BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE JOURNEY #8 A FEW CHANGES ARE UNDER WAY FOR BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE AND THIS IS OUR FIRST style change on our CREATIVE JOURNEY. TAKE A LOOK INSIDE WITH: ARTIST DAIL CHAMBERS HISTORIAN Runoko Rashidi EMCEE HASAN SALAAM AND PRODUCER DOUBLE 0 PLUS MORE GREATNESS like A Culture of Insanity! By Khalif Williams
brothers perspective
contact: www.brothersperspective.com brothersperspective@yahoo.com myspace.com/thornbox
We are also pleased to announce the launch of the registration page for “Remixing the Art of Social Change: a Hip-Hop Approach National Teach-In.” From now until May 1st, early registration is available for only $15. For that $15, each registrant will get all of the following: Entry to teach-ins and Executive Summit | Annual subscription to Words. Beats. Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture | Admission to the Bootleg Festival: Independent Films, Mixtapes and Hip-Hop’s Underground Economy | Copy of the Counterbalance: The Impact of Hip-Hop in Communities and Classrooms | Waived submission fee for PSAs/student shorts at Bootleg Festival. The agenda will be posted on Monday May 4th. Register Early for Remixing the Art of Social Change ($15 until May 1st) WHAT IS THE TEACH-IN? The Remixing the Art of Social Change: A Hip-Hop Approach teach-in is a convening designed to outline the tools and resources necessary to develop curriculum, programs, and work (artistic and scholarly) based in hip-hop culture. The teach-in will also address how to retain and attract high caliber hip-hop artists, scholars and educators by building sustainable organizations. Words Beats & Life, Inc. (WBL) is spearheading the move to the next stage of our field’s development by creating a strategic development plan for excellence, scale, and sustainability to strengthen the network of hip-hop based youth-serving organizations. This process is being initiated though the teach-in and a series of subsequent gatherings of board members, youth, front line staff and Executive Directors of hip-hop based organizations, programs, and scholars. This event is the second annual national “Remixing the Art of Social Change: A Hip-Hop Approach” teach-in. It will take place June 12-14, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Registration includes access to all three days of the teach-in, light refreshments and snacks on Friday, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, breakfast on Sunday, entry to the evening event on Friday, and a one-year trial Cipher Membership. email: mazi@wblinc.org phone: 202-667-1192 web: http://www.wblinc.org
The Works of Dail Chambers BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
brothers perspective work of Dail Chambers
Dail Chambers || Bio Dail Chambers is a mixed media artist, grounded in photography and ceramics. Topics of her interest include post colonial discourse, women’s issues and African American studies. Her works range from fiber arts to nature based installations, with many artworks in between. She has shown her works in traditional and nontraditional exhibitions in St. Louis, Memphis, Philadelphia, Chicago and Virginia. She founded an annual benefit called The AIDS Project” in Memphis Tn. (third year running) and is a member of the National Women’s Caucus of Art. I currently reside in St. Louis Mo but I recieved my BFA from Memphis College of Art. I have a daughter: Antigone Chambers-Reed., single mom, started at the community college level and worked my way through school. (I have an upcoming solo show in stl on june 13th 2009 at nu-art series metropolitan art gallery. it also has other events while the exhibition is up during the month of june. i attached the jpg flyer for that as well. my artwork is up in alton ill @ spirits lounge til mid july and I am in a national emerging artist show in chicago @ liz long gallery. (it seems that all you gotta do is drive up and down hwy 55 to find my art, remnants of the great migration i guess- i show where i have family) the collage “Mississippi”- 2009, was what i entered in AIDS Project 3, in Memphis, which was curated by Siphne Sylve this year. (the first time someone else has curated it besides me). You can find my jewelry at Soulfly Boutique in Chicago Ill, and at the end of June I am scheduled to install some collages there as well. You can also find my jewelry at Eklectick Funk Boutique in Portsmouth Va.) usually i work sculpturally but lately i have been finding personal enjoyment collaging. i think they are much more light hearted than my 3d work.
brothers perspective work of Dail Chambers Artist Statement: We connect to the past when working with natural material; it contains social, historical and ancestral resonance. Copper, coined as the blood of the earth, and clay, known as the body of earth together make up merely a representation of our existence in form, sculpture and installation. Each work stands as a display of life and experience; and that of our ancestors. The communion of being both tangible and intangible I constantly revisit in my art practice. The link between our past and our present I journey. Wrapping, sewing, locking and conjoining are traditional practices; historically linked to “women’s work” that speaks of connectivity and relationship. I use this method most often in respect and as a comunicative tool. The weight of living is inescapable.The scabbed tear is a sentiment of this reality.
