So there’s been a lot of talk about the United States, terrorism, the causes of terrorism and the U.S. relationship to the rest of the world in respect to U.S. foreign policy.  So some have articulately pointed out that terrorism is only a response to bad U.S. foreign policy.    However, the argument usually stops there and the supporting facts, as usual, are never really presented.  Facts aren’t sexy, soundbites are.  So in the process, the average listener doesn’t know what to think, but can only parrot what he or she has heard. 

In an effort to give information, I am sharing with you a list of a 30 year history of U.S. foreign policy as recorded in the United Nations.  Please note that this history crosses both Democratic and Republican Presidential administrations.  

Before you read the list you should know what the United Nations really is.  In a nutshell, the United Nations is its 5 permanent members that form the Security Council.  They are the only ones that can enforce or kill (veto) any resolution the United Nations General Assembly (all the nations on earth) proposes.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica’s description of The U.N. Security Council:

The Security Council is a division of the United Nations whose primary purpose is to maintain international peace and security.

The Security Council consists of five permanent members, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, and Russia (formerly the Soviet Union)—and ten rotating members elected by the  United Nations General Assembly for two-year terms.   To prevent or halt aggression, it may impose diplomatic or economic sanctions or authorize the use of military force. 

Each of the PERMANENT members holds veto power in decisions on substantive matters, such as the application of sanctions. Decisions on both substantive and procedural matters require nine affirmative votes, including the affirmative vote of ALL five permanent members (though in practice a permanent member may abstain without impairing the validity of a decision).

Now you are in a position to understand a piece of U.S. foreign policy and how it has affected others.  Below is a list of U.N. resolutions the U.S., through its veto power, has killed and therefore stopped from being enforced by the United Nations. 

Please pay attention to the resolutions on human rights, apartheid, nuclear weapons, and basic freedoms that were killed by the U.S. throughout the period of the last 30 years.  The record speaks for itself.

1972-2002 Vetoes from the USA

Year--Resolution Vetoed by the USA

1972 Condemns Israel for killing hundreds of people in Syria and Lebanon in air raids.
1973 Affirms the rights of the Palestinians and calls on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories.
1976 Condemns Israel for attacking Lebanese civilians.
1976 Condemns Israel for building settlements in the occupied territories.
1976 Calls for self determination for the Palestinians.
1976 Affirms the rights of the Palestinians.
1978 Urges the permanent members (USA, USSR, UK, France, China) to insure United Nations decisions on the maintenance of international peace and security.
1978 Criticizes the living conditions of the Palestinians.
1978 Condemns the Israeli human rights record in occupied territories.
1978 Calls for developed countries to increase the quantity and quality of development assistance to underdeveloped countries.
1979 Calls for an end to all military and nuclear collaboration with the apartheid South Africa.
1979 Strengthens the arms embargo against South Africa.
1979 Offers assistance to all the oppressed people of South Africa and their liberation movement.
1979 Concerns negotiations on disarmament and cessation of the nuclear arms race.
1979 Calls for the return of all inhabitants expelled by Israel.
1979 Demands that Israel desist from human rights violations.
1979 Requests a report on the living conditions of Palestinians in occupied Arab countries.
1979 Offers assistance to the Palestinian people.
1979 Discusses sovereignty over national resources in occupied Arab territories.
1979 Calls for protection of developing counties' exports.
1979 Calls for alternative approaches within the United Nations system for improving the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
1979 Opposes support for intervention in the internal or external affairs of states.
1979 For a United Nations Conference on Women.
1979 To include Palestinian women in the United Nations Conference on Women.
1979 Safeguards rights of developing countries in multinational trade negotiations.
1980 Requests Israel to return displaced persons.
1980 Condemns Israeli policy regarding the living conditions of the Palestinian people.
1980 Condemns Israeli human rights practices in occupied territories. 3 resolutions.
1980 Affirms the right of self determination for the Palestinians.
1980 Offers assistance to the oppressed people of South Africa and their national liberation movement.
1980 Attempts to establish a New International Economic Order to promote the growth of underdeveloped countries and international economic co-operation.
1980 Endorses the Program of Action for Second Half of United Nations Decade for Women.
1980 Declaration of non-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states.
1980 Emphasizes that the development of nations and individuals is a human right.
1980 Calls for the cessation of all nuclear test explosions.
1980 Calls for the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
1981 Promotes co-operative movements in developing countries.
1981 Affirms the right of every state to choose its economic and social system in accord with the will of its people, without outside interference in whatever form it takes.
1981 Condemns activities of foreign economic interests in colonial territories.
1981 Calls for the cessation of all test explosions of nuclear weapons.
1981 Calls for action in support of measures to prevent nuclear war, curb the arms race and promote disarmament.
1981 Urges negotiations on prohibition of chemical and biological weapons.
1981 Declares that education, work, health care, proper nourishment, national development, etc are human rights.
1981 Condemns South Africa for attacks on neighboring states, condemns apartheid and attempts to strengthen sanctions. 7 resolutions.
1981 Condemns an attempted coup by South Africa on the Seychelles.
1981 Condemns Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, human rights policies, and the bombing of Iraq. 18 resolutions.
1982 Condemns the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. 6 resolutions (1982 to 1983).
1982 Condemns the shooting of 11 Muslims at a shrine in Jerusalem by an Israeli soldier.
1982 Calls on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights occupied in 1967.
1982 Condemns apartheid and calls for the cessation of economic aid to South Africa. 4 resolutions.
1982 Calls for the setting up of a World Charter for the protection of the ecology.
1982 Sets up a United Nations conference on succession of states in respect to state property, archives and debts.
1982 Nuclear test bans and negotiations and nuclear free outer space. 3 resolutions.
1982 Supports a new world information and communications order.
1982 Prohibition of chemical and bacteriological weapons.
1982 Development of international law.
1982 Protects against products harmful to health and the environment .
1982 Declares that education, work, health care, proper nourishment, national development are human rights.
1982 Protects against products harmful to health and the environment.
1982 Development of the energy resources of developing countries.
1983 Resolutions about apartheid, nuclear arms, economics, and international law. 15 resolutions.
1984 Condemns support of South Africa in its Namibian and other policies.
1984 International action to eliminate apartheid.
1984 Condemns Israel for occupying and attacking southern Lebanon.
1984 Resolutions about apartheid, nuclear arms, economics, and international law. 18 resolutions.
1985 Condemns Israel for occupying and attacking southern Lebanon.
1985 Condemns Israel for using excessive force in the occupied territories.
1985 Resolutions about cooperation, human rights, trade and development. 3 resolutions.
1985 Measures to be taken against Nazi, Fascist and neo-Fascist activities .
1986 Calls on all governments (including the USA) to observe international law.
1986 Imposes economic and military sanctions against South Africa.
1986 Condemns Israel for its actions against Lebanese civilians.
1986 Calls on Israel to respect Muslim holy places.
1986 Condemns Israel for sky-jacking a Libyan airliner.
1986 Resolutions about cooperation, security, human rights, trade, media bias, the environment and development. 8 resolutions.
1987 Calls on Israel to abide by the Geneva Conventions in its treatment of the Palestinians.
1987 Calls on Israel to stop deporting Palestinians.
1987 Condemns Israel for its actions in Lebanon. 2 resolutions.
1987 Calls on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon.
1987 Cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States.
1987 Calls for compliance in the International Court of Justice concerning military and paramilitary activities against Nicaragua and a call to end the trade embargo against Nicaragua. 2 resolutions.
1987 Measures to prevent international terrorism, study the underlying political and economic causes of terrorism, convene a conference to define terrorism and to differentiate it from the struggle of people from national liberation.
1987 Resolutions concerning journalism, international debt and trade. 3 resolutions.
1987 Opposition to the build up of weapons in space.
1987 Opposition to the development of new weapons of mass destruction.
1987 Opposition to nuclear testing. 2 resolutions.
1987 Proposal to set up South Atlantic "Zone of Peace".
1988 Condemns Israeli practices against Palestinians in the occupied territories. 5 resolutions (1988 and 1989).
1989 Condemns USA invasion of Panama.
1989 Condemns USA troops for ransacking the residence of the Nicaraguan ambassador in Panama.
1989 Condemns USA support for the Contra army in Nicaragua.
1989 Condemns illegal USA embargo of Nicaragua.
1989 Opposing the acquisition of territory by force.
1989 Calling for a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict based on earlier UN resoltions.
1990 To send three UN Security Council observers to the occupied territories.
1995 Affirms that land in East Jerusalem annexed by Israel is occupied territory.
1997 Calls on Israel to cease building settlements in East Jerusalem and other occupied territories. 2 resolutions.
1999 Calls on the USA to end its trade embargo on Cuba. 8 resolutions (1992 to 1999).
2001 To send unarmed monitors to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
2001 To set up the International Criminal Court.
2002 To renew the peace keeping mission in Bosnia.


Note: During the eighties, the UN was concerned with Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons. On 3/21/1986, the Security Council President, "speaking on behalf of the Security Council," stated that the Council members were "profoundly concerned by the unanimous conclusion of the specialists that chemical weapons on many occasions have been used by Iraqi forces against Iranian troops...[and] the members of the Council strongly condemn this continued use of chemical weapons in clear violation of the Geneva Protocol of 1925 which prohibits the use in war of chemical weapons" (S/17911 and Add. 1, 21 March 1986).

 
The United States voted AGAINST the issuance of this statement condemning Iraq for the use of chemical weapons against Iran.

The source for the above list was www.informationclearinghouse.info .

October 30, 2003

THE POET AS CRIMINAL: OUR CREED

Not all poets are really Poets. Not all criminals are really Criminals. Both a driver who gets caught speeding and a convicted murderer are criminals. Technically. They are both criminals by the semantics of title, not by the substance or magnitude of their deeds.

By analogy, a real Poet substantively is akin to the worst type of Criminal. What would that be in any society? Through the word, a Poet is a traitor. S/he is a premeditated murderer. More precisely, a selective murderer of “important” people: an assassin. Through the word, the Poet is a grand saboteur. The Poet is a kidnapper who demands an impossible ransom. Through the word, the Poet does not rob small corner stores or bodegas. Instead, the Poet steals millions of dollars from multi-national banking consortiums and conglomerates. Through the word, the Poet only gets a job at a Fortune 500 company so that s/he may be properly positioned to embezzle large sums of “liquid assets.” This is our relationship with so-called sponsors.

The Poet’s crimes have style and flair. The Poet is brazen against all so-called authority. The Poet taunts all officially elected would-be tyrants. The Poet feels deeply that one of the major reasons for living is to annoy and make the lives of tyrannical rulers miserable. The Poet does not bother small people, but rather champions them. And in turn, the small people love and celebrate the Poet, because through the word, s/he represents the natural rebel that dwells within them.

Unlike the petty criminal or petty poet, the Poet is never petty. The Poet does not have jealousies and bad relationships with other practitioners involved in the sacred vocation of the word. This is diametrically different from petty poets who do not get along with each other. When petty poets see each other, they feel as if their personal territory, powers, and influence are being threatened. Not so with the real Poet and the real Criminal. We are absolutely elated to find another skilled comrade and kindred spirit. We feel instead, that our territory has increased and our mutual goals can be reached with more efficiency, flair and style. One can never properly measure the inspiration and purest of joys felt when the Poet discovers a new soul of the arts who understands the need to use the word as subterfuge and subversion against “the powers that be.”

We, Poets are born united in purpose. And for this, we love one another like professional sports All-Stars playing on the same team on all-star day. We recognize that we are the proud, the few, the chosen. Ahh…the beauty and glory of being a Poet.

--Heru

December 1, 2003

I was recently on the cover page of Rootz, Reggae and Kulcha magazine (www.rootzreggae.com) for their special Peter Tosh print edition. Due to space constraints, my interview was severely edited. In response to numerous requests, I have posted the full un-edited interview. Enjoy:

Mikey Culture:

Every very now and then there is an artist that captures the minds and aspirations of the people. Heru not only mesmerizes audiences, but gives a heavy dose of information and inspiration. I first witnessed this talented brother two years ago on a stage in front of thousands of people at Freddie McGregor’s Rock Steady meets Reggae concert at the AT&T Ampitheatre in Miami.

After Morgan Heritage left the stage, the master of ceremonies announced that a spoken word poet was about to take the stage. I didn’t know what to expect or how the crowd would react. Suffice it to say, Heru blew everyone away. I have seen him deliver several times since then, and in my mind, this is one of the greatest spoken word artists I have ever seen.

So for this special Peter Tosh tribute issue, I thought it fitting to interview this remarkable brother who is carrying the Peter Tosh tradition with the re-emergence of spoken word poetry as his weapon. In addition to the following interview, there is more info on Heru at www.heruspeaks.com.

Greetings Heru,

Praises to the most High.

The first question that I'd like to ask you is:

I understand you were born in the motherland?

Yes, I was born in Ghana. My father is from the Akyem ethnic group and my mother is part Ashanti and Akwapim. Twi also known as Akan was my first language.

What (to your recollection) first inspired you to write poetry?

I have been a writing poetry for as long as my most distant remembrance. As a child, I was speaking and reading at a very early age. I am realizing that the affinity for language that a poet must possess was attached to my personality from birth. So writing my thoughts was natural from an early age. Later, I was informed that what I was doing was considered by some to be poetry.

When did you first start out doing Spoken Word Poetry? How many years ago?

Well, through the advent of hip-hop, as a teenager, groups of friends would always pretend to be rappers. We would write something the night before at home and go to school the next day and recite it live and direct in a more hip hop type vibe, with beat-boxing and all of that.

The major event in my life towards my development as a poet was when I began listening to Reggae Music. My father had a record in his collection called Survival. It had all the colorful African Flags on it. So I decided to play it. The first Reggae tune that I heard was Bob Marley’s Ambush in the Night. That’s when I was 16 years old. The lyrics and emotion within the song absolutely floored me. Up until that point, all I heard was Rap music, R & B, and a Chicago developed form called House music. So as a young black boy growing up in Chicago, if you want to listen to music, you turn to the black radio stations. But, they didn’t play reggae-- at all. Then, when I investigated what the reggae musicians were actually defending, I was enraged that “Black” radio did not play really the blackest music around. No-one was consistently defending blackness with no apology like reggae musicians. Do you realize how different the youth of today would be if Peter Tosh was played 24/7 on black radio instead of these idiots that are shoved down our throats? For real. Reggae completely and absolutely transformed my thinking patterns and self-identity. These black thinkers who happened to be great singers and songwriters forced me to examine my history.

So poetry-wise, I wouldn’t consider myself a meaningful poet until I began learning our people’s history and becoming politicized through studying Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, CLR James, Walter Rodney, Kwame Nkrumah, Harriet Tubman, Queen Nzingah of Angola and other giants of Africa’s collective womb.

So after being immersed in self-study, I began writing serious lyrics and then I considered myself a poet.

When I was in law school, I helped form a band called Thinketh Man Rescue and I was the songwriter. I left Boston after I graduated and moved to Miami for its warm climate. I had no band. Only my lyrics. So I would go to open mic sessions and perform my songs as spoken word poetry. Well, soon thereafter great numbers of people were requesting cds and performances. This was circa 1998-1999. Soon thereafter, I retired from practicing law and have never looked back.

I see you mentioned Peter Tosh. As you know, this is a special issue livicated to Peter Tosh. Bredren, can you share your thoughts about him?

Peter Tosh is Black music’s philosopher king. This is without debate or question. Listen. I’m a guy who reads about everybody and don’t really get caught up in advertising hype. So I investigate people for myself, however big or small. So after the African jury comes in on Peter Tosh, we will realize that the man has not fully received his full credit or position in martyrdom.

Peter Tosh was a man of superior intellect. If people don’t realize that, they must read any transcribed interview with him. You quickly realize that his level of thinking rivals some of the greatest minds who are celebrated today. In any field. His conceptual analysis and use of language within his answers of seemingly mundane questions was without peer. People really have to check it out. There are some illustrative interviews with the European guy Roger Steffens, among others, on the internet for everyone to read.

As an artist, his contributions to reggae as a pure musician and a lyricist are extreme. He was a teacher of musical concepts to many of the great names in music. He taught Bob Marley how to play guitar. He was an innovator of Reggae Rhythm guitar. As a lyricist, his pan-African expressions are unparalleled and severely deadly to all enemies of Black people. When downpressors hear something like “you inna mi land, quite illegal…” They must scatter, my friend.

