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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

CHINWEZU on African Steriods!

"Miseducation of Africans About Their History On Steroids" by SkhoKho SaTlou

Posted by asabagna


In order to put this article into its proper perspective, Chinweizu informs us thus:

"It was miseducation which sought to withold from me the memory of our true African past and to substitute instead an ignorant shame for whatever travesties Europe chose to represent as African Past. It was miseducation which sought to quarantine me from all influences, ancient as well as contemporary, which did not emanate from, or meet with the imperial approval of, western "civilization." It was a miseducation which, by encouraging me to glorify all things European and by teaching me a low esteem for and negative attitudes towards things African, sought to cultivate in me that kind of inferiority complex which drives a perfectly fine right foot to strive to mutilate itself into a left foot. It was a miseducation full of gaps and misleading pictures: it sought to structure my eyes to see the world in the imperialist way of seeing the world; it sought to internalize in my consciousness the values of the colonizers; it sought to train me to automatically uphold and habitually employ the colonizers' viewpoint in all matters, in the strange belief that their racist, imperialist, anti-African interest is the universal, humanist interest, and in a strange belief that the view defined by their ruthless greed is the rational, civilized view. And by such terms of supposed praise as "advanced," "detribalized," and getting to be quite civilized," it sought to co-opt my sympathies and make contemptuous of examining what it should have been my duty to change and alleviate. For it was a distracting miseducation which tried in every way to avoid questions that were important to me and to the collective African condition. It tried to maneuver me away from asking them; it tried to keep me from probing them most thoroughly; it tried instead to preoccupy me with other matters. But the had realities of the Black (African) Condition kept insisting that I ask: Where did our poverty, our material backwardness, our cultural inferiority complexes begin and why? And why do they persist in spite of political independence?"

If the reader has read the whole quote up to here, Chinweizu is more than relevant here. He covers all the issues we have raised and tells us what to do in reconstructing African history, all the issues raised herein, affected everything about him and the world and real-reality he lives in day in and day out. What Chinweizu is discussing above, is what has been the Achilles heel of African progress and development in various ways.

Unlearning the Narcotized Colonial Miseducation

Chinweizu, true to form, delves even much deeper into his soliloquy in the following manner:

"When I turned to the official explainers and interpreters, and to the expert and benevolent meliorists of our condition, and asked for a flash of light, they wrapped my head instead with a shroud of double-talk and evasions; they thrust my head into a garbage dump of facts, facts and more bits and pieces of facts which merely confused me the more by their (deliberately?) disorganized abundance; they punctured the membranes of my ears with slogans, distinctions without preferences, smart phrases which brightly and engagingly misled; they offered me tools, supposedly analytic, which mauled what they claimed to explain, and left me constipated with jargon and dazed with confusion. The experience was thoroughly disillusioning. In my pain I began to suspect that my mind had been, over the years, held prisoner in a den where intellectual opiates were served me by official schools, by approved lists of books, by the blatant as well as subliminal propaganda of films, and by an overwhelming assortment of media controlled by interests inimical to, and justifiably scared of a true and thorough-going African Nationalism. Suspecting that the glittering phalanx of experts spoke to my colonizers and their imperial interests, I felt that, even though I was not an "expert" in these fields, I should nevertheless conduct my own investigation into the origins and circumstances of the deplorable African stasis, learning the necessary skills "on the job" as it were."

The article above has been pointing out to the 'self-appointed' experts that have given themselves the task of explaining to the world, and on the internet what they 'think' they know about Africans in South Africa. In this article I contended that these so-called pros know nothing about the Africans of South Africa, and proceeded to breakdown these custom and cultures to make the point that African, South African History, culture, customs, tradition and so on are not static nor non-existence, but, as according to the definition I utilized from Hall and Wilson, to gave us a definition of Culture, which it turns out is right down the pike it was with the culture of the Nguni/Bakone I have written about in this article. This was in an effort to aid Africans to begin to unlearn colonial history and learn their history anew and in a much more informed way and manner. After Chinweizu realized and learned that he can teach himself to morph into his own written account, educating himself about himself and his people anew, made him realized that by thinking so, and was ready to unlearn what he called the "narcotic colonized education" he had to overcome the challenges of deconstructing the Master's history and rewriting and recreating his own history in his own image and people. This is how Chinweizu addresses this part of the discourse I am talking above in the paragraph below:

"My official education was over. The overthrow of the allegiances programmed into me by it was in swift progress; but there were vital things I still had to learn-things they did not and would not teach me in school; things they would, if they could, keep me from coming into contact with even outside school; things in order to appreciate which I had to painfully unlearn much of what they had instilled in me at school. And so I began a journey of the mind; a journey by a mind thoroughly alienated from its imperialized miseducation. And the purpose of this journey was first to seek out the roots of the Black Condition within which my mind suffered. By the way, if any should think inappropriate my discussing colonial education through imagery of opium narcotics, let them consider that the British, from 1839 to 1842, waged war on China in order to force the Chinese to buy opium which her Britannic Christian Majesty's imperial agents grew in India. Victory in the Opium War earned the British the "right" to addict so many Chinese to opium that much of the population, nodding and half asleep all the time, was supinely amenable to Western cultural aggression and imperialist manipulation. Now, if they could go that far, why should their use of intellectual opium to subdue, for the same ends, some other unlucky victims seem incredible and outlandish?"

We catch-up with Chinweizu after much articulation as to his transformation out of being 'narcotically miseducated by the colonizers', to being influenced by the Frantz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral, Pablo Neruda of Chile, Malcolm X, Julius Nyerere, Mbonu Ojike, Aime Cesaire, Hamidou Kane, and so forth, to better understand the origins of the African stasis and to the task of understanding the workings of the system, which maintained the deplorable Black Condition saying that "these have been and remain my teachers and my guides as I continue my efforts to cleanse myself of the pollutions from a colonial miseducation."

We further learn from Chinweizu who clearly states that:

"Having listened to them, I would heed no more, and would more emphatically reject, the pious, self-serving propaganda given out as official and objective truth by the imperialist party. For I no longer believe the official voices of the West. They do not speak for the interests of the imperialized. I now realize that these "official husbanders of my consciousness" would take incredible pains to hide from me even elementary things, the better to conceal all clues that might lead me to correct answers to questions provoked by the Black condition. I have decided to listen closely to voices from the imperialized world, to share experiences and insights with them. What the voices from the imperialized world say, and some are anti-imperialist voices within the West say, continue to make sense to me as I try to understand our specific conditions."

Citing Chinweizu at such length is very important for the political/social historical theory for the presently dysfunctional people of South Africa. Learning and reading up on such works such as these presented by Chiweizu and those who are at the front of the African struggle and liberation, they who spin history to be user-friendly for the oppressed, in the process imparting knowledge and ways and means and new ways of learning and thinking about what he calls the "Black Condition", are important links for Africans to use to manipulate and meander through all the obstacles that are thrown their way, whenever they try to unlearn what Chinweizu calls "narcotized colonized miseducation". At this juncture, we take some lesson from Chinweizu when he sutures, tightly, his argument and reasons as to why and how we should unlearn this devious form of miseducation of Africans by the West. Chiweizu finally points out that:

"If my experience of it is at all representative, colonial miseducation is something its victims need to cure themselves of. And this is not easy to do. We are all, I believe, rather a little like colonized boy who, we are told, had learned from his colonized milieu to be ashamed of his local Africans weather. In our efforts to wash from our consciousness the harmful pollutants deposited there by our colonial miseducation, we are apt to act like the child who rubs his/her belly endlessly with soap and water, doesn't touch any other part of his body, and when he tires of it all, runs to his/her mother to announce that he/she has taken a bath. Clearly we need something like a communal metal bath, one which we shall scrub the crud off one another's backs, and especially from those corners which our hands cannot thoroughly scour. I believe that even a layman ought to share his results with others, so we can move more rapidly to a deeper, more thorough, and more useful appreciation of our collective condition."

Chinweizu trudges on:

"If we wait for our official experts, who knows when, if ever, they will dare feel free, or find it profitable, to talk candidly and intelligently to us? For there are three sorts of experts: those for our liberation, those against our liberation, and those who contrive to appear to be on our side while they are indeed subtly working against our liberation.  Advice from an expert who is not on your side, or from one who is against you, can be far worse than no expert advice at all. The layman, I believe, ought therefore to be very discriminating in choosing what expert to heed. It is, in every situation, very much like choosing a lawyer. For there are some experts, some Africans included, who deeply cherish the privileges that go with defending or furthering the interests of the imperialists. Under the guise of professionalism, of offering objective advice, some will subtly legislate against, or turn the unwary client away, from things that are in the client's interest; some will gloss over differences that matter; some will conceal facts or omit considerations that are vital. Because of these kinds of experts genuinely on the client's side are as capable of honest error as anyone, the client ought always to exercise vigilance and common sense in taking advice from experts. For eternal vigilance, in all matters, especially over the minutest details, is still the price of liberty."

