TULSA MASSACRE MAY 31, 1921

A leading group of plaintiffs' lawyers and class-action lawyers of renown, and wealth, including the late great Johnie Cochran, Jr., Willie E. Gary, Charles Ogletree, and others, sued in federal court in Oklahoma for damages arising from the 1921 Tulsa Massacre of black people, their businesses, schools, homes, and most churches. The federal district court dismissed the case on the basis of "laches doctrine," meaning the black descendants of these deceased Tulsans had waited "too long" to bring their suit for damages or to seek any form of equitable relief . The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver affirmed the federal district court, And the Supreme Court denied certiorari in 2004, Aerial bombardments and machine gunnery were used on them. African American History 1 hr · Please like and share May 31, 1921 - On this date in 1921, 300 people died in the Tulsa Race riots, most of them Black, at the hands of a White mob. One of the worst race riots in U.S. history, it lasted two days. Hundreds of people were injured, and more than 1000 Black-owned homes and businesses were destroyed. On the 75th anniversary of the riot, the city extended a spirit of reconciliation by the dedication of a Black granite memorial in Greenwood, the neighborhood most affected by the conflict. The Oklahoma Legislature is considering reparations for victims and survivors and OWN network is creating a mini series for television possible airing in 2016.

MY MEMORIAL DAY KC ANNIVERSARY

My Memorial Day KC Anniversary Forty years ago during Memorial Day Weekend, in May 1976, I moved from Washington, District of Columbia, to Kansas City, Missouri, to live. I had no job here. I had no home here. I had no wife here. But, it was in Missouri, my home state; and I had very good friends here. So, I decided, to stay here, even after my friends were all gone, even after a divorce! I said: Let the music play on! Let the party roll on in KC. I had reached admirable goals in Washington, D.C., having achieved some small degree of celebrity at Howard University, where I had just finished law school and had earlier been the HILLTOP Editor in Chief. But a series of misadventures had forced me to look away, look away, look away, to Missouri's homeland. I do not regret my move back home to Missouri. My children were born here. I published my newsletter THE NILE REVIEW here. I taught black history here at UMKC'S Communiversity program, while sponsoring events. I practiced law here, for over 30 years, only ended by a stroke. I confessed The Savior, Jesus Christ here; pastored several churches within 60 miles of here, and I achieved a minor celebrity here, too, while living a good life. I have had two wives here, both of whom have enriched my life, one for 10 years, the next for 30 years . As I remember other soldiers on this Memorial Day, I thought it also reasonable to remember myself, on this my arrival day in the barbecue, jazz, now baseball, capital of USA!

THE ANIMATE AND THE MAN by Plotinus

"[F]rom the organized body and something else, let us say a light, which the Soul gives forth from itself, it forms a distinct Principle, the Animate; and in this Principle are vested Sense-Perception and all the other experiences found to belong to the Animate. "But the We? How have We Sense-Perception? "By the fact that We are not separate from the Animate so constituted, even though other and nobler elements go to the make up the entire many-sided nature of Man. "The faculty of perception in the Soul cannot act by the immediate grasping of sensible objects, but only by the discerning of impressions printed on the Animate by sensation: these impressions are already Intelligibles, while the outer sensation is a mere phantom of the other (of that in the Soul) which is nearer to Authentic-Existence as being an impassive reading of Ideal-Forms. "And by means of these Ideal-Forms, by which the Soul wields single lordship over the Animate, we have Discursive-Reasoning, Sense-Knowledge and Intellection. From this moment we have peculiarly the We: before this there was only the 'Ours;' but at this stage stands the We (the authentic Human -Principle) loftily presiding over the Animate. "There is no reason why the entire compound entity should not be described as the Animate or Living-Being--mingled in a lower phase, but above that point the beginning of the veritable man, distinct from all that is kin to the lion, all that is in the order of the multiple brute. And since The Man, so understood , is essentially the associate of the reasoning Soul, in our reasoning it is this 'We' that reasons, in that the use and act of reason is a characteristic act of the Soul." P.8-9, "The Animate and The Man," THE ENNEADS by Plotinus (1991)

LESSONS FROM A GORILLA POND

LESSONS FROM A GORILLA POND Undermining another's confidence is to kill their will, is to dissipate their energy. Slowly or suddenly either extreme may come about, whether by under-exposure or by over-exposure . Great care must be shown, especially in the rearing of small children, to guard against the premature deracination of their self-confidence by either extreme. By the same token, their parents or guardians, through appropriate training and discipline, must be certain that they have already taken adequate care to assure that their children do "mind" them! "Minding" means to obey simple commands in public places and at home. This essential form of home-training will protect their small children from themselves and the their public, itself, from childish, untoward displays of some exalted "god-complex," in kids, which later produces disproportionate infantile irrationality leading to a tragedy. The recent report of the 4-year old child who crawled into, then fell 10-feet into a wading pool of the gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo is a great example of the too-premature god-complex on display. Which extreme, explained above, was evinced by this boy, 4, in this child's earlier upbringing , I don't know. But, this much I do know: Something was amiss. Someone was remiss in the rearing this child. Discipline is a vital part of rearing , a critical part, being a form of love. Without early discipline and abiding watchfulness, one may find one's child shooting you with your own gun, or wading in the gorilla pond!

OTHER MEMORIAL DAY MOTIFS AND RIFFS

Other Memorial Day Motifs & Riffs While the Civil War was clearly about the abolition of slavery, so, also, was the so-called American Revolutionary War about slavery, as well, although this fact is lesser known than that of the Civil War. The economy was as slave-based, in the North as it was in the South. The South had planters. The North had suppliers, traders, carriers. The abolitionist decision in England's Somerset Case of 1772, which had outlawed slavery on English soil, thus, threatened her slaveholding and slavetrading colonies, hence the rich economies of both regions. To quote from another authoritative legal context: "Few realized that the redemption song was a duet, motivated at least as much by the hidden party, Harriet [Scott]." The American Revolution and the Civil War were part of an American wartime medley, as symbolized by Lea Vandervelde 's "duet" analogy from her book, REDEMPTION SONGS : SUING FOR FREEDOM BEFORE DRED SCOTT (2014), p.3. Neither war won total freedom for the Africans in America, although each one brought the goal closer to ultimate realization , as have all other efforts, be they concerted or solo; whether racial or essential, in character, purpose or mere effect. Following the "duet" of Dred and Harriet Scott, came the Fisk Jubilee Singers' national and world tours whose lovely renditions of "Negro Spirituals" raised needed money for their humble Nashville college. Next came Jim Europe 's "Harlem Hell-Fighters'" 369th "jazz" band which wowed the beleaguered people of France in World War I's segregated armed forces. This ardent 'French kiss' forced white Americans to take notice and to claim them as their countrymen, albeit begrudgingly, reluctantly! Next on the musical and freedom scene was the 'Blues' . It arose from the same black cultural vortex as the "duet," of the Scott's; as the "Negro spirituals" of the Fisk Jubilee Singers; as the "jazz," of Jim Europe. From Robert Johnson to W.C. Handy and all in between, the Blues and its scion, "Boogie Woogie" rocked and rolled its way through World War II in full flight formation with its fellows, "looking for a home, gotta have a home." Next "rhythm and blues " and gospel music roared into the 1950s out of Detroit , "Motown," Chicago, Memphis, Philadelphia, as well as other cities, and swept the nation and the world with its "wine and wassail." This "race music" fired marchers and freedom riders and boycotters, along side its musical hombres. Other musical forms flowed from it, enriched it, sampled it, and vice versa, in the menagerie. This Memorial Day weekend, 2016, I pause to pay homage to the "music makers" of whatever motif or instrument, of African American freedom: from the solo of Crispus Attucks, the duet of Dred and Harriet Scott, the rousing spirituals of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the operas of Scott Joplin and anthems of James Weldon and Rosamond Johnson; the Jazz of Jim Europe, Noble Sissel, Duke Ellington ; the Blues of Robert Johnson, W.C. Handy, Lightning Hopkins; the Rhythm and Blues of James Brown, Aretha Franklin , Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Curtis Mayfield, Michael Jackson, Prince, and every other musician, rapper, dancer , performer, or soldier, who lifted our spirits, who brought us love, joy, peace, hope, happiness for a while!

