BlackWork Against Genocide

misunderstood desires...

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:27:00 +0000

"the problem that girls have, and that their mothers must negotiate with them, is that desire is wrongly equated with sex. over time... girls learn that displays of life, of verve, are considered provocative. within such a dangerous context, girls are schooled to 'just say no' to those who desire them and, many times, say that to their own desires, as well. some girls --often at great risk-- try to play with their provocativeness or harden it and wear it as a shield. many more girls monitor themselves so that they limit risk, but they have to disconnect their ideas of self from their bodily source of desire. but either of these strategies cuts girls off from the yes within themselves -- the self-knowledge of what they want and what feels right to them. they become vulnerable to cultural scripts for their lives than being able to create their own stories for themselves."

*excerpted from "mother daughter revolution" by debold, wilson, malave - pg.173

death to macho-politics!

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:55:00 +0000

"the Black Movement: this is the battle i have attempted to help define, and forward, as though my own life depended on its success. in truth, my life does depend on the outcome of our Black struggles for freedom to be ourselves, in self-respecting self-sufficiency. but where can you find serious Black spokesmen, or women, for the impoverished, hungry, state-dependent Black peoples among us who still amount to more than a third of our total population? and why does it continue to be the case that, when our ostensible leadership talks about the 'liberation of the Black man' that is precisely, and only, what they mean? how is it even imaginable that Black men would presume to formulate the Black Movement and the Women's movement as either/or, antithetical alternatives of focus? as a Black woman, i view such a formulation with a mixture of incredulity and grief: the irreducible majority of Black people continues to be composed of Black women. and, whereas many Black sons and daughters have never known Black fathers, or a nurturing, supportive Black man in our daily lives, all Black people have most certainly been raised, and cared for, by Black women: mothers, grandmothers, aunts. in addition, and despite the prevalent bullshit to the contrary, Black women continue to occupy the absolutely lowest pay of any group of workers, and we endure the highest rate of unemployment. if that status does not cry out for liberation, specifically as Black women, then i am hopelessly out of touch with my own pre-ordained reality."

*excerpted from "civil wars" by june jordan, pg.118

kwame ture

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:57:00 +0000

*more videos @ www.rbgtube.com

the code... "10 basic stops!"

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:09:00 +0000

in order to help to eliminate racism [white supremacy] and to produce justice, all victims of racism [nonwhite people] should, in all of their relationships with each other, think, speak and act in support of the following three-word suggestion: "minimize the conflict"

The Code... "10 Basic Stops!"

1. Stop Snitching (informing on one another for personal gain).
2. Stop Name-Calling one another.
3. Stop Cursing at one another.
4. Stop Gossiping.
5. Stop being Discourteous to one another.
6. Stop Stealing from one another.
7. Stop Robbing one another.
8. Stop Fighting one another (does not mean self-defense).
9. Stop Killing one another.
10. Stop Squabbling with one another and asking "others" to settle it.

*excerpted from "the united independent compensatory code/system/concept" by neely fuller jr. pg.56

reliving the "venus hottentot" circus

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:21:00 +0000

"the focus in hiphop [commercial rap] culture and media on the Black female posterior is eerily reminiscent of the venus hottentot circus act framing of a Black woman in the 1820s. in the name of science, a european doctor awestruck by khosian (of south Africa) women's posteriors and genitalia paid[?] one of the Black women there to travel to england then france with him as a specimen for display and study as the 'hottentot venus' (the europeans had named her tribe of heritage, hottentot[?], and dubbed her a venus). images of her display/visit in england and france depict her poised on a pedestal: her buttocks exposed, and men and women staring intensely at her and commenting 'oh! god damn what roast beef!' and 'ah! how comical is nature.' even if today's video hotties appear to have been initiated by [male negroes] and co-signed by [negro females] themselves -- instead of [and/or in conjunction with] white supremacy-informed europeans like those responsible for the 'venus hottentot' spectacle -- the predominance of such representations again circulates the Black female body and sexuality in a dehumanizing manner with far-reaching consequences. turning to the audience factors of the equation offers a cautionary look into how young Black women use these roles and identities from hiphop [commercial rap] culture."

--fatimah n. muhammad

*excerpted from "home girls make some noise" edited by pough, richardson, durham, raimist, pgs.126-127

violence against women.

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:01:00 +0000

"in the united states more than 3 women each day die from domestic violence. one estimate suggests there are over 2 million incidents of battering each year -- which works out to a woman being hit somewhere in the country every 15 seconds. the national coalition against domestic violence reports 691,710 cases for 2001 -- which reduces the rate to about 1 attack every 45 seconds. the same source indicates 25% of women will experience battering in their lifetime."

*excerpted from "the cost of privilege" by chip smith, pg.191

h.a.b.e.s.h.a

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:01:00 +0000

helping Africa by establishing schools at home and abroad...

HABESHA, Inc. is a Pan-African organization that cultivates leadership in youth through practical experiences in cultural education, sustainable agriculture, entrepreneurship, holistic health, and technology. HABESHA is a volunteer-based non-profit organization founded in 2002 that is committed to the education and upliftment of youth of African descent who live in areas where there is a high rate of poverty, crime, violence, and who may be at risk because of environmental or other circumstances. it is our wish to assure the spread of education among Africans throughout the world. in the education and training of the younger generation lies the hope of African peoples and the keys to our future.

more info @ http://www.habeshainc.org/

rejecting your mother's heritage...