Engage in each work in the same as a conversation. Find power in a common object, as we too are formed to be that.. —Dail Chambers
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
KING
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
KING A family once stretched has now become broken. An entire nation mourns. There are only a few figures in history that have united peoples across all ranks and transcended the lines beyond our own personal human demons. Michael. Compassion, an often overlooked trait of endearment. Jackson. At this time we do not mourn, but employ the celebration of greatness. Michael Jackson will forever be remembered as the consumate entertainer and musician although he was so much more. It is through his music and genuine adoration of peoples worldwide that first come to mind upon reflection. The most noteworthy trendsetter and pioneer, his simplest movements and gestures are synonymous to our everyday media overload. Michael learned from the great James Brown, and we inturn learn from Michael. I am speaking about movements first because Michael’s road to glory was a movement in itself. The last 30 years of dance have been speckled with Michael’s influence, it is safe to say he is single handedly responsible for the movement in todays videos and on the dance floor. An innocent spirit long mangled under the spotlight of the many destructive “American Machines” within this country. A complete lifetime without privacy, he paralled a real life “Truman Story”. His contribution here in music is not withstanding and may remain unchallenged. There will of course be a myriad of negative contraversy attatched to his name, but his great accomplishments far overshadow any criticism. A troubled soul who’s gift to the world was himself. The King of Pop....or as we truly know him....KING. -re: Benjamin Bernard June 2009
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
brothers perspective presents:
A MOMENT
ANIBA HOTEP
http://www.myspace.com/anibahotepethericchild WWW.ANIBAHOTEP.COM
IN SOUL
Aniba Hotep (translated as Messenger of Peace) is a rare vocalist whose sound has been described as “thunderous honey”, jazz and R&B to the taste, gospel and folk going down. A southern girl with the musical ancestry of would-be bluesmen and country preachers. Aniba has an uncanny ability to not only excel at many genres, but serve as a griot through her conversational method of songwriting. She began as a local celebrity in her hometown at age eight, cutting her teeth in talent shows and composing her own music in academic honors programs, leading her to the famed Apollo theater at the age of twelve. Aniba stepped away from the spotlight in 1995 to pursue her education and figure out where her sound fit in the mid-90’s music industry. By 2001 her love or writing and the rediscovery of the artists Aniba Hotep was born and bred on (Mahalia Jackson, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and Shirley Murdock) called her to a new arena of music that finally felt like home. Together with the inspired sounds of the Sol Collective, Miss Hotep is geared for her life’s mission; to interpret and tell the story of a people as only she can. Aniba Hotep and the Sol Collective is a gifted band comprised of everything that makes soul music beautiful. Aniba Hotep (vocals) is an accomplished vocalist/songwriter whose southern gospel roots provide the quiet yet thunderous backdrop to the stark musical images of Louis Wells (keyboards), Will Baggett (bass), Aum Mu Ra El (lead guitar) Benjamin Washington (clarinet/flute/saxophone), Al Elliot (alto saxophone) Will Porter (soprano saxophone) Donnell Dagley (trombone), and Michael “Q” Mitchell (drums). Respectively, these artists have performed at the Apollo Theater, studied under Donald “Buster” W oods (one of the top organ players in Chicago), played with the Chicago Sinfionetta, acted as band leaders for the Chicago Public School system for over ten years, performed alongside Jennifer Hudson, Janet Jackson, Lalah Hathaway, Bilal, Sy Smith, Julie Dexter, Yazahrah, the late James Brown, and at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Together with the complimentary vocal stylings of Neri Ma’at and Sahura Seshmu (background vocals), they have performed at The Checkerboard Lounge, The Subterranean, Real Men Love (sponsored by Real Men Cook) Ai Sushi Restaurant and Lounge, The Jacob Carruthers Center (with famed author and lecturer Ashra Kwesi) and the Harold Washington Cultural Center where they opened for platinum recording artist Carl Thomas. Their music has graced The Excalibur, The Mekhasken House, WVON’S PreKwanzaa Event, won the Thursday Night Open Mic at Jokes and Notes (hosted by WGCI’S Tony Scofield), and even political arenas such as The Roast and Toast of Emil Jones, President of the Illinois Senate, and “One Day of Rain”, a historical unveiling of reknown artist Abiola Akintolas tribute sculpture to President Barack Obama. They most recently capped off their rising success with an Album Release Party hosted by actress/vocalist Cynda Williams of “Mo Betta Blues” fame. Aniba Hotep & the Sol Collective have partnered with 220 Communications and are in the works of doing some exciting things to promote their debut album “Sol of a Goddess”. It could be best described as a medley of textures and tones that stimulate and heal all of the frayed nerves in your spirit that are in dire need of a healing- an accomplishment that can only be established by a clarity of what is essential for solar energy to illuminate the way.
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
Hasan Salaam
In The Name Of
Peace and Greeting Brother Hasan, tell us about your upbringing where you from? Peace im from Jersey. i was raised between Teaneck and Jersey City. both places are very diverse and have lot of different people from different cultures. all thaht added on to my world view. teaneck is a suburb quiet, relaxed but has a deep history especially along racial lines. jc is more hectic but also has a deep history, i was lucky 2 b a child in both places. Why did you start doing hip hop? the sound of it, the movement, what it stands 4 & i love writing & rockin. an older brother on my block Walter used to DJ and freestyle, i looked up to him and he kinda suggested i try puttin the books i read into rhymes. originally i wantedto DJ but once he gave me Rakim’s Follow the Leader album it was a wrap, i wanted to b an MC. Who are some of you greatest Influences in Li fe and why? my Mother is the greatest influence in my life. she raised me, taught me everything she could and pointed me in the right direction to learn that which she didnt. She sacrificed to provide a better life for me and her heart and soul influences my life & music. Musically John Coltrane is the biggest influence on me, just how he went from r&b to be bop to creating his own form of expression through jazz was amazing. He adapted to new sounds and sought out differnt ways to stretch the limits.
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
Swine Flu? People die from the flu all the time. Influenza is still 1 of the major causes of death in the world. This particular strand is stronger than most. The media has blown it out of praportion to sell products and keep the people in fear. Tell our readers about the Community work you’ve done? And why its important to you? i currently work with youth offenders and other children in need in Jersey City. Also for the last 5 years weve been doing food and clothing drives every 3rd sunday of the month in JC where we give out clothes, food, toys, and household items to people who need them. Tell us your thought on this Old World Order becoming New again? Those in power want to stay in power. They dont care how as long as they stay in control of the resources. This has been true since Babylon. Whereas before empires tried to take over simply through military means we see today commerce and technowledgy play a part in world domination. We live in a time where people are so affraid of outside forces ie “terrorists“ they allow the government and big buisness to put up cameras and invade their privacy. The old world order is here just being packaged and sold in a new way. Its like now they make slavery look appealing to you.
