Black Equality (Still) We Have a Long Way to Go

This op-ed was published in the Daily Californian, the student newspaper at UC Berkeley last February.

By Stephan Moutouth
Special to TheBlackHour.com

When I think of Black History Month, I think of celebrating the accomplishments of the African American people that preceded us in history. We celebrate the progress we have made as a result of the people who fought and died for change. We saw that progress come together on Nov. 4, 2008 with the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America. However, history does not stop with the Obama's election.

Yes, we have made great progress since slavery. Yes, we have come a long way since the segregated public areas. But we still have a lot of work to do and we still have a long way to go. Civil rights are still a struggle for many people of different races, genders, classes and sexual orientation to this day.

Many people like to say that we live in post-racial society, citing the election of President Obama as proof. But we are not in a post-racial society when we have students at UCSD making a mockery of so-called black behavior and culture.

For those of you who are not aware of what happened at UCSD, some members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity on that campus planned a party called the "Compton Cookout" in which the invitation encouraged everyone to act like black people which, in their eyes, became synonymous with being "ghetto," wearing clothing like jerseys, Baby Phat and White Tees XXXL, starting fights and curse, and making loud noises and grunts.

The invitation also stated that they would be serving 40's (40 oz. beer bottles), Kool-Aid, watermelon and chicken as if this was an accurate characterization of the things all black people eat.

They went further into disrespect by stating that "ghetto chicks" have short, nappy hair and because they have a "limited vocabulary" they make up for it by forming new words or "cursing persistently." This mockery was said to be in honor of Black History Month. The behavior attributed to black people in this invitation is not the way all black people behave. And the way someone speaks, looks or eats should not be viewed as anything negative or "ghetto."

The biggest problem is not that the planners are members of a historically white fraternity, but rather the way they have portrayed the behavior of black people while silently implicating people of color everywhere as "the negative other." And the fact that the University of California has not taken any serious action in this matter is mind boggling. Many people-black, white, Hispanic and people of all races, genders, classes and sexual orientation-have expressed outrage towards this incident.

The university must take action in order to make a statement that everyone deserves a space where they can receive a quality education without feeling unsafe or threatened by hate. Something needs to be done to protect students from ALL kinds of hate: racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.

I will not stand for this and I refuse to allow this unacceptable incident to pass. Black communities across the state are mobilizing in protest of such acts of clear disrespect, discrimination and disgrace. We will not allow people misrepresent and desecrate black culture and accomplishments in the name of Black History Month.

Some do not believe it is a big deal. My question to them is when is enough enough? I am tired of black people being depicted as ghetto and low class, while despite being shut out of jobs and education, still managing to earn great accomplishments. I am tired of black people being called ignorant and only good for starting fights and making trouble. I am tired of our black culture being degraded. I am tired of black people being disrespected and dehumanized. And I am tired of the underrepresentation of black students on this campus.

We cannot just let this pass. I understand that we cannot let these things breaks us, however that does not mean we have to stay silent about it. By tolerating this type of behavior, we are encouraging it.

One thing that I have learned from Black History Month over the years is that we as a people never quit no matter how hard things get.

Did Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quit after every time he was thrown in jail? Did Nelson Mandela quit when he was arrested for his involvement in the anti-apartheid protests in South Africa and spent 29 years in prison? We need to stand in solidarity condemning the actions by the members of Pi Kappa Alpha at UCSD and demand that further action be taken.

This is not about revenge or retribution. This is about standing up for what we believe in and demanding the respect that every person in this world deserves.

Below is a link to a petition in protest of the UCSD's "Compton Cookout." To show your support, please sign the petition.

Stefan Moutouth is a UC Berkeley Political Science major, and currently serves as a CalSERVE Senator on ASUC, the Associated Students of the University of California, at Berkeley (CAL).

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Haiti Activists: Prosecute Baby Doc, Return Aristide

By Haiti Action Committee
Special to TheBlackHour.com

Haiti Action Committee strongly supports the call for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Jean- Claude Duvalier. We also take this moment to support the Haitian people’s campaign to return President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti.

It is unconscionable that the dictator Duvalier is now staying at a luxury hotel in Port-au-Prince while the twice-democratically elected President Aristide remains in forced exile in South Africa.

We have witnessed the return of former dictator Jean Claude “ Baby Doc” Duvalier to Haiti with disbelief and outrage. During his rule, from 1971 to 1986, Duvalier launched a reign of terror against any form of political opposition. Thousands of Haitians were raped, murdered or disappeared. Over 3000 political prisoners were tortured and then killed at Fort Dimanche, Duvalier’ s torture chamber.

One former political prisoner, Rolande Michell, told The New York Times the following story about his incarceration:

"It is a bad place," said Mr. Michell. "They starved me, but I was fortunate. They starved men to death. They beat men to death. I saw them cut into the muscle of one man's leg so he would limp. You could hear men screaming all the time.

"They made me promise to be faithful to Duvalier. I promised so they would not kill me."

Haitians who lived through the Duvalier era carry these memories with them today. Duvalier’ s return sends them a chilling message – that in today’ s Haiti, Duvalierism is alive and will be tolerated as part of the political landscape.

It took a determined popular movement to oust Duvalier. It was this movement – representing the vast majority of Haitians -- that swept President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to an overwhelming electoral victory in 1990. And it is this movement that is demanding his return today.

Ousted in a U.S.-orchestrated coup in 2004, President Aristide remains the most respected and trusted voice of the poor within Haiti. Perhaps that is why the current Haitian government, the U.S. State Department, and the United Nations – the same authorities that allowed the return of Duvalier – continue to block President Aristide’ s return.