'BATSON' BARS RACIST JURY SELECTION

STRIKING BLACK JURORS DUE TO RACE STILL ILLEGAL Thursday, May 26, 2016 By Larry Delano Coleman, Esq. In a withering smack-down to the State of Georgia, the United States Supreme Court has reversed the murder conviction of a black, death-row inmate, and remanded his case for a new trial, based upon the prosecution’s racially discriminatory use of its peremptory challenges to strike four black venire members who were otherwise qualified to serve as jurors. The Supreme Court’s 7-1 decision (Thomas dissenting) rested upon its famous Batson v. Kentucky precedent, which had, decades ago, outlawed the discriminatory use of peremptory challenges in jury selection in criminal cases. Batson also set up a three-step process to assess whether such strikes were discriminatory or unbiased. The case is Timothy Foster v. Bruce Chatman, decided on May 23, 2016. The link to the opinion is http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-8349_6k47.pdf In Batson v. Kentucky, 476 US 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712 (1986) the supreme court held that improperly excluding blacks from the juries of criminal defendants violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the fourteenth amendment. The Court declared: The “Constitution forbids striking even a single prospective juror for a discriminatory purpose.” Snyder v. Louisiana, 552 U. S. 472, 478 (2008) (internal quotation marks omitted). Our decision in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79, provides a three-step process for determining when a strike is discriminatory: “First, a defendant must make a prima facie showing that a peremptory challenge has been exercised on the basis of race; second, if that showing has been made, the prosecution must offer a race-neutral basis for striking the juror in question; and third, in light of the parties’ submissions, the trial court must determine whether the defendant has shown purposeful discrimination.” Snyder, 552 U. S., at 476–477 (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted). Procedurally, the case arose in this context, wrote Chief Justice John Roberts: “Petitioner Timothy Foster was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in a Georgia court. During jury selection at his trial, the State exercised peremptory strikes against all four black prospective jurors qualified to serve. Foster argued that the State’s use of those strikes was racially motivated, in violation of our decision in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79 (1986). The trial court and the Georgia Supreme Court rejected Foster’s Batson claim. Foster then sought a writ of habeas corpus from the Superior Court of Butts County, Georgia, renewing his Batson objection. That court denied relief, and the Georgia Supreme Court declined to issue the Certificate of Probable Cause necessary under Georgia law for Foster to pursue an appeal. We granted certiorari and now reverse.” Factually, the Supreme Court’s decision observed: On the morning of August 28, 1986, police found Queen Madge White dead on the floor of her home in Rome, Georgia. White, a 79-year-old widow, had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled to death. Her home had been burglarized. Timothy Foster subsequently confessed to killing White, and White’s possessions were recovered from Foster’s home and from Foster’s two sisters. The State indicted Foster on charges of malice murder and burglary. He faced the death penalty. Foster v. State, 258 Ga. 736, 374 S. E. 2d 188 (1988). District Attorney Stephen Lanier and Assistant District Attorney Douglas Pullen represented the State at trial. Jury selection proceeded in two phases: removals for cause and peremptory strikes. In the first phase, each prospective juror completed a detailed questionnaire, which the prosecution and defense reviewed. The trial court then conducted a juror-by-juror voir dire of approximately 90 prospective jurors. Throughout this process, both parties had the opportunity to question the prospective jurors and lodge challenges for cause. This first phase whittled the list down to 42 “qualified” prospective jurors. Five were black. In the second phase, known as the “striking of the jury,” both parties had the opportunity to exercise peremptory strikes against the array of qualified jurors. Pursuant to state law, the prosecution had ten such strikes; Foster twenty. See Ga. Code Ann. §15–12–165 (1985). The process worked as follows: The clerk of the court called the qualified prospective jurors one by one, and the State had the option to exercise one of its peremptory strikes. If the State declined to strike a particular prospective juror, Foster then had the opportunity to do so. If neither party exercised a peremptory strike, the prospective juror was selected for service. This second phase continued until 12 jurors had been accepted. The morning the second phase began, Shirley Powell, one of the five qualified black prospective jurors, notified the court that she had just learned that one of her close friends was related to Foster. The court removed Powell for cause. That left four black prospective jurors: Eddie Hood, Evelyn Hardge, Mary Turner, and Marilyn Garrett. The striking of the jury then commenced. The State exercised nine of its ten allotted peremptory strikes, removing all four of the remaining black prospective jurors. Foster immediately lodged a Batson challenge. The trial court rejected the objection and empaneled the jury. The jury convicted Foster and sentenced him to death. Based on these facts, his conviction seemed certain, whatever color the jury may be. But, the peremptory strikes—which could have been used for any reason, formerly, even often racially, as here—were used by the state of Georgia instead to strike all of the blacks, even those with characteristics in common with white venirepersons who were not struck. Compounding matters, its articulated reasons for striking black were inconsistent. These were clear violations of federal law set forth in Batson v. Kentucky. Attempts by the State of Georgia to rationalize or to explain away the strikes of the blacks, as nondiscriminatory, were seriously degraded by its own file’s documents. An opens records request initiated by defendant’s attorneys for the files in this case from the prosecutor’s office struck “Batson gold”! Much incriminating evidence was written, marked in bold print, or highlighted, isolating and focusing on blacks. These blots on fairness and justice are detailed by the Court from the underlying record. For these reasons, legal, logical and fair, the Timothy Foster’s conviction was reversed and his case remanded for new trial in consonance with abiding law. #30

RHODE ISLAND RICHES WAS SLAVE-BASED

"From the year 1700 on, the citizens of this State engaged more and more in the carrying trade until Rhode Island became the greatest slave trader in America . Although she did not import many slaves for her own use, she became the clearinghouse of the trade for other colonies. Governor Cranston, as early as 1708, reported that between 1698 and 1708 one hundred and three vessels were built in the State, all of which were trading to the West Indies and the Southern colonies . They took out lumber and brought back molasses, in most cases making a slave voyage in between . From this, the trade grew. Samuel Hopkins , about 1770, was shocked at the state of the trade: more than thirty distilleries were running in the colony, and one hundred fifty vessels were in the slave trade. 'Rhode Island,' said he, 'has been more deeply interested in the slave trade, and has enslaved more Africans than any other colony in New England.' Later, in 1787, he wrote: 'The inhabitants of Rhode Island, especially of Newport, have had by far the greater share of this traffic, of the United Stares. This trade in human species has been the first wheel of commerce in Newport on which every other movement in business has chiefly depended. The town has been built up and flourished in times past, at the expense of the blood, the liberty, and the happiness, of the poor Africans, and the inhabitants have lived on this, and by it have gotten their wealth and riches.'" P.41, "The Trading Colonies," THE SUPPRESSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1638-1870, by Dr. William Edward Burghardt DuBois (1896) [DUBOIS, WRITINGS, 1986, Library of America NY]

IS DONALD TRUMP 'EL DUCE?'