With the new wave of Auto Tuned rappers what are some good counter balance methods for the true emcee? i would just say hone your craft, find what makes your voice unique without the aid of computers and studio effects. How did the place you were raised influence your music? i was in a high school that had Tru N Livin, Lady Luck, Hitchcock from the A-Team, Smarty Pants and alot of dope MCs. We would run verses by each other battle or whatever and sharpen our skills. The Isley Bros, Crazy Dre from Das Efx and alot of peoples are from Teaneck, and when i was a kid Double X Posse & Apache was out and Flava Unit had an office Jersey City so i saw it was possible to make a name for myself & be succsessful. Jersey stays gettin slept on but weve added on to hiphop from jump and we not stoppin anytime soon. Seeing how radio, video and internet has determined what this culture is for the mainstream, where does the aware emcee fit in? honestly i gets in where i fits in. i dont like to b pigeon holed into a genre or any lables. i make music 4 the world to hear and im gonna get it to them one way or another. mainsteam media has never been about puushing positive black culture, those of us who got thru did it on our own determination. im cut from the cloth of those that made music for the peoples upliftment and would play on the chitlin circuit and the roadhouses cause it was to black for the mainstream, now it just to black for BET you dig. Any future plans with new releases? im working on an album project with my brother Rugged N Raw called Mohammad Dangerfield a new compilation of my unreleased music & of course my 3rd album Life in Black & White. Now please drop any gems that you feel are important, shout out etc ???? Peace to everyone in the struggle, stay wise & walk on water. check 4 my album on cdbaby.com/cd/hasansalaam4 hit me up on HasanSalaamMusic.com, twitter.com/hasansalaam, facebook, myspace.com/ hasansalaam peace Cook
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
brothers perspective
dope album Mos Sef The Ecstatic Label: Downtown BBBBB
All I can say is go get this album. I bought It turned the album over to the back and so Noble Dru Ali and was like yes this is gonna be fresh. I went to the car and I was like ok it is fresh, dope beat after dope beat. I mean this man even did a song in spanish “No Hay Nada Mas” produced by Preservation. But that was cool mixed in with all the dope beats by Madlib whoaa banger after banger. “Auditorium” (featuring Slick Rick) is like a classic with fresh styles going back and forth and two classic emcees. Other stand out tracks include: Roses with Georgia Anne Muldrow, History with Talib,Casa Bey and Supermagic produced by Oh No. Yes East meets West comes out freshh
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE; AFRICAN LITERARY LION IN NINETEENTH CENTURY FRANCE BY RUNOKO RASHIDI DEDICATED TO DR. IVAN VAN SERTIMA (1935-2009) “A man’s mind is elevated to the status of the women with whom he associates.” --Alexandre Dumas, pere In Paris, just a short distance from the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, lies the Pantheon--a monument I have been to several times and one of the most significant buildings in the whole of the City of Lights. Commissioned in 1750 and completed in 1789, two years later the Constituent Assembly converted it into a secular mausoleum for what they considered “the great men of the era of French history.” My interest in the Pantheon began a few years ago when I learned that the great writer--Alexandre Dumas, pere (a distinguished man of African descent)--was being interred there. Alexandre Dumas, pere (1802-1870), who lived a near-legendary life, is one of three outstanding men of African descent to bring distinction to that name in what has been called the Golden Age of France--that period from
the mid-eighteenth to the end of the nineteenth century. The first of these men was born in Haiti and became General Thomas Alexandre Dumas (1762-1806). Indeed, General Dumas was called “Alexandre the Greatest.” General Dumas was the son of a plantation owner, Alezandre-Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, and an enslaved African woman, Marie-Cessette Dumas. After his father brought him to France a dispute broke out between father and son regarding whether the mixed-race boy would be his father’s true heir. This dispute led to the son breaking off the relationship and, in 1786, enlisting in the army. The French Revolution in 1789 enabled gifted men to rise rapidly, and by 1792 Dumas was a lieutenant-colonel and married to Marie-Louise Labouret. The next year he was promoted to general of the army in the Western Pyrenees. Eventually, he joined Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy and later in Egypt where he questioned Bonaparte’s policies. The break between them was permanent and firm. Denied an adequate pension General Dumas soon died a man broken in spirit. General Dumas is the father of the great writer, Alexandre Dumas, pere, and the grandfather of Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824-1895). This latter Dumas is called the “remaker of the modern French stage.“ He is the author of Camille, became president of the French Academy (the highest possible intellectual honor for a Frenchman), and the recipient of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. Alexandre Dumas, pere, the grandson of Marie-Louise Labouret, produced more than 250 literary works including plays, novels, political tracts, and a cookbook. He was the writer of such immortal works as The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Black Corsican, and The Black Tulip. Of course, he is the author of the deep, profound, and famous expressions “One for all and all for one” and “Your work may be finished but your education is never completed.” Naturally, my favorite expression by Dumas is “A man’s mind is elevated to the status of the women with whom he associates.” Those words really resonate with me! BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
As to how Dumas (nicknamed the “Mulatto”) saw himself, the distinguished African historian Dr. Dieudonne Gnammankou provided me an excellent example. In a private conversation Dr. Gnammankou informed me that the outstanding African-American Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge once gave a performance of Othello the Moor at the palace of Versailles with Dumas sitting in the front row. According to Gnammankou, the performance was of such a superlative nature that just as it was completed Dumas jumped on the stage and embraced Aldridge in a enormous bear hug and exclaimed that, “I too am a Negro!” A similar account is provided by Joel Augustus Rogers in his Nature Knows No Color-Line. “Alexander Dumas the Elder was rather proud of his Negro ancestry. When his daughter was to marry into an aristocratic family, he invited a large number of the Negroes of Paris. The bridegroom’s mother was shocked. To make it still worse, Dumas told her, `They are my relatives who wish to be present.’” In the Pantheon Dumas’ sarcophagus lies just between those of his friend Victor Hugo and Emile Zola. On display just outside the crypt is a copy of the cover of Claude Ribbes’ book on Alexander Dumas’ father, General Alexandre Dumas, emblazoned with a reproduction of the elder Dumas, on horseback and splendidly uniformed, looking both heroic and decidedly African. Of Alexandre Dumas, pere Victor Hugo wrote, “The name Alexandre Dumas is more than French--it is universal.” Yes, Alexandre Dumas, pere was a fascinating man and I delight in calling him “my brother.” He was a lover of humanity, appreciative of the pleasures of life and lived it fully. He made a fortune and gave it all away. He once owned a large castle on the outskirts of Paris. He dominated all around him, had a twinkle in his eye, and was possessed of a wonderful sense of humor. I would have dearly loved to have met him. Ivan Van Sertima even told me that Dumas wrote an early book on Egyptology. Somebody should really follow up on that. Indeed, maybe that someone should be me!