A 2005 Wikileaks cable documents the US government "insistence that all efforts must be made to keep Aristide from returning to Haiti or influencing the political process.”

They are standing on the wrong side of history. It is time for President Aristide to return and time for Jean-Claude Duvalier to be held accountable for his crimes against the Haitian people.

Photo: Former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier retreated to a private residence north of Port-au-Prince after missing a flight out of the country on Thursday morning. Photo by Ramon Espinosa (AP)

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The Haiti Action Committee is a grassroots organization working for the masses of the Haitian people. Visit the HaitiAction.net website for breaking news and analysis about events happening on the ground.

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Reconsider Columbus Day

Christopher Columbus was a rapist, murderer and a thief. And there's a holiday named after him.

Celebrate Indigenous People's Day instead. Respect those who were here first.



Reconsider Columbus Day.

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Oakland to host two Black Expo events the same weekend

By Reginald James

Although the Willie Lynch letter is historically a work of fiction, it appears that his ghost has risen from the pages of fiction and continues to be a reality among Black folks in the Bay Area.

This weekend – after a two-year hiatus, the Black Expo returns to Oakland. In fact, there will be two Black Expo’s in Oakland this weekend. In two different locations.

The Black Expo has been taking place in Oakland since 1991. The great Dr. C. Diane Howell coordinated the local expo in Oakland until the national organizers took Oakland off its schedule. From 1997, she grew the expo into a remarkable opportunity for showcasing Black entrepreneurship and business, networking and college information.

Sadly, Dr. Howell – who also published the Black Business Listings (BBL) – passed away December 2008.

Her downtown Oakland office was shuttered (although a sign still sits outside the former Broadway offices next to Payless, the BBL has not been published and there was no expo in 2009.

Making up for that missing expo, there are two this year.

Touting itself as the “official” Bay Area Black Expo, one expo will be held at the Oakland Coliseum. This expo was publicized in both the Sunday Morning News (newspaper) and the Globe Newspaper (two Black newspapers in the East Bay). There will be a tribute to Dr. Howell at this expo. The expo was also promoted at the April mixer of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce.

Another expo is being organized at the Oakland Marriott by Dr. Annette Shelton’s Hand to Hand Marketing. This event was publicized in the Oakland Post newspaper, as well as a July mixer of the OACCC.

Can’t we all just get along?

Although I often felt that Black Expo was very “corporate” when compared to events like the annual Kwanzaa Gift Show, it was an excellent opportunity for Black people to network. How strong might the expo be if it were coordinated in conjunction? Even if one was held this weekend and another in a few weeks, or months. It is actions like this that give credibility to the myth that "Black folks can't come together."

It is an embarrassment that people -- seeming to be concerned about Black Economics -- cannot set aside their petty bourgeoisie differences and created opportunities. Then again, under the myth of "Black Capitalism," I guess competition is good. Right?

Not really. At a time when so many are not working, networking is mandatory. Unity is necessary.

Wotj unprecedented numbers of Black people are being forced out of Oakland through police and media enabled gentrification, instead of coming together -- like Dr. Howell would expect and organize for -- Black folks are falling into that divisive “Willie Lynch” syndrome.

What would our ancestor Dr. Howell think about that?

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The so-called "Official Bay Area Black Expo" will be 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday at the Coliseum, 7000 Coliseum Way. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. More info at www.bayareaexpo.com Vivica A. Fox hosts on Saturday, featuring performances by Shirley Murdock and others.

Hand To Hand Marketing's Black Expo will be 7-10 p.m. Friday July 16, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday at the Oakland Marriott and Convention Center, 1001 Broadway. Perfomers include Lenny Williams, and others. Tickets are $10 for adults, $2 for children. For more information, visit www.blackagriculture.com

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Cleopatra to be portray by another white actress

Editor's Note: After return from Kemet (Egypt) this past weekend on an educational tour, it seems ironic to hear that Cleopatra will be played by a white actress. To quote our Nubian tour guide Farouk, "There were seven queens named Cleopatra, and none of them looked like Elizabeth Taylor." - Reginald James

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By Shirea L. Carroll
Special to TheBlackHour.com
Just when we thought there weren't enough leading roles for Black women in Hollywood, they create one and give it to a White woman.

Film producer Scott Rudin has purchased the film rights to upcoming biography 'Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra: A Life,' and has confirmed that the movie iis being developed for and with [Angelina] Jolie." Jolie, a Hollywood A-lister, will do her best in bringing the story of the famed Egyptian queen to life, and it appears no one doubts she can do it... including Pulitzer prize-winning author Stacy Schiff, who penned the biography, "Cleopatra: A Life," a book that won't be on shelves until the fall.

Schiff already heavily endorses Jolie, stating, "I think she'd be perfect for it and I can see a possible Oscar in her future. Physically, she's got the perfect look."

Gasp, the nerve! "She's got the perfect look?" Honestly, I don't care how full Angelina Jolie's lips are, how many African children she adopts, or how bronzed her skin will become for the film, I firmly believe this role should have gone to a Black woman. I mean, isn't it enough that 47 years ago, dame Elizabeth Taylor was cast to portray Cleopatra in one of the most expensive films ever made? That Elizabeth Taylor was actually the third White woman to be tapped for the Cleopatra role -- following Vivien Leigh and Claudette Colbert -- just makes this all the more comical.

Were Vanessa Williams, Halle Berry and Thandie Newton unavailable for auditions that day? Why does Hollywood think it's even slightly plausible to cast White women in roles that would be more sensible to cast a Black actress for? Especially when that role is an African queen.

