Tha Artivist Presents...

2008-08-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

Nigel Parry for The New York Times

From left: Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia; Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina; Representative John Lewis of Georgia; and Representative Artur Davis of Alabama.

By MATT BAI Of NY TIMES
Published: August 6, 2008

Forty-seven years after he last looked out from behind the bars of a South Carolina jail cell, locked away for leading a march against segregation in Columbia, James Clyburn occupies a coveted suite of offices on the second and third floors of the United States Capitol, alongside the speaker and the House majority leader. Above his couch hangs a black-and-white photograph of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking in Charleston, with the boyish Clyburn and a group of other men standing behind him onstage. When I visited Clyburn recently, he told me that the photo was taken in 1967, nine months before King’s assassination, when rumors of violence were swirling, and somewhere on the side of the room a photographer’s floodlight had just come crashing down unexpectedly. At the moment the photo was taken, everyone pictured has reflexively jerked their heads in the direction of the sound, with the notable exception of King himself, who remains in profile, staring straight ahead at his audience. Clyburn prizes that photo. It tells the story, he says, of a man who knew his fate but who, quite literally, refused to flinch.

On the day in early July when Clyburn and I talked, Barack Obama, who is the same age as one of Clyburn’s three daughters, had recently clinched his party’s nomination for president. Clyburn, who as majority whip is the highest-ranking black elected official in Washington, told me that on the night of the final primaries he left the National Democratic Club down the street about 15 minutes before Obama was scheduled to speak and returned home to watch by himself. He feared he might lose hold of his emotions.

“Here we are, all of a sudden, in the 60th year after Strom Thurmond bolting the Democratic Party over a simple thing, something almost unheard of — because he did not want the armed forces to be integrated,” Clyburn said slowly. “Here we are 45 years after the ‘I have a dream’ speech. Forty years after the assassinations of Kennedy and King. And this party that I have been a part of for so long, this party that has been accused of taking black people for granted, is about to deliver the nomination for the nation’s highest office to an African-American. How do you describe that? All those days in jail cells, wondering if anything you were doing was even going to have an impact.” He shook his head silently.

This time, however, a lot of the old activists stood in the path of an African-American’s advancement rather than blazing it. While Democratic black voters embraced Obama by ratios of 8 or 9 to 1 in a lot of districts, the 42 House members in the Congressional Black Caucus, for a time, split more or less down the middle between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the country’s leading black ministers and mayors trended toward the Clinton camp. Clyburn himself declined until the very end to endorse a candidate in this year’s primaries, saying that his leadership role required him to remain neutral, but he made no effort to disguise his relief at having been able to invoke that excuse. “Being African-American, sure, my heart was with him,” Clyburn told me. “But I’ve got a head too. And in the beginning my head was with Clinton. The conventional wisdom was that this thing was going to be over in February.”

He then recalled a moment, just after the Georgia primary in early February, when he ran into John Lewis, the legendary civil rights leader and Georgia congressman, on the House floor. Lewis was in anguish over the primaries. He had endorsed his friend Hillary Clinton, but his constituents had gone heavily for Obama, and he was beginning to waver. As Clyburn remembered it, Lewis told his old friend sadly that after all these years, they were finally going to see history yield to the forces they had unleashed. “And I’m on the wrong side,” Lewis said. (Later, after weeks of public vacillating, he would switch his allegiance.)

It is hard for any outsider to fully understand the thinking that led many older black leaders to spurn the candidacy of a man who is now routinely pictured, along with ’60s-era revolutionaries like Angela Davis and Malcolm X, on the T-shirts sold at the street-corner kiosks of black America. (“You’d be real embarrassed if he won and you wasn’t down with it,” the comedian Chris Rock joked to a Harlem audience while introducing Obama last November. “You’d say: ‘Aww, I can’t call him now! I had that white lady! What was I thinking?’ ”) Conversations like those I had with Clyburn and Lewis, however, begin to illuminate just how emotionally complicated such internal deliberations were.

On a surface level, those who backed Clinton did so largely out of a combination of familiarity and fatalism. If you were a longtime black leader or activist at the end of 2007, you probably believed, based on your own life experience, that no black man was going to win the nomination, let alone the presidency. (“If anybody tells you they expected this result, they’re not being honest with you,” Clyburn cautioned.) You knew the Clintons personally, or at least you knew their allies in the community. Who was this Obama, really, aside from the resonant voice and the neon smile? As Charles Rangel, Harlem’s powerful representative and a strong Clinton ally, told me recently, “Of course I would support someone I knew and had liked and had worked with, versus someone I’d never heard of.”

But maybe it wasn’t only what you didn’t know about Obama. What did he know about you? Obama was barely 2 years old when King gave his famous speech, 3 when Lewis was beaten about the head in Selma. He didn’t grow up in the segregated South as Bill Clinton had. Sharing those experiences wasn’t a prerequisite for gaining the acceptance of black leaders, necessarily, but that didn’t mean Obama, with his nice talk of transcending race and baby-boomer partisanship, could fully appreciate the sacrifices they made, either. “Every kid is always talking about what his parents have been through,” Rangel says, “and no kid has any clue what he’s talking about.”

For black Americans born in the 20th century, the chasms of experience that separate one generation from the next— those who came of age before the movement, those who lived it, those who came along after — have always been hard to traverse. Elijah Cummings, the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and an early Obama supporter, told me a story about watching his father, a South Carolina sharecropper with a fourth-grade education, weep uncontrollably when Cummings was sworn in as a representative in 1996. Afterward, Cummings asked his dad if he had been crying tears of joy. “Oh, you know, I’m happy,” his father replied. “But now I realize, had I been given the opportunity, what I could have been. And I’m about to die.” In any community shadowed by oppression, pride and bitterness can be hard to untangle.

The generational transition that is reordering black politics didn’t start this year. It has been happening, gradually and quietly, for at least a decade, as younger African-Americans, Barack Obama among them, have challenged their elders in traditionally black districts. What this year’s Democratic nomination fight did was to accelerate that transition and thrust it into the open as never before, exposing and intensifying friction that was already there. For a lot of younger African-Americans, the resistance of the civil rights generation to Obama’s candidacy signified the failure of their parents to come to terms, at the dusk of their lives, with the success of their own struggle — to embrace the idea that black politics might now be disappearing into American politics in the same way that the Irish and Italian machines long ago joined the political mainstream.

“I’m the new black politics,” says Cornell Belcher, a 38-year-old pollster who is working for Obama. “The people I work with are the new black politics. We don’t carry around that history. We see the world through post-civil-rights eyes. I don’t mean that disrespectfully, but that’s just the way it is.

“I don’t want in any way to seem critical of the generation of leadership who fought so I could be sitting here,” Belcher told me when we met for breakfast at the Four Seasons in Georgetown one morning. He wears his hair in irreverent spikes and often favors tennis shoes with suit jackets. “Barack Obama is the sum of their struggle. He’s the sum of their tears, their fights, their marching, their pain. This opportunity is the sum of that.

“But it’s like watching something that you’ve been working on all your life sort of come together right before your eyes, and you can’t see it,” Belcher said. “It’s like you’ve been building the Great Wall of China, and you finally put that last stone in. And you can’t see it. You just can’t see the enormity of it.”

The latest evidence of tension between Obama and some older black leaders burst onto cable television last month, after an open microphone on Fox News picked up the Rev. Jesse Jackson crudely making the point that he wouldn’t mind personally castrating his party’s nominee. The reverend was angry because Obama, in a Father’s Day speech on Chicago’s South Side, chastised black fathers for shirking their responsibilities. To Jackson, this must have sounded a lot like a presidential candidate polishing his bona fides with white Americans at the expense of black ones — something he himself steadfastly refused to do even during his second presidential run in 1988, when he captured more votes than anyone thought possible.

Most of the coverage of this minor flap dwelled on the possible animus between Jackson and Obama, despite the fact that Obama himself, who is not easily distracted, seemed genuinely unperturbed by it. But more interesting, perhaps, was the public reaction of Jesse Jackson Jr., the reverend’s 43-year-old son, who is a congressman from Illinois and the national co-chairman of Obama’s campaign. The younger Jackson released a blistering statement in which he said he was “deeply outraged and disappointed” by the man he referred to, a little icily, as “Reverend Jackson.” Invoking his father’s most famous words, Jesse Jr. concluded, “He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself.”

This exchange between the two Jacksons hinted at a basic generational divide on the question of what black leadership actually means. Black leaders who rose to political power in the years after the civil rights marches came almost entirely from the pulpit and the movement, and they have always defined leadership, in broad terms, as speaking for black Americans. They saw their job, principally, as confronting an inherently racist white establishment, which in terms of sheer career advancement was their only real option anyway. For almost every one of the talented black politicians who came of age in the postwar years, like James Clyburn and Charles Rangel, the pinnacle of power, if you did everything right, lay in one of two offices: City Hall or the House of Representatives. That was as far as you could travel in politics with a mostly black constituency. Until the 1990s, even black politicians with wide support among white voters failed in their attempts to win statewide, with only one exception (Edward Brooke, who was elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts in 1966). On a national level, only Jesse Jackson was able to garner a respectable number of white votes, muscling open the door through which Obama, 20 years later, would breezily pass.

This newly emerging class of black politicians, however, men (and a few women) closer in age to Obama and Jesse Jr., seek a broader political brief. Comfortable inside the establishment, bred at universities rather than seminaries, they are just as likely to see themselves as ambassadors to the black community as they are to see themselves as spokesmen for it, which often means extolling middle-class values in urban neighborhoods, as Obama did on Father’s Day. Their ambitions range well beyond safely black seats.

Artur Davis, an Alabama representative and one of the most talked-about young talents on Capitol Hill, recently told me a story about his first campaign for Congress, in 2000, when he challenged the longtime black incumbent Earl Hilliard. Davis was only 32 at the time, a federal prosecutor who graduated from Harvard Law School, and he saw Hilliard as the classic example of a passing political model — a guy who saw himself principally as a spokesman for the community rather than as an actual legislator.

After a debate in which Davis pounded the incumbent for being out of touch with the district, Hilliard took him aside. “Young man, you have a good political future,” Davis recalled Hilliard telling him. “But you’ve got to learn one basic lesson. You’re trying to start at the top, and you can’t start at the top in politics.”

“With all due respect, Congressman,” Davis replied, “I don’t think a group with 435 members can be the top of anything.”

Davis lost that race, but he won in a rematch two years later. Now he’s weighing a run for governor.

One telling difference between black representatives of Davis’s generation and the more senior set in Washington is how they initially viewed the role of race in this year’s primaries. Older members of the Congressional Black Caucus assumed, well into the primary season, that a black candidate wouldn’t be able to win in predominantly white states. This, after all, had been their lifelong experience in politics. Not only did Davis, who grew up in post-segregation Montgomery and supported Obama, reject this view, but he also wouldn’t concede when we talked that Obama’s race was, on balance, a detriment.

“Race was a factor in the contest between Obama and Clinton,” he told me. “There’s no question race will be a factor with Obama and McCain. But I’m not sure it plays out as neatly as people think. There’s no question that some young cohort of white voters were drawn to Obama because they like the idea of a break with the past. A young, white politician from Illinois might not have gotten that support. So race probably cost Obama some votes. And it probably won him some votes. That’s the complex reality we’re living in.”

When I met last month with Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark who at 39 is already something of a national sensation, he told me that he had just finished reading, belatedly, Obama’s memoir “Dreams From My Father.” He said passages about Obama’s youth in Hawaii had reminded him of his own experience with subtle racism in the affluent, mostly white suburb of Harrington Park, N.J. “You know, what it’s like growing up every single day and having people ask to touch your hair because they’ve never seen hair like that,” Booker said. “To have the entire class laugh and giggle when somebody pronounces ‘Niger’ as ‘nigger.’ The constant bombardment of that kind of thing really affects your spirit, and it’s every single day. Like when people want to come back from a vacation and compare their tan to yours and joke about being black.”

No doubt these were searing experiences for Booker, and I had to wince as he ticked them off, recognizing too much of myself and my white classmates from the 1980s in the imagery. But as Booker himself noted, they are a world away from the reality that was pounded into civil rights activists like his parents, to whom racism meant dogs and hoses and segregated schools and luncheonettes. You can imagine what James Clyburn — still haunted by the vivid memory of the moment he found out that his erudite father had never been allowed to graduate from high school — would make of the lifelong trauma caused by suburban kids asking to feel your hair.

A Rhodes scholar who graduated from Stanford and Yale Law, Booker won his office in 2006 after first running unsuccessfully in 2002 against the incumbent, Sharpe James, who governed Newark for an astounding 20 years (and was sentenced last month to prison time on federal corruption charges). James was the very model of the Black Power mayor, a defiant spokesman for his community and a deft conjurer of America’s racial demons. James derided Booker as a suburban outsider and questioned his blackness. (“You have to learn how to be African-American,” James said in a speech directed at Booker, “and we don’t have time to train you.”) Booker famously took up residence in a city housing project, but his relationship to Newark’s black community was, and still is, more tenuous and complicated than his predecessor’s.

When I asked Booker if he considered himself a leader of the black community, he seemed to freeze for a moment. “I’m Popeye,” he replied finally. “I am what I am.” He paused again, then tried to explain.

“I don’t want to be pigeonholed,” he said. “I don’t want people to expect me to speak about those issues.” By this, presumably, he meant issues that revolve around race: profiling by police, incarceration rates, flagging urban economies. “I want people to ask me about nonproliferation. I want them to run to me to speak about the situation in the Middle East.” Since the mayor of Newark is rarely called upon to discuss such topics, I got the feeling that Booker does not see himself staying in his current job for anything close to 20 years. “I don’t want to be the person that’s turned to when CNN talks about black leaders,” he said.

Even so, Booker told me that his goal wasn’t really to “transcend race.” Rather, he says that for his generation of black politicians it’s all right to show the part of themselves that is culturally black — to play basketball with friends and belong to a black church, the way Obama has. There is a universality now to the middle-class black experience, he told me, that should be instantly recognizable to Jews or Italians or any other white ethnic bloc that has struggled to assimilate. And that means, at least theoretically, that a black politician shouldn’t have to obscure his racial identity.

“So Obama’s the first one out there on the ice,” Booker told me. “This campaign is giving other African-Americans like myself the courage to be themselves.”

Given this generational perspective, it is easy to understand why Obama’s candidacy was greeted coolly by much of Washington’s black elite. Obama joined the Congressional Black Caucus when he arrived in 2005, but he attended meetings only sporadically, and it must have been obvious that he never felt he belonged. In part, this was probably because he was the group’s only senator and thus had little daily interaction with his colleagues in the House. But to hear those close to Obama tell it, it was also because, like Booker and other younger black politicians, he simply wasn’t comfortable categorizing his politics by race. One main function of the black caucus is to raise money through events, because many of the members represent poorer districts. Obama, already a best-selling author by the time he was sworn in, should have been a huge fund-raising draw, but he never showed much interest in headlining caucus events, and he was rarely asked.

Jesse Jackson Jr. warned his colleagues in the black caucus of the risks of shunning Obama’s candidacy, reminding them of the political aftermath of Jesse Jackson Sr.’s campaigns in the 1980s. Back then, too, most black Congressional Democrats sided with the white presidential candidates, and Jackson carried many of their districts in 1984 and virtually all of them in 1988, driving up voter registration in the process. A result, over the next few election cycles, was a flurry of primary challenges, the retirement or defeat of several incumbents and the arrival in Washington of a new class of black congressmen, including James Clyburn. Jackson’s message was clear: even if Obama lost, there could be a cost for opposing him.

Still, most in the caucus didn’t take Obama all that seriously as a potential nominee, and neither did the Clinton campaign. They calculated that he would need a huge share of black votes to wrest the nomination from Hillary, and her advisers, white and black, considered that a near impossibility. “There was an arrogance and a complete dismissiveness in our campaign against Obama, that he was a lightweight, that he couldn’t get black support,” one senior Clinton aide told me recently. “A lot of the black leaders didn’t know him, didn’t think he was black enough, didn’t think he was of the civil rights movement.” This point about whether Obama was “black enough,” a senseless distinction to most white voters, came up often in my discussions. It referred to the perception among some black leaders that not only had Obama not shared their generational experience, but also that he hadn’t shared the African-American experience, period. Obama’s father was a Kenyan academic; his family came to America on scholarship, not in chains.

Internally, Clinton’s strategists set a goal of receiving half the black vote in the Southern primaries, though they calculated that they needed as little as 30 percent in order to beat back Obama. It seemed like a sure bet. Last fall, as the primaries neared, their own polls had them winning more than 60 percent of black voters.

