Purdue Student Arrested

The ACLU should definitely be getting involved with the case of Vikram Buddhi, a Purdue Graduate student who has been arrested for allegedly "making threatening remarks against President Bush and others." This is a first amendment issue and this young man's civil and human rights are drawn into concern now that he has been arrested. If the ACLU does not get involved,they ought to be ashamed. Other civil rights agencies should be involved as well.

Jane Fonda was wonderful on Larry King!

Making Connections

In These Times provides a very accurate diagram of how information is currently flowing out to the public and why it is so very conservative here.

Poem That I Will Share With the World

I typically have not placed my poetry online. I will share this one though.

For Me it's a question of where your soul will rest
I don't care about your sorry flesh
I am not swooned by a fine physique
or a gorgeous frame
Its the Cana wine that would flow from your mouth with the words
you speak
the ancient winds I feel when you approach
Give me the love of old songs and carry my heart in a gold encrusted chest
and I will give you the world, a hope of redemption
only for you.
I want not your fancy talk
or sharp dress
I want you to give me your soul and I want to find
a fire there

I am Yentl. Always have been.

The Way He Makes Me Feel

From Yentl/Barbra

There’s no chill and yet I shiver
There’s no flame and yet I burn
I’m not sure what I’m afraid of
And yet I’m trembling
There's no storm yet I hear thunder.
And I'm breathless, why I wonder?
Weak one moment,
Then the next I'm fine.
I feel as if 1'm falling every time
I close my eyes
And flowing through my body
Is a river of surprise.
Feelings are awakening
I hardly' recognize as mine!
What are all these new sensations?
What's the secret they reveal?
I'm not sure I understand
But I like the way I feel.
Oh, why is it that every time
I close my eyes he's there?
The water shining on his skin,
The sunlight in his hair?
And all the while I'm thinking things
That I can never share with him.
I'm a bundle of confusion
Yet it has a strange appeal.
Did it all begin with him,
And the way he makes me feel
I like the way he makes me feel...

Things are definitely interesting, beautiful.

I am glad that the Iranians are helping the Palestinians.

I love Diane Rehm, she is such a fabulous diplomat. Trent Lott was on her show today--I could not have stomached him. She did go after him though really well. She nailed him with a question about Abramoff and then also tackled him with a question about the economy. Great going! Lott had the audacity to talk about immigration reform....those same illegal immigrants are probably picking cotton in his fields down in Mississippi. I would certainly check that one out.

Be One

Phyllis Hyman

What a day.
what a way.
To behave.
Will i win, lose,draw or be saved.
For my heart says go, but my mind says no.
Ooooooooooooooooooo my love.

I've had plenty of time to get over it.
Plenty of time mole and reflect.
There are things to alert me.
So that he would not desert me.
Should I go on and try or forget it.
Life is short will I live to regret.
By a chance this romance does say let it sweetheart.

Should I go on and try or forget it.
Life is short will I live to regret.
By a chance this romance does say let it sweetheart.
So be one be a fool.
Go ahead and fall in love.

Commentary

I saw a debate last night between Ward Churchill and David Horowitz....Ward is a wonderful man. He should have cut Horowitz's penis off.

Excerpted from The Beloved Cynthia McKinney

"Let me give you an historical hint. As a rule wars, are generally started over big events, (e.g. the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Pearl Harbor, North Korea’s Army Crossing the 38th parallel). Revolutions are generally started over less memorable things (e.g. “Let them eat cake,” a tea tax, some government troops opening fire on unarmed demonstrators). People of all colors and political persuasions understand that underlying both wars and revolutions are monstrous icebergs of unresolved inequity. So it is with Cynthia McKinney. And it is her hairdo (new or old, take your pick) that now sits atop an iceberg that both right-wing whites and bought-off blacks would like to go away."

Go Cynthia McKinney!

"Ever since I came to Congress in 1992," McKinney once said, "there are those who have been trying to silence my voice. I've been told to sit down and shut up over and over again. Well, I won't sit down and I won't shut up until the full and unvarnished truth is placed before the American people."

All praises for the most delightful Cynthia McKinney.

I think one thing that definitely needs to be done in the efforts to combat racism and the racist hierarchy that exist within this country is that we must stop viewing the White male power structure as either sane or normal.

I had interesting dreams last night. Firstly, I dreamed about a Nazi death camp...and I could smell death..and I witnessed the devastation of it....It was very real. Immediately after that I dreamt that I was at my Uncle's home, lying outside in his gazebo...with birds chirping all around and in the middle of his beautiful garden, probably with a book in my hand.

One of My Favorites--Black ButterFly

By Deniece Williams

Morning light, silken dream to flight
As the darkness gave way to dawn
You've survived, now your moment has arrived
Now your dream has finally been born

Chorus:
Black Butterfly, sailed across the waters
tell your sons and daughters
what the struggle brings
Black Butterfly, set the skies on fire
rise up even higher
so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings

ooh...ooh

While you slept, the promise was unkept
But your faith was as sure as the stars
Now you're free, and the world has come to see
Just how proud and beautiful you are

Chorus

Let the current lift your heart and send it soaring
Write the timeless message clear across the sky
So that all of can read it and remember when we need it
That a dream conceived in truth can never die
Butterfly

Cause now that you're free and the world has come to see
Just how proud and beautiful you are

Chorus

Fly
Butterfly
Yeah, yeah, yes
Fly

I feel very much like I am in touch with my forbears. I am listening.

I have noticed several trends here at purdue. I should be a cultural anthropologist. For one there is the white person and their asian sidekick--this is seen everywhere. Then there is the asian, hispanic,or black male with their prized white women--this is also seen. I've never really seen white male/black,asian,latino female here really. These are interesting trends though.

I wish I had the freedom of Janis Joplin. I heard she once blew the entire football team at her high school.

Me and Bobby McGee

by Janis Joplin


Busted flat in baton rouge, waiting for a train
And i’s feeling nearly as faded as my jeans.
Bobby thumbed a diesel down just before it rained,
It rode us all the way to new orleans.

I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandanna,
I was playing soft while bobby sang the blues.
Windshield wipers slapping time, I was holding bobby’s hand in mine,
We sang every song that driver knew.

