Tuesday, April 28, 2009

4/29/09 @ 8pm C~W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio~Rev. Wright Speaks...Again & Other Highlights From The Obama Phenomenon Conference.




Celebrating 2 Full Years In The Biz: Ain't No Stopping Us Now!!!


April 2009 Theme: Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied...
Air Date: Weds. April 29, 2009
E-mail: r2c2h2@gmail.com
Time: 8PM C/9PM E/6PM P

Call In Number: 646-652-4593


Listen Live Online:


Rev. Wright Speaks...Again & Other Highlights From The Obama Phenomenon Conference


100 Days In W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio is proud to bring some highlights from the Obama Phenomenon Conference sponsored by The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute For Social Change that took place earlier this month (the 41st Anniversary weekend observance of MLK's martyrdom) in The Michael D. Rose Theatre at the University of Memphis...The highlights included are:


THE OBAMA PHENOMENON:

Race & Political Discourse in the United States Today


A.) Q & A Session With Rev. Wright

B.) OLD SCHOOL POLITICS? THE CONTINUING RELEVANCE OF RACE AND ETHNICITY IN MEMPHIS
Panel Discussion

C.) Closing Remarks by Jonathan Judaken, Director
Marcus W. Orr Center for the Humanities, University of Memphis


D.) Some Through The Fire! Some Through The Flood!
The Keynote Speech Delivered By Rev. Jeremiah Wright on April 3, 2009 @ The Michael D. Rose Theatre

Rev. Wright Speaks In Memphis On Eve Of MLK's 41st Assasination Observance...





More Rev. Wright Related Coverage On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio:



W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio: Black Liberation Theology 102: Putting Rev. Wright In The Right Context...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/11/11-30-2008black-liberation-theology-102.html



W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special:Reflections On The 2009 Inauguration Part One:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2009/01/23/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio




W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: Yes He Did...So Now What??? Defining The Obama Presidency...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/11/16/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio


W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special:O Yes We Did!!! The Barack Obama Tribute...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/11/09/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio



Why Obama Did The Wright Thing And How Rev. Wright’s Selfless Sacrifice Saved The Obama Presidency…
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-obama-did-wright-thing-and-how-rev.html



The Hypocrisy Of The Media…Min. Farrakhan Was A Guest Of Honor For Key Pa. Hillary Supporter!!!
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/05/hypocrisy-of-mediamin-farrakhan-was.html







W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: Black Liberation Theology 101:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/03/23/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio



The Rev. Wright Controversy Told Through Video Media:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/03/rev-wright-controversy-told-through.html


W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: Barack Obama & The Hip Hop Effect On American Politics:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/02/10/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio


****
Get Involved

As Always You Can Catch Tha Artivist Presents…W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio Live Every Wednesday In 2009 @ 8PM Central By Clicking On The Following Link:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe

Please Be Our Invited Guest By Calling Us Live @ 646-652-4593 Or E-mailing Us Your Questions And Comments @ r2c2h2@gmail.com


As Always Please Spread The Good News!!!


See Also...


"Real Talk With Tha Artivist" TV Show On Memphis Comcast Channel 17



Mondays @ 8pm Central




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To see or rather "hear" how far W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio has come please listen to the first broadcast, Jan. 7, 2007:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/01/07/tha-artivist-presents



Also check out how good we were in "2008 a.k.a. The Year Of Citizen Radio":
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2009/01/we-all-be-news-radio-made-2008-year-of.html


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*Support W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio!!!*

The W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Needing Funds Drive For W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Begins...
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W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Supporting W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio: Buy Art & Gear For 'The Cause' Today!!!
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W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Reps Black History 365 Days A Year!!!
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/02/we-all-be-news-radio-reps-black-history_29.html


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Celebrate Black History And Love All Day Every Day With Works By Tha Artivist:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/02/celebrate-black-history-and-love-all.html



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Buy The Award Winning James Reese Europe: Jazz Lieutenant



*Named To The Smithsonian Institute's Jazz Books For Kids And Young Adults List*


Official Website:




Buy The Book @ Amazon.com



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Check Out "The Empowerment Hour" Hosted By Bro. Kermit Eady Every Saturday @ 6 PM EST/ 5PM CST


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Get The Barack Obama Holiday Inaugural Gift Package By R2C2H2 Tha Artivist!!!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Remembering Mack Charles Parker 50 Years Later...

Victim's Cellmate Shaken By Memories
Poplarville Killing From 1959 Among Unpunished Crimes


Burial of Hate Crime Victim

In a flag draped casket the body of Mack Charles Parker a victim of a lynch mob is lowered into a grave. Awaiting trial on charges of having raped a pregnant white woman Parker was dragged from his unguarded cell by a masked mob in Poplarville in Mississippi and his body was found May 4, 1959.

Align Center
Photo from the Erle Johnston Papers, McCain Library and Archives, University of Southern Mississippi.