Trump represents a type. I'm just not sure what type. The closest type that I can come to is "El Duce" Benito Mussolini of WWII fascist Italy, based upon their verve, swagger, bravura!

SURVEYORS GENIUSES TRANSPONDERS

Surveyors Geniuses Transponders Benjamin Banneker was a surveyor. He was black. That fact is not so strange since the original surveyors who designed the pyramids of ancient Kemet and Nubia were black as well. Therefore surveyors were once black. Why now are they so few? I have not seen one, ever. For this reason , I have included an image from Kemet of surveyors ; that you too might see, and having seen them, to know that they were. Benjamin Banneker largely taught himself surveying, just as he taught himself mathematics, astronomy, and farmers' almanac publishing by utilizing others' borrowed books. Even so, he was not averse to aid or to insight from others who knew. Benjamin Banneker was an African American descendant of slaves. His father, a member of the Dogon tribe, was himself formerly a slave. Slaves are/were human beings too. This fact was obvious, even if they were dark-skinned, with kinky or coiled hair. This unique, crispy hair, that is now resented, or detested, by many of its black wearers, is like Samson's magical hair, exchanging "transponder" signals from and to God, they both send and receive. This potent, if latent, capacity to communicate with God some seem to sense, even feel but do not know what it is, nor why it is, scientifically by reason of lack of understanding. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transponder The phrase "Transponders from God" figuratively means that they were divinely consigned by God to inhabit the Americas, in ships, en mass, to abide such duties as God may deign to bestow upon them. In fulfilling this "Destiny" they had no choice but to comply, nor does any natural law, in obeying divine commands, be it gravity or light. African slaves were made strong human beings, just to survive the ordeals. Many perished. Despite having been subjected to many prolonged beatings, deprivations, and abuses; in Africa, in the awful Atlantic Ocean crossing-over zone; in the Americas, whose millions of descendants are living , including the tiny few who now read these words, despite having been denied the opportunity to learn to read or to write or to cipher, still prevailed! Although slandered by utterances that were oral, written, artistic; although banned from independent economic, political attempts to improve their personal status by avaricious Western European or American captors, they managed through divine "transpondence" to overpower attempts to humiliate, to emaciate their wills and their faith! These profit-loving merchants, politicians, landowners, banks, insurance and shipping magnates, scholars, sheriffs, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, educators, bishops, all were among those who denied their very humanity, from the early 18th century onward. Fortunately, they went to war, Civil War, over the American status of these Africans. As much, current unbiased history, science, anthropology recounts, repeatedly, not only were these enslaved Africans humans, but such Africans were the very first humans. They were indeed, and in fact, progenitors of their captors! But this new land, a new continent, had to be tamed and claimed by Africans' hard labor. So, racial lies, myths, constructs were created by these craven, "Caucasian" human beings who traded in African labor. This is no condemnation. They had to do what they had to do, too, being who they are, like the blacks. Natural law like rain in May required it of them, as planets orbit the sun. But, not just labor, also knowledge, intelligence, experience from Africa and from Europe flowed into their new homeland across the Atlantic. Benjamin Banneker, for example, made the first clock in America, a wooden one, that kept good time. He also surveyed the new Capitol of Washington, D.C., after L'Enfant, a Frenchman, could not continue. Also in agricultural technology and soil techniques, Africans mightily contributed. Moreover, in music, in story-telling, in cooking, in sailing, in all kinds of labor, and in other areas, the "African gift to America" as noted by Joel Augustus Rogers, has been remarkable, awesome, incalculable. They continue today. But the continued denial of blacks' Constitutional freedoms, and their continued subjugation was deemed paramount to those whose self-interest in profiteering, oppressing, was too great to let freedom ring! So, in the 1950s, God sent forth two grand master transponders, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose dyad or ideological nemesis was Minister Malcolm X. Their eloquent sermons, prayers, and appeals; their brave and daring ideas, marches galvanized our Jim-Crowed, browbeaten people into a fighting force using God's words! Such gallantry, such leadership was instrumental in defeating those recalcitrant, rationalizing, self-justifying, former enslavers or their progeny (literally or figuratively) who were dependent on their blacks' labor, spirits, intelligence to enrich themselves. Those days are done. As Jesus said "it is finished." Apparent to all objective viewers, now, is that the Western European transporters', former enslavers' efforts to assuage their naked guilt, by infamously lying and fabricating fables about the intelligence, about the character of these remarkable Africans whom they thought that they had possessed and had totally dispossessed! They were wrong ! God used them all, unawares, to transport these black primal transponders to a new land, for such purposes as God assigns. Human beings all have remarkable intelligence. It is accessible to all! Such human intelligence is innate in their human makeup from birth, if not from before their birth. Such intelligence comes from our God. God is the maker of heaven and earth, and of life and death, and of all that is, was, or that will ever be in existence. God made man "god-like" encased in life's intelligence. All humans are therefore geniuses. Such "genius" is innate in mankind. I am a genius. You are a genius. We are ingenious. Therefore, we can do anything thing that we put our ingenious minds to, even if we are slaves, handicapped, whatever! If we are still alive, with a reasonable portion of health and strength, with a mind to work, watch out, world! No human being who knows of their true, "ingenious" nature can be forever kept down. That person will always apply themselves to discover, then to exploit, that veiled pathway to liberty that they learn. Such human genius must be fed, watered and protected from harm, in order for it to grow. Therefore human genius requires nurture like that given fruit, vegetables, cattle. Although genius may work alone. It works best, "where two or more are gathered together in my name," as Jesus taught in Matthew 18: 19-20.  Thus ends the survey in May 2016.

WHOSOEVER AND WHATSOEVER

WHOSOEVER AND WHATSOEVER One Sunday morning, I was told by a "member" of the tiny church that I was first assigned to pastor in Butler, Bates County, Missouri, Brooks Chapel African .Methodist Episcopal Church, the following: "Reverend Coleman, you can make a sermon out of just anything!" I thanked him, of course, for the compliment, if such it was.But, I was not sure of his meaning at that time. So, I just went on ministering. Perhaps, my peculiar and pragmatic practice of deriving, both, the scriptural reading, and the sermon, itself, from the text of that week's Sunday school lesson, had prompted his observation. I had adopted this practical approach to Biblical exegesis, based on my living 60-miles away from that tiny church in Kansas City; Missouri; only preaching there twice per month, and, lacking an ability to conduct either a Bible study, nor Sunday School with my "members" there. So, acting expediently,I combined all 3 of these, all rolled into one! Perhaps it was the Holy Spirit that prompted Mr. Troy Burton's comment. Whatever it was, I now deduce that God's omnipresence places sermons all around us, even within us, so we can feel them. As I feel. smell, taste, hear. see, intuit, so I preach, unashamedly! By the way, "members" at Brooks Chapel A.M.E. is (or was) a term of art, meaning whoever showed up or "whosoever will let them come."