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
At the end of life with death rapidly approaching, Dumas is supposed to have made a remark so characteristic of him. He said, “I will tell her a story, and she will be kind to me.” I truly hope that she was. He was quite a man and I am definitely feeling his spirit today! COPYRIGHTED BY RUNOKO RASHIDI IN JUNE 2009 Runoko@yahoo.com
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
DOUBLE 0
Can You Rock A Crowd
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
Peace Double O, whats going on with you these days? -working on the new Kidz In The Hall Album... “Land Of Make Believe” We should be done in the next few weeks and it will drop in October. When did you first start making beats? - I started the summer between my freshmen and sophmore year of college. So like summer of ‘98. I only made 5 beats for like a whole year though so I sucked that whole time. I really started making beats from them on though winter of 99 when I got my yamaha qy70. How did you hook up with Naledge to form a group?? - We both went to school together... you guys know the rest. Why do you call your self Kidz in the Hall its not a normal name for a Hip Hop Group? - What is a normal hip hop name? something with a hyphen in it? lol... or maybe a Young/Yung or lil? or maybe an inanimate object that’s supposed to sound threatening like calling ourselves gunbutt .... yea we should of been “Butt Of A Really Big Gun”!!! that would’ve been great. We did it for the exact reason you asked that question. It isn’t ‘Hip Hop’ or maybe it is ‘Hip Hop’ since the genre is supposed to rebel the status quo. Anyway we knew that it was something we could define ourselves and could be around for a while. Sometime some of these new artists coming out. Off name alone you know they wont be around long.
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
Where are you from originally? How did this place influence your music? Well NY & NJ.. spent one half of my yout in brooklyn and then moved to Lakewood for middle school and high school. I grew up in the “golden age” so they say. I was influenced by anything and everything hip hop. Jersey also had a huge house music subculture so that definitely leaked into my musical upbringing as well. And I cannot count my dad out because he’s been a heavy musical consumer well before I was born so I heard anything and everything he was playing as well... From Burning Spear to Phil Collins to Sade. Who are some of the best emcce’s out now to you? You have to specify. Young or old? I mean to me Jay, Nas and Andre are the Tip Top with ‘Ye very close behind. Out of the Young guys obviously Naledge, The Kid Daytona, Donnis I funks with Drake A lot, Phonte, Lupe man really there are a shitload of talented cats out there... the Wale’s the Mickey Factz’s the Asher’s. All these guys and more are talented MC’s .... only thing separating them is their record deal, cosign or ability to make really great records. See MCing in it’s rawest form is outdated. Every street corner has their ‘dope’ MC but can they all put on a great show? Can they make great songs? To me we are in the age of the Songwriter moreso than the ‘MC’. The MC component has gone back to it’s rawest element “Can You Rock A Crowd” Period.
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
Same idea who are your top 10 Hip Hop Producers ever? Ever? hmmmm Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock. Bjork is up there to me as well since she did a lot of her own stuff... Now in Hip Hop obviously you have Dre, Just Blaze, Kanye, The Neptunes, Dj Quik and Pete Rock. Dilla is up there too as is Premier and Q-tip... I don’t like these lists cuz they mean nothing. I love dope shit and so it doesnt matter if it’s a DJ Khalil or a 9th Wonder beat. If I funks with enough of their catalog then I consider them a dope ass producer. Olympics tell us about this and your place in history? Ran in Athens 04 Olympics for Belize. Both my parents are from their and I have always thought about reppin them on the world stage. So umm yea I have been running track since freshmen year of High School. I ran 400 meter hurdles there and yea... I fucked up and it sucked.. lol .. NEXT! Do you think that Hip Hop music is watered down with over priced images and not enough true talent? Why or why not? We live in America... capitalism is our M.O. I hate how people keep thinking that art is not going represent the ideals we all grew up by. Sure some art transcends it and some critques it but it’s gonna contain who we are as Americans.. Big Hairy American Winning Machines!!
Any new solo projects or group projects coming out from Double O? Land Of Make Believe is the only thing that matters right now... And finally please tell us about the future of making beats and what type of equipment you use? In The future we will be able to make beats as we doo doo on the latrine... Everytime we go bam we got a new batch-o-beats!!!!! I actually don’t make my beats.. Aliens do and they send the plans down to me via an intergalactic pigeon service. I just wait for the pigeons and then do as they say. Now you can send some shout outs etc or and important information you’d like to share with Hip Hop Fans? www.kidzinthehall.com, facebook.com/kidzinthehall TWEET US double0_ofKidz, NaledgeKidz
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
wwww.brothersperspective.com for more info
A Culture of Insanity! By Khalif Williams
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
“The most significant damage done to the African was the colonization of his mind.” – Dr John Henrik Clarke on ABC’s Like It Is with Gil Noble. This statement made by the late great Dr Clarke expresses the root core of the dilemma of people of African descent. The only way to reclaim the aspects of our humanity stolen, trampled upon and utterly stripped from us by our oppressors we must understand the mind and psychology of those who do the oppressing. It is in this understanding that we can truly uncover not only what was has happened to our people, but it can also create an atmosphere of diagnosis and healing. From our healing and the restructuring of our paradigm a process of liberation can begin that cannot be thwarted by the machinations and manipulations of those who control our day to day existence. We can take an inventory of our successes and the mistakes we have made over the last 500 years of our interaction with our oppressors and our struggles for freedom in our respective places of residence both continental and in the Diaspora. Europeans and Arabs as well have effectively commandeered the minds and psyches of their African subjects from the very beginning of their conquests and conquering of lands that didn’t belong to them. This colonization has created generations of fractured families, psychological conditions like Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, deadly skin bleaching epidemics, children made to feel so inferior that the only way of life they see in their future is one where they are striving to transform themselves physically into their enemies by surgery or other “beauty” alterations. Another expression of this mental illness is a concerted effort to exclusively date outside of their race to genetically alter the features and bleach the skin tone of their offspring to match more closely those they desire to be like, Europeans. They try to attain a beauty standard they will never reach but this beauty standard is the yardstick used by people all over the world simply because Europeans have colonized most of the known world and domesticated them to a Europeanized vision and version of reality. Colonization has also created racist, cold blooded hateful human beings unable to see the humanity inherent in other people because they are blinded by the inflated ego of an altered history. They are tainted by the disease of hate and moral ambiguity in reference to the treatment of those they have been taught by clergy, teachers, political leaders, entertainers, scientists, employers, law enforcement, the media, and their parents and etc are subhuman. This culture of insanity hurts the oppressor no less acutely than the oppressed, but by virtue of their dominant position in society and racisms gangrenous effects they are unable to see it. Europeans through their total control of education and their false retelling of history have created a race based history altered to make them look like the torch bearers of civilization and religious consciousness while effectively destroying and subverting the history, culture and religions of the indigenous people and people of color they have dominated for generations. Some of the different forms of mental illness created by this dilemma has been outlined by doctors like, Dr Francis Cress Welsing, Dr Joy De Gruy, Dr Marimba Ani, Dr Richard King, Dr Yosef Ben Jochannan and many more. The most acute way this illness rears its head is in the intra-racial expression of violence and rogue criminal terrorism displayed by one member of the oppressed group towards another. Dr de Gruy has discussed the phenomena of oppressed people who tend to adopt a most violent posture towards their own people overwhelmingly more than they do the people that are the cause of their suffering. Some oppressed people tend to readily degrade themselves and their
