First of all, while I grew up in Detroit, watching his, and his family’s meteoric rise, I had the advantage of many of my contemporaries of being able to view his genius against a backdrop of a broad spectrum of genius. These days, we too easily throw out the “______ Greatest of All Time” label, without due consideration to those who came before(Muhammad Ali is the only person I can think of who can unquestionably hold that title). King of Pop, yes, without question, and his genius will be sorely missed. However, when you try to say the “greatest entertainer of all time,” I have to pause. Entertainer includes: dancing, singing, acting, writing, etc., etc., etc. As far as I know, MJ never acted in anything other than his Moonwalker video. When you put him beside Sammy Davis, Jr., Ben Vereen, etc., it’s not even close. Now, for those who dearly want to claim him as the “best dancer of all time,” I suggest you go to YouTube and watch some vintage videos — mid-70’s & earlier — of James Brown. Even Michael had the sense to yield to JB’s excellence, so why should we do otherwise?

Secondly, there is this:

“The Michael Jackson cacophony is fascinating in that it is not about Jackson at all. I hope he has the good sense to know it and the good fortune to snatch his life out of the jaws of a carnivorous success. He will not swiftly be forgiven for having turned so many tables, for he damn sure grabbed the brass ring, and the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo has nothing on Michael.

All that noise is about America, as the dishonest custodian of black life and wealth; the blacks, especially males, in America; and the burning, buried American guilt; and sex and sexual roles and sexual panic; money, success and despair–to all of which may now be added the bitter need to find a head on which to place the crown of Miss America.

Freaks are called freaks and are treated as they are treated–in the main, abominably–because they are human beings who cause to echo, deep within us, our most profound terrors and desires.”

James Baldwin from his 1985 essay, “There be Dragons”, from his book, The Price of the Ticket…

There are a lot of questions which remain unanswered for many clear-thinking Americans — and others worldwide — regarding the attack on the World Trade Center. As some of you may know, an international team of scientists did a thorough and well documented study of some of the remains, and have recently published a report Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe in the esteemed The Open Chemical Physics Journal.  This is the first report of which I am aware that engages evidence that something other than a collision with an airliner was the cause of the collapse of the World Trade Center.  While there are may who have postulated such theories — myself included — many of those naysayers pointed to a profound lack of physical evidence, particular evidence gathered & analyzed by rigorous scientific method.  It would seem that this study resolves that issue in a far from trivial way. I encourage all to inform themselves, in depth, on this topic.

Dr. Niels Harrit, Copenhagen, was part of a team of independent scientists from Denmark, Australia & the USA who conducted the research & analysis which led to this study.  I encourage you to view an interview with him, held on the site Gulli:News.  You may find that some of the questions pressed by their readers are similar to your own, and the answers/references may well surprise you. You can download the PDF here.

It is important to add that substances like the residues and unignited fragments of nano-engineered thermitic pyrotechnics in the debris from the towers are likely to have chemical ’signatures’ providing links to their source of manufacture.  Thus far, I have yet to encounter any discussion of this.  Now, some will argue that even if the manufaturer of the material is found to be American that it is still no proof of collusion on the part of the US government, etc. in the destruction of the towers.  The same was claimed during some of the anthrax attacks when they traced their source of manufacture to US labs.  Yet, we are left to ask, even if one would claim these materials were stolen, acquired, etc., then used by enemies of this country, what culpability, if any rests with the manufacturer for maintaining security and inventory tracking for their products?  Yes, we are the munitions & weapons provider to the world.  Perhaps, if we scaled back on such production, or more effectively policed the grey & black markets in such materiel, their global proliferation would be significantly reduced.  But, of course, this would seriously cut into the profits of those who are already insanely wealthy, and would be seen as an unrealistic *restraint of trade,* not to mention a contravention of the sacred premises of unbridled capitalism.  So we are left to query to what extent we have contributed to our own demise.