Mack Charles Parker, a resident of Poplarville, Mississippi, was jailed for allegedly raping a white woman. A white mob abducted Mr. Parker from his jail cell, beat him, took him to Louisiana and then shot him. Although Parker's abductors were well known and some admitted their complicity to FBI agents, the judge in the case, Sebe Dale – a white supremacist and member of the White Citizens' Council – encouraged the grand jury to return no indictments against the killers.

Jerry Mitchell • jmitchell@clarionledger.com • April 26, 2009

* POPLARVILLE — Fifty years ago, a white mob abducted Mack Charles Parker from a jail cell and lynched him.

Parker's cellmate at the time, C.J. Mondy, was so terrified from that night that, upon being freed from jail, he fled his native state of Mississippi.

"I still have dreams about it," said Mondy, breaking his 50-year silence about the April 25, 1959, beating, abduction and killing.

The Parker lynching is among 43 unpunished killings in Mississippi from the civil rights era that the FBI is now seeking help in solving.

The killing was the "last classic lynching in America," said Howard Smead, author of the 1986 book Blood Justice: The Lynching of Mack Charles Parker.

Smead said to his knowledge, the last known member of the mob died several years ago.

Parker's lynching continues to resonate after 50 years because of the unresolved issues, he said.

"He was most likely guilty, but we're not 100-percent sure," Smead said. "He never got to make his case. He never confessed."

Parker, a 23-year-old African American, was awaiting trial on charges he raped a white woman, who, along with her daughter, were awaiting help in their stalled car in rural Pearl River County. Authorities took Parker to Jackson, where he was given several lie-detector tests that were either inconclusive or concluded he was telling the truth when he proclaimed his innocence.

When he returned to jail here, Parker shared what had happened, and Mondy shared his advice.

"You're going to have to leave from here," Mondy said he told Parker. "You say you didn't do it. That's not going to be good enough."

Just being black and being accused of such a crime meant he'd be a target, he said. "I knew he didn't do it, but that didn't matter."

Some time before midnight on April 24, 1959, a man inserted a key in the lock of the wooden door of the Pearl River County Jail and turned it. White inmates, who were kept on the first floor, stirred.

Mondy, sleeping upstairs with Parker and other black inmates, woke up.

He looked up to see a mob of masked white men armed with guns and clubs coming inside.

He turned to Parker and told him they must be coming for him. "(Parker) immediately started hollering," said Mondy, now 75 and living in Oakland, Calif.

Members of the mob pointed their guns at him and other black inmates. "Don't try to do nothing 'cause we've got plenty more people outside,' " Mondy quoted them as saying.

The mob told inmates to "get on the side and nobody will get hurt," Mondy said. "They said, 'We're just after Parker.' "

Members of the mob viciously beat Parker with their fists and clubs.

"They all went in on him like they do on a quarterback," Mondy said. "He tried to defend himself, but they were hitting him and overpowering him."

Parker yelled out that he was innocent and did his best to grab onto the cell bars. "They beat his hands loose with their clubs," Mondy said. "They were all bloody."

Inmates wanted to intervene, but "there was nothing we could do because they had guns," he said.

Finally, mob members grabbed Parker by the heels and dragged him down the dozen or so concrete steps. "His head was hitting each of those steps," Mondy said.

Blood covered the steps, Mondy said, and Parker screamed, "Please, let me up. I'll walk."

The story Mondy tells suggests there was more than just a wink and a nod, not only from law enforcement but also from several people in the community.

Inmates were left locked each night in the jail across the street from the Pearl River County Hospital. "They told us if somebody gets sick, just holler, and they would come over," Mondy said.

While mob members continued dragging Parker by the heels, his screams pierced the night air.

Mondy and other inmates watched the scene below, he said. "You could hear him hollering. Cars were lining up, almost as far as you could see."

They sped away, and Mondy never saw Parker alive again.

FBI agents arrived to investigate, photographing the bloodstains and smears they found as Parker was dragged from the jail, through the courtroom, through the rest of the courthouse, down the courthouse steps and down the sidewalk. The blood stains inside the jail, however, had been cleaned up.

Parker's body wasn't found until May 4, 1959 - 2.5 miles south of Mississippi 26 near Bogalusa, La. He had been shot twice and thrown over the bridge into the Pearl River.

The "blatant disregard for the law" by the prosecutor and judge ensured that no prosecution would take place, Smead said.

Both the judge and prosecutor refused to share information from an extensive FBI investigation involving 60 agents in which members of the mob were identified, and a number of them confessed, Smead wrote in his book.

In his charge to grand jurors printed in the local paper, then-Circuit Judge Sebe Dale Sr. urged them to "have the backbone to stand against any tyranny. ... You are now engaged in battle for our laws and courts for the preservation of our freedom and our way of life."

They did as they were told, and no indictments occurred.

A federal grand jury did hear the evidence and came within one vote of indicting some identified as mob members.

The night Parker supposedly raped a white woman has been depicted as one in which he cavorted with friends and talked about "getting some of that white stuff" as they passed a broken-down car with a white woman inside.

But a man who knew Parker disputes that version of events.