There is a story of how Peter Tosh’s albums were absolutely banned in apartheid South Africa and how the people would risk their lives to just have an opportunity to listen to his words on bootleg tapes. They would risk their lives, bredren. His music in particular was anthemic to the liberation movement over there. Just ask the great Lucky Dube. He’ll tell you.

Sometimes I wonder if Jamaicans of today realize the international quality of serious men and women that have been produced from such a small island. I think many would be surprised about the impact and absolute reverence someone like Peter Tosh has in the worldwide African mind.

The Spoken Word Movement though around for years in America
(originating from the oral traditions of Africa), never seemed to really take root amongst the Young black urbanites of America until the onset of "Love Jones," and especially after Russel Simmons Def-Poetry Jam. Could you speak to this?

Yes, well this is the power of marketing. Movies and TV shows are the most powerful taste-makers of today. There were always open mics, but predominately in white bohemenian type joints. When Love Jones came around, there already was a subculture of black poets, but they weren’t getting any mass exposure, so they typically exercised their art and passion for writing and expression in anonymity and obscurity. After Love Jones, almost everyone became a “poet” overnight. Open mic spots were birthed one after the other at a mercurial pace. What happened was people attached poetry with social interaction, entertainment and so forth. It became glamorous and anyone could have the spotlight based on any level of talent.

The situation on the ground was positive and simultaneously negative. It was positive in that literacy became cool. Having a journal and writing thoughts to be shared became a normal way of life. The other positive is that the average person was given the opportunity to have a voice and conquer any fears of public expression amongst his/her peers. This is very important, particularly for women, as throughout their schooling they are reinforced to not speak up and shy away from public declarations. So the opportunity to speak in front of a crowd of one’s peers does a lot for self-esteem. So I applaud that.

The negative aspect was that people actually emulated the brand of “poetry” that Love Jones displayed, which devolved into pornographic monologues from poetry spot to poetry spot. So through Love Jones, poetry, by the time it got into the hands of the masses of black people went through a literal stripping down and became de-fanged of political and historical analysis. This is what I call the “Americanization” of Black art. This is the process in which an art, in it’s rawest, blackest, most African form, which addresses the visceral concerns of the people, becomes an almost unrecognizable species of art that speaks to the 1)Tastes, 2)Interests and 3)Values of the invader, not the invaded. Check the “Americanization” of Iraq. The first business that popped up was the sale of pornographic video tapes, Hollywood movies and American flags.

Onto Def Poetry on HBO. People need to understand the biography of Russel Simmons. He is a businessman, whose modus operandi is picking up on what is hot quickly, owning it, packaging it according to his sensibilities and selling it. Therefore, when it mushrooms into a huge commodity, like hip-hop, he receives the lion share of revenues, because he was there from the start of its commercial appeal. Then he can in fact control the avenues of production and publicity and therefore the artists. We can see this already. A great majority of the poets who have appeared on the show are now calling themselves Def Poet so and so. It is as if they are owned by Def Poetry Jam, when it is just a 5 minute appearance on a TV show and not even being signed to a record label. They are proud of the Def Poet so and so distinction because they are grateful for the exposure that the TV show has given them. And at the same time, Russell Simmons gets name brand recognition. This puts him in a great position to have the greatest percentage of market share when spoken word poetry “blows up” like it is presently.

Again, for the average person, the best thing that comes from this type of exposure is the promotion of literacy and expression, so I fully support that aspect.

Can you speak on the relationship between Hip Hop and Spoken Word?

Yes, they are both tools created by African diasporic people in an effort to express our collective psychic thoughts. Well, Hip Hop has 5 elements: rapping or emceeing (Jamaicans call this dee-jaying), break dancing, dee-jaying (but Jamaicans would refer to as a selector), graffiti, and beat-boxing. The most prominent is the rapping aspect. I think that’s what you’re referring to.

The difference in Spoken Word Poetry is the artist typically is a cappella. Therefore, for a spoken word artist to be memorable, he or she must have great presence, have a voice that commands collective ears and certain syllabic rhythm and compelling use of language. A lot of rappers could not survive as spoken word artists as most of them are eating because of the beat or musical track that causes people to dance to some of the most bizarre thought patterns and undeveloped lyrics.

The other difference is that since spoken word poetry has not gone through as much “Americanization” as hip-hop, most spoken word poets have material that is much more sane, political, cutting edge and worthy of our ancestors than the average rapper. So in that sense, at this time, pound for pound, spoken word poetry is more raw and dangerous to Babylonian values.

But this is the nature of black art forms in America. We start off with a raw form of cultural honesty, the powers that be catch on, co-opt it, recruit a few well paid poster boys with no African centered principles or backbone and it becomes weak and doesn’t defend anything. This happened to blues, jazz, rock and roll, hip-hop, etc. When it happens to spoken word poetry, in true African tradition, we’ll come up with something else. Maybe we’ll resurrect the talking drums. Yes-I.

There seem to be two broad categories that have arisen in the Spoken word movement, the politically (message) oriented poetry and the Love (romantic) oriented poetry. A rough analogy could perhaps be made with Reggae Music in which you have two broad categories, political (message) oriented Cultural Reggae and misogynous (Love-Lust) oriented Dancehall reggae. Could you speak to this?

This is a great question. Especially for me because I am a devotee of reggae music. Reggae, real reggae, the cultural type, is a perfect music. The time and space within the music, the commitment to African ideals with no apology, the theme of repatriation, black heroes and sheroes, etc. Serious thinkers. I’m happy that you didn’t mean to make a distinction between lover’s rock and political reggae, because lover’s rock is cultural and political. For a black man to profess his love with no apology to a black woman, with the grace of a Beres Hammond, The Mighty Diamonds, Gregory Isaacs, Ijahman Levi, Dennis Brown, etc. is more revolutionary than one can imagine.

The difference between Cultural Reggae (where lover’s rock is included) and the overwhelming amount of Dancehall music is the difference between a man in Africa who has been through an African rites of passage and one who has not. One has a sense of responsibility for his village. The other does not. One is looked at as a man and the other is still regarded as a boy. He may be old enough to be a man but his behavior indicates his lack of maturity. He lacks grace and has no regard for public decency. In fact, the man that stays a boy devolves and begins to engage in animalistic behavior, because has not been properly trained and enlightened. That was the whole point to the famous novel called Lord of the Flies. Some dancehall artists prove my point by even having animalistic names. Compare the names between culture artists and dancehall artists. You have Warrior King, then you have Elephant man. There’s the Wailers and then you have Supercat. You have Luciano, the bringer of Light and you have Tiger. You have Sister Carol AKA Mother Culture and you have Bounty Killa. In fact, Bounty Killa never got banned from the Jamaican government when he was talking pure gun lyrics about murdering random brothers, but when he started reflecting political clarity in his art by challenging the government and its abuses of poor people, his songs were banned. These are no coincidences. And it is the culture artists that are getting a fight from Babylon because of the African enlightenment and stature that we represent. We welcome it. As George W. Bush says, “Bring it on.” Yes-I.

Same way with the world of poetry. The cultural and political poets will never be pushed out front by Babylon and dem friends. So what we must understand as Marcus Garvey discussed, is the science of propaganda, and that all art is propaganda. The question to all artists is which side are you gonna promote? Something that will make your ancestors smile or something that would make them ashamed that you even pushed out from the womb.

For those who haven’t been fortunate enough to see you, which category, if any, does your poetry fall under?

Yes, bredren, well you’ve seen me perform at the AT&T Ampitheater at Freddie McGregor’s Rock Steady meets Reggae and many other shows. You’ve also heard my CDs, so you know my works. But my declaration to those who have not seen me perform is, I am here to make my ancestors smile a big smile. A very big one.

How would you define Poet?

Being a poet is 70 percent listening and 30 percent expression. The poet experiences language different than others. He or she hears words dynamically. Words being used creatively in context is a source of excitement and curiosity. However, the poet is not born to merely play with language for the sake of entertainment, but to use language as a divine tool to communicate complicated truths to humanity. Therefore, there is no-one who can be a bonafide poet who lacks an enduring philosophy of life. This requires extensive historical analysis, contemplation and meditation. This also requires an opinion which may not be popular with the masses. But such opinion is for the long-term benefit of the masses. In other words, to be a poet, is to welcome proven counsel and regularly soak in the wisdom of learned elders.

In Ghana, the Twi or Akan word for poet is Awenfo. This means weaver of important words. Not just a weaver of words. A weaver of important words.

The most concise definition of a poet I can give is-- a poet is the memory of the people. A weaver of important words with no apology. And the only applause we seek is from the spirit world. Yeah man.

Speaking of the spirit world. People have remarked that you look like a possessed man during your performances. What is your feeling on this?

Yes I am possessed. To possess is to own and control. So I am the possession of Africa, I am the possession of all my ancestors who breathe the air of vengeance. Asante sana, bredren.

Heru can be reached at www.heruspeaks.com <http://www.heruspeaks.com>.

December 31, 2003

This is an interview with Rolling Out Magazine. I am posting it before the magazine goes to print. I don’t know what the interview will look like post-editing, so for the sake of history, I have provided the full interview:

You stand out amongst most of the spoken word artists in South Florida. What do you feel differentiates you from the others.

Yeah, well, thanks for the kind words. Wow, this is an interesting question, because it requires me to compare myself to other artists. I think this would be better answered by someone who is a fan and has observed my work juxtaposed to others.

What I can say about myself, without comparing myself to others, is I am just one in a long, long line of artists who seek to use art to shed simple light on complicated truths. I am Black, an African with no apology and this is reflected in my work. I am clear about the sacred nature of poetry and the word within an African historical context. I’m also willing to take the responsibility of doing right by my people, without issuing unconvincing excuses for laziness in the face of ancestral critique.

On the same note, there are many spoken word cd's circulating the scene,when can we expect a Heru project?

Well, I’ve already sold a couple thousand CDs of Volume 1: Mystery School and Volume 2: The Nephew of Nebthet. I’m still selling those (on www.heruspeaks.com <http://www.heruspeaks.com>) and I am working on 3 more CDs Volume 3: Queen Nzinga’s Rightful Revenge ,Volume 4: Wounded People and Volume 5: Ostentatious Cripples. They will be introduced to the mass consciousness early next year. These will be mostly live recordings from live shows of new pieces because I think it’s good for people to hear what goes on during my live shows. Pure Riot. Black people are alive and awake, contrary to popular belief.

You do not regularly attend open mic's yet many are familiar with your work, how is that? Do you travel to do shows in other cities?

Yeah I travel a lot. I usually perform at universities or festivals. But, whatever city I’m booked in, I try to go to an open mic. So really, I perform everywhere. Performance is one of my blood’s passions. I think the familiarity of my work is due to the circulation of my CDs. People actually listen and memorize the words to some of my work, so it’s wild when I’m performing, in and out of Miami, and I see people voicing my pieces along with me when I’m on stage.

I also have knowledge that my CDs are widely bootlegged. This is great to me, as that just spreads the word. I make most of my money from performance fees, not CD sales, so if someone is industrious enough to bootleg my CDs, that just increases demand for my performances. So it all works out lovely. So to the bootleggers, I send you much love and warm greetings. Keep on keeping on.

In addition to the bootlegging, I get radio play on big commercial stations like Hot 105 in Miami, particularly Demas’ Funk Jazz Lounge. So that plays a huge part in my work seeping into the minds of people.

Besides Demas' show on Hot 105, are there any other stations showing you love?

Yes. You see, I’ve been very fortunate to have my cds played all over from Jamaica, to St. Kitts, New York, Atlanta, Florida, London, France, Ghana and Tanzania. On my website www.heruspeaks.com <http://www.heruspeaks.com>, I have a listing of some of the stations that play my CDs. Actually, because of my website, I even get love from Japan. All independent artists must have a website.

I am familiar with some of your community involvement, but please tell Rolling Out readers some of the things that you are involved with in the community?

Well, I used to practice law in Florida, and routinely provided free to low cost legal services to community folks. But I have since retired from being an attorney as it was getting in the way of my art.

I have taught poetry and literature to middle school and high school black youth in Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

I also started a weekly poetry joint called, Spoken Word with No Apology, in Liberty City at The African Heritage Cultural Arts Center. We were very proud of bringing that vibe to our people.
It was awarded the best place in Miami to hear spoken word poetry by the Miami New Times.

Because, I am basically a well-paid artist, one of the ways I give back is by doing free shows for meaningful causes.

Whenever I’m in town, I record talented poets and singers who have African liberation as their theme for free on my digital studio. This way, talented artists who lack the funds can come to me and leave with a CD, mixed and mastered for free. In this way, I fight against the system of poverty that keeps genius silent due to lack of funds.

However, the most ambitious project I have on deck is opening and maintaining a pan-africanist community owned cooperative grocery store. If we don’t feed ourselves, there’s nothing else to talk about. I have secured the building for the store on 62nd street in Liberty City and have my office right next door. I just have to be in town long enough to implement stage 2 of the plan, which is collecting 250 dollars from 200 serious folks so we can be capitalized at $50,000 and start small operations. Anyone who wants to reach me on this can contact me through my website www.heruspeaks.com.

This sounds cliche, but what inspires your writing?

The thing that inspires my writing is the fact that there is a grave need for it. Those of us concerned with the upliftment of our people have to investigate and experiment with creative ways to give information to our people. Poetry is a powerful tool for that.

Besides writing and performing are there other artistic sides to Heru?

Yes, I used to be a great painter as a child. I lost that talent and am interested in its resurrection.

I play rhythm guitar. I have invented the double down reggae skank technique. Last year, I was unanimously ordained the high priest of skankology. (Laughter)

I am also working on a film in New York, with a genius film maker named Dennis Leroy Moore, the maker of the highly acclaimed film As An Act of Protest.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

I see myself in Africa with a Black Beauty Queen.

What advice do you have for those who are coming up in the spoken word scene?

There are a few words of advice I can give to up-and-coming spoken word poets.

1) Study. What I mean is study language, politics, history, emotion and rhythm. These are the qualities that separate great poets whose name and works survive their immediate generation from good poets who are the flavor of the month.

2) Listen. Seventy percent of being a poet is listening. The difference between poets and others is not how we use words but how we hear words.

3) Have your own website. This small detail is invaluable for the independent artist on many levels.

4) Travel outside of your town. However, before you travel, make sure that you have achieved a great stature in your own town as a memorable poet. If not, you will have a rude awakening as across the country there are so many different styles, talents and modes of presentation. So if you’re not tight-work with your art, you will lose a lot of money and self-esteem.

5) When you feel, through the unsolicited words of others, that your grasp of your art is world class level, I would advise the artist to find a way to live in New York. Local New York talent becomes national and international talent. New York has the infrastructure in place to propel a local talent to world wide status. Personally, I live in both New York and Miami. The move to New York has benefited me greatly as I was booking gigs in London within my first 3 weeks of moving here.

6) Last but not least, to all artists: Attempt to be on the heroic side of things. The art will reward you in ways not readily identified. There is no feeling better than receiving the collective love, admiration and respect of your people who have been through so much pain and wickedness. This love is the truest love.

January 15, 2004

I have received exactly 218 e-mail requests to post the lyrics to my poem about the Bush Administration. Actually, I can't really perform publicly without someone who has heard it before requesting that I perform this poem. It seems that Bush is not as popular as the fabricated media polls would have us believe. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy:

HUSH, HUSH, HUSH, HUSH…
By
HERU

He said:
I've come to liberate you, for real
But, DO NOT BURN YOUR OIL FIELDS

Hour after hour on the hour every hour
You are now witnessing those
who shall propose
future nuclear showers
And George Orwell Bush says:
Slavery is Freedom
War is Peace
Ignorance is Power

Hush, Hush, Hush, Hush….

Unanointed, disjointed, self-appointed so-called leaders of the so-called free world
have hearts that bleed not blood but oil,
They've got other countries around the world saying "Thank God we ain't got no oil"
Even though we're used to being attacked for what lays beneath and above our soil:
Africa. Asadica equals America,
America equals Asadica, because A-merry-ca sure ain't merry,
Pumping and humping other nations for what they got,
Like Billy Bob did Halle Berry
Scary, quite contrary
Mystery Babylon the Great, Mother of all harlots, Queen of all whores,
Lift up that skirt and pop that cherry,
And watch her drip not blood, but oil
To the victor always goes the spoils,
and secret sugar daddy cartels control the price.
And to prove my point,
there's even an Exxon oil tanker named the Condoleezza Rice.