Here is the abstract from the report:

We have discovered distinctive red/gray chips in all the samples we have studied of the dust produced by the destruction of the World Trade Center. Examination of four of these samples, collected from separate sites, is reported in this paper. These red/gray chips show marked similarities in all four samples. One sample was collected by a Manhattan resident about ten minutes after the collapse of the second WTC Tower, two the next day, and a fourth about a week later. The properties of these chips were analyzed using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The red material contains grains approximately 100 nm across which are largely iron oxide, while aluminum is contained in tiny plate-like structures. Separation of components using methyl ethyl ketone demonstrated that elemental aluminum is present. The iron oxide and aluminum are intimately mixed in the red material. When ignited in a DSC device the chips exhibit large but narrow exotherms occurring at approximately 430 °C, far below the normal ignition temperature for conventional thermite. Numerous iron-rich spheres are clearly observed in the residue following the ignition of these peculiar red/gray chips. The red portion of these chips is found to be an unreacted thermitic material and highly energetic.

Who he was, why & how is something to many have forgotten, forgotten to revere & emulate…and sadly seen as no longer *necessary* in their lives. Be a reminder to others — in thought, word & action. If you wanna hear some truth, check out Sistah BJ…

…from Sistah BJ of Our Common Ground

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El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz/Malcolm X

May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965
On February 27, 1965 Malcolm X was buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York

TODAY ON THIS DATE OF HIS BIRTH, WE MUST PAUSE AND HONOR HIS MEMORY

Remember him, honor him by studying him, by being him and bringing his Spirit to our children and our lives.

MALCOLM X’S EULOGY

Eulogy delivered by Ossie Davis at the funeral of Malcolm X
Faith Temple Church Of God
February 27,1965

“Here – at this final hour, in this quiet place – Harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its brightest hopes -extinguished now, and gone from us forever. For Harlem is where he worked and where he struggled and fought – his home of homes, where his heart was, and where his people are – and it is, therefore, most fitting that we meet once again – in Harlem – to share these last moments with him. For Harlem has ever been gracious to those who have loved her, have fought her, and have defended her honor even to the death.

It is not in the memory of man that this beleaguered, unfortunate, but nonetheless proud community has found a braver, more gallant young champion than this Afro-American who lies before us – unconquered still. I say the word again, as he would want me to : Afro-American – Afro-American Malcolm, who was a master, was most meticulous in his use of words. Nobody knew better than he the power words have over minds of men. Malcolm had stopped being a ‘Negro’ years ago. It had become too small, too puny, too weak a word for him. Malcolm was bigger than that. Malcolm had become an Afro-American and he wanted – so desperately – that we, that all his people, would become Afro-Americans too.

There are those who will consider it their duty, as friends of the Negro people, to tell us to revile him, to flee, even from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history of our turbulent times. Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain – and we will smile. Many will say turn away – away from this man, for he is not a man but a demon, a monster, a subverter and an enemy of the black man – and we will smile. They will say that he is of hate – a fanatic, a racist – who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! And we will answer and say to them : Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him, or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did you would know him. And if you knew him you would know why we must honor him.

Malcolm was our manhood, our living, black manhood! This was his meaning to his people. And, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves. Last year, from Africa, he wrote these words to a friend: ‘My journey’, he says, ‘is almost ended, and I have a much broader scope than when I started out, which I believe will add new life and dimension to our struggle for freedom and honor and dignity in the States. I am writing these things so that you will know for a fact the tremendous sympathy and support we have among the African States for our Human Rights struggle. The main thing is that we keep a United Front wherein our most valuable time and energy will not be wasted fighting each other.’ However we may have differed with him – or with each other about him and his value as a man – let his going from us serve only to bring us together, now.

Consigning these mortal remains to earth, the common mother of all, secure in the knowledge that what we place in the ground is no more now a man – but a seed – which, after the winter of our discontent, will come forth again to meet us. And we will know him then for what he was and is – a Prince – our own black shining Prince! – who didn’t hesitate to die, because he loved us so.”