Parker's brother-in-law, Curt Underwood, who was 20 at the time and since has died, was one of his companions that night.

"My brother said what was attributed to them wasn't true," said Underwood's brother, Eugene.

Several days later, another companion that night, Norman "Rainbow" Malachy, was handcuffed by law enforcement and beaten, he said. "They were angry with him because he was in the same car with Mack Charles Parker, and he would not make a statement other than he was asleep when they passed that lady on the highway."

His brother ended up fleeing for his life because of what was done to Malachy, he said. "They beat that man like a dog."

After arriving in Chicago, the Chicago Defender wrote a story on his escape: "Underwood Makes It Out Alive."

Smead confirmed that Curt Underwood told him the same thing - that Parker had nothing to do with the rape.

More than 4,700 African Americans were lynched between the late 1800s and the 1960s.

"The dominance of white men was being challenged, not just by white women who by the late 19th century were leaving home to work in textile mills, but by this newly mobile black population," said Philip Dray, author of At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America.

White men felt they were losing control and used lynchings as a means of reasserting their power, he said. "It was like terrorism, and every black person knew what it meant."

Smead said the reason Parker's killing is the last classic lynching in America is because the classic lynching involves a mob storming the jail, pulling victims from custody - sometimes with the complicity of law enforcement - and killing them.

Other lynchings have taken place since, he said. "Too many. They're lynchings, but only technically."

Dray said Parker's effort to hold onto the bars of his cell symbolize his effort "to hold onto the last remnant of law and order."

After being freed from jail, Mondy fled for his life. Occasionally, he said he would sneak back to see his family.

"He had to come in the middle of night," recalled Mondy's daughter, Demetra Mondy of San Diego. "He continued to be in our life."

Time has passed, and only now is she "able to introduce my dad to my friends," she said, choking up. "I kind of get emotional."

To comment on this story, call Jerry Mitchell at (601) 961-7064.


Contact An American Civil Rights Veteran Today:
http://www.crmvet.org/

More On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio:

A Great Profile Of Civil Rights Cold Case Justice Crusader Alvin Sykes...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2009/03/great-profile-of-civil-rights-cold-case.html


W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio Special~Meet Alvin Sykes: Civil Rights Cold Case Justice Crusader...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2009/04/02/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio Special: The Shame Of A Nation...The Emmett Till Legacy

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2009/03/12/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio

See More Emmett Till On W.E. A.L.L. B.E.:

FBI Report: Woman Emmett Till 'Whistled' @ Still Alive...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/09/fbi-report-woman-emmett-till-whistled.html

What I Will Teach My Black Son To Fear....
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2006/12/what-i-will-teach-my-black-son-to-fear.html

Park In Honor Of Emmett Till Opens Friday Sept. 19, 2008, in Mississippi...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/09/park-in-honor-of-emmett-till-opens.htmlmett-till-opens.html

Mississippi Comes Face To Face With Brutal Past In Emmett Till Exhibit...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/03/mississippi-comes-face-to-face-with.html

Tha Artivist Remembers Ernest Withers (1922-2007)...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/11/tha-artivist-remembers-ernest-withers.html

Mississippi Still Burning Like Southern California...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/10/mississippi-still-burning-like-southern.html

No Justice, Just Us For EMMETT...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/03/no-justice-just-us-for-emmett.html

More Dr. Gene Young On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News...

Barack Obama's Installation Is The End Of A Long Road To Washington For America's Civil Rights Campaigners...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2009/01/barack-obamas-installation-is-end-of.html

In Remembrance of Virgil Ware - Before the September 11 Attacks...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/09/in-remembrance-of-virgil-ware-before.html

Dr. Young Gives Food For Thought On What It's Like To Be A Civil Rights Pioneer...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/04/dr-young-gives-food-for-thought-on-what.html


Hear The Wisdom Of Dr. Young On These Following W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio
Specials...


W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: Yes He Did...So Now What??? Defining The Obama Presidency...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/11/16/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio




April 13, 2008~The State Of Black America Part One*

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: February 18, 2007~"We Shall Overcome"-The Henry Hampton Collection (Creator of the Award Winning Eyes On The Prize Documentary)
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/02/18/tha-artivist-presentsmaking-b

Friday, April 24, 2009

Tha Artivist: Does Marketing Create Or Reflect Society?


“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”~Malcolm X (Brainy Quote, 2009)

A wise man once said it’s not who you really are, but it’s what others think who you really are that counts. Asking the question ‘Does marketing create or reflect society?’ is like asking ‘Which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ In both cases and regardless of their sequential order, the principles are intertwined and connected to each others’ origins and fate. With that said marketing is a form of propaganda meant to influence one’s thoughts and actions which in the end determines one’s reality and fate.