It happened just two years ago, in 2007's thriller "Stuck," directed by Stuart Gordon, based on the true story of a Chante Mallard. The story tells a tale of a woman who hits a homeless man with her car and results with him trapped in her car's windshield. Instead of getting the man help, Mallard (played by actress Mena Suvari) opts to let him die slowly in her garage.

The interesting thing is Mallard is a Black woman, and Suvari, who was cast to play the role, is -- surprise, surprise -- a White woman. Adding insult to injury, instead of just casting a Black woman to play the role, the film gave Suvari a more "ethnic look" for the role, by adding stereotypical cornrows to her hair. Hollywood, are you serious?

Now, Jolie is set to play Cleopatra, who isn't as technically perfect as some would claim if you study the Queen of the Nile's distinguished history. First and foremost, the role should be given to a younger actress -- think Jurnee Smollett -- considering Cleopatra began her reign as Queen of Egypt at the tender age of 18 and ended her own life at the age of 39.

Secondly, while historically there is no concrete confirmation that Cleopatra was of a darker complexion, there is more evidence than not that she was Black, and not entirely of Macedonian Greek ancestry, as Shakespeare, leagues of painters and now Hollywood would have us believe. And, ultimately, while Cleopatra's heritage remains under speculation, it remains that she was in fact an African queen. Jolie -- not so perfect.

What's next? A biopic on Sojourner Truth played by Betty White?

Originally published on Essence.com

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Oakland Police shoot and kill deer

Cartoon by Reginald James

Oakland Police officers shot and killed a baby deer in East Oakland on May 1. The deer was deemed a threat to public safety because many children – who called the deer, 'Bambi'– were in the area.

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Arizona sets dangerous precedent for racial profiling in border states

By Bradford J. Howard
Special to TheBlackHour.com

In the mid-19th century, when slavery was still overtly present in the U.S., African-Americans who were granted freedom prior to the aftermath of the Civil War were often given “freedom papers.” Freedom papers served as written documents that proved certain African-Americans were not slaves and symbolized a former slave’s transition into a new phase of life. But as more and more slaves began to run away from their plantations and, consequently, Fugitive Slave Acts were implemented and enforced, freedom papers gained even more significance — in many cases, they became a sole determinant of how an African-American might be treated and often served as a literal decider of life and death.

On Friday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer officially signed into state law Senate Bill 1070, the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Neighborhoods Act,” which requires immigrants to carry their alien registration documents on their person at all times. Additionally, it allows state law enforcement to question individuals “where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States.”

The most staunch supporters of the law insist that the state of Arizona is merely picking up where the federal government has slacked off in terms of addressing illegal immigrant and border control problems. Brewer herself contends that the law is ultimately looking out for the safety of Arizonans and that the law is neither concerned with nor guided by racial profiling.

It’s hard to believe this stance, however, when a great amount of effort is being put into explaining what the law is not, but substantially less is being put into explaining what it is. The very fact that Brewer felt a need to clarify in her official statement Friday that she would not tolerate racial discrimination in Arizona — coupled with the need to issue an executive order “to develop training” so Arizona law enforcement officers can appropriately implement the law — suggests her understanding that this law has the potential to be a discriminatory practice.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that the law enforcement officers, regardless of how much training they’re given, will almost certainly always be looking for Latino-identifying individuals under this law.

It gives Arizona police the right to make traffic stops, not-so-random stops on the sidewalk and even to pull aside in a grocery store anyone who looks “illegal enough.” What constitutes that? Does this mean that the Latino individual sitting on a curb will be asked to show his green card while a non-Latino who is professionally dressed won’t be?

Arizona’s governance is setting a dangerous precedent. First, Arizona passing this law gives other states a chance to pass similar laws, and more than likely, it will be the states closest to the Mexican border (Texas, Nevada and California).

Second, it creates a legal justification to rely on stereotypes. When someone says “illegal immigrant” or “undocumented worker” in the U.S., the image that comes to mind is of someone Latino or someone who looks Latino. This will no doubt play into how Arizona law enforcement will determine whom to “stop to determine their immigration status.”

Finally, it puts the immigration debate in a complicated place because assessment of citizenship via race trumps an actual conversation about immigration laws.

There is no equal protection under the law when there is an unequal enforcement of the law. It is undeniable that Arizona’s new law is racially biased and presents a modern-day manifestation of having to show one’s freedom papers. Only now, the burden is on those who look like immigrants, because you can bet anyone who doesn’t look the part won’t be asked anything.

As citizens of this country, we should aspire to have a serious conversation about the need for effective immigration reform. A “compelling interest in cooperative enforcement of federal immigration laws,” to borrow the words Brewer used in her statement on Friday, in Arizona and elsewhere should not come at the cost of the dignity and rights of someone who doesn’t look American enough.

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Tim Wise: What if the Tea Party was Black?

Photo: TheBlackHour.com Tim Wise spoke at Laney College in February 2010. Read the article or watch the video.

By Tim Wise
Special to TheBlackHour.com

Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure - the ones who are driving the action - we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.

So let’s begin.

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.


Photo: O Read Daily

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington.

Imagine that a rap artist were to say, in reference to a white president: “He’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun.” Because that’s what rocker Ted Nugent said recently about President Obama.