people as backwards while striving to emulate every behavioral attribute including the disdain for their own people expressed by their enemies. A good example of this was the Sean Bell shooting where the majority of those killer cops were people of color. I have personally experienced harsher treatment by black police officers compared to their white counterparts. It isn’t all pervasive but it happens. If one can be trained to totally forget and forsake everything they are in order to “make it” in the world they live in then they have truly become one with a culture of insanity. If European culture is insanity then at the fundamental level that humans define and perceive reality we, as Afrikans and people of color have a serious problem. If a cultural minority becomes the power majority and, this minority, through military, media, and religious might force the majority cultures to adopt it’s culture as their own, then insanity becomes the norm and is redefined as sanity. Accepting another’s reality as your reality makes their reality yours. If the global majority, are right then Europeans are wrong, how dare they stand in judgment? Unfortunately as is the case with European cultural imperialism, if the insane can convince the sane that insanity is sanity, then the sane majority, become insane and insanity becomes universal and comes to be seen as sanity. Those individuals or groups that hold onto their original sanity become universally depicted as the truly insane (backward), and those who are carriers of the original insanity become universally depicted as the truly sane (modern). Indeed, Europeans are a minority. They currently represent less than ten percent of the world’s population and their numbers are steadily shrinking to an estimated 3% by 2073 – “The Cultural Continuum” Negroes and Other Essays by Mwalimu Baruti pg 39 The above quote discusses the process of mental colonization and how cancerous its spread can be. The quote also outlines the far reaching implications of this mental illness. Keeping in line with our theme of education or edited dictation from Journey 7 of Brothers Perspective the two main ways this culture of insanity was developed and then utilized on the unsuspecting citizenry was through religion and education and as we will see below politics. Legislation is a piece of paper it takes more than paper to change the minds and paradigm of a nation. This is why the apartheid of Jim Crow was instated after Africans were so called freed by President Lincoln. The theory of race and the dynamics set forth in the legal and religious sanctioned terrorism and murder of blacks could not be abated simply by Lincoln “setting us free”. In order for there not to be a revolt by those white Americans who thought it their religious and civic duty to lynch blacks Jim Crow became the new law and order. To create a false atmosphere of seeming political change while embracing an ideology of continued psychological comfort of the vast racist populace of the United States so they could still hold on to and openly express their racist, violent beliefs. While blacks would still effectively have to “stay in their place” Jim Crow was the next logical step to avoid racial anarchy. Despite this truth we were and still are taught to see our kidnappers and former slave masters as our beneficent civilizers, spiritual saviors.
Though our traditional African societies were older and far more advanced than anything an ancient or pre-colonial European could have conceived of whether that was precolonial Africa or ancient Africa. In truth African Americans and whites in all honesty should have diametrically opposed views of the founding fathers because of the roles they played in the lives of the different groups that inhabit the country of the America. Does that diminish our allegiance to the country in which we live? No, simply because our survival is intrinsically tied to the survival of America. It diminishes our allegiance to psychologically crippling untruths that dominate the culture and wider educational system of the United States. It also diminishes our allegiance to the aspects of American life that adversely affect us as a race and keep us perpetually subjugated. The reason our survival is tied to the survival of America is because we have not made the necessary connections, and in roads economically and politically with our African brethren in other parts of the world to create an economic, political and cultural situation of mutual benefit for Africans and African Americans and African Caribbeans independent of the European and European American machine. That was one of the most important lessons of Garvey’s UNIA platform through his Black Star Line and other programs this is what he tried to attain, a Pan African network of cross cultural, political, economic and trade exchange that would exclusively benefit people of African descent and give us freedom from the yolk of our oppressors. Malcolm X eventually came to the same understanding before he was assassinated. What we needed was a Black Wall street model applied on a global scale. Something other ethnic and racial groups have done from time immemorial. Honesty can foster unity where lies foster pain, anger and dissention. Unity is not the intent of American society because to foster unity the system as it presently exists cannot exist. We would have to quite literally destroy it and rebuild it from the ground up because the foundations were built on glass. In other words American culture is a culture of insanity because it was founded on murder, genocide, forced kidnapping, enslavement, and the illegal appropriation of land that was never theirs. Yet none of us are to ever speak or acknowledge this history otherwise we are considered un-American. This false sense of amnesia in regards to how America came to be is one of a few things at the foundation of the issue. That is exactly what they did with the Bible Africans were NEVER to question that God put Europeans on Earth to dominate all other indigenous peoples all over the world. The first thing Europeans and Arabs did upon their arrival and conquest of indigenous people is to usurp their concept of the creator as we will see later in this essay. For Native Americans the founding fathers are genocidal maniacal thieves and pillagers, For Africans they are kidnapping, mass murderous, genocidal slave drivers and thieves and for Europeans they are the frontiersmen and explorers, the genesis of a new way of life for those of their people under tyranny of British hegemony. The founding fathers are the ones who gave them a new land to exploit and colonize for their own benefit, political sovereignty and global expansion. This is why whites are able to selectively forget their atrocities and celebrate their colonization of this land as a form of patriotism. These differences in perspective from an accurate rendering of history are what a curriculum of inclusion would show for all to understand. But we are all trained by “formal instruction and supervised practice” to see these men through the same lying rose colored lenses. It is this lack of truth that makes race the pink elephant it is in our culture. Everyone acts like it is not there but its’ effects are felt and perpetuated ad infinitum though the clandestine institutionalized forms in which racism rears it’s ugly head because racism is not only about race it is more about acquisition of power. As the two illustrious ancestors Malcolm X and his good friend the late great Dr John Henrik Clark said “Only the slave can truly set themselves free.” Dr Clarke said it even better in his book: Notes for an African Revolution: Africans at the Crossroads and I quote: “Powerful people never educate the victims of their powering how to take their
