of their lives.
So why all of the ruckus over a typical, stupid, inept Washington pol’s faux pas? Does the issue of “race” still fire people up - especially those who embrace the moniker “white”? In fact, who are “white” people? After all, not only people of European descent, but many Asians as well as many Latinos call themselves “white” too. Why is that? What does being “white” do for a person?
Well, by calling yourself “white”, you become part of an artificial “majority” group that mean-spiritedly pits itself against a body of then smaller groups who are labeled “minorities”. Moreover. the artificial group mentioned above automatically inherits privilege over the so-called “minority” groups.
But what if the “whites” started calling themselves Irish American, or Polish American, or Italian American instead? Except for the Irish Americans who, by the way, have only been considered “whites” for a few generations, Polish Americans and Italian Americans each, by themselves, would become a “minority”, at least compared to the African American population. Consequently, they would lose privilege. That also means that calling one’s self “white” is in and of itself discriminatory, because it deprives African Americans the same privileges, particularly, equally so in many areas of our lives. If that is not true, then why do people who call themselves “white” feel that they are being disempowered if they stop identifying themselves that way?
Considering all of this here-to-mentioned, it’s fairly easy to understand why the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. insisted: Discrimination is a hell-hound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.
Have you seen a McDonald’s commercial lately?
G. Djata Bumpus
Read full post
Cynthia McKinney on AFRICOM and Re-colonizing Africa
Dear friends,
Because the people of the continent of Africa, as well as the great continent itself, are always portrayed by the Western media as losers, quite naturally, albeit unfortunately, African Americans as a whole, tend to not want to be associated with either. This seems to make sense, at face value. After all, who wants to identify with a loser? And so, over three generations ago, Marcus Garvey wrote, "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). Moreover, will Africans in the Americas ever be respected, if our people on the continent are not?
In any case, initiated by the Bush Administration and continued by President Obama, AFRICOM (African Command) has invaded African nations, under the guise of lending "military training and support". However, as the brilliant stateswoman Cynthia McKinney points out in the video on the link below, there seem to be other motives for U.S. presence there.
"Africans of the world unite!" - Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezktVMOvTQs Read full post
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Elmer Smith on Mental health and Voting
“And please let us not forget all of the mean-spirited talk about mental illness and people not being allowed to buy guns, as if we don’t already have a bunch of armed and deranged police and corrections officers in this country who, especially, shoot, and often murder, unarmed African American and Latino men, at alarming rates each year”
Dear friends,
I was perusing some articles from the past, and ran into one by my
old and dear friend, legendary Philly journalist Elmer Smith. This is an
important piece, on the link below. It deals with a subject, as quiet as it’s
kept, that every family experiences. It is mental illness.
To be sure, a number of great thinkers, from Freud to Fromm to
Fanon, have pointed out the significance of our mental life to its physical
counterpart. Unfortunately, cost accounting as opposed to methods of healing,
has dominated the dialogue in “health care reform”.
Not even insurance companies take the problem seriously, as they
do, for example, with physical well-being. However, our mental life is, literally,
half our our existence.
Nevertheless, regarding mental illness and the right to vote,
religious and political illusions often debase that aforementioned right - e.g.
the Tea Party. (is that group’s activity related to mental health?). “ And
please let us not forget all of the mean-spirited talk about mental illness and
people not being allowed to buy guns, as if we don’t already have a bunch of
armed and deranged police and
corrections officers in this country who, especially, shoot, and often murder,
unarmed African American and Latino men, at alarming rates each year”. In fact,
is this really a sane society?
Finally, while there is mention of the term, in the piece on the
link below, I always cringe at the reference to “mental retardation”. After
all, at least to me, there is an equality of intelligence among all people, since
we each learn that which we choose to learn at whatever pace to which we are
able. Besides, as Dr. King taught us, in his manifesto called “Letter from a Birmingham
One Love!
G. Djata Bumpus
Read full post
Monday, May 20, 2013
Bill Cosby disconnects with African American Youth
"(He) conjured up the Mission Hill Extension Housing Projects of Roxbury (Boston) in me ..."