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing don’t mean nothing honey if it ain’t free, now now.
And feeling good was easy, lord, when he sang the blues,
You know feeling good was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and my bobby mcgee.

From the kentucky coal mines to the california sun,
Hey, bobby shared the secrets of my soul.
Through all kinds of weather, through everything that we done,
Hey bobby baby kept me from the cold.

One day up near salinas, lord, I let him slip away,
He’s looking for that home and I hope he finds it,
But I’d trade all of my tomorrows for one single yesterday
To be holding bobby’s body next to mine.

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing, that’s all that bobby left me, yeah,
But feeling good was easy, lord, when he sang the blues,
Hey, feeling good was good enough for me, hmm hmm,
Good enough for me and my bobby mcgee.

La la la, la la la la, la la la, la la la la
La la la la la bobby mcgee.
La la la la la, la la la la la
La la la la la, bobby mcgee, la.

La la la, la la la la la la,
La la la la la la la la la, hey now bobby now bobby mcgee yeah.
Na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na na na na
Hey now bobby now, bobby mcgee, yeah.

Lord, I’m calling my lover, calling my man,
I said I’m calling my lover just the best I can,
C’mon, where is bobby now, where is bobby mcgee, yeah,
Lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lord
Hey, hey, hey, bobby mcgee, lord!

Yeah! whew!

Lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lordy lord
Hey, hey, hey, bobby mcgee.

I’d like to do a song of great social and political import.
It goes like this:

Thoughts Running Through My Head Today

It was a beautiful day outside...I saw two beautiful bushes, one with red flowers, the other with white..and I stopped to pick some flowers...they looked very much like shrubs in my Aunt Earnestine's yard. She always had flowers in bloom...and things growing in her garden...The Graduate School Application process is soo very classist...the fact that it costs so much money and you have to apply to so many schools...I didn't, I will next year...my ex, Kelly, is going through similiar things that my grandmother went through when she was teaching in Autauga county....he is very sweet,may he be well.

The Journal and Courier ran an interesting article today on Purdue's efforts(or lack there of) in terms of diversity. Very, very interesting indeed. They had commentary and such from Samantha Blackmon and Angelica Duran. Oh what tangled webs......

I was just thinking about my time in Montgomery. I moved around in some wonderful crowds and really was in the midst of some great work going on with the SPLC,Trish, and ACT in Alabama. It was definitely a great time.

The anti-sweatshop movement is really picking up here at Purdue. Alas, I definitely am going ot write more about the connections between the anti-sweatshop,pro-immigrant, and traditional labor movements. I see definitely interesting connections.

I am reading a pamphlet on the history of witches and midwives put out by the Feminist Press. What a horrible gory legacy the entirety of Western Civilization leaves behind.

New York State of Mind

Barbra

Some folks like to get away
Take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood
But I'm takin' a Greyhound
On the Hudson River line
I'm in a New York state of mind
Seen all those movie stars
And their fancy cars and their limousines
Been high in the Rockies, under the evergreens
But I know what I'm needin'
And I don't wanna waste more time
I'm in a New York state of mind
It was so easy livin' day by day
Out of touch with the rhythm and blues
But now I need a little give and take
The New York Times and the Daily News
Comes down to reality
And it's fine with me cause I've let it slide
I don't care if it's Chinatown or up on Riverside
I don't have any reasons
I've left them all behind
I'm in a New York state of mind
I don't have any reasons
Cause left them all behind
I'm in a New York, I'm in a New York state of mind...

I want to be Carrie Bradshaw and write a glorified column and have a fabulous penthouse in the city.

My ex, Kelly, is the principal of a school for troubled youth out where he lives. They are struggling to keep it open due to the awfulness of the school board there. I definitely send him my blessings and hope.

I encourage everyone to go to listen to Diane Rehms interview with General Zinni. I believe his arguments against U.S. military actions in Iraq, coupled with those of Colonel Ann Wright, make a very compelling statement concerning the lack of faith among the U.S. military in this effort.

New Words from Barbra

...Barbra Streisand
Perhaps the Real Reason Bush Went to War
Two years before 9/11, Presidential candidate George W. Bush was already privately talking about invading Iraq. Mickey Herskowitz, a long-time Bush family friend who worked with the candidate as a ghostwriter on his memoir, claimed Bush was obsessed with the notion and was simply just looking for justification to do so. Less than a year into his presidency, the warmongering Bush Administration was given the perfect rationale for waging a war: combating terrorism.

Immediately following the 9/11 attacks, Bush saw himself surging to historical highs in the polls. His cabal of advisors saw the opportunity to cement their place in American history by starting a war under the guise of protecting the American people against terrorists. However, Bush shifted his focus from al Qaeda, terrorist group and sole perpetrator of the 9/11 attacks, to Iraq and a ruthless dictator who had no connection to 9/11. Even though 15 of the highjackers were from Saudi Arabia and Osama bin Laden, mastermind of 9/11 and leader of al Qaeda, was hiding in Afghanistan, Bush chose to invade Iraq.

In his unfinished authorized memoir of the President, Mickey Herskowitz touched upon the psycho-social reasons relating to Bush’s decision to invade Iraq: a long-standing father and son competition based on feelings of jealousy and inadequacy. Herskowitz stated that Bush felt his father wasted all of his political capitol he acquired during the Gulf War. George W. Bush was quoted saying "If I have a chance to invade, if I had that much capitol, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I am going to have a successful presidency." In invading Iraq, Bush saw the opportunity to emerge from his father's shadow and no longer be seen as the perpetual underachiever who consistently failed under the watchful eye of his accomplished father. He had the chance to finish what he feels his father was unable to finish. And he could finally have the opportunity to achieve something his father was unsuccessful in achieving...a two-term presidency.

History has proved that war-time presidents gain immense political capitol. And war-time presidents tend to have high approval ratings because when fighting an enemy, the country rallies around the flag and their Commander-in-Chief. But most importantly, war-time presidents get re-elected. According to Herskowitz, Bush accepted the view that without a military "win" under his belt no president could be considered truly successful. Bush knew what it took to get re-elected, but the stupidity was not to comprehend the repercussions of his own actions.

I was thinking today of when, during my undergraduate, Wanda Bigham, our college's president used to have me come every semester to her breakfast. I am not sure what it was for, but I remember it as interesting times.

