My grandmother said that she always maintained professional decorum while she was teaching. I had to remind her that she played baseball with a fellow teachers head,knocking the earring out of her ear after that lady taunted her with a tree branch full of worms.

Those people involved in the killing of that young Black boy in Florida, Martin Anderson, should have their penises cut off. Cut the judge's penis off too as well as the jurors. If they dont have one, just knock the fuck out of them.

Congratulations to Al Gore on his Nobel Peace Prize. Although, if I were handing out Nobel Prizes, Id give one to his cousin, Gore Vidal, especially forMyra Breckenridge

I am really pissed about that young Black boys death in Florida at the hands of those guards in that boot camp. I think they should be castrated. There should not be another all-white jury in this country-anywhere in the world. Any all white jury is invalid.

Coming Around Again

Carly Simon

Baby sneezes
Mummy pleases
Daddy breezes in
So good on paper
So romantic
But so bewildering

(chorus)
I know nothing stays the same
But if youre willing to play the game
Its coming around again
So dont mind if I fall apart
Theres more room in a broken heart

You pay the grocer
Fix the toasted
Kiss the host good-bye
Then you break a window
Burn the souffl?
Scream the lullaby

I know nothing stays the same
But if youre willing to play the game
Its coming around again
So dont mind if I fall apart
Theres more room in a broken heart

And I believe in love
But what else can I do
Im so in love with you

I know nothing stays the same
But if youre willing to play the game
Its coming around again
(repeat and fade)

Jena 6

Someone should castrate the judge and the D.A. in this case and knock the fuck out of Kathleen Blanco. Thank God John Conyers will be holding congressional hearings. We have had enough white male bullshit in this country. Its time to start chopping some penises off.

This From Hungry Blues

Megan Williams Says She Was Set Up, Reveals More Details of Abuse
Megan Williams and her mother, Carmen Williams, have given an interview to the Nation of Islam’s Final Call. Megan Williams claims that she did not willingly go to the trailer home where she was raped and stabbed and tortured by six whites. Rather, she was lured there by a supposed friend.

Megan Williams (MW): When I first went up there, a girl I knew named Christa, she took me up there, she said we were going to a party.

FC: When Christa took you there (the trailer home in Big Creek in Logan County) what did she do?

MW: She said she had to make a run and she would be right back. She didn’t come back.

FC: Do you believe Christa was involved in arranging this?

MW: (Nodding.)

Carmen Williams (CW): Yes, it was a setup, she left her there. When Megan was in the hospital, Christa called and I answered the phone. Christa was asking, ‘how is my friend?’ I told her that she wasn’t a friend of Megan’s because she left her. Christa then hung up the phone. We have not seen or heard from Christa since that time.

The police investigators say they are trying to locate her for an interview, but have not been able to find her.

Megan Williams also insists that she did not have a romantic relationship with Bobby Brewster, despite the many allusions to a “prior relationship” in news reports.

FC: There were some news reports that you had a relationship with one of the defendants, Bobby Brewster. Is this accurate?

MW: We were just friends. It was nothing like that.

FC: No dating relationship between you and defendant Bobby Brewster?

MW: No. They kicked me in the head with steel toed boots, they hit me in the head with several objects, I remember seeing a knife, and they tried to cut my foot off. They told me that is what they did to Kunta Kinte when they cut his foot off so he couldn’t run and that is what they were going to do to me.

FC: When exactly was this?

MW: It was like in August. When she (Christa) dropped me off up there, that’s when they started beating on me, and calling me names. When they were hitting me and stabbing me, they called me n—-r, they said ‘this is what we do to n—-rs up here’ and they said they were going to kill me.

Throughout the interview, Megan Williams makes numerous references to the 6 whites’ use of racial epithets that did not come out in her original statement to the police. She also describes a scene in which she it seems she was being treated purposely like a slave.

They made me pick green beans out of the garden, they made these switches into a braid and they were whipping me as I was picking the greens. They made me pick weeds out of the garden and they were calling me n—-r and said they were going to take me out to a creek and cut my throat and throw me in a river. All I was saying is I wanted to get back to my mom, and they were like, ‘you ain’t ever going to see your mom ever, ever again, never.’ I wanted to get back home so bad.