Hush, Hush, Hush, Hush…

As I rewind in my mind through the process of time,
I see a sixteen year old black girl named Condoleezza sitting on a park bench and crying.
She said that young black boys would pay her no mind,
they would all go on dates and leave her behind.
She said in due time-- she would make the world miserable for everyone,
through the devices of her own design
and a burning bush shall be the sign.

Hush, Hush, Hush, Hush…

He's quiet, slick and crazy, quite slick and zany.
He's the real MVP, More Valuable than the President,
He's the VP, the zany, Dick Cheney,
claims he
hates homosexuals, but has a lesbian daughter, yes a daughter who only likes ladies
who maybe
wants to adopt a baby
named Jamie
with her off and on girlfriend named Amy.

Hush, Hush, Hush, Hush…

Hour after hour on the hour every hour
You are now witnessing those
who shall propose
future nuclear showers
And George Orwell Bush says:
Slavery is Freedom
War is Peace
Ignorance is Power

George Orwell Bush hates affirmative action,
but how did he get into Yale?
Was it not by inheritance?
Was it by his own merits?
And if you think he has a scintilla of intelligence,
then I've got land on the moon for sale.
He believes that Iraq and Al-Queda have something in common because both words contain the letter Q.
He's like a child who was forced to wear penny loafers because he never learned how to tie his own shoe.
Remember, he almost choked to death on a pretzel because he forgot to chew.
If a wall is red, he will tell you the wall is blue.
Hell no, I will not do what you want me to do.
Speaking like a cowboy, telling folks they've got two sun downs to leave town,
I saw him on September 11th trying to read to school children,
but the book was upside down.
Mayne, you're trying to bring democracy to Iraq,
but you didn't even win your own presidential campaign?!
Mayne, you can't even win an international popularity contest with Sadaam Hussein?!
Mayne, he doesn't even pretend to act like Bill Clinton and feign to feel your pain?!
Mayne, because of him, the whole world thinks everyone in America is insane?!
Mayne, see what happens when you've got a president who thinks he's John Wayne?!
Mayne, I hate to crash your parade but here comes the rain,
I hate to trash your charade but let me make it plain:
George Trouble-U Bush is a raatid bad joke,
He stays rich while every one else is a raatid tad broke.
And the U.S. media is a raatid bad joke,
it's a circus with mirrors and raatid mad smoke,
Yes, George Trouble-U Bush is a raatid bad joke,
He asked Brazilian leaders, "Brazil has raatid black folks?"
Yes, the U.S. public is a raatid bad joke,
It's a race against time, and we're swimming the raatid backstroke.
Hush, Hush, Hush, Hush….

Unanointed, disjointed, self-appointed…
He's a retired four-star general who will sell you out quicker than Pat Sajack will sell you vowels.
So, while we're trying to free Mumia,
we might as well, free Colin Powell,
Throw in the towel.
Colin, you need to start listening to your ancestors instead of listening to Georgie-Porgie.
Those documents you turned in to the United Nations on Iraq, happened to be a forgery.
Y'all are handling international situations horribly.
And Sadaam Hussein would have probably given y'all some free oil if you would have just asked cordially.
And we turn on the tv and see
Dan Rather, Tow Brokaw, and Peter Jennings lying-simultaneously.
They are teleprompter parrots who cannot speak-extemporaneously.
And even if they tried they would be fired-instantaneously.
By thieving C.E.O.'s who laugh all the way to the bank-blamelessly.
Because they are manufacturing your consent-shamelessly.
While rappers are Andy and Amos-ly rhyming about black on black crime-ing-famously,
And American minds are Gone with the Wind-aimlessly.
Because everyone has fallen for the American dream and illusion,
that you can live and die--painlessly.
Hush, Hush, Hush, Hush….

He said:
I've come to liberate you, for real
But, DO NOT BURN YOUR OIL FIELDS
Hush, hush, hush, hush…

© Heru for No Apology, Inc., 2003. All Rights Reserved.

MARCH 27, 2004

This is a summary of the cooperative grocery store that I have been working on. I have secured the building for the store and am in the process of developing a detailed business plan, negotiating with suppliers and procuring free materials (shelves, counters, cash registers and advice) from "mainstream" health food stores like Wild Oats and Whole Foods.

I would like to give special thanks to the numerous folks in the black family community who have helped and will soon help to make this vision a reality.

I can be reached at nilevalleyshop@yahoo.com for any inquiries about this very important project.

INSTITUTION BUILDING-Phase 1

NILE VALLEY GROCERY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

What is proposed is a much needed Pan-African community cooperative grocery store. The following business model ensures that each shareholder will have a vested interest in engaging in the process of trade, both as consumers and suppliers.

The initial goal is to have 200 conscious members of our community each commit 250 dollars. This would give us 50 thousand dollars in start-up capital to make renovations, to stock and equip the store to be ready to take customers. In addition, we will have a ready-made built-in market of 200 regular consumers/shareholders.

This will be South Florida's first 100% Conscious African community co-operatively and collectively owned grocery store. This shall be one of many projects to come that will create community health and wealth.

LOCATION

The Building for Nile Valley Grocery store will be located on 829 NW 62nd Street, in Miami, FL. This is a prime location as it is 3 blocks from I-95 62nd Street Exit. In addition, the store will be located in the middle of Miami's historically black section named Liberty City.

UNIQUE COOPERATIVE MODEL

There will be a built in customer base, as 200 people would be members/shareholders/owners who will have a vested interest in shopping for their groceries at a store that they jointly own, instead of Publix, Winn-Dixie, Whole Foods, Wild Oats, etc.

The 200 members will sign commitment letters, stating that they will purchase groceries from their own store. Therefore if alternate sources of funding are needed, a built in committed customer base shall pre-exist to provide evidence to substantiate the feasibility of this venture.

Preliminary research has shown that the average proposed member spends $500 per month on groceries. If 200 people spend an average of $500 per month at Publix or Winn-Dixie, there is an amount of $100,000 per month spent on groceries amongst the group. This means the collective shall spend $100,000(12 months)= $1.2 million dollars at the grocery in one year alone. This calculated revenue does not include the revenue generated from non-members (at-large public) who will also buy goods.

Members/Shareholders/Owners:

For the purpose of clarity, members, shareholders and owners are the same.

1. Shareholders/members will pay a fee of $250.00 per/share. Limit 10 shares per person. Each share represents one vote. The shares are privately offered and not open to the general public. Acceptance of shares will be authorized by the board of directors.

2. Shareholders/members will be issued a stock ownership certificate indicating the value of the stock and the amount of votes said stock represents.

3. Owner/members will sign a letter stating that s/he will be a regular customer at a reasonable spending average reflecting the amount spent at other "mainstream" grocery stores.

Member Benefits:

1. Order online. We will set up a billing system, where members can order online. We will deliver groceries to weekly drop off points in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, North Miami and South Miami. Consequently, members do not need to come to the grocery store continually. Members can have a set shopping list packed for them weekly and pick up bags at the designated drop off point or the grocery store.

2. Microloans: Needed cash loans for members to be suppliers. Example: Nile Valley Grocery coop is buying $1,000 worth of water wholesale per month. Member A, who owns stock, wants to start a water purification business. The cooperative will give a micro-loan to member to purchase bottling machine and purifying equipment. We will buy wholesale from the member/vendor and stop buying from the previous 'mainstream' vendor (Zephyrhills, Poland Springs, etc). The water product will be sold directly to the other 200 or so member/owners and other public at-large. This is vertical economics. Member/vendor will be able to pay off micro-loan quickly with this form of cooperative economics.

Member/vendor can also have the background of being a supplier for Nile Valley Grocery, which s/he co-owns for the purposes of expansion of their particular product.
If other sources of funding are needed by member/vendor, the cooperative will enter into a formal contract with member/vendor. This way, member/vendor can be aided in securing a more traditional business loan or grant by providing evidence that a pre-existing market for his/her goods in the business plan already exists.

3. Members have the benefit of voting for all major decisions of the direction of the store, such as salaries, suppliers, expansion, profit dividend disbursal, future projects, etc.

Suppliers

Our purpose is to participate in the only form of true economic uplift for a people: Vertical Economics. Therefore our goal is to have all suppliers of African descent. This includes farmers, soap makers, toothpaste makers, water purifiers, etc.

Kitchen

The building for Nile Valley Groceries contains a kitchen. The kitchen will be called Yabba Pot. Yabba Pot Kitchen will sell prepared food from the grocery store's products on a daily basis. In addition, we will teach monthly healthy cooking classes.

Again, I can be reached at nilevalleyshop@yahoo.com for any inquiries.

--Heru

MAY 20, 2004

For the month of June, I'm on the cover of Urban America Magazine. I'm posting the full unedited interview as there are some important points made that should not be missed. Enjoy.

How did you get started in performing spoken word?

When I was in law school in Boston, Ma., I formed a band where I was the rhythm guitarist vocalist and songwriter. I soon discovered a mystic that I could summon during my performances. From that time forward, I've never felt a more powerful sensation or feeling.

After I graduated, I moved to Miami and my band members were left behind. There was a popular open mic called Body Mind and Soul, where I would perform my songs as spoken word poetry. The mystic surfaced again, and my creativity reached new levels. Soon people began taping me live and passing out tapes and requesting CDs. So, I became a professional artist inadvertently. After I began making consistent money as an artist, I retired from practicing law. And after a few years, close to a hundred live shows, a website, thousands of CDs sold, I'm on my third CD, Volume 3: African Mathematics.

What artists inspire you and why?

I draw my strength from artists that have a sense of mission in relationship to elevating the condition of their people. Any artist that is adding clarity to our desire for a better day, has my ear and attention.

Since I travel extensively, I have a unique opportunity to see and hear literally hundreds of artists worldwide. Within spoken word, the greatest living artists are Khafra, Maha Adachi, Tyme, sister Von from Chicago, Faona, Joshua Sa-Ra and the Sol Griots. And believe me, I've seen all the famous spoken word poets and have performed with many of them, but the artists who I've just named have a depth, consistency, energy and magic that is unparalleled. The problem is the aforementioned artists don't have expensive publicists funded by certain corporate powers so if you don't catch them live, you'll never hear of them through the traditional ways of being exposed to an artist: TV or Movie appearances. But through my travels, it has become clear that they are the strongest spoken word artists our people have to offer. They are truly a gift to the world.

Musically my strength comes from Roots Reggae Music as it is single-handedly the most dedicated music to black upliftment and consistent lyrics of resistance. So, I am fortified when I listen to Melame Gange and Mode Afrika, Black Uhuru, Midnite from St. Croix (presently the greatest reggae band in the world), Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Luciano, Ijahman Levi, The Abyssinians, Sizzla, Dezarie, The Mighty Diamonds, Dennis Brown, Hugh Mundell, Gregory Isaacs, Nasio Fontaine, Steel Pulse, Sister Carol, Yami Bolo, Alpha Blondy, Lucky Dube, Anthony B, Bob Marley, Israel Vibration, the Gladiators and many more.

Within Black American music I draw strength primarily from Curtis Mayfield, X-Clan, Nina Simone, The Last Poets, Rastafunk, Poor Righteous Teachers, Chuck D from Public Enemy, some topical KRS-One and Punch from Miami. I also appreciated Lauryn Hill's unplugged for her stepping to the plate and her rare bravery for a black American artist while all spotlights were on her.

I know you've performed all over the US and abroad. Name some of your favorite spots you have performed at?

My favorite performance experience was being the headliner at St. Kitts and Nevis African Liberation Day. Going to a different country full of strong conscious black people with extremely beautiful black women was a highlight in my life. I spent considerable time with Rastafari elders who were respected leaders in their community. We reasoned on history, politics and solutions within an African perspective for many days without interruption.

A valuable experience in St. Kitts was attending an all night Nyabinghi session where bredren and sistren from all over the island sang, drummed and chanted words of power against white supremacy and the European value system commonly referred to as Babylon. We trampled the Beast through ritual for unending hours on a beautiful summer night with Caribbean ocean winds whispering our prophesized victory as the backdrop.

Within the U.S. my favorite spots to perform have been Creative Minds House of Culture in Chicago, Speakeasy in West Palm Beach, Body Mind and Soul and the Funk Jazz Lounge in Miami, Café Mawanaj in D.C., Rush Arts Gallery in New York, City College of New York, and the Bayfront Ampitheater performing for 20,000 people at Freddy McGregor's Reggae meets Rocksteady Concert in Miami.

What do you hope people obtain from your work?

My hope is when people see me live or hear my CDs that they gain or are solidified with a sense of historical continuity and a sense of believing in themselves.

I also hope that people realize that the spirit magic that I tap into through my art is also available to them if only they will open themselves to freeing-up.

What frustrates you about touring and the spoken word scene?

Well, I don't really classify myself or my identity as a spoken word artist, per se, but my identity is a Pan-Africanist who happens to have a peculiar gift for poetry and performance. So, being a Pan-Africanist and going to poetry venues and seeing other black people recite poetry that ultimately makes a fool out of us, is the most frustrating aspect and is a supreme test in my personal patience.

Remember, I'm a man with a certain ideology. I produce art and listen to art with pan-africanist thought and analysis. In other words, I'm not from the school of art for art-sake. Actually, people with that position, prove their eternal naivete the second after that statement leaves their lips. I'm from the school of art as a tool to either enslave or free up the people. This is something beyond debate, because the powers-that-be certainly know the power of art and music. They don't believe in art for art's sake. They believe and know that all art, particularly art that is allowed to be popular and commercially viable is propaganda in one way or another. That's why popular music in America, and black music specifically is dumbed down. It has a purpose. Look at Hip-Hop and its equally retarded twin, R&B. It's dumbed down for a reason. And the reason is to keep us asleep, distracted and unaware.

After you have been assimilated through the process of dumbing down, then and only then will you have "freedom of speech" as an artist. That's when MTV and BET will come knocking at your door and hold a microphone to your mouth. Remember, the tears of a clown is simultaneously tragedy and comedy. Tragedy because of the tears and comedy because after-all, it's only a clown. Herein is the answer to the riddle of: What has happened to black people in America? We have become the metaphor for the tears of a clown.

It wasn't always like this, but when the powers that be saw that hip hop in the early 90's was actually causing black people en masse to explore the life and thoughts of Malcolm X, they had to stop that immediately. And how do you hypnotize black people? Well they went back to their old bag of tricks. They know that for some reason, you traditionally hypnotize black people with shiny things: jewelry or any metal that shines, be it a gun or today a new car. This is what hypnotized Shaka Zulu and kept him from destroying white settlers in South Africa, they realized that he loved mirrors. So as the whites brought him shiny glass mirrors as gifts of peace, they distracted him and simultaneously plotted war to take the land for themselves. Shaka Zulu soon died, and thereafter came the Great Zulu wars, black defeat, and then apartheid. The hypnotism of shiny things is also what got us into middle passage holocaust and slavery.

And this hypnotism of shiny things referred to today as "bling-bling" is what got us away from Malcom X the Pan-African Liberator as the patron saint of hip-hop and now we've regressed to Malcolm Little aka Detroit Red, the Pimp, Hustler and historical retard as the patron saint of today's hip-hop. This… Is… Sad…

So as a Pan-Africanist artist being in those types of "poetry" environments where other black "artists" are totally disconnected from the understanding of black historical trends is simultaneously annoying and heartbreaking.

What motivates you to continue to be a Spoken Word Artist?

My motivation is my sense of mission and my relationship with the international black community. I get all types of e-mails and messages about how my work has affected a life. Just read the message board on my website www.heruspeaks.com and you'll see what I'm saying. When after a performance, a 78 year old black woman who is a great grandmother has thanked you and cried in your arms, and a 10 year old child comes to you and wants an autograph and a CD but says she doesn't have money to buy it, and when you go to a different country to perform and people already know the words to your poems and are requesting their favorite Heru poem, you realize that the work you are doing is much greater than yourself, but tied in to a much, much greater purpose whose vibrations go way back in time and reach a far and wide distance beyond possibilities one has pondered. Actually this question has caused me to reflect and get a little bit emotional. I must say that I have really lived an interesting and cherished life. Being able to touch lives in meaningful ways is probably the best thing that life has to offer.