Imagine that a prominent mainstream black political commentator had long employed an overt bigot as Executive Director of his organization, and that this bigot regularly participated in black separatist conferences, and once assaulted a white person while calling them by a racial slur. When that prominent black commentator and his sister — who also works for the organization — defended the bigot as a good guy who was misunderstood and “going through a tough time in his life” would anyone accept their excuse-making? Would that commentator still have a place on a mainstream network? Because that’s what happened in the real world, when Pat Buchanan employed as Executive Director of his group, America’s Cause, a blatant racist who did all these things, or at least their white equivalents: attending white separatist conferences and attacking a black woman while calling her the n-word.

Imagine that a black radio host were to suggest that the only way to get promoted in the administration of a white president is by “hating black people,” or that a prominent white person had only endorsed a white presidential candidate as an act of racial bonding, or blamed a white president for a fight on a school bus in which a black kid was jumped by two white kids, or said that he wouldn’t want to kill all conservatives, but rather, would like to leave just enough—“living fossils” as he called them—“so we will never forget what these people stood for.” After all, these are things that Rush Limbaugh has said, about Barack Obama’s administration, Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama, a fight on a school bus in Belleville, Illinois in which two black kids beat up a white kid, and about liberals, generally.

Imagine that a black pastor, formerly a member of the U.S. military, were to declare, as part of his opposition to a white president’s policies, that he was ready to “suit up, get my gun, go to Washington, and do what they trained me to do.” This is, after all, what Pastor Stan Craig said recently at a Tea Party rally in Greenville, South Carolina.

Imagine a black radio talk show host gleefully predicting a revolution by people of color if the government continues to be dominated by the rich white men who have been “destroying” the country, or if said radio personality were to call Christians or Jews non-humans, or say that when it came to conservatives, the best solution would be to “hang ‘em high.” And what would happen to any congressional representative who praised that commentator for “speaking common sense” and likened his hate talk to “American values?” After all, those are among the things said by radio host and best-selling author Michael Savage, predicting white revolution in the face of multiculturalism, or said by Savage about Muslims and liberals, respectively. And it was Congressman Culbertson, from Texas, who praised Savage in that way, despite his hateful rhetoric.

Imagine a black political commentator suggesting that the only thing the guy who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS building did wrong was not blowing up Fox News instead. This is, after all, what Anne Coulter said about Tim McVeigh, when she noted that his only mistake was not blowing up the New York Times.

Imagine that a popular black liberal website posted comments about the daughter of a white president, calling her “typical redneck trash,” or a “whore” whose mother entertains her by “making monkey sounds.” After all that’s comparable to what conservatives posted about Malia Obama on freerepublic.com last year, when they referred to her as “ghetto trash.”

Imagine that black protesters at a large political rally were walking around with signs calling for the lynching of their congressional enemies. Because that’s what white conservatives did last year, in reference to Democratic party leaders in Congress.

In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on thuggish behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?

To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark “other” does so, however, it isn’t viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and “American-ness” of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings.

And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.

Game over.

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This article appeared on TheRoot.com originally. Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and activists in the U.S. Wise has spoken in 48 states, on over 400 college campuses, and to community groups around the nation. Wise has provided anti-racism training to teachers nationwide, and has trained physicians and medical industry professionals on how to combat racial inequities in health care. His latest book is called Between Barack and a Hard Place. Wise spoke at Laney College in February 2010. Read the article or watch the video.

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Oakland gang injunction encourages racial profiling, gentrification

By Reginald James TheBlackHour.com Editor

In a bold cape-crusading, crime-fighting move, Oakland is seeking a legal injunction to restrict the activities of alleged gang members within a 100-block area of North Oakland.

Gang injunctions are court orders that attempt to reduce crime by prohibiting gang members from certain activities.

If approved by an Alameda County Superior Court judge, it will lead to increased racial profiling in Oakland.

Members of the North Side Oakland (NSO) alleged gang "terrorize our community, intimidated witnesses and recruited children into their criminal enterprise," Oakland City Attorney John Russo contends. He adds, "They are part of a malevolent force that has crippled our city for decades, and continues to hold Oakland back today."

Oakland has never been known for Black gangs. But that changed in June 2008.

Over 400 police officers from 15 agencies took part in, "Operation Nutcracker." The massive, military-style raid of the Acorn Housing projects in West Oakland, which targeted the alleged Acorn gang, created uproar. The flames were fumed when California Attorney General Jerry Brown supported the heavy-handed raid, calling the alleged gang members "urban terrorists."

Last fall, Discovery Channel continued the gang witch hunt with its sensational series, "Gang Wars: Oakland." The show claimed Oakland had 10,000 gang members. Based on U.S. Census data, that means one in 40 Oakland residents, or one person in each of my classes at Laney College is a gangster.

Oakland police will gain sweeping powers to label anyone as a gang member, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Since gang injunctions go through civil court, not criminal, people will not be provided an attorney. This will make it difficult to challenge being labeled a gang-banger.

Gang injunctions are used in San Francisco where, coincidentally, tens of thousands of Black residents have been displaced in past decades. Numerous Black residents in southeast San Francisco were labeled as gang members, preventing them from everyday activities such as talking to people they grew up with. While other factors such as employment and educational opportunities played a part in the, "Black Exodus," policies like gang injunctions work hand-in-hand to promote gentrification, or to remove "undesirable" residents.

And in a city not known for gangs, one must wonder: Does Oakland want to label people as gang members for "gang enhancement" charges to feed the prison industrial complex? Or, are there additional federal and state monies available if Oakland creates a gang problem to combat?

Violence is a serious concern in Oakland, but studies show that gang injunctions are not effective at reducing violent crime. However, they are effective at increasing racial profiling and violating people's Constitutional rights.

One of the Slave Codes (laws that prohibited enslaved Africans from certain activities) prevented three or more Africans from gathering together. Those named in the injunction will also be subject to curfews, and not be able to associate with other alleged gang members.