For example, people underestimate the power of the music in particular its usage through the radio to influence behavior and thought. I work closely with the Memphis City Schools and it never ceases to amaze me of the ability of our children to mimic, imitate and memorize the lyrics of their favorite artists and songs. As brilliant as our children are at these forms of entertainment and communication, it doesn’t unfortunately always translate to success in the classroom. Many of them are failing standardized tests and can barely read and write. Many more can memorize and faithfully execute the dance steps of the latest rap music dance craze known as ‘the stanky leg’ than can recall their multiplication tables. Is it the fault of the music artists and the music that our kids are so uninspired and seemingly ‘brain dead’ when it comes to certain activities? Not necessarily, but the mechanism or rather culprit that could be held responsible is the mass corporate media juggernaut which pushes consumerism over knowledge of self.

In spite of the rise of the internet, the radio is still a very influential medium. Many of the songs that are in the current top 40 seem to be played every 5 minutes or so on the radio. Do you wonder how it is that when you first hear song that you may not like it all, but by the end of the week if not the day the horrible song becomes one of your favorites and most requested? It’s because in a way you are brainwashed by the methodology of the radio which plays the horrible song over and over until you are in essence forced through suggestive mental and aural torture to embrace said horrible song. You then unconsciously become a walking advertisement (read zombie) for the song, maybe buying it for your iTunes library as well as advocating its play among friends and family as well at parties and special gatherings. It can be likened to the phenomenon known as Stockholm Syndrome which “is a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger or risk in which they have been placed” (Wikipedia, 2009).

Mass media manipulation is directly responsible for creating the cult of personality crazes/movements that we have seen throughout history and that we are currently experiencing in many areas of life including politics, entertainment and religion. I am currently working at a public school known more for the bad behavior and underachieving nature of its students than anything else remotely positive. Some of the students are more prone to curse out adults and act out then do their assigned work or pay attention and follow directions. So you must have imagined my surprise as well as the other adults and educators’ sheer amazement as to how obedient and non-combative the kids were when a nationally known hometown rapper came to perform at the school before Easter Break. Every command the rapper gave the kids enthusiastically followed without fail. And he only had to tell them once to do something and they did it. Ironically, when we, the everyday handlers, would try to get these kids to obey and follow directions, we would be met with indifference, questioning, disruptive behavior and more frequently than not cursing.

I discussed this phenomenon with another teacher who has an extensive background in the workings of the U.S. justice system before becoming an educator. We both agreed that the reason why the kids followed the rapper’s commands was because in their minds he was a powerful star that they heard on the radio often and seen on national television outlets such as MTV & BET regularly. We thought that this was true mind/ population control at its most effective. Imagine we thought if kids were lambasted with shows dealing with multiplication, history, science as well as reading & writing? They may resist at the beginning but in the end they will be overcome because they couldn’t escape the vast influence of implementing such an effort that was so omnipresent and suggestive. This could be our Stockholm Syndrome for high academic achievement and overall life excellence. One can always dream.

In terms of our media I would argue that America is the greatest exporter of sex and violence on the planet and it is very much reflective in our society. If you look at the facts that we are the world’s largest illegal drug market and largest prison market with 25% of the world’s prison population, more than China or Russia, as well as lead the industrialized world in teen pregnancies and births then the question remains: How much influence does Madison Ave. and Hollywood have over our reality?

A key to understanding a people is to understand their culture. Although the U.S. likes to think of itself as a nation built on Christian principalities and values, it still has a dark, gluttonous, hedonistic underbelly to its character. It is evident in the spending patterns and consumer habits/preferences of its citizens. The need to be constantly and instantly gratified and the lack of patience, frugality/thrift, oversight and foresight from all sectors of our society ultimately has led to the socio-economic breakdown we are now undergoing.

In the end, it is important that we must advocate for a society that is balanced in terms of perspective and options. Marketing in a way helps and hurts this initiative. Marketing for example can promote a better way of doing things, but it can also limit one from finding alternatives by limiting one’s choices. With that said it is important for accountable and responsible individuals and entities to use the utmost discernment and discretion when dealing with marketing strategies that can ultimately enlighten or skewered the perception of the masses as well as the dimensions of our collective reality.


Remember The Revolution Won't Be Televised But It Will Be Blogged, Podcasted & Now Broadcasted Online!!!

Artastically, Communally & Revolutionarily Yours,

Tha Artivist
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Founder and Minister of Information
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe
http://www.youtube.com/weallbetv
http://www.weallbe.blogspot.com

Reference
Brainy Quote. (2009). Malcolm X. Last page update unknown. Last retrieved 4/14/2009 from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/malcolm_x.html.

Wikipedia. (2009). Stockholm Syndrome. Last page update 4/12/2009. Last retrieved 4/14/2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome.

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See Also...

"Real Talk With Tha Artivist" TV Show On Memphis Comcast Channel 17

Mondays @ 8pm Central


~~~~~~

To see or rather "hear" how far W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio has come please listen to the first broadcast, Jan. 7, 2007:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/01/07/tha-artivist-presents


Also check out how good we were in "2008 a.k.a. The Year Of Citizen Radio":
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2009/01/we-all-be-news-radio-made-2008-year-of.html

~~~~~~
*Support W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio!!!*

The W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Needing Funds Drive For W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Begins...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/12/we-all-be-needing-funds-drive-for-we.html



W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Supporting W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio: Buy Art & Gear For 'The Cause' Today!!!
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/12/we-all-be-supporting-we-all-be-news.html

Wendi C. Thomas: Best To Ignore Herenton's Latest Childish Stunt

Don't Encourage Mayor's Infantile Behavior


By Wendi C. Thomas Of The Memphis Commercial Appeal

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton may have turned 69 today, but he's behaving like a toddler.