Within hours of Obama’s victory in Iowa, however, Clinton’s black support began to crumble. Black voters, young and old, simply hadn’t believed that a black man could win in white states; when he did, a wave of pride swept through African-American neighborhoods in the South. Nor did those voters apparently have the deep affection for Hillary Clinton that many of their ministers and local pols did. Carol Willis, a Clinton aide from the Arkansas days who was leading the campaign’s outreach to black voters, told me, “I always heard people saying: ‘I know Bill Clinton. I don’t know Hillary Clinton. So I’ll give Barack Obama a closer hearing.’ ” Internal polling in both campaigns after Iowa showed Obama suddenly garnering closer to 75 or 80 percent of the black vote in primary states.

From then on, the Democratic nomination fight sometimes took on the feel of one of those contentious diversity workshops, with every word parsed for its racial undertone and every emotion rising to the surface. What did Bill Clinton mean by “naïve” and “fairy tale”? Was it an accident that Hillary Clinton used the word “spadework” to deride her opponent’s record? Clyburn and Bill Clinton had long and tense phone conversations because of several comments the former president had made. The one that bothered Clyburn the most, he told me, came when he read in a South Carolina newspaper that Clinton had referred to Obama as a “kid.” “I grew up in the South, where men like Barack Obama, who right now is older than Bill Clinton was when he ran for president, were called ‘boy,’ ” Clyburn told me. “And that’s what a kid is — a boy.” The most damaging moment for Bill Clinton, though, came just after the South Carolina primary, when he waved away the victory by comparing it with Jesse Jackson’s wins there in 1984 and 1988. “There was something about the condescension on his face when he said it and the dismissiveness in his voice,” Artur Davis recalled. “It was a verbal pat on the head.”

In March, shaken by the persistent controversy over comments pulled from the sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, an icon in Chicago’s black community and Obama’s former pastor, Obama gave his now famous speech on race. It was aimed, for the most part, at reassuring white voters over the Wright controversy, but it also marked the first time that he publicly addressed the generational divide his own campaign had exposed among black Americans. “For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation,” Obama said, “the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away, nor has the anger and bitterness of those years. . . . At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines or to make up for a politician’s own failings.” Some older black politicians may have recognized themselves in Obama’s subtle criticism, but those I spoke to said they took pride in seeing a black candidate articulate their experience to white America.

A lot of black incumbents who supported Clinton now find themselves trying to explain how they ended up so disconnected from their constituents, and many are preparing for their strongest primary challenges in years. (In a primary last month, John Lewis, who had run unopposed since 1992, had to beat not one but two primary opponents, including a 31-year-old minister named Markel Hutchins who designed his campaign to look just like Obama’s, right down to renting the same office space and using a red, white and blue logo in the shape of an “O.”) So far, incumbents facing insurrection over their endorsements of Clinton have easily dispatched their challengers, leading to a collective exhalation inside the black caucus in Washington. But then, as Jesse Jackson Jr. tried to remind his colleagues, the history of black politics is that such challengers are often heard from again.

On the first Tuesday in July, I traveled to Philadelphia, the site of Obama’s landmark speech on race, to see the city’s mayor, Michael Nutter. Known as a reformer during a 14-year stint on the City Council, Nutter played a central and intriguing role in this year’s presidential contest, emerging as the black face of Hillary Clinton’s campaign in Pennsylvania at a time when she desperately needed — and got — a solid victory in the state. Nutter certainly wasn’t the only visible black politician to campaign for Clinton deep into the primary season, but he was, in some ways, the least likely. Nutter is only four years older than Obama, Ivy League-educated, bookish and doggedly unemotional. He is, in short, the very prototype of the new generation of black political stars. But unlike Cory Booker or Artur Davis or Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts, Nutter sided with Clinton, and he enthusiastically campaigned for her.

I was curious to know whether Nutter, who was elected to a four-year term just last fall, was bracing for the consequences of that decision. About 9 of every 10 black voters in Philadelphia pulled the lever for Obama, according to exit polls, and I heard at least one black Obama backer in Washington vow to make Nutter pay for his apostasy. On the day that I visited him at City Hall, his aides had been reviewing the video of a sermon from last fall in which a prominent black minister in the city suggested that Nutter might have a “white agenda.”

It was late in the day when Nutter and I sat down at a long conference table in his office, accompanied by the sounds of subway trains rumbling underneath and R & B music piped in from mounted speakers. He told me that he had made his decision methodically and had felt no pressure at all from his constituents.

Nutter said he sat down with both Clinton and Obama after his election as mayor and quizzed them about urban issues like housing, education and transportation. Race, he said, hadn’t entered into this thinking. He understood, he said, why the prospect of a black president after hundreds of years of discrimination was “powerful stuff” for a lot of his constituents, but he had a greater responsibility, and that was to run the nation’s sixth-largest city. “In the context of what I do for a living, I’ve not figured out a black or white way to fill a pothole,” he said, in a way that made me think he had said this many times before. Nutter was a delegate for Bill Clinton way back in 1992, and he said that the former first lady had shown a “depth of understanding” of what cities like Philadelphia were facing. It probably didn’t hurt that Obama endorsed one of Nutter’s opponents in last year’s mayoral primary, either.

Nutter said he wasn’t bothered by comments that the Clintons or their surrogates made during the campaign that had so incensed other black officials. “I think there was a lot of sensitivity, some warranted and some unwarranted,” he said. “It’s based on your life experience, and it’s generational. You know, if you have a sore on your arm, you don’t necessarily have to touch the sore to feel the pain. You can touch another part of your arm. You’ve still got a certain sensitivity to it. So if race is the sensitive thing, then anything that even gets close to it — sounds like it, looks like it, feels like it — is it.”

I asked Nutter if, during his private conversations with Obama early in the campaign, the subject of race and the historic nature of his candidacy came up. He stared at me for a moment. “Um, I knew he was black,” he said finally. “I’d really kind of picked up on that.”

Later, when I mentioned that it could be hard for a white journalist to understand all of the nuances of race, he looked over at his press secretary, who is black, and interrupted me. “He’s not black?” Nutter deadpanned, motioning back at me. “You guys told me it was a skin condition. I thought I was talking to a brother.” Nutter is known to have a dry sense of humor, but I also had the sense that he was tweaking me in these moments, watching with some amusement as I tried to navigate subjects that white and black Americans rarely discuss together. He seemed to think I was oddly preoccupied with race.

In fact, Nutter seemed puzzled by the very notion that he should be expected to support a candidate just because they both had dark skin. “Look, I never asked anybody to be for me because I was black,” he said. “I asked people to be for me because I thought I was the best candidate when I ran for City Council and when I ran for mayor. I’m proud of the votes I received. I’m proud I received the votes of the majority of the African-American community and the majority of the vote from the white community. But I never asked anybody to give me anything because I was black. I asked people to give me a chance because I thought I was the best.”

For most black Americans, Obama’s candidacy represented a kind of racial milestone, the natural next phase of a 50-year movement. But for Michael Nutter, the reverse was also true: not supporting Obama’s candidacy marked a kind of progress, too. The movement, after all, was about the freedom to choose your own candidate, white or black. In a sense, you could argue that it was Nutter — and not those black politicians who embraced Obama because they so closely identified with his racial experience — who represented the truest embodiment of Obama-ism. Here, perhaps, was a genuine postracial politician, even if that meant being, as John Lewis put it, on the wrong side of history.

I asked Nutter if he found it insulting to have me come barging into his office, demanding to know why he didn’t pick the black guy.

“It’s not insulting,” he answered. “It’s presumptuous. It demonstrates a continuation of this notion that the African-American community, unlike any other, is completely monolithic, that everyone in the African-American community does the same thing in lockstep, in contrast to any other group. I mean, I don’t remember seeing John Kerry on TV and anybody saying to him, ‘I can’t believe you’re not for Hillary Clinton.’ Why?”

It’s inspiring to hear Michael Nutter say that governing a city isn’t about race, that there’s no black or white way to fill a pothole. And yet, it’s also true that in any given American city there are likely to be more potholes in black neighborhoods than in white ones — along with more violence, more unemployment and more illiteracy. Having grown up in West Philadelphia, Nutter knows well that while the decisions he makes as a mayor have no racial antecedents, rarely do they affect the races equally. “The challenge there is never forgetting where you came from,” he told me. “So, yes, I am mayor of all Philadelphia, but I am quite well aware of, and raise on a regular basis, the fact that the majority of people who are killed in Philadelphia are African-American, that the overwhelming majority of people who have health-care challenges are African-American, that education has tremendous disparity gaps. Unemployment, incarceration, poverty, homelessness, housing — all affect the African-American community at a disproportionate level as opposed to everyone else.”

In this way, post-Black Power politicians like Nutter and Booker embody the principal duality of modern black America. On one hand, they are the most visible examples of the highly educated, entrepreneurial and growing black middle class that cultural markers like “The Cosby Show” first introduced to white Americans in the 1980s. According to an analysis by Pew’s Economic Mobility Project, almost 37 percent of black families fell into one of the three top income quintiles in 2005, compared with 23 percent in 1973. At the same time, though, these black leaders are constantly confronted in their own cities and districts by blighted neighborhoods that are predominately black, places where poverty collects like standing water, breeding a host of social contagions.

That both of these trend lines can exist at once poses some difficult questions for black leaders and institutions. Back in the heyday of the civil rights movement, the evils and objectives were relatively clear: there were discriminatory laws in place that denied black Americans their rights as citizens, and the goal was to get those laws repealed and to pass more progressive federal legislation at the same time. You marched and you rallied and — if you had the bravery of a James Clyburn or a John Lewis — you endured blows to the head and to the spirit, and eventually the barriers started to fall. Things become more complicated, and more confounding, however, when those legal barriers no longer exist and when millions of black Americans are catapulting themselves to success. Now the inequities in the society are subtler — inferior schools, an absence of employers, a dearth of affordable housing — and the remedies more elusive.

This confusion over the direction of the movement has all but immobilized the nation’s premier civil rights group, the N.A.A.C.P. Synonymous with the long journey toward racial equality since its founding by W. E. B. Du Bois and others in 1909, the organization has, in recent years, lost much of its cachet with younger black Americans. In 2005, the N.A.A.C.P.’s unwieldy 64-member board hired Bruce Gordon, a former Verizon executive, to retool the organization. Gordon’s premise was that civil rights was no longer simply about protesting discrimination — that African-Americans were now stymied not only by institutional barriers but also by conditions in their communities. He proposed that a new N.A.A.C.P step into this breach, organizing services that might include SAT prep classes or training for new parents. He also created a new class of online members who didn’t have to pay any dues, adding more than 100,000 members to a group whose paying membership had declined, in Gordon’s estimate, to under 300,000.

Gordon’s agenda was always controversial among the N.A.A.C.P.’s board members (“Most of them are older than me,” the 62-year-old Gordon told me), and after a little more than 19 months in the job, Gordon resigned. In May, after a highly contentious process that divided the board once again, the N.A.A.C.P. hired the youngest president in its history, 35-year-old Benjamin Todd Jealous, the chosen candidate of Julian Bond, the civil rights leader and the N.A.A.C.P.’s board chairman.

You might expect Jealous, a native of mostly white Monterey County, Calif., and a Rhodes scholar, to have shared the racial experience of other emerging black leaders. But generational lines are rarely that neatly drawn, and when we met for breakfast on Independence Day, I was surprised to find that Jealous spoke about race not like Booker or Nutter but much like his heroes of an earlier era. The N.A.A.C.P.’s main job, he told me, was to be the place where African-Americans could turn when institutional racism assaulted their communities. He mentioned the racially charged arrests of six black teenagers in Jena, La., in 2006, as well as the suspicious death, just a few days earlier, of an accused cop killer in his suburban Maryland jail cell.

“It’s still a human rights struggle,” Jealous told me. “This isn’t a struggle that began in the 1930s or 1960s. It’s a struggle that began in 1620. It’s a struggle against slavery and its children.”

Jealous’s main difficulty in rejuvenating the N.A.A.C.P., though, may have less to do with the racist power structure than with a new class of black competitors online. And in this way, what’s happening among the black grass roots mirrors what’s been happening in the Democratic Party over the last several years, as loyalty to institutions and leaders has given way to a noisy conversation about how to better hold them accountable. A new generation of black activists is now focused on reforming institutions, namely the Congressional Black Caucus and the N.A.A.C.P., that they say have become too mired in the past and too removed from their constituents. And as in the rest of the political world, this rebellion is happening on the Internet, driven by ordinary Americans with laptops and a surprising amount of free time.

“The African-American voting population is very much online,” Cheryl Contee, who in 2006 helped found the blog Jack and Jill Politics, told me. Contee, who is an owner of a digital consulting business, blogs under the pseudonym Jill Tubman, and hers is one of a number of sites that have emerged in just the last year as part of what’s often called the “Afrosphere.” “One of the things I talk to clients about is that the digital divide has changed,” Contee said. “It’s no longer along racial lines like it was in 1996 and 2000. Now it’s more economic and educational.” In other words, after lagging for a time, college-educated African-Americans are now organizing online in the same way as their mostly white counterparts at Daily Kos and MoveOn.org started doing several years ago.

One of most vibrant voices in this debate belongs to Color of Change, a Web site designed to replicate the MoveOn model among black Web surfers. Two Bay Area activists, Van Jones and James Rucker, founded Color of Change in 2005, a week after the images of devastated black neighborhoods began streaming back from New Orleans. The group now boasts about 425,000 members, about half of whom are white. The bulk of the membership is between the ages of 35 and 55 and probably falls into the categories of middle class or affluent — in other words, the very people who were once the N.A.A.C.P.’s base of support. Those members pay no dues but contributed about $250,000 during a three-month period in 2007 to pay the legal fees of the defendants in Jena.

As in the liberal online community at large, there is not a lot of ideological coherence among the emerging “black roots.” There is no clear action plan for how to bridge the divide between middle-class black families and the millions left behind, aside from the same basic antiwar, anticorporate ethos that permeates the rest of the digital left. But there is a strong sense that the leaders of the civil rights generation need some kind of retirement plan, and soon. “Victims don’t make things happen,” says Rucker, who previously worked for MoveOn. “Things are changing from where they were 30 years ago. The fights are changing. And you have an infrastructure that’s not producing results. Look at the incarceration rates, the difference between whites and blacks. What are the old organizations accomplishing?”

Most of all, the black roots make it clear to elected officials and civil rights advocates that being black doesn’t, by itself, make you a leader. Online activists have attacked the Congressional Black Caucus for, among other things, standing by William Jefferson, the black representative accused of stuffing a freezer with cash bribes. They have harshly criticized several caucus members, some for having endorsed Clinton and others, like Artur Davis, for not being sufficiently liberal. Some bloggers went after the Rev. Al Sharpton and the N.A.A.C.P. for reflexively coming to the defense of four black teenagers in West Palm Beach who were charged with taking part in an unusually horrific rape of a mother and her 12-year-old son. (Sharpton and the local N.A.A.C.P. claimed that the boys were being treated differently from accused white rapists in a separate case, who were freed on bail.) Color of Change claims to have raised more than $10,000 and some 50 volunteers for Donna Edwards’s successful Web-supported primary campaign against Representative Albert Wynn, a black incumbent who voted for the Iraq war.

“There are some members who need to go or to update and be accountable,” Rucker told me. “It’s not about getting rid of the N.A.A.C.P. or our members of Congress. It’s just wanting to be proud of our leaders.”

For some black operatives in the Clinton orbit — people who have functioned, going back to Jesse Jackson’s campaigns in the 1980s, as Democratic Washington’s liaisons to black America — the fallout from an Obama victory would likely be profound. “Some of them will have to walk the plank,” an Obama adviser told me bluntly. In their place, an Obama administration would empower a cadre of younger black advisers who would instantly become people to see in Washington’s transactional culture. Chief among them is Valerie Jarrett, a Chicago real estate developer who is one of Barack and Michelle Obama’s closest friends. “She’s poised to be one of the most influential people in politics, and particularly among African-Americans in politics,” Belcher told me. “She may be the next Vernon Jordan.” In fact, the last time I saw Clyburn, he told me he had just spent two and a half hours at breakfast with Jarrett.