Similarly, Ms. Williams says the 6 whites made her sleep in the shed outside the trailer home because she is Black.

They told me there were no n—-rs allowed in the trailer.

And she describes the threats of hanging more vividly than before.

I just wanted to get away. I asked one of them if they could let me go, they said no because ‘ain’t no n—-rs allowed up here,’ and they were going to kill me. One day, I was asleep in the room, one of them came in and was kicking me and said ‘hey n—-r, we got a noose out there for you, want to come look at it? We’re going to hang you, come on.’ I got really scared. I just wanted to get out of there. I was fighting for my life.

Do we still think this wasn’t a hate crime? The state government, and, if possible, the federal government must address the racial dimensions of this case.

Why is there paramilitary training going on in Miami? Someone needs to be castrated.

Support the Greensboro Two

The Alabama New South Coalition Justice/Peace Committee urges everyone who
can to support the Struggle in Hale Co.this Friday Oct. 12, at 9:00 a.m. in
Greensboro. One more time two Black women, this time, Valada Paige-Banks
and a grandmother, Rosie Lyles, are being charged with illegal activity in
conjunction with absentee voting, and it is rumored the "special" Grand
Jury may return additional indictments. Paige-Banks and Lyles, members of
Campaign 2000 and Beyond will plead innocent.

As explained in the Oct. 3rd Greene Co. Democrat, Campaign 2000 resulted
after "a group of Black residents came together and formed [the]
organization . . . .to better educate, inform communities and to obtain
better representation and service" from local governments. Infirm citizens
and others previously unable to vote at the ballot box learned how they
could vote by requesting absentee ballots (Previous problems are
illustrated by the fact that workers at catfish factories had not been
allowed to leave work in time to get to the polls).

As a result of their organizing, the community in 1998 elected the city's
first Black mayor who won over a 20 year incumbent. Since then they've
voted into office the circuit judge, circuit clerk, DA, state senator,
commissioners and councilmen.

Since Campaign 2000's success, another group formed in Hale and throughout
the Black Belt, "called the Democracy Defense League, consisting of mostly
white members." This group asked the Attorney General to investigate
alleged voter fraud in Hale Co.

Selective prosecution is once again at work in Alabama. Although there have
been allegations of voting irregularities committed by whites, the AG's
investigation, going on since 2002, has only targeted the Black community.
Once again Black voters have been harassed by authorities with resultant
voter intimidation. Apparently part of the goal of this action is to
suppress Black votes so that progressive Black candidates will not win; as
Eugene Lyles says in the Democrat, "Residents are using their friends in
the court system to destroy Campaign 2000 and keep us from participating in
the election process. . . .I assure you that none of Campaign 2000 members
has done anything illegal."

Oct. 7 several ANSC leaders participated in a large Greensboro rally,
including Sen. Hank Sanders, who spoke along with the Rev. Al Sharpton,
SCLC President Charles Steele, and Alabama Sen. Bobby Singleton.

In addition to showing support by attending the Oct. 12 arraignment and
future events, people are encouraged to mail financial contributions to
Citizens Trust Bank, 213 Main St., Eutaw AL 35462

Judy Collins Cumbee
ANSC Committee for Justice, Peace, Human Rights, Environment

School Shootings

There is an evil spirit in this country and we had better be paying attention and trying to rectify it.

Ready to Run

Dixie Chicks

When the train rolls by
I'm gonna be ready this time
When the boy gets that look in his eye
I'm gonna be ready this time
When my momma says I look good in white
I'm gonna be ready this time

Oh yeah
Ready, ready, ready, ready...ready to run
All I'm ready to do is have some fun
What's all this talk about love

I feel the wind blow through my hair
I'm gonna be ready this time
I'll buy a ticket to anywhere
I'm gonna be ready this time
You see it feels like I'm starting to care
And I'm going to be ready this time

Oh yeah
Ready, ready, ready, ready...ready to run
All I'm ready to do is have some fun
What's all this talk about love

I'm ready to run...I'm ready to run

Oh
Ready, ready, ready, ready...ready to run
All I'm ready to do is have some fun
What's all this talk about love
I'm ready to run
I'm ready to run
I'm ready to run
I'm ready to run...ready to run...
ready to run...yeah I'm ready to run. I'm ready
Whoa I'm ready to run...I'm ready...I'm ready to run...
I'm ready to run...I'm ready
Oh I'm ready to run..I'm ready.