THE VACANT 9TH U.S. SUPREME COURT SEAT

Leaving vacant that 9th United States Supreme court seat has been a "discovered check" upon Congressional obstructionist casuistry caused by Sen. McConnell. Its vacancy compels judicial "compromise" and seems to mitigate ideological encampments. "All things work together for good to lovers of God.-who are called."

AFRICAN'S ABORIGINAL STAIN ON MODERN CHRISTIANITY

"I have just cited seven instances in which significant transfers of intellectual strength and creativity is evidenced from Africa to Europe: academia, exegesis, dogmatics, ecumenics, monastic communities, philosophy and dialectics. All await further explication by generation of balanced scholarship, but the direction of the argument is clear. "The list could go on and it should. It could show in more detail how Western penitential practice was profoundly shaped by Optatus of Milevis , and the teaching of justification by Marius Victorinus. It could track the influence of Africans like Minucius Felix on apologetics, of Lactantius on universal history, of Primacius on apocalyptic interpretation , of Athanasius on civil disobedience, of Cyprian on ecclesiology , of Terrullian on theological method, of African women saints like Perpetua and Felicitas on eschatological courage, and of Augustine on practically everything that would later be considered quintessentially European. The biographies of Evagrius, Cassian, Athanasius , Augustine, Origen, Pachomius, and Benedict are part of the south-to-north transmission of tradition. African Christian biography is a field in itself that is only partially explored. It will take dozens of expertly trained scholars and linguists to accomplish the tasks.... "The apex of African influence on Roman civil authority was around 193-211, when African-born Septimius Severus was emperor of Rome. He was born in Leptis Magna of Libyan Tripolitania. During Severus's reign, the pope was also an African (Victor I, 186-197), at a time when diocesan policy was being crystallized in the person of its bishop with regard to matters of ecumenical discipline , especially on such matters as the celebration of Easter, excommunication, and adoptionist Christology. "These things happened one hundred years before Diocletian and Constantine. During this time African Christianity was serving as an intellectual powerhouse for early Christian thinking. During the formation of early ecumenical Christianity, Africa was more like a creative intellectual dynamo than a submissive sycophant." P.59-61, HOW AFRICA SHAPED THE CHRISTIAN MIND : REDISCOVERING THE AFRICAN SEEDBED OF WESTERN CHRISTIANITY by Thomas C. Oden (2007)

REDEMPTION SONGS, EXCERPT....

The bitter asperity of the United States Supreme Court decision in the 1857 case, Dred Scott (and Harriet) v. Sanford, is belied by its pablum history, where 300 prior, lower profile, cases involving 239 black persons in Missouri, whose litigation was largely successful, had both preceded and inspired it . Methinks the Court did protest too much. Subsequent events attest! If lower courts truly lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the slaves' "freedom suits," because the black slaves, lacked standing to sue, as "persons"--being chattel--as Chief Justice Roger Taney and his white supremacist colleagues dubiously, craftily concluded, in their 7-2. U. S. Constitution interpretation, why then did it them take 400 pages of separate opinions to say just that? Water is displaced equivalently by commensurate volumes precisely. More volumes more displacement. Less volumes less displacement. Fluid dynamics mirror humanity. Metaphors aside, these thoughts occur to me, as I begin reading Lea Vandervelde 's newly released legal history: REDEMPTION SONGS : SUING FOR FREEDOM BEFORE DRED SCOTT (2014), chronicling previous Missouri slaves' law suits. Therein, this determined University of Iowa law professor writes, coyly, in her first chapter, "A Metaphor for the Subordinate Buried in History," the following: "In suing for freedom the slaves defied his or her masters. When one sings a redemption song, one speaks truth to power. But not the full truth--the slave is not empowered to tell the whole truth--but enough of the truth to be upsetting to the master, to make a sound discordant with the legitimacy of the master's dominion, and enough of the truth to meet the elements legally necessary to redemption. That much and no more.... "Yet, the redemption song in a freedom suit is unlike other songs. It is not one of rescue, or mercy, or grace; it is a claim of entitlement. In this respect, it is different from other discourses that subordinates voice. Because it is instrumental--intended to redeem the legal right to free status--the petitioner cannot speak fully and freely. Extra notes and militant tones will impair the objective and may bring penalties; so the song must be spare, preserving the political economy of the resistance it presents." P. 1-2

A GRAND ARMY OF BLACK MEN, excerpt

Several years ago, my wife and I attended a lecture in the Lansing, Kansas, Public Library by Lerone Bennett, Jr., former Senior Editor at "Ebony " Magazine. He is the acclaimed author of many books, most prominently BEFORE THE MAYFLOWER, which I had read at age 16, shortly after its first publication . We had gone to Kansas, however , to hear him lecture on Abraham Lincoln, about whom he had written in another book, FORCED INTO GLORY, which he personally autographed for me. Years earlier he had written a scathing article in "Ebony " that rhetorically asked "Was Abraham Lincoln A White Supremacist?" Lincoln is iconic among blacks, for his Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, which enabled the enlisting of black soldiers in the Union Army as a "military measure" and which "freed" the slaves then in the Confederate States of America's environs, but not in border states like Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware . Yesterday, while reading A GRAND ARMY OF BLACK MEN : LETTERS FROM AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN THE UNION ARMY 1861-1865, edited by Edwin S. Redkey, I read a letter that was written by Dr. Martin R. Delany, a physician and Major in the Union Army, 104th USCI, Charleston, South Carolina, after Lincoln's assassination. It was dated April 20, 1865, and was published on May 20, 1865, in the "Christian Recorder," a widely circulated newspaper that was published by the African Methodist Episcopal Church. After reading it, I recalled Lerone Bennett's book on Lincoln, which I have not yet completed reading. A search of his index did not disclose Delany 's name, notwithstanding his rarity as a black Major in the Union Army, an explorer in Nigeria, where he sought a Homeland for black emigrationists; his notoriety as an author of historical occurrences and events, his scientific studies; his tenure as a co-editor of one of Frederick Douglass' newspapers and his writing first novel by a black American. Delany is not easily ignored. Such a man of his stature is only purposely ignored! Dr. Delany wrote: "A calamity such as the world has never before witnessed--a calamity, the most heart-rending, caused by the perpetration of a deed at the hands of a wretch, the most infamous and atrocious--a calamity as humiliating to America as it is infamous and atrocious--has suddenly brought our country to mourning by the untimely death of the humane, the benevolent, the philanthropic, the generous, the beloved, the able, the wise, the great, and good man, the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, the Just. In his fall, a mighty chieftain and statesman has passed away. God, in his inscrutable providence, has suffered this, and we bow with meek and humble resignation to his Divine will, because He does all things well. God's will be done!" P. 222

THE CURSE OF BEING "COUNTRY"

THE CURSE OF BEING "COUNTRY" I used to think that urban blacks were ashamed of "the South" and those traditions associated with the South. But, I now know that I was wrong. It was not the South that caused their shame, it was "the country," and traditions associated with "the country," that caused these urban blacks to be ashamed, whether they were in the North, South, East, or West. In "the country" were those former bucolic communities, from which their frightened forebears had been refugees/migrants from the 1870s onward, which had shamed them! The descendants of these abused and oppressed forebears who had fled away from lawlessness and racial discrimination to the North, were only to discover the ghetto and exactly the same things from which they had fled ! But, part of the deception required that they presented themselves as doing better than they really were in the North. It was all a front! Even so, front or not, urban dwellers came to despise farmers, the fashions , the lifestyles, the fables, foods, music, religion, earthy motifs, that were: in the country, of that the country, or even from the country! I first became aware of this strange estrangement from "the country" in 1971, when a promoter brought a 3-day "Blues Festival" to Cramton Auditorium at Howard University. I was shocked to see so few black, amid an ocean of whites that were present. Where were the DC black people, especially black students? I had long wondered about this acute racial anomaly since 1971, which I had not noticed before! Then, when I moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1976, I noticed that they referred to residents of their twin city , Kansas City, Kansas, as "country." This disparagement was surprisingly said by those urban blacks who exhibited no discernible distinctions between themselves and their brethren across the way! Thankfully, "Send A Revival," sung by Keith "Wonder Boy," Johnson caused me to stumble upon clarity! When he says, "Let's go to the country," at the start of that song, I exulted! An epiphany and the Holy Ghost both hit me! "The country!"

