Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities, MN -- Plagiarism is uncool. I remember freelancing for this weekly Black "paper" once that wasn't Insight or the MSR. My article, which included my first time meeting North-side councilwoman Natalie Johnson Lee (Mpls), sat in limbo for about a month before it ran...and when it did, there was only one change on it, and that was in the byline. Someone posted their name next to mine for a story they didn't work on. I remember warning folks at the time but I never knew what happened to the paper or the editor until his face scrolled by in the "connections" of my LinkedIn page, fraudulent sneer leering at me from my screen, it brought back some bad memories, and reminds me that many people fail to look beneath the surface. Present and slick, well-marketed lie and you're in business.
City Pages ran this piece in 2009. Smdh.http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2009/07/one_nation_news_1.php
Friday, January 23, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Enthusiastic killer of Brown People elevated to Amerikkkan sainthood thanks to Clint Eastwood film "American Sniper"
Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities, MN -- This month, the beginning of the new year we witnessed two Hollywood productions, which by default means propaganda but that's for another story, that reflect the myriad divisions and the central dichotomy between whom white Americans perceive to be heroes, and the heroes of African Americans. African Americans aren't permitted violent, assertive masculine assassins for their cause. Maybe athletes, singers, or men of status without substance who have successfully imitated the oppressor's dress, style and values that only skin tone helps tell them apart.
What we have been spoon fed as the African America form of heroism is defined by the most passive and meek interpretations of Civil Rights warriors, many of whom were, and are bona fide radicals. However, the radical legacy has been so squeezed out of modern Civil Rights celebrations in America you have to wonder who the celebrations are actually for, in a nation that doesn't live up to Kings' Dream.
On the other (white) hand, from George Washington and Andrew Jackson, Davey Crockett and Theo Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, mainstream America has heroes who are men of bloody action, and they're bloody for good reasons. They're only bloody because they want to protect us (not "us", but you know what I mean) or establish a nation of freedom and protect little Johnny and Suzie from the hordes of non-Aryan people who just hate hate hate our (not really "our") cherished way of life.
The film "Selma" and the film "American Sniper", released in close proximity to each other, reflect the dichotomy apparent in what kind of hero Black children will look up to, contrasted with the paradigm of violent global domination that is apparently the birthright of civilizing white children. That is my main problem with films like Clint Eastwood's American Sniper the film bio of one of America's most lethal -- verbose killers. Even the logo for the company Kyle erected stateside references the Crusades.
A logo styled after the cross of the Knights Templar takes some premeditation. Reading some of the quotes attributed to Mr. Kyle makes you suspect he probably had no sense of irony. To hate people that much whilst someplace you don't belong....sheesh. What gave you the right to hate that deeply? Iraq wasn't responsible for 9/11 and the US were the uninvited guests anyway. And why aren't we talking about prosecuting Bush/Cheney administration officials for their myriad crimes that led us into war and economic collapse?
Amazing racial arrogance. I don't think racists even perceive that victims of racism hate racisim, and racists. What is even more frustrating is that Black people likely contributed close to half of the box-office bonanza. Another bigot elevated to sainthood. Absurd times, these.
http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/cut-her-head-shocking-death-threats-you-can-receive-mocking-eastwoods-american
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/06/real-american-sniper-hate-filled-killer-why-patriots-calling-hero-chris-kyle
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/548257524504621056/photo/1
https://willyloman.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/chris-kyle-shot-the-devil-is-dead-in-texas/
http://www.blacktalkradionetwork.com/tag/sniper/
Rashard Zanders is freelance writer living and working in these American Twin Cities, MN. He is not a sniper, but he has battled the h.pylori bacteria to a temporary draw, and been known to take the last beer at otherwise friendly gatherings. He can be reached via alex.zandersIV@gmail.com or at 872-228-4179
What we have been spoon fed as the African America form of heroism is defined by the most passive and meek interpretations of Civil Rights warriors, many of whom were, and are bona fide radicals. However, the radical legacy has been so squeezed out of modern Civil Rights celebrations in America you have to wonder who the celebrations are actually for, in a nation that doesn't live up to Kings' Dream.
On the other (white) hand, from George Washington and Andrew Jackson, Davey Crockett and Theo Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, mainstream America has heroes who are men of bloody action, and they're bloody for good reasons. They're only bloody because they want to protect us (not "us", but you know what I mean) or establish a nation of freedom and protect little Johnny and Suzie from the hordes of non-Aryan people who just hate hate hate our (not really "our") cherished way of life.