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:38:00 +0000

"...when a jamaican is born of a Black woman and some english or scotsman, the Black mother is literally and figuratively kept out of sight as far as possible, but no one is allowed to forget that white father, however questionable the circumstances of birth. you hear about 'my father this and my father that, and my father who was english, you know,' until you get the impression that he or she had no mother. Black skin is so utterly condemned that the Black mother is not going to be mentioned nor exhibited. you get the impression that these virile englishmen do not require women to reproduce. they just come out to jamaica, scratch out a nest and lay eggs that hatch out into 'pink' jamaicans."

*excerpted from "i love myself, when i am laughing..." by zora neale hurston, pg.127

what to the slave is the fourth of july?

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:21:00 +0000

"...what, am i to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction[s], to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? must i argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? no! i will not. i have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply....

what, to the american slave, is your fourth of july? i answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. to him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. there is not a nation of savages. there is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the united states at this very hour...."

*excerpts from a 1841 speech from frederick douglass, full speech @ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927t.html

inclined to criminal behavior?

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:34:00 +0000

--individuals who cannot plan, cannot predict.

--if they cannot predict, they cannot identify cause and effect.

--if they cannot identify cause and effect, they cannot identify consequence.

--if they cannot identify consequence, they cannot control impulsivity.

--if they cannot control impulsivity, they have an inclination to criminal behavior.

(according to reuven feuerstein)

*excerpted from an article from "aha! process, inc" [poverty series] by ruby k. payne, pg.2 www.ahaprocess.com

gil scott-heron

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:01:00 +0000

*more videos @ www.rbgtube.com

we need the elders.

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:00:00 +0000

"because of the extended-family system and the universal hospitality, the aged were fortunately free of the problems of sustenance. they played self-fulfilling and socially satisfying roles within their communities. while old age was a liability in a new world plantation and throughout the capitalist world, in Africa advanced age brought honour, increased respect and authority. the gerontocratic bias of African society meant that a great deal of power and authority was based on seniority in age. an elder was learned and wise because he had had maximum exposure to life in that society, as well as to all of the formal education which was available. as a young man he had spent several months in the 'bush school,' where he had received instructions prior to initiation; later he had graduated from successive age-groups or through several levels of a fraternity, where secret knowledge was revealed at each stage; and finally an elder would himself be a teacher. in a state system, elders tutored the prospective ruler and advised the ruling king; while in 'stateless societies' they were the sole repositories of historical, spiritual and legal knowledge. in both sets of situations they had to be informed and alert because of their responsibilities."

*excerpted from "the groundings with my brothers" by walter rodney, pg.54

long live the justice movement!

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:01:00 +0000

"what good was the civil rights movement? if it had just given this country dr. king, a leader of conscience, for once in our lifetime, it would have been enough. if it had just taken Black eyes off white television stories, it would have been enough. if it had fed one starving child, it would have been enough.

if the civil rights movement is 'dead,' and if it gave us nothing else, it gave us each other forever. it gave some of us bread, some of us shelter, some of us knowledge and pride, all of us comfort. it gave us our children, our husbands, our brothers, our fathers, as men reborn and with a purpose for living. it broke the pattern of Black servitude in this country. it shattered the phony 'promise' of white soap operas that sucked away so many pitiful lives. it gave us history and men far greater than presidents. it gave us heroes, selfless men of courage and strength, for our little boys and girls to follow. it gave us hope for tomorrow. it called us to life.

because we live, it can never die.

*excerpted from "in search of our mothers' gardens" by alice walker, pgs.128-129

performers should do more than

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:01:00 +0000

"politically, his agenda is business as usual. he still promotes capitalism. he is still the Black face of a white power system. the 3.2 billion dollars they gave in the stimulus plan to the prison industry was definitely not for the people. he still represents uncle sam, in terms of the job he has to do. we got [nonwhite] police that still send us to the same jail. just cause we have a [nonwhite] politician don’t mean the white house still ain’t the white house (laughing). people think if you have anything critical to say about the administration then you attacking the Black man. i ain’t attacking a Black man. i’m a Black man. but when the [nonwhite] man's giving 3.2 billion to the prison industry, he aint giving the Black man a chance ‘cause we the ones in prison.

but we have to be able to respect him for the historic nature but be able to critically analyze the situation. it’s bigger than hip-hop and it’s bigger than skin tone. it’s about your agenda and what policies you’re putting in place for the people."

*an article with dead prez from "the urban daily"
http://theurbandaily.blackplanet.com/music/does-dead-prez-still-have-a-pulse/

dr. ben jochannan

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:01:00 +0000

*more videos @ www.rbgtube.com

my sister's keeper?