If this experiment works, it will be expanded and used in other parts of Oakland, Russo has said.

Oakland Police's Strategic Framework (Page 5) even lists the East Bay Dragons, an East Oakland Motorcycle Club, as a gang.

It's young Black folks being criminalized now, but you might be next to be labeled a gang member.

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Higher Education under attack, stand up with Laney College students March 4

By Reginald James Editor of TheBlackHour.com

For years, Higher education has been under attack. With the economy, community college enrollment has skyrocketed. At the same time, the state is balancing its budget on the backs of students with draconian cuts to education. While all people are affected, Black students will bear the greatest brunt.

The California Community Colleges are the largest system of higher education in the world. Community colleges are an affordable option for basic skills, career training or preparation to transfer for a four-year college. Legions of people in our community have benefited from the education they received in community college.

But after the 1996 Proposition 209 - which eliminated affirmative action for education - enrollment of Black students at the UCs and CSU's plummeted.

Nationwide, one of every 14 Black collegians attends a California Community College, and one of every seven Black students in community college attends school in California.

As education spending is being chopped, spending on prisons continues to increase.

The state Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) estimates that by 2012 the state of California will spend more annually on prisons that it spends on higher education. Black and brown people are incarcerated at rates much higher than their population.

So despite having one Black face in the White House, there are too many Black men (and women) in the Big House. Prisons are the new plantations, providing below wage labor for private industry profits.

Meanwhile, essential programs and services that all students' need are being cut, like EOPS and childcare. Student enrollment fees continue to increase, forcing students out of college. Additionally, cuts to the UC and CSU are pushing other students back into community colleges, taking away seats from students who have no other option. Despite rallies in Sacramento the last two years, the situation has not improved. The state is still not prioritizing education.

It's time students took the fight through our own turf.

On March 4, students from colleges throughout the East Bay will walk out of class. After the 11 a.m. walkout at Laney College a rally will be held on the campus quad. Students will then march through downtown Oakland to City Hall. It is important to make our presence felt to the community at-large, that knows about the value of community colleges, but don't know about the danger of losing these institutions.

An "Education Rally for California's Future" will be held at San Francisco's Civic Center at 5 p.m. with students from throughout the Bay Area.

Walk out for those ancestors who were deprived of the right to an education. Walk out for your classmates being forced out of school because the class they needed was full or cancelled.

March for those incarcerated in concentration camps called prisons that need a second chance when they are released or never even got a first chance.

March for our professors and staff who break their backs to educate us. All the while, many are in danger of losing their jobs.

Stand up for your family. For those younger brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews who won't have a chance to get an education.

Stand up for your children, and your children's children, to ensure that they have more opportunities than we have today.

The walk out and march ain't a field trip; it's a message. We matter. Without us, there is no community in "community college."

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Why Laney College student Alessandro Tinonga is protesting March 4

Editor's Note: The following appeared on the website of SocialistWorker.org.

By Alessandro Tinonga Special to TheBlackHour.com

LAST FALL, following a speakout and town hall meeting, members of the student government, professors and representatives from various student groups formed the No Cuts Peralta Coalition to fight budget cuts on campus here. The coalition has been successful in getting a core of two dozen students to lead protests against proposed cuts.

Also last fall, the administration and board of trustees of the Peralta Community College District tried to pass draconian budget cuts that would have cut millions from student services. Due to protests by the coalition and members of the Peralta Federation of Teachers, approval of the budget had been postponed three times.

Protests also brought continued attention to the corruption and cronyism of Chancellor Elihu Harris and his administration. In January, it was announced that the district would not renew the contract for Harris or Vice Chancellor Tom Smith.

Despite these successes, the cuts are still being handed down to the students and staff. Over a dozen staff were served with layoff notices in December, and over 500 classes have been cut throughout the district.

Furthermore, the cuts to education in the UC and CSU systems have forced many students to seek classes in community colleges, leading to a growing student population. The influx of students coupled with reduced classes and student services has led to frustration. This semester began with students suffering long lines and longer waits to get registration and financial aid processed.

Members of the coalition hope that the March 4 actions will build solidarity between students, staff and faculty, and organize frustrated students into the movement to save public education.

Outreach thus far has been successful in creating a buzz on campus. Laney College is plastered with walkout fliers. Additionally, the Peralta Federation of Teachers Local 1603 support the March 4 actions.

Some students and faculty are hesitant to participate in the walkout. One student said, "If I miss one day of classes, I may not get the grades I need. I feel like my education can slip right out of my fingers." We as student activists should be patient and understanding about such concerns. By reaching out and mobilizing as many students as possible, we can build confidence.

We could get hundreds of students to walk off campus and march to downtown Oakland. However, if we get a hundred or so students to participate in the rally and get them involved in the movement, that would also be a step forward.

Alessandro Tinonga is a Laney College student and an organizer with the Laney chapter of the International Socialist Organization.

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Laney College Acting President Elnora Webb supports March 4 Day of Action

Editor's Note: The post below was sent out by Acting Laney College President Dr. Elnora Webb to campus faculty and staff in support of the March 4 Day of Action.

By Dr. Elnora Webb Special to TheBlackHour.com

I ask you to join me in support of the student-led effort to MARCH this month to argue for sound investment in higher education and community colleges in particular. Please make reasonable class schedule and class work accommodations to support our Laney Students on March 4 (rally in San Francisco) and on March 22 (rally in Sacramento) to defend public education.

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Laney College Interim President Dr. Elnora Webb speaks at Black History Month Kick-Off with Dr. Karolyn Van Puten and Tamika Brown.