The film "Selma" and the film "American Sniper", released in close proximity to each other, reflect the dichotomy apparent in what kind of hero Black children will look up to, contrasted with the paradigm of violent global domination that is apparently the birthright of civilizing white children. That is my main problem with films like Clint Eastwood's American Sniper the film bio of one of America's most lethal -- verbose killers. Even the logo for the company Kyle erected stateside references the Crusades.
A logo styled after the cross of the Knights Templar takes some premeditation. Reading some of the quotes attributed to Mr. Kyle makes you suspect he probably had no sense of irony. To hate people that much whilst someplace you don't belong....sheesh. What gave you the right to hate that deeply? Iraq wasn't responsible for 9/11 and the US were the uninvited guests anyway. And why aren't we talking about prosecuting Bush/Cheney administration officials for their myriad crimes that led us into war and economic collapse?
Amazing racial arrogance. I don't think racists even perceive that victims of racism hate racisim, and racists. What is even more frustrating is that Black people likely contributed close to half of the box-office bonanza. Another bigot elevated to sainthood. Absurd times, these.
http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/cut-her-head-shocking-death-threats-you-can-receive-mocking-eastwoods-american
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/06/real-american-sniper-hate-filled-killer-why-patriots-calling-hero-chris-kyle
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/548257524504621056/photo/1
https://willyloman.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/chris-kyle-shot-the-devil-is-dead-in-texas/
http://www.blacktalkradionetwork.com/tag/sniper/
Rashard Zanders is freelance writer living and working in these American Twin Cities, MN. He is not a sniper, but he has battled the h.pylori bacteria to a temporary draw, and been known to take the last beer at otherwise friendly gatherings. He can be reached via alex.zandersIV@gmail.com or at 872-228-4179
Monday, January 19, 2015
You Can't Shame the Devil, but You Can Put Lipstick on a Proverbial Pig
January 19, 2015
Rashard Zanders – Twin Cities, MN – Congrats to the NFL, the nation's richest non-profit organization made canyons of money yesterday from their conference championship games. Winners yesterday were Russell Wilson, who led the Seattle Seahawks to a startling comeback against the Green Bay Packers from 12 points down with the game apparently locked away,and Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, who felled the upstart Indianapolis Colts handily.
I just hope with his continued success, Mr. Wilson, (who I predicted would get at least one title within his first three years—now has a chance to make it two) can make enough money so he doesn't have to endorse American Family Insurance his whole career. http://prospect.org/article/indelible-color-line
American Family Insurance is not alone among racially discriminating insurance companies, however, they were the most notorious in Wisconsin – Milwaukee in particular and Madison where I lived. Since Mr. Wilson did play his last year of college football there, and American Family Mutual Insurance Company is headquartered there it was inevitable the company would latch on to the young superstar's success. In two weeks Russell Wilson is playing to become the first repeat NFL Champion in over a decade, and his squeaky pure image is just what AMFMI needed. A perfect marriage putting the perfect Black athlete in the service of one of this nations most enthusiastic proponents of underwriting discrimination. According to the American Prospect article cited above:
“Real estate agents and federal housing officials long listened to sociologist and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) advisor Homer Hoyt, who concluded in 1933 that [B]lacks and Mexicans had a very detrimental effect on property values. In its 1939 Underwriting Manual the FHA warned of "inharmonious racial groups" and concluded that "if a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes." Until the 1960s the FHA insured the financing of many homes in white suburban areas while providing virtually no mortgage insurance in the urban markets where minorities lived. Similarly, until the 1950s the National Association of Realtors officially "steered" clients into certain neighborhoods according to race, advising that "a realtor should never be instrumental in introducing into a neighborhood a character of property or occupancy, members of any race or nationality whose presence will clearly be detrimental to property values in the neighborhood."
In fact, American Family Mutual Insurance faced litigation and lost according to the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) http://www.prrac.org/full_text.php?text_id=773&item_id=7802&newsletter_id=65&header=Race+%2F+Racism
“No insurance, no loan; no loan, no house; lack of insurance thus makes housing unavailable.” So said the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in NAACP v. American Family Mutual Insurance Company, a case that resulted in a 1995 settlement worth $14.5 million, including subsidized home purchase loans, greater access to insurance policies, and other forms of reinvestment for [B]lack neighborhoods in inner-city areas of Milwaukee, Wisconsin."
