FILM(S) MONITORED
GRIDIRON GANG
THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

The monitor of the films listed above is farther down in this eNewsletter.   This is a loaded one, folks, so be prepared.

INTERESTING WEB SITES/LINKS/ARTICLES OF THE DAY :

Terrorism in America - Nothing New for Blacks

The Video - "A Girl Like Me"
Most of our readers who got the original distribution of the last BN-W eNewsletter on 9/4/06 only received an article about this video, but thanks to Principal Baruti Kafele (see below), we can also provide the video, which we thought was powerful enough to also link on our site, so you can find it there as well.   The media along with miseducation, misinformation, and hundreds of years of mental/physical abuse and conditioning foisted into and onto our ancestors (and now us) have done a wonderful job in making way too many of us continue to feel “less than.”   Don’t you think it’s time for a reversal of that trend?

Principal Baruti Kafele is offering Parent Empowerment Workshops during the 2006-2007 school year for FREE in the New York- New Jersey areas (he can also do Philadelphia and Connecticut on the weekends).   This is his 17^th year of doing the workshops and why does he do them:   “I do them out of necessity for the survival and development of our children.”   As we mentioned in a previous BN-W eNewsletter, Principal Kafele also has an excellent “Suggested Reading” link on his site which is also linked on the BN-W site.   For more information on the workshops, you can contact him through his Web site:   http://www.principalkafele.com

October 14 – 1:00pm – Essex County College, Newark, New Jersey – Free Admission:   A Proactive Forum for Black Men of All Ages
Look at how Black men are overwhelmingly portrayed in the media – and how effective it’s been in even turning Black men against one another – and you know something’s got to be done.   So, if you can attend, please do.

Male Student College Tour Workshop Series
Support Services Consultants (SSC) is offering a six-college tour workshop series for men ages 13-17.   The dates are October 7^th, November 4^th, December 2^nd, January 13^th, February 3^rd, and March 3^rd.   The cost is minimal and you can attend individual workshops/tours at $20-25 each or do the whole six tours for about $120.   And if cost is a concern, compare that price to prison ($40,000 per year) or funeral expenses ($5000) and ask yourself, what makes the most sense?

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture - Scholars-in-Residence Program
Fellowship 2007-2008 – Deadline is December 1, 2006

Electronic Vote-Stealing Machines
Steal This Election (Video)
We know what happened in the 2000 election, we know what happened in the 2004 election, we can pretty much see what’s going to happen in the 2006 elections, and with two additional years to really “fine tune” the theft, we know what can happen in 2008.   So let’s at least be prepared and know we’ve been forewarned.

First Ever "Whiteness Survey" by the University of Minnesota    
[Link #2 from UMN]
Time Magazine:   The Meaning of White
This is supposed to be the “nation’s first ever ‘Whiteness’ survey” and it’s supposed to be “available upon request” but we put in a request for it about a week ago and haven’t received anything yet.   But we did get questioned as to what is our “interest” in it.   If it’s supposed to be available upon request, why would it matter what our interest is?   Nevertheless, until – and if – we get a copy of this survey, here’s a few of the findings which basically prove that many Whites are very aware of their “privilege” status and want to maintain it by any means necessary.   “The researchers found that a majority of Whites (74 percent) felt that their own racial identity was important to them, and that a similar majority were able to see prejudice and discrimination as important in explaining White advantage.”   “…a stunning proportion of Whites – 77% – say their race has a distinct culture that should be preserved.”   “Whites are more likely to say prejudice and discrimination put Blacks at a disadvantage than to say those factors contribute to White advantage.”   According to one co-author of the survey Douglass Hartmann, “Whites have invented subtle ways to convince themselves that race isn’t a problem in America.”   And according to another co-author of the survey Paul Croll, “The fact of the matter is that people claim White identity for defensive as well as progressive reasons.”   There you have it, just a very few tidbits of this seemingly “secret” first ever Whiteness survey.   Perhaps you’ll have more luck than we’ve had getting it, here are a couple of email addresses to request the “secret”:   David Ruth (druth@umn.edu) and/or Doug Hartmann (hartm021@umn.edu).   Good luck and forward the “secret” to us if you can get it.   The next story is a must-read – is there a connection?