The Other Woman

Nina Simone

The other woman finds time to manicure her nails
The other woman is perfect where her rival fails
And she’s never seen with pin curls in her hair

The other woman enchantes her clothes with french perfume
The other woman keeps fresh cut flowers in each room
There are never toys that’s scattered everywhere

And when her baby comes to call
He’ll find her waiting like a lonesome queen
Cos when she’s by his side
It’s such a change from old routine

But the other woman will always cry herself to sleep
The other woman will never have his love to keep
And as the years go by the other woman
Will spend her life alone

From now on I am going to do everything Dr. Dorsey tells me to!

Sometimes white people are absolutely funny.

I hope the gas prices shoot through the roof;-) Already expectations about the summer.

I am beginning to read a book by the Midnight Notes Collective on the Middle East and the Gulf war. I definitely am beginning to grasp a fundamental understanding of the marxist economic class model, of the way that society is structured.

bell hooks spoke of the absolutely horrific occurence that our children in this day and age are growing up with no imagination. No capacity to imagine at all.

I have started working on a book.

I stand in solidarity with all of the immigrant actions that are going on across the country today.

The Midwest Peace and Justice Summit was great. I'll write more later.

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.

Deconstruction in Action

Alternatives= Alter Narratives

The Best April Fools'

The best April fools' day prank I can remember is when we were living in Chicago and my mother called my cousin Freda, pretending that she was from the Tom Joyner Morning Show, and told her that she had won $10,000. Freda was estatic and it was funny as hell.

What Dessert Am I?

You scored as Plain Chocolate Cake. Plain Chocolate Cake 100% Creme Brulee 100% Chocolate Mousse 100% Chocolate Chip Cookie 69% Oatmeal Cookie. 63% Pumpkin Pie 63% Gelato 56% Chocolate Pudding 50% Crepe 50% Strawberries and Wipped Cream 44% Ice Cream 44% Flan 25% No Dessert 19% ---------------- 6% What dessert are you most like? created with QuizFarm.com

Black Morality

bell hooks, in her Rock My Soul:Black People and Self-Esteem reports on statements made by Black psychologists, William Greer and Price Cobbs in their book,The Jesus Bag. Taking the title of this post from bell's passage on this, I think that their assessment and pronouncement here is beautiful and should be noted. Grier and Cobbs state,

"Religion lost its hold on some of us and the rage binding conscience was no longer effective. In a fury, we burst into the streets. We had survived the oppression and we now have survived the riots. Where we were once ashamed of the scars we n ow see them as badges of honor. We looked into ourselves and, even more, looked deep into white America. Our flaws, which we were taught to hide in shame, were in the flaws of this nation. The hatred we had of ourselves was minor placed alongside white folks' hatred of us. Were once we saw ourselves as deformed and debased, we now see how much more deformed and debased is the white bigotry that has so hurt us. Black people who all that time had tried futilely to turn themselves inside out have now upened up the festering wound of America and see that it is America which has most need of healing."

I am deeply troubled at this wanton killing on the part of the U.S. military among the Iraqi people. I was deeply concerned and my mind started to race as the media started to report the newest point for Iraqi anger as they are protesting what they themselves state was the murder or innocent people inside of a mosque. Power can always refute, cover up, and pretend that something isnt't so, but that which will never work in their favor and will constantly be a bar against them is that the people of Iraq feel and have been violated and it doesn't matter how many times the U.S. military or George Bush tries to label these people as terrorists or insurgents--these are mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers--and the point is that your killing them and interfering in their lives will always make you their enemy, never their ally or friend.

A Blessing

I am very glad to see that Jill Carroll has been released.

WalkOut-A Must See Film!

Kudos to HBO for its brave and brilliant movie, WalkOut which dramatizes the 1968 Latino student uprisings in L.A. in protest against second-class schools and the Vietnam War. Beautiful film, excellently done. Edward James Olmos is a wonderful man.

Praise for the Magnificent and Courageous Cynthia McKinney:In Profile

Representative Cynthia McKinney, Democract from the state of Georgia is one of the most courageous and magnificent elected officials to serve in public office today. Always taking a constant stand for the integrity and dignity of all people, she has the courage and integrity to stand in the face of power and evil and shout back. The first Afro-American woman to represent the state of Georgia, McKinney was elected to Congress first in 1992. Congresswoman McKinney has been a vocal opponent of both wars in Iraq and a champion of the causes of both the Palestinian people, the peoples of the continent of Africa, aboriginal peoples from Australia, and the people of Latin America. Since her return to Congress, she has heralded efforts to look into the occurrences on September 11th and has advocated for justice for the victims of Hurricans Katrina and Rita. All praises to this beautiful sister! God Black and Be Well Cynthia McKinney!

Don't Fuck With Cynthia McKinney

I cannot believe that police forces in Washington D.C. would try and manhandle Representative Cynthia McKinney from Georgia! She has my permission to kick ass!

How Beautiful!

Beautifully reminiscent of the actions of Latino student activists in the late 60s and early seventies, Latino high school students in L.A. have walked out of classes in protest of the recent immigration policies that have been promoted by various entities inside and outside of government. Kudos and much solidarity!

More Uprest in France

I wholeheartedly support the French youth in their efforts against capitalism in their country.

Sweet Thing

Chaka Khan

I will love you anyway
Even if you cannot stay
I think you are the one for me
Here is where you ought to be
I just want to satisfy ya
Though you're not mine
I can't deny it
Don't you hear me talking baby?
Love me now or I'll go crazy


Oh sweet thing
Don't you know you're my everything?
Oh sweet thing
Don't you know you're my everything?
Yes, you are

I wish you were my lover
But ya act so undercover
To love you child my whole life long
Be it right, or be it wrong
I'm only what you make me, baby
Don't walk away, don't be so shady
Don't want your mind, don't want your money
These words I say, they may sound funny, but...