While I am rooting for the Seattle Seahawks over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX, it will be the first full game I'll see all year I have chosen to boycott broadcast sports, at least most of the regular season, since 2007. Between the internet, the radio, daily box scores and bars, I get my sports overload without giving them my entire Sunday anymore. And I will be the loudest to cheer if and when Russell Wilson becomes the first Black quarterback to repeat and lead his team to the championship.
Still, I hope Mr. Wilson becomes as studious with his business choices as he is with his playbook Off the field, I'd rather he weren't the lipstick on the American Family pig.
Rashard Zanders is a musician and writer from Chicago stuck in the Twin Cities, hoping each winter will be his last. He lives with Thrilla, a wonderful tortoiseshell Cat. He'll Play the Blues for You. He can be reached for comment at 872.228.4179, alex.zandersIV@gmail, or if you're in the Twin Cities he's at the cafe'.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Economic disparities, police brutalities, torture in our prisons and abroad, police state-war economy: When do we say Enough?
Saturday, January 17, 2015 noon
http://documents.nytimes.com/confidential-report-provides-new-evidence-of-notorious-nazi-cases?ref=us#p=1
Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities, MN -- A culture that rapes and steals land from one People and enslaves another People from another land to build their Utopia -- using rape, murder, deception, mis-education and lessons from the Bible -- could be expected in it's time to achieve at best a culture of permanent disparity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14nazis.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2323883/Johnny-Milanos-chilling-photos-American-Nazis-annual-National-Socialist-Movement-convention-Atlanta.html
The genocidal origins of the Land of the Free(land) and the Home of the alleged Brave would not beget an subsequent racial melting pot never had, and seems apparent that it never will. What we have inherited are: hyper violent power-and-control mechanisms via the military (this has always included the police as an occupying force), a propaganda machine believed by the masses to be innocuous entertainment (Hollywood) or reliable news (majority of Euro-centric news sources, many so-called alternatives presses and websites) participates, (under the umbrella of only 6 corporations) in a long practiced art of obfuscation, dismissal and/or outright distortions of issues facing communities of color.
http://documents.nytimes.com/confidential-report-provides-new-evidence-of-notorious-nazi-cases?ref=us#p=1
Here's to hoping 2015 witnesses a re-invigoration of the spiritual radical traditions of the ancestors we honor but whose wisdom we rarely feel the need to heed. Cable and Dish are just too damn fun I suppose. But if you've stayed with me thus far you already know we are connected to a global struggle for Human Rights, a Pan-African struggle that transcends religion, creed, gender, sexuality, but is exclusively and violently exercised against people of color. Black people, with or without our "allies" must confront this damning indictment of American history, culture and policy. It is a prism through which all American history and policies needs to be viewed. It is a prism via which Blacks must learn to profile all the beneficiaries and institutions of white privilege.
Rashard Zanders is a freelance writer and editor whose views strangely parallel those of Blacklogic.blogspot.com. He can be reached at 872.228.4179 or via email at alex.zandersIV@gmail.com
http://documents.nytimes.com/confidential-report-provides-new-evidence-of-notorious-nazi-cases?ref=us#p=1
Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities, MN -- A culture that rapes and steals land from one People and enslaves another People from another land to build their Utopia -- using rape, murder, deception, mis-education and lessons from the Bible -- could be expected in it's time to achieve at best a culture of permanent disparity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14nazis.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2323883/Johnny-Milanos-chilling-photos-American-Nazis-annual-National-Socialist-Movement-convention-Atlanta.html
The genocidal origins of the Land of the Free(land) and the Home of the alleged Brave would not beget an subsequent racial melting pot never had, and seems apparent that it never will. What we have inherited are: hyper violent power-and-control mechanisms via the military (this has always included the police as an occupying force), a propaganda machine believed by the masses to be innocuous entertainment (Hollywood) or reliable news (majority of Euro-centric news sources, many so-called alternatives presses and websites) participates, (under the umbrella of only 6 corporations) in a long practiced art of obfuscation, dismissal and/or outright distortions of issues facing communities of color.
http://documents.nytimes.com/confidential-report-provides-new-evidence-of-notorious-nazi-cases?ref=us#p=1
Here's to hoping 2015 witnesses a re-invigoration of the spiritual radical traditions of the ancestors we honor but whose wisdom we rarely feel the need to heed. Cable and Dish are just too damn fun I suppose. But if you've stayed with me thus far you already know we are connected to a global struggle for Human Rights, a Pan-African struggle that transcends religion, creed, gender, sexuality, but is exclusively and violently exercised against people of color. Black people, with or without our "allies" must confront this damning indictment of American history, culture and policy. It is a prism through which all American history and policies needs to be viewed. It is a prism via which Blacks must learn to profile all the beneficiaries and institutions of white privilege.