Dear friends,
On the link below is a story about a recent incident in Philly where both acting and comedy legend Bill Cosby spoke to the student body at Germantown High School in Philly. Apparently, he was quite disappointed with the whole institution, by the end of the "ordeal".
Yet, I'm aware of his past speeches around the country where he scolds mostly African American audience single Moms and belittles them with terms such as his references to them being "the lower echelon". Huh?
In any case, I spoke at a disciplinary high school in Philly, to a crowded auditorium, back in the late-Seventies, when I was still actively engaged in professional boxing. One could hear "a rat piss on cotton", if you'll pardon the expression, as I spoke. Afterwards, the staff and teachers told me how amazed they were, because normally the kids acted like they did with Cos - gabbing and uninterested. But Bill has his own issues of relating to African Americans. He's far removed from the Black community about which he so often lambastes.
Actually, he and I once had a brief altercation behind the Four Seasons Hotel in Center City, back in '83, before he, a former resident of the Richard Allen Housing Projects in North Philly, made a disrespectful gesture to me (placing his finger over his mouth as I spoke) that conjured up the Mission Hill Extension Housing Projects of Roxbury (Boston) in me At that point, looking straight into my eyes, Bill Cosby very intelligently made a turn-around spin that was faster than James Brown, Davy Ruffin, and Michael Jackson combined. He then quickly race-walked away from the situation. By the way, at the time, we were both wearing tuxedos and were the special guests of a mutual friend, then Temple University President Peter Liacouras, at an annual black-tie affair.
Finally, the students aren't as dumb as Cosby would like to think they are. As you'll notice on the link below, he was talking down to them.. They don't need that!. Instead, they need wisdom. It's hard for one to fin much of that, find that, if most of one's life has been spent on stage and screen entertaining people. In other words, one has to be out and about engaging/interacting with real people and their varied circumstances in the real world. Moreover, to me, Bill Cosby seems to be a poor choice for helping young people grow.
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/54686 Read full post
Monday, May 13, 2013
South Africa still not free
"In 1983, I brought Dr, Gulabe (then David Ndaba) to speak at Temple University. It was the first time that the, then outlawed by US, Israeli, and South African governments ,ANC had come to Philadelphia. The struggle lives."
Dear friends,
"The struggle in South Africa is not over. There needs to be a revitalization of the Free South Africa Movement to rid genuine South Africans, as opposed to Afrikaners, of deprivation of economics and health, so that they can bevcome independent of colonial powers who continue to have economic domination over us," said Dr. Sam Gulabe.
Gulabe was known to a generation of anti-apartheid activists by the nom d'guerre David Ndaba when he was the ANC representative at the United Nations. Gulabe is currently a lieutenant colonel at One Military Hospital, charged with the medical care of the now former president Thabo Mbeki and his predecessor, former president Nelson Mandela. In 1983, I brought Dr, Gulabe (then David Ndaba) to speak at Temple University. It was the first time that the, then outlawed by US, Israeli, and South African governments ,ANC had come to Philadelphia. The struggle lives.
G. Djata Bumpus
http://news.yahoo.com/safrica-rules-against-youth-leader-hate-speech-094521756.html Read full post
Dear friends,
"The struggle in South Africa is not over. There needs to be a revitalization of the Free South Africa Movement to rid genuine South Africans, as opposed to Afrikaners, of deprivation of economics and health, so that they can bevcome independent of colonial powers who continue to have economic domination over us," said Dr. Sam Gulabe.
Gulabe was known to a generation of anti-apartheid activists by the nom d'guerre David Ndaba when he was the ANC representative at the United Nations. Gulabe is currently a lieutenant colonel at One Military Hospital, charged with the medical care of the now former president Thabo Mbeki and his predecessor, former president Nelson Mandela. In 1983, I brought Dr, Gulabe (then David Ndaba) to speak at Temple University. It was the first time that the, then outlawed by US, Israeli, and South African governments ,ANC had come to Philadelphia. The struggle lives.
G. Djata Bumpus
http://news.yahoo.com/safrica-rules-against-youth-leader-hate-speech-094521756.html Read full post
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