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You may ask, how you can further support Laney students in their effort to improve the State’s investment in their education?

As instructors, you could determine the efficacy of rally participation as part of the learning for your courses and tie meaningful assignments to it.

As a classified staff, you could spread the word about this effort and provide meaningful insights into the history of student advocacy and its effect on improving the conditions within education locally and throughout society.

As administrators, you could engage in similar efforts while providing more substantive suggestions for student involvement and the involvement of our colleagues across the college.

We will join thousands of students from across California who have had enough with the divestment in their college education. Many of us have lost patience with the disconnected and broken aspects of the system of financing in this State We call for a prominent and solid commitment to the millions of students who are pursuing higher education. These students seek life-sustaining wage earning careers, the knowledge and skills to build healthy lives and communities, and core competencies to contribute to the innovations necessary to prompt economic, social, and political reforms essential to sustain California and the nation.

It is time for us to stand together to defend education. The community colleges are canceling classes, cutting counseling and other support services. Tens of thousands of students are being denied access to this essential education.

The UCs and CSUs are doing the same, cutting jobs and classes and raising fees beyond the reach of most people in the state.

Attacks [on education] are attacks on our future. People across the state have been under attack – with layoffs, falling wages, unemployment and evictions. And there are fewer public services to provide any support.

We often face these attacks alone, but education unites us all. We need to stand together. We must stand together. We are the family, friends, neighbors, instructors, staff and students who make up this system of education. We are more than six million students in the K-12 system, nearly three million community college students, and 670,000 students in the CSUs and UCs.

Mobilized together, we are a powerful force.

We have a choice in front of us. People across the state know that something needs to be done. We face a looming budget deficit for the years ahead and the attacks will continue. Meanwhile we live in a state with enormous wealth, home to multi-billion dollar banks and corporations.

We have an opportunity to stand together and begin to organize and mobilize our forces. Our future and the future of young people across the state and nation is at stake. What happens next depends on us all.

Thank you very much for your support.

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UC San Diego racism evident with 'Compton Cookout'

Racism is a toxin that has polluted this country for too long. One area that is most infected is education.


It was once illegal to teach an enslaved African how to read. Public education was created to educate the formerly enslaved, but segregation forced Black people into "separate and unequal" schools until the mid-20th century. To maintain that order, Blacks were regularly lynched.

The vestiges of institutionalized racism in higher education continue. And today, they aren't any more apparent than at the University of California at San Diego.

The campus has the lowest percentage (1.3%) of African American enrollment in the nine campus UC system, and has a hostile atmosphere after a series of disgusting racist incidents.


Photo: Urban Report

Last month, a fraternity decided to have an off-campus party mocking Black History Month. The "Compton Cookout," promoted racial stereotypes and degraded Black women.

Female invitees were asked to be "ghetto chicks," meaning wearing gold teeth and cheap clothes, starting fights and having "short, nappy hair." They were also encouraged to use a "limited vocabulary."

Watermelon, chicken, malt liquor and a purple sugar-water potion called, "dat purple drank" was publicized. (Hot sauce not included)

Days later, a group of students on the campus' Student Run Television Program (SR-TV) spoke in support of the racist event referring to the members of the UCSD Black Student Union (BSU) who protested as "ungrateful niggers."

Then a female student left a noose hanging in the campus library. She was suspended after confessing, saying she "didn't think leaving a noose was an issue," according to a campus official.

Besides resorting to slave era stereotypes to degrade their classmates, these students likely thought it would be funny, a way to live out their ghetto fantasies.

The noose has long been a symbol of intimidation and fear to oppress Black people and keep 'uppity Niggers' in their place. That place being one of subordinance.

Hollywood films have long reinforced such plantation-era images of Blacks as watermelon-eating, chicken stealing, ignorant coons. From the mid-1800s to the mid-20th century, white actors -- and later Black actors -- would dress up in Black face, putting coal and soot on their faces to appear Black, while depicting Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks.

The noose has long been a symbol of intimidation and fear to oppress Black people and keep "uppity Niggers" in their place. That place being one of subordinance.

Considering the Civil Rights Project found that public schools are more segregated today than there were in 1952--when U.S. apartheid education was outlawed--those students probably haven't met any Black folks in real life and thought it was an appropriate way to portray Black people.

Anti-racist activist Tim Wise said during his Black History Month presentation at Laney College that white supremacy permits the dominant group to offend people without experiencing the pain.

But as stupid as their actions were, it is inconceivable that a college student wouldn't know that nooses were used to lynch Black people after emancipation. Then again, nooses are used to intimidate Black people today. It was just over three years old that the case of the Jena 6 erupted after students hung a noose at a "whites-only tree."

Unfortunately, this is the type of environment students of color must survive and thrive inside in a post-Proposition 209 environment. In 1996, California voters eliminated affirmative action in higher education admissions.

The behavior of these students illustrates why effective Ethnic Studies classes should be mandatory.

The campuses' BSU has held a numerous protests in response, holding the university accountable.

"The University is allowing the African American students to be racially demoralized by a group of students on this campus," the BSU said, adding that the broadcast was at taxpayers-expense.

The behavior of these students illustrates why effective Ethnic Studies classes should be mandatory. If the university really wants to address racism in higher education, it will work allocate resources to ensure that more Black and minority students enroll -- and succeed.

Until then, keep your chicken and liquor for your own mental plantation. Black students want education for liberation.

Besides, watermelon ain't in season.

Note: This column originally appeared in the Laney Tower newspaper as a part of the "Back to Black" column series.