Given the psychic and ideological foundation of our subjugation, of both the colonial subjugation from which we thought we had escaped and the neocolonial form that has manacled us, any spirited drive for genuine freedom must begin with a thorough critique of the bourgeoise culture that has made us captives; of the process and content of the modernization that has lured us into captivity; and of the relation, if any, between technological modernization and the Christian bourgeois culture. It is precisely the existence of such a milieu that is retarding African progress today, because these petty-bourgeois elite who kowtow and pander to the West and are flinging themselves pell-mell into its orb, disregarding any protestations nor opposition that stems from its African voting polity, as in the case of Africans in South Africa.

According to Chinweizu, we should be circumspect of experts, all of those pretenders and false analysts who make out as if they have African people's interests at heart, meanwhile, behind the scenes (mentally or otherwise) scurrilously fleece you to the marrow of your soul by denouncing every little thing about one, in order to dominate and confuse you. This is how Chinweizu concludes this matter:

"In exercising our rights as citizens, and in meeting our obligations to examine, discuss and pronounce upon all matters that affect our general welfare, we are bound to come up against the resistance of that kind of expert who rises up in arms whenever a layman "trespasses" on his "jargon-fenced bailiwick". Such experts, while misinterpreting facts and gerrymandering arguments, are prone to mount some high pedestal of laurels and reputation, and from there demand the "intruder's" credentials, in hopes or overawing him into irresponsible silence,or intimidating him/her into acquiescing in arrant nonsense."

Chinweizu concludes thusly:

"In such situations, it is perhaps prudent to remind oneself that the loftiest credentials have never been a barrier to uttering nonsense; nor is a total lack of credentials a barrier to talking sense. A decolonized and re-educated African ought always to demand that matters be explained from an Afro-centric viewpoint, with scientific tools, and that the results be translated into intelligible common sense. By so insisting, we enable ourselves to spot and avoid ideologies, open as well as hidden, by which we are liable to be confused and misled, and attractive myths by which we are liable to be tricked and lynched en masse."

We need to raise our level of vigilance, read and know our history, find ways and means to get it from FB to the man in the street who has no such knowledge or awareness and expounded upon by Chinweizu; be able to break down these advices to be in tandem with the understand, needs and relevance to the the poor Africans of South Africa. This is the job of all those who are reading this posted piece now to take it from here and make it reach the people, or print it to give it to the ordinary and poor people in community who do not have access to computers. We need to begin to use FB to inform and form positive dialogues with our poor masses who are denied such knowledge; we should not only boast about the fact that we are the only one who know this type of information, we should make it possible for the children, youth and elderly to have access to this information, whatever it takes. We, as Africans of South Africa, are much more better than what we are now experiencing and facing as a people.


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"CHRISTIANITY HAS KILLED OUR CULTURE!"

Christianity has killed our Culture – Eze Asor

January 16, 2012 | 6:10 pm

News, The Arts

BY JAPHET ALAKAM
His Royal Highness  Eze I.O Asor, Udi 1 of Obudi Agwa in Oguta Local Government Area Imo State is a culture enthusiasts and one who believes in the protection of  culture. But thirteen  years after he took over as the chief custodian of  his peoples culture, many thought that by now every aspect of the culture would have been revived.

But a look at the events around his domain shows that  it is not so. What is responsible for that and why has he failed to use his good office to redeem that. In this chat with Sunday Vanguard Art, the worried ruler bares his mind on a wide range of issues. Excerpts.

Can we meet you?

I am His Royal Highness Eze I.O Asor, Udi 1 of Obudi Agwa in Oguta Local Government Area Imo State. By the grace of God, I was the immediate past chairman of (TROPCON) Traditional Rulers of Oil Producing Communities of Nigeria and currently, I am the Chairman of Oguta Local Government Area council of Traditional Rulers.

*His Royal Highness Eze I.O Asor

How many years have you been on the throne?

By the special grace of God, this is my 13th year on the throne.

How have you used your position as the Chairman of Oguta Local Government Area council of traditional rulers to bring the  traditional rulers together?

While, with this new government of H/E Rochas Okorocha, we are still trying to put things in order because the former government spoiled many things. The current government of Okorocha is trying to harmonize things. And on our part we want to fashion out a system to suit his rescue agenda.

For instance, before his emergence, Imo state was the den of kidnappers, hired assassins and all kinds of vices that went  unchecked. To  restore security and revive confidence in the citizenry is not a day job. The present government is really fighting hard to see that security and confidence are restored.