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Study Resources

The Official Malcolm X site

Brother Malcolm – A Research Center

The Malcolm X Project at Columbia University

Malcolm X

Video Sources

Kim, thanks for posting this!! I’m a big Bruce Lee fan, and I might have missed this otherwise…

Folks really don’t get the role Bruce Lee made — and continues to make — on this planet. There have been very few humans who have not only transcended their art/sport, but their cultural specificity as well. In the same way Dizzy Gillespie brought Afro-Cuban music into the USA & jazz; the same way Carlos Santana brought Latin music & culture into the mainstream of the USA & the west, as Bob Marley did with reggae worldwide, so Bruce did with martial arts, Chinese culture and the role of spirit in martial arts. If he had been Japanese — and no insult here to the magnificence of China — Bruce would likely have been named Samurai posthumously.

Yes, he was a renegade, from some of the traditionalist protocols of Chinese martial arts, but he was a synthesizer — one who took the best from many forms and melded into one he called his own: Jeet Kun Do….

Folks need to recognize….

This is another one from the archives…

Premise: IMHO, I am convinced — though I have never experienced this bidirectionally — that skill & competence in massage is by far the single most crucial skill set for the establishment, sustenance and evolution/development of a mutually rewarding male/female relationship, second only to effective communication skills.  Most already know about many of the benefits which would accrue in a situation where both possessed such competence — reducing/relieving stress, relaxation, enhanced health, internal/external balance, etc.

Let me first be clear that I am not speaking of erotic massage/foreplay, though this too is a good thing in its own right. I am referring to remedial massage, healing massage. I make this point because if we focus first on the level of detachment such healing work requires, it provides for a rare & much needed opportunity — how do we allow for touch & touching, without it always being linked to or triggering a sexual response?

If you are massaging your woman/man in an effort to relieve pain/stress/illness, it provides a crucial opportunity for each to *learn* their partners body — how it is when it’s healthy, how it varies in size/consistency over the various phases & cycles both male & female bodies go thru. It also allows for a direct engagement & learning of your partner’s aura/energy body, which is where everything starts.

As you get to know your partners body, as they become comfortable with your touch in a nonsexual context, it becomes a platform for conversation, sharing, the gaining of insight, the freedom to express — most of all, it leverages the medium of nonverbal conversation.

Now, fellas, a bit of secret… In another post, I have discussed the issue of *venting…* Here is a compelling alternative. When your woman gets home stressed, and wants to vent, before she can start, ask her for 5 minutes. Sit her down in an easy chair in the living room. Get yourself a pan, pot, whatever, of warm water, a wash cloth, and maybe even some lotion or oil — it doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Start at her feet and ease off her shoes(& stockings/sox if necessary). Firmly rub over each foot with the wash cloth — wet but wrung nearly dry. When you finish the last foot, leave it wrapped in the cloth. Now begin with or without lotion/oil and work each foot slowly, particularly the sole/arch of the foot. Trust me when I say that the sounds you will get will amaze you… Not surprisingly, this can work both ways.

Massage introduces &/or provides several other advantages which, though not so subtle in themselves, can be significant potential sources of benefit:

• As masseuse/masseur, you get to know your partner’s body in ways most folks cannot even imagine — and in the process benefit from the yin/yang combination of the clinical detachment/awareness, as well as the intimate caring, which both manifest.  Cultivating a context of physical engagement in the relationship where sex/sensuality is not always the goal engenders other benefits as well.  Just as gaining insight is often more about asking good questions, insights into the health of your partner can be gleaned best when one’s focus is on health, more than other things…;
• as masseuse/masseur, you get to know your partner’s propensities & tendencies for storing stress, for certain health/ailment patterns which are revealed through thorough hands-on engagement.  This empowers one to *read* your partner, at a deep subliminal level, promoting a different, more comprehensive mode of interpersonal engagement & communication dynamics;
• as masseuse/masseur, you get to know your partner’s history, their past hurts & challenges, as those things are often stored in tissue, until released through massage &/or deep tissue work.  This can be termed as the “memory or psychology of the body.”  The massage can help open up, bring things to the surface, which can be a mixed blessing, though it is unquestionably beneficial in the long run;
• such bidirectional sharing and *reading* creates an environment of touch, of familiarity and nurturing through touch, and broadens the scope/context of such touch to where it no longer implicitly carries a sensual agenda or expectation, but can simply be remedial &/or nurturement as an end in itself.  Touch has long been held(pardon the pun) as a meaningful element in the human engagement of their environment.  Noted as a key factors in SIDS(sudden infant death syndrome), how vital might this be for us as adults, especially those of us who may not have received enough *righteous* touch throughout our lives?
• beyond simple personal maintenance, such shared circumstance is specific to enhanced health.  We know, as energetic beings first, the flesh is but a reflection of our flow of energy.  Massage, in its varietal forms, can provide direct access to this aspect of one another in a manner not unlike yogic dynamics.  The varietal factor, true of yoga and cuisines, also holds for massage, as methods/schools of practice from different cultures and different locales present different modes, and *flavors*, if you will, each with its own special benefits and areas of focus;
• lastly, equitable skills in massage would mean that when you feel your partner’s hands on your shoulders, feet, neck, etc., you would know implicitly that those hands are not just willing, but competent — a lot like the difference between someone being a good cook, instead of one who just *likes* to cook.

All of this, and more, of course, swell the potential harvest of such shared efforts of mutual cultivation.  While easily savored as recipient, massage is even more appreciated when it is seen as a dialogue between two beings via the  hands a tools, and both flesh & energy as media.  In most relationships, touch is a seldom explored frontier, except in specific contexts.  Like any terrain, exploration provides information, insight, understanding, familiarity, and the wherewithal to effectively navigate the realm under circumstances which multiply and proliferate with the exercise.

Just some thoughts you may find as a source of accord and attunement, and, of course, discussion…

A recent article in the UK Telegraph, African Tribe Populated Rest of the World, has again raised the question, reigniting the conversation regarding human origins.  While, for many of this, it is simply a variation on a well known though often unaccepted theme, there are some other questions which it might be wise to consider.

As noted in the first excerpt below, this discovery is based upon a presumption that the entire human population was reduced to around 200 individuals around 70,000 years ago.  However, this premise rests upon a foundational assumption/hypothesis  regarding significant geological changes — and the associated climate shifts — which are notoriously difficult to capture with precision, even now.

In part, my point here arises out of some variations in the chronometric sensibility in different cultures around the world, most notably Egypt/Khemet, India and Mexico(the Maya).  In another post, I introduce the system of Puranic time, and some discussion of its parameters.  The post & article address specifically the archaeological record, which, imho, applies equivalently to the anthropological record.  Clearly, attempting to assert the provincial labels used in early european development — ages of Stone, Bronze, Iron, etc. — is ludicrous on the face of it, and is not supported by available evidence.  Further, the defining of “high culture” has shifted from one of science and material culture to one of hegemonic maintenance.

While some may argue that the image(below) in an associated article — Scientists Reveal Face of the First European — has its color from the clay used, this jaundiced view ignores the fundamental assertion that the first europeans were people of color, and only lost their pigment due to climate change…which some would argue makes the a *race* of albinos.  Of course, race is a fabricated term, which leads all who use it into a narrow cognitive cul-de-sac. Yet, there is some irony to twisting its use back upon its creators.

These points merit consideration, in large part because, in western society, and essentially worldwide, the knowledge or ignorance of these facts, these scientific determinations is the foundation, the root soil from which are spawned the entire cancerous infestation of racism/white supremacy, discrimination and oppression of the majority of people on this planet — people of color.  Until we collectively can engage one another with the understanding that neither is better than the other, in the same way an acid is no “better” than an alkaloid/base, the insidious acrimony will continue to eat at us from within…which is the most despicable aspect of this nonsense.  It’s worth referencing the response/assertion of the Chinese scientists who participated in the study.  It’s also worth adding a link to an intriguing work on complexion, which dove tails nicely with these points — The Paleo-Etiology of Human Skin Tone, by Frank W. Sweet.