With his surprise announcement Tuesday of plans to challenge U.S. Rep Steve Cohen for the 9th District congressional seat, Herenton has effectively thrown a tantrum in the middle of the floor in a crowded room.

He's hoping for attention -- and he got it, with members of the news media (including me) scratching our heads and scrambling to make sense of this latest bombshell.

But what if we as a city, much like a smart parent, would have ignored his latest tantrum?

Could we muster the willpower to not gawk at the spectacle Herenton regularly makes of himself and instead leave the room as he's issuing statements about being well-positioned for legislative service?

If we collectively did so, I'm guessing Herenton would be forced to do what even a 3-year-old has the sense to do: Seeing that he's not going to get the attention he craves from his latest paddling-worthy performance, he gets up, dusts himself off and, for a while at least, behaves.

Make no mistake: Herenton is not leaving the mayor's office. Not for the city school superintendent's job, and not for Congress.

This is just his latest, carefully orchestrated stunt.

Herenton needed to take away attention from the hot mess of a budget he presented to the City Council on Tuesday, a budget that called for cutbacks in some city services.

You'll notice no one is asking just how reduced the hours at libraries, pools and community centers will be in the wake of the potential Cohen vs. Herenton rumble. No one's asking what happens if the city has to provide more money for city schools than the budget currently provides.

And I'm sure Herenton's lip was a bit pouty after FedEx CEO Fred Smith got such a deferential reception from the council Tuesday.

Herenton presented his budget, got no such similar reception, then announced he's forming an exploratory committee to study a run for Congress -- a letter with text superimposed on a photo of the nation's capitol.

The gall!

Of course, even Stevie Wonder can see the wiggle room Herenton has left himself -- an exploratory committee to study. It's the same kind of wiggle room he left in his March 2008 "resignation" letter announcing "plans to retire" as mayor.

He's a chronic tease. Remember his promises to step down as mayor if the city and county were to consolidate?

I am so very tired of Herenton. He only ran for this fifth term because his challengers, to hear the mayor's narcissistic self tell it, weren't up to the task.

Then he wins, only to demonstrate just about every day since that he has no interest in being mayor.

Interest in the limelight -- yes. Interested in running a city -- not so much.

He belittles the city school board's choice of superintendent candidates, then makes clear that he'd take the job -- if he was asked/begged to.

When that didn't happen, (thank God) he probably started working on ideas for his next stunt -- the one unveiled this week.

His statement said he has received encouragement from citizens to run for Congress. (Note to Herenton: Normal people do not interpret citizens yelling, "Get out of town!" from passing cars as encouragement.)

With apologies to Dr. Seuss, but in language even a toddler could understand, let me make this clear:

I do not want Herenton near a school.

I do not want him cutting hours at the pool.

I do not want him at City Hall.

I do not want him near the Capitol Mall.

I do not want him here or there.

I do not want him anywhere.

--------------------

Wendi online

To read past columns, go to commercialappeal.com/wendi. Follow Wendi at twitter.com/wendi_c_thomas.

--------------------


Contact Wendi C. Thomas at (901) 529-5896 or e-mail thomasw@commercialappeal.com.

HopeOver, HopeLash, HopeBreak: A Lexicon of Disappointment


By Naomi Klein

I was a bit concerned about posting my latest column on Huffington Post, for obvious reasons. But I have decided to do it anyway, in the hopes that HuffPo readers will submit additions and modifications to the Lexicon of Disappointment. Or, alternatively, just yell about how wrong I am.

I await the verdict...

All is not well in Obamafanland. It's not clear exactly what accounts for the change of mood. Maybe it was the rancid smell emanating from Treasury's latest bank bailout. Or the news that the president's chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, earned millions from the very Wall Street banks and hedge funds he is protecting from reregulation now. Or perhaps it began earlier, with Obama's silence during Israel's Gaza attack.

Whatever the last straw, a growing number of Obama enthusiasts are starting to entertain the possibility that their man is not, in fact, going to save the world if we all just hope really hard.

This is a good thing. If the superfan culture that brought Obama to power is going to transform itself into an independent political movement, one fierce enough to produce programs capable of meeting the current crises, we are all going to have to stop hoping and start demanding.

The first stage, however, is to understand fully the awkward in-between space in which many US progressive movements find themselves. To do that, we need a new language, one specific to the Obama moment. Here is a start.

Hopeover. Like a hangover, a hopeover comes from having overindulged in something that felt good at the time but wasn't really all that healthy, leading to feelings of remorse, even shame. It's the political equivalent of the crash after a sugar high. Sample sentence: "When I listened to Obama's economic speech my heart soared. But then, when I tried to tell a friend about his plans for the millions of layoffs and foreclosures, I found myself saying nothing at all. I've got a serious hopeover."

