Newsmakers Live

I am not politically savvy, believe me. I don’t know a whole lot about politics and the political arena. But some things are sacred. Like Vernon Jones running for national office. Why would this be important to me? Well, for one, “we” need as much representation as we can possibly get in Washington, if you know what I mean! Also, I think Mr. Jones’s would do well to increase his stature in the political pot by doing so, and would use his “powers of representation” to further establish the role of my beloved state, (Lawrence Leach, I-Savannah), to create an even more dynamic economic and social powerhouse here at the center of the Southern universe! Also, I’ve met the man…heard the man…seen the man in action…and I am impressed with his committment, passion, intelligence, directives, drive, and his ambition for nothing but the people of Georgia! I think he’d do well to run for a position in the United States senate. What do you think?

There are varying degrees of relationships that exists between our community and local, state, and federal police. As varied as those relationships, are the experiences African Americans have traditionally been victimized by police officers during segregation acting as agents of the law. Additionally, most black men have at some point been acosted or questioned by the local police on a whim. Is it surprising to think that these young men, after having witnessed all the years of oppression would have a blanket no to this question? We know there are no absolutes, but there is a 98.9 percent. This is where black people live and mass murder, rape, elderly assault, or self-incrimination would account for the 1.1 percent.

The NEWSMAKERS Live! spring season ends on Wednesday, May 2, 2007. Thanks to you, our patrons, supporters, and guests, we enjoyed another great season.

We had the pleasure of bringing the following guests to NEWSMAKERS Live this season:

Rep. Tyrone Brooks, GABEO; Rep. Al Williams, Judge-Black Caucus; Minister Sharrief Muhammad; Steve Grant, CEO; Kasim Reed, State Senator; John Eaves, Chairman, Fulton Co Commission; Mayor Shirley Franklin; Michael Eric Dyson; Alicia Thomas-Morgan; Ivory Young; Chief Bolton; Jock Smith; Vernon Jones, CEO, DeKalb County; Michael Thurmond, Labor Commissioner.

Tell us your thoughts and opinions about the previous season. We’d love to know what you think! Thanks

NEWSMAKERS Live!

The world’s changing! That says a lot. That one statement encompasses a critical mass of both negative and positive connotations. Mostly negative. When you ask the average person about the changes going on in the world today, they usually respond in the negative. I’ve actually asked people about this. A lotta people. Of all the indications in the subject or title of this writing, there is only one thing that physically disturbs me…when I ask about Barack Obama, I get all this negative stuff…”they” ain’t gone let that happen; who does he think he is? I don’t blame them. I blame me. Perhaps I need to ask outside the hood! Maybe I need to ask outside the haters circle! The truth is, I wanna hear stuff like: yes, I think he definitely can be president. I wanna hear, “Barack seems to have what it takes to move the people into thinking seriously about a “new deal” presidency. I wanna hear, “he seems to have a handle on the most pressing American issues. Help me out here. Tell me why Barack Obama can be president and a good one at that. Nobody can explain mass murder. Nobody really has a concrete handle on 2012 end-of-the-world predictions. I certainly do believe, however, that the collective consciousness of the people of America can determine what happens in this country. In short, if enough of us believe in a particular thing, and support it, it can happen. And it’s not because he’s black…it’s because he’s different…he’s “real.”Tell me what you think. Am I disillusioned or naive? Am I stupid? Am I just an overbearing idealist? Tell me about it.

I had to fight nearly every day after school when I was in elementary school. I got whipped a lot and I did a lotta whippin’. I beat the s**t outta Bill Jenkins with a social studies book, for example, for continually calling me a nigger. Remember it like I did it just yesterday. I didn’t like the way I felt when somebody, anybody, called me that. I still don’t. My dad taught me that if I respect myself enough, I’d reach a point where nobody could disrespect me, no matter what they said or how they said it. I’d be able to brush it off by saying to myself that it’s something wrong with them, not me. I found this to be true, and have lived accordingly most of the time ever since. However, in view of our “do as I say and not as I do” philosophy, it does not and cannot work. If I call myself and think of myself as a nigga, how the hell can I get upset when somebody else calls me nigga? I understand the underlying intent to belittle and behead the race when “they” call us that. Believe me, I do. I’m from “that generation.” I don’t wanna get too deep into this subject in this blog, as this is not the place to write a 500-word essay on the subject, but I do believe we have to make changes in our own collective, or our consciousness, before we can actually effect or cause a change of thinking in anybody else, or at least raise our own level of respect for ourselves that it is virtually impossible for anybody else to disrespect us. It’s all in the thinking. I believe that “thinking makes it so.” Help me out here. Give me so more insight on this subject. What do you think?

Shirley Franklin’s 2008 Atlanta City Council budget, the city payroll, was submitted to the council this month and is pending Council confirmation and expected to be voted on in June for final approval. The budget outlines or highlights budget proposals for Public Safety, Public Works & Parks, and Technological improvements.