The first modern European Forensic artist Richard Neave reconstructed the face based on skull fragments from 35000 years ago. Photo: BBC

This brings us to an intriguing juncture, when examining the etymology of the name of our species.  Is it possible that, in the same way one might glean that “woman” could be a contraction of “womb”-”man”(pardon the pun ladies!), one might similarly surmise that “human” is a contraction of “men of hue.”  However, this leaves us with the conundrum of the possible differential between “humanity” & “mankind,” but more on that in another post.  Excerpts of the articles follow — use the above links to view them in full.

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There are many aspects of our present economic catastrophe which are trumpeted in the media. However, one of the overarching aspects is that of the loss/confiscation of land, from those not considered to be part of the ‘monied minority.’ These practices did not just *suddenly stop.*  In fact, my sense is that we will soon discover that these and many more nefarious practices have gone on the last 8 years with clear government sanction of our former regime.

The spectre of the loss of homes — and farms — through bankruptcy as a consequence of deceptive loans & mortgage marketing is neither obscure nor abstract. It is being felt across the country, across demographic boundaries and region types — both rural & urban. In this current context, the following articles can serve to be seen as perhaps a template for our present and future…and we should be cautioned accordingly…..  When you hear elders expressing concern over younger generation having lost their sense of the value of land, and the need to hold onto it — ‘that land is the foundation of wealth’ – perhaps these words will bear more meaning, and urgency after reading this.  There is also the natter of how these maneuvers fold into &/or were perpetrated in concert with the widespread practice of lynching, as noted in the fourth article below.

I also encourage you to go further — do your own searches & research, because, clearly, this is a story far more pervasive than any telling so far has begun to capture. These are not the only articles on this topic, and I will be pulling others from the archives over the next month to more fully elucidate the topic, and they will be under the same title, in series, FYI. Also, I am familiar with Dr. Ray Winbush, who is mentioned several times in these articles, and his work in this area while at Fisk University.  He is to be applauded for his courage and tenacity in engaging in this battle to expose the truth.

Be advised that these articles were released through the Associated Press(AP), though my search of their archives comes up with no current reference to them.  There are some Google hits, but not to the source articles, so I am posting them in full, from the archives I created when these were “news”.  There is one link I found to the “Torn from the Land” Series.

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AP Documents Land Taken From Blacks Through Trickery, Violence and Murder — Part 1

By TODD LEWAN and DOLORES BARCLAY
Associated Press Writers

December 1, 2001

This is Part One of “Torn From the Land,” a three-part series documenting how black Americans lost family land over the last 150-plus years.

For generations, black families passed down the tales in uneasy whispers: ”They stole our land.”

These were family secrets shared after the children fell asleep, after neighbors turned down the lamps – old stories locked in fear and shame.

Some of those whispered bits of oral history, it turns out, are true.

In an 18-month investigation, The Associated Press documented a pattern in which black Americans were cheated out of their land or driven from it through intimidation, violence and even murder.

In some cases, government officials approved the land takings; in others, they took part in them. The earliest occurred before the Civil War; others are being litigated today.

Some of the land taken from black families has become a country club in Virginia, oil fields in Mississippi, a major-league baseball spring training facility in Florida.

The United States has a long history of bitter, often violent land disputes, from claim jumping in the gold fields to range wars in the old West to broken treaties with American Indians. Poor white landowners, too, were sometimes treated unfairly, pressured to sell out at rock-bottom prices by railroads and lumber and mining companies.

The fate of black landowners has been an overlooked part of this story.

The AP – in an investigation that included interviews with more than 1,000 people and the examination of tens of thousands of public records in county courthouses and state and federal archives – documented 107 land takings in 13 Southern and border states.

In those cases alone, 406 black landowners lost more than 24,000 acres of farm and timber land plus 85 smaller properties, including stores and city lots. Today, virtually all of this property, valued at tens of millions of dollars, is owned by whites or by corporations.

Properties taken from blacks were often small – a 40-acre farm, a general store, a modest house. But the losses were devastating to families struggling to overcome the legacy of slavery. In the agrarian South, landownership was the ladder to respect and prosperity – the means to building economic security and passing wealth on to the next generation. When black families lost their land, they lost all of this.