Hoper coaster. Like a roller coaster, the hoper coaster describes the intense emotional peaks and valleys of the Obama era, the veering between joy at having a president who supports safe-sex education and despondency that single-payer healthcare is off the table at the very moment when it could actually become a reality. Sample sentence: "I was so psyched when Obama said he is closing Guantánamo. But now they are fighting like mad to make sure the prisoners in Bagram have no legal rights at all. Stop this hoper coaster -- I want to get off!"

Hopesick. Like the homesick, hopesick individuals are intensely nostalgic. They miss the rush of optimism from the campaign trail and are forever trying to recapture that warm, hopey feeling--usually by exaggerating the significance of relatively minor acts of Obama decency. Sample sentences: "I was feeling really hopesick about the escalation in Afghanistan, but then I watched a YouTube video of Michelle in her organic garden and it felt like inauguration day all over again. A few hours later, when I heard that the Obama administration was boycotting a major UN racism conference, the hopesickness came back hard. So I watched slideshows of Michelle wearing clothes made by ethnically diverse independent fashion designers, and that sort of helped."

Hope fiend. With hope receding, the hope fiend, like the dope fiend, goes into serious withdrawal, willing to do anything to chase the buzz. (Closely related to hopesickness but more severe, usually affecting middle-aged males.) Sample sentence: "Joe told me he actually believes Obama deliberately brought in Summers so that he would blow the bailout, and then Obama would have the excuse he needs to do what he really wants: nationalize the banks and turn them into credit unions. What a hope fiend!"

Hopebreak. Like the heartbroken lover, the hopebroken Obama-ite is not mad but terribly sad. She projected messianic powers onto Obama and is now inconsolable in her disappointment. Sample sentence: "I really believed Obama would finally force us to confront the legacy of slavery in this country and start a serious national conversation about race. But now he never seems to mention race, and he's using twisted legal arguments to keep us from even confronting the crimes of the Bush years. Every time I hear him say 'move forward,' I'm hopebroken all over again."

Hopelash. Like a backlash, hopelash is a 180-degree reversal of everything Obama-related. Sufferers were once Obama's most passionate evangelists. Now they are his angriest critics. Sample sentence: "At least with Bush everyone knew he was an asshole. Now we've got the same wars, the same lawless prisons, the same Washington corruption, but everyone is cheering like Stepford wives. It's time for a full-on hopelash."

In trying to name these various hope-related ailments, I found myself wondering what the late Studs Terkel would have said about our collective hopeover. He surely would have urged us not to give in to despair. I reached for one of his last books, Hope Dies Last. I didn't have to read long. The book opens with the words: "Hope has never trickled down. It has always sprung up."

And that pretty much says it all. Hope was a fine slogan when rooting for a long-shot presidential candidate. But as a posture toward the president of the most powerful nation on earth, it is dangerously deferential. The task as we move forward (as Obama likes to say) is not to abandon hope but to find more appropriate homes for it -- in the factories, neighborhoods and schools where tactics like sit-ins, squats and occupations are seeing a resurgence.

Political scientist Sam Gindin wrote recently that the labor movement can do more than protect the status quo. It can demand, for instance, that shuttered auto plants be converted into green-future factories, capable of producing mass-transit vehicles and technology for a renewable energy system. "Being realistic means taking hope out of speeches," he wrote, "and putting it in the hands of workers."

Which brings me to the final entry in the lexicon.

Hoperoots. Sample sentence: "It's time to stop waiting for hope to be handed down, and start pushing it up, from the hoperoots."

This column was first published in The Nation, www.naomiklein.org


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We Should Expect Excellence In Schools.

By By Lamar Alexander and Arne Duncan, Special to Viewpoint, The Memphis Commercial Appeal

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

We have both served as U.S. Secretary of Education -- under the first President Bush from 1991-1993 and now under President Obama -- and have seen the potential that charter schools can have in getting results for American students.

One of us was there at the beginning, writing to the nation's school superintendents in 1993 to urge them to start charter schools in their districts. Since then, more than 4,100 charter schools have opened across the country.

One is here now, having helped create charter schools in Chicago and hoping to see the number and quality of charter schools grow to serve even more students and communities.

President Barack Obama has encouraged the growth of successful, high-quality public charter schools, and challenged states to reform their charter rules and lift caps that limit growth and success among excellent charters. He said putting arbitrary caps on public charter schools is not "good for our children, our economy, or our country."

That's why we must encourage higher-quality processes for the approval and review of charter schools, as well as plans to shut down schools that are failing to serve students well. All of America's public schools must be held accountable to high standards.

As the debate over public charter schools moves forward across the country and in Tennessee, we must stay focused on the core issue, which is educational quality, not governance. Parents and children do not wake up each day and ask whether they attend a charter school or a non-charter school, so why should we?