power away from them….the ideology of our former slave masters cannot save us. We will not truly be liberated until we are the instruments of our own liberation.” A slave master doesn’t have the capacity to free the slave because the slave master can only see freedom from the perspective of the dominant group. A former slave must define freedom for him or herself and take that freedom or have control over the process like the Maroons of Jamaica for example otherwise they are NOT truly free. The dominant group’s freedom will always be a place above his former subjects. That is why there is the visceral opposition to reparations for African Americans to make even a 500 year head start white Americans have had in the game of life in America. Yet the Jewish community, Japanese Americans placed in concentration camps in America, and even Native Americans have all received some form of reparations for their own respective holocausts. When asked statistically most white Americans feel African Americans do not deserve reparations though they have the longest running most oppressed history of any of the other citizens of this country sans the Native Americans. That is the psychological conditioning of oppression from the oppressor’s perspective. Thus the form of freedom he gives to his former property will always be to his benefit, which is the case for African Americans. Racism was and remains Europe’s most valuable export in terms of their ability to take and control the majority of the world’s resources. Even the victims of it are tainted by its cancerous plague like spread. Its’ maintenance is essential for their privilege and wealth to be maintained in the places they ruled in person or now rule as a long distance puppet masters. In order to truly understand the minds and the behavior of the oppressed one must study the oppressor. Once one understands their (the oppressors) psyche and the motivating factors of their treatment of others, then the victim can analyze what is wrong with his own mind and exorcise the sinister domestication of his mind. Without their own understanding of their own circumstances and how they got there, this ignorance can propel them towards participating in activities that are not in their own best interest. Racism [is] discrimination by a group against another for the purposes of subjugation or maintaining subjugation. In other words one cannot be racist without the power to subjugate. Racism is a European manufacture. They planted it and cultivated it everywhere they went. It is a tool of white supremacy that elevates Europeans and creates oppression and antagonistic infighting among the remaining disempowered population. They are global trespassers; it has become a universal phenomenon. They were its’ sole and remain its’ primary carriers. Racism continues to be replicated wherever they “discover” new untamed frontiers and “uncivilized” peoples. It remains where they have physically departed but have remained absentee resources controllers. – Racism, Colorism, and Power by Mwalimu Baruti
Police are needed to police foundationally corrupt communities in foundationally corrupt countries. The interdependence of the world and all that takes place in it tells us that if something is wrong with the head (government) then something will be wrong with the body (the states, towns, cities, families and individuals). One can tell the civility of a group by their lifestyle and, culture and even vocabulary. The extensive and all pervasive humane and genuinely spiritual people Africans were, is expressed in the ancient and precolonial records from Strabo to Count Volney, Diodorus Sicilus to Homer: Traditionally African society was so remarkably nonviolent and crime-free that there was not even a West African word for “jail”. Indeed, this peace and general harmony of African societies amazed and awed early European and Arab travelers to the Sahara. Africans built a number of civilizations lasting over 100 years without a network of jails and without a word in their vocabulary that meant “jail”. – (excerpt from Mwalimu Baruti’s essay The Cultural Continuum The above is saying that historically in West Africa there were no such things as prisons because the society was inherently morally conscious and harmonious and universally so. The phenomena the prison industrial complex and even the word for jail came with Europeans and Arab invaders and conquerors. Their plans are apparent in their actions. As the prison, historical and educational records show. They (Europeans) originally made education illegal and punishable by death in order to keep Africans docile and subservient. Nat Turner was one perfect example of many of what an ability to read would do to the mind of Africans wanting freedom from slavery and terrorism. Christianity was not a religion of cheek turning non violent people. He used it’s tenets a revolutionary force that drove him to strive for change. I believe Christianity was a tool, the instrument of his awakening. For Nat Turner I think freedom was his true religion. Thinking that one’s former slave master will truly give them the education they need is like letting a fox guard a hen house. Sadly too many people of African descent choose to play a secondary role if any role at all in their child’s education and as a result they lose their children to death or the system long before they even know something is wrong. Those of us African Americans that are suffering the worst, tend to take the least interest in using education to their benefit or at least supporting the education of their children. Or if they do have a vested interest they don’t have adequate time because of financial issues to be there for their children. Charlie Reese again sums it up best in regards to the connections between education and economic independence. It is exactly what is happening today. “Just as a truly educated person is difficult to control, so too is an economically independent person. Therefore, you want to create conditions that will produce people who work for wages, since wage earners have little control over their economic destiny. You’ll also want to control the monetary, credit, and banking systems. This will allow you to inflate the currency and make it next to impossible for wage earners to accumulate capital. You can also cause periodic deflation to collapse the family businesses, family farms, and entrepreneurs, including independent community banks. To keep trade unions under control, you just promote a scheme that allows you to shift production jobs out of the country and bring back the products as imports (it is called free trade). This way you will end up with no unions or docile unions. Another technique is to buy both political parties so that after a while people will feel that no matter whether they vote for Candidate A or Candidate B, they will get the same policies. This will create great apathy and a belief that the political process is useless for effecting real change” – Charlie Reese