 

In fact, that is our utmost pursuit even as traditional rulers for now. We want to make sure that  whoever comes back to Imo State  will be free to visit anywhere unmolested.

Traditional rulers are the  custodians of culture, having spent 13 years in office, how have you been able to project the culture of the community?

I am one of the apostles that condemn this idea of western culture trying to over ride or take over our own tradition by putting churches here and there. But sadly, we are now living on a borrowed culture and if you come to my domain now for example, those who call themselves Christians have dominated the whole places.

If you do one thing, they say it is forbidden, you do another, they say another, so you don't know what to do again. Unlike in those days when our tradition/culture have precedence above all other culture, people  had respect for it.

They worshiped, adored and obeyed the  culture, but now it is no more. And if you want to fight this development,the so called church people will kick against you. For instance, in those days and in the Bible, as a traditional ruler, your community will provide you with what to eat, what you drink, the car you ride but now it is not so again , instead of doing these for traditional rulers, they do it for their Reverend Fathers or their Pastors.

They contribute yam, garri, egg, money and buy cars for them instead of their traditional rulers who carry the problems of  the community.

How do you intend to challenge all of these ?

Like I said earlier, the dominance of all these churches has caused a serious blow to our customs/culture and I don't see how it can be corrected. For instance in Imo State, we have over 600 autonomous communities and that means 600 traditional rulers unlike in the North where you have 1 or 2  traditional rulers for a local government.

In some cases, one traditional ruler controls two local government areas and his word is law but  in the East they have succeeded in bastardizing the  autonomous  communities through the divide and rule system. If government enacts a law that is not good and you kick against it, another traditional ruler will say no problem and accept it so we are handicapped.

But despite Christianity's interference, there are still  some of these  cultures that  beg for attention like New Yam festival (Iri ji) and  masquerade. What  are you doing about them?

The New Yam festival in Agwa is now done in the churches. In the past for instance, next month when they will start clearing farm lands preparatory for farming season, the first thing  to do will be the Fejioku sacrifice (Itu aja oru) a sacrifice that makes the farmers to have a bountiful harvest.

But now if you ask the elders to perform that, they will tell you that they will go to the Reverend Father to pray. This is so because majority of the community are church goers so they kick against  the practice. The churches  have virtually taken over the customs.

For example,  title taking, 'Ichi Ozo' or  'Ikpu nze' in the community are no longer done. If you call them for that, they say such things are fetish but what is fetish about them?

Would you say that it is as a result  of this cultural  neglect  that the communities are having low production every year?

I will say yes because if anybody tells you that our great grandfathers are dead and are not working, the person is a liar. Even though they are not living, they are working so they are not happy. They are no longer getting the usual cocks, drinks, cola, etc

These people  that claim that they are Christians, when they see non Christians they say that they are infidels where as, they  are the ones that commit all the crimes in society today. For example,  all these armed robbers, kidnappers you  hear about are  all  Christians: they are James, John, Micheal where as these traditionalist hardly do those things because they know their ancestors are watching over them.
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Sunday, November 25, 2012

OBAMA!-A BLACK AGENDA NOW THAT BLACKS HAVE GIVEN THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF ANY GROUP?

ome > Election 2012 > The 93 Percent: Will Black Obama Supporters Demand A Black Agenda?

The 93 Percent: Will Black Obama Supporters Demand A Black Agenda?

Nov 24, 2012

By Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — When black voters gave President Barack Obama 93 percent support on Election Day in defiance of predictions that they might sit it out this year, black leaders breathed a collective sigh of relief.

That encouraged those leaders to try to leverage more attention from both Obama and Congress. Although they waver over how much to demand from the president – particularly in light of defeated GOP challenger Mitt Romney's assertion that Obama gave "gifts" to minorities in exchange for their votes – they are delivering postelection wish lists to the president anyway.

"I think the president heard us loud and clear. The collective message was, `Let's build on where we already are,'" the Rev. Al Sharpton told reporters after a White House meeting last week with a collection of advocates representing largely Democratic constituencies.

Specifically, Sharpton said, that means keeping the brunt of the looming "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts off the backs of the middle and working class.

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous aimed that same message at Congress, especially on where tax relief is extended.

"We need Republicans to think hard and to pull back from the cliff 98 percent of our families, who make up the bulk of this nation, from seeing our taxes being raised," Jealous said.