Then there are operatives like Belcher himself; Michael Strautmanis, Obama’s former chief counsel and de facto younger brother, who first met Michelle Obama when he was working as a paralegal at her law firm; Matthew Nugen, a political aide who is Obama’s point man for the Democratic convention; and Paul Brathwaite, a 37-year-old lobbyist who used to be the executive director of the black caucus and who might act as a bridge between black congressmen and an Obama White House.

Should they win in November, Obama and these new advisers will confront an unfamiliar conundrum in American politics, which is how to be president of the United States and, by default, the most powerful voice in black America at the same time. Several black operatives and politicians with whom I spoke worried, eloquently, that an Obama presidency might actually leave black Americans less well represented in Washington rather than more so — that, in fact, the end of black politics, if that is what we are witnessing, might also mean the precipitous decline of black influence.

The argument here is that a President Obama, closely watched for signs of parochialism or racial resentment, would have less maneuvering room to champion spending on the urban poor, say, or to challenge racial injustice. What’s more, his very presence in the Rose Garden might undermine the already tenuous case for affirmative action in hiring and school admissions. Obama himself has offered only tepid support for a policy that surely helped enable him to reach this moment. In “The Audacity of Hope,” he wrote: “Even as we continue to defend affirmative action as a useful, if limited, tool to expand opportunity to underrepresented minorities, we should consider spending a lot more of our political capital convincing America to make investments needed to ensure that all children perform at grade level and graduate from high school — a goal that, if met, would do more than affirmative action to help those black and Latino children who need it the most.”

Then there are the issues that Ben Jealous and others might raise: black men incarcerated at more than six times the rate of white men, black joblessness more than twice as high as the rate for white Americans. Just talking about such disparities as systemic problems could be harder for an African-American president — for any African-American, really — than it was before. “If Obama is president, it will no longer be tenable to go to the white community and say you’ve been victimized,” Artur Davis told me. “And I understand the poverty and the condition of black America and the 39 percent unemployment rate in some communities. I understand that. But if you go out to the country and say you’ve been victimized by the white community, while Barack Obama and Michelle and their kids are living in the White House, you will be shut off from having any influence.”

As a candidate, Obama has outlined an agenda for “civil rights and criminal justice,” aimed primarily at urban African-Americans. His platform includes refocusing the Justice Department on hate crimes, banning racial profiling by federal law-enforcement agencies and reforming mandatory minimum sentences (which disproportionately affect black men, especially those convicted on crack-cocaine charges). Obama’s black advisers caution, however, that no one should expect him to behave like a civil rights leader, marching alongside Al Sharpton to protest the next Jena or putting black causes ahead of anyone else’s. “It’s a very interesting question, but as a black person, you should feel confident that he will focus on your injustices and know that all the other injustices in other communities affect you too,” Valerie Jarrett told me. “There have been wounds in all the communities, not just in the black community. There are plenty of wounds to go around.”

If there is any American who can offer a glimpse of what it would be like for Obama as president, it’s probably Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. While most of the younger black politicians know one another only from the occasional encounter or phone call, Patrick and Obama shared a cup of coffee, at the suggestion of a mutual friend, in the mid-1990s and developed a close friendship. (The senator even borrowed some of Patrick’s oratory during the primaries, which led the Clinton camp to charge plagiarism.) Patrick was Coca-Cola’s general counsel and the assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration before he became, in 2006, only the second black man to be elected governor in American history, following L. Douglas Wilder in Virginia in 1989.

When we talked recently, Patrick explained for me some of the inherent pressures that come with being a black executive in a state with a history of friction among the races. “You’re constantly tested by a whole host of factors to see whether you’re speaking for the entire Commonwealth or just for one community,” Patrick told me. “I don’t fit in any box, and I think that’s what the electorate has had to learn about me.”

Black ministers were slow to embrace Patrick after he supported gay marriage as a candidate and refused to back down. After a black child was shot and killed in Boston last year, Patrick told me, he sent a note to the family and prepared to attend the funeral service, but relatives held a news conference at which they criticized him for not coming by to pay his respects. (Patrick later grew close to the family.) I remarked that it was usually the city’s mayor who was expected to comfort victims of urban crime.

“Yes, but it’s not good enough for me to have the reaction that you just did, to say I’m the governor, not the mayor,” Patrick told me. “They expect more.” In other words, he was expected not only to be a governor but also to fill the traditional role of the black politician — that of spokesman, minister and conduit to the white establishment.

Patrick and I spoke just a week after Jesse Jackson was caught wishing Obama bodily harm. “You wouldn’t believe how many times in the last few days people have stuck microphones in my face to ask my opinion about Jesse Jackson’s comments,” he said, sounding a little exasperated. He had declined to offer one. “I don’t have to be the black oracle,” Patrick told me. “All I have to be is as good a human being and as good a governor as I can be, and the rest will take care of itself.” If Obama’s day comes, he might want to think about borrowing those words too.

Matt Bai, who covers politics for the magazine, is the author of “The Argument: Inside the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics.”

For Comparisons Of Barack To Historical Black Figures Check Out The Following On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio:

Acceptable Blackness Vs. Unforgivable Blackness...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/06/acceptable-blackness-vs-unforgivable.html

Barack Hussein Obama Ain't No Adam Clayton Powell Jr.!!!
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/05/barack-hussein-obama-aint-no-adam.html

Tha Artstorian Ponders:Is Barack Obama The Sam Cooke of American Politics???
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/02/tha-artstorian-pondersis-barack-obama.html

More Related Coverage On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio:

If Fox News Gave Cindy McCain The Michelle Obama Treatment…Thoughts Of An Outraged Negro…
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/07/if-fox-news-gave-cindy-mccain-michelle.html

Why Obama Did The Wright Thing And How Rev. Wright’s Selfless Sacrifice Saved The Obama Presidency…

http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-obama-did-wright-thing-and-how-rev.html

The Hypocrisy Of The Media…Min. Farrakhan Was A Guest Of Honor For Key Pa. Hillary Supporter!!!

http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/05/hypocrisy-of-mediamin-farrakhan-was.html

Why Is Benedict Right & Wright Wrong?
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-is-benedict-right-and-wright-wrong.html

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: Black Liberation Theology 101:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/03/23/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

The Rev. Wright Controversy Told Through Video Media:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/03/rev-wright-controversy-told-through.html