The other motivation is my innate need to share. People are hungry for the information I put in my poetry and I cannot keep food away from a starving person.

One last thing I'd like to say is congratulations to you, Tony Muhammad and your staff for having a newspaper with vision. I wish you continued strength and clarity in your mission.

July 9, 2004

A few people have requested that I post the lyrics to the song on my CD, Volume 3: African Mathematics, track 13: Knife Fight Fork Fe Dumpling. This was a live band rehearsal so the recording is open air. Hence the sound is very warm and raw. Here are the lyrics:

Knife fight fork fe dumpling
Divide and conquer something

Knife fight fork fe dumpling
Divide and conquer something, yeah
Knife fight fork fe dumpling
It's like we never learn nothing, yeah

No one wants to hear me sing
No one wants to see me do my thing
No one wants see me succeed
No one wants to see me perform good deeds,
No one wants to see me rise,
No one wants to see a rebel without disguise…
No one wants it, No one wants it.

Tonight's the night, I take my stand,
So put on your game face-alright.
Tonight's the night, I take my stand,
So put on your game face-alright.
No one's gonna stop this little boy from Ghana,
He was meant to be an heartical performer
Singing all the time, dancing all the time
No one's gonna stop me, now.

Africa Please Unite…

No one wants to hear me talk,
No one wants to see me walk my walk,
No one wants to hear me win
No one wants to see my face display a grin
No one wants to see me…
No one wants to see me rise
And no one wants to see me smile,
'Cause no one wants triumphant African child.
No one wants it, No one wants it.

So knife fights fork fe dumpling
Divide and conquer something, yeah
Knife fight fork fe dumpling
It's like we never learn nothing, yeah

OCTOBER 22, 2004

This is an article I wrote for the UNIA International Newspaper, Garvey Speaks. It will be in the November 2004 Edition.

ON THE ANCESTRALLY CONNECTED ARTIST

There is no mistake that African people, when left to our own devices, will always gravitate towards ancestral veneration. In fact, anyone who travels anywhere in the world, if there is the presence of an intact African, will witness a connection between that individual or group with their ancestors. This is who we are-- when we are at our best.

In the quintessential African reality, the artist who is connected with the ancestors will always exist. Always. One will notice that the art emanating from this personality type is never trivial, but consistently directed towards the purpose of collective awareness, self/group realization, memory, and agency. This is because the ancestors never care about us exclusively on an individual level. Rather, they are focused on our collective well-being. I refer to the Ancestrally Connected Artist (hereinafter referred to as the “ ACA.”) as a personality type, because this person can be scientifically identified through behavioral traits and marked patterns of thought.

For instance, there are ten main unifying and identifying characteristics of an ACA. In other words, these themes are a running thread through any serious person who uses their art as an ancestral medium. Please read carefully:

(1) MUNDACITY: The mundane aspects of daily living, are not only boring to this personality type, but are in fact anathema. When the ACA is placed into the world of mundacity and triviality, s/he feels as if they are thrust into a hopeless situation and has physiological reactions to such an environment analogous to an acute allergic reaction. Consequently, the ACA has developed ways to zone out when in such environments and fixate their meditation on places where creativity and solace are found.

(2) TRANCE: The ACA experiences sensations of immortality and invincibility during the process of artistic production and expression. S/he understands that their art is the product of dynamic and sensational ritual. Such ritual in turn fortifies the ACA’s senses and attachment to self, community and spirit. Consequently, the ACA understands the imperative and necessity of trance. Trance is the ACA’s best friend.

(3) DOWN TIME: The ACA spends his/her down time anticipating the next moment of information/inspiration from the spirit world. This time is spent soaking in the language of wisdom, revolutionarily edifying music, quiet observation, and cultivating meaningful and memorable human relationships. Therefore, even down time is productive time.

(4) EARTHLY COMPENSATION: Money for art is not the main concern of the ACA. Rather, the production of art that is eternally fresh is the central point of interest. In fact, the ACA knows that there is no form of compensation that man has invented that will be an equal exchange for what the ACA produces.

(5) A CONDUIT: The ACA understands that s/he is a conduit, and that this vocation and the journey to be a more potent conduit is what the ACA refers to as the effortless struggle: The quest to be a more complete vessel. This is the grand and incessant mission to accurately reflect what s/he has heard, seen, or felt in the spirit world, so that the Universal African People will receive the clearest communication of what the Ancestors are imparting.

(6) GLORY: The ACA understands the difference between fame and glory. The ACA chooses glory over fame, because fame is fleeting and glory is eternal. The ACA is aware of the ancient African belief that one's immortality is secured every time his/her name is uttered. Therefore, fame is inadequate as it rarely survives past one or two generations-maximum. The ACA understands that there is no famous artist who has failed to elevate the people whose name will live longer than Marcus Garvey, Queen Nzingah, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh or Imhotep.

(7) DEATH: The ACA is eager to join the ancestors so that s/he may one day be an ancestor who imparts messages of wisdom to not yet born ACAs. Therefore, there is no fear in earthly consequences for truth telling. The traditional threat of death issued by the powers-that-be only confirms to the ACA that their detractors and enemies do not know the true meaning of life and its eternal bride: death. The ACA does not see death as a threat, but a promise issued by the Creator, which supercedes the whimsical musings of mortal men.

(8) THE COSMIC LOVER: The ACA is a lover of cosmic proportions. S/he sees making love to the opposite gender as high art and gains strength from the intimate union of his/her universal counterpart. Each soul sonic session of intimacy adds clarity to his/her understanding of the nature of things. Therefore, the Kemetic symbol of the Aunkh is not seen as a static ancient symbolic relic of the past representing eternal life. Rather, the Aunkh is experienced empirically as a fluid ancestral command translating into eternal life. It is implicitly understood that this divine polarity is the electric current that controls the flow of universal waters and movement of heavenly bodies.

(9) ROLE MODEL: The ACA is more than happy to accept the so-called burden of being a role model in his/her community. In fact, the ACA hopes that many more in the community may learn the methods and rituals necessary to gain ancestral acuity. In this vein, the ACA is not a hoarder of experiences or information, but rather, a very giving soul who is willing to share with no demands of reward.

(10) DETERMINATION and BEAUTY: As the ACA understands that s/he is subject to ancestral critique, s/he never accepts laziness or shallow excuses for misleading the Universal African People. S/he understands that there are external and suicidal internal forces that seek to block the messages of our Ancestors. In response, the ACA produces art on an overwhelming level of vehemence and determination that is not easily ignored when heard, seen or felt. Through this commitment, the ACA redefines the meaning of beauty.

Although the above list identifies the sum of traits that exist simultaneously as a common and unifying thread for all Ancestrally Connected Artists, this analysis does not stop here. Indeed, the above points can also be seen as the ingredients necessary to make, create, or become an Ancestrally Connected Artist. Therefore, a mediocre artist (read: typically mainstream artist), who decides to abandon the ultimately unfulfilling rituals connected with chasing “dead presidents,” and embraces all ten points of care, will be automatically transformed into an Ancestrally Connected Artist. The ancestors are patiently waiting. In the meantime, the Ancestrally Connected Artists are diligently working--regardless of numbers.

Written By Heru (H. Emmanuel Ofori-Atta).

DECEMBER 26, 2004

The Hapi Valley Grocery Business Plan

Cover Letter

This business plan is based on the full participation and spending of 300 member/owners/shareholders. It includes an executive summary, a start up cost page, a profit loss/cash flow page, break even analysis and initial suppliers list. This plan is purposely brief and to the point.

The strength of this unique cooperative model is that it illustrates what 300 serious minded people can do for the development of practical African centered liberation.

Of course, the store will be open to all customers, however, I have intentionally excluded any and all outside customer support in my computational analysis. Any extra customer support on top of the 300 members support necessarily creates more favorable numbers and greater profit for the collective members/shareholders. This is welcome. However, we are not basing our success on possible and uncommitted support. All numbers are based on the commitment of the shareholders/members who have a direct and vested interest in the success of this long overdue project.

A board of central planners will be needed to organize the steps necessary to make this plan come to life. Also, I propose that a capital campaign begin immediately after the central planners are identified. There should be a 6 month deadline imposed to raise the necessary 300 dollars each- from 300 members, thereafter. If the full start up money is not raised by this time, all funds must be returned to the original investors.

I have not taken the liberty to open the corporation for the store, nor have I opened a bank account for the store, as this project must be executed in totality by the collective and cannot be centralized with one person.

History requires that this project be accomplished triumphantly. The ancestors are waiting for our reasoned efforts.

Sincerely,

Heru Ofori-Atta

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Business Plan Page 2

INSTITUTION BUILDING-Phase 1

HAPI VALLEY GROCERY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (Revised from March 27, 2004)

What is proposed is a much needed Pan-African community cooperative grocery store. The grocery store will carry diverse items from natural foods and juices, health and beauty items, kitchen and bathroom supplies, soaps, fruits, vegetables, breads, and more.

The following business model ensures that each shareholder will have a vested interest in engaging in the process of trade, both as consumers and suppliers.

The initial goal is to have 300 serious members of our community each commit 300 dollars. This would provide $90,000 (ninety thousand dollars) in start-up capital to make renovations, to stock and equip the store, etc. to be ready to take customers. The strength of this model provides a ready-made, built-in market of 300 regular consumers/shareholders.

This will be South Florida’s first 100% Conscious African community co-operatively and collectively owned grocery store. This shall be one of many projects to come that will create community health and wealth. In fact, based on the profit numbers, this grocery store will be the economic springboard for many other viable projects.

LOCATION and HOURS

The building for Hapi Valley Grocery store should be located in an area equidistant to Miami and the Fort Lauderdale Area. The most appropriate area would be the Hollywood/Hallendale area.

Hapi Valley will be open seven days a week for 12 hours a day.

UNIQUE COOPERATIVE MODEL

There will be a built in customer base, as 300 people would be members/shareholders/owners who will have a vested interest in shopping for their groceries at a store that they jointly own, instead of Publix, Winn-Dixie, Whole Foods, Wild Oats, etc.

The 300 members will sign commitment letters, stating that they will purchase groceries from their own store. Therefore, if alternate sources of funding are needed, a built in committed customer base shall pre-exist to provide evidence to substantiate the feasibility of this venture.

Preliminary research has shown that the average proposed member spends $400 per month on groceries. If 300 people spend an average of $400 per month at Publix or Winn-Dixie, there is an amount of $120,000 per month spent on groceries amongst the group. This means the collective shall spend $120,000(12 months) = $1.44 million dollars at the grocery in one year alone. This calculated revenue does not include the revenue generated from non-members (at-large public) who will also buy goods.

Members/Shareholders/Owners:

For the purpose of clarity, members, shareholders and owners are the same.

1. Shareholders/members will pay a fee of $300.00 per/share. Limit 10 shares per person. Each share represents one vote. The shares are privately offered and not open to the general public. Acceptance of purchased shares will be authorized by the board of directors.

2. Shareholders/members will be issued a stock ownership certificate indicating the value of the stock and the amount of votes said stock represents.

3. Owner/members will sign a letter stating that s/he will be a regular customer at a reasonable spending average reflecting the amount spent at other “mainstream” grocery stores.

Member Benefits:

1. Voting: Members have the benefit of voting for all major decisions of the direction of the store, such as salaries, suppliers, expansion, profit dividend disbursal, future projects, etc.

2. Micro-loans: Needed cash loans for members to be suppliers. Example: Hapi Valley Grocery coop is buying $1,000 worth of water wholesale per month. Member A, who owns stock, wants to start a water purification/bottling business. The cooperative will give a micro-loan to member to purchase bottling machine and purifying equipment. We will buy wholesale from the member/vendor and stop buying from the previous ‘mainstream’ vendor ( Zephyrhills, Poland Springs, etc). The water product will be sold directly to the other 300 or so member/owners and other public at-large. This is vertical economics. Member/vendor will be able to pay off micro-loan quickly with this form of cooperative economics.

Member/vendor can also have the background of being a supplier for Hapi Valley Grocery, which s/he co-owns for the purposes of expansion of their particular product.

If other sources of funding are needed by member/vendor, the cooperative will enter into a formal contract with member/vendor. This way, member/vendor can be aided in securing a more traditional business loan or grant by providing evidence that a pre-existing market for his/her goods in the business plan already exists.

3. Order online: We will set up a billing system, where members can order online. We will deliver groceries to weekly drop off points in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, North Miami and South Miami. Consequently, members do not need to come to the grocery store continually. Members can have a set shopping list packed for them weekly and pick up bags at the designated drop off point or the grocery store.

Suppliers

Our purpose is to participate in the only form of true economic uplift for a people: Vertical Economics. Therefore, our goal is to have exclusively suppliers of African descent. This includes farmers, soap makers, toothpaste makers, water purifiers, etc.

Kitchen

The building for Hapi Valley Groceries should contain a kitchen. The kitchen will be called Yabba Pot. Yabba Pot Kitchen will sell prepared food from the grocery store’s products on a daily basis. In addition, we will teach monthly healthy cooking classes.

I can be reached at nilevalleyshop@yahoo.com for any inquiries.

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Business Plan Page 3

Start Up Costs

Lease ($2500/mo—3 months).…………………………………….$7,500

Initial Inventory…………………………………………………...$20,000

Equipment:

2 Sliding Glass Door Refrigerator………………………………..$1,800

1 Walk In Freezer…………………………………………………$1,300

2 Cash Registers Royal 9155…………………………………...…$600

25 Shopping Baskets, Holder, Sign……………………………….$200

2 Produce Scales…………………………………………………...$600

Step Ladder………………………………………………………...$45.00

Hand Truck………………………………………………………...$50.00

(4) 2 Sided Gondolas……………………………………………….$800

1000 Plastic Bags…………………………………………………...$29.95

2 Pricing Guns……………………………………………………...$60.00

10 Produce Baskets…………………………………………….......$500.00

Utilities:

Electricity (3 months)……………………………………………….$3,000

2 Phone Lines (3 months)…………………………………………...$600

Payroll:

2 workers same time (3 months-- $8.00/hr. 12 hrs/day)…………...$17,472

1 manager (3 months--$580.00/wk)…………………………………$6,960

1 asst. manager (3 months- $23,000/yr.)……………………………$5,750

Other:

Legal & Accounting…………………………………………………$2,000

Licensing……………………………………………………………..$500

Security………………………………………………………………$500

Space improvements………………………………………………..$3,000

Office Supplies………………………………………………………$1,600

Cash on hand………………………………………………………..$15,000

TOTAL……………………………………………………………$89,866.95

300 members purchasing a share at $300 equals $90,000

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Business Plan Page 4

Yearly Projected Profit Loss Statement/Cash Flow

Formula…………………….. Cost of goods(1 + markup) = retail price of sale

Retail Sales (Goods Sold)………………....................................................... $1.44 million (300 people $400/month)

Mark up…………………………………….....................................................65%

Cost of Goods……………………………………………………………….. $872,727

Gross Profit before operational expenses…………………………………. $567,272

Operational Expenses:

Manager……………………………………………………………………...$30,160

Asst. Manager………………………………………………………………..$23,000

Clerks…………………………………………………………………………$69,888

Total Cost of Labor…………………………………………………………. $123,048

Utilities (Electric & phone)…………………………………………………..$14,400

Payroll Taxes & Benefit……………………………………………………...$1,134

Office supplies………………………………………………………………..$2,000

Insurance……………………………………………………………………..$2,000

Legal & Accounting………………………………………………………….$5,000

Licenses……………………………………………………………………….$500

Miscellaneous………………………………………………………………...$2,000

Lease………………………………………………………………………….$30,000

Total Operating Expenses…………………………………………………..$180,082

Cost of Goods………………………………………………………………..$872,727

Total Expenses……………………………………………………………...$1,052,809

Total Sales…………………………………………………………………..$1,440,000

Net Profit before taxes……………………………………………………...$387,191

*Additional Projects (ie,real estate, sponsoring scholars, etc.) using profit should be categorized as an expenditure so as to have more money to work with before taxes.