WE NEED A REVIVAL

https://youtu.be/UJwqlipopo8?t=431

IMITATION SYNCOPATION

IMITATION SYNCOPATION  We learn by watching others, by listening to others, my imitating others, until we develop our own. I watched my older brother, Elvis Mitchell Coleman, Jr., dance and copied his syncopations . I read Dunbar and Don Lee and copied the former 's lyricism and Lee's truncated bluntness . I never could copy Smokey, though I tried; nor could I ever consistently bang the baseball on the "sweet" part of the bat as per the great Willie Mays. In the end, the braces and frames of imitation fade away leaving you on your own, until others come by and copy you ! So it goes. Each flame lights the next in seriatim, in succession. Also in the end, you are you, must do you, must be you.

PRIMORDIAL MITOSIS

Nothing and no one is solely self-determined. Everything and every one is affected or effected by others; & connected to others. As John Dunne has famously said, "No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main...." https://web.cs.dal.ca/~johnston/poetry/island.html Otherwise stated, certain factors or forces: known and unknown: near and far; seen and unseen, felt and unfelt; help to influence and to determine each aspect of our lives, our loves, our destinies. These factors and forces exist and operate with us, within us, for us, through us, by us, yes, even in spite of us, toward consummation. Ultimately, we humans are but an infinitesimally tiny part of a vast whirling vortex, whose vortices extend outwardly and inwardly beyond the range of our profoundest conceptions. Yet, simultaneously, we are somehow made very self-aware, very assertive, and very perceptive, ascribing unto our human selves consciousness and cosmic uniqueness. Yet, still doubting that such wondrous grace could be so. We have been ever bold to ascribe to ourselves primacy, even human supremacy over all other life forms on earth. In so doing, we had earlier, for 2,000 years at least, deigned our planet, Earth, to be the center of our solar system, indeed, the center of the universe itself, around which all stars and planets and celestial objects, revolved in annular homage and in extraterrestrial tribute to us, or so we imagined. So confident were we, that we proselytized others to believe, to submit to, our capacious--so we deemed them--religious and scientific doctrines and axioms. Yet, slowly, inexorably, the truth about our too-comfortably, collusive construct of grand human pretensions began to seep, bit-by-bit, into plain view slowly, insidiously, inevitably. Eventually, science and religion, though once tightly bound together as one, began to divide to unravel, to replicate, to reproduce themselves anew, with each partaking of the other's essences, insensibly. As a consequence this renewal, they also came to an apparent parting of the ways, science to the left; religion to the right, in an energetic dance of spooling dissolution, an ephemeral meiosis, a cosmic mitosis. An epistemological, "War of the Worlds"- type, battle scorched earth by fire and by attrition; it devolved into competing normative paradigms, battling for supremacy over the the hearts and minds of mankind in schools, books, pulpits, media. http://www.ask.com/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama) Here now we sit, survey, and survive, in the midst of these whirling vortices, these "star wars," being daily bombarded, while being bombastic, dumbed-down and dumbfounded, too, in quest of uncertain respite! We humans, all and each, by merely living and working and loving and studying, may also be thereby contributing to, and participating in, this ever-evolving scientific and religious rapprochement-process, automatically, and intuitively. In doing so, we too may be unconsciously searching for a satisfactory solution, a righteous reconciliation of the former one, thence two, now three most elusive vectors: science, religion and human love. Amen.

CHARACTER

CHARACTER Confidence is the spine of character. Integrity is the integument of character . Good works are the evidence of character. Love of God is the heart beat of character. Wisdom and Knowledge are the tools of character. Joy and happiness are the children of character. Bounty and Beauty are the brides of character.

FREEDOM AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

It would be grand if blacks would take seriously the injunctions of Jesus; especially the one that says "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free!" We have churches, schools, colleges, lodges, recreation centers, businesses, homes, clubs, already, where this teaching can take place. No other institutions are needed! Rather we need a conversion in place, in situ! We need the Holy Ghost to restore our souls! Most importantly at our fingertips we have the INTERNET and access to all knowledge and information from multiple sources. "Cast your nets on the other side" of self-inquiry on the internet! Or to quote Booker T. Washington "Cast down your buckets where you are," right now for freedom !

ONE BEGINNING ONE END

ONE BEGINNING AND ONE END Given that one and the same sun illuminates one and the same day, sunrise and sunset being sunshine are indistinguishable, is it material what transpires on any day since all things attain to the self-same end? This one thought was inspired by Origen, an iconic "church father" and African Christian theologian and philosopher living in the 2nd to 3rd centuries in Alexandria, Egypt, who wrote in his book ON FIRST PRINCIPLES (2014), the following: "For the end is always like the beginning; as therefore there is one end of all things, so we must understand that there is one beginning of all things, and there is one end of many things, so from one beginning arise many differences and varieties, which in their turn are restored, through God's goodness , through their subjection to Christ and their unity with the Holy Spirit, to one end, which is like the beginning." P. 70-71

THE OBAMAS' RESONANCE

THE OBAMAS' RESONANCE The 8-year reign of Barack Obama may also be the only 8-year era of African Americans' history, when they have also been happily, if not functionally, "leaderless," in the sense that Obama is the President of the United States of America in its entirety, not of merely one part. Also in the sense that the strong allegiance and patronage of the blacks being in favor of the first African American President and First Family, this sentiment has degraded the erstwhile pull of an assortment of civil rights groups. While there may be negatives and positives associated with this state of affairs, as with anything else, all-in-all, Obama has been a gain for blacks and for all other Americans! Its psychological value, alone, has been profoundly felt, if not stated, by younger generations of black people. who now know that what their forebears preached to them is true: "In America you can grow up to be anything you want to be!" Not to be lost in this political epoch is the signal intelligence, beauty, & sublime grace of the First Lady, Michelle Obama, their daughters, Malia and Sasha, even maternal Grandma Marian Shields Robinson. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Shields_Robinson So the Obamas' resonance has been operating on many levels, seen and unseen; tangible and intangible; political and cultural; familial somethings for all.

