I love this response. bell hooks' reports that in response to a letter from a white farm boy concerning the solution to the "Negro Question," Lorraine Hansberry wrote

"the condition of our people dictates that what can only be called revolutionary attitudes.... I Think,then, that Negroes must concern themselves with every single means of struggle:legal,illegal,passive,active,violent,and nonviolent. That they must harrass, debate, petition, give money to court struggle,sit-in,lie-down,strike,boycott,sing hymns,pray on steps-and shoot from their windows when the racists come cruising through their communities."

There is a reason why I love Lorraine Hansberry.

I finished bell hooks' Rock My Soul last night. Everyone must read it.

Always be ware of language, how it is used, and the nuances of it. For starters, be ware of anyone who calls anyone else silly. Silly is what they used to call women, negroes, and children. Oh patriarchy.

Yes!

Today, amid fallout from the Abramoff scandal, Tom Delay has announced his resignation from congress!One down!

The Paris of the 1960s has returned. Read here.

I saw Anatoli today. It always throws me off. That man really did make an impression on me.

FBI Spies on the Left

The ACLU website is carrying an article which details the FBI's efforts to color public dissent to the Bush adminstration and the right-wing agenda in the government as potential terrorism. These people must be stopped.

I Concentrate on You

Abbey Lincoln

Whenever skies look grey to me,
And trouble begins to brew,
Whenever the winter winds become too strong,
I concentrate on you.
When fortune cries "nay, nay" to me,
And people declare "you're through,"
Whenever the blues become my only song,
I concentrate on you.
On your smile so sweet, so tender,
When at first my kiss you declined, (your kiss I declined)
On the light in your eyes when you surrender, (I surrender)
And once again our hearts intertwine.
And so when wise men say to me
That love's young dream never comes true;
To prove that even wise men can be wrong,
I concentrate you

Abbey Lincoln looks so much like my Aunt Betty. They have the same mouth, very similar faces.

Happy Birthday Nikki!

Happy Birthday to My Sister!

Abbey Lincoln makes a very profound statement that " We don't know our names. Our names are in our ancestors. We don't know our ancestors. Our ancestors are with our Gods. We are our Gods." She speaks to something that I have spoken on many times and something that I wish to make the focus of my work, that Afro-Americans, Black people in this country do not know their heritage, do not know where they come from and are therefore at the mercy and whim of the white male power structure. All of the confusion that we see today in the Afro-American community(such as it is), everything that sticks out like a sore thumb--from Hurricane Katrina to the total disregard and disrespect paid to the Afro-American community by the powers that be in this country, all result from our collective not knowing from where we have come. As I have said before, with all of the efforts to try and delve back into an African past--these are very fine, but they won't do any good until Afro-Americans deal with the legacy that they have been handed here in this country--that of slavery and horrible crimes against humanity that produced us as a population. We are the bastard children of this white male power structure. We collectively are the Edmund of King Lear, and we must decide what we will do in facing this patriarchal system that oppresses us. Black people deal with this legacy of illegitimacy within this white capitalist patriarchal system(to borrow bell hooks' term) by denying this legacy-- acknowledging only the African part of their past and this is detrimental to any efforts that Blacks will ever make to gain recognition of their humanity in this country. They will either have to confront patriarchy head on or they will continue to live in the squalor of its existence.

This demands that we know our legacy here in this country and that we know where we come from. How many of us know our grandparents, our great grandparents? Where you come from? We must become reconnected to this past in order to bring ourselves forward. I am very glad that I have always been in touch with mine. When you know who you are, there is nothing that can be done to you.

I truly believe that there is some kind of higher power that incluences the determination of our lives.

Lucky White Girl is a great blog. Very cutting edge.

Dick Gregory Quote

"The Word Katrina is Russian. It means cleansing. It was a wakeup call for everyone."

This is a great article by Ebony Ledbetter of BlackCollegewire concerning Hampton University's not very progressive dress and hair codes for Black students in their business program.

Good News

North Carolina Central University is standing behind the 27-year-old woman who was brutaly gang-raped by members of their lacrosse team. They have developed a fund to financially support this woman and her children and are calling for justice in this most horrific case.

I was described as being Soul on Ice and James Baldwin. Interesting. I have never read Soul on Ice. It's interesting that I've never read the work of patriarchal Black men.

9 to 5

Dolly Parton

Tumble outta bed
And stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
Yawnin’, stretchin’, try to come to life
Jump in the shower
And the blood starts pumpin’
Out on the streets
The traffic starts jumpin’
And folks like me on the job from 9 to 5
Chorus:

Workin’ 9 to 5
What a way to make a livin’
Barely gettin’ by
It’s all takin’
And no givin’
They just use your mind
And they never give you credit
It’s enough to drive you
Crazy if you let it

9 to 5, for service and devotion
You would think that i
Would deserve a fair promotion
Want to move ahead
But the boss won’t seem to let me in
I swear sometimes that man is out to get me
Mmmmm...

They let your dream
Just a’ watch ’em shatter
You’re just a step
On the boss man’s a’ ladder
But you got dream he’ll never take away

On the same boat
With a lot of your friends
Waitin’ for the day
Your ship’ll come in
And the tide’s gonna turn
An’ it’s all gonna roll you away

2nd chorus:

Workin’ 9 to 5
What a way to make a livin’
Barely gettin’ by
It’s all takin’
And no givin’
They just use your mind
And you never get the credit
It’s enough to drive you
Crazy if you let it

9 to 5, yeah, they got you where they want you
There’s a better life
And you think that I would daunt you
It’s a rich man’s game
No matter what they call it
And you spend your life
Going funny if you want it

3rd chorus:

Workin’ 9 to 5
What a way to make a livin’
Barely gettin’ by
It’s all takin’
And no givin’
They just use you mind
And they never give you credit
It’s enough to drive you
Crazy if you let it

Fade:

9 to 5, yeah, they got you where they want you
There’s a better life
And you dream that I would daunt you
It’s a rich man’s game
No matter what they call it
And you spend your life
Going funny if you want it

Shelby Steele on CSPAN

Shelby Steele wants to be a patriarch so bad.... he can loose his penis too. I thought it was really funny when he said that Ronald Reagan gave him his manhood.

Observations

When Shelby Steele talks about freedom, what he really means is Capitalism-- he is free to be a capitalist. Also, he takes his frustrations with White liberals and turns it into slef-hatred and hatred for other Blacks.

I love the rush that I feel when I am walking through downtown Chicago. I love the energy and the metropolitanness of it. Whenever I write, there is always some force that wants to stop me from doing so.