As a contextual note, this is one I’m pulling from the archives of my blog in one of it’s earlier incarnations.  This info is not so easy to find, but I was able to track down some more up to date references, which are listed at the bottom. This article on language addresses what, IMHO, are crucial elements of an ongoing cultural struggle happening in many places across the planet. One of the often overlooked calamities of *globalization* is the resulting cultural sterilization — or monotyping, if you will allow me to coin a term — in the image of the western social paradigm.  As a result, many cultural aesthetics which are nonaligned with the western modality are discarded, left behind forced into obsolescence.  To see this for yourself, check what languages are readily available for computer translation, or computer-based education.

Few cultural paradigms — and modes of cultural sustenance — are as crucial as language.  It is through language that the cultural context is stored and reified.  This importance has given rise to the field of sociolinguistics. It is said that when an elder dies, particularly in a traditional/indigenous culture, a library is lost. When traditional/indigenous languages are lost, it is a much more wholesale cultural catastrophe. The loss is particularly acute in this instance due to the gender-driven basis of this obscure Chinese language. It’s challenging enough for a man to attempt to discern what a woman is expressing when they are using the same language.  Here is a language whose structure, context, grammar, etc., were tailored to the feminine perspective from the beginning. Clearly, there is a great deal all of us could learn from an examination of its nuances.

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Yao woman, Hunan province

Women-Only Language Reemerges

By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

March 29, 2004 — In late April, Chinese archivists will unveil a rare collection of items featuring Nushu, a mysterious ancient language created by, and exclusively for, women.

The exhibition, to be held at the provincial archive of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China, appears to be part of a growing effort within China to both recognize and preserve Nushu, which many scholars feared was on the verge of extinction.

Nushu, meaning women’s script, was held so securely by its speakers and writers that women used to burn manuscripts to keep them away from men, or they would bury items containing Nushu with female friends upon their deaths.

The language’s origins are unclear, but most scholars believe Nushu emerged in the third century during a time when the Chinese government prohibited education of women. Practices such as arranged marriages and foot binding also prevented many women from travelling far beyond their homelands.

Orie Endo, professor of sociolinguistics and Japanese teaching methodology at Bunkyo University, has been called the world’s foremost expert on Nushu. At an Association of Asian Studies Annual Conference, she theorized that Nushu arose out of a custom called Jiebai Zimei, or “sworn sisterhood,” in the counties of Daoxian, Jianghua, Jiangyong, and Yongjiang.

For the pact, women would pledge commitment to female friends who were not blood relations, Endo said.

This is a brief consideration of some of the new tech developments cresting the horizon.  Some of you who don’t live/work in the techsphere may find these discussions spurious, the products of little value…until you see them in action.  2-3 years ago, if someone had described an I-Phone to you, it would have sounded like science fiction.  Now you have phones whose displays shift from portrait to landscape visual mode automatically when you tilt them. Ever wonder how the phone knows to do that, without a command?  It’s because there is an accelerometer built into the phone, which allows it to sense shifts in position & attitude(as in tilt, not emotion!). So, as a techie colleague suggested, folks are writing app’s(applications) for cell phones which utilize these features of GPS & accelerometer sensitivity.  An example is there is apparently an app for the I-Phone now which, when activated, allows the phone to act like a level — to determine if a surface is truly horizontal or vertical.  Who’da thunk it?!