Music to Hate By
This article discusses White supremacy in general as well as the Prussian Blue band that features 14-year old twin sisters Lamb and Lynx Gaede (see our previous reference to them in BN-W #51) who promote some of the findings in the University of Minnesota Whiteness survey – according to what we can only gather from the school’s press release, especially since there seems to be a reluctance to release it.   Some of the most interesting quotes from Hutchinson’s article are:   “And White supremacist groups have adjusted to the times.   They borrow the technique politicians perfected during the past quarter century to win White votes.   They use racial and gender-inferred double speak, code words and code concepts.”   “Many White males are gripped by the ultra-paranoid delusion that the government conspires with minorities, women and the poor to marginalize them.”   “The new breed of White supremacist groups are also helped by the storehouse of dodge tactics many Americans employ to mask racism.   They accuse Blacks of always ‘making an issue out of race.’”   “The immigration reform battle has created a fertile new field for White supremacy groups to slip in their race-coded bigotry, and corral new recruits.   They play on the anxiety and fears of many American[s] over illegal immigration, and cloak their message of White purity in a call to defend the borders and halt an alleged alien invasion.”   Is it our imagination or does the last quote remind you of CNN’s Lou Dobbs?

And while we’re on this topic of race matters and before we get to the very serious Darfur issue, here’s some quick SATIRE – we repeat SATIRE – from playahata.com for September 2006:   The Ku Klux Klan Disbands:   Leaves Their Job to TOP Selling Rap Artists

Africa :  Congo/Darfur/Rwanda

Everyone knows how badly the continent of Africa is portrayed in the Western media, but rarely do we get the full story explaining colonialism and how hundreds of years of that dominance played into creating what we have today.   Of course, we never get the ancient African history, from which humanity began as well as the sciences, mathematics, astrology, etc.   We also rarely get the truth about Africa being the richest continent of natural resources and why so many countries and individuals want a piece of this so-called poor and devastated region of the world.   The best thing anyone can do to “help” Africa is to start with teaching the correct and true history – and not the junk and falsehoods that are taught now.   Once Africans across the globe and everyone else understand the fundamental truths of all of our beginnings, then that will be the catalyst for permanent and effective change.   You can’t undo hundreds of years of intentional deception, misinformation, and miseducation overnight, so this will be a long process that will take years to correct, but the key is to get started by implementing the necessary educational changes that must begin either before or, at the very least, in kindergarten.  It’s unfortunate that most of us don’t know it, but African history is world history, so it needs to be properly taught early on.

Following are some articles, links, and writings that will take a while to read.   We recommend you read what you can on screen, but for the majority of these documents, we suggest you print them out and set yourself up comfortably to read with understanding and completion.   There is, quite simply, a whole lot to digest here.   Ready?   All right, here we go:

Time Magazine:   The Deadliest War In The World
The primary focus on this story is Congo where even with all its man-made chaos it still “represents the promise of Africa as much as its misery:   its fertile fields and tropical forests cover an area bigger than California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon and Texas combined.   Its soils are packed with diamonds, gold, copper, tantalum (known locally as coltan and used in electronic devices such as cell phones and laptop computer) and uranium.   The waters of its mighty river could one day power the continent.”   There’s also a passing reference to colonialism:   “ Congo’s history often seems like an uninterrupted tale of woe.   After decades of often brutal foreign rule, first as the private possession of King Leopold II of Belgium and then as a Belgian colony, Congo won its independence in 1960.”

An African Building Boom Made in China
China has been quietly making inroads into the African continent for years and “unofficial estimates put the number of Chinese companies in Africa at more than 700.”   Additionally, “despite international sanctions, Chinese investments has helped Sudan become Africa’s third largest oil producer.   Of the $2 billion in oil it exports annually, half goes to China.”   All we can say, is Black businesspeople, wake up!   Africa is the continent of your ancestors.   While everybody else is trying to ease themselves in there someway, somehow (even if it’s over a long period of time), too many of us are trying to disown Africa.   Or are we being helped along in that thought process by the influence of the Western media and culture?

Black Commentator – A Tale of Two Genocides:   The Failed U.S. Response to Rwanda and Darfur
This article gives the background of both Rwanda and Darfur and how the United States (and both the Clinton and Bush administrations) responded to the genocide in these African countries.   On Rwanda:   “As far as U.S. officials in the Clinton Administration were concerned, there was no political cost to inaction against the Rwandan genocide, as opposed to a potentially steep political cost to U.S. embroilment in yet another violent African quagmire.   This appears to have been the final determination of U.S. policy toward Rwanda, even as the human cost of inaction became devastatingly clear.”   On Darfur:   “It is also clear that the U.S. could have invested sooner and more deeply in international diplomacy on Darfur, to help mobilize new action on this crisis.   But the Bush Administration wished to retain its international leverage and its political capital for other concerns, in the Middle East and in the larger so-called ‘War on Terrorism.’   In the White House’s consideration of geo-strategic calculations and foreign policy priorities, the people of Darfur lost out and they have paid the ultimate price.”   At this point we do believe that for the recent ceasefire between Lebanon/Hezbollah and Israel to take place that a requirement was for an international peacekeeping force to be on the border.   It’s probably quite obvious, but we’ll ask anyway, why one there and not in Darfur?