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Business Plan Page 5

Monthly Break Even Analysis

Break even equation: Cost of goods x mark up = Profit = Operational expenses

Operational expenses ($180,082/yr.)………………………………………….$15,006

Mark up………………………………………………………………………...65%

Profit needed to break even…………………………………………………..$15,006

Cost of goods…………………………………………………………………..$23,086

Retail Sales needed to break even……………………………………………$38,092

Spending per member (300 members)………………………………………...$126.97

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Business Plan Page 6

Initial Suppliers

BO = Black Owned

1. United Natural Foods………………………………………………1-800-451-4520

2. African Formula Cosmetics (BO) (www.africanformula.com)…......1-800-495-0459

3. Delightful Foods (BO)……………………………………………....1-800-830-5373

4. Live and Direct Cuisine………………………………………...…...240-426-0870

5. Nature’s Blessing…………………………………………………...718-855-3368

6. Nile Valley Mall vitamins (BO)……………………………………..718-469-3199

7. Odwalla Natural Fruit Juices…………………………………….....1-800-Odwalla

8. Tree of Life………………………………………………………….904-824-8181

9. Muhammad Farms(BO) (Produce)……………………………........229-995-6619

END OF BUSINESS PLAN

April 6, 2005

The following is an article I have written for the May 2005 Edition of Garvey's Voice. Enjoy and feel free to circulate.

--Heru

On the Socially Unconscious Artist:
An Open Letter and Analysis to All Black Artists

"Socially unconscious men should not be allowed to prosper."
-- The Honorable Dr. Amos Wilson

If you are not a serious student of Black history, from classical Nile valley civilization to the present, I don't want you rapping, singing, or reciting poetry to me. Period. If you are unaware of the trends in Black history, it is scientifically predictable that you will make a fool of yourself, and your people collectively. Since, I am part of the collective Black people, I am pre-emptively asking you stop, before you get started with your musings-- today. These are serious times. Clowns and unaware artists are no longer funny. Artists are the primary purveyors of images and thoughts, particularly to the youth. Our youth are mentally dying in the casket of Americanism, and your pitiful existence is not helping to change the tide.

Recently, I was asked to participate in a panel discussion along with other artists of African descent. We were all from different areas of the planet, but what we had in common was our African lineage and collective history of white domination and exploitation. This is the unifying thread of all Black people worldwide, as none of us, from our particular groups, have found an effective program to fully eradicate the manifestations and implications of the ubiquitous plague: white supremacy.

More specifically, there were eight artists on the panel. All of the panelists were Black. Two artists were from the African continent, two were from the Caribbean, and the remaining four were from the U.S. All of the artists were "famous" in some form or another, through television, radio, and/or print media. The topic of the day was the responsibility of artists to their community, entitled, "Art and Social Responsibility." More specifically, can and/or should social responsibility exist within art? It immediately struck me that only in America, the land of the technically free, would this topic be up for debate.

Predictably, the panelists were divided in opinion. All of the artists from the Continent and the Caribbean were of the opinion that the purpose of art was to uplift the minds of the people. Of the Black artists from America, three were proudly, firmly and stubbornly against the notion of art being socially responsible, and one was on the fence.

In this essay, I will summarize and analyze the position of the dissenters. Their position was that artists should be "free" to say whatever they want. They did not want to be "restricted" to only deal will issues of African upliftment. One artist said if he wakes up in the morning and feels like writing about having sex with groupies and smoking (CIA) crack, he would write it and feel "proud" to perform it. After all, that's what freedom of speech was about. A recurring theme was they did not want to be "pigeon-holed" as conscious artists. Another recurring theme was they didn't want to preach to their fans. I informed them that when an artist sings, raps or performs poetry "bragging" about their shopping habits and new acquisitions of illusory splendor, they are in fact preaching about their stance on materialism. They commented that I was reading too much into it. I agreed. I also said that was the purpose of art: to be read too much into.

I informed them that in ancient Egypt, one could not become a musician unless they mastered certain subjects like philosophy, physical sciences, mathematics, history, writing and religion. Our great ancestors were aware of the power of music and would not allow imbeciles to wield a grain of power. Some of my co-panelists were visibly offended, but I believe in equality because their words offended me also. At the very least, our relationship was balanced by my "offensive" remarks.

Besides the disgust I felt towards these artistic mercenaries, I also felt pity for them. It was clear that they had been brainwashed out of caring for or about anyone but themselves, and had embraced certain illusionary American catch phrases such as "freedom of speech" and self defeating concepts such as rugged individualism. Mostly, the aroma of laziness permeated their being. For it is laziness, in fact, that causes an artist to be detached from the awareness of historical trends and forces which inform the present day situation of the so-called individual and the people. Because of their laziness, they were oblivious to what history requires of the Global Black Artist.

This writing is not meant to be an exhaustive treatise on the pathology of the aforementioned artists. However, it is meant to highlight some basic themes. Most readers are familiar with the shallowness of their positions just as the seated audience that violently reacted to the dissenting artists. For those of you who agree with the positions of those artists, just remember Dr. John Henrik Clarke's words, "Europeans took what was sacred to us and made us shun it, and eventually laugh at it." That explains what made the dissenting artists not want to be "pigeon-holed" as conscious, but at the same time they don't mind being "pigeon-holed" as so-called gangsta. They definitely don't mind being pigeon holed as "grammy winning artist so and so…" It is clear that pigeon holing was not the real issue. The real issue was being called something- in this case "conscious" -that to sane people would be a sacred compliment, but to insane people it is shunned or even laughable. So in their insanity and disconnection from an awareness of historical forces, they proudly discarded the sacred nature of being referred to as a conscious artist. The dissenters actually laughed at it in accordance with Dr. John Henrik Clarke's quote. These are the type of black people who say "Black Power" to each other as a running joke of mockery. However, they are the same Black people who love to have power for themselves--individually. The idea of Black Group Power is what they are mocking. Remember, they are short-sighted rugged individualists: true Americans.

I suspect that the main focus of this type of artist is making money and therefore being popular. In his dead-end struggle, he has become the quintessential American. With America as the last superpower, and global representative of white economic and military supremacy, being American is the precise opposite to being African. In turn, to be an African, in the scientific historical sense, is to be the perfect opposite of being an American. To be American-- the last bastion of totalitarian world whiteness and domination-- in today's term, is to be hyper-white in your tastes, interests and values. Rugged individualism is the cornerstone theory of whiteness, therefore, when someone says that their personal interests are more important than their community, they are being an American in its most descriptive and ideological sense. Communalism means nothing and is to be avoided in the American reality. This implicit law is witnessed in the phenomenon of neighbors in America not knowing each other- at all. Travel anywhere in the world, and only in European/whiteness based societies will you see this phenomena.

Another benchmark for being an American is to be a proponent of capitalism. The true American will promote it, even if he himself is a victim of it. Capitalism is the academically refined and polite substitute for the word slavery. In slavery, everything created by the slave is property of the slave-master. This is seen in record companies who always own the intellectual property of all of their artists' creations. In fact, the artist's album which belongs to record company is called a "master". In real contractual language, the record company is free to "exploit" the album in perpetuity- forever. The artist has agreed with this arrangement for a pittance-crumbs-compared to what the slave master record company receives. All of this is done in exchange for fame. In other words, the powers-that-be say, "You are still a slave, based on our relationship, but I will allow you to broadcast the illusion that you are free and have "freedom of speech" to the other slaves, from which of course, I rescued you from. That way you can satisfy your empty ego, and I can build my empire. Thanks for the album, nigger. Or nigga, as you like to be called."

The famous slave then goes through an interesting psychological experience. He now has his ego stroked in many ways he never even dreamt about. He feels forever indebted to his slave master for at least making him a slave with privileges. Since he doesn't really own his intellectual property, he is in it for the temporary ride. This poor slave ends up trying to emulate his slave master and ends up giving his money back to the slave master or the slave master's associates and extended global white power family. The slave must have a Mercedes or any other overpriced German, Italian or British car. But to whom does he turn his temporary wealth over for the merchandise? A close or loose business associate of the slave master. Big pimpin' indeed.

The cycle goes on. However, since, the slave is American in terms of ideology only, but not an American in terms of ownership rights, he is literally the illusion of a vested, bona fide American. The privileged slave is the sucker. He has no interest in creating his own industry of ownership. So in his frustration, the slave with privileges attempts to compensate for his need for power by becoming not a free man, but a second degree slave master to his own people. He thereby emulates the white slave-master, the savior and simultaneous killer of his dreams. Therefore in his art, there are all types of sign of black hatred. Here are eleven scientifically observed signs:

(1) There is no sense of Black historical continuity. Veneration of ancestors is missing from their artistic discourse. In fact, they do not glorify their own ancestors, but rather the ancestors of others. Therefore, Italian mafia names are taken. Chinese cultural group names are taken, etc. Anything but Black. The names of authentic Black heroes and sheroes are never uttered.

(2) Any form of commerce that hurts Black people will be promoted relentlessly, ie. the CIA crack trade, referred to as "hustling". In this reality, black lives mean nothing. Money through poisoning and addicting a vulnerable people is the order of the day. Here, the hustler aligns himself with, Marlboro and Philip Morris, in not so fine American tradition. Because, this hustler is unaware of historical forces, he is unaware of the Opium Wars and his complicity as an agent or asset of the powers that seek to destroy his own family. He is also unaware that during the Opium wars between China and England, where England was pumping opium into China, the Chinese executed all Chinese people who sold opium to their own people and considered them as traitors not heroes.

(3) The pimp is glorified. The pimp is a street way of saying slave-master of women, particularly black women. The pimp has replaced the white slave master in relation to the life of a black woman and her sexual powers as a source of wealth. He feels as if he owns her like property, and is the owner of any wealth she may produce. He in turn clothes her, feeds her and consistently brutalizes her based on his fleeting emotions and strategic ideas of implementing discipline. Pimp = Slave master in every sense.

(4) The elevation of Black women is refused. Because this privileged slave is for all intents and purposes an agent, asset or ally of the white supremacists, he focuses on keeping black women-- the bringers of all Black life-- marginalized through imagery, lyrics and artistic intent.

(5) The elevation of Black children is refused. Since these artists are hysterical personalities, they have no meditation towards the concept of continuity. They have no foresight, therefore, the well-being of those who would inherit the future are not part of the equation. These socially inept artists are "here and now" people. Their whole life revolves around what feels good "right now." They also feel no sense of responsibility towards the global African community and barely feel a sense of responsibility towards their own children. They are the experiment referred to in the novel, Lord of the Flies: a people who have been cut off from elders and have to improvise throughout life, based on immediate sensations.

(6) His/her art is consistent with Cointelpro directives towards the stagnation and eventual retrogression of any and all Black Power movements, locally, nationally and internationally. S/He is the "breakthrough" artist waiting in the wings, patiently at bay, until Black consciousness becomes a strong part of Black cultural expression.

At the critical juncture where Malcolm X the Black liberation/Pan-African freedom fighter becomes the model to be emulated by the black masses, the privileged slave is "put on" and subsequently "blows up" by pushing images of Malcolm Little aka Detroit Red, The Pimp and hysterical, hopeless, hapless, helpless negro without a cause, as the figure to be emulated. Through millions of dollars spent on advertising, Malcolm Little aka Detroit Red, the self-styled pimp gains more popularity than Malcolm X the freedom fighter. The privileged slave has served his master well. However, his master will of course charge all advertising money against the slave's royalty account.

(7) His/her art serves the overall purpose of setting the mood of ushering his own people back into slavery. This is seen through the lack of analysis and overall lack of awareness of a very real prison industrial complex, which is updated slavery version 5.0, Crackers Reloaded,the Empire Strikes Back, the Phantom Menace: The Sequel.

Prison is where a branch of particularly virulent unabashed white supremacists realize their pipe dreams. This branch of white supremacists are called conservatives in the pop-culture American political lexicon, but more accurately are cheap labor conservatives or more succinctly, slave masters. They are conservatives, because they wish to conserve the America of old, and therefore slavery. To them this was America at its best. So they are the architects and executers of a web of entrepreneurial and legislative cooperation where Black people will be enslaved again and will work for free or close to free for $1.25 per hour making diverse products for the real pimp/cheap labor conservative/slave master to sell and thereby strengthen and maintain the white empire.

The socially unconscious artist/privileged slave is but a cog in the wheel of this simple yet elaborate economic machinery. This artist's only job is to make being enslaved/jailed seem cool. The slave master will of course take care of the rest.

(8) Their art is focused on the "bragging" about purchasing overpriced toys, gadgets and shiny things, referred to as "Bling, Bling" manufactured and sold by the slave master.

Due to his newly acquired merchandise (ego), this privileged slave wants to believe that his people love him, but is simultaneously suspicious of them, because deep down inside he is not convinced that he should really be loved by a people whom he vigorously and openly hates.

(9) This slave has no sense of shame in his art and is completely oblivious to the meaning of the word inappropriate. For instance, s/he would perform an explicit song about oral sex to a group of nine year old children and not see anything wrong with it (This is not an exaggeration, I have seen it). S/he will also perform a song/chant whose chorus is "Kill that baby. That baby ain't mine (© Trick Daddy, October, 2004, Howard University Homecoming)." In the same vein, s/he will perform songs about killing random other "niggas" for an audience and a community which is routinely heartbroken by the loss of loved ones due to de-contextualized and niggafide gun activity.

(10) To the trained ear and eye, it is clear that if in the proper historical place and time, this is a person who would have sold his/her own people to slavery to gain favor with the white kidnappers, not knowing s/he would be kidnapped and enslaved very soon by the same savior and simultaneous killer of his/her dreams.

(11) This slave will take credit for being "dope" but will not take credit for being a "dope". Although s/he is the poster child of anti-intellectualism, he is angered when called dumb. If you ask him/her what was the last book s/he read, the conversation reaches a rare silence and is followed by anger for even being asked that question. When the slave masters' TV shows broadcast the overpriced lifestyle of the privileged slave to the world, as if to say this should be the implicit goal of the viewers, no books or a library is ever shown at this "great" person's house.

Objectively, this type of slave is so pathetic, if he wasn't so valuable to the empire of slavery, the slave masters would kill him and relieve him of his misery. Even the slave master is embarrassed by this type of slave. Through the public acceptance and popularity of these artistic and general slackers, the powers-that-be have found another ingenious way to make a fortune and engineer their desired social agenda.

Because this type of artist serves no use for the upliftment of our people, his/her portion of the African meal should be death. As Dr. Amos Wilson said, "Socially unconscious men should not be allowed to prosper." Therefore the socially unconscious artists, does not necessarily have to be killed physically, but, s/he must be killed economically, socially, and psychologically. In the household of those interested in being African, the socially unconscious artist is considered dead. The fact that s/he even existed is only brought up as traitors and idiots are brought up in conversation to illustrate to others what not to be.

In the African conversation, the shamed dead person's name may not even be uttered for fear of giving him/her renewed life through the power of the word. If the name of the accursed is mentioned, the African will usually spit on the ground immediately thereafter in order to re-bury this wretched person back into the bowels of the earth. In this ritual, we say "poor Earth." We have feelings of compassion for the Earth, whenever it is contaminated with such a foul and malodorous being. However, we suddenly realize that the Earth uses cow dung and other feces as fertilizer. In this case, human waste and a waste of a human are identical. With this meditation, we are celebratory of the Earth's ability and genius to transform even fecal waste, into something useful.

Written By Heru (H. Emmanuel Ofori-Atta).

AUGUST 3, 2005

This is the latest article I've written for Garvey's Voice in the August Edition. It's something different than the typical poem, short story or essay. Please read and see, hear, feel for yourself.

--Heru

A Non-Rhyming Poem Entitled:
I Hope You Believe Me

Dedicated to Dr. Marimba Ani for her seminal Book "Yurugu"

One night in Brooklyn I saw a dog, yes a real dog-- as in canine, walking on two legs like a human. This was in Brooklyn on Monroe Street and Bedford Avenue. He was a German Shepherd. He had on a trench coat and a hat like a detective. He looked at me for about five seconds and smirked as he made his way to the nearest payphone. I stopped and watched disturbed as he literally barked at someone on the telephone, "Roof, Roof, Roof." He looked at me again and continued his conversation on the phone. He barked into the telephone, "I will not tolerate late rent." He hung up the phone as he started salivating from the mouth. This time he walked away on all fours. His tail was wagging and he walked away with a limp. With all the people around, going about their business, no one noticed the dog in the trench coat but me. Or maybe nobody thought it was strange. This is not a metaphor, I really saw this.

I hope you believe me like you believe in the universalism of whiteness.