A key factor in this, as demonstrated in the video, are applications for organizing & interfacing with information.  However, the educational & learning game applications are particularly intriguing.  Suffice it to say it takes flash cards & children’s letter blocks to a completely new level.  There’s also a music app which while intriguing, will no doubt further exasperate true musicians…

So a key element of this discussion is to raise the bar of awareness & consideration, not just of what is, &/or what is coming out, but what else is possible, so that each of us, empowered & inspired by these perspectives & insights can begin to develop our own ideas…and recognize that technology can be a useful tool, instead of a malingering presence as some would have us believe.  We can either be freed or constrained by the limits of our own perceptions. The video below is one of several on this topic on YouTube. Watch it, and see how your horizons of possibilities expand…

The prison industry in the US has been a business for well over a century — from the times of chain gangs and thinly veiled slavery(see the post Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II) to this very day.  Like most corporate behemoths, the prison industry is overbearing, leveraging policy & legislation through lobbyists & campaign contributions. Many have heard of abuses at Gitmo/Guantanamo Bay, Cuba & Abu Ghraib, few are aware — or would believe — that the federal and state governments in this country perpetrate far worse against our own incarcerated citizens, guilty & innocent alike.  For those who want to view such an assertion as ‘liberal hand-wringing’, wait until you have someone you know targeted by the pit bulls of law*, and see how far their good name & claims of innocence get them.

This is too often characterized as a ‘local’ or at least state-specific issue, like California, or Pennsylvania, or Angola, Louisiana.  However, once we engage this as not simply a business, but an actual industry — no different in its own way than agribusiness, casinos or porn(not corn) — the scope and perniciousness flexing of agenda becomes much more significant.

Whether in Illinois or elsewhere, as technology improves, more and more wrongfully imprisoned men and women are being released due to reopened investigations, and revelations of insidious and deliberate wrongdoing on the parts of prosecutors, even governor’s offices around the country.  The Illinois was so shamed by revelations out of Cook county, he made wholesale pardons.  One could hope for such an infection of conscience in the lauded state of Pennsylvania, and the subsequent release & resolution of such wrongs as Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier.  But, as the saying goes, hope in one hand, and crap in the other, and see which one fills first.

The enormous — and abysmal– travesties within Wall St. & the banking industry have us so distracted by our needs to provide for self and family that equally pressing issues are largely ignored.  Below, I provide an excerpt of a two part article, with links.  Take the time to digest this — it’s not what you will find anywhere in our general news media.  For the photos & other pertinent info on this article from San Francisco Bay View newspaper, go to:

Nevada Prison Board hearing, Part 1: The most explosive meeting ever

&

Nevada Prison Board hearing, Part 2: Shocking public comments

Statement by Mercedes Maharis presented April 14, 2009, to the Nevada Prison Board
TO: Nevada Board of Prison Commissioners
Attorney General Masto
Secretary of State Miller
Governor Gibbons

FROM: Mercedes Maharis, MA, MS, MA, Hereford, Ariz., for the record
Lifetime member of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), Washington, D.C.
Past director of Nevada CURE
Co-founder of the Spartacus Project
Co-author of the Spartacus Project Report

DATE: April 14, 2009

Good Afternoon,

We have become a nation of prisons, but how are we going to take care of our prisoners? We cannot.

What is the true cost of continued Nevada prisoner warehousing? It cannot be calculated.

Can a Nevada prison sentence become a death sentence? Yes, it can, and in many cases it has.

In the summer of 1971, the classic psychological Stanford Prison Experiment asked important questions: What happens when we put good people in an evil place? And does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph?

The planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated.

Guards became sadistic. Prisoners became withdrawn, depressed and showed signs of extreme stress and began behaving in pathological ways.

Here are four examples of sadistic, excessive force inside Nevada prisons that you may not have seen – worse by far than Abu Ghraib. Prison officials have refused to remove the buckshot they had pumped into this prisoner’s back despite the migraine headaches it causes him.

Prison officials have refused to remove the buckshot they had pumped into this prisoner’s back despite the migraine headaches it causes him.

1. Defenseless, beaten, still in prison, now with hepatitis C, suspecting reused needles in the medical department, since he was locked in a single cell for nearly two decades;

2. Defenseless, but shot in the back, unable to get prison medical employees to remove the buckshot causing severe migraine headaches. He currently has an open warrant in Florida. Would we be functional after such treatment?

3. A victim. His only choice to relieve excruciating pain was dental extraction in a Nevada prison, but he was expected to reenter society with no front teeth and get a job. His fate? Unknown.