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: Barack Obama & The Hip Hop Effect On American Politics:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/02/10/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special~Eyewitness To The Crucifixion: The Last Days Of MLK:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/04/07/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio-1

~~~~~~

Get Your Barack
Obama "A Legacy Of Hope" T-Shirt Today!!!

http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/04/barack-obama-legacy-of-hope-t-shirts.htm

2008-06-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

WHY I DEFACED THE STATUE OF TUPAC SHAKUR!!! By KENNETH ANTHONY WILSON...

9 YEAR OLD ANNIJAH IS

WHY I DEFACED THE STATUE OF TUPAC SHAKUR!!!

KENNETH ANTHONY WILSON

(writer, artist, dj & Supa-hero)

aka

DJ LUVSXI

(myspace.com/luvsxi)

aka

MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

(alter-ego)

MESSAGE TO THUGLIFEARMY.COM

(FROM MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL)

I'VE READ ALL THE IGNORANT RANTS OF ALL THE FOOLS IN YOUR CHAT ROOM ON

WHY I DEFACED THE STATUE OF TUPAC SHAKUR,

ONE FOOL EVEN HAD THE NERVE TO SAY

THAT GOD IS GOING TO PUNISH WHO EVER DID THIS TO HER MESSIAH TUPAC SHAKUR.

WELL FOOLS…

LET THE JUDGMENT BEGIN!!!

THUGLIFEARMY.COM YOU PUT THE CRACK IN BLACK

(YOU CRACK HEADS)

I NOW WONDER IF THUG LIFE ARMY.COM HAS THE BALLS TO PRINT MY SIDE OF THE STORY, NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY MIGHT NOT LIKE WHAT I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THEM AND THEIR KING OF FOOLS TUPAC SHAKUR.

AND THEN LET THE CHAT ROOM BUZZ…

THINK ABOUT THE HITS…CNN…

TIME FOR A REVOLUTION OF THE MIND AND SOUL

YES, I AM WILLING TO GIVE YOU IGNORANT FOOLS AT THUGLIFEARMY.COM AN EXCLUSIVE EXPOSÉ WITH THE SUPER-HERO WHO PISSED ON THE STATUE OF YOUR MESSIAH. WHO TOOK A PEAR OF HIS DIRTY UNDERWEAR AND DREW A CROWN ON IT WITH THE WRITING "A CROWN FIT FOR A KING OF FOOLS."

THIS IS MY WAY OF DECLARING AN INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC WAR AGAINST THE GANSTA RAP COMMUNITY…

YOU PUNK ASS BITCHES ARE GOING DOWN.

DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU FOOLS LIKE YOU WEAR YOUR PANTS HANGING OFF YOUR ASSES?

DOES JAIL HOUSE BITCHES COME TO MIND?

SEE YOU FOOLS AT THUGLIFEARMY.COM AND THE GANGSTA RAP COMMUNITY

ARE NOT LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD OR REALITY…

HOW LONG DO YOU THINK THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY AND COUNTRY

IS GOING TO JUST SIT BY AND WATCH YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING

MURDERING ASSHOLES DESTROY OUR COUNTRY

WITH YOUR BULLSHIT LIFE STYLE OF NIGGAZ, BITCHES, HOES

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU ASSHOLES ARE?

I HAVE A DREAM, NO NOT THIS DREAM

THERE IS NOT ONE MAN IN THE ENTIRE COURSE OF HUMAN HISTORY

WHO WAS OF ANY WORTH TO MANKIND, WHO WOULD THINK IT WAS KOOL

TO WEAR HIS PANTS BELOW HIS ASS.

MARTIN LUTHER KING DID NOT WEAR HIS PANTS BELOW HIS ASS

AND IF HE DID DURING HIS I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH,

WHAT A SITE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN.

YES I DEFACED THE STATUE OF TUPAC SHAKUR BECAUSE THE CENTER

IS A CANCER ON THE COMMUNITY,

FOR WE REAP WHAT WE SOW…

WELCOME TO DEATH ROW WHERE IGNORANT

AND DUMB-ASS NIGGAZ, BITCHES & HOES GROWS TO GOES.

TUPAC SHAKUR IS NO MESSIAH THAT'S WHY WHEN HE STUCK HIS DUMBASS

ON HIS ALBUM COVER AND CLAIMED HE WAS NOT DISRESPECTING JESUS CHRIST…

GOD CRUCIFIED HIS EVIL ASS BEFORE THE ALBUM CAME OUT.

AND IS IT ANY COINCIDENCE THAT THE LOCATION OF THE CENTER IS 5616 MEMORIAL DR. EXIT 41 OFF I-285.

5616 = 5+1/66 = 666 = MARK OF THE BEAST = HOUSE OF THE DEVIL

MEMORIAL = WORSHIPPING OF A FALSE IDOL

EXIT 41 = APRIL 1^ST = APRIL FOOLS = TO BE DECEIVED = KING OF FOOLS

I-285 = PROVERBS 28:5

PROVERBS 28:5

EVIL MEN UNDERSTAND NOT JUDGMENT: BUT THEY THAT SEEK THE LORD UNDERSTANDING ALL THINGS.

TUPAC SHAKUR WAS NOT ONLY A RAPIST AND MURDERER OF HIS OWN PEOPLE,

HIS CENTER OF THE ARTS IS IN THE BUSINESS OF MOLESTING THE YOUNG

MINDS OF OUR YOUTHS INTO BELIEVING THAT THUGLIFE IS THE AMERICAN DREAM.

AND SO, SO MANY YOUNG PEOPLE ARE NOW BACK IN SHACKLES AND JAIL,

BECAUSE OF THIS BULLSHIT LIFE STYLE THUGLIFEARMY.COM

AND THE TUPAC SHAKUR CENTER IS PUSHING ON OUR YOUTHS.

WOLVES IN SHEEP CLOTHING

I HAVE EVERY INTENTION OF PROVING IN A COURT OF LAW

NOT ONLY THE HYPOCRISY OF THE TUPAC SHAKUR CENTER,

BUT ALSO ITS IMMORALITY, INJUSTICE AND ILLEGALITY.

THAT'S RIGHT THE TUPAC SHAKUR CENTER IS AS ILLEGAL AS

SOMEONE OPENING A PORN SHOP FOR CHILDREN WITH

THE EMPLOYEES DRESSED AS PRIESTS AND NUNS.

BIBLE LESSON

AND SINCE AFENA SHAKUR INSIST ON LYING TO THE YOUTH

AT HER CENTER THAT HER SON IS THE MESSIAH AND HE DIED FOR THE SAKE OF THEM…

SO SHE RESURRECT A STATUE OF TUPAC SHAKUR DRESSED AS A REVEREND

WITH THE HOLY BIBLE IN HIS RIGHT HAND…

I THOUGHT IT ONLY FAIR TO SUBPOENA HER AND GIVE HER A BIBLE LESSON.

CRACK IS THE NEW BLACK?

YOU DO NOT HAVE A CRACK HEAD OPEN A CENTER FOR CHILDREN…

SHE DID A LOUSY ENOUGH JOB WITH TUPAC AND HE REAPED WHAT SHE SOWED…

NOW SHE IS READY TO WHITEWASH HISTORY AND WITH IT DESTROY

MANY YOUNG LIVES ALL IN THE NAME OF THUGLIFE.

DEATH ROW RECORDS DID NOT DESTROY TUPAC SHAKUR…

SMOKING CRACK WHEN HE WAS IN HER WOMB DID!

TUPAC SHAKUR WAS NOT ONLY WEAK HE WAS A COMPLETE FOOL

WHO NEVER FOR ONE MINUTE PRACTICED WHAT HE PREACHED.

CAPUT

The reason why I wrote caput on the cross I hung around

the statue of Tupac Shakur's neck was because the word in

German means out of order, broken, not working which is exactly

where tupac shakur is right now…and if you fools at thuglifearmy.com

had one ounce of common sense between your ears

you would have realized that the word caput is tupac backwards.

I also wrote on the cross "KING OF FOOLS" for Tupac Shakur

was and is the Messiah of Fools and the only resurrection

of your Messiah that will be taking place is the

ass kicking I'm going hand him in a Court of Law.

BY THE WAY I WILL BE PLEADING NOT GUILTY ON MY NEXT COURT DATE.

REVELATION 12:7

And there was war in heaven:

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon;

and the dragon fought and his angels,

MICHAEL = DJ LUVSXI = KENNETH ANTHONY WILSON

DRAGON & HIS ANGELS = THUGLIFE

VERSE 12:7 = 1+7/2 = 82 = 8:11 REVELATION = THE CURSE OF WORMWOOD

IT IS 12-7-1941 AND THE JAPANESE HAVE JUST BOMBED PEARL HARBOR IN A SNEAK ATTACK.

YEAR 41 = APRIL FOOLS = FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY

THE CURSE OF DEFECATING JAM RECORDS

And is it any coincidence that New York City is the home

of Def Jam Records and 9-11-2001 was its Karma?

THE CURSE OF MASTER

New Orleans is the home of Master P

and GOD pissed allover New Orleans?

Care to see the next US City that will be destroyed because of Thuglife's Shit Karma?

THUG CAPITAL USA, CITY OF ATLANTA

REVELATION 13:18

(MARK OF THE BEAST)

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:

for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

1+3+1+8 = 13 = BADLUCK

13+18 = 31 = 13 = BADLUCK

VERSE 13:18 = 1+8/13 = MONTH & DAY 9:13

THE CURSE OF TUPAC SHAKUR

IT IS 6-16-1971 AND TUPAC SHAKUR IS BORN.

JEREMIAH 6:16

(THUGLIFE)

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see,

and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein,

and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

DANIEL 6:16

(TUPAC SHAKUR IN THE LIONS DEN)

Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions.

Now the king spake and said unto Daniel,

Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.

REVELATION 6:16

(THE CURSE OF TUPAC SHAKUR)

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us,

and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne,

and from the wrath of the Lamb:

IT IS 9-13-1996 AND TUPAC SHAKUR IS DEAD.

JEREMIAH 9:13

(THE CURSE OF TUPAC SHAKUR)

And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them,

and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;

THE CURSE OF DEATH ROW RECORDS

IT IS 9-14-1965 AND HEAD OF DEATH ROW RECORDS SUGE KNIGHT IS BORN.

JEREMIAH 9:14

(YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW…WELCOME TO DEATH ROW)

But have walked after the imagination of their own heart,

and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:

imagination of their own heart = APRIL FOOLS

VERSE 9:14 = 9+1+4 = 14 = 41 = APRIL FOOLS

JEREMIAH 9:15

(MESSAGE FROM GOD TO THUGLIFE USA AND THE CITY OF ATLANTA)

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;

Behold, I will feed them, even this people,

with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

VERSE 9:15 = 9+5/1 = 141 = 411 INFORMATION = MESSAGE FROM GOD

Wormwood = PROPHECY OF WORMWOOD

water of gall to drink = GEORGIA'S DROUGHT

GEORGIA'S DROUGHT IS THE KARMA OF WORSHIPPING A KING OF FOOLS

(DON'T BE A KING OF FOOLS)

IT IS 11-17-1955 AND YOLANDA KING IS BORN.

DEUTERONOMY 11:17

(GEORGIA'S DROUGHT)

And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven,

that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit;

and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

JEREMIAH 11:17

(THE KARMA OF TUPAC SHAKUR IS THE CURSE OF WORMWOOD)

For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee,

for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah,

which they have done against themselves to

provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.

VERSE 11:17 = 11/1+7 = 118 = 811 = CURSE OF WORMWOOD

REVELATION 8:11

And the name of the star is called Wormwood:

and the third part of the waters became wormwood;

and many men died of the waters,

because they were made bitter.

WORMWOOD = WORMWOOD = WMD = WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION

STAR = NUCLEAR DETONATION

WORMWOOD = SOMETHING IS DECAYING

WATERS BECAME WORMWOOD = BOMB IS IN WATER

BITTER WATERS = RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION

Century 2, Quatrain 41

(NOSTRADAMUS PROPHECY OF WORMWOOD)

The great star will burn for seven days,
The cloud will cause two suns to appear:
The big mastiff will howl all night
When the great pontiff will change country.

GREAT STAR = WORMWOOD

SEVEN DAYS = MAKAVELI AND THE 7 DAY THEORY

BIG MASTIFF = PIT BULLS

GREAT PONTIFF = POPE BENEDICT XVI

CARE TO SEE WORMWOOD?

The Case of the Missing H-Bomb

by Jeffrey St. Clair

Things go missing. It's to be expected. Even at the Pentagon. Last October, the Pentagon's inspector general reported that

the military's accountants had misplaced a destroyer, several tanks and armored personnel carriers, hundreds of machine guns,

rounds of ammo, grenade launchers and some surface-to-air missiles.In all, nearly $8 billion in weapons were AWOL.

Those anomalies are bad enough. But what's truly chilling is the fact that the Pentagon has lost track of

the mother of all weapons, a hydrogen bomb. The thermonuclear weapon, designed to incinerate Moscow, has been sitting

somewhere off the coast of Savannah, Georgia for the past 40 years. The Air Force has gone to greater lengths to conceal the

mishap than to locate the bomb and secure it.

On the night of February 5, 1958 a B-47 Stratojet bomber carrying a hydrogen bomb on a night training flight off the

Georgia coast collided with an F-86 Saberjet fighter at 36,000 feet. The collision destroyed the fighter and severely

damaged a wing of the bomber, leaving one of its engines partially dislodged. The bomber's pilot, Maj. Howard Richardson,

was instructed to jettison the H-bomb before attempting a landing. Richardson dropped the bomb into the shallow

waters of Warsaw Sound, near the mouth of the Savannah River, a few miles from the city of Tybee Island, where he

believed the bomb would be swiftly recovered.

MONTH & DAY 2-5 = 2+5 = 7 DAY THEORY

2+5 = 7 = DURING 43^RD PRESIDENCY

2+5 = 7 = DURING PAPACY OF POPE BENEDICT 16^TH

EZEKIEL 2:5

And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear,

(for they are a rebellious house,)

yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.

The Pentagon recorded the incident in a top secret memo to the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.

The memo has been partially declassified: "A B-47 aircraft with a [word redacted] nuclear weapon aboard was damaged

in a collision with an F-86 aircraft near Sylvania, Georgia, on February 5, 1958. The B-47 aircraft attempted three times

unsuccessfully to land with the weapon. The weapon was then jettisoned visually over water off the mouth of the

Savannah River. No detonation was observed."

Soon search and rescue teams were sent to the site. Warsaw Sound was mysteriously cordoned off by Air Force troops.

For six weeks, the Air Force looked for the bomb without success. Underwater divers scoured the depths, troops tromped

through nearby salt marshes, and a blimp hovered over the area attempting to spot a hole or crater in the beach or swamp.

Then just a month later, the search was abruptly halted. The Air Force sent its forces to Florence, South Carolina, where

another H-bomb had been accidentally dropped by a B-47. The bomb's 200 pounds of TNT exploded on impact,

sending radioactive debris across the landscape. The explosion caused extensive property damage and several injuries

on the ground. Fortunately, the nuke itself didn't detonate.

The search teams never returned to Tybee Island, and the affair of the missing H-bomb was discreetly covered up.

The end of the search was noted in a partially declassified memo from the Pentagon to the AEC, in which the

Air Force politely requested a new H-bomb to replace the one it had lost. "The search for this weapon was

discontinued on 4-16-1958 and the weapon is considered irretrievably lost. It is requested that one [phrase redacted]

weapon be made available for release to the DOD as a replacement."

IT IS 4-16-1927 AND THE GREAT PONTIFF POPE BENEDICT XVI IS BORN.

EZEKIEL 4:16

(GEORGIA'S DROUGHT)

Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold,

I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem:

and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care;

and they shall drink water by measure,

and with astonishment:

IT IS 4-16-2007 AND GEORGIA'S FOREST ARE ON FIRE, THE WORST IN GEORGIA'S RECORDED HISTORY.

THE CURSE OF THE TUPAC SHAKUR'S MEMORIAL AT VIRGINIA TECH

IT IS 4-16-2007 AND SEUNG-HUI CHO HAS JUST WENT ON A MURDER SPREE AT VIRGINIA TECH.

IT IS 1-18-1984 AND SEUNG-HUI CHO IS BORN.

REVELATION 1:18

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,

Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED THE CONFEDERACY FELL

IT IS 1-18-1861 AND GEORGIA PASSES ITS ORDINANCE FOR SECESSION FROM THE UNION.

IF THE BLIND FOLLOWS THE BLIND BOTH ARE SURE TO FALL IN A WELL

(PROPHECY OF WORMWOOD)

IT IS 8-11-1933 AND THE REVEREND JERRY FALWELL IS BORN IN VIRGINIA.

IT IS 5-15-2007 AND YOLANDA KING AND THE REVEREND JERRY FALWELL IS DEAD.

EZEKIEL 5:15

So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment

unto the nations that are round about thee,

when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes.

I the LORD have spoken it. 5:16 When I shall send upon

them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction,

and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you,

and will break your staff of bread: 5:17 So will I send upon

you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee;

and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee;

and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.

IN MEMORY OF ANNIJAH ROLAX

I DEDICATE MY BATTLE WITH THUGLIFEARMY.COM AND THE TUPAC SHAKUR CENTER

TO THE MEMORY OF 9 YEAR OLD ANNIJAH ROLAX

A HONOR ROLE STUDENT WHO WAS SHOT IN THE HEAD

WHILE SHE WAS ON HER COMPUTER BY TWO THUGS

WHO WAS ROBBING SOMEONE OUTSIDE HER APARTMENT ON 7-25-2007.

JEREMIAH 7:25

Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt

unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets,

daily rising up early and sending them: 7:26 Yet they hearkened not unto me,

nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck:

they did worse than their fathers. 7:27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them;

but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them;

but they will not answer thee. 7:28 But thou shalt say unto them,

This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God,

nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

EZEKIEL 7:25

Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace,

and there shall be none. 7:26 Mischief shall come upon mischief,

and rumour shall be upon rumour;

then shall they seek a vision of the prophet;

but the law shall perish from the priest,

and counsel from the ancients. 7:27 The king shall mourn,

and the prince shall be clothed with desolation,

and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled:

I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them;

and they shall know that I am the LORD.

AFENI SHAKUR SAYS SHE FORGIVES ME…BUT WHO WILL FORGIVE HER?

MEET THE PRESS

(A MESSAGE FROM GOD TO WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES)

IT IS 5-7-1950 AND TIM RUSSERT OF MEET THE PRESS IS BORN.

DANIEL 5:7

The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans,

and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon,

Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof,

shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck,

and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

IT IS 6-13-2008 AND TIM RUSSERT IS DEAD.

REVELATION 6:13

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth,

even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs,

when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

VERSE 6:13 = 6+1/3 = EZEKIEL 7:3

EZEKIEL 7:3

Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee,

and will judge thee according to thy ways,

and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.

GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION

IT IS 11-26-2007 AND RED SKINS FOOT PLAYER SEAN TAYLOR IS SHOT DURING A HOME INVASION BY A GROUP OF THUGS. IT TURNS OUT THAT HIS SISTER HAD INVITED ONE OF THE THUGS TO SEAN'S HOUSE FOR A PARTY.

DEUTERONOMY 11:26

(CURSE OF WORMWOOD)

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;

VERSE 11:26 = 11/2+6 = 118 = 811 REVELATION = CURSE OF WORMWOOD

IT IS 11-27-2007 AND SEAN TAYLOR HAS JUST DIED FROM HIS WOUNDS.

DEUTERONOMY 11:27

A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God,

which I command you this day: 11:28 And a curse,

if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God,

but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day,

to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

DON'T BE AN APRIL FOOL

IT IS 4-1-1983 AND SEAN TAYLOR IS BORN ON APRIL FOOLS DAY.

KING OF FOOLS

IT IS 4-1-1973 AND KING OF FOOLS JOSEPH FRANCIS OWNER OF GIRLS GONE WILD IS BORN ON APRIL FOOLS DAY.

APRIL FOOLS DAY = TO BE DECEIVED = DEVIL

ST. MATTHEW 4:1

(FOOLS GONE WILD)

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

DON'T BE A KING OF FOOLS

IT IS 1-22-2008 AND HEATH LEDGER HAS JUST PASSED AWAY AFTER RAPPING UP HIS JOB AS THE JOKER IN THE NEW BATMAN MOVIE, THE DARK KNIGHT.

JOB 1:22

(DON'T BE AN APRIL FOOL)

In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

DON'T BE A KING OF FOOLS

IT IS 4-4-1979 AND HEATH LEDGER IS COINCIDENTALLY BORN ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ASSASSINATION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING.

JOB 4:4

Thy words have upholden him that was falling,

and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.

IT IS 4-4-1968 AND MARTIN LUTHER KING IS ASSASSINATED.

YEAR 68 = 6+8 = 14 = 41 = DON'T BE AN APRIL FOOL

DEUTERONOMY 4:4

But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.

IT IS 4-5-2008 AND CHARLTON HESTON IS DEAD.

DEUTERONOMY 4:5

Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 4:6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

BOYCOTT BECKY HAMMON QUEEN OF FOOLS

(STOP THE BULLSHIT CAMPAIGN)

DICTIONARY

WHORE: A person who is unscrupulous, especially one who compromises their principles for gain.

BECKY "JUDAS" HAMMON

(DON'T BE A QUEEN OF FOOLS!!!)

IT IS 3-11-1977 AND INTERNATIONAL WHORE/WNBA BASKET BALL PLAYER BECKY HAMMON OF THE SAN ANTONIO SILVER STARS IS BORN IN RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

MONTH & DAY 3-11 = 3+11 = 14 = 41 = APRIL 1^ST = APRIL FOOL = JUDAS

311 = PHONE# FOR HOMELAND SECURITY

YEAR 77 = 7=7 = 14 = 41 = APRIL FOOLS = JUDAS

ST. JOHN 3:11

(HOMELAND FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY WARNING)

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know,

and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

VERSE 3:11 = PHONE# FOR HOMELAND SECURITY

HALL OF SHAME

(WORSHIPPING OF A FALSE IDOL)

IT IS 11-12-2004 AND BECKY HAMMON IS INDUCTED INTO THE COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS HALL OF FAME.

MONTH & DAY 11-12 = 11+1+2 = 14 = 41 = APRIL FOOLS = FALSE IDOL

JEREMIAH 11:12

Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go,

and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense:

but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

IT IS 1-22-2005 AND BECKY HAMMON'S #25 COLORADO STATE JERSEY IS RETIRED AT THE MOBY ARENA.

#25 = FEBRUARY 5^TH = LOST HYDROGEN BOMB = PROPHECY OF WORMWOOD

MONTH & DAY 1-22 = 2+2/1 = 41 = APRIL FOOLS = JUDAS

PROVERBS 1:22

(DON'T BE A BECKY HAMMON!!!)

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?

and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

VERSE 1:22 = 2+2/1 = 41 = APRIL 1^ST = DON'T BE AN APRIL FOOL

2008 OLYMPICS

(BECKY "WHORE/JUDAS" HAMMON)

SOURCE:WIKIPEDIA.ORG

After getting the impression that she would once again fail to make the U.S. Women's National Basketball Team, Hammon announced she would try to claim a roster slot on the Russian basketball team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Coach Anne Donovan, one of the most decorated figures in women's basketball and coach of the 2008 United States Women's Olympic Basketball team said concerning Hammon's decision, "If you play in this country, live in this country and you grow up in the heartland - and you put on a Russian uniform - you are not a patriotic person." This has fueled controversy in which Hammon has been labeled a traitor for choosing to directly compete against her country in an event long predicated on nationalistic pride.

Hammon became a Russian citizen earlier in 2008. The coach of Russia's team, Igor Grudin, is also the sports director of the CSKA team that Hammon plays for in Moscow during the WNBA off-season. The announcement that she would participate in camps for the Russian national team came the same day that it was also announced that national team player (and CSKA teammate of Hammon's) Olga Arteshina had become pregnant. Hammon also signed a three-year extension with the CSKA team at around the same time she was named as a prospect for the national team.

In 2006, Hammon began working during the WNBA offseason as a sideline reporter for ESPN telecasts of NBA basketball games. Her first broadcast was a Spurs-Cavs game in San Antonio on November 3, 2006.

MONTH & DAY 11-3 = 11+3 = 14 = 41 = FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY

PROVERBS 11:3

(DON'T BE AN APRIL FOOL)

The integrity of the upright shall guide them:

but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.

DEUTERONOMY 11:3

(FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY WARNING!!!)

And his miracles, and his acts,

which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt,

and unto all his land;

IT IS 10-4-1923 AND ACTOR CHARLTON HESTON IS BORN.

MONTH & DAY 10-4 = 14 = 41 = APRIL FOOL = TO BE DECEIVED = ACTOR

DEUTERONOMY 10:4

And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing,

the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you

in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly:

and the LORD gave them unto me.

IT IS 10-5-1956 AND THE MOVIE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IS RELEASED IN THEATRES ACROSS AMERICA.

DEUTERONOMY 10:5

And I turned myself and came down from the mount,

and put the tables in the ark which I had made;

and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.

QUEEN OF FOOLS AMY CRACK-HOUSE

IT IS 9-14-1983 AND INTERNATIONAL CRACK WHORE/SINGER AMY WINEHOUSE IS BORN.

MONTH & DAY 9-14 = 9+1+4 = 14 = 41 = APRIL FOOLS = QUEEN OF FOOLS

PROVERBS 9:14

For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the

high places of the city, 9:15 To call passengers who go right

on their ways: 9:16 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:

and as for him that wanteth understanding,

she saith to him, 9:17 Stolen waters are sweet,

and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. 9:18 But he knoweth

not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

DON'T BE A QUEEN OF FOOLS

IT IS 6-8-1933 AND INTERNATIONAL PLASTIC SURGERY WHORE/COMEDIAN JOAN RIVERS IS BORN.

MONTH & DAY 6-8 = 6+8 = 14 = 41 = APRIL FOOL = QUEEN OF FOOLS

JUDGES 6:8

That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel,

which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel,

PSALMS 6:8

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity;

for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.

IT IS 12-2-1981 AND INTERNATIONAL PAPARAZZI WHORE/SINGER BRITNEY SPEARS IS BORN.

MONTH & DAY 12-2 = 2+2/1 = 41 = APRIL FOOLS = QUEEN OF FOOLS

PSALMS 12:2

They speak vanity every one with his neighbour:

with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

DON'T BE A QUEEN OF FOOLS

IT IS 4-4-1991 AND JAMIE LYNN SPEARS IS COINCIDENTALLY BORN ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ASSASSINATION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING.

ISAIAH 4:4

When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion,

and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst

thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

IT IS 8-6-1911 AND QUEEN OF FOOLS LUCILLE BALL IS BORN.

MONTH & DAY 8-6 = 8+6 = 14 = 41 = APRIL FOOLS = QUEEN OF FOOLS

JEREMIAH 8:6

I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright:

no man repented him of his wickedness, saying,

What have I done? every one turned to his course,

as the horse rusheth into the battle.

REVELATION 8:6

And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

VERSE 8:6 = 8+6 = 14 = 41 = APRIL FOOLS

SEVEN ANGELS & SEVEN TRUMPETS = 7+7 = 14 = 431 = APRIL FOOLS

REVELATION 16:16

And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

VERSE 16:16 = 14 = 41 = APRIL FOOLS = FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY

SOUND TRACK TO MOVIE DANGEROUS MINDS

IT IS 8-1-1963 AND GANGSTA RAPPER COOLIO IS BORN.

DANIEL 8:1

In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar

a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel,

after that which appeared unto me at the first.

a vision appeared unto me = THE CURSE OF WORMWOOD

THE CURSE OF WORMWOOD

IT IS 8-11-1995 AND THE MOVIE DANGEROUS MINDS IS RELEASED IN THEATRES ACROSS AMERICA.

DANGEROUS MINDS = GANGSTA RAP CULTURE = APRIL FOOLS

YEAR 95 = 9+5 = 14 = 41 = APRIL FOOLS = FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY

REVELATION 8:11

(COLLECTIVE KARMA OF DANGEROUS MINDS)

And the name of the star is called Wormwood:

and the third part of the waters became wormwood;

and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

MASTER P PRESENTS KING OF FOOLS

IT IS 9-9-1977 AND GANGSTA RAPPER SOULJA SLIM WHO WROTE THE RAP BASED MUSIC SCORE AND ONE OF THE THEME SONGS FOR THE MOVIE DANGEROUS MIND IS BORN IN NEW ORLEANS.

YEAR 77 = 7+7 = 14 = 41 = APRIL FOOLS = KING OF FOOLS

JEREMIAH 9:9

Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD:

shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

VERSE 9:9 = 9+9 = 18 = 666 = MARK OF THE BEAST

AMERICAN SCUM BAGS

IT IS 9-9-1930 AND AMERICAN SCUM-BAG/GANGSTA FRANK LUCAS IS BORN.

MESSAGE FROM GOD TO ALL AMERICAN GANGSTAS

IT IS 4-29-1958 AND ACTRESS MICHELLE PFEIFFER IS BORN.

GOD IS THE ONLY MASTER

IT IS 4-29-1967 AND GANGSTA RAPPER MASTER P IS BORN IN NEW ORLEANS.

DEUTERONOMY 4:29

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God,

thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart

and with all thy soul. 4:30 When thou art in tribulation,

and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days,

if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto

his voice; 4:31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he

will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the

covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

VERSE 4:29 = 4/2+9 = 411 INFORMATION = MESSAGE FROM GOD

VERSE 4:30 = DURING 43^RD PRESIDENCY = LATTER DAYS = END OF DAYS

CUTTHROAT COMMUNITY

(YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW, WELCOME TO DEATH ROW)

On Thanksgiving Eve November 26, 2003, Slim of record label Cutthroat Community was en route to a performance when an unknown gunman shot him three times in the face, and once in the chest, in front of his mother's home in the 8th Ward/Gentilly area.

VERSE 11:26 = 11/2+6 = 118 = 811 REVELATION = CURSE OF WORMWOOD

DICTIONARY

CUTTHROAT: 1 A murderer who slits the throats of his victims.
2 An unscrupulous, ruthless or unethical person.

DEUTERONOMY 11:26

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;

BY THE WAY, WELCOME TO END OF DAYS

AND ITS

CODES OF ARMAGEDDON

WHAT IS PEACE WITHOUT LOVE?

IT IS 10-19-2007 AND MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL HAS JUST CALLED CHANNEL 2 NEWS IN ATLANTA TO REPORT THAT HE HAS JUST DEFACED THE STATUE OF TUPAC SHAKUR IN THE PEACE GARDEN.

DANIEL 10:19

And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong,

yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me,

I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak;

for thou hast strengthened me.

CONTACT INFO LUVSXIBACK@GMAIL.COM

MYSPACE.COM/LUVSXI

Original Press Release Story About Vandalism Of Tupac Statue Courtesy Of Thug Life Army
http://www.thuglifearmy.com/news/?id=4005

To Read The Full Article In The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Go To - http://www.atlantamusicguide.com/atlanta_journal_constitution.htm

More 2Pac On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio...

My Open Letter To Ms. Afeni Shakur...
http://thaartivist.blogspot.com/2006/03/my-open-letter-to-ms.html

Check out 2Pac's lost 1992 interview...The Thug Life Holy Grail!!!
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2006/09/check-out-2pacs-lost-1992-interviewthe.html

Happy Birthday 2Pac!!! *June 16, 1971-September 13, 1996*
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2006/06/happy-birthday-2pac-june-16-1971.html

Good Knight???
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/03/good-knight.html

The Cos Got No Love For Pac Nor His Mom...

http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/02/cos-got-no-love-for-pac-nor-his-mom.html

2008-04-08T01:48:00.000-07:00

Kansas Surges Past Memphis To NCAA Title

The Shot Heard Round The World: Chalmers Hits The Impossible Three Over Derrick Rose Thus Sealing Memphis' Fate And Kansas' Championship...

By EDDIE PELLS, AP National Writer

Memphis kept missing. Mario Chalmers wasn't about to. Chalmers' 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in regulation put the game in overtime, and Kansas pulled away to a 75-68 victory on Monday night for its first national championship since Danny and the Miracles 20 years ago.

Mario and the Miracles? That has a good ring to it, too.

Chalmers' game-saving 3 came after Memphis missed four of five free throws that would have put the game and the title out of reach. It completed a comeback from nine points down with 2:12 left.

"It'll probably be the biggest shot ever made in Kansas history," Kansas coach Bill Self said.

The ending made a mockery of Memphis coach John Calipari's theory that his players, one of the country's worst with 59 percent free-throw shooting, didn't have to be good because they would always come through when the stakes were highest.

"It will probably hit me like a ton of bricks tomorrow, that we had it in our grasp," Calipari said.

All those bricks meant something in a game where every point counted. So did Rose's two-point shot off glass initially ruled a 3 — and correctly overturned — with 4:15 left.

Nothing about Chalmers' 3-pointer was in doubt.

"I had a good look at it," he said. "When it left my hands it felt like it was good, and it just went in."

Although Chalmers will go down in history, the most memorable overall performance came from Rose, the Memphis freshman, who completely took over the game in the second half, scoring 14 of his team's 16 points during one stretch to lift the Tigers to a 60-51 lead with 2:12 left.

But Kansas (37-3) used the strategy any smart opponent of Memphis' would — fouling the heck out of one of the country's worst free-throw-shooting teams — and when Rose and Douglas-Roberts made only one of five over the last 1:12, it left the door open for KU.

"Ten seconds to go, we're thinking we're national champs, all of a sudden a kid makes a shot, and we're not," Calipari said.

Hustling the ball down the court with 10.8 seconds left, no timeouts and trailing by three, Sherron Collins handed off to Chalmers at the top of the 3-point line, and Chalmers took the shot. It hit nothing but net and tied the score at 63.

Robert Dozier missed a desperation heave at the buzzer, and Rose went limping to the bench, favoring his right leg. Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson scored the first six points of overtime to put Kansas ahead 69-63.

Memphis, clearly exhausted, didn't pull any closer than three the rest of the way. Rose played all 45 minutes in what could very well be his last college game.

"Overtime, they kind of beat us down," Calipari said. "I didn't sub a whole lot, because I was trying to win the game at the end."

Arthur was dominant inside, finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds, lots on dunks and easy lay-ups off lob passes. Chalmers finished with 18 points. Rush had 12 and Collins had 11 points, six assists and did a wonderful job shutting Rose for the first 28 minutes.

Rose wound up with 18 points in a game that showed how ready he is for the NBA. He was 3-for-4 from the line, however, and that one miss with 10.8 seconds left is what almost certainly would have sealed the game and given the Tigers (38-2) their first title.

"It wasn't really the free throws," Rose said. "If we'd done things before the free throws, we would've been in good shape."

Instead, the title goes back to Lawrence for the third time in the fabled program's history.

The inventor of the game, James Naismith, was the first Jayhawks coach. It's the school that made household names of Wilt Chamberlain, Manning — and yes, even North Carolina's Roy Williams, the coach who famously left the Jayhawks, lost to them in the semifinals, but was, indeed, in the Kansas cheering section Monday wearing a Jayhawks sticker on his shirt.

After the game, Self didn't exactly end speculation that he might also bail for his alma mater, Oklahoma State.

"I'm not going to say that couldn't potentially happen because I guess it potentially can," Self said.

This game was not about coaches or sidestories, though. It was about the game, and what a dandy it was — a well-needed reprieve from a more-or-less blah tournament in which 42 of 63 games were decided by double digits.

This was the first overtime in the title game since 1997, when Arizona beat Kentucky 84-79.

"Being up seven, being down nine, being up two, down five, going to overtime," Kansas center Cole Aldrich said. "We fought it out, and it's surreal. It's nuts."

Rose went crazy during Memphis' second half run. A 3-pointer here, a scooping layup for a three-point play next. Then, the capper, an off-balance, 18-foot shot off glass with the shot-clock buzzer sounding. Officials at first credited Rose with a 3, but went to the replay monitor and saw he was clearly inside the line.

Even with the point deducted, Memphis has a 56-49 lead and all the momentum. Most teams would have been demoralized.

Clearly, Kansas is not most teams.

In fact, the Jayhawks are a team that has come together in tragedy over the last several months. The deaths of friends and family of Jackson, Sasha Kaun and Rodrick Stewart all cast a bit of a pall over this team, making Jackson wonder at times if staying at Kansas was even worth it.

Just when the Jayhawks looked to be moving past their bad times, Stewart fractured his kneecap, a freak accident during Kansas' practice Friday at the Alamodome.

But it was another injury that might have been most responsible for blending this championship formula. Rush tore up his knee during a pickup game last May, and his NBA plans were put on hiatus.

He worked his way back into shape this season and is playing his best right now. He didn't have the most impressive stat line of the night, but it hasn't all been about stats for him in this, his junior season. His defense was stellar, as usual, and surely his experience and resolve played into Kansas' refusal to go away.

He set the table.

Chalmers got the glory.

"That has to be one of the biggest shots in basketball history," Stewart said.

2008-04-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama a.k.a. The Wizard Of Oz...Can Obama Be Trusted???

Is Barack Just Another Politrixian???

http://www.countercurrents.org/pringle280308.htm

2008-04-05T05:34:00.000-07:00

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio

One Full Year On The Air!!!

April 2008's Theme Is
"The Dream Reborn..."

A True W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Exclusive...

Commemorating The 40th Anniversary Homegoing Of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Listen To The Actual Show Online At The Following Link:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/04/07/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio-1

Featured Music By D.J. Hen Boogie

Topic:

Eye-Witness To The Crucifixion: The Last Days Of MLK...

Learn About The Last Days Of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. From The People Who Were Blessed To Get In Touch With Dr. King & Be Inspired By The Human Rights Martyr Before His Transition Into Sainthood As An Enduring Symbol Of True Liberation And Justice For All...

Also Learn The Truth About The Climate In Memphis That Led To His Eventual Assassination With More Evidence Produced To Show A Larger Conspiracy Involving The Local And Federal Governments...

Distinguished Guests:

Bro. Tom Jones was a student in the Prairie View A & M Choir when his encounter with MLK took place around midnight March 18, 1968...MLK was in Memphis to help the sanitation workers' strike...That was his first of a series of visits to show his support of the workers' cause...MLK was just returning from a rally meeting with the workers tired and getting ready for bed when he reluctantly agreed to let the Prairie View A & M Choir give him an impromptu concert in the conference room at the Lorraine Motel...Bro. Tom Jones and his peers have the distinction of giving MLK his final concert...

Listen to what the founder and former director of the Oakland Boys Choir and founder and current director of the vocal group Thundering Basses had to say on meeting his idol and how MLK inspired his life...

Bro. Ed Redditt was a Black Memphis Police Detective who was assigned to MLK's security detail the last days of his life...He was pulled off security detail just hours before the hit on MLK because his superiors claimed that there was a hit out on his life...Mysteriously after MLK was killed, the hit on the life of Bro. Redditt was never mentioned again...Although he was featured on the CNN Black In America MLK Special, this current high school track coach and history teacher goes more in depth into the conspiratorial nature of the MLK assassination and he discusses scenarios which links both local and federal government involvement in the assassination...Bro. Ed also gives excellent and at times humorous analysis into the climate and environment of 1960s Memphis and the plight of the sanitation workers...

*W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Extra Feature*

To Listen To The Entire 91 Minute Bro. Ed Redditt Interview Please Click On The Following Link:

http://www.nowlive.com/podcast/OpenPodcast.ashx?PodcastID=63186

****
Get Involved
As Always You Can Catch Tha Artivist Presents…W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio Live Every Sunday @ 4PM Central/5PM Eastern By Clicking On The Following Link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe

Please Be Our Invited Guest By Calling Us Live @ 646-652-4593 Or E-mailing Us Your Questions And Comments @ r2c2h2@gmail.com

As Always Please Spread The Good News!!!

