Sept 16, 2008 A Black Man Was Dragged to Death in Paris, Texas

 On September 16, 2008 - not 1908,  Brandon McClelland was dragged to his death by  2 white men in a pickup truck. Apparently the authorities tried to hush this up but it's coming out just the same. I first became aware of this atrocity today while listening to a report on Breakdown FM

entitled - Horror-in-Paris-Texas. Paris Texas, infamous for the 1893 lynching of Henry Smith.

The same Paris Texas where 15 year old Shaquandra Cotton was sentenced to 7 years for shoving a 58 year old hall monitor, in spite of the fact that this was her first offense of any kind.

See the Final Call article by Jesse Muhamed titled Jasper-style lynching in Paris, Texas?

      Now where's the outrage? Here's some.

 It really is time for a change folks, wouldn't you say?

Let's start by paying more attention to local politics for a change.

It's time to get involved on a scale like never before and elect some our

own representatives to these city councils  and school boards and such.

It's time to start petitioning issues we feel strongly about and not spending

money in places that don't benefit our communities.

While we're at we need to start changing some of this high security

legislation designed to protect us from ourselves. Yeah we want Change! 

Black History Month UK Style

 OOOHHH, I'm Slippin', It's almost the end of October, which is Black History Month in the UK and I let it get right by me. I guess if I was a real Black Blogger, such a thing could never have happened. Oh well, I'll just have to keep trying, after all, nobody's perfect. It's a shame though that we here in the US, can't hook up with our brothers and sisters in the UK and share the Black History season . I mean the internet makes for an almost seamless venue where we can share our historic data. Maybe we can convince some of the African Nations that supplied the biggest part of the slave population to sponsor a diasporic history month to fall between October and February. At some point it should become quite apparent that much of our history is related in some measure. As a unifying force such an endeavor could be invaluable. IMO we have more in common than we know and a concentrated study of and by African around the world is long over due.

 At this late date I'm not going to start trying to find related historical data but I will try to point to a few relevant sites that I find for the remainder of the celebration.

Black History Month has been celebrated across the UK every October for over 30 years, each year growing from strength to strength. Black History Month is a time when we highlight and celebrate the achievements of the black community and uncover hidden history about our communities.

image - the original uniform for the Black Pioneers regiment 

Jared Ball presents - Amiri Baraka, Tom Porter, Rosa Clemente Debate Electoral Politics

 Jared Ball on his program Midday Jazzn'nJustice presents a firey, stimulating discussion which we should all be listening to. The speakers bring a miriad of ideas to the table, they have different approaches, they are discussing issues and strategies which we all can benefit by hearing. The discussion gets hot and heavy now and again  but as "warm-blooded people" we can handle it. :)

 The more we involve ourselves in discussions such as this, the more we will be able to formulate a strategy to empower ourselves. Yes it takes more than talking but we do need to communicate enough to get on the same page. 

 Props to prof Ball.

Who said racism was dead?

 An I saw article on Afro-Netizen serves as a harsh reminder that good ol' American style racism has not in fact breathed it's last breath. I don't know how many Americans this cyclist's t-shirt slogan speaks for but it has to be too many.

 The lines are being drawn and I'm not sure where the whole thing is headed but it feels to me like we're not going in the right direction. All the conditions for facism or even worse, seem to be dropping into place. Civil rights appear to be going into lock-down or lock-out, money is being taken out of circulation or at least being re-distributed among the few, sizable minorities of the population are being vilified or demonized and the populace is almost totally dependent on a limited number of corporations for everything they/we need.  This means that if you don't play ball with those pulling the strings they are in a position to simply cut you out of the supply chain.

 If you're too much of a threat, there are new prisons or containment centers apparently under construction even now. 

 Anyone else worried?

An Open letter to Barack Obama

An Open letter to Barack Obama from Rebel Diaz