You are my heat
You are my fire
You make me weak with strong desire
To love you chile my whole life long
Be it right, or be it wrong
I just want to satisfy ya
Though you're not mine
I can't deny it
Don't you hear me talking baby?
Love me now or I'll go crazy

You're my heat, you are my fire
You're not mine, I can't deny ya
Don't you hear me talking, baby?
Love me now, or I'll go crazy

bell hooks tells that MLK warned against the conservatism of the Christian Church, as it would be dangerous for freedom. In her book, Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem,, she records his statement that:

"Nowehere is the tragic tendency to conform more evident than in church, an institution which has often served to crystallize, conserve,and even bless the patterns of majority opinion. The erstwhile sanction by the church of slavery, racial sgregation, war, and economic exploitation is testimony to the fact that the church has hearkened more to the authority of the world than to the authority of God. Called to be the moral guardian of the community, the church at times has preserved that which is immoral and unethical."

This is Scary and Needs to Be Paid Some Attention

Joshua Bolton, former director of the Office of Management and Budget and a strong right-wing presence in Washington D.C. is taking over as Bush's new Chief of Staff, replacing Andy Card...I am not sure what this means, but I have a bad feeling about it.

Do You Know Where You're Going To?

Diana Ross

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you?
Where are you going to? do you know?
Do you get what you're hoping for?
When you look behind you there's no open door
What are you hoping for?
Do you know?

Once we were standing still in time
Chasing the fantasies that filled our minds
You knew i loved you, but my spirit was free
Laughing at the question that you once ask me

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you?
Where are you going to? do you know?

Now, looking back in all we pass
We've let so many dreams just slip through our hands
Why must I wait so long before Im free
No one found the answer to that question for me

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you?
Where are you going to? do you know?
Do you get what you're hoping for?
When you look behind you there's no open door
What are you hoping for? do you know?

Second Blog Carnival

This second blog carnival is a little short, but oh well. The only offering for this round is a very well-written essay called, The Ultimate Solidarity, offered to us by barb of Lucky White Girl about the relativity of our suffering. I think it is an excellent piece. I will mention that I almost forgot to do this as I spent the whole day preparing a lesson on the rhetoric of race in the United States for my class--collecting information on Quadroons, Octoroons, and Mulattoes which I used to build an interesting study around the "Nappy Hair" scene from Spike Lee's School Daze. I think that, especially since there aren't that many submissions, this carnival will only post every so often.

Do You Know the Broadway Star Anne Wiggins Brown?

This is definitely an interesting story, one which I am just picking up on. From a family of light-skinned blacks--perhaps octoroons, Anne Wiggins Brown was a very talented singer and actress, lending her voice to George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. She married a Norweigan philosopher and, escaping American racism, she and her husband moved to Norway. There, she staged a Norweigan production of Porgy and Bess. She and her children stil reside in Norway.

Recently, my thoughts also turned towards my cousin Mary wright. mary is my grandmother's second cousin. Her grandmother, Aunt Jenny, was a daughter of Caroline Roper and a sister to Mattie Roper. Mary Wright's mother was our Cousin Maldocia. Mary used to live in Chicago, not far from us and we always spent a lot of time with Mary, her daughters and their families. She moved back to Alabama the same time we moved down there, and she basically moved usdown there. My father designed them a very nice house that sits out on their property. What got me to thinking about Mary Wright was Uncle Lawrence--and thinking about the people that I knew with his kind of tempermant. Mary is one of those people. Mary is nobody to play with. One of the absolutely most hilarious stories that ever I have heard was when, in the late eighties, Mary laid a whooping on her son-in-law, daughter number one's husband. Daughter number one had married herself a real male chauvinist thug and he thought he was the baddest shit on the block. He used to beat daughter number one and everybody was wondering as to why she was with him. Well, now he is a Reformed Man(after first getting beaten by Daughter number two, Mary herself, and finally Daughter number one herself).

Well, in this particular incident, Mary had broken her arm and was in a cast for several weeks on end. So, son-in-law decides, I suppose, that now that Mary is in a cast he can show her what he was made of, so one night he decided to hit her. That was the worst decision he ever made in his life. The story is that Mary used that broke arm and had him up against every wall in that house and laid a whoopin on him that lasted him a good few days. That news spread like wildfire, and the story still circulates. Mary was absoluetely nothing to play with. In another incident, Mary got good and hot and told one of our mutual cousins just who exactly her daddy was and had that poor girl going home in tears.

I was always scared of Mary. I saw how she handled her grandchildren and I wanted none of it. It was always fun to ride around and visit with Mary, but I always stayed on my Ps and Qs because I definitely did not want to feel the wrath. Mary Wright is a favorite though.

In Profile: Uncle Clarence

Uncle Clarence, my grandmother's foster brother, was the ninth child of John Archie and Sadie Mae Goodson DeRamus--and one of the many, many children that they helped to rear. Not actually my grandmother's brother, Uncle Clarence my great-grandmother's nephew, my grandmother's first cousin. His mother, Betty, died during her labor with him. She had been an undertaker and schoolteacher in Kentucky and the doctor's advised her that her work as an undertaker would not give her an easy pregnancy. When she died, they sent Uncle Clarence, sill a newborn, to my great-great grandmother, as she had the child closest to his age, my Aunt Sadie being only just a couple of months older than him. They reared him in their home til he was fifteen years old when he ran away and joined the military, giving a false age. He never felt too comfortable I believe, as certain of the Deramus children(and I can guess which ones) would always pester him about not really being one of them.

Uncle Clarence would always come around, showing up at my grandmother's house late in the night. He went for bad, dealing in all sorts of gangster business--and he and my mother used to have kncokout-arguments when he would show up at my grandmother's house and she would be there. One time he came there, and he brought with him a suitcase full of money--and made the mistake of showing it to my mother. My mother told him that he and his suitcase full of money had to get out of her mother's house immediately. he now lives in south Alabama, sick, but still trying to run for bad.

Aunt Carolyn

Aunt Carolyn was Uncle Archie's wife. After my post of him I thought about her quite a bit. Aunt Carolyn was a very stylish woman, very chic and tasteful. My recollections of Aunt Carolyn was of a very refined woman with very expensive tastes. When Carolyn DeRamus showed up, she showed up in style: it was a site to behold when Aunt Carolyn would come out strutting in her fur coat, and she knew how to work it. Aunt Carolyn came from the Rich Negro Neighborhood, otherwise known as Morgan Park. She went to Kentucky State University and lived a nice,full life from all that I know. Every year she and my mother and Aunt Johnnie would go to the Kentucky Derby. Aunt Carolyn had a sister, Aunt Bea. Aunt Bea was a fabulous woman and she once gave a fabulous luncheon, which was a beautiful affair, one that I haven't seen the likes of since. It was a great time.