I AM A PHILOSOPHER

I AM A PHILOSOPHER This morning, May 19, 2016, I have accepted that the fact that I am a philosopher, a lover of knowledge! This realization did not rush upon me . It whispered to me softy, sweetly, consistently, over many years, in many ways. It breathed! It probably began in grade school and in Sunday School, particularly. Our Sunday School literature that was utilized in our Meacham Park, Missouri, based, St. Matthews CME (Christian Methodist Episcopal Church)--whose "C" in CME, formerly meant "colored,"--was so pedantically "white," in form and in substance, that I found it revolting! I was affronted by such even as a child! Where was l? Where are we? Naturally, when I asked these kinds of questions, I was soon whisked out of the adults ' Sunday School class at age 12, in the choir stand, and was relegated back down to teaching the accepted rote, formulary "Catechism" to our church's younger children, many of whom were my siblings in our very humble, small church in the 1960s. Anyway, without reciting, here, the nonessential details of my own, complicated spiritual journey, it will suffice to say that, when reading 3rd century, African Christian "church father" Tertullian's THE APOLOGY last night, I was struck https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertullian First, I was amazed by his erudition. Next, his eloquence was lyrical. But the biggest surprise was in the fact that Tertullian has not, as yet, in my incomplete reading, mentioned the name of "Jesus" in his definition of God, nor in his recitation of the earthly attributes of God, in his excoriating polemic to Rome's Senate in defense of our faith! No wonder he is not deemed a "saint" by the present Roman Catholic Church. It has placed an asterisk besides his name; that of Origen, another church father who I am now reading, and quite a few others, who predate the Council of Nicea in 325 AD when doctrinal consensus was achieved under the helm of Rome and under the hands of Roman Emperor Constantine I, who was himself a pagan in power! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea Unraveling philosophy is arduous! But, I love it, and must roll with it!

EMPIRICISM AND "LIGHT"

"em·pir·i·cism əmˈpirəˌsizəm/ nounPHILOSOPHY the theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience. Stimulated by the rise of experimental science, it developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, expounded in particular by John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume." "All" and "only" are relative abstractions bordering on fallacious. Their proponents' existence repudiates the words' exclusivity. For example, take "empiricism," itself. "All knowledge" cannot be known by any man, by the mere fact that he is man. Similarly, "sense-experience" assumes that all senses are palpable, capable of "experience," which is not true since, most "light": is invisible . Given the limits of our "visible light" perception, as measured by the present electromagnetic spectrum, our other human senses' perceptions would seem to be as limited as our eyesight, as we. Thus, one's assertion of 'all' or 'only' strikes me as mere bombast!

good sense and good faith

GOOD SENSE AND GOOD FAITH Between inquiring and acquiring looms inspection. Touching and feeling follow curiosity, naturally. If the tomato is firm, if the peach is ripe, if the shoes fit, if inspection satisfies, purchase comes to pass. Purchase without inspection is perilous, as it depends upon the good faith of others; far better is reliance on one's own good sense. Your good sense beats a seller's good faith in business matters. Trust God! but always try man!

VIGILANCE

VIGILANCE Unless one is very vigilant, one's household hospitality may be perceived as one's acquiescence, which may invite the former "guests'" to become possessive, which can then become theirs by openly adverse possession! Thereby, your household becomes theirs by default, resulting in your ouster from "your" own land. Your ouster or your divestment may be effected by man or beast; by insect or rodent ; by bird or virus or debt! Stay vigilant, always!

THOMAS PAINE @ 2016

"Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions." P.18, "COMMON SENSE " PAINE (1955, 1984)

GRAY DREADLOCKS

I remember meeting a most unusual brother back in 1986 in the 900 block of Walnut Street, in Kansas City, Missouri. This brother has gray dreads, was wearing African garb and was selling his beautiful artworks. He was passing through KC, he said, from San Francisco to the East Coast and needed to be paid. The brother 's depictions of Malcolm and Marvin were magnificent. So were others of Garvey and DuBois. He had me. I bought his entire collection for $200. My bank was next to where he was leaning. So the check could be cashed right away. But, what was his name? His name was "Dr. Zukenstein!" Dr. Funkenstein was George Clinton . Dr. Dunkenstein was Darryl Griffin of Louisville. But, who Dr. Zukenstein really was, I never knew. And may never know! Naturally, he had no ID. So, I went into the bank and with this creative itinerant artist to identify & verify him as my payee, given his eccentricities!

SUNRISE IN AFRICA

LIFE'S ELLIPTIC

The overwhelming assortment of infinitesimal degrees in the elliptic of life assures that each tiny niche is unique, that each is particularized by the person, for the person, to the person & in the person. Amen.

EGGS IN A SKILLET

"CAN'T FRY AN EGG ON A COLD SKILLET!" this means that preparation must precede execution

SLIPPING MICKEYS

SLIPPING MICKEYS "Slipping a mickey" means inserting a sleep-inducing drug into another person's drink or alcoholic beverage, surreptitiously, so that after the target drinks it, unawares, they are knocked out, or worse! That idiom is applicable in politics, protests, legal documents, in many things. There, when on a drum roll litany of complaints or accusations with which the hearers agree, the mickey is inserted with which the listeners do not necessarily agree. The mickey has been slipped in! Alone, on its own, openly, the mickey would be rejected. So it is conveniently hidden, closeted, mixed into the mass to disguise its presence, until the moment of consumption, when it is too late! One current-day mickey that is customarily employed in Cornell West's litany is "homophobic." Another one formerly, frequently used was "labor," by Rev. Jesse Jackson in his litany of grievance. Beware of the mickey! Whether alcoholic or polemic, it degrades! I just saw Bill O'Reilly slip a mickey on a FB post. He called for the placement of the national guard in Chicago's violence-prone (black) neighborhoods, on foot patrols!Opining that the mayor, governor, new police chief were incapable of handling the violence there, that he luridly decried. O'Reilly made no mention of jobs for the jobless, economic resources for slum clearance, or micro grants or loans for business enterprise. Just more white men with guns would solve its violence! This evokes the "War on Drugs'" peck of lethal mickeys that blacks swallowed uncritically in the 1980s and 1990s, before the Internet era! Watch out for the mickey!

MANKIND

Mankind is natural, unnatural, supernatural, both, neither, in one.

AFRICAN CHRISTIAN SAINTS

While it is true that as it was later "morphed," Christianity is and has been an instrument of Western European conquest and domination, it is not also true, that the Romans "created Christianity," as too many now unfortunately believe ! The Romans stole Christianity, centuries later, from its early African formulators, whom they fed to their lions and beasts or whom they crucified by the tens of thousands. These Roman victims and martyrs were the devout, astute, black African Christians,who had perfected it. For proof, I refer you to two books: HOW AFRICA SHAPED THE CHRISTIAN MIND: AFRICA THE SEEDBED OF WESTERN CHRISTIANITY by Thomas C. Oden (2007), and Tertullian's THE APOLOGY (2013).