I am really chewing nails about my decision to sit out a year. I was not brave enough to jump. I'll be ready when time comes to go next year.

God Bless Jimmy Carter.

Latin American Leaders Pt. II

Nicauragua-Daniel Ortega

Rising to prominence as a leader of the Sandinista Movement in the 1970s and 1980s, Daniel Ortega has long been a champion of the people of Nicauragua. In his second term as president, which began in 2006, Ortega has worked closely with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran in promoting the interests of their two countries. Of this alliance, Ortega has said,"the revolutions of Iran and Nicaragua are almost twin revolutions...since both revolutions are about justice, liberty, self-determination, and the struggle against imperialism."

Venezuela- Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chavez is the most wonderful leader of Venezuela. Elected president in 1998, Chavez has been the primary architect of the Bolivarian Movement. As president, he has renounced Venezuela's ties to the IMF, formed close alliances with Cuba, Ecuador, Iran, and other developing nations around the globe, and has been a champion of humanity and human values. He has been one of the strongest opponents of U.S. imperialism while at the same time offering Venezuelan resources to the United States' poor. In September of 2006, before the U.N., Chavez referred to George W. Bush as the devil. Bravo for that one! Hugo Chavez is an important force in progressive politics and is an exemplary world leader.

Hero Of The People, Che Guevara: June 14,1928- October 9,1967

El Che

Stop CAFTA

Read here about the Central American Free Trade Agreement which seeks to get a stronghold on the tiniest of Central American economies and place them under U.S. corporate control and domination. Stand against CAFTA.

Profiles of Latin American Heads of States Pt. I

I have for a while now contemplated profiling the progressive Latin American leaders who, I believe, are the hope for this hemisphere. Countering the right-wing administration of the u.s. and the expansion of militarism, authoritarianism, and fascism that is taking hold in western societies, these figures are dedicated to humanity and progressive politics. Long live the Bolivarian Revolution!

Argentina- Nestor Kirchner

Argentina's President, Nestor Kirchner, has been a proponent of progressive politics ever since his early years as a student. As president of Argentina, Kirchner has been responsible for adopting the trend of leftist Latin American countries in canceling his nation's debt to the IMF. Kirchner is closely allied to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Brazil's Lula,and Bolivia's Evo Morales. He is a Peronist politically, considers himself a humanist, and has sought to make Argentina's government responsive to the needs of the people.

Bolivia-Evo Morales

Bolivia's Evo Morales has been a star of the left ever since he was elected as president of Bolivia in 2005. The first indigenous president in Latin America, Morales has used his authority as president to fight for and defend the rights of the indigenous peoples of Bolivia. Like Kirchner and others in Latin America, Morales canceled Bolivia's debt with the International Monetary Fund and has set about nationalizing Bolivia's oil, natural gas, and other resources. He is one of the closest allies of Venezeuala's Hugo Chavez and has stood solidly against U.S. imperialism. He has been a staunch defender of Bolivian cocoa farmers and is one of the most prominent figures in progressive politics.

Brazil- Lula

Brazil's Lula, or Luiz Inacio da Silva, has been a prominent figure in the Bolivarian movement across Latin America. Though he has come out os more moderate than other Latin American leaders, he has close ties with Hugo Chavez, Michelle Bachelet, and Nestor Kirchner. Rising out of the trade unions, as president, Lula attacked social problems in Brazil and has worked to boost their economy.

Chile- Michelle Bachelet

Chile's Michelle Bachelet is one of the most influential and powerful women in the world and is the first woman elected as president in Latin America. Coming from a leftist Chilean family, Bachelet entered the world of politics early. Her father, a supporter of President Salvadore Allende, who was overthrown in a U.S. backed coup led by Augusto Pinochet, was later tortured and killed by the Pinochet regime. Bachelet and her mother, who were also tortured, were forced to flee Chile. Bachelet trained as a doctor and later studied military strategy, both in Chile(after her return) and in the United States.