Instead, we must eliminate barriers to the creation of innovative and effective schools -- both charter and non-charter -- that can address some of our chronic education challenges in under-served urban, suburban and rural areas. If that means creating more public charter schools, then we have a moral obligation and an economic imperative to do so.

Last year, all eligible charter schools in Tennessee made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as defined by federal law. One of them, Circles of Success Learning Academy, was honored with a Title I Distinguished School Award from the Tennessee Department of Education. The year before, another charter school, the STAR Academy, achieved the same honor.

In Chicago, charter schools are succeeding because of a rigorous application process that rejects more proposals than are approved and tough performance contracts that hold them accountable for results.

Today, 14 years into this experiment, Chicago has 68 charters schools, many of which outperform their neighborhood schools and most of which have waiting lists. It is worth noting that three charters were closed because they failed to meet their student achievement goals.

Under state law, Tennessee can only have 50 charter schools. Limiting the state to 50 charters is arbitrary and counterproductive and denies parents future educational options.

Most people do not know that there are many charter schools with union teachers. In fact, one of the pioneers of the movement was Albert Shanker, the legendary head of the American Federation of Teachers.

The fact is charter schools are public schools, they serve our children, they use our tax dollars and our facilities, and they are required to meet the same statewide academic standards of traditional public schools.

With so many young people dropping out of high school or graduating unprepared for college or work, the stakes are too high to ignore the educational opportunities offered by high-quality, effective public charter schools. In a free and dynamic society like ours, good ideas should be allowed to flourish and bear fruit.

Lamar Alexander is a U.S. senator from Tennessee. Arne Duncan is the U.S. education secretary.

© 2009 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online

Schools: Look Us Over, Don't Overlook Us.



By By Stephanie Fitzgerald, Special to Viewpoint, The Memphis Commercial Appeal

Friday, April 24, 2009

Many of us who work for Memphis City Schools are tired of hearing about the "failed Memphis City Schools" or "poor-performing schools."

MCS employees are not being treated fairly when comparisons are made with the Shelby County Schools. As most people know, the best indicator of a child's success is parental income. As a general rule, the higher the income, the more likely the child will succeed. Memphis is a city impacted by poverty.

More than 82 percent of our students are on free or reduced-price lunches, compared with about 42 percent of the students in Shelby County Schools. MCS teachers do not use this as an excuse; rather, they take it as a challenge.

How many of those who paint Memphis City Schools with a decidedly negative brush have actually been inside a city school to see firsthand what is going on there? We all realize that negative news gets the media coverage, not everyday good practice. Don't form your opinion of us by just taking negative media reports for granted -- go see for yourself.

I'm not talking about visiting the schools to attend a program or just walking through without stopping to observe. Take the time to visit for at least a whole class period on any regular day. I believe that very few of those who criticize have taken the time to be reliable witnesses.

If you do visit our City Schools, you will see teachers who enter their classrooms every day to challenge their students. Most teach with experience and enthusiasm. You will observe students who are engaged with learning and thrilled with the opportunity to acquire knowledge and learn new skills.

What other entity takes all comers? If you were to take a package to FedEx, UPS or the post office and it was not properly wrapped, had insufficient postage, an incomplete address or no return address, they would refuse to take it. Yet we take students every day who are not properly clothed, have worn-out shoes and are not adequately fed. Some cannot give you their address because they move around so much. Others have nowhere to call home. Memphis City Schools is currently educating about 1,700 students who are homeless.

We have many students who cannot afford any extras, but they are welcome at our public schools. In fact, they are wonderful children, just waiting to be discovered.

We are always grateful when caring citizens offer to spend their time and/or hard-earned money on our students. They often report back to their communities about the concerned teachers they meet, how little many of the students really have, and how much the students appreciate the time, interest and kindness of others.

As president of the Memphis Education Association, I get the chance to visit schools all the time. I see hardworking teachers and active, engaged students. Like any urban school district, we have problems. And although we know that money doesn't solve all problems, money that is spent on smaller classes for urban youths, on extra support and tutoring, or on classroom materials and technology is money that will pay dividends in the future for the entire county. Investing in our children will return the greatest dividend of all. It will improve the quality of life for all of us.

I believe it is in the best interest of all who live in Shelby County to support, nourish and pay for all of our students.

Many of the students served by Memphis City Schools do have extra needs -- whether those needs are financial, residential, emotional or academic. We are perplexed as to why some members of the Memphis City Council voted to cut the schools' funding last year. Previously, they had been supportive of public education, but now they seem more interested in fighting, rather than following a Chancery Court judge's decision in Memphis City Schools' lawsuit seeking full funding from the city of Memphis. Supt. Kriner Cash has pointed out that without the funds from the City Council, the district may be forced to make another reduction of at least 1,000 employees, and this time many teachers, education support professionals and programs important for our students could be included in the cutbacks.

In addition, there are citizens who write or e-mail The Commercial Appeal with unfair, uninformed criticisms of MCS -- either its schools, its employees or both.

To those who have never been inside a city school, I invite you to visit one. You will have a perfect opportunity during the next districtwide Student Exhibition on Tuesday.