Blacks made up 13 percent of the electorate this year, about the same as 2008, while participation among whites shrank slightly to 72 percent and Hispanics increased to 10 percent, national exit polls showed. Black leaders point to that minority participation as they sharpen their calls for initiatives to address black unemployment, which was 12.7 percent when Obama took office, peaked at 16.5 percent roughly a year later, and stood at 14.3 percent in October. The overall unemployment rate is 7.9 percent.

National Urban League President Marc Morial acknowledged in an interview that "we sweated turnout all the way to the end," because the country's underlying economic conditions made it tougher to mobilize black voters. Within days of the election, Morial sent to Obama, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., an "urgent petition" asking that Obama's second term focus on economic opportunity and income inequality.

A jobs program should emphasize infrastructure and public works, broadband technology and energy "with a special focus on those communities where unemployment is and remains stubbornly and persistently high," Morial's letter said.

"We who represent the nation's urban communities will demand a seat at the table in these discussions," he wrote.

African-American voter samples in national exit polls are not useful for providing turnout measurements. Census surveys and other analyses eventually will provide turnout numbers for specific racial groups. But exit polls can be used to examine different groups as shares of the overall vote. And there, experts say, is where the evidence can be found of how much black voters delivered for Obama.

Nationally, Obama's share of the black vote was down slightly from four years ago. But in some key states, turnout was higher and had an impact, said David Bositis, an expert on black politics and voting at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Blacks made up 15 percent of the electorate in Ohio, up from 11 percent in 2008. And 97 percent of those votes went for Obama, leading Bositis to say Obama's margin of victory in the state came from black voters.

In Michigan, the black share of the vote grew from 12 percent in 2008 to 16 percent in 2012, according to exit polls.

"Michigan was one of the states the two parties jostled around, and eventually Republicans decided they were not going to win, and one of the reasons was the big increase in the black vote," Bositis said.

In Missouri, a state Obama lost in both elections, the black vote went from 13 percent to 16 percent of all voters.

Bositis said the black share of the vote remained roughly the same at 23 percent in North Carolina, which Obama narrowly won in 2008 but lost in 2012, and 13 percent in Florida, which Obama won both times. In Virginia, which Obama won in both elections, black voters were 20 percent of all voters, he said.

Women and people from ages 18 to 29 had the strongest participation levels in the black community.

In 2008, black women had the highest turnout rate, 69 percent, of all groups. Their 2008 record created a sense of obligation among some black female leaders to take an active role against new state voting laws they said threatened to curb black voter participation. Black women made up 60 percent of the black vote this year and voted 95 percent for Obama.

The enthusiasm of black women was demonstrated in Florida when more than 250 churches marched their congregations to the polls as part of the "Souls To the Polls" early voting campaign, said Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. A large percentage of the marchers were women, Campbell said.

"Countless women stood in line for hours to vote early so they could volunteer to work at the polls to help in the fight against voter suppression," Campbell said.

Black voters ages 18-29 made up 26 percent of the black vote nationally, a turnout close to what it was in 2008, according to the national exit poll. They voted 91 percent for Obama.

Republicans had reached out to black voters in 2004 and saw their share of the black vote increase in that election, Bositis said. But he said that in 2012, the outreach was nonexistent.

Michael Steele, former Republican National Committee chairman, said the GOP had an opportunity this election to connect with black voters on unemployment, health disparities, incarceration and other issues.

"How the heck do you win if you don't engage in the conversation?" Steele said.
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OBAMA!-THIS NiGERIAN THINKS OBAMA IS THE HOPE NOW FOR THE BLACK RACE! -FROM TELL MAGAZINE-NIGERIA!

Obama Fills Black Leadership Vacuum

Written by  Ben Lawrence

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By Ben Lawrence

Once upon a galaxy of African stars that lighted the dark corners of the hearts and minds of their peoples. The intensity of their rays penetrated even the dark recesses of doubts and released positive action. Dr Kwegyir Aggrey arrived in the second decade of the last century and proclaimed that he was black and proud, which became the chant of Black enfranchisement in the United States of America. He spoke of his dark skin that shone and his durable woolly hair. He spurred African youths to action through self-liberation by educating themselves to earn a place in human society. Despite the evil effects of World War II and the influenza that came in their wake, African youths picked the gauntlet and braved all odds to seek the golden fleece in Europe and America.