Black Electorate – Asking the Right Questions About Darfur, Sudan
In 2004, BlackElectorate.com did an eleven-part Q&A with various individuals knowledgeable about the Darfur situation.   These interviews are very informative and insightful, especially to read their comments then and see how they fit in two years later.   There are also two links from 2001 on the topic that provide even more insight.   Black Electorate and Black Commentator are very useful sources, so you can’t go wrong in getting their detailed perspectives on this issue.

Okay, now that we know more about the history of Darfur, Sudan, including it being the third largest oil producer in Africa, we have this link on the organizations behind the Save Darfur campaign, somehow it seems like there’s more to this story than capitalizing on the “Never Again” slogan.   If you know the story of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and its beginnings and who really pulled the purse strings and had the decision-making positions of power, then you’ll understand our curiosity.   No doubt that Darfur needs involvement from the international community, but as we wrote in the top of this section, the implementation of an accurate teaching of history through EDUCATION is the key to effective change and that will substantially reduce Africa being seen (falsely) as a liability, especially when in reality at its core everything about it is an asset.   One quick example is the New York City Board of Education – why put Joel Klein, a businessman with a professional background in the seriously tainted music business as the Chancellor of the NYC public school system, and not Dr. Adelaide Sanford, a long time principal and educator within the NYC school system who had a proven track record of success and educational excellence within the NYC public school system?   It’s this type of continuous education fundamental raw deal that we have to correct – and then other loose ends, however slowly at first, will begin to come together and strengthen.   And, unfortunately, that’s what many don’t want to see happen and they organize and work hard to make sure effective change stays at a crawl.

We at BN-W encourage you to come to your own conclusions and know that it is better to be aware than unaware.

FALL/WINTER ENTERTAINMENT EVENTS

We just shared a whole bunch of serious and heavy stuff with you, so we’re going to balance it out with some lighter stuff.   A lot of fun activities are going on all over the world, but since we’re here in the New York tri-state area, here are some places offering events and activities for all ages to just unwind, relax, and enjoy.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
[AAADT’s annual holiday season at New York’s City Center runs from November 29^th – December 31^st]

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

Bergen Performing Arts Center

Jazz at Lincoln Center

As we mentioned in BN-W #54 the conclusion of Part II:   Black-Jewish Relations will be included with our new bi-monthly Music Monitor.   As we also stated, we’ve got a lot of information, and, for that reason, until Part II comes out, we’ll be filtering stuff to you so it won’t be too overwhelming in the buildup to Part II’s conclusions.   Refer to BN-W #53/54 if you need a repeat of our feelings on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).  

In light of the recent controversial statements made by Pope Benedict XVI about the Muslim faith, we thought this would be an opportune time to also present a strictly religious angle on the Christian and Jewish faiths and some of the inner conflicts between the two.   Sometimes you’ve got to wonder:   Organized religion? Do we really need it?   Think about it – what has it really done for and to us?   In the truly big picture, has it more often been a unifier or a divider?

Papal Apology Unacceptable:   Pope Fails to Recant Offensive Remarks
“Don’t think for a minute that the Pope’s words were a simple slip of the tongue either, because he was reading from an annotated, well-researched, carefully-prepared, papal script.”

Pope Benedict:   The First Year
“He firmly believes that the moral values of Christian Europe are the safeguards of civilization around the globe.   The Holy Father considers Europe his most troubled child and laments that it has fallen ill with secular values.   His antidote:   to re-evangelize Europe in the spirit of St. Benedict, the patron saint of Europe, with whom he explicitly identifies.”   Another interesting – and rarely noted – point in this article is a reference to Europe’s geography and it being “a cultural continent, not a geographical one.”   The writer of this piece also takes issue with the Church’s need to apologize for being “morally guilty for closing its eyes to the Holocaust” – that is the Jewish holocaust.   The writer made no reference to the African holocaust that occurred during the Middle Passage killing double- to possible triple-digit millions of Africans who were brutally stolen so they can be sold and then enslaved in the Americas and Caribbean Islands.