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:01:00 +0000

"did you ever wonder how we must have appeared to our mothers? i have wondered this. once, in the days following the birth of our child --for she would not speak of sex or childbirth before i had a child-- my mother broke a self-imposed taboo to speak to me of rape. or rather, of how she had avoided rape. i have a feeling now that she was the kind of woman who would have said a woman could not be raped: though her own light-colored face belied this, surely. people who are routinely violated over centuries make curious denials. but i would speak to her of rape, as i spoke to her of everything that mattered. and she told me the following story: that one day she and her sisters and brothers were walking down a deserted road, and white men began to make advances toward and then to chase the girls. her brothers ran away, leaving the girls to fight or run as best they could. she understood their behavior, of course, but there was sadness in her telling of it. if they had tried to protect their sisters they would have been murdered without a thought. luckily, she and her sisters were strong and fast; they simply outran their would-be rapists."

*excerpted from "the way forward is with a broken heart" by alice walker, pg.35

we do it because its right.

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:01:00 +0000

"live truth
be truth.

live justice
be justice."

--baba musomi

armed conflict, a last restort...

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:33:00 +0000

"whenever possible 'victory' should be achieved through diplomatic coercion, thwarting the enemy's plans and alliances, and frustrating his strategy. only if an enemy threatens the state with military action or refuses to acquiesce without being brutally forced into submission should the government resort to armed combat. even when exercising this option, every military campaign should focus upon achieving maximum results with minimum risk and exposure, limiting as far as possible the destruction to be inflicted and suffered, fighting with the aim of preservation."

*excerpted from "the art of war" by sun-tzu - translated by ralph d. sawyer, pg.129

working-class take over!

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:25:00 +0000

"the working class of paris formed the paris commune on march 18, 1871. people seized the city in defense of the six-months old republic, as the french government capitulated to the germans in the closing days of the franco-prussian war. the workers elected the commune's leadership based on universal suffrage. the newly formed government then armed the citizens and disbanded the official army, set government pay scales no higher than workers' wages, opened educational institutions to everyone, declared the separation of church and state and returned priests to private life, banned pawn shops, and turned the city's factories over to their workers. the french government, under the watchful eye of the german army, then attacked the city, and the people of paris held out until the end of may. the indiscriminate bloodbath that finally suppressed the workers' uprising counted many thousands of men, women, and children among its victims -- while the upper classes danced in the streets."

*excerpted from "the cost of privilege" by chip smith, pg.118

dr. leonard jeffries

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:01:00 +0000

*more videos @ www.rbgtube.com

white enslavement in Africa

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:44:00 +0000

"the whites shipwrecked off the west African coast usually were treated less brutally by their Black captors than were whites captured by the Arabs. though often suffering more mental anguish because of the strange color and culture of their Black masters, the whites found themselves in a less forbidding environment than the sahara desert. the relatively mild treatment of white bondsmen in west Africa was due primarily to the abundance of food, the nature of west African slavery, and the infrequent contacts the [Africans] had with caucasians. in fact, the caucasians were enslaved as much to satisfy the African's curiosity about their strange white skin as for their labor. robert adams, an american sailor enslaved for several months in timbuctoo in 1810, recalled that he was treated kindly and was such an object of curiosity that he was kept as a slave in the king's palace to entertain him and his guests."

*excerpted from "the slave community" by john w. blassingame, pgs.51-52

exploiting "have-not" differences...

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:01:00 +0000

"the country people are suspicious of the townsman [and/or the miseducated college grad]. the latter dresses like a european; he speaks the european's language, works with him, sometimes even lives in the same district; so he is considered by the peasants as a turncoat who has betrayed everything that goes to make up the national heritage. the townspeople are 'traitors and knaves' who seem to get on well with the occupying powers [oppressors], and do their best to get on within the framework of the colonial system. this is why you often hear the country people say of the town dwellers that they have no morals. here, we are not dealing with the old antagonism between the town and country; it is the antagonism which exists between the native who is excluded from the advantages of colonialism and his counterpart who manages to turn colonial exploitation to his account.

what is more, the colonialists make use of this antagonism in their struggle against the nationalist parties [the people's organizers]. they mobilize the people of the mountains and the up-country dwellers against the townsfolk..."

*excerpted from "the wretched of the earth" by frantz fanon, pg.112

cultural work in segregated schools.

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:03:00 +0000

"almost all our teachers at booker t. washington were Black women. they were committed to nurturing intellect so that we could become scholars, thinkers, and cultural workers -- Black folks who used our 'minds.' we learned early that our devotion to learning, to a life of the mind, was a counter-hegemonic act, a fundamental way to resist every strategy of white racist colonization. though they did not define or articulate these practices in theoretical terms, my teachers were enacting a revolutionary pedagogy of resistance that was profoundly anticolonial. within these segregated schools, Black children who were deemed exceptional, gifted, were given special care. teachers worked with and for us to ensure that we would fulfill our intellectual destiny and by so uplift [our people-group]. my teachers were on a mission."

*excerpted from "teaching to transgress" by bell hooks, pg.2

accidental police shooting?

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:24:00 +0000

sometimes they even "accidentally" shoot people... what are the police for again?
*more videos @ ww.rbgtube.com

self-respect

noreply@blogger.com (BlackWork Against Genocide) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:05:00 +0000

is what we need.