 

The result was the emergence of succeeding stars like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe (Renascent Africa), Leopold Sedar Senghor (Negritude) and Jomo Kenyatta (Uhuru). There was no stopping the train of the continent's march to emancipation because hundreds of young Africans hearkened to the clarion call for progress. Isaac Theophilus, Akunna Wallace-Johnson and Michael Oaemen A. Imoudu had taken practical steps to organise workers to challenge oppression, a move that was the very beginning of revolution in West Africa as early as 1931. Largely, the black man was not ashamed to stand before the white man any longer because he could intellectually and practically defend every course of his action. The climax was in 1940 when Dr Kwame Nkrumah (Positive Action) Dr Kingsley O. Mbadiwe (Forward Ever, Backward Never), Dr Nwafor Orizu (Horizontal Education), Chief Mbonu Ojike (Boycott the Boycottable) Dr Ako Adjei and others launched their Pan African Students Movement and brought Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of the President of America, Franklyn Delano, to be guest. There they asked for the liberation of the African continent, a demand that President Roosevelt took to the Yalta Summit of Allied Forces, which made Winston Churchill a bit uncomfortable.

 

The message of self-development broke down all barriers of disunity and enkindled co-operation among the black people in the 1930s and 1940s. Africa had heroes and heroines to worship then on the global scene and the continent's recourse to external support was minimal even in technological aspirations. Other young leaders like Julius Nyerere and Nelson Mandela joined the scene. They were self-assured and not to be pushed around by some supra-national organisations that did not mean well. After all, man's animal wish is to suppress his neighbour.

 

Mandela is alive but out of the picture; so there is a vacuum in leadership in Africa. The so-called rulers now are jesters, unpractised in the art of leadership and given to worsening Africa's plight, corrupt and selfish. It was this that brought Barack Obama's politics and victory in the last election home to every hamlet on the African continent. My youngest daughter, Kehinde, an American and a medical technologist, briefed me almost every six hours for three weeks before the election. Their mother, Harriet, was one of the activists with Stokely Carmichael at Howard University in the late 1960s and so politically, though disappointed in the sharp descent in human awareness in Nigeria in the last 10 of her 21 years sojourn, she is still every inch a Garveyist in America.

 

Disappointed when Zik made his return-to-politics speech in 1978, she said no American would have done better. When Obafemi Awolowo launched his four-point agenda, she could not see how any of the two leading American parties would have transcended the boundaries the scheme set. Here we are in Nigeria in 2012 bereft of everything that can create hope for the people. That was why most Africans who took Obama's politics and elections too seriously to heart did so as face saving. Obama may lack the experience of that great American leader who understands mankind, Bill Clinton. But Obama has enough self-confidence capacity to grow.

 

Clinton was buffeted by many crises before even he became deputy governor of Arkansas. He was a conscientious draft dodger and stayed in Russia with about 15 others on their leaving Oxford University against the wish of the American establishment. He lost re-election as deputy governor and returned to be governor. Clinton faced the establishment squarely, so he was not afraid to gamble with his bright ideas.

 

Despite Obama's limitations in the preparation for office, his abiding faith that he is working for the masses and not the fat cats of the American establishment made him acceptable to the majority. Obama's weakness in his first term was his being beholden to Wall Street, a development that caused the economic disaster America now faces. When the Tea Party appeared on the scene, the members underrated the positive force of the Rainbow Coalition of minorities, labour and Jews. The Tea Party was drowned when millions of people took over Wall Street, The City of London, Champ Elysees and other capitalist bastions of the World. The Tea Party leadership later retreated to its shell. But Obama was still not bold enough to confront them as Clinton did when he caused a shut down of government. Perhaps, he did not want to be labelled a communist or socialist. What was wrong in being labelled a socialist? Franklin Roosevelt was labelled as one because of his grand mobilisation of all Americans to beat the Great Depression. The result was the massive infrastructural development of America. He foresaw the value of science and set up a commission under Senator Bush to work out the place it would take in America's future. That was government's initiative, not private sector's. He won election to the White House four times – 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944. In 1936 he was called a socialist by the right wing press, yet he won a landslide. In 1948, New York Daily News published that his successor, Harry Truman, had lost the election to Thomas Dewey, governor of New York. It was the worst journalist mishap in American history because Truman won.

 

They also called Clinton a socialist and he did not care. He, Al Gore, John Kerry and others attended meetings of Socialist International. Obama is the only consolation of the black man now. He should defy Wall Street and apply socialist methods to solve America's problems to regain our pride.
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Saturday, November 24, 2012

BLACK MAN SAVED FROM WRONG CONVICTION!

Ohioan gets $2.59 million for serving 30 years in wrongful conviction

By  Mike Wagner

The Columbus Dispatch ⁠Tuesday April 26, 2011 7:05 AM

A DNA test proved Ray Towler did not commit the Cuyahoga County rape in 1981.