~~~~~~

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Reps Black History 365 Days A Year!!!
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/02/we-all-be-news-radio-reps-black-history_29.html

Celebrate Black History And Love All Day Every Day With Works By Tha Artivist:
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2008-04-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

White Privilege Still Rules In Memphis 40 Years After MLK...

Building Wealth Takes More Than Bootstraps

Martin Luther King Jr.: 40 Years Later
By The Memphis Commercial Appeal Staff Reports

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Look at Henry Turley, a real estate developer, and Charles Ewing, owner of an eponymous moving company.

From a distance, theirs are the stories that epitomize Horatio Alger's legends: Enough pluck can propel anyone into a life of luxury.

Opportunities are unlimited and the American Dream can be yours, Alger's intoxicating myth tells us.

But the lives of Turley, a white man, and Ewing, a black man, are testament to a contrary view. The odds of building the degree of wealth that insulates one from the vagaries of life, depends in part on whether you are born white or black.

The notion that America is a meritocracy is as persistent today as it was two score ago, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was bothered by the "over-reliance on the bootstrap philosophy."

"There are those who still feel that if the Negro is to rise out of poverty, if the Negro is to rise out of the slum conditions, if he is to rise out of discrimination and segregation, he must do it all by himself," King said on March 31, 1968.

"They never stop to realize that no other ethnic group has been a slave on American soil. ... (T)hey never stop to realize the debt that they owe a people who were kept in slavery two hundred and forty-four years."

In the 40 years since King was killed in Memphis, the black-white gap on nearly every economic measure has not come close to closing. There is a gaping difference in the net worth of black and white families, even when the families earn similar incomes.

For example, the average black family has 8 cents of financial resources, such as money in bank accounts, stocks, bonds or home equity, for every $1 enjoyed by the average white family.

It's not for a lack of pluck on the part of black people, or malicious exploitation by white people.

The disparities are entwined in the roots of slavery and freedom that came with no land or money.

They are woven into decades of racially biased government policies.

And today, the problem lies in black people's lack of access to the predominately white power structure that controls the city's wealth.

* * *

In this context, wealth is not defined as the opulent lifestyle of Oprah Winfrey.

Wealth is being able to afford private schools for your children. Wealth is being able to tap into your home equity to send your children to college, without the burden of student loans.

It's the down payment your grandmother gives you to purchase a first home, or even the appliances your parents buy for you.

That stash of assets is an insurance policy. It serves as a guarantee that illness or a layoff doesn't spiral a family into economic despair.

By that definition, both Turley, 67, and Ewing, 49, are quite wealthy.

In 1985, Ewing was working as an engraving assistant at The Commercial Appeal when he bought his first truck for his moving company. Today, he lives comfortably in an upscale East Memphis home, owns 28 trucks and employs about 40 people in Memphis and Nashville.

He was the first black investor in the Memphis Grizzlies and deserves a good bit of the credit for bringing the NBA team to town.

Turley, one of the city's pre-eminent developers, is also an unqualified success. His projects include Oak Court Mall, Harbor Town, the Uptown neighborhood and the South Bluffs, where he lives in a grand three-story home with an outdoor pool and indoor koi pond.