Elected president of Chile in 2005, running on a socialist party ticket, Bachelet has championed social issues such as education, healthcare, restructuring wealth distribution in Chile, and has challenged the Catholic Church by making the morning after pill available to women. Bachelet herself is an unconventional Latin American leader, a single mother and an agnostic, she has personally broken away from the Catholic Church's hold in Latin American life. She is closely allied with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Nestor Kirchner of Argentina.

Cuba- Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro is the grandfather of the Latin American Movement. He, with Che Guevara and others, in 1959, overthrew the corrupt Batista regime that dominated Cuba and freed Cuba from slavery under U.S. Corporations(such as United Fruit) that owned Cuban sugar and other resources and from the U.S. mafia that controlled Cuban hotels and casinos. Since Castro's rise to power in 1959, he has aided in the liberation struggles of peoples around the globe from South Africa to Vietnam. Since his rise to power in Cuba, Cubans have universal healthcare, have not been stranded and killed because of hurricanes, and have a 99% literacy rate, which is much better than that of the United States(which is somewhere around the high 80s).Fidel Castro is very strongly allied with Hugo Chavez and other Latin American leaders, and has won the praise of such figures as Nelson Mandela, Alice Walker, and Harry Belafonte.

Ecuador- Rafeal Correa

Ecuador's very handsome president,Rafael Correa has been another intriguing figure in the Bolivarian Movement in Latin America. As president of Ecuador, he has taken steps to ease the burden of the nation's poor, has increased the nation's share of oil revenue from Ecadoran oil, has canceled Ecuador's debt with the IMF, and works very closely with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia. He has vowed to shut down the U.S. military base at Manta situated in Ecuador. Of George Bush he has said, "a comparison of George Bush with the devil is unfair to the devil."

Loretta Lynn said in her autobiography something to the effect that "they told her she had a million dollars in the bank, but she knew if she were ever broke again she knew what she would do. She'd go back home and shell some peas. What wonderful values.

Tony Brown's Journal last night was about the state of Black youth and education in this country. I liked a lot of what I heard last night, all of it perhaps. What I heard made me think that perhaps we need to revive the National Association of Colored Parents and Teachers.

Something Funny

I was just on an online site and told someone that I thought he had a beautiful face, the response to which was "Do I look like a sodomite?" Haha! That reminds me of when I was in the fifth grade and I called my teacher a pharisee.

Light Of A Clear Blue Morning

Dolly Parton

Its been a long dark night
And Ive been a waitin for the morning
Its been a long hard fight
But I see a brand new day a dawning
Ive been looking for the sunshine
cause I aint seen it in so long
But everythings gonna work out just fine
Everythings gonna be all right
Thats been all wrong

cause I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of a brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And everythings gonna be all right
Its gonna be okay

Its been a long long time
Since Ive known the taste of freedom
And those clinging vines
That had me bound, well I dont need em

cause I am strong and I can prove it
And I got my dreams to see me through
Its just a mountain, I can move it
And with faith enough theres nothing I cant do

And I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And I can see the light of brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And everythings gonna be all right
Its gonna be okay

I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of a brand new day
Yes I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And everythings gonna be all right
Everythings gonna be all right
Everythings gonna be all right

Its gonna be okay

cause I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
Yes I can see the light of a clear blue morning
Everythings gonna be all right
Its gonna be okay

I can see the light
I can see the light

Its gonna be all right
Its gonna be all right

Afro-Americans Turning Away From U.S. Military

Military sees big decline in black enlistees Iraq war
cited in 58% drop since 2000

By Joseph Williams and Kevin Baron,
Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent
October 7, 2007

WASHINGTON - African-Americans, whose longstanding
relationship with the US military helped them prove
their abilities and offered a way to get ahead, have
turned away from the armed forces in record numbers
since 2000, a period covering the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks and the start of the Iraq war.