There was a woman. She was a Black woman. Her name was Eternal. She was known as the oldest woman in the world. She was 139 years old. There is proof of this because she is known as the first Black baby born after the emancipation proclamation. She was born in North Carolina, and her mother was born in Africa. Eternal's mother was named Dinkenesh. Dinkenesh was kidnapped from Africa at the age of 14. When she made it to America, the slave masters changed her name to Lucy. She gave birth to Eternal a few years later. Eternal became a wonder of medical science because although she was born in 1865 and was 139 years old, she was healthy and energetic. Nothing was wrong with her.

One day, Eternal was invited to go to New York-all expenses paid, first class air travel. The purpose was to visit a prestigious hospital to speak about her personal secrets of aging in grace. She accepted the gracious invitation. When she arrived at the hospital, she was immediately abducted and put into restraints. The greatest scientists of the western world needed her as a specimen to complete their latest project on stopping the aging process. They operated on her and evaluated every aspect of her being. The interesting thing is the first operation they performed on her was a surgical brain procedure to take away her long term memory. Later, they told her she was only seven years old. In fact, that became her new name: Seven Years Old. After months of forcible confinement to the hospital's high-tech bed- and what a beautiful and state of the art bed it was- Seven Years Old considered the bed as her home. It definitely was the best bed in the whole hospital.

After some time, the renowned scientists of the world finished all of their experiments and evaluations. By this time, due to all of the surgery, Seven Years Old grew ill and dependent on the hospital's life support machines for breathing. One day, the hospital's administrators had a meeting and decided to pull the life support from Seven Years Old. She was no longer necessary and was becoming too expensive to keep alive. In capitalist economics, she would be referred to as a surplus human being. Later that same day, on July 4th, Seven Years Old breathed her last breath. The very next day, The New York Times reported in the obituaries "She was only Seven Years Old and wouldn't have amounted to much anyway."

I hope you believe me like you believe in the universalism of whiteness.

In Florida there is a town in the extreme south of the state called Homestead where there are farms all over. But these farms are plantations, because the people working the crops are treated as slaves. The people working the land are from different countries and forbidden to talk to anyone--even each other.

One sunny afternoon, I decided to drive all the way there from northern Miami and take pictures. As I drove, I saw all types of roads and places named after Native Americans and realized that there are no more Native Americans on the land. I thought about the process of making their genocide a reality. I shook my head and asked another question. Why did the people in power who committed the genocide retain the Native American names for towns and roads? The answer came to me as a police siren sounded off to pull me over: To warn future generations of the decisive strength of white power and also simply for bragging rights. Similar to when hunters hang a moose head in their living room. There's more.

I finally made it to a plantation where I saw many strange things. It was like slavery in a time warp. I met a Black woman from another country working the land. She had her back turned to me as she spoke. She kept talking, although it was forbidden. She kept saying something in another language. She said "Listwa c'est joidee yah." Initially, I did not see her from the front, but when she turned around, she had a human foot coming out of her mouth. She kept saying "Listwa c'est joidee yah." She then vomited blood and spoke in English, "History is today." Then this woman with the foot in her mouth said, "By speaking, I will free myself. I will run away." She vomited blood again and fell to the ground convulsing. She kept saying, "By speaking, I will free myself." I ran away shaken. I can't show you any pictures because the police took my camera away from me an hour earlier during their routine traffic stop on Miccosukee road.

I hope you believe me like you believe in the universalism of whiteness.

I was on the A train to Brooklyn and a Black woman kept staring at me. She was very attractive. She kept staring at me and shaking her head. Her staring was no longer cute. It became disturbing. This staring went on for 30 minutes. Yes, all the way from 125th street in Harlem to my stop in Brooklyn on Nostrand Ave. At the stop before Nostrand Ave., she began speaking to me. She grabbed my arm and she said, "The brother better win the Oscar for Best Actor tonight." I said, "What?" She said sternly with a demented look in her eyes while simultaneously gritting her teeth, "I said, the brother better win the Oscar for Best Actor tonight." I looked at her disgusted for at least three reasons. I was momentarily speechless. Then, I decided to enter into her world. With great internal conflict, I said, "If he doesn't win the so-called Oscar, does that mean that he really wasn't…. the…. best…. actor?" I felt oppressed on six levels for even responding.

I hope you believe me like you believe in the universalism of whiteness.

I went to a peace rally for the third anniversary of September 11th. I was supposed to meet my friend Karma there, but she showed up late. She always does that to me. She tapped me on the shoulder. It was like she came out of nowhere, because I was looking in all directions for her for what seemed like forever. When I finally turned around to see that it was her behind me, tapping me on the shoulder, we locked eyes for some time and she just giggled saying that she had been behind me all the time. She said I failed to see her because I lacked perspective and was distracted by the noise of the crowd. Some people have said that my friend Karma is a Bitch, but I always end up fighting on her behalf. These days I try to keep her away from my other friends, but sometimes she manages to come around us when we least expect it. Well, we hugged and damn she smelled good that day. There's something about her that's so unpredictable to me. Also, she's a much better poet than me. But that's another story.

The leader of the rally happened to be a Black man. He was grabbing the microphone and it was clear that he had a speech impediment. You see, he stuttered. It was interesting because I've never heard a stutterer's voice amplified before. He said, quote, "Well we-w-w-we managed to disrupt the world again. We-w-w-we-e don't stand for anything that w-w-e-e profess." "Our-Our-Our founding fathers never intended for our-ow-ow-our country to be like this."

He continued and said, "Everyone in the world hates u-u-u-s because of our-ow-ow-our-our policies and what w-e-e-w-w-weee are doing to the world." "I can't believe we-wee-wee attacked Iraq. We-e-ee-w-w-e already attacked Afghanistan. What's next are w-e-e-w-e-e going to attack Iran?" "This is not who w-e-we are supposed to be as Americans. Our-ow-ow-our founding fathers would be rolling in their graves if they saw what we were doing in the name of freedom." The whole crowd of about ten thousand people roared in applause.

The stutterer kept speaking and a disruption occurred. A fight started because of a pick-pocketer. Everyone stopped paying attention to the speaker and focused on the fight. The police came and broke it up. The pick-pocketer was led away.

Then it happened. A tall slender light skinned Black man with glasses ran on to the stage. He was about 6 foot 3 inches tall. He looked to be in his mid-to-late thirties. All I remember is he was wearing an all red jogging suit. Red pants and a red sweat shirt. Across the red sweatshirt was the word Detroit in big letters. He snatched away the microphone and screamed at the Black man who was speaking on the podium. He started screaming, "Massa, we sick? Massa, we sick?" The man with the red shirt that read "Detroit" on it then pulled out a gun and shot the Black speaker/stutterer twenty-two times in the chest. Everyone including the police hit the ground to protect themselves. Some people ran and tripped over each other. The police tried to rush the stage and in all the confusion the shooter disappeared. Completely. I think he had some help. My friend Karma looked at me and said, "If you would have told me about this I wouldn't have believed it. I'm glad I was here to witness it."

I hope you believe me like you believe in the universalism of whiteness.

There were three men lying down on their stomachs in a field with three other men wearing combat boots standing on top of them with a foot on each of their necks. One of the men lying down with a foot on his neck said, "I have a dream that one day my children will hold hands with the children of the man standing with his foot on my neck".

The second man lying down with a foot on his neck was a poet and a singer who wrote poems and songs about how beautiful the ground looked so up close. His poetry about the ground was breathtaking. Or was it a song? In any case, he really wrote beautifully- about the ground.

The third man, lying down with a foot on his neck, well, he started an argument with the other two similarly situated men about which one of them had the nicer more expensive and appealing combat boot on their necks. Of course, his position was that the combat boot on his neck was the best quality boot. The argument went on- forever.

I hope you believe me like you believe in the universalism of whiteness.

There was a well advertised Black community meeting called the State of Black Union. It was beamed through white controlled media outlets across a couple million homes. The meeting was inside a Black christian church. The moderator was a well known Black journalist. All the Black men on stage wore european tailored three piece suits and ties. All the Black women on stage were similarly dressed in a sort of feminine way. All of the Black women on stage had fried hair. A few of the black women on stage also had substitute barbie blonde hair. The journalist moderating the show referred to all of these people as Black leaders.

The moderator and the people he called Black leaders talked about bridging gaps with white people. Suspiciously, white people were repeatedly used as the gold standard. I don't think that they were referring to Black people as the gold standard like the standard our Blackest ancestors set. I certainly don't think they remember that the word Nubia means gold. They said Black people have "this" much of a percentage gap with whites when it comes to "this" and when it comes to "that." Statistics were rattled incessantly.

One interesting thing was they all seemed to be bragging about how they loved a guy named Jesus. Another interesting thing is when they all agreed on something, they would say Amen. But I don't get the impression they knew that they were calling the name of the ancient Black Ethiopian, Sudanese and Egyptian god named Amen. Sometimes referred to as Amen-Ra. But that's another story.

All of a sudden, the lights shut off and it seems like 100 white men in military clothes and machine guns came in the building running and taking positions. They all had caps on their heads with the initials RC in white.

Then a trapped floor on the stage opened. The people referred to as Black leaders fell down a bottomless pit. They all were still holding microphones in their hands and giving speeches as they were free falling.

Inside the church, the leader of the white soldiers announced, "Jesus is a white man. If you disrespect white people, you disrespect Jesus. We brought you to him. He died for you and you would dare to be ungrateful to him or us?" Then a twenty foot picture of a blondish brown haired white man who looks like a hippie from England went up on the wall. Immediately, the black congregation got on their knees and prayed to the picture for forgiveness as if the hippie from England was their personal savior.

The people referred to as Black leaders were still free-falling down the bottomless pit and were still giving speeches. They were so wrapped up by their speeches that they were completely oblivious to what was happening.

Meanwhile, everyone in the church-the Black congregation and the white soldiers-- started holding hands with each other, swaying back and forth. The white soldiers and Black congregation began to sing Amazing Grace. The singing was terribly off key-- until the chorus.

Four little black girls, in unison, said to one of the white soldiers, "Your hat is the bomb. What does the RC on it stand for?" He said, "Real christian". Then he shouted at them, "Don't stop singing. Keep singing."

The people called Black leaders were still falling down the bottomless pit.

Quietly, a white preacher approached the stage and delivered a sermon. It was about… Well, I forgot what it was about. Then he ended with, "Let the church say amen." And everyone said, "amen".

Meanwhile, the people called Black leaders were still falling down the bottomless pit-- still making speeches to each other simultaneously.

I hope you believe me like you believe in the universalism of whiteness.

© 2005, H. Emmanuel Ofori-Atta. All Rights Reserved

January 10, 2006

It is my pleasure to share with my readers my latest thought entry. I recently read an important book on The African War for Independence in Haiti. The book is named, "The Irritated Genie" by Dr. Jacob Carruthers. The book is inspiring. For more info on the African War against white supremacy in Haiti, also study, "The Black Jacobins" by Dr. C.L.R. James. If you do not read the whole book, I beg you to read the chapter named "The Property". It details what we endured at the hands of those who have hated us for centuries.

For your benefit I have supplied below the greatest speech made by a human being. It is the speech delivered by "The Blackest of the Blacks" aka General Jean Jacques Dessalines the Irritated Genie of Haiti.

This speech was delivered as the mark of Black Liberation from white bondage in 1804. Dessalines, The Terrible, is my Hero, and he should be yours. His eloquence is unparalleled. Black people of today should take note that those before us were much more high octane and generally more focused on excellence.

Indeed, this speech sets the standard for us all.

PROCLAMATION OF HAITI'S INDEPENDENCE BY THE GENERAL IN CHIEF,
Jean Jacques Dessalines to the Haitian people in Gonaives, on January 1st 1804, year first of Haiti's independence.

Translated from French into English by Noe Dorestant, E.E.
General Jean Jacques Dessalines, 1804.

"LIVE FREE OR DIE"

Citizens,

It is not enough to have expelled from your country the barbarians who have bloodied it for two centuries; it is not enough to have put a brake to these ever reviving factions which take turns to play-act this liberty, like ghost that France had exposed before your eyes; it is necessary, by a last act of national authority, assure forever an empire of liberty in this country our birth place; we must take away from this inhumane government, which held for so long our spirits in the most humiliating torpor, all hope to resubjugate us; we must at last live independent or die.

Independence or death... May these sacred words bring us together, and may they be the signal of our struggles and of our gathering.

Citizens, my compatriots, I have gathered in this solemn day these courageous servicemen, who on the eve of harvesting the last crotchets rest of liberty, have given their blood to save it; these generals who led your efforts against tyranny, have not yet done enough for your well being...The french name still glooms our countryside.

All is there to remind us of the atrocities of this barbarian people: our laws, our customs, our cities, all bear the french imprint; what do I say? There are French in our island, and you believe yourself to be free and independent of that republic which fought all nations, it is true, but who has never been victorious over those who wished to be free.

Well what! victims for over fourteen years of our own credulity and our own indulgence; defeated, not by the french armies, but by the shamefaced eloquence of the proclamation of their agents; when will we get tired of breathing the same air than them? Its cruelty compared to our moderated patience; its color to our; the vast seas that keep us apart, our avenging climate, tell us enough that they are not our brothers, and that they will never become and that, if they find asylum amongst us, they will be once more the schemers of our troubles and our divisions.

Indigenous citizens, men, women, girls and children, bear your regards on all the parts of this island; look for, yourself, your spouses, your husbands, yourself, your brothers, you, your sisters; what do I say? Look for your children, your children, those that are being breast fed! What have they become?...I tremble to say it... the prey of these vultures. Instead of these interesting victims, your eye dismayed can only perceive their assassins; may the tigers that are still dripping their blood, and whose horrible presence reproach your insensibility and your slowness to avenge them. What are you waiting for to appease their souls? Remember that you have wished that your remains be buried near the remains of your fathers, when you had chased away tyranny; would you go down to your tomb without avenging them? No, their skeleton would push away yours.

And you, precious men, intrepid generals, whose lack of insensibility to your own misfortunes, have resurrected liberty by giving it all your blood; you should know that you have done nothing if you do not give to the nations a terrible example, but just, of the avenge that must exercise a proud people who have recovered their liberty, and jealous to maintain it; let us instill fear in all those whom would dare try to take it away from us again; let us begin with the French... May they tremble when they approach our coasts, if not by the memory of the cruelty that they have inflicted, at least by the terrible resolution that we are about to take to devote to death, anyone born french, who would dirty of his sacrilegious foot the territory of liberty.

We dared to be free, let us dare to be so by ourselves and for ourselves, let us emulate the growing child: his own weight breaks the edge that has become useless and hamper its walk. What nation has fought for us? What nation would like to harvest the fruits of our labors? And what dishonorable absurdity than to vanquish and be slaves. Slaves! Leave it to the French this qualifying epithet: they have vanquished to cease to be free.

Let us walk on other footprints; let us imitate these nations whom, carrying their solicitude until they arrive on a prospect, and dreading to leave to posterity the example of cowardliness, have preferred to be exterminated rather than to be crossed out from the number of free peoples.

Let us be on guard however so that the spirit of proselytism does not destroy our work; let our neighbors breath in peace, may they live in peace under the empire of the laws that they have legislated themselves, and let us not go, like spark fire revolutionaries, erecting ourselves as legislators of the Caribbean, to make good of our glory by troubling the peace of neighboring islands: they have never, like the one that we live in, been soaked of the innocent blood of their inhabitants; they have no vengeance to exercise against the authority that protects them.

Fortunate to have never known the plagues which have destroyed us, they can only make good wishes for our prosperity. Peace to our neighbors! but anathema to the french name! Eternal hate to France! That is our cry.

Indigenous of Haiti, my fortunate destiny reserved me to be one day the sentinel who had to watch guard the idol to which you are making your sacrifice, I have watched, fought, sometimes alone, and, If I have been fortunate to deliver in your hands the sacred trust that you had under my care, remember that it is up to you now to conserve it. Before you consolidate it by laws which assure your individual liberty, your leaders, which I assemble here, and myself, we owe you the last proof of our devotion.

Generals, and you, leaders, reunited here near me for the well being of our country, the day has come, this day which must make eternal our glory, our independence.

If there could exist amongst you a half-hearted, may he distance himself and tremble to pronounce the oath that must unite us.

Let us swear to the entire universe, to posterity, to ourselves, to renounce forever to France, and to die rather than to live under its domination. To fight until the last crotchet rest for the independence of our country!