ELAINE/HELENA ARKANSAS MASSACRE OF 1919

Holocaust in 1919, Elaine, Arkansas. Have these 237 massacre-related deaths been memorialized or damages paid to the heirs by the State of Arkansas or the county where they died ? Why not? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine,_Arkansas There in Phillips County, Arkansas , on the Mississippi River, along Hwy 61, lies / is Elaine-Helena. Only 836 people live in that county now, 41% living below poverty level. This is where that barbaric atrocity in which 241 poor black people, who were organizing for economic justice, were massacred after World War, by white terrorist mobs and law enforcement officials, during the racist reign of President Woodrow Wilson! No one, and nothing, was criminally prosecuted or held liable in damages. These black sharecroppers' lives must be memorialized by Arkansas as expiation! And their stolen lands reclaimed!My chiefest joy is in memorializing, redeeming, remembering, my own African American people who died fighting for economic freedom less than 150 years ago !By the Rivers of Babylon …5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, May my right hand forget her skill. 6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy. 7Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom The day of Jerusalem, Who said, "Raze it, raze it To its very foundation."… PSALM 137. http://blackmainstreet.net/never-forget-americas-forgotten-mass-lynching-237-black-sharecroppers-murdered-arkansas/

HOW AFRICA SHAPED THE CHRISTIAN MIND, excerpt

"It is seldom mentioned in the philosophical literature that the earliest advocates of Neoplatonism did not reside either in Greece or Rome, but in Africa. It is surprising to Hellenistic chauvinists to be reminded that Philo, Ammonias Saccas and Plotinus--the central players in Neoplatonism--were all Africans. After taking firm root in the Nile Delta, in due time it would move north to Rome and Athens and Byzantium . "Some African-born philosophers like Marius Victorinus would come to reside in Rome, others like Bishop Synesius would remain in Cyrenaica. Christian teachers like Clement of Alexandria were among the earliest to set forth circumspect connections and distinctions between logos philosophy and the Christian teaching of God. The Neoplatonic influences on the early Augustine are well known. But what is seldom noted is that these influences appeared earliest in Africa before they migrated north. "Modern intellectual historians have become too accustomed to the easy premise that whatever Africa learned, it learned from Europe. In the case of seminal Neoplatonism, however, its trajectory from Africa to Europe (a south to north movement ) is textually clear. But why is it so easy to forget or dismiss this trajectory? The tendentious premises of Harnack and Bauer have pervaded several generations of historians with this prejudice. Current corrective African scholarship now has the task of redefining this north-moving trajectory based on textual and factual evidence." P.55-56, HOW AFRICA SHAPED THE CHRISTIAN MIND : REDISCOVERING THE AFRICAN SEEDBED OF WESTERN CHRISTIANITY by Thomas C. Oden (2007) 

NAMES

NAMES Saul became Paul. Jacob became Israel. Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali. Names do change. The names of God are manifold, as are the names of rain, sun, earth, stars, winds, life, death, birth, food. "What 's in a name?" That classic, powerful question may be skewed. It may misdirect. It may divert focus away from the subject to its name. This misdirection or diversion may have allowed that great poet, and playwright, William Shakespeare to deduce & then sing, "A rose by any other name smells just as sweet." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_rose_by_any_other_name_would_smell_as_sweet That which lies within, flows under, stands over, walks behind, rides beside, flies through or comprises a thing is its essence. Its actual name, its moniker, denomination, designation, nomenclature, is cant. A name, at best, merely denotes or connotes. It is neither talismanic nor is it empowering unto itself. A given name/-whether "Toby" or "Kunta"--is but a temporal, very loose-fitting, garment that merely modestly conceals its host's inner workings. Its Soul is what matters! "Don't judge the book by its cover" is an expression, an aphorism, an idiom that is applicable to names. "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is greater than silver or gold." http://biblehub.com/proverbs/22-1.htm "What's Your Name?" Is a 1950's song by Don and Juan that me and my now-dead friend and brother, Theodore Roosevelt Bush, Jr., sang at our Steger Jr. High School talent show in 1966. We did not win. But, we are yet esteemed, remembered, even now 50 years later! Who won? Names are transient. Black people in America have been called by, known by, many names. None of them have liberated us, whether the name was: "Negro"--capitalized "N"--of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, or the "New Negro," of the Harlem Renaissance era, 1920s-30s. Neither did the "colored" claque of the next, post-Marcus Garvey era, 1930-60s; neither did the "Black" cognomen from the Black Power era, 1960-80s; nor the latest model "African American" whether it is hyphenated-or-not of our current era. Of course, originally, we first were "Africans" in the colonial era, later: "gens or femme de couleur" or nigra, niggers, slave, Ethiopians, Abyssinians, Moors, even Bilalians! Through it all, our divine essence, our primordial substance, that which mutated, procreated, divided migrated, evolved, devolved, again and again over millions of years, in order to populate the planet with our own kind and true name, gods! That is who we are. That is what we are: "Gods!" We are made in the likeness and image of the Creator of heaven and earth. Such are we by any "name" we may be known! Psalms 82:6-- "I have said, 'You are "gods;"' you are all sons of the Most High." http://biblehub.com/psalms/82-6.htm

TENNESSEE 1880 William Wells Brown

"Spending part of the winter of 1880 in Tennessee, I began the study of the character of the people and their institutions. I soon learned that there existed an intense hatred on the part of the whites, toward the colored population. Looking at the past, this was easily accounted for. The older whites, brought up in the lap of luxury, educated to believe themselves superior to the race under them, self-willed, arrogant, determined, skilled in the use of side arms, wealthy--possessing the entire political control of the State--feeling themselves superior to the citizens of the free States,--this people was called upon to subjugate themselves to an ignorant, superstitious, and poverty-stricken race--a race without homes, or the means of obtaining them; to see the offices of the State filled by men from this servile set made these whites feel themselves deeply degraded in the eyes of the world. Their power was gone, but their pride still remained. They submitted in silence but 'bided their time,' and said 'Never mind ; we'll yet make you hell a hot one.'... "Colored men went into the legislatures somewhat as children go the first time to Sabbath School. They sat and waited to see 'the show.' Many had been elected by constituencies, of which not more than ten in a hundred could read the ballots they deposited; and a large number of these Representatives could not write their own names.... "The restoring of the Rebels to power and the surrendering of the colored people to them, after using the latter in the war, and at the ballot box, creating an enmity between the races, is the most bare-faced ingratitude that history gives an account of. "After all , the ten years of Negro legislation in the South challenges the profoundest study of mankind . History does not record a similar instance . Five millions of uneducated, degraded people, without any preparation whatever , set at liberty in a single day, without shedding a drop of blood, burning a cross, or insulting a single female. They reconstructed the State Governments that their masters had destroyed; became legislators, held state offices, and with all their blunders surpassed the whites that had preceded them. Future generations will marvel at the calm forbearance, good sense, and Christian zeal of the American Negro of the nineteenth century." P.802-804, "My Southern Home," WILLIAM WELLS BROWN: CLOTEL & OTHER WRITINGS (2014)

DEATH OF THE DOCTRINE OF "WHITE SUPREMACY"