Funerals

Both Uncle Archie and Aunt Bertie's funerals were grand affairs. There were several hundred people at Uncle archie's funeral. It was held at his home church and it was preached by Farrell Duncombe,one of the Bishops of the A.M.E. Church , and that eulogy was one to remember. he started off talking about his rememberances of Uncle Archie, and how when they were little boys they woudl go climbing up in my great-granddaddy's orchard trees, picking apples. It was a sombre occassion.

Quote

"There are too many people in government making history that have never read history."--Former U.S. Congressman, Andy Jacobs, Jr.

From bell hooks:Rock My Soul: Black People and Self Esteem

Publication of slave narratives, the development of the Black press, indicated to anyone witnessing the transition from slavery to freedom that Black folks needed to be independent thinkers, that they could not rely on the world that had subjugated, exploited,and oppressed them to interpret their reality.

What I Am Thinking: A Revelation

Black People need to learn to value and make use of critical thinking. I am now figuring out why I have long been so drawn to Jewish culture and the Jewish tradition of torah and Kabbala--They have long practiced resistance--and maintained--for a very long time, I am not sure what is happening now--their integrity in the face of adversity through the use of critical thinking. Lesson to Black people. To All people of color. And to everyone: QUESTION EVERYTHING!

What I'm Thinking

I had such a great environment growing up. Even on television there were great things that promoted great values, like Sesame Street and Mr. Roger's neighborhood. These shows are still shown,and are still greatly progressive, but the noise that capitalism is making is overpowering their effect.

Partial Lyrics From a Song I Would Like to Find

"is it well with your soul, are you free and made whole?"

In Profile: Archie B. DeRamus

Archie Bracy Deramus was the eigth and youngest child of John Archie and Sadie Mae Goodson Deramus. He was my mother's favorite uncle,they were more like Big brother and little sister. Born in 1931, Archie was the baby of the DeRamus clan. He was always a sickly child and suffered from polio, which left him severely weakened as he grew up into adulthood. I remember my uncle as a very slim, sort of tall(but he wasn't really, he just seemed tall to me), dark-skinned black man with s;eek gray hair. My mother told me that he went completely grey in his twenties. Archie Deramus was apparently a whiz-kid, he knew how to ace any multiple choice test you could give him, especially with a.b.c choices, and he also--like Aunt Bertie and Uncle Lawrence, skipped a few grades. Uncle Archie spent twenty years in school and recieved seven different degrees in fields varying from Biology to Social Work. He started off as a teacher and by the time I came along, was a social worker. He pulled my mother into the profession.

My mother loved Archie harder than I think she loved anything else in the whole world. When he got sick, she took care of him and worked hard to help him live. He died in 1987. I remember Uncle Archie as firstly smelling like cigarettes and then later, in his sickness, of smelling of sickness. Now that I think of my uncle during that time period, I can remember and think of the things that went on then. My Uncle had apparently had a falling out with some of his sisters and when he got very ill, they didn't do anything at all to help him. My mother would go over to his house every day and cook for him, bathe him, help him get dressed--and if he were going--to go to work. My Uncle's wife, Aunt Carolyn, apparently wasn't much of a help either. I know that there were two people in this world that loved Archie Deramus very very hard, and that was my mother and Uncle Lawrence. When he died, my mother spent years grieving over him. His name could not be mentioned without her breaking down into tears. I think his death caused a great rift between my mother and her aunts. He and Uncle Lawrence grew up very close, were running partners, intellectual sparring partners, and respected and loved each other immensely. Uncle Lawrence also grieved for Uncle Archie a long time. I wasn't there to witness that however.

I remember my uncle as a man with a beautiful spirit. He always doted on my sister, my mother says that when she was born he wanted to adopt her(he had step-children, but none of his own). I always enjoyed going over to his house, but really and truly hated going their for holidays. It never failed that my sister and my cousins would turn on Thriller and I would have to leave the room, even though I was too frightened to do so. He and Aunt Carolyn lived very well, but I dont know how much they got along. They stayed married though. I remember very well the night Aunt Carolyn called my mother frantically telling her to come over to their house--quick--that Uncle Archie had gone crazy, that he had shot the dog. My mother says she got over there to see was was wrong and she found Archie sitting in the basement by himself. My mother went down in the basement to talk to him, followed by Aunt Carolyn. My mother says she asked him "Archie, whats the matter, why did you shoot the dog?" My mother said he told her, "The bitch wouldn't keep her damned mouth shut." My mother said she looked at Uncle Archie and she looked at Aunt Carolyn, put her coat back on and went home. Archie DeRamus was nothing to play with.
Although I knew my uncle, I didn't him as well as my mother or my sister did. I did feel his presence though, and I knew him well enough to remember many things about him--I was seven when he died. I hope his spirit is resting well.

Calling for Rumsfeld's Resignation

Please join forces with other progressive voices in calling for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation as Secretary of Defense. Call your congressional representatives at their local and D.C. offices and urge them to force this issue in the Capital.You can find the contact information for your representatives here.

Praise for One Tenacious Baby Mama

DarkDaughta definitely has one of the best, spiciest blogs that I have seen out there. Kudos to her and I encourage everyone to visit her site.

Stop the Canadian Military and Police Forces from Encroaching on Mohawk Land.

I am forwarding the below call to support the Mohawk Nation. The authors ask that people forward it by email or post it to their websites.

URGENT CALL TO ACTION TO PREVENT MILITARY AND POLICE INCURSION ON MOHAWK TERRITORIES

March 2006

The Coalition in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty - Native Caucus is asking that you take some time to phone, email or fax the authorities below to register your objection to a potential incursion onto Mohawk Territories this spring and at any other time.

This request comes as a result of warnings by community leaders in Akwesasne, Kahnawake, Kanehsatake and Tyendinega who are preparing for a joint Canadian Forces/RCMP raid on April 1, the latest in a series of actions designed to destroy the Mohawk tobacco trade.