And you, people for too long misfortuned, witness to the oath that we are pronouncing, remind yourself that it is on your perseverance and your courage that I depended on when I threw myself in this career for liberty in order to fight against despotism and tyranny against which you struggled since fourteen years. Remind yourself that I sacrificed myself to jump to your defense, parents, children, fortune, and that now I am only rich of your liberty; that my name has become in horror to all nations who wish for slavery, and that the despots and tyrants do not pronounce it only while cursing the day that saw me born; and if for whatever reason you refused or received while murmuring the laws that the genius which watch over your destiny will dictate me for your good fortune, you would deserve the fate of ungrateful peoples.

But away from me this horrible idea. You will be the support of the liberty that you cherish, the support to the chief which command you.

Take then in your hands this oath to live free and independent, and to prefer death to all those who would love to put you back under the yoke.

Swear at last to pursue forever the traitors and the enemies of your independence.

Done at the general headquarter of Gonaives, this January 1st 1804, the first year of Independence.

Words of General in Chief: Jean Jacques Dessalines, hero of the Haitian war of Independence.

Emperor Jean Jacques Dessalines, Father of Haitian Independence, 1804.

MAY 9, 2006

This is an entry from my new book entitled, "The Unapologetic African: Inside The Mind of A Frontline Poet." The book has essays, interviews, poems, a short story, a play and the grocery store business plan. I am just waiting for Haile Gerima, the filmmaker who brought you the film "Sankofa" to write the foreword to the book and it will be ready to go to print. This essay is also an article in the April-May 2006 Garvey's voice. It is entitled, "On Economic Violence." Enjoy.

ON ECONOMIC VIOLENCE

By

Heru Ofori-Atta

(www.heruspeaks.com)

Have you ever received money from a Chinese person- for anything other than them making change for you? No, is the answer I have been receiving when asking this question as part of an informal survey to Black People. The follow up question is, "Have you ever given money to a Chinese person?" The answer invariably is yes. This imbalance of give and take is reflective of the consciousness of Black people and consequently our relationship with ourselves and others.

There is a reason why every Black Ghetto has a Chinese food restaurant, but there are no Soul Food restaurants in Chinatown. In fact, the most popular Soul Food restaurant in Harlem, New York on 135th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard is owned and operated by a Chinese family. Again, there are no Soul Food restaurants in Chinatown and there certainly is no Chinese food restaurant in China town owned and operated by a Black family. If a Black person tried, the business would be shut down, before it started. Why? Economic Violence.

Every group of people understands, practices and strategically utilizes the concept of economic violence, except Black people. In fact the economic violence that we, as Black people, practice is economic violence against ourselves. Economic violence is the art and science of using the exchange of money for goods and/or services as an aspect of ethnic warfare, survival and prosperity. The Chinese will not support a Black business over their own, because they are not interested in ethnic suicide. The Chinese are logical, as self preservation is the most basic of human instincts. So not only will a Chinese person not support a Black business over a Chinese business, they take it one step further and plant their business in a Black community and implement plans to take Black people's money. This ideological posture is pure and scientific economic violence. Replace Chinese with any other ethnic group besides Black, and the picture becomes clearer.

The above is not a condemnation of Chinese, Korean, Arab or white businesses at all. It is a condemnation of Black people who have forgotten The Honorable Marcus Garvey's mantra of "Race First." Every ethnic group has mastered this concept except Black people. It is in my interest to come from a powerful people. Therefore, my interest is committing economic violence on behalf of Black people. That means purchasing a Black person's service or product "first" before I purchase any other ethnic group or race's service or product. Have you committed economic violence on your behalf or against yourself today?

If you are a Black person reading this, I am sure that you are familiar with the notion of, "I just want the best product or service for my money and a lot of times, Black folks just ain't up to par." My response is, 1) If that's your attitudinal posture, then do not get mad if people don't patronize your Black business (product or service) for fear of deficiencies. 2) Since when has the uncleanliness of a Chinese food restaurant stopped you from buying a to-go order of shrimp fried rice, or the messiness of an Arab or Indian corner-store, gas station or bodega stopped you from purchasing those pork rinds you love and a soft drink. Have you committed economic violence on your behalf or against yourself today?

Black people: Due to our lack of economic militarism, we are losing the fight for economic independence. That's why everyone, and I mean everyone, "bangs" on Black people. All ethnic groups gain their financial strength in America by economically banging on Black people. This is how white people became wealthy in this world. The European transatlantic slave trade of kidnapping millions of Africans as Prisoners of War was the biggest gang bang of all time. Chattel and plantation slavery was a continuation of this policy of economic violence. Since then, we have been left open to economic attack by every ethnic group that makes it to America. Nothing has really changed, because the relationship between slave and slave-master is still the same.

Tastes, Interests and Values: Stop Eating Pizza, You're not Italian

The first step in perpetuating economic violence against a people is to change their tastes, interests and values to the tastes, interests and values of the invading culture. Tastes, interests and values are the sole determinative factors in the decision to purchase a service or product. This is extremely important as all products and services spring from a cultural landscape.

Here are some extremely basic examples to illustrate my point: (1) An overwhelming amount of people in America, purchase turkey on the third week of November, every single year. The turkey is an imperative for a Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is a white cultural holiday designed to celebrate white conquest and genocide of the native American population, but is masked as a day of family togetherness and thanks. The people who own turkey farms are white poultry farmers. They are the direct economic beneficiaries of the values of this particular cultural holiday. If native American and Black people were the owners of turkey farms, you can bet your last dollar that turkey would not be a requirement of that holiday. White people understand economic violence and under no circumstance would they allow anyone other than whites to benefit from a white holiday.

(2) This is the same reason why U.S. federal, state and municipal government cars must be American cars. They understand economic violence. Have you committed economic violence on your behalf or against yourself today?

(3) Selling beef to Hindus won't work. The Hindu religion absolutely forbids the killing of cows as the cow is sacred to them. Therefore selling beef products to this crowd is not economically feasible. However, if you are able to convert the Hindus away from their religion into say, Christianity, you would have not just brought a new group of people to the priest or the pastor on Sunday, but a new group of people to McDonalds and Burger King, because their tastes, interests and values concerning cows would have changed.

A further examination of tastes, interests and values reveal that once you adopt or are coerced into perpetuating the tastes, interests and values of another group of people you will not only be committing economic violence against yourself but you will be committing violence against your health.

Example 1: In Hawaii, over 50 percent of native adults 40 years old or more were diagnosed with diabetes. The Hawaiians are a Polynesian people who have for centuries flourished on a local diet of vegetables and fruits from their land. After the U.S. invasion and displacement of the Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani, the tastes, values and interests of native Hawaiians were changed to the tastes of white people. Hawaiians began eating Hamburgers, Pizza, etc. and became zombies of American fast foodism and forgot about their traditional foods. Something interesting happened: Disease in the form of Diabetes. Diabetes was never a problem for Hawaiians until their tastes were changed. In effect, Hawaiians were funding their Diabetes. A Hawaiian doctor trained in western medicine and traditional healing sciences went on a crusade to save her people from Diabetes. She did not prescribe insulin-controlled by white pharmaceutical companies, which is a band-aid to the real problem, but she prescribed a traditional Hawaiian diet and forbade her patients to eat European made food. As her patients ate green leaves, fruits and root food vegetables from the place where they evolved, their diabetes was wiped out. Completely.
Additionally, in this manner, Hawaiian farmers benefit from the purchase of food grown on their own land, thereby restoring economic and physical health- simultaneously.

Example 2: I was at a supermarket in Miami, Florida buying a yam. Not a sweet potato, but a real yam, brown and hard. The cashier was Black and said, "What's that, a turnip?" I was startled and had a serious epiphany. Black people have been so oppressed in America, that we do not even recognize our own ancestral foods. The implications again are self inflicted economic and physical violence (dis-ease).

A major disease that affects Black Americans is Sickle Cell Anemia. However, this disease does not affect Black people in Africa nearly as much. The reason: The shifting of tastes, interests and values much like the Hawaiian example. The sickle cell trait is a trait that helps Africans fight off malaria. The sickling of the red blood cell helps prevent the malaria parasite from binding to the cell due to the peculiar shape of a sickled cell and its hemoglobin. Since Black Americans are literally from West Africa, they have this trait just like any other West African. The difference is the West African diet contains root foods from the Africans Soil like cassava and yam. Studies by Nigerian researcher Dr. Ogi Agbai have shown that thiocynate in cassava and yam and their leaves alleviate the symptoms of Sickle Cell Anemia.

Black Americans do not eat cassava or true yams, so Sickle Cell Anemia is rampant. Instead, Black Americans have been forced to develop a taste for everything other than African root food, therefore the dis-ease is present. Disease is defined as imbalance. When a person or a people have tastes, interests and values outside of who they really are, all types of imbalances occur such as economic and physical health imbalances. Recalibrating a Black American diet from chitlins and fried chicken back to a West African diet of plantains, cassava, yams , etc., will create a necessary economic balance by supporting African commodities markets and enriching personal, group economic and physical health simultaneously. Have you committed economic violence today?

The Opium Wars: There is Nothing You Have That We Want © China

In studying economic violence, tastes interests and values, a cursory discussion on the Opium Wars is extremely important. Please note that major wars occur due to the addictions of Europeans. Today, there is a war in Iraq, due to the European addiction to oil. In the 19th century, the Opium wars between Britain and China were due to the British addiction to tea.

The Chinese have an ancient tradition of drinking tea as part of their daily ritual. The British developed this custom due to the travels of many European "explorers" who successfully made it over to Asia. By the 19th century, tea became a staple of the British, particularly the middle class and ruling class. The British imported all of their tea from China. In a short amount of time, there was a huge trade imbalance between Britain and China in favor of China. The British paid China for their tea with gold. Soon, the British became nervous as their gold reserves were being depleted. However, the British population's taste for tea was insatiable and there would have been riots if the British population was deprived of their tea.

In response to the economic violence that Britain was suffering at the hands of China, British leaders arranged a meeting with Chinese leaders. The British wanted to stop trading tea for gold. They told the Chinese that they would trade anything else that Britain produced for the Chinese tea. The Chinese response was laughter as the Chinese retorted, "There is nothing that you have that we want." The British were stunned as they took this as an offense to their way of life and their plans to keep their gold.

The British went back to Britain and decided to pump opium into China. The opium was to be traded for gold in China, and thereby getting the gold back into British hands. In addition, the British took lands from the Indian subcontinent for two purposes: 1) for growing the poppy plant for opium to facilitate their drug trade and 2) for growing various other plants for tea so that trading tea with China would be obsolete. In fact, today one of the most famous tea names is Ceylon tea. Ceylon is the former British colonial name for the country in the Indian sub-continent now named Sri Lanka.

One day, in 1839, the Chinese seized a ship off of its shores containing tons of opium. The Chinese rightfully seized the ship as opium was illegal in China and anyone caught with opium was given the death penalty. The British declared the Chinese seizure of their ship as an act of war, and hence the initiation of the Opium wars which were from 1839-1842 and 1856-1860 between Britain and China.

The Chinese have never forgotten the economic war with Europeans and the implications are felt today. Consequently, the Chinese have nuclear weapons, the largest standing army in the world and Europe and America as debtors in trade. Their major strength has been maintaining their own tastes, interests and values and the ability to look at Europeans in the face and say, "There is nothing that you have that we want." Black people, can we say the same?

The reason why we have been in trouble as a race for so long is our unrelenting taste for things European. Remember, African prisoners of war (slaves) were traded for white commodities like European processed rum, spare parts and European textiles. Have you committed economic violence today?

Slavery and the Value of Labor: Adam Smith

Adam Smith was an economic philosopher from England and considered the patron saint of European Capitalist thought. He was also an opponent of the enslavement of Africans in America and Europe. However, he was not opposed to our enslavement for moral or noble reasons. He was opposed to slavery because he thought it was inefficient in the capitalist world. He believed Africans should be paid for our labor so that we could buy European goods. That was his sole argument. He didn't like the idea that such a large population could not be consumers because slaves were not allowed the ability to earn money. What does this mean? It means that the only reason why it was acceptable for you and I to not be enslaved is so that we could feed the economic system of white supremacy better and more efficiently. And what are Black people now? The biggest one dimensional pure consumers the world has ever seen.

The slavery relationship is still the same. If you work a job that pays you ten dollars per hour and you pay $150.00 to Tommy Hilfiger for his jeans, you have effectively given 15 hours of your labor to Tommy Hilfiger. You worked 15 hours for him. When are you going to work for yourself and your people, by purchasing Black goods and services with your labor hours? Tommy Hilfiger and company don't even have to whip us anymore to turn over our labor to him. He is still economically violent, and we are still bleeding.

Lesson: In your economic life, if you are not buying from your own people first, then you are committing suicide on many levels and enlisting for slavery and zombification. Buy Black with no apology and if you have to buy from others, try to make sure it's a bootleg. Never pay full price for anything from others-especially those who have historically and continue to benefit from your underdevelopment. For in fact, our relationship is dialectical to our oppressors. Their development is dependent on our underdevelopment.

Have you committed economic violence today?

DECEMBER 7, 2006

NEW CDs:

Volume 4: Goddess Of The Perfect Black and Volume 5: The Epic African Drama

I am proud to let you all know that I have recently released 2 new CDs: Volume 4: Goddess Of The Perfect Black and Volume 5: The Epic African Drama.

There is a new feature on the new CDs: music. I have avoided music on my first 3 CDs for a few reasons. 1) I felt that these days, people don't pay attention to words and just nod their heads and shake their butts to beats without paying attention to what the artist is saying, whether the messages are good or bad. I did not want my message to be drowned out by music. 2) I felt that it would be a great challenge to create CDs with just words that would be strong and rhythmic enough to hold a listener's attention. This meant that my spoken word presentations would have to by passionate, rhythmic, stylistic and uniquely informative. By the high volume of CD sales from my first 3 CDs, it is clear that I accomplished my goal. People are tuned in, and are celebratory of the CDs. I am moved, humbled and grateful.

The time has come to add music, to show a different side of my artistry. By now, people who know my work are clear on my consistent and persistent message: African Diasporic Upliftment and Redemption with no aplogy. The two new CDs are companion CDs. Originally, I was releasing just 1 new CD, but I had so much material, I divided it into 2 CDs, with 2 different sub-themes. Volume 4: Goddess Of The Perfect Black has Harriet Tubman on the cover when she was in her Late 80's. I believe that she was the Reincarnated Soul of Queen Nzingah of Angola. So there is a picture of Black woman in Angola on one side of the CD and a picture of The Underground Railroad on the other side. The metaphor is that these two personalities, Queen Nzingah and Harriet Tubman are the same person. Goddess of the Perfect Black is a salute to all Black Women as Divine and a recognition of the perfection we reach when we fight for our liberation as seen in the lives of Queen Nzingah and Harriet Tubman.

Volume 5: The Epic African Drama illustrates an ancient scene from our ancestors. The scene shows a parade of Neters (deities) on a boat, held up by one central Neter. The metaphors are too many and too profound to go into for the purposes of this update. However, those of us who are familiar with the central ideological foundations of African Centered Pan-Africanism will only smile when they see this CD cover. Another hint for understanding the context of the CD cover is in my interview at the end of the CD.

Both CDs have strictly fire-burn a'cappella spoken word on it- as usual. The music tracks feature poetry with deep roots reggae, nyabinghi rhythms, African drumming symphony, and even one track with a little bit of funk-rock. As usual, I have included a speech from a Black luminary thinker on each CD and an interview of myself explaining my thoughts about the title of each CD.

Please go to my products page (www.heruspeaks.com/PROD.htm) and check out the CDs. Click on the CD image, and you can listen to generous sound samples of each track. If you like them and find them enriching to your life, download as many individual tracks or CDs you wish. Each track is $1.00 and each CD is $10.00. This paragraph applies to all of my CDs volumes 1-5.

Thank you for your continued support and the gracious e-mail messages of strength and solidarity.

--Heru

I am proud to introduce to you an exciting cutting edge initiative, www.movementunes.com. Your #1 Site for Positive Culture Music Downloads and More.

Politico-Economic Context: Raw Materials to the Market Place

Whilst recently in West Africa, it was reinforced again that the plight of Africans world wide is the same.  We are presently suffering from a world wide lack of actualized power.  True power.  It is said that power comes from the land, and land represents the location of resources.  Presently, Africans are disconnected from total supremacy over our land and resources that dwell therein.  More succinctly, we do not have complete control over the extraction of our natural resources and the shaping, molding, and/or refining of our natural resources and its final packaging for sale on the world market.  Plug in any natural resource/raw material which the African land has in abundance such as gold, oil, bauxite, cocoa, plutonium, etc. and the situation is the same. 