Defense Department statistics show the number of young
black enlistees has fallen by more than 58 percent
since fiscal year 2000. The Army in particular has been
hit hard: In fiscal year 2000, according to the
Pentagon statistics, more than 42,000 black men and
women applied to enlist; in fiscal year 2005, the most
recent for which a racial breakdown is available, just
over 17,000 signed up.

The unpopular Iraq war is the biggest reason, according
to military analysts, Pentagon surveys, and interviews
with young African-Americans. But they say mistrust of
the Bush administration is adding to the problem -
along with the notion that black soldiers are being
steered to combat jobs, a lingering perception from the
Vietnam War.

The decline in enlistment applications among blacks is
by far the fastest of any demographic group. Between
fiscal 2000 and 2005, white applicants declined by more
than 10 percent. Hispanic applicants dropped by almost
7 percent.

The Army Recruiting Command acknowledged that the Iraq
war has presented special challenges in the
African-American community, but said it continues to
reach out to black recruits.

"The main thing everyone has to realize is that an
all-volunteer force is just that," said S. Douglas
Smith, public affairs officer for the US Army
Recruiting Command. "We try to make sure we communicate
to every part of society and let them know what we have
to offer. We try to be as open as we can about the risk
of service and the benefits of service. After that,
it's a matter of people choosing if they want to come
in and serve."

But some military specialists worry that the trend
could persist long after the current administration and
war are over.

"African-Americans have been such a key part of the
modern military," said Michael O'Hanlon, military
analyst for the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution.
"There's obviously been a degree where the black
community in the United States has seen [military
service] as culturally valuable and promoted it. That
whole culture and value system is at risk in the black
community. That is a big, big change. To me, it
portends the possibility of a longer-term loss of
interest. It can be tough to get it back."

Interviews with young African-Americans confirmed a
lack of faith in the president and the war.

Nathaniel Daley, a young African-American from Atlantic
City, N.J., said he doesn't believe in the Iraq war and
won't enlist because of it. Daley, 28, and two friends,
Brian Jackson, 27, and Eddie Mickle Jr., 26, talked one
recent afternoon at the Pentagon City Mall in
Arlington, Va., a vast shopping complex just blocks
from the military's nerve center. As they talked,
uniformed servicemen and women, some wearing battle
fatigues, passed by.

In high school during the late 1990s, Daley said, he
signed a letter of intent to join the Army upon
graduation, "to pay for my college, get a better job,
and better myself." He said he broke that commitment
for a higher-paying job at a nearby casino.

Though the Army would likely consider them ideal
recruits - young, fit, high school-educated - each said
the Iraq war and Bush's presidency, particularly after
the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005, has kept them
out of uniform.

"Why would we go over there and help them [Iraqis],
when [the US government] can't help us over here?" he
said, referring to the cleanup after Katrina.

The war "is unnecessary," Jackson said. "It's not our
war. We got our own war here, just staying alive," he
added, noting his hometown of Philadelphia has racked
up more than 200 homicides so far this year, most
involving young black men.

Eager to bolster its stretched-thin ranks - and meet a
congressional mandate to increase its force by about
65,000 troops within five years - the Army has launched
an aggressive recruiting campaign targeted at young
black people like Daley and his friends, with ads
featuring a young black man convincing his parents that
enlistment is a good choice. The Army has also raised
its enlistment bonuses, highlighted its access to
college tuition money, and loosened its age and
physical fitness standards.

But Damon Wright, a senior at Anacostia High School in
Southeast Washington, was not impressed. "There's no
guarantee I wouldn't have to go over there," he said.
"I'm trying to play football in college. I might go
over there and lose a leg."

The Pentagon and military analysts say the downturn in
enlistments partly reflects the fact that young
African-Americans have broader options, pointing to the
growing number of black students in college. But the
decrease in enlistment also comes amid high dropout
rates among African-American youths and a 7.7 percent
unemployment rate in the black community, almost twice
that of whites.

Negative opinions about Iraq - and attitudes like
Wright's - have overshadowed the military's efforts to
highlight the positives about military service.