Our position on this issue is as follows:

In 1876 the Indian Act imposed the band council system of government on the indigenous people of Turtle Island (North America). Among other things, this law:

1) Deposed already existing leadership to establish band councils and the areas over which they had jurisdiction. The Indian Act was passed without consultation with any indigenous leader, usurped the treaty process (nation to nation agreements) and made First Nations governments null and void, despite the fact that these governments had served our ancestors for millennia before Europeans arrived on Turtle Island. This is akin to the US government passing a law that disbanded the current Canadian government, determined what type of government Canada must have and designated the limitations of its power.

2) Made First Nations Communities economically dependent on Ottawa. The federal government controls the only sources of revenue for social programs, economic development projects or job creation in FN communities. Ottawa determines through a variety of legal and financing mechanisms what band councils can and cannot do for their communities. Even the process of pursuing a land claim is legislated by Ottawa, funded (or not) by Ottawa and decided ultimately in Canadian courts. Land usage on FN territories is determined by Ottawa. There are many examples in history when the federal government leased or sold First Nations lands or resources and consequently reaped huge profits that did not accrue to the community. Clearly, the poverty that exists in First Nations communities is, and always has been, by Ottawa's design.

3) Blatantly discriminated against women by recognizing Native descent through the male line so that First Nations citizenship rights for women were recognized only through their father's lineage and husband's status, and by prohibiting them from voting or running for office in band elections. This was a complete contradiction to traditional First Nations practices, in which descent for many communities was reckoned along the female line, and where women had significant authorities in political, economic and social life. While there were many nations and many practices, it is safe to generalize and say that women held positions of leadership directly and/or appointed male leaders and held them accountable. This was completely overturned by the Indian Act.

Although women now have the right to vote and run for band office, almost a century of being excluded from political, economic and social decision-making has left First Nations women on and off reserve in very vulnerable situations. Women are among the poorest in First Nations communities. They have been targeted through various amendments to the Indian Act and thousands were stripped of their status along with their homes, benefits and any treaty rights they may have had. The hundreds of women who are missing from our communities, dead and murdered, is a direct result of a deliberate and calculated attack on the rights and authorities of First Nations women by the Canadian government.

4) Determined who could call themselves an "Indian" and live in First Nations communities. The Indian Act established an Indian registry and with subsequent amendments there has emerged a complex set of legal categories (status & non-status Indians, Treaty Indians, Bill C-31 Indians, etc.) designed to divide and disempower First Nations families and communities. Non-status Indians are those who are not recognized by Ottawa as First Nations. They cannot live in their communities, do not enjoy benefits or treaty rights and are not permitted to participate in band council elections. Again, this is akin to the US determining who could be a Canadian and who could not, as well as who could live here and vote in Canadian elections.

Initially through the use of Indian agents with sweeping powers and more recently through purse strings, Ottawa has controlled band councils, band chiefs and the Assembly of First Nations. Whether this current control is perceived of as friendly or hostile is irrelevant and sidesteps the basic assumption that First Nations people are children who cannot manage their own affairs. To recognize that some band councils, their chiefs and police are sincerely interested in serving their communities while others are corrupt may be true but fails to recognize that the band council system is itself inherently corrupt, paternalistic and racist.

The Indian Act was and is an instrument of genocide. Likewise, the system of reserves, band councils and taxes are all tools of genocide. At best, the levying of taxes by Canada or the provinces on commercial activities within and among First Nations communities is an infringement of sovereignty as well as a violation of the treaties that exist, not to mention the inherent rights of First Nations people.

This is particularly objectionable when the levying of taxes applies to transactions involving tobacco. It was First Nations people who developed, cultivated and cared for tobacco plants. Our ancestors were the first to understand and benefit from the use of tobacco in ceremony (even in times when our ceremonies were illegal). Canada now assumes it has a right to control the tobacco trade, which is consistent with its assumption that it has a right to control the lives of First Nations people. Now that tobacco is being used to generate income and sustain First Nations-owned businesses (an anti-genocidal activity), Ottawa wants to step in and crush the initiative.

We reject the portrayal of Mohawk communities as divided between the minions of organized crime and law-abiding citizens. Mainstream media and Canadian authorities would have us believe that thugs are defying legally elected First Nations governments and Canadian laws. Such an analysis does not acknowledge the impact of a band council system, imposed, funded and controlled by Ottawa. It does nothing to educate us on the long history of genocide that remains official policy in this country. It does not examine Ottawa's historic role in sabotaging activities that contribute to the economic independence of First Nations people.

On these grounds we are asking that you and your organization fax or email the officials below and voice your concerns regarding a potential violation of Mohawk sovereignty, which would follow a systemic pattern of violations over the years. Below is a sample letter that you can edit, cut and paste into your own email if you choose.

Nia:wen / meegwich / thank you for your support. For more information contact: daryljamesbucar@yahoo.ca or amadahy@rogers.com.

Scroll down for the sample letter. To voice your concerns send an email, phone or fax:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper:
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
Email: pm@pm.gc.ca

Jim Prentice,
Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal
Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians
Parliament Hill: House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: (613) 992-4275
Fax: (613) 947-9475
E-Mail: Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca


SAMPLE LETTER

To: Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Jim Prentice, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and
Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians

I am writing to register my concern regarding ongoing violations of Mohawk sovereignty and continued actions that threaten the health and safety of the residents of Akwesasne, Kahnawake, Kanehsatake and Tyendinega.

I strongly urge you to put a stop to government-sponsored activities that portray these communities as being bastions of "organized crime" engaged in an illegal tobacco trade. Furthermore, I suggest your government cease operating under the assumption that Band Councils and the Assembly of First Nations, which are funded and controlled by the federal government, are the only legitimate representatives of First Nations communities.

Many studies, some commissioned by the federal government (such as the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People), have determined that the issues confronting First Nations communities include sub-standard health care, inadequate and sub-standard housing, inadequate employment opportunities, poverty, violence, racism, etc. These studies clearly attribute this set of deplorable conditions to the actions and inactions of consecutive Canadian governments.

Raiding Mohawk communities and seizing tobacco products does nothing to address the day-to-day issues confronting First Nations people. In fact, such activities actually contribute to worsening the oppressive conditions under which First Nations people live by depriving families of their livelihood as well as assaulting their dignity and violating their inherent rights.