In America, we Africans were-- and still are --raw materials.  We were packaged and shipped and sold like any other commodity.  Once again, others had control over our resources, our bodies and our labor.  Presently, Africans in America, sometimes referred to as African-Americans provide ourselves as raw materials to be processed in the prison industrial complex for rich white men to become richer. Go sit in any random criminal courtroom in an American big city from 9am-12pm. You will literally see African bodies as commodities being "processed through the system." Again, we see an overwhelming amount of European descendant making money at every step of the process from policemen to bail bondsmen to lawyers to judges to wardens to prison industry investors to multinational corporations employing ultra cheap labor.  Replace this with, let's say, cocoa or gold in Ghana or crude oil in Nigeria and the situation is the same.  Other people are constantly becoming enriched through controlling the processing, packaging, distribution and selling of African raw material to the market place/end user/consumer. 

The bottom line:  Whoever controls the processing, packaging, delivery, marketing and sale of African raw materials in the market place is the total sum winner in the world economic scene. Period.  This is the end game.  This is the only conversation that really matters. Indeed, all of our problems are mere symptoms of a very real disease within the global economic and body politic: Un-Actualized African Group Power.

Speeches will not change our power relationships with others.  Lectures will not change it. Events will not change it. Marches will not change our reality.  Complaining will not change our reality. Sermons will not change it. Change will only occur when we, the conscious patriotic Pan-Africanists, who know the full story, develop, finance and maintain I-N-D-U-S-T-R-Y. For it is only industry that engages in the specific peculiar behaviors discussed above.

Because I know what we need to do, I therefore know what I need to do.  My friends, I have now developed a form of industry for our collective benefit based on one of our raw materials: our musical talent.  The rest of this essay examines that specific aspect of the African reality and introduces an exciting cutting edge solution.

"Music Gonna Teach Dem A Lesson" © Bob Marley and Peter Tosh

Posterity and necessity requires the African artist in this day and time to be self-sufficient and self-determinative.  Verily, the African musician and poet set the tone and language for the people. Therefore, the implications that European cultural imperialism brings to the table of the African are grave.  The means of production and distribution, in any colonial situation, are sought to be controlled and manipulated by the power elite.  Therefore, it is necessary that poets and musicians interested in African liberation completely control our own means of distribution and production.  In that vein, some serious artists are embarking on new enterprises and thereby creating an indelible paradigm shift.

As an independent and professional spoken word poet, I perform internationally and nationally without the backing of a multi-million dollar corporate conglomerate.  Although some of my fellow artists, who are well known, due to European corporate exposure, feel as though their signing a "major record deal" represents an elevation and evolution in their artistic career- I argue that the major record deal is actually a commonly observed devolution.

Firstly, contracts from major record companies are so heavily skewed against the artist, that the only thing the artist receives is a promise of fame without the promise of an appreciable fraction of wealth s/he has generated for the record company.  In fact, 99% of artists on the major labels do not make any money off of "their" albums until at least the third album.  The record company and other industry appendages receive 90% of the money generated from an artist's sales.   The ten percent left to the artist is used to pay the record company back any advances given to the artist, any promotional money spent on the artist, and in some cases executive dinner dates and the cost of light bulbs for the major label's office are charged against the artists account.  For most artists in the music business, receiving a royalty check worth more than the stamp on the envelope is as common as meeting a fair and honest wealthy white man.  It doesn't happen.

Consequently, the artist is left to make money through touring and live shows.  The artist will make some money because the record companies are good at making anyone they wish "famous." As the major European descent owned record companies have partnerships with their blood and/or ideological brother's or cousin's radio and television stations, they have the ability to transplant images of artists they own into the minds of anyone who tunes in.  The artist may be able to tour for a few years, and make some money, but since they are forced to make meaningless music that the public can digest and throw away, they become the flavor of the month... until the next flavor of the month appears with a newer, updated gimmick. This is the fate of most commercial artists.

Question:  What happens to the culturally conscious artist who decides to sign with a major record label?  1) Consciousness or anything related to Black Group Power is either put on the back burner or struggled against vehemently by the record company.  This causes the artist to be silenced and lack the ability of recording through other means, as the record company owns and controls all of their intellectual property and recording activities.  2) The artist compromises his/her spirit and conforms to the expectations of white corporate conglomerates to become a poster boy/girl for Black pathology.  3) The other and rare occurrence is the artist is allowed to speak to the needs of the people and becomes a true cultural and political icon like Bob Marley or Peter Tosh.  However, the slave master's record company receives the lion's share of economic benefit from our "redemption songs."  In one of Bob Marley's last interviews, when asked about the record business, he said, "We are making plans to distribute our own music worldwide, because, when you sing songs about slavery and the slave master and his children end up with a bag of money from your record, those types of things hurt.  It really hurts." 

Clearly, neither of the aforementioned options is acceptable to the African centered artist of today.  Presently, we are at the point where we are willing to literally starve before we sell out our people or be silenced.  However, starving is not necessary nor an option.  The situation on the ground for independent Black liberation poets and musicians is ripe for implementing a cooperative model of exchange and economics.  The internet has been an inexpensive, effective and far reaching way of exposing my work to people world wide.  I sell my spoken word CDs, have sound files, live performance reviews, a bio, fan mail, pictures and an essays and interviews pag--on my website heruspeaks.com.  My work is available to the entire planet.  I receive messages of appreciation for my poetry from supporters in Ghana, New York, Australia, Brazil, Miami, London, Holland, Japan and Ethiopia.  In fact, I am my own record label because I finance, produce and manufacture my own CDs, control the artwork on my CD, the content in my CD, I take orders from the general public, ship the CDs to customers, answer any and all inquiries about my work, etc.  I am also responsible for my own publicity and bookings.  All of this has prepared me and other similarly situated artists to enter into a competent cooperative environment where resources can be pooled together and everyone can enjoy the fruits of their labor.

A few years ago, I employed a third party digital download service on my website for my CDs, and the results were astronomical.  I decided to study the precise science of digital download technology and taught myself how to administer and process digital files on my own.  I have conquered this technology and felt I should multiply my efforts times one thousand. 

Digital downloads are the new frontier for storing and delivering content. Physical sales of CDs are down. In fact, CDs (and DVDs) are most likely going to go the way of the cassette tape. More and more mp3 players like Apple's iPod and Microsoft's Zune are being sold. iTunes has reached it's 1 billionth download. We Africans, who provide so much raw material for the music industry must position ourselves to take our equivalent market share and thereby dominate the digital download industry. The time is now.

Today, we are prepared and resolute to embark on creating an industry that deals head on with cutting out the slave master and his minions from benefitting from our raw material of musical talent and anything else that may be digitized.  Remember, every problem has a solution.

Problem Solved!!! Enter: Movementunes.com

We are proud to provide you with digital downloads from world class artists from around the globe. Social consciousness and historical awareness are the common themes of all the artists on www.movementunes.com. The artists actually care about their respective people and communities and have taken the responsibility to inspire and uplift people through music. All of the artists are known for their solid reputations of commitment and purpose through music. Every song and each CD, is a tribute to our great legacy.

We have hand-picked artists, authors and thinkers who exemplify Pan-African/Positive values and have a mastery of their art.  The site has set up content channels worldwide with other Black activist channels to make sure that our people get to hear the other half of the story that is rarely told.   The days of incessant complaining about the lack of positive messages in our music and art are effectively over.

Our journey and goal are in essence identical: the creation of over-lapping, interconnected and intertwined economic entities of consciousness.
I am pleased to be one among the new breed of Pan-Africanist industry creators who are entering into a new paradigm of doing for self by uniting community and personal economic interests with others who are like-minded with no apology.  Because we are who we are, at least 10% of the annual profits will go to clean water and solar energy projects in Africa.

When you go to movementunes.com, you'll see that the "Artists and Genres" page has a variety of artists with diverse musical styles including, Reggae, Hip-Hop, Spoken Word Poetry, Soul Music, World Music, and more. Our catalogue of artists will be growing regularly, so feel free to check in for more updates. There is no registration required.  Just click the artist's name and listen to free samples and buy downloads of the music that speaks to you. Most albums are sold for $10.00 and most singles are sold for $1.00.  You can download single songs from different artists or complete albums. The choice is yours. It's a movement, and you're part of it!!! 

All music purchases are secure. All purchased music is sent to your entered email address immediately as a zip file. Just click the zipped folder, and the mp3 music file will appear. This site is extremely simple and user friendly. Finding and supporting Positive Culture Music has never been so easy.

There will also be a free live 1 hour interview posted on this page of feature artists that will rotate frequently. You will be able to hear your new favorite artists talk about politics, history, culture and their music live & direct. Enjoy!!!

MovemenTunes.com is here to serve. Customers and Artists should feel free to contact us at info@movementunes.com for any inquiries.

More Than Music

We have also entered into agreements with LIBradio.com and Harambeeradio.com to offer digital downloads of 2 hour intense and in depth interviews with some of our greatest historians, thinkers and activists such as Ashra Kwesi, Marimba Ani, Molefi Asante, Asa Hilliard, Queen Afua, Tony Martin, Anthony Browder and many, many more.

In addition, we will have AudioBooks from Publishing Houses such as Black Classic Press and Third World Press available for digital download.
Lastly, look for downloads of conscious films made available through movementunes.com

Conclusion

"Talking is only necessary in the planning stages." © Anonymous Rasta Elder

Controlling our raw materials in every aspect is the order of the day.  The human being is on earth to solve problems.  When there is too much endless talking and philosophical debates about theory, confusion takes root and no industry blossoms.  Consequently, no problems are being solved.  Africans are here to solve African problems.  Let's get busy.

Do your part and let at least 3 people know about movementunes.com.  Let us soldier forward together toward real power through control of industry. 

July 23, 2008

The times have forced me to weigh in on Obama-mania. So as an artist, I have done what is natural: write a song/poem encapsulating my thoughts and analysis. The full song can be heard on my homepage, www.heruspeaks.com. It can also be downloaded on my website's "Product" page and/or www.movementunes.com.

They say this is a historic moment, so allow me to get historical in this moment. This is a historical and present day analysis of Barack Obama. Straight, no chaser. Enjoy.

Barack Obama is Septimius Severus: Change You Can Believe In

By

Heru Ofori-Atta
(www.heruspeaks.com)

My people, whatever you do,
Be for who, who be for you

Lucius Septimius Severus
Oh ye Black Emperor of Rome
Barack Hussein Obama
Black President
Of the brave people's home

Lucius, Born in Africa, this history is crazy
Septimius, became the Emperor of Rome in 193 AD
Severus, we had high hopes for you, every African man, woman and baby
But you became the metaphor of a weeping willow tree so sad, so shady
You went along with their brutality
You went along with their insanity
And disregard for non-Roman humanity
You rejected your own history
And adopted a Roman identity

Lucius Septimius Severus
Oh ye Black Emperor of Rome
Barack Hussein Obama
Black President
Of the brave people's home

Oprah Winfrey's best friend is influential, and her name is Gayle
All best friends are influential, and Barack Obama's best friend seems to be Israel
Even with glowing lights and make up, the ugly truth can never hide
A Black leader from South Africa recently went to Israel and said the treatment of Palestinians looks just like apartheid,
Some say your speech on race was a nice try
You've given the image that you're a very, very nice guy
and an oh so peaceful man
But I've read transcripts of your speeches,
And you want to bomb Iran
and you want to expand the war in Afghanistan
Man oh man
How will you explain to your daughters why Israel can have nuclear weapons, but Iran cannot,
How America can have Nuclear weapons but, but Iran cannot,
Even South Africa under white rule could have nuclear weapons, but Iran cannot
Without using double standards, giving an answer, you cannot

Lucius Septimius Severus
Oh ye Black Emperor of Rome
Barack Hussein Obama
Black President
Of the brave people's home

You did not change the imperial policies of previous Caesars
You created fools of those who were serious believers
You defended the interests of Rome and not the interests of your father's home
You prided your self as a Black Man who was a true patriot of Rome
You alone man became the most loyal Roman
History is a current event, so the past is the present and the present is the past
To you Rome came first and Africa came last
The perceived source of relief, is the source of our belief,
That's why we believed in you so prematurely
Two thousand seasons later, you'd think that we would mature see
You with just your smile and an oath to defend all things Roman,
In the autumn of 2008, will we still fall for seductive symbols and tokens?

Lucius Septimius Severus
Oh ye Black Emperor of rome
Barack Hussein Obama
Black President
The brave people's home

So the next time you go to Florida on family vacation to scuba in Key Largo
Look ninety miles to the south and explain why you kiss up to China , but support the Cuban embargo
Does that make your sponsors giggle?
Not a lot but maybe a little?
Will they quibble with this riddle?
What's worse, the fact that Bill Clinton had Monica Lewinsky?
Or that your foreign policy advisor is Zbigniew Brzezinski?
You know, one of the guys behind the trilateral commission
You know, one of the guys who believe that a lie is not lie if it's a lie by omission
You know, one of the guys who believes that the rule of law is a legal fiction
You know, one of the guys who is the prescription glasses to David Rockefeller's world domination blurry vision?
You know, one the guys who thinks double speak is perfect diction
You know, one of the guys who thinks rubbing shoulders with evil is good for friction?
But your supporters are electrified by you,
Galvanized by you
Hypnotized and Magnetized by you,
They say you're playing chess on a very high level
But, some of us don't play chess with the devil
We play a game called confess with the devil
No, some of us don't play chess with the devil
Yo, we play a game called stress with the devil
A continent of the oldest kings and the oldest queens demands your loyalty
The key to playing chess
Is to never lose your royalty
Would be first lady, it's not too late for you to check your mate

Lucius Septimius Severus
Oh ye Black emperor of Rome
Barack Hussein Obama
Black President
Of a self proclaimed brave people's home

Painted in staccato
Is the airbrushed image of the tragic magic mulatto
Kenya, Kenya, Ken-ya become President with elation and forget about grandma in a neo-colonized east African nation?
It's a hell of a situation when Dick Cheney is a family relation
What is the proper allegiance when you have the historical grievance of black people under siege
When a country stabs you in the back, and makes it a crime when you bleed
Abraham Lincoln is your hero, but the emancipation proclamation was a zero,
because there was no one it freed
A country whose fruits came from the extermination and experimentation of red and black seeds
Jeremiah Wright was right, he never lied
When he preached about the book Medical Apartheid
But you condemned his plead, cause you know and I know that Americans don't read
Is it possible to be a Patriotic American and a good world citizen?
Is it possible to be a good American and a high octane African?
In a land where the national past time is not baseball but deceiving, deceiving, deceiving
You may wake up and be seeing
Lucius Septimius Severus starring as Barack Hussein Obama
in a new epic movie called "Change You Can Believe In."

© Heru Ofori-Atta(www.heruspeaks.com), 2008. All Rights Reserved.

January 25, 2010

A Book and Music List:

Here is a general email I have been receiving for years. It is about book recommendations and music. Here is the email and my response follows:

--MJ

peace bredren,

give thanks for the strength.

here's a list of books, to be read in this order:

1. nile valley contributions to civilization, anthony browder
2. the destrustion of black civilization, chancellor williams
3.  the philosophy and opinions of marcus garvey, edited by dr. tony martin
4. two thousand seasons, ayi kwei armah

music:

1. Anything and everything on www.movementunes.com.

strictly music:

1. bob marley, survival
2. bob marley, confrontation
3. bob marley uprising
4. burning spear, marcus garvey
5. burning spear, hail h.i.m.
6. culture, two sevens clash
7. culture, international herb
8.  peter tosh, equal rights
9.  peter tosh, legalize it
10. dezarie, gracious mama africa
11. midnite, unpolished
12. midnite, jubilees of zion
13. midnite, seek knowledge before vengeance
14. bob marley, natty dread
15. the mighty diamonds, the right time
16. sizzla, black woman and child
17. sizzla, praise ye jah
18. steel pulse, handsworth revolution
19. steel pulse, true democracy
20. steel pulse, tribute to the martyrs
21. aswad, aswad

these books, music from movementunes, and the reggae cds will take you to a different level.

--heru