The Church and Jewish Ideology
“Where is the corresponding statement of Jewish leaders repudiating and repenting the Jewish role in a cause whose crimes dwarf those of Hitler?   Did major Jewish spokesmen or organizations condemn Communism as it devoured tens of millions of Christians?   Did a few brave Jews in the Soviet Union and the other Communist-ruled countries act, at personal risk, to shield Christians from arbitrary arrest and murder?   Even today, how many Jews condemn Franklin Roosevelt for his fondness for Stalin, as they would condemn him if he had shown the slightest partiality to Hitler?”   Again, we may as well point out, no mention of the African holocaust in this piece either.

If you missed any other BN-W monitors, just send an e-mail to bannword2@yahoo.com and request that it be sent to you.   As always, we highly encourage you to see these films for yourself and, if applicable, make your own judgment call on the N-word usage – appropriate/inappropriate? necessary/unnecessary? sensible/nonsensical? does it add to or take away from the film’s concept? does the N-word have to be used at all? is there a valid reason for doing so? is it mandatory for the scene(s) to be effective? what are the circumstances/situation that necessitate any use of the word? is it just thrown in for humor, fear, crime, insult? are other culturally insulting slang terms used as much as the N-word in the film?   Lots of questions and a whole lot of reasons to wonder what’s the real purpose and thought process behind why these entertainers, writers, directors, producers, executive producers, distributors, and studios/studio heads and executives give the “greenlight” for these crews to liberally use (or allow to be used) the N-word.

FEATURE FILM(S) :

G R I D I R O N   G A N G

[Release Date:   9/15/06]

Starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Xzibit; screenplay written by Jeff Maguire; directed by Phil Joanou; produced by Neal H. Moritz, Lee Stanley; executive produced by Michael Rachmil, Shane Stanley, Ryan Kavanaugh, Lynwood Spinks; studio – Columbia Pictures
 

NOTE :   Overall this film was pretty good.   With the exception of the N-word being an unnecessary free-for-all – the Blacks used it, the Hispanics used it, and ultimately a White boy used it the way it should be used, which is in its historically racist context.   There was no counterbalance to it – not one Black adult male character being socially conscious and astute enough to tell these young males not to use the word.   There were also no other ethnic slurs whatsoever being used.   It just continues to be disappointing to see Black men and young boys sit or stand there like idiots and not realize what they’re doing to themselves by allowing these executives and a global audience to get the last laugh at you.   As the above satire from playahata.com indicates, sometimes people participate in their own demise – often it’s sincere and sheer ignorance and other times it’s willingly.   Get it together people and stop getting so easily played.  How is it ever empowering to call one another nigger/nigga?

T H E   L A S T   K I N G   O F   S C O T L A N D

[Scheduled Limited Release Date (New York/California):   9/27/06]

Starring Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington; screenplay written by Peter Morgan, Jeremy Brock; directed by Kevin MacDonald; produced by Andrea Calderwood, Lisa Bryer, Charles Steel; executive produced by Tessa Ross, Andrew MacDonald, Allon Reich; studio – Fox Searchlight Pictures
 

NOTE :   This film was quite good and Forest Whitaker was, as usual, fantastic!   He brought life to every scene he was in.   But, of course, the ultimate hero was the White boy from Scotland who with his naivete wreaked additional havoc on a country.   After the links and all we’ve written above and the media in general, do we really expect anything other than the usual form of White supremacy to take precedence in a film such as this?   Now, you know the answer to that.   Nevertheless, Forest Whitaker was EXCELLENT.  It’s worth seeing for his performance alone.   We’ve got at least two other films on our monitor list (“Catch A Fire” and “Blood Diamond”) for this season that deal with Africa, so we’ll see – and you’ll see – if that usual form changes.   Don’t chuckle!!

BN-W Monitor Coming Soon:  “Catch A Fire” [Derek Luke, Tim Robbins]; “Déjà Vu” [Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer]; “Bobby” [Laurence Fishburne, Anthony Hopkins]; “Casino Royale” [Daniel Craig, Jeffrey Wright]; “Stranger Than Fiction” [Queen Latifah]; “Let’s Go To Prison” [Chi McBride]; “Slow Burn” [LL Cool J, Ray Liotta]; “Dreamgirls” [Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy]; “Blood Diamond” [Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou]; “The Pursuit of Happyness” [Will Smith, Thandie Newton]; “Pride” [Terrence Howard, Bernie Mac, Kimberly Elise]; “Home of the Brave” [Samuel L. Jackson, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson]

Also Coming :   Part II:   Black-Jewish Relations; Bi-Monthly Music Monitors