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All the things outlined above directly affect the poverty stricken people of America, especially poor African Americans. We are demoralized and lack motivation to seek change because of our own unacknowledged experience in this country and our complacency towards and fear of a mental revolution. Non Domesticated Thinkers: “Those individuals or groups that hold onto their original sanity become universally depicted as the truly insane (backward), and those who are carriers of the original insanity become universally depicted as the truly sane (modern).” – Mwalimu Baruti During the enslavement of Africans the slave master would make an example of the strongest and most rebellious slave in order to keep the masses of slaves docile by fear. In other words “If you act up and fight for your human rights you’ll be lynched like him.” That was the purpose of public lynching and castration and other forms of domestic terrorism performed on African Americans. If we can’t domesticate or educate you to be what we want you to be then you are worth nothing to us and are therefore expendable. This form of psychological warfare was perfected as far back as Roman times and earlier. Romans had ingenious ways of killing the undesirable especially in a public spectacle of fanfare. Things like Crucifixion, The Iron Bull, and other forms of grotesque killing was used to keep the Roman populace in line with their Kings political agendas without any public opinion to the contrary being voiced. This same sort of public mass murderous spectacle was the strongest technique used for the psychological domestication of black people. They continued to do it through out history by killing off or imprisoning our leaders. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were two of the most celebrated of our more recently publicly murdered strong black leaders. Those who are truly educated enough not to fall victim to traps set by our consumer culture, or at the least are not lulled into complacency by it or they defy their own continued exploitation by a system that uses institutionalized racism in a subversively and deceptively covert fashion they put one in their place using the police officer. Law enforcement plays the same role in urban communities that the overseer played on plantations. Their role was organized terrorism and psychological conditioning through fear of the unknown. Africans in America always sat wondering, what was the next heinous act that they would experience at the hands of those who were supposed to be ensuring law and order? The Police officer in my opinion is really a policy overseer: they see that policy as set by politicians and local government no matter how oppressive or progressive are adhered to by any means necessary including brute force. The police force is an urban militia, the first line of defense to enforce laws on society. If the law enforcement can’t do the job then they call in reinforcements like the C.I.A., F.B.I. the National Guard etc. The police force was used in the 60’s to legally and forcefully keep blacks in their place because of their race. This is how a culture of insanity manifests itself. Use force to get converts and once everyone is psychologically trained by that brute force to follow your lead you no longer need to use force. This is identical to the Pavlov experiments where dogs were trained by Pavlov and other scientists. Every time they fed the dogs they rang a bell. This was done over an extended period of time. The training was so effective that every time a bell was rung in the dog’s presence they would automatically salivate expecting to be fed, even when there was no food present. This is what was done to Africans. They were so well trained to stay in their second class position in society by 500 years of physical and psychological conditioning that now they do so of their own volition. But, every so often when those in control believe we have forgotten our place the police kill a young black male or two to remind us.
This system of peaceful coercion sometimes called domestication or physical brutality sometimes called policing is all geared towards making one think and act the way the dominant group wants one to think or act. Even ones perception of morality is dictated by the dominant group in society. At one time in America to murder and terrorize people of color was normal and enforced by law and religious sanction for hundreds of years. Whites were educated to be the dominant group who had the ability to use all force necessary to enforce their dominance. Blacks on the other hand were educated to believe they were inferior, subhumans saved by the conquest of and subdued by the superior being, the white man who was ordained by God to be our owners. Religion was the first tool of domestication used by European powers in taking control of the minds, land and resources of people of color. This letter written by King Leopold II is what I believe to be the true documented Willie Lynch letter: Letter from King Leopold II of Belgium to Colonial Missionaries, 1883 The letter which follows is Courtesy of Dr. Vera Nobles and Dr. Chiedozie Okoro. “Reverends, Fathers and Dear Compatriots: The task that is given to fulfill is very delicate and requires much tact. You will go certainly to evangelize, but your evangelization must inspire above all Belgium interests. Your principal objective in our mission in the Congo is never to teach the niggers to know God, this they know already. They speak and submit to a Mungu, one Nzambi, one Nzakomba, and what else I don’t know. They know that to kill, to sleep with someone else’s wife, to lie and to insult is bad. Have courage to admit it; you are not going to teach them what they know already. Your essential role is to facilitate the task of administrators and industrials, which means you will go to interpret the gospel in the way it will be the best to protect your interests in that part of the world. For these things, you have to keep watch on disinteresting our savages from the richness that is plenty [in their underground. To avoid that, they get interested in it, and make you murderous] competition and dream one day to overthrow you. Your knowledge of the gospel will allow you to find texts ordering, and encouraging your followers to love poverty, like “Happier are the poor because they will inherit the heaven” and, “It’s very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.” You have to detach from them and make them disrespect everything which gives courage to affront us. I make reference to their Mystic System and their war fetish-warfare protection-which they pretend not to want to abandon, and you must do everything in your power to make it disappear. Your action will be directed essentially to the younger ones, for they won’t revolt when the recommendation of the priest is contradictory to their parent’s teachings. The children have to learn to obey what the missionary recommends, who is the father of their soul. You must singularly insist on their total submission and obedience, avoid developing the spirit in the schools, teach students to read and not to reason. There, dear patriots, are some of the principles that you must apply. You will find many other books, which will be given to you at the end of this conference. Evangelize the niggers so that they stay forever in submission to the white colonialists, so they never revolt against the restraints they are undergoing. Recite every day-“Happy are those who are weeping because the kingdom of God is for them.” Convert always the blacks by using the whip. Keep their women in nine months of submission to work freely for us. Force them to pay you in sign of recognition-goats, chicken or eggs-every time you visit their villages. And make sure that niggers never become rich. Sing every day that it’s impossible for the rich to enter heaven. Make them pay tax each week at Sunday mass. Use the money supposed for the poor, to build flourishing business centres. Institute a confessional system, which allows you to be good detectives denouncing any black that has a different consciousness contrary to that of the decision-maker. Teach the niggers to forget their heroes and to adore only ours. Never present a chair to a black that comes to visit you. Don’t give him more than one cigarette. Never invite him for dinner even if he gives you a chicken every time you arrive at his house.