Turley has dreamed big and worked hard. But he knows that because he was born white, he inherited privilege that Ewing, born nearly a generation later, was not.

* * *

Turley and Ewing have this in common: They recognize that role models and business connections boosted their chances at success.

Turley can trace family landowners in the area back to the 1820s -- 40 years prior to the Emancipation Proclamation.

In fact, Turley's great-great-grandfather Thomas Battle Turley, buried at Elmwood Cemetery, took his slave, Ed, with him to fight for the Confederacy.

Turley and his brother, Calvin, inherited 1,900 acres in Fayette County from his mother's family, land they still own.

He went to Idlewild Elementary and Bellevue Junior High, and for high school, attended Memphis University School.

Turley's marching orders came straight from the headmaster at this expensive, private, all boys school, which enrolled its first black student in 1975 -- 17 years after Turley graduated.

"The head of MUS said, and this was very memorable to me: 'You boys will direct and control this city,'" Turley recalled. "It will be your obligation."

"We always thought we could control our destiny. We had that confidence."

Add to that confidence a little cash. His great-uncle gave him savings bonds every Christmas. His great-aunt willed him 66 shares of Union Planters stock. The car he drove in college at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, he inherited from a great-aunt: a black and gold '57 Ford.

He grew up in the Annesdale neighborhood, where single-family homes sat next to rooming houses.

"We were told to save and never waste," Turley said, and he took that to heart. He still has the small wooden box in which he stashed slivers of soap too small to use in the bath.

His father supplied the connections for his first few jobs, including one fitting stout men for suits at the old Julius Lewis store and another as a property manager collecting the rent, including from the rooming house from which James Earl Ray fired the shot that killed King in 1968.

* * *

Ewing grew up in South Memphis, in a shotgun duplex his mother rented. In 1977, he graduated from a high school that remains predominately black by virtue of the all-black neighborhood around Booker T. Washington High, then and now.

"Pride was the lesson of the day," Ewing recalled.

Still, his family was poor; his mother's bed was in the front room. "We were almost living day to day," Ewing said. "Definitely month to month."

One month, the welfare benefits stopped. His mother's Avon business and the barbecue she sold on the side boosted her income enough to disqualify her for benefits.

His mother, Eddie Mae McDowell, now 82, also did business as the neighborhood "candy lady," selling lollipops, lemon drops and other treats from her home.

"She was a hustler and an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are hustlers," Ewing said.

The business advice he got from his mom, who got as far as the ninth grade and had 12 children, was this: Make a dollar and save a dime.

He laughed when asked if relatives ever gave him savings bonds. When his biological father and stepfather died, they left no inheritance; a common occurrence among black Americans. Eleven percent of black families receive an inheritance, compared to 24 percent of white families.

Ewing started his business, as he told Overton High School students during Career Day in February, with nothing but faith.

"Had my dad just left me a pickup truck, I would have been so much farther ahead," he said, not with any bitterness, just resignation.

His life was not without career connections: His stepfather, Nathaniel McDowell, a transportation supervisor at the newspaper, helped Ewing get a job in 1978 as a janitor at the newspaper.

McDowell also knew the manager of a U-Haul store, and when the company changed the color of its blankets from orange to blue, the manager gave the old ones to Ewing. The manager also gave Ewing a cheap weekend truck rental deal.

Still, Ewing, married with two daughters and a son, worked two jobs for 15 years. He took advantage of the newspaper's tuition reimbursement program and got in a few business classes, but not a degree, at what was then Shelby State Community college. In 1993, he was able to quit the newspaper and focus on Ewing Moving Co.

* * *

If the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had made all things equal, in Shelby County, where 52 percent of the population is black, 52 percent of the wealth would be in the black community.

Except that 6.5 percent of white people in Shelby County live in poverty, compared to 28 percent of black people.

Except that in 1999, median household income for a white family in the county was $51,551. For a black family, it was $28,354.

Of all the revenues generated in Shelby County, eight-tenths of one percent is generated by black-owned businesses.

The majority of wealth -- 70 percent -- is passed from generation to generation. On average, white families inherited $115,000, compared to a $32,000 average for black families.

Research indicates that for every dollar in income, whites are able to turn that, on average, into $3.25 in wealth. For blacks, that dollar generates $1.98 in wealth.

And studies have not found significant enough differences in spending to account for the disparities in wealth.

Yet, 44 years after the Civil Rights Act was passed, there are persistent questions among some white people as to why so many black people remain financially insecure. After all, some contend the government has done what it could -- and more than it should, critics of affirmative action insist -- to level the playing field.

Don't make this argument to Turley.

"You're asking me if the playing field is level?" Turley asked, before letting loose a string of profanities that equal a resounding no.

Black people, he said, especially if they are poor, "have more opportunity to fail than to succeed."

* * *

Ewing agreed that black people's margin of error is slim. The mistake a single black person makes is quickly extrapolated, seen as a proof of a flaw in the entire race.

He remembered a local hospital that had a bad experience with a black supplier. For years, Ewing said, the hospital wouldn't do business with any minority contractors.

So when he started his business, he kept his brown face off recruitment materials.

Better to let his clients find out when he showed up that his was a black-owned company, and by then, he'd have the chance to dazzle the client with his professionalism.

"I've faced prejudice at every level, but I don't address it, I work around it," Ewing said.

Turley never worried that his skin color would be a business liability, not when all the others making the deals looked like he does.

Has being white made it easier to become a developer of note? "A lot of things I ponder, but I don't have to ponder that. I was never that dumb."

Turley shared a recent incident when a black businessman asked him to attend a critical business meeting. Turley insisted his presence wasn't necessary.

"We black folks don't have the access you've got," Turley recalled the black man telling him. Turley's presence would lend him credibility the black man wouldn't have otherwise. Although Turley didn't want to agree with him, he knew the man was right.

He climbs the mahogany stairs of his riverfront home, where he lives with his wife, Lynne, his footfalls echoing in the stairwell. "When your steps sound better than most people's instruments, that's privilege."

* * *

You don't have to go back as far as the days of slavery to see how the government paved the road for white people's success -- sometimes in the most literal sense, starting in the 1940s by building highways to suburban neighborhoods in which black people were forbidden to live.

As far back as 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, black people's access to unclaimed land out West, or later, in the South, was limited greatly by their lack of money to build homes on the land or tools with which to farm it.

In 1935, when more than half of black people worked on farms or as domestic help, the government excluded those classes of workers from receiving Social Security benefits.

When the 1944 G.I. Bill promised college education to World War II veterans, most state schools barred black soldiers from admission and historically black colleges didn't have room to meet the demand.

The New Deal's FHA housing programs "redlined" predominately minority neighborhoods, making subsidized federally backed mortgages unavailable to most black families.

Perhaps Paul Kivel, the white author of "Uprooting Racism," puts it in terms that will be palatable: "It is not that white Americans have not worked hard and built much. We have. But we did not start out from scratch.

"We went to segregated schools and universities built with public money. We received school loans, Veterans Administration loans, and housing and auto loans when people of color were excluded or heavily discriminated against," Kivel wrote.

"We received federal jobs, military jobs and contracts when only whites were allowed. We were accepted into apprenticeships, training programs and unions when access for people of color was restricted or nonexistent."

* * *

Former senator John Edwards focused much of his failed presidential platform on economic inequity and wasn't afraid to address the black-white wealth gap.

"African-American families have an average net worth in America today that is about 10 percent of white families. That is not an accident," Edwards said in an Essence magazine interview. "That is a direct result of many decades of slavery followed by segregation followed by discrimination."

You might expect to hear this from a Democrat, but President George Bush also acknowledged the wealth deficit for black Americans. ...

"(O)ne of the problems in the African-American community is there hasn't been asset accumulation," Bush said in an interview with Fox News. Bush spoke of black workers he met at a Mississippi automobile plant, who were proud of their 401(k) investments.

"They said it's the first time ... anybody in their family had accumulated assets that they could pass from one generation to the next."

Closer to home, Ben Parkinson is wrestling with the realization that he has benefited from being a white man in a "racialized" society.

"Why does it seem like white people were always in a position to help others?" wondered Parkinson, a teaching pastor at Fellowship Memphis, a deliberately racially integrated church. "Why is it that I'm on the better end of the deal in America?"

In a February sermon titled "Being White in America," Parkinson, 34, told the congregation that his family wasn't racist, but that they benefited from a racist society.

"When you look at how our family got their wealth, my grandfather could not have gotten that job if he was black," he said.

"I really have begun to pray about what it would look like to make some sort of restitution."

Within the year, Parkinson, his wife and his three daughters will move from Plaza Gardens subdivision, north of Poplar Plaza, into the comparatively poorer neighborhood of Binghamton. He expects there will be a significant savings between his previous mortgage payments and the payments on his less-expensive home. He plans to take that money and help neighbors who are renters become homeowners.

For Parkinson, this is not a matter of compassion, but justice.

In a small way, Parkinson will be doing what King asked for decades ago: "A society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for the Negro."

* * *

Today, black people's access to wealth has less to do with the color of their skin.

"Beyond race, there's an connectivity issue," said Luke Yancey III, president and CEO of the Mid-South Minority Business Council. For instance, he says, take the new mixed-use development budding at Poplar and Cleveland.

"Someone conceived an idea and talked to someone who talked to someone," said Yancey, who is black. "When black people hear about these projects, it's in the paper."

"In absence of us not having generational networks, the only way we can be included is for someone to invite us to the table," said Yancey, who came to MMBC after 30 years in the banking business, most recently as president of the west region of First American Bank.

Yancey wants this to be clear: There are first-generation black-owned businesses that are able to compete with multi-generational white-owned businesses, but "it's a harder hill to climb."

The MMBC helps put more minority-owned businesses in a position to compete, with programs such as its business incubator, which now provides office space, marketing plans and more to eight minority businesses. The council will also make its first loan to a minority-owned start-up business in the next few weeks.

"Most wealthy people did not become wealthy through the exchange of labor, but through business ownership and enterprise."

The black-white income gap has actually grown in the years following King's death -- in 2004, black families earned about 58 percent of what white families did, compared to 63 percent in 1974. But income remains less important to a family's financial security than the accumulation of assets that equal stability for this generation and the next.

But there has been progress in the 40 years since King's death. About a third of black families are considered middle-class, with annual incomes between $35,000 and $75,000. The MMBC was born, Ewing started his moving company and a growing number of white people acknowledge the privilege that comes simply by virtue of their race.

Yet in those 40 years, King's formula for black equality remains unrealized: "Green power -- that's the kind of power we need."

- Wendi C. Thomas: 901-529-5896

2008-03-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

Blood Feud

An Attack On Tupac Shakur Launched A Hip-Hop War

In 1994, Tupac Shakur was ambushed, beaten and shot at the Quad Recording Studios in New York. He insisted that friends of Sean 'Diddy' Combs were behind it. New information supports him.

By Chuck Philips
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

March 19, 2008

NEW YORK -- Cameras flashed as paramedics carried the victim into the glare of Times Square on a stretcher. Blood seeped through bandages from five gunshot wounds.

Tupac Shakur had been beaten, shot and left for dead at the Quad Recording Studios on New York's 7th Avenue. As he was borne to a waiting ambulance through a swarm of paparazzi on Nov. 30, 1994, the rap star thrust his middle finger into the air.

It was a portentous moment in hip-hop -- the start of a bicoastal war that would culminate years later in the killings of Shakur and rap's other leading star, Christopher Wallace, better known as the Notorious B.I.G.

The ambush at the Quad remains a source of fascination and frustration to music fans and law enforcement officials alike. No one has ever been charged in the attack.

Now, newly discovered information, including interviews with people who were at the studio that night, lends credence to Shakur's insistence that associates of rap impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs were behind the assault. Their alleged motives: to punish Shakur for disrespecting them and rejecting their business overtures and, not incidentally, to curry favor with Combs.

The information focuses on two New York hip-hop figures -- talent manager James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond and promoter James Sabatino, who is now in prison for unrelated crimes.

FBI records obtained recently by The Times say that a confidential informant told authorities in 2002 that Rosemond and Sabatino "set up the rapper Tupac Shakur to get shot at Quad Studios." The informant said Sabatino had told him that Shakur "had to be dealt with."

The records -- summaries of FBI interviews with the informant conducted in July and December 2002 -- provide details of how Shakur was lured to the studio and ambushed. Others with knowledge of the incident corroborated the informant's account in interviews with The Times and gave additional details.

According to this information, Rosemond and Sabatino, infuriated by what they saw as Shakur's insolent behavior, enticed him to the Quad by offering him $7,000 to provide a vocal track for a rap recording.

Three assailants -- reputedly friends of Rosemond -- were lying in wait. They were on orders to beat Shakur but not kill him and to make the incident look like a robbery, the sources said. They were told they could keep whatever jewelry or other valuables they could steal from Shakur and his entourage.

A member of Shakur's posse cooperated with the rapper's enemies, relaying their offer of a $7,000 payment and keeping them informed of his whereabouts on the night of the assault, according to the informant and the other sources.

Rosemond, who has served prison time for drug dealing and weapons offenses, has been described by Vibe magazine as "one of the most respected and feared players in hip-hop." His Czar Entertainment represents rappers Shyne, Too Short, Gucci Mane and the Game.

Rosemond has long denied any role in the Quad incident. He declined to be interviewed for this article, but his lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, dismissed the new information as "ancient double-hearsay allegations."

Lichtman noted that Rosemond had never been charged or questioned in connection with the attack -- a sign, Lichtman said, that federal authorities have "discounted" what the informant told them. Rosemond "was not involved in the assault and will not be prosecuted for it," Lichtman said.

Sabatino declined to comment.

Combs, whose business empire includes Bad Boy Records and clothing and fragrance lines, also declined to comment.

The FBI documents do not name the informant. The Times learned his identity and verified that he was at the Quad on the night of the assault. When contacted, the man said the FBI records accurately convey what happened, and what he told investigators. He and the other sources interviewed for this article discussed the events of Nov. 30, 1994, on condition that their names not be published.

Their accounts are consistent with Shakur's own. In interviews and on recordings, the rapper blamed Rosemond, Combs and their associates for the attack and promised to get even.

"Grab your Glocks when you see Tupac," he said in the 1996 song "Hit 'Em Up."

"Call the cops when you see Tupac

"Who shot me? But you punks didn't finish

"Now you're 'bout to feel the wrath of a menace!"

Roots Of An Ambush

The Quad ambush had its roots in events a year earlier, when Shakur returned to New York from California to film the movie "Above the Rim." The Brooklyn native, then 22, had two hit albums under his belt and was starting to taste success as an actor.

While in New York, he befriended Rosemond, the son of Haitian immigrants, who had run with street gangs and worked in the crack trade before gravitating to the hip-hop scene. He had a prominent scar on his forehead and cultivated an air of danger.

According to accounts given by the two men and others over the years, Rosemond, then 29, took Shakur under his wing, showing him around the city and introducing him to friends, including an ex-convict named Jacques "Haitian Jack" Agnant. Shakur and Agnant hit it off and were soon partying at clubs across Manhattan.

There was a serious side to the revelry. Rosemond was trying to establish himself as a talent manager -- he had formed a company called Henchman Productions -- and he and Agnant hoped to represent Shakur. They encouraged the rapper to sign a recording contract with Combs' fledgling Bad Boy label, which had recently received more than $2 million in capital from BMG's Arista division.

Shakur also became acquainted with Sabatino, a 19-year-old Italian American who co-promoted rap conventions with Rosemond. Sabatino had Brooklyn roots of a different kind that gave him cachet in the hip-hop world: His father was a captain in the Colombo crime family, according to federal authorities.

Like Rosemond and Agnant, Sabatino wanted to ride Combs' rising star, and he too leaned on Shakur to leave Interscope Records and sign with Bad Boy.

Shakur rejected these overtures. Members of Combs' circle saw this as an act of disrespect.

Shakur's behavior in New York grew increasingly provocative. He insulted music executives and gangsters alike. He brandished weapons in public. Even friends thought he was out of control.

In November 1993, Shakur, Agnant and two other men were arrested on charges of gang-raping a 19-year-old fan at the Parker Meridien Hotel in midtown Manhattan. Shakur posted bail and returned to Los Angeles.

A year later, he was back in New York to stand trial on the charges. By then, his former pals were laying plans to exact revenge, according to the FBI informant and the other sources.

Carefully Laid Plans

On Nov. 29, 1994, two dozen Bad Boy executives and associates gathered on the 10th floor of the Quad to record songs for a debut album by Junior M.A.F.I.A., a group formed by the Notorious B.I.G., Bad Boy's leading artist.