Rashard Zanders is a freelance writer and editor whose views strangely parallel those of Blacklogic.blogspot.com. He can be reached at 872.228.4179 or via email at alex.zandersIV@gmail.com
Friday, January 16, 2015
The Escalating War on Islam. The Phony War On Terror
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-escalating-war-on-islam-the-phony-war-on-terror/5424958
Post-9/11, America declared war on Islam. Injustice triumphed. So did hate and fear. Muslims are fair game.
US targets of choice. Britain, France, Germany and other Western partners march in lockstep against them.
Waging phony war on terror. Pretext for state terror. Against targeted Muslim counties, groups and individuals.
After last week’s Paris killings, Le Monde headlined “Le 11 Septembre Francais.” Saying US history was “before (and) after 9/11.”
For France it’s “before (and) after 1/7.” An accompanying article said anti-Islamic protests erupted in Paris, Dresden and other European cities.
Muslims are vilified for their faith and ethnicity. Expect more violence to follow. Manipulated by Western interests. With dirty CIA and Mossad hands involved.
French authorities arrested dozens extrajudicially. Outrageously accused of “glorifying terrorism.” By exercising their free expression right.
Law Professor Jonathan Turley said so-called French support for freedom features crackdowns on free speech.
“If the French really wanted to honor the dead at Charlie Hebdo, they would rescind the laws” threatening free expression with “criminal prosecution.”“(N)ews (reports) indicate that the French government is doubling down on criminalizing speech in the name of free speech after the massacre.”
Only government allowed speech is OK. France and other Western countries are “falling out of faith with free speech, which is now something to be prosecuted rather than protected,” said Turley.
France’s National Assembly voted 488 to 1 to escalate air strikes on IS. Perhaps authorizing them against Syria is next. Partnered with other US-dominated NATO allies.
IS and other Takfiris are the pretext. Assad’s government the target. Regime change the objective.
France’s “11 Septembre” assures escalated imperial wars. Stepped up homeland repression. Militarized for extra harshness.
Calls for increased surveillance. Curtailed free speech, privacy and other fundamental rights.
Banned online encryption. Anything goes replacing constitutional governance. Infesting Europe.
US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson saying: “Recent world events call for increased vigilance at home.”
Code language for more congressional repressive legislation. Militarizing America more than ever.
Abolishing constitutionally protected freedoms altogether in the name of national security. Waging greater war on humanity.
Muslims more than ever are in the eye of the storm. No matter that Paris killings were less about terrorism and more about false flag deception.
State terrorism. Using Kouarchi brothers and Coulibaly as convenient patsies. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Charlie Hebdo killings “a war on civilization.”
Blaming Muslims for “barbarity.” Ignoring French involvement in US-led NATO aggression. Murdering millions of Muslims.
Mostly defenseless men, women and children. Media scoundrels marching in lockstep with imperial lawlessness.
Ignoring genocidal high crimes. Feigning concern about 17 French deaths. “(D)efending the (selective) right to offend,” said Media Lens.
Western offensiveness against Muslims. The other way around called terrorism.
“The Western tendency to act with ruthless, overwhelming violence is, of course, a key reason why” some Muslims retaliate, said Media Lens.
“(W)e live in a time when a ‘war for civilization’ is seen as something more than a grotesque contradiction in terms.”
Perhaps the bloodiest modern attack on European journalism occurred on April 23, 1999.
US-led NATO bombed Serbian state radio and television. An act of cold-blooded murder.
Killing 16. Injuring 16 others. Victims included an editor. Program director. Cameraman. Make-up artist. Three security guards. Other support staff.
Additional media outlets throughout Serbia were attacked. Amnesty International called bombing iits state media “a deliberate attack on a civilian object and as such constitutes a war crime.”
A Pentagon spokesman outrageously called it “part of Milosevic’s murder machine…right up there with security forces and the military.”
It bears repeating. When Muslims retaliate against crimes harming their lives and wellbeing, it’s called terrorism.