“The above speech which shows the real intention of the Christian missionary journey in Africa was exposed to the world by Mr. Moukouani Muikwani Bukoko, born in the Congo in 1915, and who in 1935 while working in the Congo, bought a second hand Bible from a Belgian priest who forgot the speech in the Bible. — Dr. Chiedozie Okoro We should note: 1] that all missionaries carried out, and still carry out, that mandate. We are only lucky to have found King Leopold’s articulation of the aim of all Christian imperialist missionaries to Africa. 2] Even the African converts who today manage the older churches in Africa (the priests, bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals etc of the Roman and Protestant sects), and especially also those who evangelize Born-Again Christianity, still serve the same mandate. Which is why they demonize African gods and Anglicize African names, and drop the names of African deities which form part of African names; and still attack and demolish the African shrines that have managed to survive, e.g. Okija. The second note above says that modern African clergy are now doing the job for the missionaries until this very day. It is unnerving to say the least how complete the conversion of some of our people has been. The sane have truly embraced insanity (modernity) to the detriment of their and their people’s future. In studying the role entertainment can play in the colonization of the mind, we went from the Civil Rights Movement and Black Liberation Era of the 1960’s, almost immediately after their start the F.B.I., the C.I.A. and COINTELPRO successfully neutralized all concerted forms of organized struggle by blacks. This began the use of the medium of entertainment to usher in the Blaxploitation Era of the 1970’s. Super Fly, Black Ceasar, Hell Up In Harlem and other big budget films helped to shift the paradigm of African American thought from liberation to subjugation of their own communities through crime for financial success. To thoroughly crush any semblance of our ancestral memory of struggle the C.I.A in Los Angeles and the NYPD and other law enforcement branches across the country then infiltrated communities of color and urban communities with drugs via the Crack Era of the 1980’s and 1990’s. Movies like Scarface had an immense impact on the psyche of inner city youth especially impoverished African Americans. Documentaries like Scarface for Life and The Larry Davis Story by Troy Reed, Gangland on the History Channel and American Gangster on BET as well as Bastards of the Party by Cle “Bone” Sloan and Cocaine Cowboys documentary all speak of the impact of the organized effort made by different branches of law enforcement to bring drugs into inner city communities which served to psychologically anesthetize an already and damaged oppressed people and fragment their family structure with irreparable damage. The overwhelming role movies like Scarface had in changing the psychological landscape of African American thought from communal survival and upward mobility through education to a false sense of success through criminal activities glorified in cinema which took its cue from American History and current state of American Society at the time. The precedent for success set by these films and the societal landscape rife with corruption from federal government to local government and law enforcement created an atmosphere of embracing and mirroring the terrorism inflicted on us by our enemies under the auspices of trying to find a way out the hell of inner city life with self preservation being the primary focus of ones goals, rather than the preservation of the community. We went from a communal group consciousness to embracing the Europeanized solely individualized consciousness we still follow today. This is the same mentality that gives one the drive to sell drugs, and other detrimental practices and morally justify it in our minds. If that isn’t embracing a culture of insanity I don’t know what is. In Conclusion The fact that a prison term basically legally can make a slave out of you is as outlined in the 13th amendment this excerpt brings this truth home: The United States Constitution Permits Prison Slavery and Involuntary Servitude
AMENDMENT XIII - SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Prison by definition as codified in the thirteenth amendment of the United States Constitution can hold people in slavery and involuntary servitude. Prison labor is slave labor at worst and coerced cooperation at best. It is a growing phenomenon in the prison industrial complex. Angela Davis Professor at University of California sums it up like this: As prisons take up more and more space on the social landscape, other government programs that have previously sought to respond to social needs -- such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families -- are being squeezed out of existence. The deterioration of public education, including prioritizing discipline and security over learning in public schools located in poor communities, is directly related to the prison “solution.” Like Dr John Henrik Clarke once said on Like It Is with Gil Noble “The educational system as it is today is geared towards educating people of African descent to accept their own reenslavement.” The re-enslavement he was speaking of was the prison industrial complex. Our lack of control over not only the education we receive but the quality of that education is what sets African Americans up for failure. Besides this our lack of autonomy in our own communities does the same. Most African Americans do not own the businesses in their neighborhoods so they are subject to the whims of the racist white majority in terms of making a way in America. If we owned our own businesses in our own communities it would serve as a buffer to our children since they would be interviewing with and working for people who are successful and look like them as well as live along side them and understand their struggle. Instead we send them to be taught by our enemies, to be given an inferior education and prepare to have to doctor their identity or sacrifice their identity all together and lose their cultural perspective to fit in a white world that doesn’t want them to begin with unless it can exploit them. This failure leaves these people few positive choices for their own survival thus leading them to the self destructive path. Once on the self destructive path it becomes a revolving door of incarceration for the now criminalized victim. These are the things we must grapple with if we are to truly liberate our children from the fetters of inferior self knowledge which has a direct correlation to the incarceration rate which is as we have seen is the new slavery. In a culture of insanity one who adheres to the system blindly will always fall victim to it. Sources: Education or Edited Dictation by Khalif Williams How to Control People by Charlie Reese Notes for an African Revolution by Dr John H. Clarke Negroes and Other Essays by Mwalimu Baruti The Destruction of Black Civilization by Dr Chancellor Williams The Trouble with Africa’s Political Development by Chinweizu Angela Davis excerpt borrowed from Third World Traveler.com (http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Prison_System/Masked_Racism_ADavis.html) Section from US Constitution borrowed from: Borrowed from: http://www.engaged-zen.org/ articles/Kobutsu-Investing_in_Slavery.html
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
BROTHERS PERSPECTIVE
Rest In Peace to a great Artist Michael Jackson form Brothers Perspective Magazine www.brothersperspective.com