On hand were Combs, B.I.G., Rosemond, Agnant and Sabatino. Also present, among others, were rapper James "Lil' Cease" Lloyd and music executive Andre Harrell.

Rosemond had booked an adjacent studio to produce a recording by rapper Little Shawn, whose career he managed. This was the session at which Shakur was to be paid $7,000 for a guest vocal.

In fact, Rosemond never intended to record the session, according to the FBI informant and the other sources.

He had enlisted a trio of his friends from Brooklyn to ambush Shakur in the lobby of the Quad, the sources said.

Agnant and Sabatino helped plan the attack, working out the timing, arranging for the three assailants to be driven to the studio and mapping out their escape route, according to the informant and the other sources. Sabatino informed Combs and Wallace in advance that a trap had been laid for Shakur, the sources said.

Shakur's friend Randy "Stretch" Walker was in on the plan, the sources said. In the hours before the attack, Shakur and Rosemond argued several times over the phone about how much Shakur would be paid. After the dispute was settled, Walker notified Agnant when Shakur was en route, the sources said.

Around 11:30 p.m., Sabatino effectively locked down the 10th floor, quietly intercepting anyone who tried to leave, the FBI informant and the other sources said.

Fifteen minutes later, the lobby security guard was called away from his post, and the three assailants, dressed in army fatigues, moved into position. One sat in the guard's chair. The two others waited outside.

Just after midnight, Shakur walked in with Walker and his manager, Fred Moore. He buzzed the studio upstairs to let them know he was on his way. The assailant posing as a security guard flipped nonchalantly through a newspaper.

As the rapper and his crew walked toward the elevator, the two other assailants rushed in from outside and demanded that Shakur and the others turn over their jewelry. When Shakur refused, all three attackers began to pistol-whip him.

The rapper surprised them by drawing his own weapon. Gunfire erupted, and Shakur accidentally shot himself in the groin. The assailants shot Shakur four times. He sustained injuries to the head, hand and thigh -- serious but not life-threatening.

The men beat and kicked the rapper as he lay bleeding on the ground. Then, ripping a $40,000 gold medallion and chain from his neck, they escaped into the night.

Moore, who was also wounded, gave chase and collapsed in the street.

The FBI informant said the shots were audible in the 10th-floor studio. "Sabatino, Rosemond and Combs did not seem concerned about this," the informant told the FBI, though others in the studio "were very upset."

Shakur managed to limp into the elevator and push the button for the 10th floor. Walker rode up with him.

When the elevator doors opened, the rapper surveyed the assembled Bad Boy crowd.

In a 2005 interview with Vibe magazine, in which he denied any role in the attack, Rosemond described how the injured Shakur accused him of being in on the ambush.

Rosemond quoted the rapper as asking: "Why you let them know I'm coming here? You was the only [one] who knew, man. Why?"

In a bizarre twist, Shakur, bleeding badly, sat on a couch and rolled a joint, witnesses said. Then he phoned his girlfriend, who contacted his mother, former Black Panther Afeni Shakur. Harrell called 911. Paramedics showed up minutes later. Police began interviewing witnesses.

The FBI informant said Agnant told him that "anyone who thought the shooting was a robbery was crazy." He said Agnant "seemed mad that Shakur was still alive and kept calling" the hospital "to check on Shakur's status."

Efforts to reach Agnant for comment were unsuccessful.

Surgeons at Bellevue Hospital Center operated on Shakur for three hours. Later the same day, the rapper signed himself out of the hospital against doctors' advice.

The very next day -- Dec. 1, 1994 -- a heavily bandaged Shakur rolled into court in a wheelchair to hear the jury's verdict in the Parker Meridien case. He was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse and later sentenced to 4½ years in prison. (Agnant had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and avoided prison.)

The three men identified by the sources as Shakur's assailants are all serving time in federal penitentiaries for unrelated crimes. The Times is withholding their names because they have not been charged.

In correspondence with The Times, one of the men said that Rosemond orchestrated the ambush. Another was cryptic. He wrote that the statute of limitations for the assault had expired, and he offered to produce, for an unspecified fee, the medallion stolen from Shakur.

The third inmate denied involvement in the attack.

'Bad Boy's Behind This'

The Quad ambush triggered a vicious, well-chronicled feud between East Coast and West Coast rappers and their record labels, New York-based Bad Boy and Death Row Records of Los Angeles.

At awards shows, in music videos and in song lyrics, the feuding camps laid down challenges that the stars' posses acted out with gunfire.

In April 1995, four months after the Quad attack, Vibe magazine published a prison interview with Shakur in which he said Combs and his associates were responsible.

Not long after, Bad Boy released a new song by the Notorious B.I.G., "Who Shot Ya?," which describes an ambush in which the victim is shot by three assailants. It closes with a taunt:

"You rewind this

"Bad Boy's behind this."

In June of that year, Death Row founder Marion "Suge" Knight began visiting Shakur in prison and wooing him to join his music label. Later that month, Knight mocked Combs onstage during a rap awards show in Manhattan.

In apparent retaliation, gunmen shot up a trailer outside a video shoot in New York in which Death Row rappers had been filmed stomping through a miniature model of Manhattan like Godzilla.

In August 1995, Knight's bodyguard was shot and killed at a club in Atlanta. Knight accused a Combs associate in the killing; no one was ever charged. Soon after, Shakur, still behind bars for his sexual-abuse conviction, signed a contract with Death Row. Knight posted a $1.4-million bond for the rapper, freeing him from prison while he appealed the verdict.

In November 1995 -- a year to the day after the Quad ambush -- Shakur's onetime companion, "Stretch" Walker, was shot dead in Queens, N.Y.

Early the following year, Death Row released Shakur's "All Eyez On Me," in which he ridiculed East Coast rappers. In a later release, "Hit 'Em Up," Shakur belittled Combs, bragged that he had sex with the Notorious B.I.G.'s wife and vowed retribution for the Quad assault.

On Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. Six months later, the Notorious B.I.G. was shot dead in Los Angeles, also in a drive-by. No one has been charged in either slaying.

Moving On

In the years after the mayhem at the Quad, Rosemond tried to dispel persistent rumors that he arranged the attack. He protested his innocence in Vibe magazine and appealed to Shakur, in vain, to cease his public accusations.

In 1996, Rosemond was convicted of drug and weapons offenses and sentenced to five years in prison. Released three years later, he reinvented himself as a talent manager. His turbulent past gave him street cred and helped attract a clientele of rappers to his Czar Entertainment. Two years ago, he was convicted of assaulting a radio disc jockey in Washington, D.C. He remains on probation for the offense.

Sabatino became a fixture in Combs' circle. He went on the road with B.I.G. and joined Combs on his 1997 "No Way Out" tour, helping him stage lavish private parties and land corporate sponsorships.

During the tour, Sabatino used fake credit cards to run up tens of thousands of dollars in charges for hotel suites, limousines and helicopters for the Bad Boy entourage. He was arrested in London and extradited to the U.S. He is serving an 11½-year prison term for wire fraud and racketeering.

In the years after the Quad, Combs transcended hip-hop to become an international celebrity and brand name. He has recorded Grammy-winning rap albums and acted in off-Broadway plays. He hosts a weekly MTV show, owns a restaurant in Atlanta and presides over the Sean John clothing line and the Unforgivable fragrance brand. Forbes magazine last year estimated his income at $23 million.

The New York police investigation into the Quad attack quickly hit a dead end. But federal prosecutors conducting a broad investigation of the rap business have continued to explore the incident and its role in the subsequent string of shootings and killings. Various music-industry figures have been called before a federal grand jury and questioned about what happened that night.

'Set Me Up'

Two months after Shakur was killed, Death Row Records released his album "The Don Killuminati." It entered the pop charts at No. 1 and sold 800,000 copies in its first week.

The CD cover depicts the rap star nailed to a cross like a martyred prophet. In the song "Against All Odds," Shakur, like a ghost from the grave, calls out those he held responsible for starting the violence:

"I take this war . . . deeply

"Done seen too many real players fall

"To let these [cowards] beat me

"Puffy, let's be honest, you a punk. . . .

"You can tell the people you roll with whatever you want

"But you and I know

"What's goin' on."

Shakur then mentions "a snitch named Haitian Jack" and promises "a payback" to "Jimmy Henchman in due time."

"Set me up, wet me up. . . . stuck me up," he sings.

"But you tricks never shut me up."

chuck.philips@latimes.com

2008-03-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

Yes We Can Keep Hope Alive!!! The Jackson-Obama Connection

Jackson: Trailblazer, N0t Obama's Mentor

By CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press WriterFri Mar 7, 11:47 AM ET

Early in Barack Obama's political career in Illinois, Jesse Jackson helped slap him down. Even now, Jackson's son is a more vocal Obama advocate than his internationally known father.

Obama and the elder Jackson have much in common: The two black men emerged from Chicago's decayed South Side as champions of poor people. Both have a gift for rhetoric. Both have run to be the nation's first black president.

There are long-standing friendships between some members of their families.

Yet the two are not close. Twenty years older, Jackson, the trailblazer, was never Obama's mentor.

Jackson has always been more flamboyant and confrontational, Obama more willing to work behind the scenes, within the system.

Eight years ago, Obama, a little-known state senator, mounted an upstart challenge to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush for his U.S. House seat. Jackson endorsed Rush. President Clinton also joined the effort to stop the newcomer. He overrode his policy of staying out of Democratic primaries to back Rush, who trounced Obama more than 2-to-1.

That's not the only time Jackson was in Obama's way. In 1995, he tried to arrange for his son to get the state Senate seat that Obama eventually won in his first political race.

Jesse Jackson Jr. told The Associated Press that his father wanted the incumbent to run for Congress so the younger Jackson could replace state Sen. Alice Palmer. She refused to go along because she was supporting Obama, who hadn't announced his campaign to succeed her yet. Jackson's son also rejected the plan and successfully ran for Congress instead.

The younger Jackson, 42, has become a close friend to Obama, 46. He's a national co-chairman of Obama's campaign.

Late last year, Jesse Jackson Jr. even fussed at his father for writing a column questioning the commitment of Obama and other Democratic candidates, except John Edwards, to the needs of black voters. The son wrote a response in The Chicago Sun-Times with the headline "You're wrong on Obama, Dad."

The dueling newspaper columns illustrate the dangers the elder Jackson represents for Obama.

Criticism from the civil rights leader could undercut Obama's strong support among black voters. But too enthusiastic an embrace by Jackson might weaken Obama's efforts to present himself as a new kind of black politician.

Their histories reflect the changing realities between the 1960s and the 1980s for a black man seeking to become a political leader.

Jackson, a minister, was already on Chicago's South Side when Obama moved there in 1985. Jackson had a rare ability to rally people to action. He had used it to put together Operation PUSH in Chicago, then to transform himself from a Chicago civil rights protest leader to a national figure who traveled the country to confront private companies or public officials he felt oppressed minorities or poor people.

He also became a volunteer diplomat who traveled to Syria and Cuba where he won the release of U.S. prisoners. He was welcomed and thanked at Ronald Reagan's White House.

When he first ran for president in 1984, Jackson failed to win the Democratic nomination but still waged the most successful campaign by a black candidate up to that time. He emerged as an important but controversial figure in Democratic politics.

He had called New York City "Hymietown." He met with Mikhail Gorbachev and Pope John Paul II. He hosted "Saturday Night Live."

After his second presidential campaign, he electrified the 1988 Democratic national convention with his appeal to "Keep hope alive!" But he never came close to being president.

Getting his political start in Chicago, Obama didn't choose a public role at the head of civil rights marches but rather the quiet, behind-the-scenes position of community organizer, teaching poor people how to unite so they could step forward themselves.

While Jackson was thinking nationally and internationally, Obama was focused on Chicago's far South Side. The area's working class was disappearing in the wake of steel plant closings. Healthy neighborhoods had decayed into collections of empty storefronts that lacked the political clout to get their share of city services.

Obama's focus was on getting potholes filled, parks cleaned up and students placed in summer jobs. Politically, he paid more attention to the city's first black mayor, Harold Washington, than to Jackson.

When Obama expanded his horizon beyond Chicago, he went to law school, came back and later ran for the state Legislature.

This year as a first-term U.S. senator, Obama sought the presidency, moving before party leaders thought he was ready.

But Obama's run was never the long shot that Jackson's was. He not only rivaled Jackson's soaring rhetoric; he also followed the Internet fundraising lessons of others, out-organized rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on the ground in caucus states and turned the system to his advantage. Now he's closer than any black man in history to the presidency.

Today, Jackson supports Obama's campaign but mostly from the sidelines.

"I've known him long enough to trust him and admire him and be his No. 1 fan," Jackson said in an interview with The AP.

The Chicago headquarters of Jackson's Operation PUSH was not far from where Obama lived in the mid-1980s. Obama would sometimes go to hear Jackson's sermons but otherwise had little connection to him.

"I did not know him as a community organizer," Jackson said. "It's a big city."

Obama's 1992 marriage to Michelle Robinson brought the families much closer. A Chicago native, Robinson had gone to high school with Jackson's oldest child, Santita. Santita sang at the Obamas' wedding and became godmother to their daughter, Malia.

Michelle Obama had often visited Jackson's home and gotten to know his other children. So when Obama began dating her, he met Jesse Jackson Jr., who also attended their wedding.

Nevertheless, the elder Jackson still creates the occasional complication for Obama.

In September, The State newspaper in South Carolina reported that Jackson had said Obama was "acting like he's white" in his response to the arrest of six black juveniles in Jena, La. Jackson disputed the quote.

Obama's campaign played down the incident and has had only good things to say about the relationship between the two men.

Satirizing the relationship, "Saturday Night Live" recently portrayed Obama as repeatedly dispatching Jackson and another controversial civil rights leader, Al Sharpton, on nonsense assignments to distant corners of the world so he wouldn't be seen with them.

One friend and adviser to Obama, Valerie Jarrett, said, "I would describe it as a good relationship. It's one of mutual respect. They speak on a regular basis and share many common goals and concerns."

Jackson himself says Obama once told him that attending a Jackson debate during the 1984 presidential campaign made him believe a black man could someday win the White House.

"He watched the debate and said, 'This can be done.' It's very gratifying, frankly," Jackson said.

Former Obama campaign aide Dan Shomon says Obama learned important lessons from Jackson, including the importance of showmanship. Obama concluded that he needed to be a better public speaker and get his message on TV if he wanted to be effective.

"Ten years ago, Obama was all substance and no flash," Shomon said. "He learned from Reverend Jackson that you've got to have some flash with your substance or you're not going to accomplish anything."

___

Associated Press Writer Deanna Bellandi in Chicago and Michael J. Sniffen in Washington contributed to this report.

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: Barack Obama & The Hip Hop Effect On American Politics:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/02/10/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

2008-02-29T07:35:00.000-08:00

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Reps Black History 365 Days A Years!!!

"The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for truth, not for fame."
---Dr. W.E.B. DuBois

"The mere imparting of information is not education."

"Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history. "

"I am ready to act, if I can find brave men to help me. "
---Dr. Carter G. Woodson

W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio

One Full Year On The Air!!!

Hey fam,

Thanks for supporting W.E. A.L.L. B.E News & Radio…

Our internet radio program is one year old and strong!!!
Thanks for helping our baby grow into a healthy and strong outlet for alternative news and perspectives…Since this is Black History Month, I wanted to share with you all some interviews that we did with some true Black History Makers...Now realize that these are not all of the people or subjects we interviewed or talked about concerning the topics related to the African Diaspora and larger world community…

We are just providing a brief summary or sampler of what you can find on W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio…For more please visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe & http://www.weallbe.blogspot.com

Be Enlightened. Be Inspired. Be Empowered. Be The Change That You Seek.