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The Unsettling Settlement: Minister Keith Muhammad demands Justice for Oscar Grant

Note: The remarks below were delivered at the Wednesday, Feb. 10 community rally and press conference at the Fruitvale BART Station in Oakland. The rally was called following recent media reports, and statements by attorney John Burris, who represents the family of Oscar Grant, that "jeopardized" BART's $1.5 million settlement with the family for BART police officer Johannes Mehserle shooting and killing Grant.

By Minister Keith Muhammad
Special Guest Blog

On January 1st, 2009, BART officer Johannes Mehserle responded to a call at Fruitvale BART where he found BART Officer Tony Pirone and others detaining, demeaning and aggressing Oscar Grant III and his friends. Within minutes of his arrival and seconds from hearing Officer Pirone hurl racially offensive, threatening assaults at Oscar Grant, Mehserle pulls his weapon, takes aim, and kills an unarmed father, son, and citizen.

The recent so-called partial settlement with the mother of Oscar’s child settled nothing. In fact, reports in the media and BART attorney’s have been extremely unsettling. By definition, either a matter is settled or it is not. The BART Board, in its rush to settle has voted to approve an incomplete deal. Why this sudden rush to settle? Who benefits by this rush?

The rush to settle may please BART. BART has been on a public relations blitz since January 2009. It seems pleasing to Johannes Mehserle and his attorney, who regardless of judge imposed gag orders, has publicly expressed agreement with this settlement. It may please all those hired who gain financial benefit in the process; but this rush is not pleasing for those whose demand is justice.

The murder of Oscar Grant is not settled. The mother of Oscar remains strong in their unsettled $50million lawsuit. His criminal trial is scheduled soon in LA and must proceed unhindered by false information that is being leaked, according to Attorney Burris, by persons in or near this case on behalf of BART.

We stand firmly with the family of Oscar Grant as it pursues justice in the matter of its slain son. This so-called settlement is unsettling because BART officials and its attorney have made a conscious effort to drive down any settlement demands by demeaning Oscar Grant and his friends, who were witnesses to his murder.

Attorney Burris referenced last week the infamous Dred Scott decision in which Supreme Court Judge Taney declared that a Black man has no rights that a white man is bound to respect. Burris declared that Black men have rights where he came from.

In fact, every right we claim, we’ve had to fight for. Frederick Douglas was right, saying, “Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never did and it never will.” What rights do Oscar Grant and his friends now have? What rights did Johannes Mehserle and Anthony Pirone offend?

Oscar Grant lost his life. His child is without her father. His mother is without her son. His sister is without her brother. His friends lost the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; made to fight media scrutiny while enduring post-traumatic stresses after witness the murder of their friend.

These lost rights are worth fighting for. We say to Attorney Burris, fight. Fight to insure that no system of laws will ever again declare that no black, no poor man has rights that law enforcement should respect.

It is unsettling to watch media reports that BART will fight vigorously against any additional attempts at settlement and before the ink dries, leaks concerning private negotiations and misrepresentations of witness statements are made public.

To be clear, Oscar Grant and his friends are not on trial; Johannes Mehserle is. We will not stand by and watch BART officials work to derail the righteous demands for justice made by the Grant family and community to drive down any attempts to settle this matter reasonably.

Not only is Mehserle on trial, but through this case, so too is the justice system. Will this system defend the rights of the Black, the Brown, and the poor who have been voiceless in a system that often persecutes and prosecutes them? The poor need a voice. Attorney Burris should not sing solo in defense of these men. We need a chorus of voices to demand justice.

Judges, prosecutors, attorneys, and general media are all under the watchful eye of a community that will only be satisfied by justice. The recent “partial settlement” has not settled this case. The murder of Oscar Grant demands justice; not partial settlements that leave a mother in pain, in search for justice.
“Justice stands afar, and equity cannot enter, because truth has fallen in the street.”

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Haiti: Don't hate me because I'm Black

Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from a new column in the Laney Tower newspaper, "Back to Black." The column is written by The Black Hour producer Reginald James. Be sure to visit LaneyTower.com for the complete scoop.

An estimated 200,000 people have died after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated the island nation of Haiti on Jan. 12. One million people are homeless, according to the U.N. and untold numbers of children are now orphaned.

This natural disaster is rooted in the economic and military intervention by those who hate to see Black people free.

As abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a U.S. Minister to Haiti said once, the “revolutionary spirit of Haiti is her curse, her crime, her greatest calamity and the explanation of the limited condition of her civilization.”

Read the entire "Don't hate Haiti because it's Black" column on LaneyTower.com.

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NAACP sells out civil rights to net neutrality

By Glen Ford Special to TheBlackHour.com

Without the effective right to communicate with one's fellow humans, all other rights disappear. In opposing internet neutrality in return for corporate telecom money, the NAACP and other so-called civil rights groups have committed an unforgivable theft of the people's trust.

The battle for democracy in the 21st century is increasingly being waged on the internet to such a degree that a movement for people's power in the United States seems inconceivable without free and unfettered access to the internet. Yet established civil rights organizations, whose relevance has long been under question, have sold out the people's internet rights in a bargain with the giant telecommunications corporations.

The FCC's net neutrality ruling will decide whether the telecom corporations will be allowed to monopolize the internet for their own profit whether all ideas and enterprises will have equal rights to travel on the internet, or it becomes a toll road for the billionaires. As a letter to the FCC, signed by 20 organizations, puts it, the principle of internet neutrality allows all Americans to speak for themselves without having to convince large media companies that their voices are worthy of being heard.