US-led NATO raping Yugoslavia was called liberating it. Terror bombings reflect longtime US strategy.
Willfully targeting civilians. Killing them in cold blood. In all US wars. Post-9/11, murdering millions of Muslims.
Journalists are prime targets. In November 2001, US air strikes targeted Al Jazeera’s Kabul, Afghanistan satellite TV station.
In April 2003, a US tank shelled Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel. Where many foreign journalists were based.
Striking a 14th floor balcony. Sky News journalist David Chater was in the hotel at the time.
Saw the tank aiming in his direction before firing. Asking at the time how Western journalists could continue working if US forces targeted them.
American bombs killed Al Jazeera’s cameraman Tareq Ayoub. Injured a Reuters reporter, photographer, technician and cameraman.
In July 2011, US-led NATO bombed Libyan media in Tripoli. Killing three media workers. Injuring 21 others
When US-led NATO warplanes commit cold-blooded murder, it’s called liberating oppressed people. Humanitarian intervention. Responsibility to protect.
Making the world safe for plunderers ready to take full advantage. When Muslims defend themselves, they’re called cold-blooded killers.
When Israel murders over 2,200 mostly Palestinian civilians, injures thousands more, turns large parts of Gaza to rubble, it’s called self-defense.
Including willfully targeting and murdering 17 Palestinian journalists. Preventing them from reporting Israeli atrocities.
Bad guys are them. Not us. Western reports on Charlie Hebro killings are one-sided and then some. Hypocrisy taken to a higher level.
In France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Israel, holocaust denial is criminalized.
If Western media mock or vilify Islam, it’s OK. Muslims are targets of choice.
Imperial wars rage against them. Homeland repression targets them. Expect worse ahead post-Charlie. Across Europe. In America.
Media scoundrels hype nonexistent threats. On January 14, Wall Street Journal editors headlined “France’s War on Terror.”
Instead of explaining its war OF terror. Against Muslims. Anyone legitimately against lawless state policy. Exercising their free expression right to say so.
Not according to Journal editors. Hyping the need to defend against “Islamist terror.” Applauding France’s response.
Turning the country into a militarized armed camp. Likely with orders to shoot to kill resisters. Mass arrest others.
Imprison them for exercising their democratic rights. What free societies champion.
French legislation being drafted eviscerates them. Bravo, say Journal editors. Keep “boost(ing) counterterrorism capabilities.”
Forget about longstanding rule of law principles. Ones all free societies respect. Protecting monied interests from political, economic and social justice matters more.
“To prevent future attacks, the French government should do more,” said Journal editors. Maybe they have criminalizing all Muslims in mind. Targeting them for praying to the wrong God.
“Effective counterterrorism requires some civil-liberties trade-offs,” say Journal editors. Benjamin Franklin once said sacrificing freedom for security assures losing both.
“(H)omicidal violence…is the hallmark of radical Islam, Journal editors claim. Genocidal slaughter is the “hallmark” of US-led NATO aggression.
Waging permanent wars. Against one country after another. Killing millions. Destroying nations. Turning them to rubble. Don’t expect Journal editors to explain.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” http://www.claritypress.com/
Invitation to an International Conference African Philosophical and Intellectual Responses to the Development Crisis in Africa June 10-14, 2015 Abakaliki, Nigeria in cooperation with Ebonyi State University
Invitation to an International Conference
June 10-14, 2015 Abakaliki, Nigeria
in cooperation with
Theme
This conference focuses on evaluating the responses of the African intelligentsia to the current development crisis in the continent as well as encouraging reflections on the recurrent issues in the development crises such as the need to evolve a viable indigenous development oriented ideology that would adequately address such issues as identity and its construction in the context of globalization and cultural pluralism, determinism, freedom and responsibility, the individual and the collective, justice in plural, multi-cultural and international contexts, faith and reason in the public sphere, etc.
Application
There is no registration fee. Participants will cover their own travel costs and hotel.
The application should include:
1) a vita that specifies the applicants educational background, professional positions and affiliations, and publications;
2) a letter of intent; and
3) the abstract of the paper by April 1, 2015; full paper by June 1, 2015.
Please send all the information to Joseph C. A. Agbakoba ( jcaagbakoba@gmail.com), Jerry C. Chukwuokolo ( jerrychidozie@yahoo.com) and cua-rvp@cua.edu.