I challenge you to visit any Memphis city school, but particularly one of those schools that our media and public refer to as a "failing school." Just call and volunteer to be a judge in the exhibition, or ask to be an observer. I guarantee that you will be surprised and impressed with the enthusiasm of the staff, the work of the students, the new friends you will make, and especially how much you will enjoy the experience.


Stephanie Fitzgerald is president of the Memphis Education Association. She is on leave from Melrose High School, where she taught biology. She has worked as a teacher for Memphis City Schools for 35 years.

© 2009 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online

"Change " Came Quietly: Relics Of Bygone Era In Mississippi Off The Books...


Dr. Gene Young As A Young Civil Rights Activist integrating a barbershop in Kansas City,MO (left)


The True Audacity Of Hope: U.S. Presidential Hopeful Barack Hussein Obama And Civil Rights Legend Dr. Gene 'Jughead' Young
By Shelia Byrd
Associated Press Writer / April 21, 2009

JACKSON, Miss.—While researching a case, attorney Ed Blackmon stumbled across leftovers of Mississippi' s segregationist past -- laws enacted to discourage the fight for equal rights for blacks.

They were the same laws authorities used to arrest him nearly 45 years ago when he was a teenager attending a protest to support black voter registration. Blackmon, now a state lawmaker, knew he had the power to do something about it.

Blackmon, 60, successfully pushed a bill through the state Legislature this year to remove the laws, which were declared unconstitutional long ago. With the stroke of a pen and little fanfare, Republican Gov. Haley Barbour quietly repealed them and erased what for many was a painful reminder of institutional racism.

"I had an indelible memory of what those laws meant and when I saw it, I was reminded of my own experience," said Blackmon, who now has a successful law practice and has served in the Mississippi House for 25 years.

Though Blackmon's success shows progress once thought unthinkable in Mississippi, some have wondered why it wasn't celebrated in the public square. The bill slipped unnoticed through the legislative process -- so quietly, in fact, those who had been active in the civil rights movement didn't even know it was being considered.

Some say that could be a sign that while lawmakers were willing to wipe the racist codes from state law, they may still worry there could be backlash in a state that still struggles to emerge from its past of racial strife.

Hollis Watkins, one of the hundreds who worked to educate blacks about their rights the summer of 1964, said the gesture was good, but "for us to repeal terrible laws and not let the public know this is something we are doing" shows relics of the turbulent Civil Rights era still linger.

The removed laws date back to 1964, when thousands of civil rights activists from across the nation, many of them white college students, decided to descend on Mississippi to educate blacks and register them to vote as a means of toppling the state's racist social order. The activists were aware of the dangers, including police beatings and arrests on trumped-up charges, but they were undeterred, said Ed King, a white Methodist minister involved in the civil rights movement.

Legislators and others who wanted to keep the status quo knew the activists usually met in churches to organize their protest rallies and registration drives. The all-white Legislature passed a series of laws that went into effect June 11, 1964, that essentially made such gatherings illegal, although the laws were later deemed unconstitutional.

"They were very open about why the laws were needed then. I think members of the Legislature were afraid we were bringing thousands and thousands of potentially violent crazies into the state," King said. "They deserved to be afraid. We intended to change the state, just not violently."

But deadly violence did occur when the Ku Klux Klan ambushed and murdered three civil rights activists in eastern Mississippi' s Neshoba County on June 21, 1964. The slayings drew the nation's eye to the civil rights struggle and helped spur passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Less than two weeks after the anti-Freedom Summer laws were approved, a 16-year-old Blackmon was arrested as he walked along a sidewalk in Canton with a group of other blacks. They had just attended a protest meeting at a local church, he said.

"They arrested us for parading unlawful assembly and we were hauled away to jail in poultry trucks. We were out in the truck in the summer sun and sweltering heat with doors closed and chickens for over an hour," said Blackmon. The charges were later dropped, he said.

A ruling in a 1967 federal court case declared the laws unconstitutional, and no one can remember them being used since for prosecution. Blackmon said lawmakers weren't trying to hide the effort to remove the laws from the books. He said his his primary concern was just making sure that they were dropped.

"It was a relic of the past and it will always be a part of our history, but I feel those things don't need to be part of the code," Blackmon said. "It's a sign of improving times. There was no big deal made about it."

Other Jim Crow laws have been repealed over the years, including the state's poll tax in 1989 and its ban on interracial marriage in 1987. Both garnered heavy media coverage, even though the laws hadn't been active for some time.

Barbour's office and two lawmakers who co-sponsored the bill did not return calls seeking comment about the measure.

King, who still lives in Jackson, said he didn't know about Blackmon's bill.

"That's usually the best way to go about things like that is to just quietly get a consensus on it and then just remove it," he said.

The laws centered around criminal syndicalism, which roughly defined means advocating various methods to effect any social or political change. One of the laws made it illegal for two or more people to assemble or consort to encourage it. Another made it illegal for a building owner or caretaker to allow such meetings on the premises. Even uttering the certain words or phrases was against the law.



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