Black and White Values

Founding members of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense

I recently came across this pledge for Black children in 1968 initiated by the Black Panther Party;

Black Child's Pledge

I pledge allegiance to my Black People.
I pledge to develop my mind and body to the greatest extent possible.
I will learn all that I can in order to give my best to my People in their struggle for liberation.
I will keep myself physically fit, building a strong body free from drugs and other substances which weaken me and make me less capable of protecting myself, my family and my Black brothers and sisters.
I will unselfishly share my knowledge and understanding with them in order to bring about change more quickly.
I will discipline myself to direct my energies thoughtfully and constructively rather than wasting them in idle hatred.
I will train myself never to hurt or allow others to harm my Black brothers and sisters for I recognize that we need every Black Man, Woman, and Child to be physically, mentally and psychologically strong.
These principles I pledge to practice daily and to teach them to others in order to unite my People.

The Black Panther, October 26, 1968
by Shirley Williams

A Pew Poll conducted in conjunction with National Public Radio shows that only 53% of Black people believe there is one Black race.  This is not talking about skin color, but of values.  37% of the Black folk poled said that Black people no longer share the same values across lines, this 37% is said to have an educational level of a high school diploma or less.  A larger pool of 39%, which represents "lower income" doesn't believe we share the same values.  Juan Williams himself is quoted as saying that the 53% of Blacks that feel there is still one race "have more in common with whites than Blacks, since most of them are more educated or make $100,000.00 per year or more.

Are the children that have grown up living by the Black Child's Pledge created by the Black Panther Party the 53%?

Were the values expressed in the Black Child's Pledge white values?

What is really going on????

Can we reconnect the disconnect?

Fred Hampton

I was watching a special on the life and death of Fred Hampton. Fred Hampton was the deputy chairman of the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. But, what caught my attention, was his oratorical skills at such a young age. At 19 years of age he was able to speak in front of a crowd and maintain the crowd’s attention. He brokered a truce between Chicago street gangs and called a press conference to announce his “rainbow coalition”, a phrase later made popular by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. By age 21 he became the deputy chairman of the Black Panther party for the state of Illinois until his death in December of 1969. Seeing this young man speak (on film of course), I wondered what has happened to our youth.

Is it generational poverty?

Is it a total misunderstanding of what education is?

Are some elders to blame for not explaining what is meant when some have said we don’t need the “white man’s” education?

My brother says we are witnessing the result of crack babies, poor nutrition, and the dumbing down effect of BET, MTV and commercial rap. Could this be the case?

There was once the belief in our Black nation that an education was something no one can take from you. Has this belief left us?

Could it be the false belief one can get riches and fame without education?

Do the Lebron James’ and Jay Z’s of the world that are paraded in front of our children a contributing factor to the false belief that education is not needed?

Black Child's Pledge

I pledge allegiance to my Black People.
I pledge to develop my mind and body to the greatest extent possible.
I will learn all that I can in order to give my best to my People in their struggle for liberation.
I will keep myself physically fit, building a strong body free from drugs and other substances which weaken me and make me less capable of protecting myself, my family and my Black brothers and sisters.
I will unselfishly share my knowledge and understanding with them in order to bring about change more quickly.
I will discipline myself to direct my energies thoughtfully and constructively rather than wasting them in idle hatred.
I will train myself never to hurt or allow others to harm my Black brothers and sisters for I recognize that we need every Black Man, Woman, and Child to be physically, mentally and psychologically strong.
These principles I pledge to practice daily and to teach them to others in order to unite my People. The Black Panther, October 26, 1968
by Shirley Williams

Read about the murder of Chairman Fred Hampton.

The mathmatics of build and destroy.

Patrick Manning voted in for a second term as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago!

Photo courtesy of TriniView.com

(Prime Minister Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning-right)

Honorable Patrick Manning was sworn in for a second term as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.  The ruling party PNM (People National Movement) won a total of 26 seats in Parliament, and a total of 13 women will be sworn in as Ministers of Parliament.  This represents the most women elected at one time, in the history of TnT.  Dispite some racial tension spurred on by the opposition party's UNC leader Basdeo Panday the PNM diverse field of contenders was still victorious.  Intending to garner African Trinibagonian votes, Panday attempted to get the endorsment of Nelson Mandela and an appearance by Rev. Jesse Jackson.  However, the tactic did not work and Panday received no endorsment by Mandela and neither did Rev. Jackson appear on the behalf of the UNC. 