 The 2008 Budget Highlights Include:

• the creation of 50 new APD police officer positions and five civilian positions (55 positions total)
• adding 18 firefighter positions to implement a four-man per truck staffing model
• transferring 34 firefighters from administrative positions to firefighting positions

Parks, Public Works & Building Permits

• adding eight new building inspectors
• more funding for traffic signs, street resurfacing and sidewalks

Technology Improvements

• funding GPS-enabled digital-imaging handheld units that will allow for better communication between field crews and managers in public works, code enforcement and building inspection areas

The budget’s been submitted and pending Council confirmation and final approval in June. What are your thoughts on this?

I happened upon an article in a local publication that asks and addresses the question: “Are We Carrying Around the Baggage of the Black Codes?” First, what are “Black Codes?” Black Codes are a compilation of laws which target people of color, stemming from the pre-Civil rights era belief and acceptance of the supposed inferiority of Blacks and the superiority of other races. “Black Codes helped create and enforced a negative and stereotypical belief system among Black people that they are inferior and slightly less than human.”

Among the most intriguing questions posed in the article, this one struck a cause for collaboration, “Although not actually enforced today, do these laws still linger among us, dictating our daily lives?” My personal observation and analysis would answer yes. These laws were engineered to create a social structure which would embed, over generations, into the black psyche that they were inferior, subservient, submissive, and subordinate…these are characterized by total compliance and/or absolute obedience to the white race. We’ve been collectively brainwashed.

CHEW ON THIS…a Georgia physician back in that day named Dr. Samuel W. Cartwright invented a “syndrome” to explain slave resistance. It was called ‘drapetomania’, a “disease” which caused Negro slaves to run away! The entire psychological profession enforced this and Black people were treated as such! Black people were taught that they have a mental illness if they chose to try and be free. Imagine that… the invention of a disease to describe a people who fought for their own basic rights. Was this a deliberate action? Did ‘folks’ actually sit around and think and devise ways to oppress and dehumanize Black people? Were their actions rooted in logic?

DIG THIS: “It is unlawful for any business or individual to extend credit to any person of color.” Even today, 100 years after this law, we still have a difficult time obtaining credit from institutions. We are still  the targets of unfair practices and procedures. As a direct result, only 15% of Blacks in Georgia are homeowners. Blacks are shown to be the lesser within all economic analysis, even while making up a majority of the population in any given area…whether it be for ownership of property or businesses and the so-called American dream in general.

There’s very much more to speak of concerning these “Black Codes.” We collectively realize that it’s not our fault, that we’ve been brainwashed. We know that we’re the product of sociological and psychological dysfuntion due to oppression, aggression, depression and a whole lot more. We know we’ve been “taught” and “taught well” how to hate ourselves, distrust ourselves, distrust each other, accept mediority, etc, and love and trust the white man and talk about all the wonderful things he does for us! We talk about these things all the time, and many of us live our lives according to this teaching.

I shall end here. But I shall end by saying this…kudos to you Akeelah. Bravo to you Stella in getting your groove back. It’s okay to be brilliant. It’s okay to excel. It’s okay to be an independent thinker. It’s okay to fight the power. It’s okay to be afraid but jump in the water anyway. It’s okay if you can’t play basketball. It’s okay to be okay. It’s okay. Really. We will, I believe, become a “true” people and will come “out of the matrix.”

Coming Up Next Week…”Never ask Christians for spare change when they’re getting outta church!”

There’s a political satire rattling around in my head. You can hear the rattle if you stand close enough. Shame. You gotta come back for this one…this rattle is breaking my concentration! While I’m not concentrating, this comes to mind…try and catch the true drift of the movie “Happy Feet”……there’s always some ‘alien’ stealing all the fish, leaving the rest of us to starve slowly. Damned Republicans! Okay, okay, I shant blame the republican agenda for my own starvation and deprivation, but it certainly seems that, ever since I can remember, every single time there’s a Republican administration in the White House, we either go to war or the economy shrinks or both. Hey, don’t attack me. I’m merely stating an observation. Hell, I don’t even know what the real difference is between a democrat and a republican. I’ve only been told that Republicans favor the national interests over the sectional or state interests, whatever that means. The Dems? They favor “sectional” interests and social equality, or so I’ve been told. I have to admit though, when Clinton was in office, (for example), people were throwing color TVs and personal computers away. Why? Because they just bought a newer, bigger, faster model. People had money to do this sort of thing. People had money to throw away! The economy was that good! As for myself, I literally made a business out of refurbishing and rebuilding and reselling people’s throwaways! Now, I can’t find anything. All the fish have been taken by big corporate, or so I’ve been told. I thought I was being punished. Well, it won’t be long now. Just hold on for a couple more years and the Dems will get this thing rolling again. There’ll be new ideas, fresh faces, health care for all Americans, a slew of new social programs to get people on their feet, a car in every driveway, a computer in every home, guns will be controlled, and the water main breaks will cease. Public shooting sprees will be a thing of the past. We’ll be awash in new, breathtaking technology. Rampant crime and corruption will surely dissolve. All this and more will be the new norm when the Dems kick in in the next couple years. Thank you and have a great day.