A record $2.59 million settlement has been awarded to Ray Towler for serving nearly 30 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit.

Towler will report for work this morning in a corporate Cleveland mailroom, where he plans to remain through this summer even after his money arrives in about a week.

"You can't make up for 30 years with any amount, but I plan to keep moving forward," said Towler, 53, who works for Medical Mutual of Ohio. "I don't want this money to change who I am or what I become. I was lucky to find a job when I got out, and I'm not going to just run out on them."

The State Controlling Board approved Towler's settlement yesterday, nearly one year after he was released from the Grafton Correctional Institution last May. Towler couldn't attend the meeting because of his job. He will receive the money in a lump sum, and his attorneys will receive $78,000 in legal fees.

At the afternoon meeting, state Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, offered Towler an apology and encouraged the state to conduct more DNA testing.

"Too many individuals are found guilty by association or are in the wrong place at the wrong time," Luckie said after the meeting. "We should apologize when we make a mistake and lock up an innocent person. I hope this is a step in the healing process for Mr. Towler."

Towler doesn't have big spending plans once the money is deposited into his accounts. He plans to pay off the $13,800 he owes on his 2010 Ford Focus. He plans to upgrade from a one-bedroom apartment to maybe a two- or three-bedroom place. Most of the money will be put into savings accounts and an annuity, but Towler is going to take part of the settlement to thank those who have stood by him and believed in his innocence.

"I want to be smart with the money, but life is just too short to center my world around money," Towler said. "Being out for a year has made me realize some of the things I missed for so long. But things happen for a reason, and I have no hate for anyone."

Only a handful of the 268 men who have been exonerated nationally by DNA testing have served more time than Towler. Towler was the third man to be proved innocent in connection with a Dispatch investigation, "Test of Convictions."

The series published in 2008 exposed holes in the DNA testing system, helped spur testing for inmates such as Towler and led state lawmakers to pass sweeping legislation aimed at preventing more wrongful convictions.

Towler was serving 12 years to life for rape, felonious assault and kidnapping for an abduction on May 24, 1981. The victims, a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy, said a man lured them into the woods at the Rocky River Reservation in Cuyahoga County. DNA testing proved that semen found in the girl's underwear was not Towler's.

mwagner@dispatch.com


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Thursday, November 22, 2012

BLACK MAN SAVED FROM WRONG CONVICTION!

Ohioan gets $2.59 million for serving 30 years in wrongful conviction

By  Mike Wagner

The Columbus Dispatch ⁠Tuesday April 26, 2011 7:05 AM

A DNA test proved Ray Towler did not commit the Cuyahoga County rape in 1981.

A record $2.59 million settlement has been awarded to Ray Towler for serving nearly 30 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit.

Towler will report for work this morning in a corporate Cleveland mailroom, where he plans to remain through this summer even after his money arrives in about a week.

"You can't make up for 30 years with any amount, but I plan to keep moving forward," said Towler, 53, who works for Medical Mutual of Ohio. "I don't want this money to change who I am or what I become. I was lucky to find a job when I got out, and I'm not going to just run out on them."

The State Controlling Board approved Towler's settlement yesterday, nearly one year after he was released from the Grafton Correctional Institution last May. Towler couldn't attend the meeting because of his job. He will receive the money in a lump sum, and his attorneys will receive $78,000 in legal fees.

At the afternoon meeting, state Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, offered Towler an apology and encouraged the state to conduct more DNA testing.

"Too many individuals are found guilty by association or are in the wrong place at the wrong time," Luckie said after the meeting. "We should apologize when we make a mistake and lock up an innocent person. I hope this is a step in the healing process for Mr. Towler."

Towler doesn't have big spending plans once the money is deposited into his accounts. He plans to pay off the $13,800 he owes on his 2010 Ford Focus. He plans to upgrade from a one-bedroom apartment to maybe a two- or three-bedroom place. Most of the money will be put into savings accounts and an annuity, but Towler is going to take part of the settlement to thank those who have stood by him and believed in his innocence.

"I want to be smart with the money, but life is just too short to center my world around money," Towler said. "Being out for a year has made me realize some of the things I missed for so long. But things happen for a reason, and I have no hate for anyone."

Only a handful of the 268 men who have been exonerated nationally by DNA testing have served more time than Towler. Towler was the third man to be proved innocent in connection with a Dispatch investigation, "Test of Convictions."