Mutabaruka; Legendary Poet, Historian, Visiting Professor and Radio Host

One of the greats in the Reggae genre.  Mutabaruka is a poet that has put his poetry to music, coined Dub Poetry.  Born in Rae Town, Kingston Jamaica as Allen Hope.  Known as a "poet of the people" Muta was influenced in his early life by reading the works of Eldridge Cleaver-Soul On Ice, The Autobiography of Malcolm X.  Seeing himself as a young revolutionary Muta began to deepen his investigation of Rastafari.  Accepting Rastafarinism, he sees as part of a universal quest rather than a institutionalized religion, "Well I don't see Rasta as a religion.  Rastas don't have a church where they go and gather and say the same thing.  Rasta allow you to keep your individuality.  Rasta is a way of life.  It can be a religious idea, a religious concept.  Religion is when you have a group of people gathering in one place to express the same dogma."  On sexism in Africa.  "Of course there is sexism in Africa.  Sexism reached Africa by way of the Arabs, by way of the muslims who invaded Africa before the Europeans came there with their patriarchal religion.  Because in Africa there was no talk of God as a 'he'.  God was 'her'.  Mother Earth.  Mother Nature.  Most Africans saw God in the feminine.  It was not until the Arabs came into Africa that the patriarchal system started to develop and it has flourished even to West Africa."

Releasing his first album "Outcry" in March 1973 but has since enlightened our minds with Melanin Man, Blak Wi Blak,The Mystery Unfolds, & Check It just to name a few.

Let us acknowledge to our people while they are here with us.

Junk Food Poem

Remember de cold suppa           junk food fullin up de place

    shop                                         dis is a nada disgrace                

    dat u use fi stop at                     junk food fullin up de place

    u coulda eat anythin                   a now good food guh guh

    it was like u granny cookin         to waste

    corn dumplin and ackee             strawberry ice cream

    from big fat matte                      raspberry ice cream

    stew peas and rice                     dem a bury wi

    use fi really taste nice                u nuh si

    now a ice cream stand               ice cream ice cream

    teckin ova da lan                       liven de american dream

-Mutabaruka

The Dog and Dunbar Villiage

I now know the problem is with me.  Myself, and a few people close to me must be the ones that have the problem.  There just has to be something we can do to get help.  Am I off? Because, I cannot in anyway get excited about what Dog the Bounty Hunter said to his son.  So he says he uses the word ni**er when he and his family talk.  I’m not surprised, upset, nor have any other emotion about the issue.  We should take this, as a confirmation that what we suspected many white folk do behind closed doors is a fact.  They work with you all day, talk with you, smile when they barge into your office while you’re taking a lunch break at your desk and go home and say “aw that uppity ni**er… or those ni**ers…” when they speak about you in the comfort of there own homes.  Anyone astonished by the way Dog spoke, because he is white, needs to wake up and smell the coffee.  For goodness sake the man calls himself Dog, what do you expect?  He sees himself as an animal.  Do we think he would see other people in a better light?  I was once told that it’s the nature of a snake to bite, even bite the hand that feeds it.  So when the snake bites you, should you be mad at the snake for what the snake’s nature tells it to do?  Shouldn’t we be upset at ourselves if we don’t see a snake right in front of our eyes and it bites us?  Please!  We have much more wickedness to splash hot lava on.  Dog is just another snake in the grass, we need to be mindful of.  But, what about the snake that changes like the chameleon?  The snakes, that reside within us.

These vipers are much harder to see, so they are much more dangerous.  We have, somehow allowed these evil spirits to develop among us.  These souls lurk all around us and require deep internal work to bring out.  I am talking about the Black people that hurt us.  “At any level the worse devil is a Black one…” chants Sadat X of Brand Nubian.  We have allowed the growth of a wicked essence to live with us and now it’s in the process of destroying us.  The destruction of Mama continues with the assistance of women, I don't mean all women but, the reaction of some of the women of Dunbar Villiage was quite insensitive.  The wicked rape and mental destruction that took place in the Dunbar Village projects by Tommy Poindexter 18, Nathan Walker 17, Jakaris Taylor 16, Avion Lawson 14 and six other boys to one of our Haitian sisters and her son was worse than what happened to Megan Williams in West Virginia.   I say this, because these are other Black people.  I say this because these boys forced a Mother to perform oral sex ON HER OWN SON!!!  “At any level the worse devil is a Black one…” I keep hearing the lyrics.  Three hours they took turns raping her and beating her son.  When they were done, they doused them with household cleansers.  They blinded the son with these cleansers.  Because the boys stole the only means of communication they had this mother and son had to walk over a mile to a hospital for help.  The response of one of the WOMEN that lives in the same projects said, “so what a woman was raped…”  “At any level the worse devil is a Black one…” 

The mother of one of the accused Harriet Rogers Poindexter said “I think it was cruel what happened to that lady…My son wouldn’t do nothing like that.  Every child goes through things.  He’s a good Kid.”

It’s best to be quiet Mom, until all things are settled.  They’re reporting they have physical evidence linking your son to the destruction of the mental state of a 12 year old boy and the mother of that child.

To assist Megan Williams write to;                                                To assist Dunbar Villiage Victims write to;

Wilana Megan Williams Trust Fund                                               Dunbar Villiage Victims Assistance

                                                                                                    St. Ann's Catholic Church

                                                                                                    310 N. Olive Street

                                                                                                    West Palm, Beach FL33401

707 Virginia St. E.

Charleston, WV 25301