Military and police incursions onto First Nations territories are not a solution to the long standing issues confronting these communities. Moreover such actions shame non-First Nations people, many of whom reject complicity in a centuries-old genocide project.

Your government has the option of creating a disaster that would rival the Oka Crisis, Gustafson Lake and the murder of Dudley George put together. Or you can decide to deal with First Nations communities in a way that is proactive, peaceful and respectful, for the first time in Canadian history. I strongly urge you opt for the latter of the two choices.

Signed,

They Will Have Abortion in South Dakota!

Hooray for Cecilia Firethunder, President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe for establishing a Planned Parenthood on her people's land! Thank God that Native Americans are sovereign people...we may have to depend on them more and more for our sanctuary.

In Profile: Uncle Lawrence

Lawrence Depriest Deramus, my great-grandparents' seventh child and the oldest boy, was born in 1929 in Autauga County, Alabama. I have written a lot about my uncle. He was a beautiful man and I enjoyed his spirit and his grace immensely. Uncle Lawrence was always a very insightful, intuitive, and inquisitive man. He often paid attention to and figured things out that the rest of his siblings didn't. He was a very intellectual man and he enjoyed decades long intellectual engagement with his brother, Archie, and his second cousin, Wade. Uncle Lawrence, like Aunt Bertie, skipped a few grades in grade school, and so was eventually on equal footing with Aunt Betty. After high school, he was enlisted into the army and fought in the Korean War, which was a profound experience for him, one which he reflected on for the rest of his life. After serving in the military, he returned home and recieved his Bachelor's degree from Alabama State University, using the GI Bill.

Finishing college, Uncle Lawrence began teaching in Covington, Alabama at a job that our Cousin Madeira got for him(she and Aunt Earnestine were bosom allies--first cousins and also going to school together, as well as marrying each other's respective boyfriends. They also both served as principals in Autauga County). Uncle Lawrence went from there to teaching in Coffee County, where he would reside, in Enterprise, for the rest of his life.

While teaching in Coffee County, Uncle Lawrence was responsible for starting a credit union for teachers there--which has grown into a major enterprise, and establishing the Head Start Program there in the region.He also founded the NAACP chapter there in the area. My Uncle wrote his autobiigraphy, in which he tells about when he was getting the Head Start program up off of the ground--which the superintendent didn't like. One day, he said the superintendent came into his classroom, hands on hips, and asked him--trying to intimidate him--"Who do you work for?" My Uncle responded, "Who do you think I work for?" He said the man had interrupted his class and was trying to big talk him. He said he was sitting there at his desk--and he usually kept a bow knife in it--and he went for the drawer as if he were opening it. He said he got up and met the man. He said he told him "Don't you ever come in my classroom again and talk to me like that in front of my children." He said he scared the man so bad he took off from that room. He never had any trouble with him again.

My uncle stopped teaching a few years later and began working for the federal government, overseeing a program called OCAP--which was responsible for overseeing integration and economic development in the Blackbelt region in Alabama. For this work, he recieved training at Atlanta University. He said that he worked with an integrated staff, having a white secretary as well as whites working along side him. He told me that the head of the Ku Klux Klan there in the area called him up one night and asked him "Don't you have a white secretary?" He responded "Yes I do." "Dont you travel along I-65 at night a lot of times?" "Yes I do." He said the man was trying to intimidate him. The man asked him "aren't you scared driving out there at night, something might happen to you?" My Uncle said he told him, "No, Im not scared, because if you and your boys want to do something then you just come on and you better bring Jesus with you because if I have to go I intend to take some of you with me." He told me that he always traveled with a gun at hand. My Uncle was a Goodson to the core. A compassionate, intellectually astute, passionate man, my Uncle was beautiful in many ways.

Uncle Lawrence, as I said, was a Goodson to the core. He could argue and fuss til the sun went down the next day. He was rough around the edges, sometimes mean(never to me, but he could be mean), and was difficult to get along with. As my cousin said at his funeral "Many of you knew him, most of you have been told off by him a time or to." He believed in right, he cared about his community, and he was a neighbor, a friend, and a brother to all. I loved him dearly.

When he died, the Governor sent a letter of condolence to the family and there were a multitude of honors that came his way. May his soul rest in peace.

DayDreaming

Aretha Franklin

(Day dreamin' and I'm thinkin' of you)
(Day dreamin' and I'm thinkin' of you)
(Day dreamin' and I'm thinkin' of you)
(Day dreamin' and I'm thinkin' of you)
(Look at my heart floating away)

He's the kind of guy that would say
'Hey baby let's get away let's go some place, huh''
Well I don't care
He's the kind of guy that you give your everything
And trust your heart, share all of your love, till death do you part

I want to be what he wants when he wants it, and whenever he needs it
And when he's lonesome and feelin' love starved
I'll be there to feed it
I'm givin' him a little bit for each day
He turns me right on when I hear him say

(Hey baby let's get away, let's go somewhere far
(Baby can we')
Well I don't care
(Hey baby let's get away, let's go somewhere far
(Baby can we')
Well I don't care

I wanna be what he wants when he wants it
And whenever he needs it
When it comes to bein' feelin' loved starved I'll be there to feed it
Lovin him a little bit more each day
It turns me right on when I hear him say

(Hey baby let's get away, let's go somewhere far)
(Baby can we') Well, I don't care
(Hey baby let's get away, let's go somewhere far)
(Baby can we') Well, I don't care

(Day dreamin' and I'm thinkin' of you)
(Day dreamin' and I'm thinkin' of you) hoooo
(Day dreamin' and I'm thinkin' of you)
(Day dreamin' and I'm thinkin' of you)
(Look at my heart, floating away)]

(Day dreaming) day dreaming of you
(Day dreaming)
Thinking of you
fades-
Day....dreaming
Day....dreaming

In Profile: Aunt Betty

Aunt Betty, born Gladys Betty, is the youngest girl of John Archie and Sadie Mae. A teacher like the rest of her sisters and brothers, Aunt Betty attended Alabama State(she and Uncle Lawrence finally caught up with each other in school and attended the rest of grade school together. Aunt Betty is an interesting character--the biggest gossip the world has ever known, and currently lives by herself in her house that she keeps immaculately clean at all times--in the middle of the woods. She definitely could use a change. She attended Alabama State University. She and Aunt Johnnie attended college together and recieved both of their Master's Degrees at the same time, in the same programs. Aunt Betty taught school for thirty years, retiring due to cancer. She taught first in Alabama and then in Chicago, retiring from there. I remember going to school with her a few times. She taught music and there was a big doberman pinscher outside of the school where she workedand I always would never want to get out fo the car. After retiring, Aunt Betty moved back to Alabama and has been there ever since.