The series published in 2008 exposed holes in the DNA testing system, helped spur testing for inmates such as Towler and led state lawmakers to pass sweeping legislation aimed at preventing more wrongful convictions.

Towler was serving 12 years to life for rape, felonious assault and kidnapping for an abduction on May 24, 1981. The victims, a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy, said a man lured them into the woods at the Rocky River Reservation in Cuyahoga County. DNA testing proved that semen found in the girl's underwear was not Towler's.

mwagner@dispatch.com


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Saturday, November 10, 2012

VENUS ATI SERENA WILLIAMS-OUR BLACK SKINNED BEAUTIES FINALLY MADE IT. TO NIGERIA!

Williams sisters in Nigeria for women's rights

October 30, 2012 | 8:34 pm

By John Egbokhan, with Agency ReportsAmerican tennis super-stars, Serena and Venus Williams have said that their visit to Lagos,  as part of a two-nation tour that will see them play exhibition matches and train kids, was to promote women's rights.

The sisters are both counted among the world and United States' most successful athletes, sharing 22 major women's singles championships between them.

A girl gives flowers to US tennis star Venus Williams on her arrival at the Federal Palace hotel in Lagos, on October 30, 2012. International tennis superstars Serena and Venus Williams arrive in Nigeria's largest city on October 30 as part of a two-nation tour that will see them play exhibition matches to promote women's rights. AFP

Their trip is aimed at promoting "the role that women play in shifting perceptions and encouraging development at all levels across the African continent," said a statement from the Breaking The Mould initiative they are representing.

Serena, 31, and Venus, 32, are to meet the Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state, hold a tennis clinic at the Ikoyi Club, visit a puberty education class for girls and play an exhibition match before heading to South Africa on November 2.

"They are coming to Lagos to encourage more women to break moulds that have stood between them and their potentials," the statement said.

Gender disparity is an acute problem in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country of roughly 160 million people, with the most glaring divides existing in the mainly Muslim north.

Worldwide, Nigeria ranks 118 out of 134 countries on the Gender Equality Index, a British Council study released in May said.

Always backs Williams Sisters tour

Always, a brand of Procter & Gamble Nigeria, is supporting the visiting Williams Sisters to empower women and young girls to believe in themselves in a bid to achieve their full potential in life.

On 1 November 2012, the duo will partner with feminine hygiene brand Always for a joint girls empowerment event at the Government Secondary School in Osborne, Ikoyi.

Together, Always and the Williams sisters aim to empower girls and inspire them to live their life to the fullest by: stressing the idea of sisterhood and that girls teaming up and supporting each other may achieve great things; teaching young girls the value of hard work, passion, determination and self-belief and leading by best example that neither colour or gender shall be reason enough to hold girls back and keep them from wanting the best in life and succeed.

The William sisters will attend an Always puberty education class and talk to the girls before performing with the schoolgirls the Always song "Little Big Steps" to empower them through a shared singing and dancing experience.

"Always' strong brand awareness and established social media footprint will help to globally drive awareness for 'Breaking The Mould' and the message of girls' empowerment", says Temitope Iluyemi.

P&G Communications Leader. "We are proud to welcome Venus and Serena in Lagos. They are powerful role models for all girls and women who know what it takes to achieve their dreams. I have no doubt that each girl who meets Venus and Serena will come out feeling unstoppable".

Their visit will also help raise awareness of the Always School Care Programme that has helped empower millions of girls in Nigeria and across the globe by educating them on proper feminine hygiene and puberty over the last 12 years. Last year alone, the programme positively impacted 1.5 million girls across Africa.
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Black Skinned Beauties Venus ai Serena Williams Are. BACK TO AFRICA in Nigeria Last Week!

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Subject: Black Skinned Beauties Venus ati Serena Williams Are. BACK TO AFRICA in Nigeria Last Week!

Venus Williams beats Serena in Nigeria exhibition, declares 2013 'going to be a great year'

Published November 02, 2012

Associated Press

LAGOS, Nigeria –  Venus Williams danced and smiled during an exhibition win against her sister Serena in Nigeria's largest city.

Venus won 6-4, 7-5 Friday at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club despite 91-degree heat that felt like 101. She appeared loose during play, dancing at an intermission, joking with the umpire and playfully teasing her sister.Venus says her win shows that 2013 "is going to be a great year."

Serena grew frustrated by her play, several times kneeling on the clay court and pressing her head against her tennis racket. However, she did a double-take and laughed when she saw a sign in the crowd from a man declaring to be her "Nigerian husband."

The sisters move on to South Africa as part of their two-nation tour.
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