DEATH OF "WHITE SUPREMACY" It is well to start at the basics and to build up from there, so that later learning may be built solidly upon Its demonstrable infrastructure. This truth applies in geometry, in arithmetic, in music, in science, in athletics, in art, in agriculture, in astronomy, in navigation, in engineering and in architecture, at least; may not it apply as well in other disciplines, or conventions? I speak now of such "disciplines and conventions" as philosophy, literature, history, religion, law, and education, especially! These tend to begin away from their basics. These posit their beginnings in Europe, in Asia, or in an European abstraction called, a catchall the Middle East" or something similar. Pointedly, directly, these purported European-imputed "disciplines and conventions" do not begin in Africa, according to Western scholarship. Yet, it was in Africa where clearly the most renown Greek or Roman proponents of these basic subjects of civilization learned, studied, & copied, for decades, for centuries. Plato, of 4th century BC Greece, who taught Aristotle, his student, had no problem properly attributing to Africa all that he learned in Egypt (Kemet) from his decades of study and observation, there, in his books classic "Timeaus" and "The Laws", including its mathematics, which some modern Westerners have yet attributed to him, as his invention! Why would these modern European folks lie? Why would they fabricate, steal, besmirch black Africans' long-standing, well-documented legacy? Why ask why, given the ten centuries-long African slave trade, to the Americas by Europeans, which followed the Arabs' 8th century slave trade, to Asia, which followed the repeated "destruction of black civilization," as recounted so clearly in Dr. Chancellor Williams great transformative history? They lied to justify their inhumane enslavement and transshipment of these descendants of those early Africans who thousands of years previously had brought knowledge, and understanding to all mankind ! None of this can be known without studying, listening, analyzing, the truth, the facts, in so many books ! That is simply because lying is so remunerative that popular media has no incentive to tell the truth! It risks the loss of revenue and of patrons, in so doing, and disdain! The white supremacist edifice is falling down, finally, having been dependent upon ignorance of the bulk of blacks, and silence of the few whites who knew better, for its sustentation as accurate and true! So, now, that "great Babylonian lie" is doomed! That popular, media-driven, scandalous facade of false and reprehensible claims of white-skinned supremacy, that was for so long popularized in the United States of America, from Thomas Jefferson's 1785 book, "Notes on the State of Virginia; Query XIV," onward, and in other countries who profited by brainwashing of blacks' and capitalizing upon their pitiable loss self-knowledge. It is finished! Jesus described those Pharisaical miscreants who bypass the basics, the door, as did these, as "thieves and robbers," who do not come in by the door, but who have climbed over the fence, or by some sneaky serpentine other means subtlely!http://biblehub.com/john/10-1.htm Praise God for understanding at last and for our unfolding freedom!

ONE'S COMPOSITE NATURE

ONE'S COMPOSITE NATURE One's uniqueness derives from one's genes , one's environment, one's celestial coordinates, the spark of the Holy Spirit, and their earthly admixture mathematically , geometrically, musically, physically. Proof of this proposition abides. I share what seems to me to be true.

I AM STILL HERE AND YOU TOO!

I AM STILL HERE AND YOU TOO! Today, I became curious about a friend of mine, and was surprised to learn that he had died in 2008! Out of sight is out of mind. He and two other lawyers and me, had once explored the possibility of forming a law firm together, back in the early 1980s. Eventually, three of us did launch out into the deep on our own, as solo practitioners. One stayed with the federal sector. Now all three of my prospective law partners that were just mentioned, above, are deceased. I'm barely still here by the grace of God, after having had a stroke in 2010, and after having experienced a variety of near-fatal issues before then! Just goes to show that the practice of law is definitely hazardous to our health, both brothers' and sisters', the latter having left here in Kansas City, Missouri, seemingly too soon, as well and way too young! Stress! Being "inactive" but still licensed, I have no idea who is alive or dead in our legal community, as that old life is now gone. I have moved on! The practice of law was a bugbear ! A beast. I am glad that I am  gone, am free to read, write, pontificate at leisure! These thoughts may have recurred to me, after viewing a video on Facebook of President Obama describing the futility of his plaintiffs ' civil rights practice back in Chicago in the employment discrimination field, which was mine as well, disproportionately. None of my former prospective legal partners did civil rights law, very few people do, of any race, given its expense & innate biases! Frankly, it can be any kind of law. It is all intense, favoring the defense, the civil defense. In criminal law, the process reverses itself, and pointedly favors the prosecution. A perceptive person may see a trend. Whatever may have prompted today's search for my long-dead friend, including my recrudescent reflections on my prior profession, I rejoice that I am still here to reflect! And I also rejoice that you are still here to read ! Praise God for life!

DAY

DAY Each day is new money, golden. How shall we spend it? What shall we buy? After 24 hours this day's currency dissipates for good. We cannot save it, nor store this day away, for future consumption. It is "manna," supplied by our Master, by: "Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth." Day must be consumed, must be utilized to negotiate the terms of our stays. Day must be played out adroitly in Earth's bustling market places of commerce, of service, of ideas, or fade away, be taken away! Thus, we are taught to pray, "Lord, Give us this day our daily bread." 'Gift' each day surely is, as is our sense of each day's incomparable value, its irreplaceable worth to our own life! But for this day, there can be, will be, no others . It is our peculiar gateway to what lies ahead or not! Thank you, Lord, for this new day!

NIGER-NEGUS-NIGERIA-NIGGA-AFRICA

She ain't happy with comedian, Larry Wilmore's use of "my nigga," in reference to first black President Barack Obama's tenure. I was not either! Then, I recalled that Niger is a nation in Africa like and near Nigeria; and that Negus is an Ethiopian word for kings; and that Niger is a Latin word for black, which came from the Romans who named Africa, "Africa" for their Mediterranean province. http://www.honeybrownhope.org/

AFRICAN TRIBAL CONTRITION

I awoke this morning reflecting on this post. How wonderful, I thought! How marvelous is this peculiar model of community policing. It shames the hell out a miscreant by reminding him of his goodness, of his mutual connectedness with the others! After awhile, he is restored and the village with him or her. As this model contains elements of contrition , redemption , renewal, remembrance, and communal love for the individual wrongdoer and for his village, its spiritual and communal values are self-evident! This is church, family, police, mental health facility, and commune, combined! What a marvelous practice. Wonder if some form of this will work in certain American neighborhoods in 2016?

WHO THAT?

WHO THAT? Who lies about this, will lie about that, Who pretends to be this , will pretend to be that, Who fabricates this, will fabricate that , Who steals this, will steal that, Who kills this, will kill that, Who covets this , will covet that, Who desecrates this, will desecrate that, Who plagiarizes this, will plagiarize that. Who that? who that? who that? You know! You know! You know!

CIVIL WAR TRUTHS

CIVIL WAR TRUTHS Viewing today a 2010 C-SPAN symposium on the Civil War that was moderated by General Wesley Clark, and whose panel included some leading Civil War authors, including my favorite, Noah Andre Trudeau, the author of LIKE MEN OF WAR: BLACK TROOPS IN THE CIVIL WAR, 1862-1865, I noted that: 1. The program 's focus wholly upon "great generals" failed to account for the single greatest difference in the War, indeed , its cause: black chattel slavery; 2. Their natural right to maintain the enslavement of and the suppression of the blacks was the foundation of the Southern society, economy, philosophy, mythology, military, laws, religion, education, ambition; this was not mentioned and the program failed by reason of this quintessential omission; 3. Given the foregoing omission, the millions of escaping of blacks to Union lines and the enlistment of blacks as Union soldiers, sailors, spies, scouts, cooks, laborers, teamsters, nurses, all enriched the North, while deracinating the South's abilities to fight, or to survive , without their black phalanx of vital, enslaved, creative labor! "You shall KNOW the TRUTH and the truth shall MAKE YOU FREE," requires foreknowledge of truth. http://biblehub.com/john/8-32.htm The C-SPAN program above that I also posted on Facebook, though edifying, is not the truth. Rather, it is but a marginal examination of the actual truth. The truth which was, that of the North's indispensable gain that was realized by its having liberated the blacks, militarily, when coupled with the rebellious South's concomitant and commensurate losses from its failure to do likewise with its millions of enslaved blacks! http://www.c-span.org/video/?295707-1/discussion-civil-war-generals

DR. BARACK H. OBAMA, HOWARD UNIVERSITY

PLAY MISTY (COPELAND) FOR ME!