For all of the fluff that she is, Aunt Betty is definitely a sharp cookie-- and learrned some things quite well. One of the funniest things I remember is her talking about pledging at college. She said the only sorority she ever considered was Self-I-Self. I totally agree. Aunt Betty told me something else which is quite hilarious and very much a great statement for her. She said one time her husband(whom she divorced when their son was very young) got drunk and decided he wanted to hit her. She said that did not fly at all. She said when he hit her, she grabbed him in between his legs and made him say his prayers. She is definitely a Goodson.

My Aunt not only taught school for many years, but she also played the piano(fairly well) and spoke and taught sign language. That was one of the things she taught me.

When she was teaching in Chicago, she stayed with Aunt Bertie, Freda, and Aunt Johnnie. She was there when I was a little boy. She retired in the early 80s and has been in Alabama ever since.

Read About this Horrendous Rape Case

In Profile: Aunt Sadie

Sadie Bell Deramus Motley was my great-grandmother's fifth child(not counting the two that died in infancy).I never knew her as she died in 1982, before I was old enough to remember her. She is Brook and Barrington's grandmother. A woman of many talents, she designed clothing and accessories and ran two nurseries there in Birmingham. She attended Alabama State University and quickly married and had three children. She also had an affair with A.G. Gaston, who was an old friend of my great-grandfather. My mother talks about Aunt Sadie putting on fashion shows and arranging cotillions, something she apparently was very good at. She and her husband, Charlie Motley, settled in Birmingham where they had Voncile, Pat, and Kim. When my mother was a little girl, she used to stay with them quite often, a few times for extended periods. When Condoleeza Rice was a little girl, she used to attend my aunt's nursery. My mother said that she was a very heavy little girl. Angela Davis also grew up in that community.

More About Aunt Johnnie

Aunt Johnnie was married once, to Uncle Arthur Lee. Uncle Arthur Lee was an interesting man. He was a photographer and used to take photographs for JET and Ebony. He also used to take photographs of lynchings for the NAACP.

In Profile: Aunt Johnnie

My Aunt, Johnnie Lou Deramus Freeman, was my first school teacher and the fourth oldest child of John Archie and Sadie Mae Goodson Deramus, two years younger than my grandmother. My great-grandmother somehow worked it out that all of her children were two years apart. Aunt Johnnie was one of the lightest of the siblings. She and Aunt Sadie were the lightest children. All of the DeRamus sisters had long hair that went down their backs. When my aunt died, she had hair down past her hips and looked like a white woman. She resembled Lena Horne quite a bit.Aunt Johnnie had a trademark mouth and could teach you curse words you didn't even know. She had a temper and there was no doubt that Goodson blood ran through her veins. As a matter of fact, she looked very much like Mattie Roper.

Aunt Johnnie got her bachelor's degree at Alabama State and recieved two masters degrees--one in Library Science, the other in Elementary Education. She and Aunt Betty went to school together and finished both of their master's degrees together. They were each other's help. Aunt Johnnie started out teaching in Alabama, but when I came to know her, she was teaching at Price Elementary School on the Southside of Chicago. She drove a peppermint green cadillac and she and Freda and Aunt Bertie lived in the house right across the street from ours. I started my formal education under her tutelage and she was also my godmother. I remember mornings when I would get over to her house and we would get ready to go--sometimes we would drop off Aunt Bertie, Nikki,and Mama at the places where they had to go--school and work--and we would make our way on to Price. I remember a few times the car broke down and we would catch the bus and make our way on. I felt very special, although I was still jealous of Nikki because Aunt Bertie was her godmother and I wanted her to be mine. She could have Aunt Johnnie.

I remember Aunt Johnnie used to let me do everything. On days when she would be showing a film, she would let me help her set up the film projector and pop the popcorn, sometimes I would get to do other things. Aunt Johnnie was a creative and beautiful soul and was very good with children. She always had some kind of special activities or something fun for us--on Halloween she would make her witches' brew and bring it to class, she would be dressed like a witch, and we would have so much fun. One thing I will always have in my mind where Aunt Johnnie is concerned is her collection of Ella Jenkins records, which I would listen to at home and in class and they were so much fun--everybody in the family enjoyed them. "Jambo, Jambo, Jambo sana jambo." It was a beautiful time.

One thing I remember about Aunt Johnnie and Aunt Bertie's house is the basement. The basement was where Aunt Johnnie kept all of her school things--the film projector, the popcorn popper, her record player. I was afraid of that basement somewhat, but I loved looking to see what was among all of that stuff and I was elated when we got to drag it out and carry it to school. The basement was also where Nikki, Freda, and Kim, used to play and dance and stuff.

Aunt Johnnie was an industrious and creative woman. She was a very good clothing designer, she should have been a professional. She made hats and dresses and suits for her sisters and nieces and Freda and she had a gift for making dolls as well. I remember three of them very well. Patches was Brook's doll, and she had another one too. Nikki also had a doll that I remember. I remember very well when Nikki and Brook decided to give their dolls blood transplants. I thought that was interesting.

Aunt Johnnie was a very stylish woman and she loved to get dressed up. Every year she dressed up in her fur and fine drag to go to the Classics. It was something to see. Reunions and other occasions were also ocassions to get dressed. I think all of the Deramus women can dress.

Aunt Johnnie retired from teaching in the late eighties and moved back to Alabama. She suffered from Alzheimers for a very long time. She had her faults and her problems as well, but she was a great lady.

My political awareness began with Aunt Johnnie. She was very active in the Chicago Teacher's Union and one of my earliest memories is of standing with her on the pickett line during a strike. That experience instilled something in me as well. She was definitely an influence on me. I am greatful for all of my aunts and uncles and other hosts of relatives.