A recent CBS News poll showed 83 percent of
African-American respondents said the Iraq invasion was
a mistake. In addition, the president's approval rating
has hit rock-bottom with black voters at about 9
percent, according to a 2006 Pew Research Center poll.

The relationship between African-Americans and military
service is complex, dating back to the 1700s. Both
freedmen and slaves joined colonists in the fight
against British rule. A century later, the all-black
corps known as the Buffalo Soldiers helped settle the
West.

Meanwhile, during the Civil War, black Union regiments
won acclaim for heroism. In World War I, more than
350,000 black troops served in segregated Army units
but few were allowed to fight, dashing hopes that
courage under fire in Europe would help them defeat Jim
Crow laws at home.

In World War II, African-Americans were again assigned
mostly to support duty, but they made up 75 percent of
truck drivers for the Red Ball Express - a dangerous,
nonstop supply convoy that fueled General George H.
Patton's sweep across Europe.

When President Harry S. Truman desegregated the
military in 1948, African-Americans saw the Army as a
key avenue for advancement. Joining up became "a way
out of a worse situation," said Gregory A. Black, a
retired Navy dive commander and creator of
blackmilitaryworld.com, a website devoted to the
history of African-Americans and the military.

By the Vietnam War, the Army had a full complement of
black combat troops, including Colin Powell, who did
two combat tours as a captain and major and later
became secretary of state. But civil-rights leaders
complained about the disproportionately high casualty
rate among black soldiers, arguing that the Pentagon
was drafting young black men and sending them directly
into combat.

"A lot of African-Americans are still messed up over
Vietnam," said Black. Yet Defense Department statistics
show African-American soldiers today are more likely to
work in clerical or support jobs than fight on the
front lines.

Despite the sharp decline in enlistments, the
percentage of blacks in the military still slightly
exceeds that of the general population: 14.5 percent in
the military, as of 2005, versus 12.8 percent in the US
population. Nonetheless, recent Pentagon-sponsored
surveys suggest that attitudes among military-age
African-Americans may have changed for good.

Adult influencers of all youths, such as parents,
sports coaches, or mentors, say Iraq makes them less
likely to recommend military service, according to
Pentagon surveys. Of all racial groups,
African-American influencers are the least likely to
suggest enlistment, according to the surveys.

At Oxon Hill High School, located in a predominantly
black Washington suburb, guidance counselor Kabir
Tompkins is also an Army National Guard sergeant
wounded in Iraq. He tells interested students the Army
can lead to better life: a good salary, health
benefits, and tens of thousands of dollars for college.
But their parents are harder to convince, he said.

"They see it from the aspect of . . . 'I don't care
about the benefits, I don't care about the money, I
don't care about nothing. I don't want my child going
to Iraq,' " Tompkins said.

Lieutenant Colonel Irving Smith, a sociologist at the
US Military Academy at West Point, isn't surprised the
war "has had its toll" on black enlistment. But Smith,
who is black, said he fears that a proud legacy of
black men and women is at risk, and could be lost in a
generation.

"We fought for many reasons, we enlisted for many
reasons," Smith said. "Particularly in early times, we
fought because we thought we'd get all the
opportunities of citizenship . . . The fewer
African-Americans that enlist, the fewer
African-Americans there are that can tell their stories
in the future. The fewer that get commissioned as
officers, the smaller the leadership pool will be in
the future."

_____________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest
to people on the left that will help them to
interpret the world and to change it.

Response To A Comment on My Tyler Perry Post

I like Tyler Perry's work, for the most part, despite its religious overtones and base conservatism.I was simply stating what I think with my comment about his sexuality. Also, what I said is quite true and was not so much a rebuke as a reminder.Black people need to retain their values--and retain a value system that places community before wealth, that places integrity before wealth--THAT is Martin Luther King's dream. He did have a dream to end poverty....but he didn't have a dream about making you rich...Also, I wish financial stability for all Black people...there is a difference between financial stability and greed cooked in with capitalism. You should see the film In Debt We Trust.

Ending Patriarchy

We have to end patriarchy. We have to end patriarchy in the Congo...in the united states...in South Africa. We have to end patriarchy everywhere.