As the Federal Communications Commission prepares to rule on fundamental issues of internet neutrality, the NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens, LULAC, have aligned themselves with the likes of Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. The Urban League and the National Council of La Raza are claiming to have open minds, but look ready to go where the money is.

The FCC's net neutrality ruling will decide whether the telecom corporations will be allowed to monopolize the internet for their own profit whether all ideas and enterprises will have equal rights to travel on the internet, or it becomes a toll road for the billionaires. As a letter to the FCC, signed by 20 organizations, puts it, the principle of internet neutrality allows all Americans to speak for themselves without having to convince large media companies that their voices are worthy of being heard.

The telecoms are willing to spread millions of dollars around to buy Black and brown people's support.

When corporations rule, only money has free speech rights. That's the kind of internet environment that Verizon, AT&T and Comcast want to establish and they're willing to spread millions of dollars around to buy Black and brown people's support. White internet activists have shied away from calling the deal cut between the telecom companies and the NAACP, LULAC and others by its name but we won't. It's bribery, theft of the people's trust, a depraved sellout on a massive scale.

Sadly, it's a path of betrayal already taken by most of the Congressional Black Caucus, three and a half years ago. Back then, the same cable and phone companies were trying to undo regulations that forced them to serve the poor as well as the rich. The telecoms pulled out all the stops. In addition to contributing heavily to Caucus members' campaigns and offering blandishments to influential Black community groups, the phone companies coerced thousands of their employees in districts around the country to call their congresspersons and push the company line.

Progressive Black Caucus members told us the pressure was nearly unbearable. In the end, two-thirds of the Black Caucus caved in to the corporations. Only 13 members held out for the people's interests, while 27 bowed down to the power of money.

Now it's the NAACP's and the Urban League's turn to show if they still deserve to call themselves civil rights organizations. Make no mistake about: no civil right will be safe, or even defensible, if corporate America is allowed to decide who travels the information highway, and who does not.

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.

Contact BAR executive editor Glen Ford.

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The Van Jones Takedown

By Rosa Clemente

Over the Labor Day weekend Van Jones, a member of the Hip Hop generation and special advisor for green jobs at the White House Council for Environmental Quality, tendered his resignation, and it was accepted by the Obama administration. I will be the first to say that I never found Van Jones to be a radical, a Black Nationalist or a communist as Fox News has suggested.

Although I appreciate his book The Green Collar Economy, I never believed that a green economy will save working people. I felt that the book gave solutions on how to save the current capitalist system. And fundamentally that presents a problem, as many in this country are suffering because of capitalism and its failures.

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Twenty-four hours in Gaza

‘From the Ghetto to Gaza Speaking Tour’: Welcome M-1 of dead prez to the Bay Area – East and West Oakland, San Francisco, Sonoma, San Jose, Santa Cruz – for six days of sharing his recent experiences in Gaza, Cairo and Europe and comparing them with ghetto life in the U.S. – six events Sept. 24-29 benefiting the SF Bay View and Block Report Radio

source: San Francisco Bay View

By Mutulu Olugbala
aka M-1 of dead prez

You may have heard me say, “I work for the people; the streets are my office.” Well, my recent mission to Palestine was a testament to that statement. Through the Existence is Resistance organization, I bore witness to a very moving and eye-opening experience.

As a man-at-arms in an African Liberation Movement in the U.S. which is currently in the process of re-organizing and re-inventing itself in these times, I see the role of international solidarity critically important to our future world view. So when asked, “Why are you all the way over there when there is a war going on in your own community?” I proudly quote dead prez’ “Psychology” (“Let’s Get Free,” 2000): “My enemy’s enemy is my man!”

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Mumia: Between the Government and the People

As democratic forces mobilize in response to the suspicions resulting from the recent Iranian presidential election, they are meeting repression from a government that is fueled by the twin forces of paranoia and theocracy.

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Of Pirates and Piracy

Cartoon by Khalil Bendib

Of Pirates and Piracy
By Mumia Abu Jamal

In the news of late is the piracy drama off Africa's horn - the eastern coast of Somalia.

All of a sudden, piracy is a problem, one needing military, if not global solutions.

Every petty politician is bum-rushing the mike, to spout off on how pirates are "thugs", "criminals", or the latest Western curse, " terrorists".

"If piracy is a crime when individuals do it, what is it when states do it? Who can deny that America was stolen and swindled from the Indians? Or that millions of people were stolen from Africa to work for them for centuries? Is that piracy-- or just plain policy?"

Such pronouncements almost always leave me cold, or, at best, ambivalent, for behind these events lie a history that cries out for clarity and perspective.

If piracy is a crime when individuals do it, what is it when states do it?

Who can deny that America was stolen and swindled from the Indians? Or that millions of people were stolen from Africa to work for them for centuries?

Is that piracy-- or just plain policy?

Piracy did occur in the 17th and 18th centuries, and this was either cases of conflict between colonial powers (where British 'privateers', for example, would target and steal from Spanish ships), or simply in pursuit of profits.

The Somali state has been absent for a generation, and as such, what is today's piracy but making a living, albeit a dangerous one?

When Ethiopia was armed and egged on to invade Somalia several years ago by the Bush administration, was that state piracy?

Pirates are retail; nations are wholesale.

When the U.S. invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003, removed it's government, imposed its puppets, bombed its people, and ran a third of its population into exile, based on lies--was this piracy of one nation against another--or 'national security?'

Pirates are retail; nations are wholesale.

Who are the 'thugs', the 'criminals', the real pirates?

To my knowledge, no band of pirates has ever stolen a nation.

Guess who has?

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