Yours In Solidarity, R2C2H2 Tha Artivist

The following 25 shows represent the variety that can be found on W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio...There were many, many shows left off the list, but they are just as noteworthy...The order of shows listed does not suggest in anyway preference or favorites...Feel free to send these shows to your respective networks...Visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe to listen to more shows:

1.) Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival Tribute~10-21-07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/10/21/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/10/10-21-07radio-jamboree-salutes-famed.html

*Also Check Out We Remember Jimmie Lunceford~8-26-07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/08/26/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/08/we-remember-jimmie-lunceford-on-we-all.html

* Interview With Eddy Determeyer, 2007 Jimmie Lunceford Legacy Award Honoree & Author Of The First Ever Jimmie Lunceford Biography, Rhythm Is Our Business

Show:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/10/15/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

Summary:

http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/10/10-14-07eddy-determeyer-discusses-why.html

For More Lunceford News Visit:

http://www.jimmieluncefordjam.blogspot.com

2.) Dr. John Hope Franklin Interview~5-30-07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/05/31/legendary-scholar-dr-john-hope

Summary
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/06/check-out-historic-interview-with-dr.html

3.) U.S. Presidential Hopeful Cynthia McKinney Interview~1-13-08

Show (Her Interview Is In The 2nd Full Hour Of Show Segment):
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/01/13/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

Summary
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/01/we-all-be-radio-and-news-special.html

4.) Dr. Manning Marable On Malcolm X~7-1-07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/07/01/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/07/dr-marable-makes-it-plain-on-we-all-be.html

5.) Michael Holman On Jean Michel Basquiat~5-9-07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/05/10/michael-holman-on-jean-michel-b

Summary
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/05/michael-holman-on-jean-michel-basquiat.html

6.) Topic: Barack Obama & The Hip Hop Effect On American Politics~2-10-08

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/02/10/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/02/sun-21008-4pm-c5pm-ewe-all-be-radio-and.html

7.) Topic : Bridging The Gap Between The Civil Rights & Hip Hop Generations~2-17-08

Dr. Emmett Price (Bill Greene/ Boston Globe Staff)
Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/02/17/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/02/feb-29-2008-4pm-centralbridging-gap.html

8.) Holman Unleashed: Graffiti Rock, Hip Hop’s First TV Show~8-12-07

Michael Holman a.k.a. The Hip Hop Dick Clark!!!

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/08/12/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio
Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/08/holman-rocks-on-we-all-be-radio.html

9.) Visual Artist Rah Crawford~7-1-07

Bearded Che By Rah Crawford

Show
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/11/04/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

Summary
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/07/rah-crawford-paints-picture-of-success.html

10.) Acclaimed U.S. Presidential Portrait Painter Simmie Knox & "Black Girl Speaks" Creator Sis. Talitha Coverson~2-3-08

Show

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/02/03/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

Summary
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/01/we-all-be-news-radio-special-simmie.htm l

11.) James Rucker & Emerson Able~11-25-07

James Rucker Co-Founder of Color Of Change

Legendary Memphis Musician, Educator And 2007 Jimmy Lunceford Jamboree Festival Legacy Award Honoree Emerson Able

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/blog/2007/11/25/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/11/rucker-and-able-were-iconic-drum-majors.html

12.) Francine Lucas-Sinclair, The Daughter Of Frank Lucas Speaks Up & Out

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/12/09/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/12/daughter-of-american-gangster-frank.html

13.) W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio Exclusive: Interview With Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong From Beyond The Grave~6-24-07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/06/24/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/06/listen-to-what-louis-satchmo-armstrong.html

14.) Topic: The Jena 6 Post-Plea Bargain Show~12-16-07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/blog/2007/12/16/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

Summaries:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/12/jena-6-plea-bargain-deal-not-win-wintha.html
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/12/jena-6-defendants-plea-bargain-garners.html

15.) The Henry Hampton Collection (Creator of the Award Winning Eyes On The Prize Documentary)~2-18-07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/02/18/tha-artivist-presentsmaking-b

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/02/listen-to-feb-18-installment-of-we-all.html

16.) The John Horse Legacy~4-8-07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/04/08/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/04/special-resurrection-weekend-edition-of.html

17.) The New Niggerati Of The 21^st Century~8/19/07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/08/19/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/08/new-niggerati-elite-question.html

18.) Interview with Clyde McElvene Co-Founder of the Hurston/Wright Foundation

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/08/08/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/08/anti-writers-block-hour-on-we-all-be.html

19.) Robert Crawford Tribute (One of the first Black Memphis,Tn Firefighters in city history~The Original 12)~1-6-08

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/blog/2008/01/06/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/01/tha-artivist-pays-tribute-to-robert-j.html

20.) SleptOn Magazine Founders Billy Buntin & Kevin Smith/Nu R & B Sensation Nyasha Shani~1-20-08

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/01/20/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/01/slepton-mag-founders-and-nu-r-b.html

21.) Edmund Barry Gaither
Famous Director/Curator of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA)~2/25/07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/02/25/tha-artivist-presentsmaking-black-history-our-history-everyday

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/02/famous-art-visionary-on-we-all-be-radio.html

22.) St. Criss~2/11/07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/02/11/tha-artivist-presentsmaking-b

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/02/check-out-st-criss-interview-on-tha.html

23.) Motivational Guru Willie Jolley~4-25-07

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/04/26/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/04/motivational-sensation-willie-jolley-on.html

24.) "A DREAM DEFERRED: A HYPOCRISY IN THE MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. MEMORIAL PROJECT"

Associated Press

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/09/02/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/09/dream-deferred-special-was-dream.html

25.) Famed Literary Author Dwight Fryer & Ms. Regina Walker, the Senior VP of Community Impact @ the United Way of the Greater Mid South

Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2007/04/01/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

Summary:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/04/on-april-1st-edition-of-we-all-be-radio.html

Celebrate Black History And Love All Day Every Day With Works By Tha Artivist...

http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/02/celebrate-black-history-and-love-all.html

****

Get Involved

As Always You Can Catch Tha Artivist Presents…W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio Live Every Sunday @ 4PM Central/5PM Eastern By Clicking On The Following Link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe

Please Be Our Invited Guest By Calling Us Live @ 646-652-4593 Or E-mailing Us Your Questions And Comments @ r2c2h2@gmail.com

As Always Please Spread The Good News!!!

~~~~~~

Celebrate Black History And Love All Day Every Day With Works By Tha Artivist:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/02/celebrate-black-history-and-love-all.html

Check Out The 2007 R2C2H2 Winter Newsletter:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/11/2007-r2c2h2-winter-newsletter.html

~~~~~~

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Please Visit http://www.ctherd.blogspot.com

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http://www.blogtalkradio.com/EadyAssociates

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2008-02-26T17:41:00.000-08:00

NY Philharmonic Uses Music As Welcomed Foreign Policy For North Korea...

Tha Artivist Writes:

Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. ~ Charlie "Bird" Parker

I thoroughly enjoyed the article...I may be biased, but the power of art is sometimes taken for granted...If you can learn the song of a people you can learn their history: Their pains, joys, sorrows and triumphs...

DuBois call this phenomenon The Sorrow Songs...

When Poland was fighting for liberation from the Soviet Union, jazz, an art born out of American Apartheid, was being played...

During the Civil Rights Movement White folks were doing the twist, in the 20s they were doing the Charleston, in the 1910s they were doing the fox trot and at the turn of last century they were doing the cakewalk, all are products of the Black experience...

My hero and the subject of my first book James Reese Europe a.k.a. The Jazz Lieutenant used music to keep his men from getting lynched in Spartanburg, SC at a time when Black people were getting lynched every day and a half in this country...Some victims were even in full military uniform...He also used it to spread goodwill, joy and love throughout continental Europe after the brutal destruction of World War One...

We are a Blues People...

When you all get some time really listen to some Duke Ellington...Duke was a historian who used the gift of song to record and preserve the history of Black People in the African Diaspora...

My small salute to Black History Month...
Bro. Ron a.k.a. R2C2H2 Tha Artivist

Philharmonic Stirs Emotions in North Korea

Lorin Maazel conducting the New York Philharmonic at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Tuesday.

February 27, 2008
By DANIEL J. WAKIN of The New York Times

PYONGYANG, North Korea — As the New York Philharmonic sang out the opening notes of “Arirang,” a beloved Korean folk song, a murmur rippled through the audience. Many in the audience perched forward in their seats.

The piccolo played a long, plaintive melody. Cymbals crashed, harp runs flew up, the violins soared. And tears began forming in the eyes of the staid audience, row upon row of men in dark suits, women in colorful high-waisted hanbok dresses and all of them wearing pins of Kim Il-sung, the nation’s founder.

And right there, the Philharmonic had them. The full-throated performance of a piece deeply resonant for both North and South Koreans ended the orchestra’s historic concert in this isolated nation on Tuesday in triumph.

The audience applauded for more than five minutes, and orchestra members, some of them crying, waved. People in the seats cheered and waved back, reluctant to let the visiting Americans leave.

“Was that an emotional experience!” said Jon Deak, a bass player, backstage moments after the concert had ended. “It’s an incredible joy and sadness and connection like I’ve never seen. They really opened their hearts to us.”

The “Arirang” rendition also proved moving for the orchestra’s eight members of Korean origin. “It brought tears to my eyes,” said Michelle Kim, a violinist whose parents moved from the north to Seoul during the war.

The piece was part of a program carefully constructed to showcase the orchestra and its tradition. A State Department official who accompanied Zarin Mehta, the orchestra’s president, on a planning trip to Pyongyang last year suggested that “Arirang” be played, Mr. Mehta said.

The emotional setting took a turn away from the political theme that had dominated the visit, which began on Monday and ends on Wednesday, when the orchestra flies to Seoul for a concert.

It was the first time an American cultural organization had appeared here, and the largest contingent of United States citizens to appear since the Korean War. The trip has been suffused with political importance since North Korea’s invitation came to light last year. It was seen by some as an opening for warmer relations with the United States, which North Korea has long reviled.

The concert brought a “whole new dimension from what we expected,” Mr. Maazel told reporters afterward. “We just went out and did our thing, and we began to feel this warmth coming back.”

He suggested there would be a bigger impact. “I think it’s going to do a great deal,” he said. “I was told 200 million people were watching. That’s important for the people who want relations to improve.” The concert was broadcast live in many nations, as well as in North Korea.

“If it does come to be seen in retrospect as a historical moment,” he added, “we will all be very proud.”

Still, there was little indication that the good will generated by the visit will affect a critical issue: North Korea’s nuclear program, and efforts to determine the extent of it.

It did not appear that the country’s leader, Kim Jong-il, was present. High-ranking officials did attend, including the vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the vice culture minister and the chairman of the Pyongyang People’s Committee, akin to mayor.

In Washington, on Tuesday, the White House played down the significance of the concert, while criticizing the North for failing to meet its commitments to disarm. Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said the performance neither hurt nor helped American diplomatic efforts.

“At the end of the day, we consider this concert to be a concert,” Ms. Perino said, “and it’s not a diplomatic, you know, coup.”

At the outset, the sound of the American national anthem on the stage of the East Pyongyang Grand Theater was striking. The North Korean anthem came first, and the audience stood for both. The flags of both countries flanked the stage, which was separated from the audience by a bank of flowers. The players moved on to the prelude to Act III of Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony.”

Then Mr. Maazel introduced the next work, Gershwin’s “American in Paris.” “Someday a composer may write a work titled ‘Americans in Pyongyang,’ ” he said. In Korean, he added, “Enjoy!” The audience, mostly stony-faced until now, grew slightly more animated.

For an encore, Mr. Maazel introduced Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide” Overture, which the orchestra played conductorless, in homage to Bernstein, a former Philharmonic music director. “Just imagine Mr. Bernstein coming back,” Mr. Maazel told the audience.

The hall, brightly lighted for a television production, had a gradually raked floor and balconies in the flat rear wall. Wood paneling formed an acoustic shell on the stage, and the sound was remarkably good. The seats were lime-green chairs with arms.

The concert evoked other orchestra missions to repressive states, like the Boston Symphony Orchestra visit to the Soviet Union in 1956, followed soon after by a Philharmonic visit, and the Philadelphia Orchestra trip to China in 1973.

At a news conference earlier in the day, Mr. Maazel, drew a distinction between Tuesday night’s concert and the Philharmonic’s visit to the Soviet Union.

“It showed Soviet citizens that they could have relations with foreign organizations and these organizations could come in the country freely,” he said. “But what the Soviets didn’t realize was this was a two-edged sword.” The visit also meant that “people in power would be out of power,” particularly in a superpower that was a “global threat.”

“The Korean peninsula is a very small area geographically,” Mr. Maazel said, “and has an entirely different role to play in the course of human events.” Drawing a parallel, he added, “would do a disservice to the people who live here and are trying to do their art and make a better world for themselves and all of us.”

Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting from Washington.

2008-02-25T13:59:00.000-08:00

Castro Speaks!!! Or At Least Writes...

The Moment Has Come

by Fidel Castro
February 22, 2008

The moment has come to nominate and elect the State Council, its President, its Vice-Presidents and Secretary.

For many years I have occupied the honorable position of President. On February 15, 1976 the Socialist Constitution was approved with the free, direct and secret vote of over 95% of the people with the right to cast a vote. The first National Assembly was established on December 2nd that same year; this elected the State Council and its presidency. Before that, I had been a Prime Minister for almost 18 years. I always had the necessary prerogatives to carry forward the revolutionary work with the support of the overwhelming majority of the people.

There were those overseas who, aware of my critical health condition, thought that my provisional resignation, on July 31, 2006, to the position of President of the State Council, which I left to First Vice-President Raul Castro Ruz, was final. But Raul, who is also minister of the Armed Forces on account of his own personal merits, and the other comrades of the Party and State leadership were unwilling to consider me out of public life despite my unstable health condition.

It was an uncomfortable situation for me vis-à-vis an adversary which had done everything possible to get rid of me, and I felt reluctant to comply.

Later, in my necessary retreat, I was able to recover the full command of my mind as well as the possibility for much reading and meditation. I had enough physical strength to write for many hours, which I shared with the corresponding rehabilitation and recovery programs. Basic common sense indicated that such activity was within my reach. On the other hand, when referring to my health I was extremely careful to avoid raising expectations since I felt that an adverse ending would bring traumatic news to our people in the midst of the battle. Thus, my first duty was to prepare our people both politically and psychologically for my absence after so many years of struggle. I kept saying that my recovery "was not without risks."

My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath. That's all I can offer.

To my dearest compatriots, who have recently honored me so much by electing me a member of the Parliament where so many agreements should be adopted of utmost importance to the destiny of our Revolution, I am saying that I will neither aspire to nor accept, I repeat, I will neither aspire to nor accept the positions of President of the State Council and Commander in Chief.

In short letters addressed to Randy Alonso, Director of the Round Table National TV Program, --letters which at my request were made public-- I discreetly introduced elements of this message I am writing today, when not even the addressee of such letters was aware of my intention. I trusted Randy, whom I knew very well from his days as a student of Journalism. In those days I met almost on a weekly basis with the main representatives of the University students from the provinces at the library of the large house in Kohly where they lived. Today, the entire country is an immense University.

Following are some paragraphs chosen from the letter addressed to Randy on December 17, 2007:

"I strongly believe that the answers to the current problems facing Cuban society, which has, as an average, a twelfth grade of education, almost a million university graduates, and a real possibility for all its citizens to become educated without their being in any way discriminated against, require more variables for each concrete problem than those contained in a chess game. We cannot ignore one single detail; this is not an easy path to take, if the intelligence of a human being in a revolutionary society is to prevail over instinct.

"My elemental duty is not to cling to positions, much less to stand in the way of younger persons, but rather to contribute my own experience and ideas whose modest value comes from the exceptional era that I had the privilege of living in.

"Like Niemeyer, I believe that one has to be consistent right up to the end."

Letter from January 8, 2008:

"I am a firm supporter of the united vote (a principle that preserves the unknown merits), which allowed us to avoid the tendency to copy what came to us from countries of the former socialist bloc, including the portrait of the one candidate, as singular as his solidarity towards Cuba. I deeply respect that first attempt at building socialism, thanks to which we were able to continue along the path we had chosen."

And I reiterated in that letter that "I never forget that 'all of the world's glory fits in a kernel of corn."

Therefore, it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer. This I say devoid of all drama.

Fortunately, our Revolution can still count on cadres from the old guard and others who were very young in the early stages of the process. Some were very young, almost children, when they joined the fight on the mountains and later they have given glory to the country with their heroic performance and their internationalist missions. They have the authority and the experience to guarantee the replacement. There is also the intermediate generation which learned together with us the basics of the complex and almost unattainable art of organizing and leading a revolution.

The path will always be difficult and require from everyone's intelligent effort. I distrust the seemingly easy path of apologetics or its antithesis the self-flagellation. We should always be prepared for the worst variable. The principle of being as prudent in success as steady in adversity cannot be forgotten. The adversary to be defeated is extremely strong; however, we have been able to keep it at bay for half a century.

This is not my farewell to you. My only wish is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas. I shall continue to write under the heading of 'Reflections by comrade Fidel.' It will be just another weapon you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard. I shall be careful.